I’ve been in a lot of rooms lately with fishermen and
scientists and let’s just say the mood has generally been on the contentious
side. In some cases things have gotten
ugly and conflicts have slipped into the hopeless and counterproductive area of
personal attacks. These meetings have
been about what’s going on under the water – how are fish stocks faring right
now and what can amount of sustainable fish can we expect from the Gulf of
Maine today and into the future. Both
sides are looking at the same problem, but there’s a serious and problematic
divide in perspective between fishermen and scientists and managers.
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| Gloucester fisherman Tom Testeverde discusses net design with Dr. Pingguo He |
That’s what makes last week’s meeting at the Massachusetts
Division of Marine Fisheries Headquarters in Boston so unique and important. Fishermen, net manufacturers, scientists
and outreach specialists all joined in a discussion – sharing their knowledge,
listening to each other and carefully looking at the same problem in front of
them: How can we design fishing gear
that can avoid cod while still catching enough flatfish for fishermen to make a
living.
For 6 hours, the group discussed both conventional and
out-of-the-box ideas attaching the problem.
On this day, the rigor, focus and skepticism of the scientist was
combined with the experience and depth of knowledge of the fishermen – a
powerful combination that must be realized more broadly if we are to have more success
managing our fisheries.
 |
Testing of the new trawl design will take place this winter in
St. John's Newfoundland at the Marine Institute
|
The meeting is part of a project funded by The Saltonstall-Kennedy
Grant Program and is co-led by Steve Eayrs from the Gulf of Maine Research
Institute and Mike Pol from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Also joining the discussion were Dr. Pingguo
He from the UMass Dartmouth, Jon Knight from Superior Trawl in Point Judith,
RI, Dr. Chris Glass from the Northeast Consortium at the University of New
Hampshire, Dr. Paul Winger and Tara Perry from the Marine Institute in
Newfoundland, along with Massachusetts fishermen Tom Testeverde and Dan Murphy
and NH fishermen Jim Ford, Carl Bouchard and David Goethel.
The project is called ULOT or “Ultra-low opening trawl’ for
the basic concept that has brought this group together; a trawl that fishes for
flounder ‘below’ the level that cod are found.
Not an easy task with all sorts of challenges for a net manufacturer to
build and a fisherman to fish. While
this is the initial concept, the project leads are ready to ‘push the
boundaries’ and to think of something entirely new to try. The discussion meandered over some
interesting concepts from using a topless trawl with seldom-before used
headline to footline ratio of 2:1, to low opening nets less than 2’ high to
combining these modifications with strategically placed restraining ropes or
large mesh to strategic placement of
dark or light netting or even lasers to that would lead fish either toward
their escape or capture in the net.
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| ULOT project co-leads Mike Pol (left) and Steve Eayrs (right) join Dr. Paul Winger and Jon Knight (center, left to right) in Boston |
The goal for the day was to come up with a handful of concepts
to develop further. Eventually, the
discussion will converge on one or two ideas that will move to the project’s
next phase that will include computer simulations, followed by production of a
scale model to be tested in the fishing gear flume tank at the Marine Institute
in St. John’s Newfoundland this winter.
In late winter, a full-scale design will be produced and testing under
true fishing conditions here in the Gulf of Maine will begin next spring. An ambitious schedule, but I could see that
this group was ready for the challenge.
Stay tuned for project updates!
- Dr. Erik Chapman - UNH
for more information on this project, contact Steve Eayrs <steve@Gmri.org> or Mike Pol <mike.pol@state.ma.us>
