Industrial fleet working the SHORELINE of RI!
 

I've been filming these ships since December -- that's right, just when a lot of the fish are moving out of the bay, these 140' to 150' boats are scooping them up with the Atlantic herring they are targeting.

These photos were taken January 8, 2012. These ships were working the waters off Narragansett and they were around 1,000 feet off the shoreline. Each boat can take up to 800,000 pounds of herring -- and who knows how much bycatch -- they sometimes dump the catch in New Bedford and then run back to continue fishing.

Drive the coast and you'll see just how many boats are working our shoreline -- with little value to the local economy. You wonder where the river herring are? Want to bet there are no observers on board?

This is insane!

Why is this being allowed? Who regulates these boats? Who do we call?

country of Origin?

New Bedford.

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ragansett.html

Spring/early summer I showed Nebe where these sit all year.

The Retriever is from New Jersey.

BasicPatrick, Is the Honest Bycatch roadshow going to be at the fishing shows this year. What's the latest with their efforts?

And it sat at Fish Island in New Bedford all of last year.

Home port means little.

This is where all the herring/mackerel is going: http://www.norpel.com/

Could look on the bright side - apparantly a robust local population of herring and macks which is a very good sign. And these comm fishermen are still employed.

DZ

It's tough to even humor looking at any positives when there are so many major down sides to indiscriminate fishing methods.

It's like telling the Brazilians, "Yeah, I know your rainforests are being completely clear-cut and the entire ecosystem is being destroyed forever, but at least those loggers are getting a paycheck." This is exactly what is occurring in the seas right off our local shores - an entire oceanic ecosystem is being destroyed so that a couple people can get a paycheck.

Johnny - I was just making an observation. I'm assuming that if the fishing is occurring its probably legal and herring/mackeral quotas haven't been met? It's probably a good time of year to harvest these species as gamefish by-catch is probably very low. If what they're doing is illegal then by all means shut them down.

DZ

Wonder where the river herring have gone?
 

DZ
This is one of the few times I disagree with you. Yes, what they are doing is legal and that's the problem. I've been to the meetings and every time we push for more observer coverage (I believe it's 5% or less now) or mounting cameras on the ships they claim it's too expensive and they can't afford to pay for it. It's all bull#^&#^&#^&#^&, I was at the meeting in Newport in 2010 and left there sick to my stomach.

We have (perhaps had) a growing inshore cod fishery that could have produced shore fishing for cod once again. It was common to catch cod from shore from mid-November to April in spots like Brenton Point, Beavertail and especially Charlestown. These nets and the constant pressure so close to shore is going to destroy yet another fishery...not to mention what they are doing to the all important base of the food chain.

Interesting viewpoint Mike and I respect your opinion. But it's in the middle of the winter! Would you rather the dragger crews use hook and line with sabiki rigs? What about all the hook and line guys catching loads of mackeral and herring the past few weeks of the piers and bridges in Rhody - should they be told to stop fishing because they're depleting the bait? I'm usually the last one to condone commercial fishing but I see nothing wrong with this at this time of season.

DZ

Set horsepower and landing limits. Keep it open to more local boats, the guys doing day trips and such. Keep it away from the pair trawlers landing 600K lbs every 36hr....

RIROCKHOUND, You're right on the money. Restrict the horsepower, time and territory closures that make sense, keep the fish for the local fleet whenever possible and stop the squeeze on the little guy.

DZ, the impact of even a pretty savvy angler such as this one, doesn't add up to a hill of beans, even if there were 500,000 anglers doing this it wouldn't equal what one MWPT does...and there is a fleet of them doing it day after day after day.

there have been as many as 14 boats working at one time. i couldn't begin to guestimate how many tons have been harvested, but it's gotta be way up there. perhaps they wouldn't do as well with sabuki rigs, but at least there would be some bait left for future generations.
if we keep on taking without thinking of the future, we have none.

Time to bring whale wars to RI fire up the aluminum boats boys and lets get em:rocketem::horse::fence:
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what a shame. ^ what he said might work. :uhuh:

Exactly.

Just an observation, you really should get involved in fisheries mgmt -you always seem to see right through the BS and are spot on with these things (even when we don't agree).

I thought Norpel went out of business

couple years ago john r had the numbers of herring caught and estimated bi catch of alot of dead stripers following the herring.would be interested to see the numbers now.

Still there on Fish Is with pair trawlers sitting along side.

RIMFC Tautog advisor panael (alternate to Rockhound Sr). I try to go to the public meetings at Corless when I can, but I have enough to do as a half-assed geologist...

There were 10 boats out there this morning 4 were pair trawling.

Utter disgrace and lack of respect for the fishery.

I have seen similar tactics with the same boats targeting squid. One time I counted 22 boats in what appeared to be a square mile (or two)

All I can say is that I have given up hope with all the dept of fisheries. They are a lost cause and do not understand the issues. Screw these jobs for fishermen, there are only a few of them anyway, the fish are far more important than a few jobs for meth'ed out fishermen.

Pretty sure there's a spot open on the NEFMC - I'm sure the wife would appreciate if we nominated you...

Dented bucket has a new blog about it
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Do that, and I'd be come pro-pair trawling out of spite :smash::biglaugh::biglaugh:

Granted just hearsay from the Tuna section but... 5 giant BFT caught in the herring nets off of RI. Illegal to keep so the tuna must be discarded.

Still think this is a good time of year for indiscriminate fishing methods because "by-catch is probably very low"?

There's always going to be some bycatch. I just assume let them fish in the winter months to reduce it. Much better than having them dragging the same areas in October/November.

It sounds like most guys here just don't want anyone dragging at any place any time. A small time dragger could just as well caught the same tuna and they would still have to be discarded.

Attached are a few NOAA docs to give some background on the herring fishery. Appears the fleet in now working on the 2012 quota. Seems the full 2011 quota was not reached.

You would think that if the quota was not reached last year, there might be a problem.
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