Lobster Industry Grapples With Right Whale Deaths

Continued from April 2018 Homepage

Five of the dead whales were found in U.S. waters; all were found in waters off the coast of Massachusetts. One, a young calf, was confirmed to have died of blunt force trauma. The cause of death for the other four, all adults, was undetermined due to their advanced states of decomposition. In August 2017, NMFS declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community. The situation is exacerbated, NMFS said, because there are currently only about 100 females of breeding age in the population and more females seem to be dying than males. Births have also been declining in recent years, and no new calves were spotted in the calving grounds off Florida in 2017.

Another right whale, a 10-year-old female, was founded dead in January 2018. According to NMFS, the carcass was towed to the Virginia Beach area, where researchers performed a necropsy. Findings were consistent with chronic entanglement as the preliminary cause of death. The whale was last sighted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on July 29, 2017. At that sighting, she was gear-free.

The situation is a major challenge for the industry, said Department of Marine Resources Pat Keliher, speaking at a session about lobster fishery management during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March.

The industry has two decades of participation and compliance with the protection of right whales and other large whales, he noted.

“We’ve been very engaged for a long time and I don’t expect that to stop,” Keliher said. “This industry now needs to remain united on what type of approach we’ll take to deal with this.”

Ropeless fishing and weaker ropes are two proposals currently under study.

“Ropeless fishing is a scary thought, but it’s something we have to wade through and figure out the ramifications,” Keliher said. “And the engineers need to understand the ramifications to the lobster fishery.”

NMFS is facing two lawsuits on the matter, filed in January and February by conservation groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Humane Society, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Earthjustice.

The CLF and Earthjustice suit, filed Feb. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, aims to force federal regulators “to comply with their legal responsibility to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population, according to an Earthjustic press release.

According to the complaint, “Entanglement in fishing gear is the single greatest threat to right whale survival and recovery. In some cases, entangled whales drown immediately from the heavy weight of the gear. In other cases, the line and its gear are dragged, wrapped around a pectoral fin, the tail, the neck or the mouth, for hundreds or even thousands of miles before the animal either frees itself or slowly succumbs. Chronic entanglement reduces the animals’ ability to feed, migrate, and reproduce - further affecting their existence. For decades entanglements have increased on an annual basis. Now, more than 80 percent of all right whales have entanglement scars, nearly 60 percent have been entangled more than once, and entanglements account for 85 percent of right whale deaths.”

The complaint further says that, in a 2014 biological opinion on the effects of the lobster fishery on endangered species, NMFS determined “the lobster fishery alone is likely to kill or seriously injure 3.25 right whales every year. Despite that determination, NMFS concluded that the continued operation of the fishery over the next ten years was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species.”

The complaint asks for an order requiring NMFS to complete a new biological opinion on the fishery within 60 days and to use its emergency authority “to avoid or remediate harm to endangered right whales until such time as the new biological opinion is completed and NMFS has implemented the permanent measures necessary to ensure against jeopardy and minimize incidental take.”

“There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of ways to maintain compliance,” said Keliher, who urged fishermen remain engaged with the situation.

One fisherman noted that Maine’s lobster fishery has implemented numerous measures to avoid entanglements, but Gulf of St. Lawrence fishermen have not.

“We’re doing what we’re supposed to do,” he said. “But the other guys have nothing going on and they’re killing a lot of them. And now they’re saying we’ve got to fish without ropes.”

Keliher said U.S. regulators are currently in conversation with their Canadian counterparts to help them work out measures that might be taken there.

Keliher explained that, if NMFS’ updated biological opinion results in a “jeopardy” finding— a finding that an activity is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of an endangered species—it could result in an emergency action that closes down the lobster fishery, or in the imposition of new fishing measures outside the control of the fishery.

“Seventeen [right whales] died last year,” he continued. “But is it related to us? We’re really early in this conversation. And I think even NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] is still trying to figure out what this looks like. But until the opinion is done and a final decision is made, it’s hard to understand what’s going to happen.”

To address the situation, the federally convened Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT) has formed subcommittees to study ropeless fishing and a new method to reduce the breaking strength of vertical endlines to 1,700 pounds. The idea behind ropeless fishing is to use acoustic technology to trigger deployment of a buoyancy device, lifting the trap to the surface, thus eliminating the need for endlines.

Maine Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron said MLA is engaged in these discussions.

“If we’re found to jeopardize the species, we might not want what is in the NMFS tool box, like closures,” said McCarron. “So as an industry, we need to be strategically prepared with something we can offer to get out of jeopardy status….We said that our fishermen have to be engaged in this process. It’s about operational and technological feasibility.”

In 1990, there were only 270 right whales. Since, the ALWTRT has implemented strategies to reduce hazards to large whales. That’s included slowing ship speeds in areas where right whales are known to be present; and fishing gear modifications that include area closures, weak links, neutral buoyancy groundline to reduce rope in the water column; and reduced numbers of vertical endlines, by trawling up traps.

That resulted in a population increase to 483 in 2010. But the population has since declined, to an estimated 458 today.

That number is small, said Mark Baumgartner, an associate scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass.

“So a downturn in that small number of animals is concerning,” Baumgartner said. “And that’s what’s been happening since 2010…..So this is ringing alarm bells for the conservation community, regulators, and scientists.”

The situation is exacerbated by low calving rates, due to two reasons, he said. One is about changes in the environment—right whale distribution has been changing, likely due to warming waters and the availability of feed. The second factor is entanglements: “If a whale is not killed by an entanglement and gets out of it, either by itself or by people, recovery takes a long time. The female has wounds to heal and she’s lost a lot of energy dragging around gear. So she has to take time to pack on enough fat to have a calf.”

Studies show that females that have been entangled delay calving, he said.

Many whales travel with their entanglements, he noted: “Where you find an entangled animal is not necessarily where it became entangled.”

Baumgartner said there continues to be concern about entanglements in Maine, despite mitigation measures, simply because there’s so much lobster gear in Maine waters. And tagging studies dating back two and three decades show that right whales swim through Maine coastal waters, he said.

“The point is that lots of gear increases the risk for a low number of animals,” he said.

Mike Asaro, chief of the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office’s Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Branch, said a lower reproduction rate, longer calving intervals, declining abundance, continued mortality from vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement, changes in prey availability, and increased transboundary movement and risks all contribute to the right whale’s status as an endangered species.

Steps to reopening the biological opinion, said Asaro, include describing right whale status; evaluating human, climate change, and other impacts; laying out how fixed-gear fisheries operate, including their magnitude and geographic distribution; and assessing the impacts of each fishery on right whales.

“It’s a tall task and there’s not a clear-cut way to do it because we don’t know with specificity what the impacts are,” Asaro said. “Recovering gear from entanglements is one to way to accumulate data.”

Established in 1996 under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, the ALWTRT is tasked with reducing serious injuries and mortalities to below a number called a “potential biological removal level.” The potential biological removal (PBR) level means the maximum number of animals, not including natural mortalities, that may be removed from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population, according to NMFS. The PBR must be met whether a species is endangered or not. For example, the number of harbor porpoises that can be killed each year without jeopardizing their PBR is about 700 per a year. But for right whales, for the past 20 years, that number has been less than one per year.

Initially, in 1997, measures to mitigate lobster fishery impacts on right whales included establishing a weak link requirement and gear marking requirements. In 2009, sinking groundline was required, and modification of the vertical line rule was the most recent measure, implemented in 2015. The regulations cover pot/trap and gillnet fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone along the entire East Coast, accounting for the range of right whales. Plus, there are closure areas that cover about 32,000 square miles in total throughout the year. In 2009, U.S. fishermen converted 27,000 miles of floating groundline to sinking groundline. In 2015, U.S. fishermen removed 2,740 miles of vertical line by trawling up.

The ALWTRT will examine technological, functional, and economic feasibilities of further gear proposals, Asaro said. That includes questions like: Does the technology exist; if not, will it exist and when might it; will it work; if not, why not and can those hurdles be got around; and is it cost-effective now or sometime in the future?

In the summer of 2017, when right whales started dying, initially in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the Canadian and U.S. governments reached out to each other to look at transboundary issues related to right whales, said Asaro. Canadian colleagues, he said, acknowledge that the U.S. has engaged in entanglement and ship strike issues for a long time. “And they’re seeking advice in advance of their upcoming fishing and shipping seasons,” he said. “The goal to identify areas where both nations can jointly prioritize.”

NMFS gear specialist John Higgins said Maine fishermen spent a lot of money switching to sink groundline. And Maine gear has not been found in recovered entanglement gear since then, he said.

“I understand what it cost you,” Higgins told listeners. “It’s not all for naught.”

Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist with the New England Aquarium, said the organization has studied right whales for 35 years, and created a photo-identification catalogue on behalf of the Northern Right Whale Consortium that, among its benefits, allows scientists to monitor entanglement rates.

Right whale entanglements are common, Knowlton said: 85 percent of the population has been entangled at least once, and many have been entangled four to seven times. Researchers have documented 1,390 unique entanglement interactions from 1980-2015, she said.

“Many are minor,” she said. “They’ve been able to get out of the gear. But more and more injuries have become more severe and, in some, complex and lethal.”

Researchers are studying rope manufacturing to get a better understanding of the problem, she said.

“There’s been a lot of improvements in manufacturing in recent decades, and that might be part of the problem,” Knowlton said.

Pre-1950s trap rope was made from manila fiber, and its strength was below what a whale could break away from. New polymer ropes are far stronger. A 3/8-inch-diamter rope exceeds 4,000 pounds breaking strength, and ¾-inch is well over 12,000 pounds in breaking strength, she said.

Working with a rope engineer and studying entanglement patterns, she said, it was determined that right whales could break away from a 1,700-pound rope.

“The idea behind 1,700 pounds is that, if a whale hits an endline and starts to swim fast, ideally it will part that rope before it evolves into a complex entanglement,” Knowlton said.

Further studies are focusing on rope strengths for fishing purposes and modified hauling maneuvers to relieve strain on endlines, she said. Researchers are studying variables that might influence strain, like water depth, line length, configuration and weight of a gear set, pot dimensions and drag coefficient, rope diameter and speed of hauler, water velocity, and wave height.

Modified operational maneuvers like hauling slowly versus quickly could help relieve strain, making 1,700-pound rope feasible, she said.

Researchers are also studying a “whale release” rope that incorporates hollow braided sleeves to create weak links in the overall rope length, Knowlton said.

“We’re testing that now,” with a report expected this spring, she said. Initial results show the sleeves work pretty well operationally.

With regard to ropeless fishing, Baumgartner said the idea is replace the functions of endlines, using technology that allows fishermen to retrieve bottom gear and mark the location of the gear.

Ropeless technology must be safe, affordable, easy to use and operationally appropriate, he said.

“Ropeless is not going to happen next year,” Baumgartner said. “This is a technology that we’re looking to develop.”

Fishermen said they’ve never seen right whales in their fishing grounds.

“We know that most Maine lobstermen have never seen a right whale,” said MLA’s McCarron.

One fisherman wondered if, given the few North Atlantic right whales left, inbreeding might make the population no longer genetically viable.

“There is concern about inbreeding in right whales,” responded Knowlton. “It might be slowing down reproduction, but it has not stopped it. Genetics are a big part of the equation of our assessment.”