March 4, 2021 — The University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant are working with commercial fishermen to test advanced gear that could expand their catch and protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, like the one found dead off the coast of South Carolina recently.
Ropeless fishing gear would allow boats easier access to black sea bass, which are caught using pots that are lowered to the ocean floor with vertical fishing lines connected to floats that sit on top of the water. Fishermen set those pots for a period of time, and black sea bass swim into them and can’t get out. The pots and lines are retrieved at the end of each trip.
Currently, during colder months off the southeast Atlantic coast, fishing boats have to go about 30 miles offshore to set their pots so that they won’t ensnare the right whales that migrate south during the winter to calve. That makes the trip more expensive and more dangerous for the fishers.
But setting pots closer to shore is a critical hazard to the right whales. The whale that was found dead off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Sunday had been spotted near Nantucket, Massachusetts, in October with fishing line extended from its mouth. Nicknamed Cottontail, the whale was spotted in February near Florida where disentanglement experts tried unsuccessfully to free him from the ropes.
Since 2017, 34 right whales have died from entanglement in fishing gear or being struck by a boat.