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Portland, ME & Chatham, MA, January, 23. Tuna fishermen and lobstermen from Maine and Massachusetts are traveling to Washington, DC this week to ask Congress to lay out more money to observe the herring trawl fleet. Coverage on the fleet has dropped from more than 15% to less then five percent. The cut in observers has made it impossible for National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor the haddock bycatch cap that is intended to limit the amount of juvenile haddock taken as bycatch by the midwater trawl fleet. “With so many fish interacting with herring schools, it’s essential that there are Federal observers onboard to quantify the amount of fish that’s being caught as bycatch in this fishery,” said CHOIR Coalition Chairman Peter Baker, “when you fish for tiny fish with huge nets there’s too much at stake not to have observers on board.” Aside from groundfish and tuna bycatch concerns, many in New England have expressed concern over marine mammal and seabird bycatch in the midwater trawl fishery. In addition, many lobstermen are concerned about the destruction of their gear when the midwater trawl fleet, especially the pair trawlers, come inshore. “Last month those big pair trawl ships came through and wiped out a bunch of our lobster gear. It costs us a fortune and really screwed up the end of our season,” said Chatham, MA lobsterman Rocky Chase. “As a tuna fisherman I’ve been concerned with what these ships catch. If tuna are in a school of herring when the pair trawls come by, they obviously catch the tuna with the herring,” said Tuna fisherman Chris Weiner of Portland, Maine. “The Feds need to be monitoring and observing what gets caught by these herring fishermen that isn&Mac226;t herring.” The fishing groups, consisting of members of the CHOIR Coalition, East Coast Tuna Association, General Category Tuna Association, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, Outer Cape Lobstermen&Mac226;s Association, GB Fixed Gear Sector, Conservation Law Foundation and the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen&Mac226;s Association and joined by environmental group Conservation Law Foundation, are asking Congress to allocate $1,500,000 for observer coverage on the herring fleet in the 2008 Federal budget. For more information, contact Peter Baker, CHOIR Coalition Chairman, at (508)641-4064 or baker@ccchfa.org. |
