Dead Fish Spur Controversy over Fishing Gear, Cause is Unknown
UPDATED at 5:08 p.m. with response from group representing mid-water trawlers:
By Bina Venkataraman, Globe Correspondent
Fishing gear that is being used increasingly in New England waters to catch schooling fish such as mackerel and Atlantic herring came under fire recently after fishermen spotted an expanse of floating dead striped bass east of Chatham. The striped bass stretched for three miles, according to a fisherman who saw it, though video footage showed that the dead fish were scattered sporadically.
UPDATE: The reason for the dead fish is not clear. A group of striped bass fishermen are arguing that a type of fishing gear, the mid-water trawler, may be responsible. Used by commercial fishermen, mid-water trawlers are cone-shaped nets dragged behind either one or two boats at a certain depth, aimed at targeting fish that school, as opposed to bottom-trawlers that drag their nets along the sea floor to capture scallops or groundfish. However, the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition, which represents nearly all of the mid-water trawling vessels from Maine to New Jersey, said that none of their boats were near where the dead fish were spotted on October 5. It is therefore unlikely that mid-water trawlers were responsible for the appearance of the dead striped bass.
Striped bass stocks in New England have rebounded since the early 1980s and are not overfished or being overfished, say several fisheries scientists. (Fish stocks may be depleted without active overfishing going on, or vice versa, but neither is occurring for this species.) UPDATE: Nevertheless, several fishermen's associations have come out in opposition to the mid-water trawlers in recent years because of their suspected impact on river herring, an anadromous fish that is distinct from Atlantic or ocean herring and includes alewives and bluebacks. Striped bass, tuna, cod, and many other commercial fish species feed on river herring, which turn up as bycatch in mid-water trawlers.
Scientists are uncertain what the impact of the mid-water trawlers is on the river herring, as dams, pollution, and the rebound of striped bass are also suspected in their decline in particular areas. The lack of data on mid-water trawlers’ impact on these and other fish populations has frustrated conservation groups that believe the commercial gear is at least partly responsible for the decline of various Atlantic fisheries. They have called for more on-board observation of the trawlers’ bycatch.
UPDATE: The dead striped bass found about 20 miles east of Chatham were likely migrating; this is the time of year when young striped bass move to warmer waters near Virginia and North Carolina for the winter. Striped bass cannot be landed from federal waters, so if any kind of trawler, including a bottom trawler, caught them, they would have had to release them back into the ocean before returning to shore. A delay in separating the stripers from the catch could have led to their death.
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Should be easy enough to find out as big brother has a GPS tracking devise (VMS) on these boats.
It does bring to light a problem with the rush over the last 20 years to allow only the targeted species to be harvested in commercial gear,just like catch and release practices in the recreational hook n line fishery there is a lot more wasted seafood now,these are all fish that could be used to feed someone.
I'm glad that rec and commercial striper fisherman have worked so hard to maintain strict catch limits to bring the population back from the brink...(insert sarcasm here)
What a surprise that the mid water spokesman denied having anything to do with it...(insert more sarcasm here)
Mid water trawlers have destroyed the fishery on Jeffries Ledge and won't stop there.
Why should they do anything about it? Commercial lobby will contine to order our disgraceful senate to obstruct any measures to protect any species of fish. Ask them where are the giant tuna? the cod? These people do nothing to serve us only themselves and as the commercial fleet whittles down, what will they say when the last breeder has been killed? They will blame someone else, but know this, clear thinking people are not fooled and will continue to express themselves. Take comfort in the fact that commercial fishing will have it's day of judgement and it will be in the form of rusted boats and poverty for the workers who have no other skills. Which of course we as hard working taxpayers will have to subsidize through no choice of our own.
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I have seen the dead stripers multiple times myself; 20 to 30 miles east of the Cape in the past 12 years. In each situation a line of large dead or dying stripers was visible for 100 yards to 1 mile long. Many of the stripers were still alive; on their back and struggling because their air bladders were inflated from being hauled up in a net; they were unable to descend and were being picked at by birds and dogfish.
This is a travesty of all we have accomplished in bringing back stripers from close to extinction in the past 20 years.
Curious whether others think that the hundreds of dead crabs left on Race Point Beach after high tide on the 25th suffered a similar fate to the striped bass.
Update: All commercial fishermen, including those using gillnets, longlines, hook & line, etc., who fish in federal waters, must discard striped bass. There has been no commercial fishing allowed for striped bass in federal waters for several years. This year, the Bush Administration issued an Executive Order designating striped fish as a game fish; permanently removing the opportunity for a commercial fishery on striped bass. So, commercial fishermen, regardless of gear type used, must discard catch of striped bass, or face federal prosecution.
commercial fisherman? wrote:"Update: All commercial fishermen, including those using gillnets, longlines, hook & line, etc., who fish in federal waters, must discard striped bass. There has been no commercial fishing allowed for striped bass in federal waters for several years. This year, the Bush Administration issued an Executive Order designating striped fish as a game fish; permanently removing the opportunity for a commercial fishery on striped bass. So, commercial fishermen, regardless of gear type used, must discard catch of striped bass, or face federal prosecution."
This is almost entirely false. There is no directed fishery, either commercial OR recreational allowed in fed. waters, period. There is no presidential order designating striped bass as a game fish, Bush just did a half a$$ed order to officially put stripers off limits to anyone in federal waters, which they already were.
October 20, 2007: Executive Order (E.O.) 13449, ``Protection of Striped Bass and Red Drum Fish Populations'' . The E.O. authorized the Secretary of Commerce to revise regulations as appropriate, to include the prohibition of sale of striped bass and red drum caught within the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
I find it very interesting that the original text of this blog posted mid morning on October 28th, which included quotes and information from both a scientist from University of Rhode Island and myself, Patrick Paquette, Past PResident and Gov't affairs Officer of the MA Striped Bass Assn mysteriously disappeared when the blog was updated at 5:09 pm that same day. I have no problems witha reporter giving all sides of the story, however to pull one view off the blog and replace it with what is basically a press release by the Atlantic Herring Midwater Trawl Fleet sure seems to indicate some back door politics. www.honestbycatch.com
I get a big laugh about the release requirement of stripers outside the 3 mile state territorial waters. The likely hood of release or survival of any fish from a mid-water trawler of any sort is nil. Think about it... you have a fish pinned under tons and tons of weight from the catch and the sheer force of the water entering the net. It's not likely for anything to survive that pressure so seeing dead stripers is not a surprise.
I don't have any issue with trawlers making a living and I don't see any resolution to striper bycatch. I'd rather see trawlers than draggers anyday. I think that dead fish should be brought in for distribution to needy causes as opposed to being discarded.
nmfs should close areas were striper bass migrate in the fall and spring,espesily off the back side of the cape in october . it could save the fishery.
I was there...and I was one of the people to film and report this. What nobody is telling you is that the gills were ripped to shreds on these fish from the gil nets. There was nothing left...and no way to release or revive these fish.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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