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I think some money needs to be found (never easy) and then put into research for selective otter trawls. We need to reduce bycatch--this is not new. We need to make trawls size selective and species selective. If we can put excluders in the belly sections of the trawls, just before the cod-end then that would help. The problem is--where is the money to do this, and, the fisherman, ain't going to be happy. Two boats down in Point Judith are already trying this out (part of research project) and the results have been encouraging. Encouraging because many smaller species don't make it into the cod end. The fisherman could end up liking them because it means less time on deck for money. Fisherman, however, will always be skeptical about gear modifications when they see half their catch going out a "trap door".
If we cannot make the trawls species selective (and I'm not sure if we can because of money and how slow things move without it), then I think we are going to keep traveling in the same old direction. A little management here, a little management there. In New England the whole fishery thing happens at too slow a pace. If there's a problem people need to get on it, put in restrictions and start upsetting people. It is too pro-fisherman around here and not enough pro-resource. Maybe with us being Yankees and us being steeped in history has made things difficult; but whatever it is, I think it is too slow of a process.
When did Amendment 4--or whatever it was--for ground fish begin, around 1992? Look at the ground fish situation now: is it any better?
Maybe: reduce the fleet size, individual quotas, VERY HIGH fishery fines. Man, who knows?
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