| Industrial trawlers need more accountability to ensure the future of all fisheries |
|
Captain Gary Libby I’m a lobsterman and groundfish fisherman from Maine, and believe it or not, I rely on a little fish called Atlantic herring for my livelihood. Lobster fishermen like me need bait, and most of the bait we use is herring. But herring are also the lynchpin holding the ocean food chain together. Everything we eat eats herring, including the cod and haddock I catch and bring to Mainers through our community-supported fishery, Port Clyde Fresh Catch. I am worried about what I see on the water: There is not as much herring out there as there used to be. I am not alone in my uneasiness; most of the people I know have expressed deep concern about the lack of herring and mackerel along our shores this summer. One of the reasons for the lack of herring in my opinion is the way it is being caught now. The industrial fleet of large midwater trawlers that moved into our waters 15 years ago has pushed our traditional Maine purse seine and weir fisheries to the sidelines. The massive amount of fish that these vessels remove from our waters is too much for the ecosystem. Another problem from my perspective is the bycatch -- or unwanted catch -- that is scooped up by the very large nets of the midwater trawlers. Sometimes the nets have so much unwanted bycatch that they are just dumped at sea. There is no way to tell what was in it or if the fish and marine mammals were released alive or not. Last week, I was at a herring committee meeting that is managed by the New England Fishery Management Council. The committee members are working to develop rules that will help protect the herring resource in the future. The one thing that stood out to me at this meeting was the shared feeling of managers, scientists and concerned members of the public that there needs to be more monitoring to record what is being caught and discarded by these vessels. This will provide a consistent record, which will help managers make more informed decisions and protect herring as a resource for all the people that are impacted by its decline. A different opinion was expressed by representatives of the industrial midwater trawl herring fleet. Their take is that the lack of herring this summer has nothing to do with their fleet. They believe that other small and large mesh otter trawl fisheries are to blame for the lack of herring and that there is no need to monitor them at a higher rate. Yet historically, midwater trawlers have had only 4% monitoring on average. The industrial fleet representatives consistently use the figure 25%, but Northeast Fisheries Observer Program documentation shows that only last year did the fleet achieve 20% monitoring. The law requires between 30-38% observer coverage for the groundfish fishery in New England, and I comply willingly with that. Furthermore, West Coast fisheries on the scale of this herring fleet require 100% monitoring. The New England Council needs to put more robust requirements in place for the industrial herring fleet so we can find out what is really going on. I believe that all of our fisheries are important and need to be monitored so that fish can be available for the future. The ocean needs to be able to sustain itself if we are all to benefit, and we need to leave it in better shape so future generations can also benefit from the sea. Captain Gary Libby is a lobster and groundfish fisherman (F/V Leslie & Jessica) in Port Clyde, Maine. |
