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Groundline Exchange Scheduled For Maine
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) estimates a typical lobsterman fishing 800 traps currently spends an average of $500 to $1,000 annually on rope. New requirements in the proposed Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, due out imminently, will result in an average initial $10,000 in costs per fisherman. The cost of maintaining whale safe rope is also expected to significantly increase ongoing business expenses. Since the expected life of the whale-safe gear is about half that of the rope currently fished, the annual cost of rope is expected rise to $3,000, an average three-fold increase. The foundation asked for the inclusion of $2 million in the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) budget for each fiscal year 2006, 2007 and 2008. “These small fishing businesses fuel the economy of Maine’s coastal communities,” the MLA wrote in their request. “As small businesses, they are not able to easily absorb unexpected costs in a timely manner.” The Maine groundline exchange program will allow lobstermen to purchase “whale-safe” rope in exchange for their existing groundline. The program follows on the heels of a Mid-Atlantic exchange, where more than 200,000 pounds of floating fishing line from more than three dozen commercial pot/trap fishing operations in the Mid-Atlantic were exchanged for vouchers to purchase replacement line that sinks. That program was designed by the National Marine Fisheries Service and managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) for New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Of 1,000 fishermen contacted by NMFS last fall with eligibility information, 38 accepted the offer. Some fishermen had as much as 15,000 pounds. They were compensated $2 for each pound of floating line. Vouchers were good at nine designated gear dealers for purchasing replacement line that sinks. Retired line filled nine tractor-trailers and was trucked to Conigliaro Industries, a Massachusetts-based waste management company specializing in environmentally sound recycling and disposal of unique and difficult solid wastes. “We spent about $210,000 replacing line, $50,000 on the recycling effort, and $50,000 on running the program,” said David Gouveia, Northeast coordinator for the NMFS marine mammal protection program. “Sinking line is less likely to form loops off the bottom of the ocean and entangle large whales, so it’s safer for whales,” Gouveia said. The exchange program replaced much of the poly groundline used in the area. Massachusetts also ran a pilot exchange initiated in 2004 through a grant by the NFWF’s National Whale Conservation Fund. The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, founded in 2000 for collaborative research, manages the Regional Ventless Trap Program, Community Sea Sampling, Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps (eMOLT), Ventless Trap Survey, V-Notch Survey and does research into whale-friendly lobster gear. The foundation’s gear research complements similar efforts at the Department of Marine Resources, where Gear Specialist Stephen Robbins III (633-9513, 207-350-6014, stephen.robbins@maine.gov) has been having manufacturers develop and fishermen test experimental trap line. Participants log information, such as where they haul, in what conditions, anything out of the ordinary, and the behavior of the line. At the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March, Robbins said he gives rope manufacturers a goal for how the rope should float, but not specifications. So far, the results vary widely, he said. The foundation’s project, funded by the Northeast Consortium and performed in collaboration with the Northeast Bycatch Consortium, is also testing experimental rope technologies. The foundation’s aim is to test rope profile in the water. Data on rope profiles is considered critical to demonstrate the level of risk the rope poses to whales, and to determine its operational feasibility for the lobster industry. Field-testing began last fall, incorporating methods developed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries during their research on lobster rope profiles in 2004. GOMLF is providing Star Oddi mini data loggers (temperature and depth recorders) to measure the profile of ropes developed by the DMR and New England Aquarium as they are being fished over time. A preliminary report of the fall pilot rope deployments is expected this spring. Early on, the foundation needs to address some protocol problems, said director Patrice McCarron. Some lobstermen, for example, did not fill in the their logbooks completely. Of the 75 or so fishermen with the new logbooks, only a dozen or so were returned, with data taken from 190 trap sets. “It’s important to determine why a rope works well for one person and not for another,” McCarron said. “Different environmental conditions make a big difference,” she added. The logbook takes information such as the date, type of rope, position, depth, weather, wind, orientation of set, set speed, and chafing or hauling problems. There was some failure of the pressure sensors as well, McCarron said. The next steps involve getting failed probes fixed, simplifying the logbook, formalizing the training of lobstermen so they fill out the logs completely, working with the DMR and NMFS to update survey protocols, and conducting a large-scale project this spring and summer. In the meantime, said NMFS gear specialist John Higgins, line taken from entangled whales is available for viewing. Higgins said he sometimes takes samples around to show people. About 70 percent of right whales and 88 percent of humpbacks display entanglement scars from ropes or nets. Most times, when line is taken off an animal, he said, it’s impossible to say the line is definitely from a certain type of gear, but only that it’s consistent with a gear type. Looking at the line is good for fishermen, he said, because they always see something different about it that could be useful in the development of new rope. Higgins said he will be working with the foundation to help them set up their exchange in Maine. In Maine, Higgins said, the issue is not so much about buyback as about making sure fishermen have rope that works. “The more we know about these lines, the more the manufacturer will be able to produce what we want,” Higgins said. The issue is more complicated than one might think, he said, adding that, before this process, he didn’t know there were different types of polyester line. Even sink lines are better now than they once were, he said. Ultimately, he said, fishermen want gear that works and does not have to be compartmentalized for dynamic area management zones. The bottom line, said DMR director of external affairs Terry Stockwell, is that there is no area of inshore Maine that doesn’t need some sort of flotation. The immediate challenge, said Higgins, is seen in the fact that the federal rule doesn’t have the term “low profile” in it anywhere. At this point, said Stockwell, the state is aiming for the term “working technologies.” The rule does include an exemption line for the use of sinking line, from headland to headland, which is far narrower than the three-mile line requested by the state. |
