Sustainability in crisis the importance of science, industry & government in protecting right whales and fishing livelihoods

Transcription

1 Sustainability in crisis the importance of science, industry & government in protecting right whales and fishing livelihoods March 18, 2019

2 Panelists Hon. Seth Moulton, U.S. Congressional Representative (Massachusetts 6 th District) Mr. Michael Lane, Fisherman, South Shore Lobster Fishermen s Association Ms. Morgan Bell, Regional Director, Office of Hon. Seth Moulton Mr. Richard Stavis, Chief Sustainability Officer, Stavis Seafood Dr. Tim Werner, ACCOL, New England Aquarium Mr. Martin Noël, l Association des Pêcheurs Profesionnels Crabiers Acadiens

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4 NEAq. Taken under DFO Canada permits Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Taken under NOAA Permit #

5 North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) NEAq Range: Florida to eastern Canada Population: 411 Status: Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List); Endangered (US); Endangered (Canada) Primary threats: Entanglement in fishing gear; ship strikes; underwater noise

6 Calves born per year Calves 5-year average Annual mortality and serious injury Ship strikes Entanglements

7 Population Size Pace, R. M., P. J. Corkeron and S. D. Kraus Statespace mark-recapture estimates reveal a recent decline in abundance of North Atlantic right whales. Ecology and Evolution Increase: More births than deaths Decrease: More deaths than births

8 Fisheries involved Pot (trap) and gillnet fisheries for lobster, crab, and fishes (such as slime eel or hagfish)

9 NEAq/WPI

10 How to fix this problem? Modify fishing gear Make ropes of reduced breaking strength, similar to those previously fished, that will facilitate self release by whales (</= 1700lbf based on NEAq analysis of whale entanglements) Create cost effective and practical ropeless fisheries

11 Whale release rope NEAq NEAq

12 Ropeless fishing NEAq

13 Beware the vaquita T. Jefferson

14 Keep an eye on new ocean uses

15 Acknowledgments Fishermen from Maine to Rhode Island, and Canada; especially Maine Lobstermen s Association, Massachusetts Lobstermen s Association, men s Association, the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen s Association, and the Association Crabiers Acadiens Rope manufacturers in the eastern US/Canada Rope engineers, especially Mr. Hank McKenna Granting agencies, particularly NOAA Fisheries, Volgenau Foundation, Island Foundation, and CORBO/APPCA Academic collaborators including Duke U., WPI, UNH, and WHOI

16 H.R. 1568: Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act of 2019 Introduced by Congressman Seth Moulton (MA 06) in the 116 th Congress Co sponsors include: Rep. John Rutherford, Rep. Bill Keating, Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Bill Posey. Creates a new grant program under the Department of Commerce that non profits, states and members of the fishing and marine shipping industries can use to fund projects designed to reduce the impact of human activities on the North Atlantic Right Whale. Calls for science led conservation efforts with all stakeholders working cooperatively. Researchers, fishermen and government officials coming together is the only way that sustainable change will happen.

17 Mr. Michael Lane, Fisherman, Fishermen s Association

18 Mr. Martin Noël, l Association des Pêcheurs Profesionnels Crabiers Acadiens

19 General information on projects Sponsored by the mid shore snow crab associations of New Brunswick; Funded by the Atlantic Fisheries Fund and the Province of New Brunswick; Managed by CORBO Engineering from Caraquet; Result of an extensive consultation with Canadian and American experts in gear modification

20 Initiative 1: Survey on existing fishermen knowledge and practices

21 Initiative 2: Whale identification, sighting & reporting bilingual hand-out

22 Initiative 6: Rope in the water column A 5-trap trawl was tested in order to evaluate the technique s potential for fishing in closed areas and reducing the number of ropes in the water column.

23 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Testing of three (3) different rope less buoy trap prototypes Desert Star system Edgetech system S.M.E.L.T. SYSTEM MOBI system

24 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Most of the work done off season in 2018 dealt with unexpected difficulties linked to the Desert Star prototype. List of activities in 2018: The redesign of Desert Star bags to hold the ropes Various pilot tests done at the Marine Institute Off season sea trials from August 20th to September 30th, 2018 with 6 boats and crews Fishermen training

25 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Redesign of bags to hold the ropes

26 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Redesign of bags to hold the ropes A lot of effort was spent dealing with various configuration of the bag that came with the Desert Star rope less prototype. We looked at round and pillow type manufactured bags with and without different reinforcements. We also tested different pillow-type bag modifications. Finally, based on comments from fishers we fabricated a differently configured inverted-type bag which allows easier bag manipulation through the water column and on the boat.

27 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys

28 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Various pilot tests done at the Marine Institute

29 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Off-season sea trials from August 20 th to September 30th

30 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Fishermen training The training period was of two (2) days in class, plus sea trials ; 15 fishermen participated in the training sessions. In class training focused on how to use the release mechanism in both automatic and broadcast mode and troubleshooting methods for resolving issues while at sea. Training at sea focused on creating a practical method to use the system with a typical snow crab fishing crew. Hands on experience with setting the bag with a trap, activating the release mechanism, recovering the buoy, repacking the rope and rearming the device.

31 Initiative 7: Rope less buoys Fishermen training

32 Initiative 8: Smart Snow Crab Trap Initial design concept has been developed of a snow crab trap attached to a floating buoy that would be right whale safe Tension force on a hauling line with simulated load has been tested and the hauling tensions were over 1700 lbs 80% of the time (5 times over 6 hauls). Further research is being done to lower the tension on the rope to less than 1700 lbs. A home made tension gauge (data logger) was used in order to understand the strain a buoy could place on a hauling line due to currents and waves.

33 Initiative 8: Smart Snow Crab Trap

34 Initiative 9: Electronic Monitoring

35 Initiative 9: Electronic Monitoring Two different companies EcoTrust and Blue Ocean gear provided us with an integrated system of sensors linked to an electronic log book software program that can monitor the movement of the vessel, the position of the traps and the position of the buoys. While another company Ocean Marine experimented with the LoRa technology and successfully tested a connection between their sensor on a vessel and their gateway on land. Off season sea trials were conducted between July 1 st and November 1 St, 2018 with 4 fishing vessels.

36 Initiative 10: Hydrophones on trap

37 Initiative 10: Hydrophones on trap Minke Whale Spectrogram

38 Initiative 11: Rope Identification

39 Initiative 12: Recovery Grapples

40 Initiative 15: Best practices diffusion/education packages

41 Right whale research participation 2018

42 Whale rescue Training

43 Next steps Atlantic fishery funds project continues for year 2 & 3. Build at rescue team. Continue the collaboration with DFO and NGOs Find the solution(s) to coexist with the right whale.

44 QUESTIONS?

45 Thank you!