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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 2
October 2006
Scallopers get turtle chains in Mid-Atlantic
GLOUCESTER, MA – Two years after industry first petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take emergency action to seasonally require turtle chains on scallop dredges in the Mid-Atlantic, NMFS granted the request by implementing a final rule under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Effective Sept. 25, any federally permitted scallop dredge vessel – regardless of permit category or dredge size – is required to use turtle chains from May 1 through Nov. 30 each year when fishing south of 41°9.0'N latitude from the shoreline to the 200-mile limit.
Turtle chains are rigged in a mat-like configuration to cover the opening of the dredge. They work by keeping turtles out of the dredge while still allowing scallops to enter.
The mat must be constructed with evenly spaced tickler chains, which run horizontally, and vertical chains, which run up-and-down, in the following numbers depending on dredge size:
• Dredges greater than 13' need 11 verticals and six ticklers;
• Dredges 11'-13' need nine verticals and five ticklers;
• Dredges 10' to less than 11' need seven verticals and four ticklers; and
• Dredges less than 10' need five verticals and three ticklers.
According to NMFS, the mandatory May-November turtle chain season covers the time when turtles are “most likely” to be in the Mid-Atlantic while scallopers are particularly active there.
Gear specialist Ron Smolowitz of the Fisheries Survival Fund said, “The rule is a good step forward. It’s what the scallop industry has been advocating.”
In addition to supporting the use of turtle chains, scallopers are continuing to work cooperatively to test new dredge designs to further protect turtles encountered on the sea floor and reduce unwanted bycatch of skates and flatfish.
Long history
Scallopers and gear specialists first developed the turtle chains several years ago when they noticed an upswing in turtle interactions in the Mid-Atlantic.
Through a cooperative research partnership, fishermen, along with Smolowitz and Bill DuPaul of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, participated in preliminary gear trials in 2002 and an experimental fishery in 2003 and 2004. The work was strongly supported by NMFS’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA.
During the experiment, the chains proved to be successful at keeping turtles out of the dredge. Over the course of 22 trips covering 277 fishing days and 3,248 tows, only eight turtle interactions occurred – all in the unmodified dredge that was used as a control. No turtles came up in dredges with turtle chains.
Convinced of their effectiveness, many scallopers began voluntarily using the chains. However, recognizing the need to be proactive on this issue, the Fisheries Survival Fund and the Garden State Seafood Association petitioned NMFS during the summer of 2004 to make it a requirement that all scallopers use turtle chains in the Mid-Atlantic from May through November.
NMFS determined it couldn’t pursue the request under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, but in May of 2005, the agency published a proposed rule to require turtle chains under the ESA.
Then it took an additional 15 months to develop and publish the final rule.
Opposition
Part of the reason it took so long was that the environmental group Oceana strongly opposed turtle chains, saying they did nothing but mask injuries to turtles on the bottom. The group instead lobbied hard for seasonal closures to scalloping.
Oceana didn’t budge from this position when the final rule came out on Aug. 25.
“The only certainty is that turtle chains will simply hide the real impacts of scallop dredges on the sea turtles,” the group said in a prepared statement.
The purpose of turtle chains is to keep turtles that are in the water column from entering the dredge in the first place, where they can be hurt either by the contents of the bag or when the dredge is dropped on deck.
While granting that the chains do perform this function, Oceana argued that turtles still could be run over by the dredge on the ocean floor.
NMFS thoroughly investigated this claim and concluded that even if some turtles might get hurt on the bottom, the chains are a positive step toward preventing serious injury of those in the water column.
Mary Colligan, chief of the NMFS Northeast Regional Office Protected Species Division, said research efforts demonstrated “that dredges properly modified with a chain mat will keep turtles out of the dredge bag where they may be caught and injured or killed.”
And NMFS pointed to ongoing gear work intended to further protect turtles on the bottom.
New dredge design
During the summer of 2005, Smolowitz and DuPaul began testing a new dredge design in Panama City, FL to investigate what happens to turtles when they encounter and/or are run over by a 13' traditional dredge – with and without turtle chains – as well as a new 13' experimental dredge, with and without turtle chains.
The experimental dredge was designed by Smolowitz, who moved the cutting bar forward and removed most of the bale bars. The research team used turtle carcasses and plastic turtle dummies, which were put in the path of the dredge, to determine impacts, and NMFS divers recorded what happened on video.
According to Smolowitz, the new design worked well in preventing turtles from going under the cutting bar, but he made further modifications by removing all of the bale bars except the center support for further testing in Panama City in June of 2006. This advanced design proved to be even better at preventing turtles from being run over.
“It worked almost flawlessly,” he said.
NMFS, too, concluded that the results were positive and said the sea trials showed that “the gear was capable of deflecting a model turtle over the bale.”
More testing
With the help of the scalloper Kathy Ann, Smolowitz continued to test the 13' dredge in the Mid-Atlantic, and, as it turned out, the Kathy Ann caught more scallops with the modified dredge than a standard dredge.
Up in New England, the Celtic fished a 15' version of the experimental dredge this summer and caught more scallops as well, reported Smolowitz.
The scalloper Westport tried it, too, and two things happened. The Westport didn’t lose any scallops, and it caught only about half of its typical flatfish catch. This was an extremely positive outcome since the low total allowable catch of yellowtails allocated to scallopers on Georges Bank in 2006 and, likely, in 2007 threatens to close the fishery prematurely.
Smolowitz is concerned, however, that the new dredge design might have some structural deficiencies without bale bars. With the help of 2006 scallop research set-aside (RSA) funds, he’s re-engineering the frame to be stronger and lighter and hopes scallopers will be able to field-test the re-engineered design in 2007 with additional RSA funds.
Video, tagging work
During the ongoing turtle chain and dredge design work, Oceana has made repeated calls for underwater video footage to document what happens to turtles when they encounter either the dredge itself or the chains.
As it turns out, that’s easier said than done.
In 2004 and 2005, Smolowitz and partners, with NMFS funding, collected 80-100 hours of video footage of scallop dredging activity. No turtles were captured on film.
“It is evident from these studies that using video to document the specific nature of (turtle, dredge, and turtle chain) interactions … is logistically difficult … due to the low number of interactions,” said NMFS.
In 2004, the turtle encounter rate was estimated to be roughly one take per 1,000 observed dredge hours – a hard act to catch on video.
According to Smolowitz, cooperative research partners have submitted a 2007 RSA proposal to tag and track turtles by satellite to better understand “where they are in the water column.”
He said fishermen and researchers hope to gain better results through tagging since the video work is so difficult.
Janice M. Plante
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