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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 10
June 2008
Whale scientists call for ‘rope-less’ fishing
BALTIMORE, MD – When it comes right down to it, some of the most notable whale scientists in the Northeast aren’t convinced that sinking groundlines and weak links do all that much to protect endangered whales from entanglements. In fact, they now believe the only way to end the entanglement threat is “rope-less” fishing, meaning gear that doesn’t leave any rope in the water column.
That was the conclusion of scientists and researchers who met on Feb. 26 in Boston as the “Large Whale Entanglement Working Group” to discuss entanglements, existing and scheduled gear modifications, and fishing practices.
A paper describing the group’s findings was distributed during the April 28-May 1 meeting of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT).
“It was the consensus of this meeting that, although we recognize the difficulties fishermen face in this conflict with whales, the only certain method that we can imagine to eliminate deadly entanglements of right and other large whales is the complete removal of ropes from the water column,” the paper stated.
As a result, the group recommended that fishery managers and the fishing industry make research and development of “rope-less” fishing methods a priority.
“We believe that in accordance with the results of risk-based assessment of the large whale entanglement problem, the inescapable conclusion is a need to prioritize the allocation of resources for the research and development of a practical and affordable rope-less fishing technology,” the authors said.
Among the 14 who contributed to the paper were: Scott Kraus, Amy Knowlton, and Moira Brown of the New England Aquarium; Scott Landry, Stormy Mayo, and Jooke Robbins of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies; and Mason Weinrich of the Whale Center of New England.
Are you kidding?
Several TRT members interviewed suggested that the paper’s conclusions were so far removed from reality that they were hard to take seriously.
“It makes it seem like they don’t care about anyone else, just saving the whales,” said one.
Another remarked, “It doesn’t seem like a good faith way to work with the industry. It seems crazy.”
In fact, even the paper’s authors admitted that “a transition from current fishing methods to rope-less fishing seems infeasible, and it is doubtful that anyone presently considers this as being the most likely future method of pot fishing in the northwest Atlantic.”
However, the paper was a clear reflection of the frustration that the scientific community is experiencing over the continuing entanglement of endangered large whales, particularly right and humpback whales.
While not involved in the paper directly, Vicki Cornish of The Ocean Conservancy said it captured her feelings about the whale protection measures that have been tried over the last decade.
“Seasonal area management (SAM), dynamic area management (DAM), weak links … none have shown any reduction in the entanglement rate,” she said.
Discouraging stats
Citing a dozen-and-a-half studies and additional analyses of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) data, the scientists said there were 145 confirmed large whale entanglement events along the US East Coast between 2002 and 2006 involving blue, North Atlantic right, sei, Bryde’s, common minke, and humpback whales. Because they are the most studied, right and humpback whale entanglements are the source of most of the data.
“This level of entanglement is not sustainable, nor is it legal under the mandates of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act,” the authors wrote.
A report submitted to NMFS in February documented a total of 625 unique right whale entanglement events between 1980 and 2004 and stated that 72.6% of the population either bore entanglement scars or were seen carrying gear.
The majority of these whales broke free of the gear on their own. However over the 24-year period, 56 events involving 51 individuals (some were seen entangled more than once) involved whales either carrying gear or with deep cuts related to entanglement.
Of these, at least five whales were known to have died and 11 “disappeared” and were “likely dead.” During the same period, 12 right whales were successfully disentangled, meaning all life-threatening gear was removed, and 10 of those were known to have survived.
Since 2004, an additional 14 right whales have been seen carrying gear, including four new cases in 2008. Of the 14, five have been partially or fully disentangled.
Getting worse
Particularly troubling to the scientists were signs that the “severity” of entanglements has increased since the early 1990s. The criteria they used to define severity were twofold – the complexity of the entanglement, meaning wrapping of line around any part of a whale’s body, and evidence of line cutting into tissue.
While New England Aquarium scientists are currently trying to document why entanglements are more severe, the authors listed these possible factors:
The use of stronger ropes as more lobstermen fish farther and farther from shore;
Gillnet fishermen in the Gulf of Maine switching over to lobstering, which entails the use of many more ropes than gillnetting; and
A change in manufacturing processes to make rope stronger.
The stronger rope hypothesis stems from a review of entanglements that observed “a higher degree of abrasion and cutting in scars” among whales no longer carrying gear. This suggested that whales that get entangled and either are freed by human disentanglement teams or get free of the gear themselves are entangled longer than they used to be.
And this led the scientists to suggest that even whales that are disentangled and survive might experience long-term health problems that can result in a reduction in their ability to reproduce or thrive.
False security
The scientists stated that they believed the absence of “an affordable and workable technology for rope-less gear fishing” has led the TRT, fishermen, engineers, and researchers to focus on “mitigation approaches” such as sinking groundlines and weak links when neither approach really fixes the problem.
Of rules that require fishermen to use a weak link between the buoy and the vertical endline, the scientists said there was no evidence that the gear modification eliminated or even reduced the frequency of entanglements.
Of the elimination of floating groundlines and replacement of them with sinking groundlines, the scientists wrote, “This is likely a better option than having ropes in the water column either floating or in low profile, although conclusive scientific evidence for this opinion is lacking.”
They added that there also was “a small possibility” that any reduction in groundline entanglements due to the use of sink rope “could be offset by mouth entanglements in species” known to feed on or near the sea floor, which includes right and humpback whales.
Research priorities
The authors of the paper made it clear that they were in no way suggesting that any of the current and pending whale protection rules should be repealed. Instead, they said they hoped the frank discussion would prompt a change in research priorities.
They said that top on the list should be the development of rope-less fishing traps through cooperative research between fishermen and conservation gear engineers.
“Traps would need to be cost effective and durable. The retrieval method must be safe to implement and (the traps) uniquely coded for each individual fisherman. And there must be some method to monitor effort and trap limit compliance,” the paper stated.
Other priorities included research to better determine: breaking strength and type of gear involved in entanglements; where whales are likely to show up relative to fishing gear; where whales travel and how they behave; what scars reveal about how whales get entangled; feasibility of gear modifications such as “illuminated” ropes, which whales may be able to avoid; the biological impact of entanglements on whale health; and much more.
Ultimately, the scientists hope to convince fishermen that they, too, can benefit from taking even greater steps to end entanglements.
“For entrepreneurial fishermen willing to experiment with a rope-less fishing alternative, among the potential rewards and incentives is an opportunity to meet the demand for ‘whale-friendly’ lobster that would capture higher prices in the marketplace,” the scientists said.
Lorelei Stevens
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