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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 32 Number 12
July 2005
Fishermen air cooperative research gripes
SEABROOK, NH - Emotions were raging as hard as the northeast gale outside on May 24 when 20 northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire coastal groundfishermen held a meeting with a single question in mind: Is cooperative research a racket or research?
Jim Antanavich, a New Hampshire commercial fisherman, set up and moderated the meeting. The Yankee Fishermen’s Co-op donated the meeting space but did not take part.
Upon invitation, Troy Hartley of the Northeast Consortium attended to listen to concerns and to explain consortium policies and how to get involved in cooperative research.
Also attending were researcher Pingguo He of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Ken La Valley of UNH Cooperative Extension, who helps fishermen find scientists to work with on cooperative research projects.
The consortium and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Cooperative Research Partners Program (CRPP), formerly known as the Cooperative Research Partnership Initiative, administer most of the cooperative research funding awards in this region.
In a follow-up phone interview, CRPP Acting Director Chris Moore said he did not receive an invitation to the meeting.
“I would have liked to come,” he said.
Two New Hampshire fishermen, David Goethel, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council and a cooperative research participant, and Erik Anderson, a former council member and cooperative research participant, attended to comment and answer questions.
Rolling closure activity
Although the protesters indicated they had not been happy about many past cooperative research projects, two fishing vessels working in the rolling closure area off of New Hampshire in May were what brought concerns to a head.
“We are not jealous. We are angry,” said Capt. Mike Pike of Seabrook, who spoke for the group, which was made up mainly of dayboat fishermen. “All we want is a fair playing field.”
To Hartley, Pike said, “You don’t know what it’s like to be almost broke, have to stay tied to the dock because of the rolling closures, and watch these two boats fish three or four miles off the coast, come in, and sell the fish when we are starving.”
Rye, NH vessel owner and operator Mike Anderson, who has spent thousands of dollars to buy additional groundfish days-at-sea to make his operation run in the black, spoke at length as to why the group was upset about cooperative research in general.
“The government should not be the deciding factor in which fishermen will survive. Allowing vessels lucrative grants to fish largely uninhibited without regulations and splitting the jackpot while others can only watch is unfair,” he said.
Anderson called research “big business” and the fishermen taking part in it “opportunists.”
“Grants have spread resentment and ill feelings,” he said. “Since the age of 13, I have witnessed UNH’s involvement in aquaculture. After 40 years and millions spent, where’s the beef? Stop using us as tokens to legitimize your request for more funding.”
Important results
Responding to the complaints, Erik Anderson said, “There have been goods and bads in cooperative research.”
Hartley pointed out that the information generated through cooperative research dramatically changed the course of whiting, shrimp, and sea scallop management.
“Without the cooperative research, where would the New Bedford scallop industry be today?” he asked.
In the days following this meeting, fishermen elsewhere credited cooperative research with the development of the Nordmore grate and the raised footrope trawl, which have made it possible to keep the shrimp and whiting fisheries open.
Hard to watch
Mike Anderson further explained why the protesters were so enraged at seeing the two vessels in the closed area in May. He pointed out that concentrations of spawning codfish are at their highest levels during the three consecutive monthly closures in April, May, and June each year.
“It is inconceivable as well as ethically questionable that anyone could be able to profit from these very areas that commercial fishermen have been completely removed from,” he said.
Goethel immediately responded, “Closed area access (for fishermen in the future) will only be gained through research. You have to prove scientifically that you can fish in those areas with gear that won’t catch codfish.”
Seeing results can take time, he added.
“It takes about four or five years for this data to enter the regulatory system,” Goethel said.
And, as it turns out, the fishermen participating in these particular CRPP-funded cooperative research projects are not allowed to keep the proceeds from the fish they sell.
Anyone can apply
Pike also questioned why it seemed that the same fishing vessels got the opportunity to participate year after year.
Hartley pointed out that any fisherman can propose projects. Fishermen are also encouraged to team up with researchers who are applying for grants.
The Northeast Consortium has an extensive network of outreach contractors who are available to guide fishermen who want to become involved with cooperative research.
These include the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which all provide assistance to fishermen looking to apply for grants or to partner with researchers.
In direct answer to Pike’s question, researcher Pingguo He said, “Why don’t you come to me?”
Hartley acknowledged that the consortium application process can seem daunting to first-timers. Many successful applicants have had to try two or three times before being funded, he added, encouraging fishermen to work with an outreach partner and reapply.
“Don’t get discouraged if you are not accepted the first time,” he said.
An open invitation
The CRPP, which works closely with the New England council, is working on improving its industry outreach, according to Marla Trollan, NMFS Northeast Region outreach and communications coordinator.
The CRPP is working on a video to explain how cooperative research is used in the management process and to encourage industry participation. It also is planning to hold informational workshops in the fall, she said.
In the follow-up interview, Chris Moore said that fishermen have to apply and bid to participate in CRPP research projects.
“Anyone can apply for research money,” he said. “Money for cooperative research is tied to very specific, critical management questions.”
He encouraged anyone with questions or with an interest in getting involved with cooperative research to call him at (978) 281-9337 or e-mail him at <christopher.m.moore@noaa.gov>.
Fishermen don’t profit
Both of the controversial projects are CRPP funded through NMFS. The Stormy Weather, a small dragger out of Rye, NH, is the sole research vessel on one of the cooperative research projects questioned by the protesters.
According to Moore, the project is slated to run from Sept. 20, 2004 to March 19, 2006. Pingguo He is the principal investigator.
The project involves designing and testing – at sea and in a flume tank – a rope separator trawl that is supposed to catch and retain haddock and pollock and release cod and flounders in inshore Gulf of Maine waters, Moore explained. The operator is required to use his B days-at-sea for the project.
“The fisherman sells all the legal-size fish within possession limits but all of the proceeds are to be returned to the project,” said Moore.
He explained that project principals charter fishermen and their boats and compensate them for the use of their equipment and time spent doing research.
“Does the fisherman profit from the sale of the fish? The answer is no,” Moore said.
Research benefits everyone
The other vessel fishermen have seen in the closed areas is the Lisa Ann II, a medium-sized dragger out of Newburyport, MA. She is part of a four-vessel team working on a five-year CRPP-funded project called the Industry-Based Survey, which is being overseen by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
As part of the project, each vessel spends 50 days a year sampling its own specific stations between Maine and Rhode Island for the presence of cod. Researchers do the sea sampling with trawls having 3" to 4-1/2" mesh twine in the body and 2" mesh in the cod end.
The participants age, sex, measure, and count much of the catch. These boats don’t use their days-at-sea.
Although they must return all undersize fish to the sea, they sell the rest of the catch and return those proceeds to the project.
The bottom line, according to Moore, is that the research projects are providing information that will improve fishery management.
“Not everyone participates, but the research benefits everyone,” he said.
Consortium policy
In a follow-up interview, Hartley said that the consortium has established a policy on fish sales associated with the cooperative research projects it funds in response to concerns raised last year over a NMFS permit condition allowing vessels to keep 50 percent of fish sale proceeds. This policy will be applied to all future contracts.
“We expect any research that catches fish to land those fish and to return 75 percent of the proceeds to the consortium, where it goes into the general fund where it is available to all applicants the following year,” he said.
The remaining 25 percent will go to the boat to cover additional expenses associated with handling fish during research. This is on top of the negotiated day rate, which often falls in the $1,500-$2,500-per-day range, Hartley explained.
A number of fishermen have said that a lot of the hard feelings about cooperative research began a few years ago when participants were allowed to keep more of the catch receipts.
The protest group plans to try to get its viewpoint out to the public and also plans to circulate a petition asking the New Hampshire congressional delegation to review cooperative research procedures and make any changes deemed necessary.
Peter Prybot
Lorelei Stevens
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