Dive Deeper

Leading up to – and ultimately resulting in –  the Congressional Pause, the TRT was discussing regulatory options to meet a 90% risk reduction. Those included:

• Expansion of weak-link and weak-rope requirements
• Use of weak tag lines one end of the trawl or removing one buoy line
• Buoy line caps in a particular area
• Trap reductions
• Longer minimum trawl requirements 
• Enhanced gear marking requirements
• Additional, and expanded, seasonal buoy line closures 
• Differential rules by zone (inshore vs. offshore, by depth or season)

The law requires NMFS to meet the required risk-reduction threshold. The previous risk reduction target for new whale rules was 90%, with a phase in of additional measures to meet the 98% required under the Biological Opinion. This level of risk reduction would be devastating and it was required under the law. That’s why it’s important to work on finding ways to reduce risk while fishing continues.

Ropeless, sometimes referred to as on-demand gear, means fishing without a buoy line. 

DMR and partners are actively testing ropeless gear to keep options on the table for fishermen who may want to access areas closed to buoy lines – now or in the future. So far, field results suggest there are still major issues to work out before ropeless gear can be used. Their findings and your experience matter, and both need to be on the record.

Challenges that haven’t been solved include:

• High equipment cost (especially for smaller boats)
• Battery performance in cold and deep water
• Gear loss and malfunction risk
• Difficulty locating gear without surface markers
• Potential conflicts between fishermen over unmarked gear locations
• Unresolved enforcement questions
• Safety concerns raised by fishermen

NMF and the TRT need to know what’s actually workable on the water. No amount of modeling replaces what fishermen like you know about gear behavior, weather windows, economics, and zone-by-zone realities. Your input really does shape our options going forward. When fishermen give specific, believable, practical feedback, it helps NMFS and the TRT consider what might work. It can influence what gets proposed.

But here’s what participating won’t guarantee: a particular outcome. Final decisions also consider multiple legal requirements, differing regional needs, and scientific data. Being heard is not the same as winning, but not speaking up means the reality of your experience won’t be considered at all. And managers may lack the information they need to understand why certain approaches will not work for fishermen.

You have more power during the planning process than after a proposed rule is published. That planning phase—that window of opportunity—is right now.

Maine DMR established a right whale research program to collect Maine-specific data that will increase the knowledge used to make these decisions. (See Maine DMR Right Whale Research.) They are working to incorporate new fishery data into the process to reduce uncertainty in the risk models and to paint a more accurate picture about how and where the Maine fishery operates. DMR is testing alternative gear configurations and documenting results. They’re also one of Maine’s representatives on the Take Reduction Team.

DMR’s ability to support workable solutions depends on knowing what’s workable. That knowledge comes from fishermen like you.

Here are some concrete ways fishermen can participate:

• Go to your zone council meetings to share your operational knowledge and concerns with Maine DMR before TRT meetings occur.
• Go to or follow TRT meetings and provide comments during TRT public input periods. A full list of Take Reduction Team members is publicly available here. 
• Get the facts and share new ideas! If there is a new option out there that hasn’t been considered yet, it’s going to come from one of us.
• Pay attention to announcements about scoping and proposed rulemaking from NMFS and submit formal comments when rules are open for public review.
• Talk to other fishermen. Accurate information that spreads peer-to-peer is more trusted than anything from a university researcher or a government agency.