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I agree about observers being on board, at least with some of the boats. Just to get a feel for what is going on. The bycatch is going to change with the seasons, and I would bet the bycatch is higher during the warmer months. During the winter I would bet that the mid-water boats are harvesting mostly herring--for traditionaly the bulk of the mackerel are out in more than sixty fathoms of water. This is the case south of the islands anyway. I've never worked on a herring boat before, but I have made many mackerel trips in the late winter and the early spring. All of this was done well offshore. We had are own bycatch issues then, as any commercial method is going to have.
Are you guys seeing herring boats up north right now?
Or are they all operating south of the Cape?
I see them around here, but I haven't seen any of the really big boats that I saw in November.
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