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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 7
March 2006
Mid-Atlantic fishermen trade in poly for sink line
POINT PLEASANT, NJ - More than three dozen Mid-Atlantic lobster and sea bass pot fishermen recently took advantage of a federal rope exchange program to turn in more than 200,000 pounds of floating line for replacement vouchers worth $2 per pound toward the purchase of sinking line.
The program was designed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation following the success of a similar program organized by the International Fund For Animal Welfare, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in 2004.
That exchange also was funded by NMFS as part of the agency’s ongoing effort to remove poly float line from the ocean in order to reduce the risk of entanglement to large whales, particularly northern right whales.
NMFS expects that the long-awaited final rule implementing changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) will be announced in June or July, according to Dave Gouveia, marine mammal coordinator for the NMFS Northeast Region. That rule is expected to include a phase-out of most float rope used in most fixed-gear fishing areas.
Mid-Atlantic program
Last fall, in preparation for the Mid-Atlantic rope exchange, NMFS contacted approximately 1,000 federal and state permit holders in New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.
To be eligible to participate, fishermen had to prove that they fished in waters regulated by the ALWTRP. The exchange program accepted only actively fished line and required it to be coiled to be accepted. Fishermen also had to pre-register.
In all, 38 fishermen participated in the exchange, which was held in mid-January in Point Pleasant and Sea Isle City, NJ, Ocean City, MD, and Norfolk, VA.
According to observations by Glenn Salvador, NMFS’s Mid-Atlantic gear research and outreach liaison, these fishermen probably represented 80 percent to 90 percent of the active fixed fear fishermen in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
Greg DiDomenico, executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, said he thought most of New Jersey’s fixed gear fishermen participated in the exchange as well.
“In response to the anticipated large whale rule, a lot of New Jersey fishermen wanted to know if a Massachusetts-type of program was going to happen down here,” DiDomenico said. “I think probably every fixed gear fisherman in New Jersey participated.”
Biggest bang
According to Gouveia, the agency started mulling over funding a Mid-Atlantic rope exchange program when it received its fiscal year (FY) ‘05 right whale appropriation about a year ago.
“We began thinking about what areas we wanted to target with this buyback program,” Gouveia said. “We wanted to focus on an area where we would get the biggest bang for our buck.”
The agency briefly considered funding an exchange program for Maine but quickly realized the $600,000 available wouldn’t go very far.
NMFS also considered partnering with the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to target fixed-gear fishermen who fish in the sanctuary but soon found out that most of those fishermen had participated in the Massachusetts program.
That left the Mid-Atlantic.
Calculating rope weight
From Jan. 10 to Jan. 19, the 38 pre-registered fishermen turned their rope in at four drop-off stations. While Massachusetts lobstermen went to local dump sites where they could weigh their rope, the Mid-Atlantic fishermen were not required to weigh in.
Instead, Gouveia explained that the line weight was based on a volumetric measure of how much coiled rope a cardboard Gaylord shipping box could hold.
In preparation for the exchange, John Higgins, NMFS’s Northeast gear research and outreach liaison, weighed an approximately 4' square Gaylord shipping box filled with coiled poly rope and came up with a weight of approximately 450 pounds.
So one Gaylord box of coiled rope equaling 450 pounds became the standard measure for the Mid-Atlantic exchange.
During the registration process, NMFS asked fishermen to provide an estimated weight for the amount of line they wanted to turn in and provided a few examples to help them figure out how to determine that weight.
In a Dec. 9 follow-up letter, NMFS instructed fishermen who had pre-registered to bring their poly line in coils no heavier than what could be lifted by one man.
At the drop-off sites, the fishermen loaded the coiled rope into shipping boxes and picked up their vouchers.
Participating rope dealers
At a $2-per-pound reimbursement rate, NMFS figured that the cost of replacing float line with sink line was covered by about 75 percent to 100 percent.
The agency based that determination on sink line costs of $1.85 to $2.40 per pound.
On the registration forms, NMFS asked participating fishermen to include the name and phone number of the marine supplier from whom they typically bought their rope.
Based on that information, 12 suppliers were identified and contacted and nine agreed to accept the vouchers. They were:
• Fishermen’s Supply, Point Pleasant, NJ;
• Industrial Marine Marketing, Wakefield, RI;
• I. Coopers Marine Supply/Ocean Products, Diggs, VA;
• IMP Fishing Gear, New Bedford, MA;
• Friendship Trap Co., Friendship, ME;
• Ketcham Supply Corp., New Bedford, MA;
• Mike Keller Ltd, Manteo, NC;
• New England Marine and Industrial Inc., Portsmouth, NH; and
• Sea Gear Marine Supply, Cape May, NJ.
All together, NMFS said it spent a total of $310,000 on the rope exchange program: $210,000 in vouchers to fishermen; $50,000 for recycling; and $50,000 to run the program.
Recycling
A goal of both the Mid-Atlantic and the Massachusetts rope exchange programs was to make sure the collected poly line didn’t end up back in the water column or in landfills.
The recycling expenses included a trucking fee that covered the Gaylord shipping boxes, pallets, and trucking, as well as a one-time, 10-cent-per-pound fee to Conigliaro Industries in Framingham, MA for offloading and recycling.
“The poly line was collected coiled in order to facilitate the proper and safe feeding of the line into the recycling and grinding machines,” NMFS said.
Conigliaro specializes in environmentally sound recycling and disposal of unique solid wastes.
According to NMFS, the recycled poly line could end up as greenhouse and landscaping planters, crates, totes, and seed trays. The line also may be made into Plas-Crete stone-face finished blocks used by the landscaping trade. The blocks are made from a combination of recycled plastic and concrete and weigh half as much as concrete blocks.
“The key here is that this line will not be used in another fishery,” NMFS said. “Nor will it be sitting in a landfill.”
Lorelei Stevens
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