44% of Trawl Catch "Discarded"

Mark Mc · 03-10-2003, 02:18 PM

Read it and weep. How much sense does it make, that right now in California (below Cape Mendocino) it's illegal to sportfish from shore (or a boat) for rockfish, but look how much is being dumped over dead by the trawl fleet on the west coast??!!??

And since they are killing yelloweye & canary in the bycatch, this could cause an in-season closure of the sport season for deep water rockfish & halibut? Yep, that option is in the latest groundfish plan.

Seattle Times

Pilar · 03-10-2003, 03:01 PM

Raaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr .......

@!*&$!!!ZZ****!

Holy bycatch batman! At least this old story is getting some media. The huge loophole here is that the only thing that is regulated is landings.

What if they regulated catching not just landing?

To be fair to the fishers ... I have seen these guys almost in tears over the regulation caused waste at the meetings over the last year for Oregon's groundfish. The catch quotas are given in ratios.

IE: fascetious Dr. Seuss example

For every blue fish you have to have 4 black fish to land your catch.

It's in lbs, but every target species is related to others by ratio. This prevents a few boats from expending the quota on a particular species and then all subsequent catches becoming bycatch. I don't know what is worse.

If you catch your blue fish and have no black fish to cover it, the blue fish goes into the deep 6. These guys feel bad about it and would rather not discard fish.

Is there a better way?

[ 03-10-2003, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

03-10-2003, 03:30 PM

In some places the bycatch is higher than this

SlabQuest · 03-10-2003, 04:39 PM

Start with one of the most decimating fishing methods known and add "one-size-fits-all" legislation, and this is what you get.

:depressed:

edsr · 03-11-2003, 09:11 AM

The discards are bad enough but there is also damage to the bottoms they drag those nets over. It's a lose-lose situation even for the fisherman who can't keep the by-catch that is discarded, usually dead. I don't know the answer but there must be a better way.
edsr

Orca · 03-11-2003, 09:38 AM

Sickening.

skein · 03-11-2003, 11:26 PM

Some endeavors are so damaging and so detrimental that they should not be allowed anymore. That is the answer.

Skein

Fishplay · 03-12-2003, 12:12 AM

If this is the best they can do then it's time to retire all indescriminate nets.

It's time to learn and refine new fishing methods that enable fishermen to target specific species, regulate product price, and minimize further damage to endangered stocks.

The indusry has in effect killed itself. It has become so efficient with it's methods that the market is over supplied with product. The prices are therefore exessivley low and the Fisherman has a hard time making a living wage. His answer to this is he needs to catch more fish. Thus a viscious circle perpetuates and the indiscriminate 'Walls of Death' kill everything they come in contact with.

The bycatch unit of measurment ............TONS

Quote:

In the meantime, some skippers have chosen to quit the sea. Some just can't make a living, and others are sickened by the waste.

"There are a few of the older guys who have left the fishery," said Morrison, the Astoria trawl skipper. "They just couldn't stomach throwing so much stuff over."

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">This news is bitter sweet. While I am glad to hear there are Fishermen leaving the ranks of an idustry that needs parred down; I'm am sorry that the ones leaving are those with a conscience.

Sore Back · 03-12-2003, 06:59 AM

Knew it was bad. Just didn't know it was that bad.Thanks for the heads up.

Mark Mc · 03-12-2003, 07:31 AM

One of the big challenges is ability to target one species. It is the norm for most rockfish species (esp. bottom-dwelling) to co-habitate with other species, not the exception. It's a different story with midwater trawling (where you get large schools of widow rockfish, for example with no other species mixed in). So the "endangered" yelloweye, canary, and bocaccio will often be found amongst the targeted species.
This is why changing the net/trawl technology will never have a major improvement in avoiding bycatch of these bottom dwellers. They talk about a smaller footrope & related changes, which supposedly allow the slower moving fish to escape, but this is a mere token improvement (these fish often stack up too thick to swim out of the net).

SlabQuest · 03-12-2003, 09:06 AM

My understanding is that traditional trawl net operations had to avoid areas with lots of rocks and pinnacles, for fear of losing their gear. These areas were havens for fish.

Now there is new trawl gear with wheels or rollers that travel over the rocks without snagging and allow the trawlers to wipe out the fish in these remaining areas.