COMMERCE
Subscriber Services
Classified Ads
Subscribe
Advertise
NEWS
This Month
Editorial
Letters
F/V Safety
Past Issues
ABOUT US
Contact Us
Latest Issue
Subscribe
History
MORE CONTENT
CFN Archives
Links
Each month exclusively in the PRINT edition of CFN
Along the Coast
Ask the Lobster Doc
Bearin’s
Classifieds
Coming Events
Editorial
Enforcement Report
FISH SAFE
Fleet Additions
Letters
Lobster Market Report
New Boats
News Catch
Quahog Market Report
|
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 12
August 2007
ME to NY ventless trap project collecting vital lobster info
KENNEBUNK, ME – The 2007 Regional Ventless Trap Survey got underway in early June. The cooperative multi-agency study of lobsters from Maine to New York will run until September.
The survey that began in 2006 provides a new way for researchers and fishermen to collect data on the size distribution, abundance, and recruitment of lobster.
“This is the first time we are able to compare apples to apples throughout the region,” said Carl Wilson, lobster biologist for the Maine Department of Maine Resources (DMR).
The fishery-independent study was developed based on a regional sampling design adopted by all the participating states. It differs from other projects because the collecting traps are set based on random computer-generated locations and depths.
The design of the trap being used in the study varies a bit from commercial traps in that it has a smaller wire mesh size of 1" rather than the industry standard of 1-1/2" to keep the captured “snappers” (sublegal lobsters) in the trap.
Through a competitive bid process, Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston and Ketcham Supply in New Bedford have been constructing and supplying the survey traps to the state agencies.
Maine and Rhode Island have subcontracted with the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation to coordinate administrative services and trap pick up.
Funding
The idea for the project stems back to the peer review of the 2005 lobster stock assessment that revealed serious inadequacies in the type of lobster data available for accurate assessments and, therefore, management decisions.
Principal funding for the survey comes from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) through the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act. The act authorizes the secretary of commerce to provide financial assistance to ASMFC and Atlantic coastal states.
In addition to the federal funds, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island allocated additional money to assist in the ventless trap survey projects in their respective states.
The survey is funded through this year and is expected to be extended to 2008, said ASMFC spokesman Tina Berger in early July.
Downeast
Cutler, ME fisherman John Drouin serves on the DMR Lobster Advisory Council and is a lobster Zone A member. A survey participant, he fishes the farthest to the east in Maine of any fisherman in the project, covering Cutler to Milbridge.
He said his interest in the survey was piqued after cruising to various boat races along the coast of Maine and seeing areas where there were no traps.
As part of the survey, traps are set in just those kinds of areas.
“We set traps in places we (fishermen) wouldn’t dream of, but when we hauled them, I was amazed at how many lobsters were in those traps,” said Drouin. “It shows how well the vents work.”
It’s no secret that fishermen Downeast don’t like the trawl survey for lobsters because they don’t approve of dragging the bottom for lobsters. Using the ventless traps is another way to survey the resource, said Drouin.
“I also wanted to show the differences from east to west,” he added. “We don’t have the bays and sounds like they do in western areas and our water temperature is colder.”
The way he sees it, the ventless trap survey is a great opportunity to participate and help collect information for the stock assessment and to help monitor the health of the resource.
“I would like to see the program expanded,” Drouin said.
Western Maine
Fisherman Ed Hutchins II lives approximately 263 miles from Cutler – about a five-hour road trip. But he sets and hauls his survey traps the same way Drouin does.
“When we got to sand bottom, the number of small lobsters amazed us,” said Hutchins. “I have never seen so many snappers.”
Hutchins sets and hauls traps for the regional survey from just east of his homeport of Cape Porpoise in Kennebunkport down to the Isle of Shoals – a 60-mile roundtrip.
“Seeing legal sized lobsters in ventless traps with high numbers of small lobsters runs counter to what I believed – that they don’t co-mingle,” he explained.
“The ‘government’ is going to make decisions whether we like it or not and this provides us an opportunity to sit at the table by working with researchers on the data,” he said.
Hutchins fishes the farthest west of any participating fisherman in Maine. He also volunteers his time for the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation ventless trap survey (see related story page 14C).
“I hope the funding for the survey continues because of the importance of the resource,” he said.
Participation requirements
Each state has it’s own procedures for determining which fishermen can work for the survey.
In Maine, the DMR seeks fishermen through a competitive bid process. Interested fishermen complete an application that includes information on themselves and their vessel specifications such as horsepower and cruising speed, as well as information on electronics, safety equipment, and whether they have the ability to carry 75 traps on board.
Fishermen need to include the area they would like to survey and what they require for a daily charter rate at a fixed cost for an average 12-hour day that includes vessel, crew, fuel, and bait.
All traps, line, and buoys are supplied to the fishermen and the traps are rigged either as triples or in six-trap trawl configurations depending on the area fished.
Participating fishermen are paid a per trip charter rate for hauling as compensation. They are not allowed to keep lobsters or anything else taken on board during survey trap checking and are not allowed to haul their own traps during survey trips.
This ban on catch retention and charter pay rate is very different than how compensation works for fishermen participating in the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation survey.
In addition to Drouin and Hutchins, the fishermen participating in the Maine survey, along with their survey areas, are: Billy Bob Faulkingham, Milbridge to Mount Desert; Brad Billings, Mount Desert to Stonington; Ryan Haskell, Upper Penobscot Bay; Jason Day, Lower Penobscot Bay; John Stotz, Owls Head to Pemaquid Point; Proctor Wells, Pemaquid Point to Harpswell; and Steve Train, Harpswell to Saco Bay.
Maine survey
The survey is divided into two regions – the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England. The regions are then further subdivided according to National Marine Fisheries Service statistical areas.
DMR is responsible for statistical Areas 511, 512, and 513 and for sampling nearly 700 traps during the June-August time period. The DMR’s part of the survey has nine legs from the Canadian border to New Hampshire with each leg having approximately 12 sites. At each site six traps are set – three ventless and three with vents.
The survey traps are set at random computer-generated locations with each leg covering three depth ranges of 0-10, 11-20, and 21-30 fathoms.
Participating fishermen are responsible for hauling each trap twice each month on three-to-five day soaks. Gear is disabled between setting and hauling cycles. Fishermen also need to be able to coordinate with DMR on a sampling schedule. Sea samplers are placed on board each hauling date to record all lobsters, crabs, and fish bycatch.
“We don’t keep the lobsters or the traps,” said Drouin. “Everything that comes up in those traps go back to the same place.”
According to Trish Cheney, DMR researcher and survey coordinator, fishermen in the state worked a total of 72 sites, 24 in each statistical area, in 2006.
“This year, we increased the number of sites to 123,” she said.
For the 2007 survey, DMR added three more legs in the Mount Desert/Isle of Haut, lower Penobscot Bay, and Casco Bay/Cape Elizabeth areas.
“We hope the information and data that is collected will be used in the upcoming stock assessment,” said Cheney.
Pilot project
In the fall of 2004, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) began a random stratified ventless trap pilot project that sampled 40 stations in Massachusetts Bay.
Funding for the pilot survey was made available through the $5 million HubLine Mitigation Fund, which was set up to offset the environmental effects of the laying under Massachusetts Bay of a 30-mile-long natural gas pipeline several years ago and paid for by the Algonquin Gas Transmission Co.
The pilot survey was expanded to 80 stations in Mass Bay and 60 stations in Buzzards Bay in 2005 and 2006, with funding coming from the Northeast Consortium and the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute.
MA survey
Historically, the random stratified bottom trawl survey monitored lobster stocks in Massachusetts, according to DMF lobster biologist Tracy Pugh.
While trawl surveys provide valuable information about lobster stocks, they are prone to biases that increase the degree of uncertainty in population estimates used for management decisions, she explained.
“The random stratified design of the regional survey ensures that we are not just sampling in known lobster ‘hot spots,’ which could artificially inflate abundance estimates,” said Pugh.
Generating the most accurate estimates of relative abundance requires knowing where the lobsters are not as well as knowing where they are, Pugh added.
Although the locations are random, the Massachusetts portion of the survey is limited to state waters and to areas where there is a commercial fishery. The trap locations are in NMFS statistical Area 514 and the shallow areas of 538.
For the 2007 regional project from June to September, six fishermen are surveying 60 stations in Area 514 and three fishermen are surveying 24 stations in Area 538.
The Area 514 fishermen and their ports are: Mark Ring, Gloucester; William Kelley, Cohasset; Dave Kandrick, Sandwich; Susan Michaud, Marblehead; John Barrett, Cohasett; and Thomas O’Reilly, Plymouth.
The Area 538 fishermen and their ports are Aaron Cebula, Henry Cebula, and Arthur De Costa, all from Fairhaven.
“The better the quality of the data we, as biologists, can provide to the managers, the more informed they will be when it comes time to make the tough decisions,” Pugh said.
“The integration of lobster industry members into the data-collection process has fostered improved communication between science and industry and is getting everyone working towards the same goal, a profitable and sustainable lobster fishery,” she concluded.
RI survey
The lobster resource and fishery in Lobster Conservation Management Area 2 has experienced significant declines since the late 1990s.
To address the need for better data on lobster populations, the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife (F&W) initiated its part of the Regional Ventless Trap Survey in July 2006.
Three fishermen from Rhode Island are participating from July to September in NMFS statistical Area 539. They and their boats are: Al Christopher, Miss Stacie; Harry Towne, Carlene Anne; and Steve Seymour, Kacey Liberty.
A total of 24 stations were randomly selected with 12 stations in each of two depth levels. The depth levels sampled in Rhode Island are a bit different than in Maine and Massachusetts because the third depth strata – greater than 30 meters or 16 fathoms – does not exist in Rhode Island state waters.
“In 2006, we sampled 4,306 lobsters – 2,058 males and 2,248 females,” said Dan Costa, F&W fisheries specialist.
Of those, 3,885 were caught in the ventless traps and 421 in vented traps, he said.
According to Costa, this survey is important not only to compare regional trends in abundance coastwide; it also is an opportunity to compare the abundance and size composition of lobsters caught in the ventless traps with those caught during the fisheries trawl survey that has typically been used for lobster stock assessment purposes.
Scientists are concerned that the trawl surveys may be biased in their sampling since they cannot access lobster habitat such as rocky or ledge substrates or cobble and gravel areas closer to land where recruited lobsters live.
The ventless trap survey can access all areas, including those where fixed gear is usually set and can be an unbiased tool to gauge abundance of the Area 2 stock, according to Costa.
“This survey provides a great opportunity to participate with local commercial lobstermen in the stock assessment process. Sharing knowledge and strengthening communications between biologists and industry will lead to a more accurate and efficient sampling process,” he said.
New York, NH
The regional ventless trap survey began in New York in July 2006 in the area of Long Island Sound, which encompasses Connecticut waters.
Kim McKown of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is the state’s contact person for the project. New York and Connecticut Sea Grant provided photographs documenting that portion of the Regional Ventless Trap Survey.
At press time, the Marine Division of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department had not responded to CFN’s request for information on its portion of the survey.
For more information on the Regional Ventless Trap Survey, contact the following:
• Maine DMR – Trish Cheney, phone (207) 633-9677 or e-mail <trisha.cheney@maine.gov> or Carl Wilson, phone (207) 633-9538 or e-mail <carl.wilson@maine.gov>;
• Massachusetts DMF – Tracy Pugh, phone (508) 9990-2860 X141 or e-mail <tracy.pugh@state.ma.us>; or
• Rhode Island Division of Fish & Wildlife – Dan Costa, phone (401) 423-1944 or e-mail <dan.costa@dem.ri.gov>.
Rosanne Mizzoni
Back to story list
|
|
Tell us what you think.
