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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 9
May 2008
Dogfish: Special Report
You’d be hard pressed to find a commercial or recreational fisherman in the Northeast who doesn’t have a few choice words to say about spiny dogfish. Considered to be the “plague of the ocean,” this schooling species of voracious predators has become the bane of fishermen everywhere, regardless of the gear they use.
• Tag data: Dogfish swim far, fast, very deep
• Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine eat cod, herring
• Dogfish produce pups all year long
• Mischmetal not feasible as deterrent
• Dogfish discard mortality rates
• Fishermen vent frustration over dogfish
What is it with these fish, and how can people be at such disparate odds over how to deal with them?
Environmentalists hold a heavy club over the fishery. They are impenetrable in their position, utterly fixated on increasing the female component of the population to the highest level possible. Their argument? “We need to ensure adequate pup production for the future.”
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), with its hand forced by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, continues its steady march forward on the rebuilding mission.
While it may be hard to believe considering the total inflexibility of dogfish management, we appear to be almost there in terms of stock rebuilding. The biomass of large females has grown significantly in recent years and is now at 70% of its target level.
But because that’s not good enough in the eyes of the law, NMFS refuses to ease up on the federal waters commercial trip limits – 600 pounds for bycatch purposes only. The federal dogfish plan, developed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils, prohibits a directed fishery on dogfish until the female component of the stock is fully rebuilt. So does the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s plan for state waters, although the interstate body has called for significantly higher catch limits.
To fishermen, the very idea of producing more pups and increasing the already enormous biomass of dogfish is nothing short of ludicrous. Spiny dogfish are everywhere. At certain times in certain places, they make it impossible to fish for anything else. You can’t drop a hook in the water or set a net without getting completely fouled with dogfish, sometimes thousands – literally thousands – of them.
Worse yet, practically all those fish – minus the few fishermen can retain under the small bycatch quota – must be thrown overboard. The waste, the fouled nets and lines, the lost time, the spent fuel, and the financial setback are generating deep anger and resentment across the board.
On March 29, roughly 50 commercial and recreational fishermen and industry representatives gathered at the University of New England in Biddeford, ME to talk about dogfish.
The forum – organized by James Sulikowski of the university’s Marine Science Center, Jay Allocca of Vessel Services Inc., Mike Jancovic of Maine River and Sea Charters, and tuna fisherman Phil Grondin of South Portland’s Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament – was an opportunity to learn more about how dogfish are managed and, more importantly, about ongoing and new research that’s producing fascinating insights into the migration patterns, feeding habits, and pupping cycle of these fish.
CFN Associate Editor Janice Plante and staff photographer Peter Prybot attended the forum. This “Dogfish Special Report” details the revelations and discussions that took place. –Editor
• Tag data: Dogfish swim far, fast, very deep
• Dogfish in the Gulf of Maine eat cod, herring
• Dogfish produce pups all year long
• Mischmetal not feasible as deterrent
• Dogfish discard mortality rates
• Fishermen vent frustration over dogfish
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