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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 1
September 2005
Herring midwater trawls tested at flume tank
ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND – Roughly 25 industry members traveled to Newfoundland in mid-June to test three herring midwater trawl models in one of the largest flume tank facilities in the world, and they were joined by close to two dozen Irish fishermen who crossed the Atlantic with some of their own gear.
Two of the three US net designs showed tremendous promise in the flume tank tests. And by early August, the Western Sea Fishing Company’s midwater trawlers Challenger and Endeavour and Voyager were the first to successfully land trips in Gloucester using modified nets.
The flume tank trip was hosted and largely funded by Swan Net East Coast Services in Gloucester and by Swan Net Gundry Ltd. in Gundry, Ireland.
“I thought it was the most fascinating trip I ever went on,” said Peter Mullen of Gloucester, who owns the Osprey, Western Venture, and Western Wave. “Just to see how the nets actually operated under different settings was very informative.”
Nick Jenkins, vessel manager for the Newington, NH-based Jean McCausland, Isabelle Taylor, and Priscilla Nolin, also made the trip, as did Declan Conneely, who captains the Jean McCausland.
Of the experience in general, Jenkins said, “It really made a huge impact. It gave me a good feel for how those nets act, and it also showed me that there are many variations on what you can do with a net.”
Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association (ECPA), said the trip was extremely productive because it allowed working skippers to evaluate for themselves trawl modifications that are likely to improve haddock escapement.
“I think the primary thing that people learned on the trip is that there’s value to experimenting with the design of a trawl to improve selectivity,” she said.
Two options
Of the two designs selected for future experimental work, one utilizes larger mesh in the top sheet “to exploit haddock’s natural tendency to rise in a trawl,” and the other incorporates larger mesh all the way around the net further back in the trawl to allow for even more haddock escapement.
This second design-change has already been integrated into a few new nets built for US fishermen by Swan Net Gundry Ltd.
According to several industry members, fishermen who need to buy brand new midwater trawl nets most likely will select the second option because of the increased amount of large mesh.
But new nets are extremely expensive, so fishermen with perfectly good existing nets probably will opt to do their own gear work and sew larger mesh into the top sheet. This approach also tested well in the flume tank, they said.
At-sea experiment
In addition to the fact that some midwater trawlers have begun using modified nets on their own, ECPA has applied for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) so that vessels can further experiment with the modified nets from August through October in a more formal scientific study that’s being coordinated by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI).
Almost a dozen-and-a-half boats expressed an interest in participating in the project. However, the EFP notice, which was published in the Federal Register on July 20 with an Aug. 4 comment deadline, stipulated that no more than four vessels could work under the permit at any given time.
Any haddock taken during the gear trials will count against the fleet’s overall 270,000-pound haddock bycatch cap that was recently instituted under emergency action.
According to GMRI’s Shale Rosen, the study will get underway as soon as the EFP and final funding are in line.
“The idea is that vessels will be alternating between their existing nets and the experimental nets on the same trip,” said Rosen.
Furthermore, underwater video gear will be used to record the different vertical distribution and reaction behavior between herring and haddock.
The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences will oversee data collection during the study period.
Flume tank tips
Many midwater trawl fishermen understandably are reserving judgment until they try the modified nets themselves. But the flume tank work was revealing in more ways than one.
“You think you know what the net’s doing, but … ,” said Mullen.
He believed many captains who made the trip picked up a number of useful net-tweaking tips, which alone will improve trawl efficiency.
Furthermore, the interactions between US and Irish fishermen turned out to be a huge bonus. Irish fishermen are tried-and-true veterans of pelagic fishing with decades of experience.
“The guys from Ireland were extremely knowledgeable and they were more than happy to share the knowledge they had,” said Jenkins. “The Swan Net folks were kind of the link between us. We’re fortunate they stepped up to be the primary sponsor of the trip.”
Rosen said another beneficial aspect of the trip was that it gave US midwater trawlers concentrated time with each other.
“There were representatives from nearly all of the Category 1 vessels, so we had a chance to get almost all of the larger players together at the same time,” he said.
Georges trips
In early August, midwater trawl boats were just beginning to make a few offshore trips to Georges Bank again.
By several accounts, the trips were successful, producing nice hauls of herring with no bycatch.
That didn’t surprise Peter Mullen.
“Last year was the first year we had the problem,” he said.
Nonetheless, even if this particular issue fades away, fish stocks in general are recovering, “and that’s a good thing,” said Jenkins.
But with that welcome event will come other inevitable bycatch problems.
“This haddock thing just popped up. We didn’t know it was going to happen,” he said. “But if we had this anomaly once, it certainly could happen again.”
With that in mind, the fleet seems prepared to stay the course.
“The idea that you can modify gear to make it more selective is going to be a very crucial factor in the future,” Jenkins said.
“I think everyone is aware that the more progressive we are and the more forward thinking we are, the better off we’ll all be. It just makes sense,” he said.
Janice M. Plante
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