Saving Seafood

Analysis of New West Coast Swordfish Fishery Weighs Benefits of Increased Domestic Catch

August 25, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing to approve a new means of catching West Coast swordfish that could increase the domestic supply of the species often featured in upscale restaurants.

The fishery is based on their unique behavior. Swordfish are one of the few fish that spends long periods at great depths in the ocean. Increased swordfish landings would also help offset imports that now make up about 84 percent of the swordfish supply on the West Coast. They are often imported from countries with less protection for sea turtles and marine mammals.

NOAA Fisheries is evaluating the proposal to authorize fishing for swordfish in federal waters using deep-set buoy gear. This gear lowers baited hooks hundreds of feet beneath the surface, where they catch swordfish and little else. The selective gear poses little risk to protected species such as whales and sea turtles, which are not usually found at such depths.

The West Coast swordfish fishery has long relied on drift gillnets that, in their earlier years, entangled protected species. The drift gillnet fleet has since dramatically reduced its impact on marine mammals and turtles to meet strict U.S. environmental standards. However, restrictions on where and when they can fish has reduced the drift gillnet fishery from more than 100 vessels to fewer than 20 participating vessels.

Read the full release here

California puts up $1.3 million to phase out swordfish nets that can kill sea turtles and whales

July 8, 2021 — Conservationists are applauding the inclusion of $1.3 million in the new state budget that is designed to protect sea turtles and marine mammals from being killed by swordfish fishing gear.

The funds will be used in a voluntary buyback program to get California’s swordfish fleet to switch from drift gill nets — nylon nets up to a mile long that can catch and kill dolphins, sea lions and whales as well as the occasional endangered leatherback sea turtle — to what’s called deep-set buoy gear, which is designed to prevent entanglements. But some say the move will put fishermen out of business and limit Californians’ access to a local fish in good supply.

Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the funding last week as part of the $262.6 billion state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

A month after Trump’s veto, Feinstein refiles driftnet ban bill

February 10, 2021 — A bipartisan bill to end the use of drift gillnets to catch swordfish has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate a month after then-President Donald Trump vetoed similar legislation.

U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) refiled their bill, entitled the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, on Monday, 8 February. The bill calls for a ban on using the mile-long nets that reach 200 feet below the ocean surface.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

CAPITO, FEINSTEIN REINTRODUCE BILL TO PROTECT WHALES, DOLPHINS, SEA TURTLES FROM DRIFT GILLNETS

February 9, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV):

U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), today reintroduced the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, a bipartisan bill to phase out harmful large mesh drift gillnets used in federal waters off the coast of California – the only place the nets are still used in the United States.

Large mesh drift gillnets, which are between a mile and a mile-and-a-half long and can extend 200 feet below the ocean surface, are left in the ocean overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks. However, at least 60 other marine species, including whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea turtles, fish and sharks, can also become entangled in the large mesh net “walls,” injuring or killing them. Most of these animals, referred to as bycatch, are then discarded. The use of large mesh drift gillnets by a single fishery based in California is responsible for 90 percent of the dolphins and porpoises killed along the West Coast and Alaska.

“While the use of driftnets is already prohibited off the coasts of most states, these tools are still injuring or killing a whole host of marine animals off California’s coast,” Senator Capito said. “I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation that will help ensure large mesh driftnets are no longer used in any U.S. waters, protecting our marine wildlife from this harmful practice.”

“Let’s be clear: the Senate unanimously passed our bill and the House passed it shortly thereafter. There is no support to continue using these deadly nets in our waters,” Senator Feinstein said. “Large mesh driftnets indiscriminately kill whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea turtles and other marine animals. It’s time to transition the industry to more efficient, sustainable and profitable methods. Real-time data shows other fishing gear is more successful, profitable and sustainable. Now that we have a new administration, I’m hopeful that Congress will quickly pass our bill and we can begin to phase driftnets out.”

The bill would phase out the use of the nets and help the industry transition to more sustainable methods like deep-set buoy gear that uses a hook-and-buoy system. Deep-set buoy gear attracts swordfish with bait and alerts fishermen immediately when a bite is detected. Testing has shown that as much as 98 percent of animals caught with deep-set buoys are actually swordfish, resulting in far less bycatch than large mesh drift gillnets, which average a 50 percent catch rate of target species.

A seven-year study by the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research found that fishing vessels using the new deep-set buoy gear caught 83 percent more swordfish than those using traditional large mesh drift gillnets. Also, because vessels are alerted as soon as there is a bite, swordfish are transported to markets faster than with large mesh drift gillnets, resulting in higher-quality products that bring a higher price.

California Harbor Porpoises Rebound After Coastal Gillnetting Stopped

January 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more than a decade. The new research indicates that the coastal set gillnets had taken a greater toll on harbor porpoise than previously realized.

The return of harbor porpoises reflects the first documented example of the species rebounding. It’s a bright spot for marine wildlife, the scientists write in a new assessment published in Marine Mammal Science.

“This is very good evidence that if we can eliminate the deaths in fishing nets, marine mammal populations can come back in a big way,” said Karin Forney, a research biologist with NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center who is based in Monterey Bay.

The State of California managed set-gillnet fisheries for white seabass and halibut in coastal waters off central California beginning in the 1930s. Before the 1980s, there was little solid information about the impacts of coastal set-gillnets on protected species such as marine mammals and seabirds. Harbor porpoises were vulnerable to this coastal fishery because they frequent shallow inshore waters where the nets were historically set.

The scientists estimated, based on a combination of data, that as many as 300 harbor porpoises per year may have been killed in California’s coastal set-gillnet fisheries during the 1980s. One 1994 study (PDF, 4 pages) confirmed the deaths of more than 50 harbor porpoises in Monterey Bay alone, with the authors speculating that the true number was far higher.

Read the full release here

Trump Vetoes Ban on Driftnet Fishing

January 5, 2021 — President Donald Trump has vetoed a bill that would have phased out large-mesh drift gillnets in federal waters. In his veto message, he suggested that the bill would increase reliance on imported seafood, worsen the trade deficit and “not achieve its purported conservation benefits.”

Driftnets are prone to a high rate of bycatch, including protected marine mammals and sea turtles. In the U.S., the nets are used exclusively by about 20 vessels to catch swordfish and sharks in federal waters off the coast of California. Swordfish is the primary target species, but it only accounts for about one out of eight animals caught by the nets, according to the nonprofit Turtle Island Restoration Network. An estimated two thirds of all animals caught are discarded, including about 60 whales and dolphins per year – more cetacean mortality than all other West Coast fisheries combined.

The Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, sponsored by Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would have phased out driftnets and helped affected fishermen to acquire deep-set buoy gear. Deep-set buoy fishing involves deploying a trio of buoys connected to one extra-long line, which hangs down to 1,000 feet of water depth – the region where swordfish spend the daylight hours. By fishing deep and frequently tending their buoys, fishermen can catch high-quality swordfish without landing shallow-swimming sea turtles and dolphins, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Trump vetoes Calif. fishing bill over seafood trade deficit

January 4. 2021 — President Trump vetoed a bill Friday that would have gradually ended the use of large-mesh drift gillnets deployed exclusively in federal waters off the coast of California, saying such legislation would increase reliance on imported seafood and worsen a multibillion-dollar seafood trade deficit.

Trump also said in his veto message to the Senate that the legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., “will not achieve its purported conservation benefits.”

Feinstein issued a statement late Friday saying Trump’s veto “has ensured that more whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine species will be needlessly killed, even as we have a proven alternative available.”

Trump vetoed the fishing bill as the Republican-controlled Senate followed the Democratic-led House and voted to overturn his earlier veto of the annual defense policy bill, enacting it into law despite Trump’s objections.

The fishing bill’s sponsors said large-mesh drift gillnets, which measure between 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) and 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and can extend 200 feet (60.9 meters) below the surface of the ocean, are left in the waters overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks. But they said at least 60 other marine species — including whales, dolphins and sea lions — can also become entangled in the nets, where they are injured or die.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Fox Business

Oceana provides USD 1 million to California gillnet buyback program

September 17, 2020 — Environmental conservation group Oceana announced on Monday, 14 September, that it contributed USD 1 million (EUR 845,500) to California’s efforts to end the drift gillnet fishery in the U.S. state.

Oceana’s contribution matches state funding and goes toward a buyout program for fishermen who have been using the controversial gear to catch swordfish. The buyout program was part of a state law passed two years ago that calls for their elimination by 31 January, 2024.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

California May Soon Unravel Controversial Nets Used To Harvest Swordfish

November 9, 2018 — Ocean activists seem to be on the eve of winning a long battle against a controversial type of fishing gear that has been banned in most of world’s oceans. But many fishermen are not ready to let go of what has been a reliable method for catching valuable swordfish.

A federal court ruling last week could lead to strict limits on using drift gillnets in California, one of the last places where the gear is still allowed. Drift gillnets are used to snag swordfish but prone to ensnaring other sea life, too. The court decision comes weeks after the state’s governor signed a law that would phase the nets out of use over the next few years.

Todd Steiner, an environmentalist who has fought for stricter regulations on drift gillnets since the 1990s, believes the time has come to ban them everywhere.

“Drift gillnets should no longer be in the ocean,” says Steiner, founder of the Turtle Island Restoration Network based in Forest Knolls, Calif. “Only one in six or seven animals caught in these nets is a swordfish. They’re indiscriminate in what they catch.”

Drift gillnets are essentially long curtains of nearly invisible mesh that hang from buoys and entangle large creatures that swim into them. The nets are notorious for catching high volumes of unwanted creatures, or bycatch — the primary reason Steiner and other activists want them banned.

But Santa Barbara fisherman Gary Burke, who has been using drift gillnets since the 1980s, says environmentalists who oppose the gear have set unrealistic expectations. “We’ve reduced our bycatch so much at this point that it would take some dramatic tech innovation to reduce it anymore,” he says.

Read the full story at NPR