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By Lorelei Stevens
BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME - The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) conducted its second spring trawl survey of inshore marine resources between May 6 and June 7.
Although many Downeast lobstermen continue to strongly oppose the survey out of concern that the bottom dragging gear used as the survey method hurts lobsters and lobster habitat, DMR scientists and the crew of the 54' Portland, ME-based survey vessel Tara Lynn managed to avoid any direct confrontations.
That was in dramatic contrast to last fall's survey when angry Downeast lobstermen surrounded the survey vessel Robert Michael, preventing it from continuing its tows.
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Robert Tetrault Jr. of the Tara Lynn deploys the CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) device, which collects temperature and salinity data as part of the trawl survey project. (DMR Photo)
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According to survey project manager John Sowles, DMR worked hard this time around to improve on-the-water communications and made changes in its onboard lobster handling procedures in response to lobstermen's complaints.
But a big reason this spring's survey went so much more smoothly probably had to do with the fact that there weren't a lot of lobster traps in the water due to nasty weather and it being early in the season.
"Where I fish in Jericho Bay here, there just wasn't any gear around," said Deer Isle lobsterman Leroy Bridges, an outspoken opponent of the survey method.
The purpose of the twice-a-year survey, which began with a pilot effort in the fall of 2000, is to build an abundance index of several species so that the DMR can track relative abundance from year to year.
The survey is also intended to give Maine its own resource data so that the state is not simply lumped in with Massachusetts and New Hampshire when fishery management decisions are made by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the New England Fishery Management Council.
It is conducted from New Hampshire to Lubec, minus Cobscook Bay, and samples roughly 100 stations.
Trap run-ins limited
According to DMR, the spring survey crew was able to complete 94 out of a possible 100 tows, moving or shortening 16 of them due to the presence of gear in the water.
The survey trawl net encountered gear during only seven of those 94 tows, with the entanglements typically entailing a line over one or both doors.
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From left, Dale Doucette and Jessica Murray from DMR; Boothbay fisherman Kelo Pinkham, who was onboard to provide local area knowledge; and Robert Woodward, a crewman aboard the survey vessel Tara Lynn, work the deck following a spring survey tow. (DMR Photo)
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DMR reported that only one single had to be cut and retied. The rest of the traps were "untangled and freed without loss."
A total of seven ghost traps were brought up in the net. Those that were in good shape were brought to the local dock or turned over to the Maine Marine Patrol, according to DMR.
"We had no conflict with the fishermen," said Sowles. "We talked with the boats more, had a number of meetings with lobstermen over the winter, sent out individual mailings to lobster license holders, and called people up."
The inshore suveys have been done by either the Tara Lynn or Robert Michael, identical Portland-based commercial trawlers. Tows are done with specially designed small-mesh trawl nets with light ground gear.
Gentler handling
DMR also instituted some new lobster handling procedures to try and limit damage and the amount of time lobsters taken by the survey net spend on deck.
According to Sowles and a report authored by DMR's Sally Sherman, the survey crew kept larger lobsters away from smaller ones either by carefully placing them facing the same direction in dry baskets or baskets set in fish totes filled with water. It also whittled the handling steps from the three used in previous surveys down to one.
"We are continuing to revise our methods and are open to all suggestions," Sherman said.
DMR is planning on taking a week this summer to video tape how the trawl behaves with the goal of continuing to assess the potential damage it may cause and to look at catchability estimates.
Those tows will probably happen between Portland and Saco Bay during the month of August.
No guarantees
While Bridges acknowledged that DMR had "cleaned up its act a bit" with the changes in lobster handling procedures, it didn't make a big difference in his feeling about the survey.
"I'm not any more pleased with it," he said.
To his eye, the small-mesh bottom towing survey gear amounts to "irresponsible handling of our resource" and flies in the face of what he calls DMR's "rhetoric about resource stewardship."
"I feel Maine should be a leader in using other types of data," he said, such as the electronic logbook device produced by Thistle Marine, which Bridges uses.
"I've collected more data than they have and I've never killed one lobster with my type of data collection," he said.
Bridges also warned that just because the spring survey went off pretty much without a hitch, it doesn't mean the same will be true next time.
"This fall will be a different story," he said. "If there's lobsters in the bay, we won't move a trap - not a one."
Sowles said DMR is considering shifting the timing of the trawl survey to avoid conflicts.
"We've been discussing the costs and benefits in terms of information," he said. "We can afford in science terms to adjust the schedule. But the challenge is with Maine's long coast line. What might be a good time in Casco Bay might be the worst possible time in Washington County."
The spring trawl revealed a number of notable findings. For example, DMR reported that the water temperature at the bottom was up approximately 3°C compared to last spring.
The survey also found more berried lobsters, and larger catches of haddock, cod, lobster, pollock, halibut, whiting, red and white hake, and dabs this year than last.
A large amount of krill were caught around the Mt. Desert area and the survey crew tagged and released four Atlantic halibut.
For more info about the inshore trawl survey or to receive a copy of the report "Maine - New Hampshire Inshore Groundfish Trawl Survey" for July 2000-June 2001, contact John Sowles at (207) 633-9518.
