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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 6
February 2006
2005 scallop video survey results now out
NEW BEDFORD, MA – For the third year in a row, scallop vessels carried researchers to conduct a comprehensive video survey of the ocean bottom to determine the size of the scallop biomass throughout the range of the resource in US waters.
Nine different fishing vessels participated in the 2005 survey: Resolute, Guidance, Celtic, Settler, Mary Anne, Huntress, Venture, Liberty, and Edgartown.
All told, these commercial scallopers covered roughly 16,000 square nautical miles through four Mid-Atlantic cruises and six Georges Bank cruises between April 26 and Aug. 23.
They collected video samples at 1,825 stations with research partners from the School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
In mid-January, the SMAST team, headed up by Kevin Stokesbury and Brad Harris, was able to report the latest findings. The estimate of the overall scallop biomass from the 2005 survey area totaled 334.9 million pounds. Of that, 187.7 million pounds were on Georges Bank and 147.2 million pounds were in the Mid-Atlantic.
The results compare to past years as follows:
2004 video survey – 202.4 million pounds on Georges and 135.3 million pounds in the Mid-Atlantic for an overall stock size of 337.7 million pounds; and
2003 video survey – 212.9 million pounds on Georges and 181.8 million pounds in the Mid-Atlantic for an overall stock size of 394.7 million pounds.
The SMAST scallop video survey is now considered to be the biggest marine survey of its kind in the world.
Industry funds work
As in previous years, the survey was funded almost entirely by industry, with SMAST providing scientific support and covering overhead.
By the time 2005 came to an end, 97 fishing vessels and over half a dozen processors and gear suppliers had contributed roughly $58,400 in cash. Coupled with $11,659 in contributions remaining from 2004, the survey team had over $70,000 in operating funds.
In addition, six companies donated fuel. New Bedford Ship Supply donated food for all the trips during the survey.
“To me that was phenomenal,” said Danny Eilertsen, captain of the Liberty. “When I looked at all those donations, it showed that we had a group of fishermen and boat owners who were willing to just get the job done. I’m proud to be a part of that.”
Hudson Canyon
The 2005 survey got underway on April 26 when the Huntress set sail for Hudson Canyon.
Under the rotational area management schedule, scallopers were allocated three Hudson Canyon trips for 2005, but the catch per tow there had dropped so dramatically that most boats struggled to make the trips pay. Many decided to forego the area entirely, and the New England Fishery Management Council and its scallop plan development team (PDT) were bombarded with calls to take corrective action.
Because of the concerns, organizers decided to begin the 2005 survey in Hudson Canyon, rather than further south, to see if they could document what had happened there.
The Huntress surveyed the bottom throughout the area, returned home on May 1 and, by May 4, Brad Harris, project manager for SMAST’s marine fisheries field research group, was presenting the PDT with survey findings.
Since the Hudson Canyon area was also thoroughly video surveyed in 2003 and 2004, Harris was able to show the PDT charts and data that documented a significant decrease in biomass from one year to the next.
In the end, the New England council, which was working on Framework Adjustment 18 to the scallop plan, decided to maintain Hudson Canyon as a “controlled access area” until Feb. 29, 2008 and agreed to allow vessels with unused 2005 Hudson Canyon trips to take them during 2006 and 2007. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) still must approve the framework.
A year’s work
After the Huntress, the Venture sailed next, continuing the video survey in the Mid-Atlantic.
Then the Liberty went, first on a dedicated tagging trip and then on a video survey cruise.
The Edgartown wrapped up the Mid-Atlantic portion of the survey, and then the Resolute headed out to Closed Area II on Georges Bank. The Guidance, Celtic, Settler, and Mary Anne followed in sequence to complete the Georges Bank survey.
Equipment additions
At times, the SMAST/industry teams gathered images of the bottom on a finer scale to study the impact of fishing gear on habitat and learn more about what happens to the benthic fauna.
According to Kevin Stokesbury, chairman of SMAST’s new Department of Fisheries Oceanography (see related story previous page), the habitat work and video survey in general were greatly enhanced this year by the addition of two pieces of equipment.
One was a high resolution digital “still” camera, which was added to the survey pyramid to compliment the three video cameras.
The other was a new instrument, called a CTD, that collected salinity, temperature, and depth measurements as the pyramid made its way through the water column. Once the pyramid hit bottom, the CTD recorded water flow velocity and direction at half-second intervals.
“The new technology was a big addition for us this year,” said Stokesbury.
Harris added, “Now we know the physical condition of the ocean at every station.”
Dredge efficiency
The NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducts annual scallop stock assessments using a research vessel that tows a dredge.
Last year, Stokesbury and the center’s Paul Rago began working together on a project that utilizes video survey images to better gauge dredge performance.
“You don’t capture every scallop in front of the dredge, so we’re comparing densities from the dredge and the video survey,” said Rago. “What we’re doing is using an additional technique to estimate dredge efficiency.”
Not that the work has been easy. SMAST and the center have been striving to resolve issues of concern on both sides. But Rago and Stokesbury are both enthused about the project and think that, in the end, it will lead to better biomass estimates all the way around.
“It really gives you two perspectives on the stock,” said Rago of the video and dredge survey methodologies.
Keep it going
With the 2005 survey behind them, scallopers now have their sights set on the year ahead.
At a Jan. 13 meeting of SMAST’s scallop steering committee, roughly 15 industry members vowed to help fund the 2006 survey and gave SMAST the go-ahead.
The planning is already well along.
“This is going to be a huge summer for us,” Harris predicted.
The SMAST team was lining up 15 cruises. Nine of them will be video survey trips to cover the continental shelf in order to obtain another estimate of stock size. There will also be one dedicated tagging cruise and five more-focused cruises to specific areas.
The video cruises will be funded by industry, the tagging cruise will be carried out with congressional funding, and the focused cruises will be funded through the New England council’s research set-aside program, which is administered by NMFS.
These research set-aside cruises will be carried out at a higher resolution to study habitat in the Great South Channel, the impacts of fishing in the Georges Bank closed areas, and video survey performance.
Partnership
According to Harriet Didriksen of New Bedford Ship Supply, scallopers believe the video survey and related projects are vital to their future.
“I’m very supportive of the survey,” she said. “I own a boat. My business is based on fishing. My community thrives on fishing. We have to keep abreast.”
And the best way to do that, Didriksen said, is to support science because it’s the standard by which everything is measured these days.
“If you’re going to have a fighting chance, you’ve got to have the science behind you,” she said.
The reason fishermen support the SMAST work is because they feel like partners in the research, Didriksen added.
“It feels like we’re involved and it’s all laid out on the table. If we ask questions, they explain it. With the university, I know the people are working with me and not against me,” she said.
Didriksen and others still credit SMAST for getting the fleet back into the groundfish closed areas.
“If it hadn’t been for the work they did in 1998 (and 1999), we never would have gotten those areas open. We’ve been very grateful,” she said.
Grateful, yes, but Didriksen emphasized that scallopers weren’t looking to influence SMAST’s research in any way.
“We’re not looking for bias. We’re just looking for the truth,” she said.
Janice M. Plante
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