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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 9
May 2008
Fishermen vent frustration over dogfish
BIDDEFORD, ME – After four hours of presentations and discussions at the March 29 dogfish forum here, one thing became perfectly clear. The commercial and recreational fishermen in the room didn’t believe managers had a clue about what was really happening on the water with spiny dogfish.
In addition to research updates from James Sulikowski of the University of New England and Shelly Tallack of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, audience members heard management updates from Paul Perra of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Jim Armstrong, a staffer for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council who also is chairman of the Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee. Armstrong spoke to the crowd by speakerphone from his office in Dover, DE.
Starting off with an overview of the history of the fishery, Armstrong explained that extremely high landings from 1993 through 1998 had a large impact on the stock.
“That brought the biomass of mature females down to about 24% of where it should be to have a good sustainable population,” he said, adding that subsequent restrictions on the fishery had helped the stock rebuild considerably.
“We’ve come a long way. We’re back up to 70%,” he said.
However, Armstrong cautioned that fishermen shouldn’t expect a return of the booming fishery of the old days now that fishery managers have witnessed what can happen to a slow-growing species like dogfish that produces few young at a time.
“Once we get up to 100% and a directed fishery is allowed to resume, the allowable removals won’t be anywhere near as big as they were in the 1990s,” Armstrong predicted.
Perra added that another issue restraining managers was the low pup production of the past seven or so years.
“Our surveys are not showing young dogfish coming into the fishery,” he said.
Dogfish everywhere
Audience members, who listened intently and asked numerous questions, didn’t buy the stock assessment information.
Recreational tuna fisherman Mike Breton said, “The amount of dogfish we’re seeing is unbelievable. Your trawl surveys are very inadequate and don’t tell the whole story.”
Cal Robinson, who conducts guided charters for striped bass and tuna, expressed equal frustration.
“If dogfish were worth a dollar a pound, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now having these discussions,” he said.
“You just can’t fish anymore. Dogfish are a problem and there are going to be repercussions,” Robinson continued. “They’ve completely changed the nature of the fishery. I’ve gone from being an offshore fisherman to an inshore fisherman right in the rivers and bays now.”
Ecosystem impacts
One audience member called out, “What cost will it take before NMFS comes along and says it’s recovered? When will they say there’s more benefit to other species like cod? Dogfish are scavengers of recovering species.”
Perra said, “We’re moving to ecosystem management where we would take all these things into account.”
But Perra and others cautioned that “we’re not there yet,” so for now, NMFS has to adhere to existing stock rebuilding rules.
“Our agency is charged by Congress to rebuild fisheries when they’re down,” said Perra.
He added that the rebuilding situation with dogfish was well underway and the status of the stock had greatly improved.
Audience members, polite with their comments, nonetheless continued to strenuously disagree with the strategy.
“The problem is you’re protecting the wrong fish,” said one.
Another spoke out saying, “It doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would we put the time and effort into recovering a stock that’s devouring our high-value species?”
Mike Breton said, “There’s no anecdotal information being considered. I don’t think you really understand what’s happening with these dogfish. Something has to change and we need to stop doing business as usual.”
Commercial fishermen considered the 600-pound dogfish bycatch trip limit in federal waters to be completely inadequate.
Gillnetter Rob Odlin said when dogfish come through and foul his nets, there can be thousands of pounds of them.
“We need to up the bycatch level,” he said. “It’s crazy. Instead of me dumping them back overboard, I could sell them and pay my fuel bill. I’d like to see 6,000 pounds per day. The price might go up with volume. This could be a valuable fishery.”
Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe agreed that 600 pounds of dogfish at 17 cents per pound didn’t amount to much – just $102.
He urged fishermen to think about what would be a more realistic catch level.
“Even at 20 cents a pound, how many pounds are you going to need at $4 diesel fuel to go 50 miles offshore to fish?” he asked. “These are the kinds of things we need to think about.”
Janice M. Plante
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