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WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME - Determined to address lobstermen's concerns about the state's inshore trawl survey, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is making several changes to survey procedures in an attempt to minimize inconveniences to fishermen and further reduce impact on lobsters.
The five-week-long spring 2002 survey, which is tentatively scheduled to begin on April 29, will generate data and observations that will be added to the information accumulated during three previous full-scale surveys -- plus an additional mini-survey -- that began in the fall of 2000.
"This is data that just hasn't been collected in the inshore waters of Maine for all kinds of species -- lobsters, winter flounder, haddock, cod, halibut ..." said DMR Research Director Linda Mercer.
"The information is extremely useful," she said. "We're getting a better sense of the importance of the inshore Gulf of Maine as habitat for juvenile and adult fish, and we're getting an index of abundance for several species so we can look at relative changes from year to year."
Given the importance of the data and the state's desire to keep the survey going, Mercer said the DMR will do everything possible to respond to industry concerns about the survey, particularly over damaged lobsters, gear conflicts, and habitat impacts.
"We really want to work with industry and lessen the impact as much as possible," she said. We're looking at modifications for how to disentangle gear when we do (run into traps). We're looking at ways to change our procedures."
The survey is conducted from New Hampshire to Lubec, minus Cobscook Bay, and samples roughly 100 stations.
The DMR says that fishermen are welcome aboard the trawl survey vessel to observe the catch and make suggestions. For more information, contact Sally Sherman at (207) 633-9503 or John Sowles at (207) 633-9518. You can also visit the DMR's web site at http://www.state.me.us/dmr.
Last fall
Late last October, during scheduled survey tows off Corea, an on-the-water standoff occurred between lobstermen and the 54' survey vessel Robert Michael. An even more hostile reception was given the survey crew the following day in the Jonesport area.
The Downeast lobstermen said they were flatly opposed to the use of dragging as a survey method for lobsters, refused to move gear when the survey vessel arrived, and argued that the impact of the trawl on both the lobsters themselves and their habitat was too high to justify it. Further, lobstermen, who were seeing many egged-out lobsters in their traps, were angry about the timing of the survey and the possibility that trawl gear would harm the females or the hatching process.
The Maine Marine Patrol temporarily moved gear so the survey vessel could make some pre-selected transect passes as required by the survey protocol, but tensions were high and several stations were not towed.
John Sowles, director of DMR's ecology division and point man for the survey, reported on the problems being encountered to the DMR and lobster advisory councils during their regularly scheduled meetings on Nov. 14. He described why collection of the data on groundfish species and lobsters in Maine's inshore waters was important to back up the state's positions in the interstate and federal management arenas.
Sowles said that the survey team was committed to working through the issues with fishermen and that they wanted guidance from the councils on how to proceed.
During the discussion, members of each council stressed the importance of making the data from the surveys available to fishermen and explaining how it will be used. Sowles answered that, for confidentiality reasons, the results of individual tows were not released. The information is used in an aggregate form, he said, which is how it is available to fishermen.
At the lobster advisory council meeting, Carl Wilson, DMR's chief lobster biologist, explained why survey data from inshore waters could be helpful to the Maine industry's position that the resource here is healthy. The only survey used in the lobster stock assessment is the federal NMFS survey, he said, which is conducted outside of the 50-fathom curve.
"In 35 years they have counted a total of about 6,000 lobsters," Wilson said. "We counted about 8,000 in five weeks last year."
Since concern over trawl damage was an issue, lobster council members urged the DMR to find a way to show the consequences of having the net, doors, and ground gear towed across the bottom.
Each council passed motions supporting the continuation of the inshore trawl survey, and that DMR with harvesters to identify problems and make changes as necessary.
Underwater footage
To get a better handle on how the trawl gear actually fishes, DMR invited a team of gear experts from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Conservation Engineering Program up to Maine to produce some underwater video footage of the survey nets in action.
The DMF team spent four days -- Feb. 13-16 -- on board the 54' Tara Lynn making observations of the survey net. Two similar, small-mesh trawl nets were specifically designed for the survey back in the summer of 2000.
The Tara Lynn and her sister ship, the Robert Michael, are identical Portland-based commercial trawlers that are contracted to conduct the inshore trawl survey.
Led by Arne Carr, the DMF team, working cooperatively with the Tara Lynn crew and DMR staff, mounted a benthic camera on the headrope of the net and additionally attached sensors to the doors, wings, and headrope. Numerous tows were made around Saco Bay between Cape Elizabeth and Biddeford Pool.
"We were able to get a good look at the footrope," said DMR's Sally Sherman, who heads up the at-sea survey work for DMR and is personally on board the survey vessel every sampling day.
"I was surprised at how light this net was on the bottom," she said.
Few lobsters
Carr told Commercial Fisheries News on Day 2 of the project that he also believed the impact of the net on bottom seemed "minimal," but added, "We're continuing to look at the gear by video and acoustically, measuring the net and its performance."
One shortcoming of the work is that few lobsters are visible in the footage.
But Sherman said, "We want to go back out when there are more lobsters around this summer."
Furthermore, since many lobstermen are concerned that the trawl is actually damaging lobsters that don't get hauled up in the net, Sherman said the summer team will have a diver follow the net to search for damaged lobsters that remain on the bottom.
Video on display
The video footage from the February Tara Lynn tows will be shown at the Maine Fishermen's Forum and Trade Show during a March 1 seminar starting at 2:45 pm.
In addition, Carr is lending DMR additional underwater footage from Massachusetts tows where lobsters are much more visible.
The conservation engineering observation work with the Tara Lynn generated valuable information about the net itself -- the height of the headrope, the spread of the wings, and the way the net interacted with the bottom.
This knowledge can now be used by the survey crew to tweak the nets to further minimize impacts on habitat and generate better survey results.
Juvenile lobsters
Without question, the DMR inshore trawl survey catches juvenile lobsters and, according to Research Director Mercer, that's a good thing.
"I think we're getting a picture of the distribution and abundance of juvenile lobsters," she said.
Even though DMR conducts sea sampling on a monthly basis with commercial lobstermen, the information on juvenile lobsters is thin given that most of the sublegal animals crawl out the escape vents.
That's why many hope the inshore trawl survey can provide useful data on this segment of the population for the next lobster stock assessment.
"There's definitely a benefit here," said Mercer. "We're going to have a better idea of what lobster populations are really doing."
Some lobstermen are troubled by the fact that the inshore trawl survey hasn't caught many egged-out females, but Sherman believes other factors are at play here.
"I think that's a gear selectivity problem," she said. "Pots can fish for 24 hours. We make a 20-minute tow, so we're getting a different picture. Those females will be hiding in habitat we can't tow over."
Communications
The DMR is also trying to address gear conflict issues.
First off, said Sherman, the survey crew is trying to avoid gear and actively communicate with fishermen so that everyone knows when the survey vessel will be in their area.
"But if we get hung up in gear, we're going to assess the situation and do our best to save any traps we can," she said. "It's always been our intent to save any gear unless it's a safety issue."
Furthermore, Sherman and John Sowles have been meeting with individual groups of lobstermen in various fishing communities, as well as with the state's lobster zone councils and the DMR advisory councils, to hear people's concerns firsthand and try to address them.
The DMR will be doing another extensive mailing to all permit holders with charts of the survey vessel's transect path and the projected dates of the tows. Lobstermen within each zone council will receive even more detailed charts for their particular fishing area.
More info
Once the survey is under way, regular updates will be broadcast on the NOAA weather radio channel.
For more information, contact Sherman at (207) 633-9503 or Sowles at (207) 633-9518. You can also visit the DMR's web site at http://www.state.me.us/dmr.
The inshore trawl survey is a cooperative venture between the DMR, the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game (some survey tows take place in New Hampshire waters), T/R Fish Inc., which is the agent for the commercial fishing vessels, and the Gulf of Maine Aquarium.
The Northeast Consortium provided funding for the initial surveys. The National Marine Fisheries Service is now funding the project through cooperative research grants.
Janice M. Plante
Susan Jones
