Saving Seafood

Researchers test ropeless fishing

August 5, 2021 — To cut down the chances of whale entanglement with fishing gear, researchers and developers are testing technology that would eliminate the need for the vertical lines that run between lobster traps on the seafloor and buoys bobbing on the surface.

Lobstermen are facing tighter restrictions to help with the recovery of the endangered North Atlantic right whales and so-called “ropeless” fishing is seen as one of the potential ways to ease that burden.

Traditionally, lobstermen have a buoy on the surface to mark their string of traps on the ocean floor, and they are connected by a vertical line. Ropeless fishing would ditch the persistent vertical line that sits in the water.

“We’re in a place where we’re still testing and doing research to see how much this can be part of the solution,” said Zack Klyver, the science director at Blue Planet Strategies. With his company, Klyver is working with gillnet fishermen and is looking for Maine lobstermen who might be interested in testing out the technology. “We’re actively looking for lobster fishermen that want to be pioneers, that want to see if this can be part of the solution.”

There are currently two main types of ropeless fishing. One is a trap-like cage that has a rope stowed inside. A lobsterman can trigger the release of the buoy, bringing the rope to the surface. The second type includes a lift bag in the trap. It blows up like a balloon on demand, bringing the trap along with it.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NOAA’s whale framework draws fire from fishermen, conservationists

June 9, 2021 — A framework released by the National Marine Fisheries Service last month that calls for reducing risks to the endangered North Atlantic right whale in federal fisheries has been criticized both by conservationists and lobstermen, though for different reasons.

The framework was included in the service’s long-awaited biological opinion and requires the reduction of risks to the whales by a cumulative 98 percent in the next 10 years.

The exact measures to ensure this reduction have yet to be determined and are expected later this year, but conservationists have heavily criticized the 10-year timeline, which they argue is much too slow and not in line with rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“A lot of the conservation community feel that the timeline that NOAA has laid out in the bi-op may not hold up legally,” said Zack Klyver, the director of science at Blue Planet Strategies.

Klyver and other conservationists said that under the act, the federal government is supposed to institute a plan that will get potential deaths down to almost zero annually within six months, but the fisheries service’s plan only gets there after several years.

“What they’ve suggested is they start much higher and over a 10-year period bring it down to zero,” he said.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander