Transcript Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

River Herring Bycatch
Avoidance in Small Mesh
Fisheries
Sustainable Fisheries
Coalition
Kevin Stokesbury:
Principle Investigator
Daniel Goergianna:
Principle Investigator
Dave Bethoney:
Study Lead/PhD
candidate
Mike Armstrong:
Principle
Investigator
Bill Hoffman:
Port sampling
coordinator
Brad Schondelmeier:
Field Coordinator
Peter Moore:
Principle Investigator
Population Decline
ASMFC (2009)
Population Decline
Past overfishing
Environmental factors
Pollution
Spawning Habitat Loss ↑Predator Populations Incidental catch at sea
Project Objectives
1. Expand port sampling program (MA DMF)
• From 15% to 50%
2. Reduce river herring bycatch:
• Real-time fleet communication system (MA
DMF/SMAST)
3. Environmental predictors of river herring
bycatch/abundance (SMAST)
Port Sampling
• Sampling scheme
– Systematic sampling
– Whole boat samples
• Mid-water trawl (MA)
– 2010 -2012: ~59%
• RI SMBT
– 4 boats: ~50%
– ~28% 2012 Area 2
Landings
River Herring Avoidance System
Observed bycatch
Mid-Water trawls 2000-Sept2010
35 tows (of ≈350) > 2,000kg
80% of bycatch by weight
High: Alosa weight >1.25% of target species weight
Moderate: Between 1.25% and 0.2%
Low: <0.2%
Communication approach
• Coded grids
–Cells:≈5x8Nm
–Distributed to
vessels
Avoidance Areas
Evaluation Metrics
• Industry Support
– Collaboration
– Movement
• Separation of target species and river herring
– Patterns
– Space/time
• Bycatch reduction
Industry Collaboration
• Participation
– 11 of 12 mid-water trawl vessels
• Consistent Communication
– Phone calls/Emails/In person
• Captains, crew, or onshore managers
– MA DMF trip log completion
• Movement patterns
– Re-entry into high bycatch cells
• 1 of 9
– Direction of effort
Spatial, Temporal Separation
Winter 2012: RI SMBT
2/9
Spatial, Temporal Separation
Winter 2012: RI SMBT
2/9 to 2/15
Bycatch reduction
• Grant objective: 50% reduction
– Acceptable range 44 to 380 mt
• Bycatch Rates
• Reduced frequency of high bycatch events
Future Improvements
• Integrate tow by tow at-sea-observer data
- Increase frequency decrease lag time, spatial
scale
• Proactive program
– Fall 2011
– Depth > 40 fthm
• ↓ river herring
• ≈ Atlantic herring
– Winter, ↑ SST
• ↓ herring
• ↑ mackerel
SST
○
(7 C)
and Catch: March 2008
Acknowledgements
• Mid-water trawl vessels and crew
– F/Vs Western Venture, Osprey, Challenger, Endeavour,
Dona Martita, Nordic Explorer, Retriever, Enterprise,
Starlight, Sunlight, Jean McCausland, Isabella Taylor
• SFC on-shore members: Peter Moore, several others
• RI vessels and crew
– F/Vs Sea Breeze Too, Ocean State, Heather Lynn,
Darana R, Tiger Jo
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Port-samplers
Northeast Fisheries Observer Program
AIS Inc.
Fisheries Research
Funding:
– National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
– Nature Conservancy
Discussion/Questions
1A 2012
• 10/22-24
• 7 low
• 1 moderate
Massachusetts MarineFisheries
Winter Information System: Evaluation
• Industry Collaboration
– ≈150 emails from vessels and onshore
managers
– 9 of 10 mid-water trawl vessels in fishery
• Other 4: 2 squid fishing, 2 inactive
– 5 cells classified as high, 1 reentry-25% of
bycatch
• Consistent bycatch patterns
– 3 events accounted for 75%
– ≈80%: mid-February to mid-March
– Eleven “low” cells reentered
• One changed directly to high
• Eight remained low
B.Hoffman
Dams from US/Canada Border
to Cape Cod limited reproductive
potential of native Shad
populations: “null zone”
Nova Scotia separating G
of St.Lawrence and
Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Mai
Southern range different
reproductive strategy: start of semelp
American Shad
Alosa sapidissima
River Herring
Alewife (A. pseudoharengus)
Blueback (A. aestivalis)
Collective Action
• Ostrom 2000
• Collective action when members jointly benefit
(foundation of modern democratic thought)
• Zero Contribution Thesis (Olson 1965)
– Self-interested people will not contribute to public
– Unless: group small
• Face to face communication ↑ cooperation
– Discuss strategy, extract promises, tongue-lashes
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Contextual framing matters
Evolution and Cooperation
Staying power of cooperation-not good when forced
Common pool resources better managed internally,
than externally
Reciprocity
• Fehr and Gachter 2000
• Response to friendly or hostile actions
– Even if no material gains expected
• Friendly actions
– Result in more than expected cooperation
than self-interest models
Bycatch Caps
• Abbott and Wilen – mixed flatfish and halibut
• Under invest in avoidance
– Cost of avoidance: individual, Benefits: fleet wide
(11 vessels, 5 pairs)
• ↑ cost of cooperation, ↑ free riders
– High cooperation = little behavioral change?
• Mid-water fleet- share information, don’t think they
catch at lot of alosines
• ↑ benefits of cooperation, ↑ free riders
– Marginal gains
Ad 5 draft (472)
Why Participate w/o a cap?
• Threat of regulation (Cap, Closed Areas)
– Can address problem w/o regulation
– Participation, no regulation
• Public Opinion
– Initiative to fish responsibly
– Dispel false perceptions with improved data
• Ethics
– Charters → SFC Code of Conduct
– Wasting fish
• Economics/Fishing Efficiency
– Plants
• Cleaner catch → faster offloads → lower initial costs
– MWT
• Areas with ↑ RH, harder to find Atlantic herring
• Ipswich Bay
– SMBT
• Waste of time
• Limited hold space
• Formalizing what they already do
Slide by B.Hoffman
Slide by B.Hoffman
Reduce Predation
• Confusion: Sensory overload
• Morphological differences increase predation
risk
– Size
– Color
– Shape
50-70cm
35-46cm
Atlantic herring, Juvenile Shad, River herring: <30cm
Conserve Energy
• Swimming efficiency
– Hydrodynamic studies
– Optimal speeds
• Long distance migrations
• Canoe Paddle vs. Torpedo
Refereneces
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Spatial, Temporal Separation
Winter 2011
Spatial, Temporal Separation
Winter 2011
Spatial, Temporal Separation
Winter 2011
Information System Results
Winter 2011
75% of effort
75% of target catch
97% of alosine catch
4/1
25% of effort
25% of target catch
3% of alosine catch