[JohnR]

Update:

Fishermen await new net results

Scientists will try to save 21/2 years of population data in research cruise next month.
By <A HREF="mailto:dfraser@capecodonline.com">DOUG FRASER</A> STAFF WRITER WOODS HOLE :

How do you fix 21/2 years of potentially bad data in just three
days?It's a question that's on fishermen's lips from the mid-Atlantic to Maine.The National Marine Fisheries Service hopes to get an answer to that question later this month when its research vessel Albatross IV takes to the seas.Scientists use the vessel to tow a net in the Atlantic Ocean to figure out fish populations and determine whether certain species are over-fished.

But it turns out the net the scientists were using may have been towed at an angle, which would cause it to catch less fish. If this is so, the scientists' low estimates of fish populations are inaccurate.Those who work in the billion-dollar New England fishing industry - especially the 1,400 boat owners who catch cod, haddock and flounder - are holding their breath and their tempers, as scientists try to figure out how much the improperly
rigged net may have skewed fish population data. Information from these surveys has been a driving force behind increasingly strict fishing regulations."This shows how critical it is to know what you're doing out there," said Jim Kendall of the Trawler Survival Fund, an industry-funded fishermen's association, representing fish draggers and scallopers. Kendall is also a New England Fishery Management Council member."When we make a
mistake, it only affects us, but when something like the Albatross goes out and messes up, that affects the livelihood of everyone in the industry," Kendall said.Kendall said he doesn't think any one fishermen's association has the money to consider litigation, but he believes there might be a class-action lawsuit if fishermen are not satisfied with the fix the NMFS is proposing.

Observation cruise
From Sept. 25 to 27, weather permitting, the fisheries Service will take a select group of fishermen out on the Albatross IV to watch scientists and the crew videotape the net as it tows underwater. A second research vessel will also conduct fishing tows beside the Albatross to compare catches. Scientists are hoping they will be able to quantify the impact of using tow wires of unequal length and apply that to 21/2 years of data used to project the
population of commercial fish stocks. The tow wires are attached to large doors on either side of the net opening that spread the mouth of the net wide. Think of a toy parachute towed through air with snarled lines and you get one possible scenario.The Albatross does spring and fall survey trips, towing the net at 300 to 400 randomly selected spots in the ocean from Cape Hatteras to Maine.These surveys conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole began in 1963 and are the longest continuous fishing series in the world. They are intended as an index, to show changes both from year to year and relative to the whole series. Any change of equipment must be calibrated to ensure consistency.The fishing survey is an integral part of
the stock assessment process, which is in turn used to gauge the
effectiveness of regulations on the health of fish stocks. Those regulations have become increasingly stringent in order to meet a federally-mandated fish population rebuilding plan, which calls for most stocks to be rebuilt by 2009.

Congressional input
On Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry along with U.S. Reps. William Delahunt, Barney Frank and John F. Tierney sent a joint letter to Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans urging him to establish a Northeast science task force that includes fishery managers, scientists and fishermen to give advice on how these developments affect the goals scientists have set
for rebuilding New England's fish stocks.They also urged Evans to immediately notify U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler if the marine fisheries service needs an extension on a court-imposed August 2003 deadline for creating a plan to reduce over-fishing and wasteful discarding of unwanted fish. That deadline was imposed last spring when Kessler ruled in favor of five environmental organizations that sued the fisheries service.The New England Fisheries Management Council is working on a plan that might include cuts in fishing days of up 63 percent in order to comply with Kessler's decision.What galls fishermen is that making sure the tow lines are equal in length is so fundamental to their job, they wonder what else could be skewed by poor fishing practices on the scientific vessel."Measuring the tow wires
is like putting on your shoes. What about checking the backstraps, the top and bottom lags, the head rope?" said Bud Fernandes, a Portsmouth, N.H., fisherman and New England Fishery Management Council member."You assume that since the science is so rigorous in its controls that these kinds of things
would not be overlooked, but when you find out the two years they didn't check the tow lines, that's alarming," he said.
Net concerns Fernandes is one of six fishermen scheduled to be an observer on the Albatross next week. He said the effect of unequal tow lines on the net is magnified by the fact the Albatross crew uses a smaller net than those used on commercial vessels. In addition, he said, even a foot difference between the two lines is a big deal. Fishery service scientists said when they towed the net with 300 meters of line, one was 6 feet longer than the other. But when they towed the net with 900 meters of line, one line was 12 feet longer than the other. This could have caused the net to be pulled at an angle, presenting less of a net opening to catch fish.Fernandes said he also plans to watch the Albatross crew at work and check on how the ship's other fishing
gear is maintained.David Goethel, a Hampton, N.H., fisherman described by others as a "tech head" when it comes to nets, turned down an offer to go on the trip. But he will sit on a panel of fishermen, environmentalists, fishery scientists and managers who will review the data from next week's cruise. The panel is expected to meet Oct. 2 and 3 most likely in Woods Hole to review
the cruise data.Unlike some other fishermen, Goethel said he is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the potential impact of the bad gear.What he did say was that he noticed that a difference of 6 feet between his own tow lines caused his net to lose one-third of the fish it would normally catch. Goethel said that fishermen can usually check on whether something is wrong with a net by comparing the size of their catch to that of the boat fishing next to
them. But a research boat usually fishes by itself, something fishermen hope will be changed by instituting a program to have a commercial fish trawler occasionally tow beside the research vessel.Still, Goethel said there must have been other signs that could have indicated to the Albatross crew something was wrong. He said fishermen always check their nets each time they haul them out of the water. When one side of the net is dirty and the other clean, or when half the net's metallic frame is shiny and other is dull that can be an indication that only half the net is scraping the ocean bottom.Even the age of the gear needs to be taken into account, Goethel said, as older netting tends to stretch and catch less fish."All this stuff needs to be put on a schedule for replacement," he said. "It costs a great deal of money to run (the Albatross IV), and they do have the attitude that time is money, but there are an assortment of measurements that need to be taken and formulas that need to be run to verify that your gear is still working," Goethel said.Fishery service officials are already contemplating a nationwide review of its fishing practices while doing survey work, he said."The outcome from all this can't be anything but positive," said Goethel, who said the ultimate result would be a better protocol for how research crews work and maintain their gear.