Found this in the Times. And people wonder why bottomfish stocks are down. Pretty sad. Hopefully this will finally open some eyes.
Local News: Monday, March 10, 2003
Federal limits have trawlers dumping tons of excess fish
By Hal Bernton and Justin Mayo
Seattle Times staff reporters
E-mail this article
Print this article
West Coast trawl fishermen dump 44 percent of their catch overboard, according to a federally funded sampling that offers the most detailed look yet at waste in the 250-vessel fleet.
Shipboard observers tracked the fate of more than 9 million pounds of fish caught in a 12-month period ending last August. More than 4 million pounds of fish ended up shoveled back into the sea; most were dead or assumed to have eventually perished from their encounter with the trawl nets.
The surveys are likely to stoke debate about a controversial federal management system that puts strict limits on how much fish can be brought back to port — but no limits on how much fish can be tossed back while at sea. Trawl fishermen say the quotas force them either to deep-six large volumes of edible, high-value fish or to risk big fines for bringing too much fish back to shore.
"I'm tired of throwing fish overboard. It's absolutely ridiculous," said Blair Miner, an Astoria, Ore.-based trawl fisherman who carried an observer aboard last year. "A lot of this is good fish that we normally could sell."
The trawlers fish with nets that sweep the ocean bottom or midwater zones and scoop up thousands of pounds of sealife. The fishermen target certain species to match their quotas but never know for sure just what, or how much, fish will end up in their nets. The trawl catch includes flatfish delicacies such as petrale sole, rockfish species often sold as "red snapper" and more-exotic offerings such as long-spine thornyheads.
In recent years, concern that seven species of long-lived rockfish as well as lingcod were being fished out prompted big cuts in the landing limits — the amount that can be taken ashore. As the restrictions kicked in, many fishermen have taken big financial hits, with the value of the Pacific harvest dropping from more than $81 million in 1995 to less than $46 million in 2001, according to West Coast landing statistics.
The federally funded observer program was launched in 2001 to help give fishery managers a more-accurate picture of what was actually caught by the trawl fleet. Up to 40 observers worked aboard nearly all of the trawl vessels fishing off Washington, Oregon and California. The observers are required to hold bachelor's of science degrees, and they underwent training to learn how to identify species and track discards. During the first year of operation, observers checked more than 10 percent of the overall trawl harvest.
Fishery scientists are just beginning to review the new survey information and assess how that information should be used to help manage the fleet. The information could prompt them to reassess how quotas are set.
"We need to take a closer look at these numbers and figure out where to go from here," said Brian Culver, a Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.
The harvest rules are set by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Portland-based regional group established by Congress in 1976 to help set the harvest rules for the 200-mile federal zone off the West Coast. The council — a mix of industry, state and federal officials — works with fishery biologists to set bimonthly port landing limits for rockfish, flatfish and other species.
These landing limits are parceled out to each vessel in poundage quotas, and fishermen face big fines if they try to sell more than their quota. Once fish are hauled aboard, crews sort through the catch, junking the surplus that exceeds the catch quota and keeping only the best fish.
Fishery managers — when setting harvest levels for each species — generally have assumed a 16 percent to 20 percent discard rate for most trawl species.
The observer surveys found discard rates for six species of fish were under 20 percent, according to a Seattle Times analysis of the reports. The low discard rates included three species that are the focal point of the conservation effort — Pacific ocean perch, yellowtail rockfish and widow rockfish. The low discard rates also included dover sole, one of the biggest-volume catches, pegged with an 18 percent discard rate.
But for more than 15 other species, observers tallied discard rates that were much higher, according to the analysis:
• Black cod, for example, is a high-value fish prized for oil-rich flesh. Trawlers threw overboard nearly 66 percent of their surveyed catch. That was more than 686,000 pounds of black cod, also known as sablefish.
• Fishermen try to avoid netting scarce, long-lived canary rockfish. But they are not always successful. Observers tracked the harvest of 23,466 pounds of canary rockfish — and found that nearly 45 percent of those fish were discarded.
• Observers tracked the harvest of 125,756 pounds of lingcod, another species with tight landing limits due to conservation efforts. Surveys found the fleet dumped nearly 79 percent of the catch.
• Fishermen tossed back more than 70 percent of the trawl-caught skates and sharks — roughly 900,567 pounds of fish. Fishermen sometimes lack shoreside markets for these fish, so they dump them overboard.
Fishermen say the high-sea dumping has gotten worse in recent years as the port landing limits have tightened.
"We are throwing fish overboard that we could have delivered a few years ago, and that's the frustrating thing," said Tom Morrison, a trawler skipper from Warrenton, Ore.
Last fall, the council also approved a ban on bottom trawling in areas where seven scarce species of rockfish were likely to get scooped up. The ban varies but generally covers 15,000 square miles of ocean bottom at depths ranging from 600 to 1,500 feet.
Federal officials hope those restrictions will dramatically reduce the accidental harvest of some rockfish species. And they note that the survey information only reports on harvests through August, and does not reflect lower discard rates that may have resulted from the subsequent fall restrictions.
Federal officials hope the waste also can be reduced by trimming down the fleet, so that remaining vessels have bigger quotas. The National Marine Fisheries Service has received $10 million in federal funds to buy up fishing permits and boats. And the fishery council would like to see 50 percent of the vessels retired, according to Jim Hastie, a federal fishery official.
In the meantime, some skippers have chosen to quit the sea. Some just can't make a living, and others are sickened by the waste.
"There are a few of the older guys who have left the fishery," said Morrison, the Astoria trawl skipper. "They just couldn't stomach throwing so much stuff over."
Hal Bernton: 206-464-258.
_________________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They'll just drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience."
-Dilbert
or may be I misspelled 
Previous Topic
Index
