Geoff Smith

Working with Fishermen Through Challenging Times

The Nature Conservancy Helps Launch Maine’s Innovative Gear Library

March 13, 2024

When nature and people face difficult challenges, it’s important that we work together to find a solution. When the problem is complex – as it often is – finding the best way forward requires working closely and thoughtfully with the people and communities who understand the issues best. That’s just what The Nature Conservancy is striving to do as we work to address the concerning trends in the endangered North Atlantic Right whale population.

On January 28, a North Atlantic Right whale washed up dead near Joseph Sylvia State Beach on Martha’s Vineyard.  While the cause of death has yet to be confirmed, aerial survey teams had previously seen this whale entangled in fishing gear several times, including in August 2022 and January 2023.  The necropsy report that followed concluded that the three-year old whale suffered from chronic entanglement, with rope deeply embedded in its tail and a thin body condition.

This recent right whale death is part of a concerning trend. Since 2017, researchers have documented over 120 right whales that have experienced sublethal or lethal injuries or illness in the North Atlantic in something ominously referred to as an Unusual Mortality Event, with 38 whales found dead and another 34 seriously injured since 2017.  As things stand today, it’s estimated there are only about 350 right whales left, with fewer than 70 adult females remaining to sustain the population.

If we’re going to reverse the troubling trends in the right whale population, we need an approach that includes the fishing community. Fishermen have long been key partners in the efforts to reduce entanglement risks, and they will be directly affected by any new regulations. This is especially critical in the face of climate-driven changes to the ocean ecosystem, which are acting as a threat multiplier.

The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 90 percent of the world’s oceans, and the right whales’ preferred prey source – the microscopic copepod Calanaus finmarchicus – is shifting its distributions in response. These changes are exposing right whales to even greater risks from ship strikes and entanglements and making it even more difficult for scientists and regulators to know where whales will be and what times of year they will be there. Climate change is also impacting our fishing communities, as we saw in the recent historic storms that wreaked havoc on our coastlines and caused millions of dollars in damage to the working waterfronts upon which the fishing industry depends.

We need an all-hands-on-deck approach that empowers fishermen, scientists, and others to use their knowledge and experience to help find solutions to address these risks. Fortunately, actions are being taken now. The National Marine Fisheries Service recently published a proposed vessel speed restriction rule to help reduce ship strikes. The North Atlantic Right Whale Take Reduction Team is developing additional gear restrictions for trap, pot, and gillnet fisheries to reduce entanglement risks. And the state of Maine recently secured $17 million in federal funds to expand efforts to better track the migration of whales with passive acoustic sensors and aerial surveys. But more needs to be done.

At The Nature Conservancy, we are working at the national, regional, and state level to help solve the problem.  At the national level, we are pursuing a comprehensive strategy to promote policies that reduce carbon emissions by rapidly deploying renewable energy. In the Northeast, we are working to help ensure that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management uses the best scientific information available to reduce risks to protected species, including right whales, as it makes siting decisions for offshore wind development. And here in Maine, we are partnering with the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to launch the Maine Innovative Gear Library, which will advance the testing and implementation of on-demand/ropeless fishing gear in the lobster fishery.

To date, much of the effort to reduce entanglement risks has focused on the pot and trap gear used to catch lobsters in the Gulf of Maine. It’s important to recognize that the entanglement risk is not really from the traps themselves, but rather from the vertical endlines and buoys used to mark and haul the gear. Lobstermen have already made numerous changes to their gear to reduce risks, including using sinking rope on the lines between traps and weaker rope on the endlines, installing breakaway links on the endlines, and putting more traps on a trawl so fewer endlines and buoys are needed to fish the same number of traps. But all these gear modifications still pose some risk to the whales and to the fishermen using the gear.

Another approach lobstermen have recently begun testing is “ropeless” or “on-demand” gear that eliminates the need for vertical lines and surface buoys altogether. In these systems, the endlines and buoys are replaced with a retrieval system that is triggered when the fisherman approaches the area above the trap. The fisherman sends an acoustic signal to the gear on the bottom which triggers the release of gear to the surface where the fisherman can haul it. Though this is a relatively new technology, it has been used quite a bit already—most notably in Massachusetts Bay, where there is a seasonal lobster fishing closure to reduce entanglement risks for large aggregations of right whales that migrate through that area in late spring. The results there have been promising, and last year regulators allowed fishermen to work in the closed areas with on-demand gear for the first time.

However, conditions and fishing practices are a lot different in Maine than they are in Massachusetts, and we really need to test the gear here to see how it works under different circumstances. That’s why The Nature Conservancy in Maine is partnering with the Maine Department of Marine Resources to launch a new Innovative Gear Library. We have invested over $100,000 to purchase several different types of on-demand gear and donated them to DMR. The gear is now available for any Maine fisherman who wants to try it out and see how it works for them. TNC has a long history of partnering with fishermen to test new gear and monitoring tools to address pressing challenges in the groundfish fishery, and we are committed to doing the same for the lobster fishery through our support of the Innovative Gear Library.

It is clear there are a lot of fishermen who are skeptical about on-demand gear.  Some don’t think it’s needed; others don’t think it will work; and many are concerned about potential costs to their businesses. But we also know there are fishermen who recognize that on-demand gear will likely be part of future regulations.  The Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act are requiring further risk reductions for right whales, and additional gear restrictions and seasonal closures are under consideration. On-demand gear is a tool that can help meet these new requirements and provide an opportunity for Maine fishermen to fish in areas that may otherwise be closed. TNC isn’t interested in forcing any fishermen to use this gear now if they don’t want to – we just want to make sure it’s available for those who do. That’s why we’re proud to help launch the Maine Innovative Gear Library.

There is no single solution to solve the many challenges facing right whales today. Adopting appropriate vessel speed rules to reduce the risk of ship strikes, doing a better job of tracking the distribution of whales, and developing alternative fishing gear that reduce entanglement risks to whales while allowing fishermen to continue to pursue their livelihoods are all part of the path forward. There is still time to sustain these magnificent animals and the fishing communities that are woven into the cultural fabric of Maine. Let’s work together to implement appropriate solutions before it’s too late.

Amendment 23 Will Provide Critical Information for Fisheries Management

October 1, 2020

The Gulf of Maine, chilled from artic currents and rich with plankton, has historically been one of the most productive fishing grounds on Earth—one that supports us, providing food for our tables and jobs for our neighbors.

But these waters are facing great challenges. Climate change, habitat loss, ineffective fisheries management and unsustainable fishing practices have pushed the Gulf to a tipping point: a precipitous population decline in key species, a crash in the commercial catch for these fish, and fishing families unable to make ends meet. 

Successful fisheries management depends on accurate information on catch and discards. That’s why the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have required at-sea monitors on a percentage of groundfish trips to collect information on catch rates, species composition, and other relevant factors. Data from observed trips is then used to estimate catches on unobserved trips and set quotas intended to prevent overfishing.

Unfortunately, it has been clear for several years now that the monitoring program is not producing accurate, reliable data, and is having all sorts of bad downstream effects for fish and fishermen. In response, NEFMC has been developing an update to the fishery management plan, known as "Amendment 23,” to overhaul the monitoring program by substantially increasing the number of fishing trips that are monitored/observed.

After a lengthy public comment process, the Council voted on the amendment this week—and endorsed 100 percent monitoring for the fishery. This decision is a gamechanger and sets the course for a future with healthier fish populations and healthier fishing communities in the Gulf of Maine. The Nature Conservancy applauds the New England Fisheries Management Council for taking this action to transition to comprehensive monitoring in the groundfish fishery, while also addressing concerns about industry’s ability to pay for that monitoring.

The Nature Conservancy will work with all partners to secure the funds required to achieve the benefits of the Council’s action. This includes contributing significant funds to purchase and install Electronic Monitoring systems – installed video cameras that can take the place of human observers – for any groundfish fishermen interested in using a safer, more cost-effective tool to meet these new monitoring requirements.

I've been working for over 15 years with fishermen throughout the Gulf Maine to try to improve the health of our fish populations and the resilience of fishing communities. I am really proud of our work on this Amendment because it will give fishery managers and scientists the information they need to effectively manage the fishery and level the playing field for fishermen once and for all. We look forward to working with fishing communities to make this a successful transition.