Photo by Jason Jarvis, deckhand aboard the Tiger Jo.
The pair-trawl fleet’s here, been here since early December. Many of the boats—about six total—hail from Maine and Massachusetts. These are big vessels. That’s what has drawn the attention. You come to the shore expecting to see an idyllic scene: a lone lobsterboat working pots close to the rocky shore, or a wooden Stonington-rigged dragger towing for whiting, a small spiral of smoke rising from its stack.
But a 200-foot trawler towing a massive net with another 200-foot trawler? That may be too much free enterprise for most people to watch—more so when a middle school student with a fair wind could hit the wheelhouse windows with a baseball.
They work in teams. They search for fish. When a school is located they set the net and tow. Right now a hot spot has been off River Ledge, the mouth of Narrow River. The water here is 40 feet deep. They set in a tow down the length of the Town Beach, down the Narragansett shore, passing by First Rock, Indian Rock and the Brothers.
Fishing doesn’t get any more state-waters than this. Any closer would be amphibious invasion. The question is: Should the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) care about protecting state fisheries? If the answer were yes then it might be wise to boot the pair fleet outside of three miles.
The New England herring industry seems to always be under fire. Environmental groups, other fishing groups—groundfishermen, tuna fishermen, sport fishermen—band together and apply heat, plenty of it. The herring industry fends them off with lobbying pressure, political alliances.
In pair-trawling, two boats tow a single, massive net which lets them cover a wide strip of ocean. When fishermen talk of pair trawling they almost always use two words—efficient and effective. Efficient because you’re distributing the towing load of one large net across two large engines. Effective because—with tow speeds over five knots and sick electronics—schooling fish can’t get out of the way.
Each one of these boats can hold somewhere between 650,000 to over a million pounds of herring. They don’t freeze or process at sea. They fill up and head in, pump out, and head back to sea. The boats easily out-compete the smaller Rhode Island herring boats, many of which are under 80 feet in length.
Like it or not, herring fishermen, including pair trawlers, are fully allowed to be here—here being Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound, inside three miles.
All the pair boats need to legally fish in RI, is a RI general finfish license with a pair trawl endorsement. How much does RI make off the winter herring fishery in state waters? $200 a year—not exactly a windfall for DEM.
It’d be one thing if Rhode Island were their winter hub, if they bought fuel and groceries, unloaded their catch, ran up tabs at the local Bon Vue. Instead, each week, over a $1.2 million in herring are leaving the state. Six boats, all over 100 feet, steam to New Bedford with their catch. Logistically, this makes perfect sense. New Bedford has the infrastructure to handle the tonnage. I get it.
I also understand that nothing is easy, thay the boats have too much draft to get into Point Judith harbor. That the boats might not want to do business with SeaFreeze up in Quonset, a facility that might be able to handle the volume.
So what to do? So much emotional charge coursing through the sea herring discussion—to many complex ecological considerations.
For now, Rhode Islanders need to keep it simple, get together and draft a proposal to eliminate pair trawling from RI state waters. Period.
Leave the river herring out of it. Too many people trying to make that fish the spotted owl of the midwater trawl fishery. There’s so much knee-jerk reaction about pair trawlers, and the river herring is the tendon that causes the jerk.
Leave out the whole argument about sea herring as forage, the soft math of managing food chains: How much herring can safely be removed?
Leave out the owner-operators vs. Corporate America—the Winslow Homer vs. McDonald’s bit.
Huge and worthy debates, all.
But if you’re a RI citizen or fisherman I’d shelve these emotions for now and just politely show these boats to the door. If we try a massive fight, I’m guessing next winter in Rhode Island we’ll be seeing pair trawlers. Protect your state waters from a comic picture of man and his machines.
Wow. I had no idea pair trawlers were (or even physically could) operate as far up in the bay as the mouth of Narrow River. I appreciate that river herring make the debate a lot less rational, but if you’re trawling at the mouth of one of RI’s biggest herring runs, how exactly are these boats not catching huge numbers of them? In that spot, they’re practically targeting them.
The river herring from the Narrow River run could be anywhere between Watch Hill and the Cape Cod Canal. Very hard to say. But what I do know is that river herring tend to hug the coast and stay relatively close to their natal streams. So yes, I’m certain that the boats see them–they would have to. In what numbers I don’t know. If the river herring went just a few mile to the east they’d be in Mass. waters and would be somewhat safe, plus the bottom to the east gets very rocky and nearly impossible to tow on–but if the river herring go west then they join the free market place.
Very informative post and a good read too – thanks for sharing.
have seen them out at sea – and I agree with you, the various arguments for their elimination covers a wide spectrum of dissonate voices; but you’re right about the “just do it” philosophy – f eeryone agrees they shouldbe gone, they can at least agree to work together towards the outcome:_
That picture makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I love most any fisherman – but some you gotta watch close or they’ll steal your future!
Thanks for bringing this to the attention with your usual solid and sharp clarity.
I have forwarded your post on to various people who might be able to make a difference.
Let’s hope that is possible.
Keep us posted!!
NO boats should be fishing in this area. The area ahould be designated a “MARINE SANCTUARY”. Thanks for making the case for poicy experts and environmentalists. Thank the dented bucket for lobbying against the fishing industry on this “web site”. A threat to fisherman East coast to West coast.
oh wait. A group of fisherman initiated this conversation and are helping to make the case for policy makers and environmentalists. Thanks dented bucket for letting people post good pictures of boats. Especially Alaska.
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Awful. Those boats are no good- they cause problems everywhere they go. This need to stop!
Great read John , Thanks for posting. I think RI needs to assess this ASAP. These vessels receive a temporary license from RI for the months of Jan And FEB. Pretty sad state of affairs. I would love to know who came up with the idea for a license specific to out of state pair trawlers and larger herring vessels in RI!Might be worth the research.
I bet there’s plenty of boats in Point Judith that would like to take advantage of that.Or should I say,There were plenty of boats in the Point that would have liked to take advantage of that.Alot of the big boats are gone from this area now.What I find so disturbing about this whole situation is,if you remember back a few years, big money was bringing boats over from the west coast to midwater and pair trawl for herring and mackrel. And the big boats around here were excluded out of the fishery for lack of a market. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper and more effecient to have local boats already here in the fishery? It’s a perfect example of fishery management run amok. Which seems to be the national standard they most promote
Paper fish bringing in the big boys.
I got towed up by these two yesterday!!! I was herring fishing with my 55 footer
about half a mile off the beach when they turned around too close behind me and
their wing weight hooked my net and started to drag me sideways till the twine
broke free!! about 10,000 dollars in damage to the net and i’m out of business for the week.(a loss of another 40,000 dollars) I didn’t think it was right for them to
pair trawl inside 3 miles before , now i really don’t like it!
I heard about that Phil. What a shit day. I’m sorry.
I hearde they netted 5 GBFT yesterday as a bycatch and dumped them because of the regs. Good luck to you guys in RI…you are going to need it.
I think it’s a worthy mention that the owner of many of these midwater trawlers is Jim Odlin of Portland, ME. Also, the vice chairmen of the New England Fishery Management Counsel. Jim is also a strong apponent of the scoping measures that would allow for consolidation caps. Without the instatement of the scoping measures, under the current catch share system we can expect much of the same large vs. small boats and choking out viability for owner operators and small to mid sized fishing vessels
I didn’t know Odlin owned pair trawlers. I’m pretty sure two are owned by Shaftmaster in New Hampshire and two owned by Lunds down in Cape May. Another owner in Maine owns two. Odlin might be in on this, I’d have to check it out. I know that he is heavily invested in the groundfish sector. I’ll check this out. Because you’re right–he would have pull on the Council.
Is that why there was so much CG activity out there yesterday? Wasn’t it a fishery many Pt. boats took part in? The JV w the former USSR? Efficiency isn’t what is needed in the herring fishery.
The CG boarded and booted on of the boats. I don’t know why. But I do know that the pair trawl activity has slowed down since Phil got towed up by them on his boat the Sea Breeze II. So, maybe for now, the boats will be fishing outside. This gale we have will also get those fish moving.
What about all the bycatch blue fin tuna (100lb to giants) I’ve heard about recently being scooped up in the nets?
Phil I heard this as well. I don’t have a number. I heard 5 on one boat and 2 on another. I did also hear that many were seen on the surface. Bycatch always blows. No matter what fishery it happens in.
It’s just getting so tiring hearing about the blatant abuses to our fishery with no one doing anything about it. DEM and the NEMFC seem so apathetic to large issues such as this. What is it going to take? A full collapse of a fishery to get anyone’s attention?? I know the story of the Bluefin is getting everyone riled up as well, but I would shudder to see what other by catch they are hauling up. Pair Trawlers are good for NO ONE but the owner of the boat. But alas, this is going to just keep going on and on….
where are the river herring ? and will they impact the spring runs in RI. I guess we will see this spring if the numbers are low for RI for river herring
We have a moratorium on Herring coming here to the Delaware River and the biomass is in the toilet the entire North East. How come this is allowed to happen? I guess politics and money. Keep on voting the incumbent in! Thats working great. Get rid of these boats or at least make them play fair.
All of New England–but Maine, I believe–have a moratorium. The River Herring stocks in New England have been poor as well. Gilbert Stuart is the local run juts outside where these boats have been working. The stream has a fish counter. We’ll have to see. Obviously some river herring got caught. The tend to hug the shore more than sea herring do especially in December. River herring also tend to stay relatively close to their natal streams, 40 or so miles if I’m not mistaken. I think the key with river herring is the bycatch problems with the fish tend to be close to shore.
I am one of the owners of FISHING UNITED.COM, a fishing industry, news and story oriented website. I have been talking about this problem for the last few years with the devastation being done by pair trawl and mid water fleet both in the GOM, but also in the Southern New England region. Finally I believe it is the time that fishermen have to bring this to the attention of the general public, and make drastic changes to this fishing practice.
The other day I wrote this short email and sent it around to people in the for-hire industry, and a number are extremely upset about this. Captain Tim Tower of the fv BUNNY CLARK out of Ogunquit Maine, has posted the link of this site on his website and is spreading the word to the fishing public. I hope other fishing captains will do the same on their websites. I will also be speaking with Jim Hutchinson of the RFA to get this info out to the larger recreational fishing audience.
I also have a picture just taken yesterday of one of the New Bedford boats working in less then 50 foot of water off of Pt. Judith. As my buddy who owns a boat out of Pt. Judith told me, “how much closer are they going to come before they are working their gear on the pavement?” Anyone who wants this photo for their website, I will post it up on FACEBOOK on my page, and you can take it from there, or I can email it to you.
Here is the email I sent out:
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Hello everyone and fellow fishermen….
I am passing this around in hopes that many of you will join a cause that is affecting every fishermen who not only takes ground fish, but various pelagic species in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
For those who are facing the disaster coming to the Gulf of Maine as far as the most severe limits yet to cod fishing, look no further then right here, and see how a small group of fishermen are putting every other fishermen, every fishing business and businesses that rely on the fishing related activities, out of business.
We have all watched since the early 1990s when the JV occurred here in the Mid-Atlantic where with our local fishing fleet and fishermen like myself, thought it was a good idea at one of the fisheries meetings I attended. I was wrong, as we all experienced and watched the devastation that has occurred to the Atlantic Mackerel stock which are now a pittance from its historical bountiful biomass.
Now herring is being decimated by the pair trawl and mid water fleet, and again every other fishermen and fishing business is not only to take the blame, but also the brutal restrictions due to the latest GOM cod assessment. The mid water fleet though goes unscathed for the next few years, continuing to go about their business…..yes for the next few years since the next stock assessment will be in 2015 (in Amendment V). For many of you in the fishing business and making a living from catching codfish, will you be around if not only GOM cod, but Georges and SNE cod are as severely cut as much as they have intended to do to GOM codfish?
Take a few moments, read the blog, and pass around this news to other fishermen. We are all collateral damage from the pair trawl and mid water fleet, and fishermen are going to have to stand up, get the word out to the public and possible call on environmental groups to put the pressure on those at the highest levels of NOAA Fisheries and the Commerce Department to push these vessels so far offshore, that the crews will end up speaking Portuguese.
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I see a few familiar familiar names here in the comments section. Many of you can spread the word to other fishermen to raise the awareness to the point where their is such an outcry by the public to put the pressure on NOAA FISHERIES to address the so called “new herring management plan’ in Framework 46.
No one is looking to put other fishermen out of business, but when a small group of fishermen are effecting the livelihood of every other fishermen and fishing business, well it is time for the larger group of fishermen to take personal interest in not only addressing, but in making big substantial changes to the way herring and mackerel are caught.
I will be at the upcoming MRAC meeting here in NY this Tuesday the 17th at 7 PM if anyone wants to publicly talk with me.
EC NEWELL MAN
FISHING UNITED.COM
Take a ride into New Bedford and look at the physical condition of the herring vessels that tie up at Pope’s Island. Down right scary looking. Obviously not much money for repairs there. It looks like they are getting by on getting by. For what? I have been fishing for cod, hadddock and lobsters since 1975. The condition of the Western George’s and Nantucket shoals ground fish specifically cod and haddock is beyond dismal. A large reason for this IMO is the lack of forage fish for these cod and haddock stocks. It seems insane to allow a herring fishery that is barely getting by to ruin what was a very lucrative ground fishery that employed thousand of fishermen and port side processor jobs.
In the late 80′s I was witness to pair trawling and the devastation of brood stocks of pelagic species. Recreational fishing has never been the same since. The fish are fewer and smaller than we once experienced. Yes some species have rebounded, i.e. swordfish, striped bass, but it was only due to drastic cuts or closures to these species across the board. Nothing good has ever come from pair trawling. Fishermen from all sectors need to band together and outlaw pair trawling, regardless of what state you live and fish in.
River herring (alewife and blueback) are different species than the sea herring being harvested. River herring stocks have collapsed. Sea herring are abundant. River herring are known to stage and feed in exactly the same areas as sea herring this time of year before the (river herring) spawning migration which begins in March. The alewife, blueback herring, juvenile American shad, juvenile hickory shad, and SEA HERRING are similar in size and difficult to differentiate. The bycatch aspect of the sea herring fishery is a huge impact on the remaining river herring stocks.
Well when are we going to stop this abuse and overfishing !!!!!
I guess I must have missed something here….If the midwater trawlers are catching river herring in these waters that means all the day boats are catching river herring as well….You know what else is funny 2 weeks ago when I was on a groundfish boat we discarded thousand and thousand of pounds of fish that was not allowed to be taken, for those of you who have blinders on wake up …Dayboats catch more river herring then the midwater trawlers….Midwater trawlers are required to carry observers 60 percent of the time….Day boats ohhhh thats right they arent required at all…So any unwanted fish is simply thrown overboard….Its a shame …..Put observers on every boat and have a zero discard rule…….
There is a by-catch in every fishery even rod and reel. Trawling can be dirty or clean, so can a slaughter house . The differences are the tonnage taken out of the equation by these vessels. The western venture holds 1.6 million pounds when full. The vessel i am on holds 25000 maximum. So who is taking a larger by catch. Most of these pair trawlers can tow a net width of a quarter mile and carry a half million pounds or more. They are also mid water boats ,How can these vessels be towing mid-water in 40 to 50 feet of water. There was an actual comment on the radio from one vessel stating they were towing top to bottom. We cover 50 to 60 feet in width and on a good day 20 feet in height. They need to be outside of state waters !
Remember that NMFS has observers on virtually all of these herring vessels. The Magnuson-Stevens Act has restricted access to this data, but it still refers to the fisheries as a public resource. Go to NMFS and demand access to the data gathered using your tax money. Instead of wondering how much bycatch they are getting, fight for the right to have access to the data you’ve paid for. Transparency should be one of the goals in fisheries management. The APO has been fighting this battle for several years now. http://www.apo-observers.org/publicData
Vote to put observers on all boats…….They should all have a VMS unit on as well
Great post John. You know how I feel about the MWT fleet.
http://www.facebook.com/mike.laptew?sk=friends&v=friends#!/photo.php?fbid=3040202402093&set=a.3040185641674.153905.1174043259&type=1&theater
This is the equivalent of clear cutting a forest.Feel free to use anyone any of the pictures in my Facebook album above to help spread the word.
This area should be designated a Marine Sanctuary. Again, why are you people lobbying against yourselves and making a case for environmentalists and policy experts. Many argue that no boats should be dragging or trawling in the area.
I saw this on nbssportfishing.com I can not tell you the damage these greedy freaks cause. Many fish count on the herring as food. Sportfish as well as others.
Greed drives this…keep these guys the hell off the coast..far enough were they can’t be seen by eye.
Glad to know what’s happening out there. m
Comment from Alaska. We are fighting the same problems up here. But after years of it we are finally, slowly getting some by-catch hard caps on the industrial trawl fleet, starting with salmon. By next year all but the smallest federal waters boats will either have to have an on-board observer part of the time or an electronic one for smaller ones. The skipper will not be able to order when the observer goes to work. What salmon they do catch they can’t sell, but they will have to bring to the dock-no more dumping. We are subsistence salmon fishermen so its a big deal when the pollock fleet gets a hardcap of 60,000. We had asked for 30.000, but its a start. The trawlers will also have to sell, not dump, any of their non-prohibited non-targeted fish. So our council finally got a few things done. beside catch-share windfalls.
The commercial king salmon fishermen in western Alaska have been closed down for several years, on emergency relief–some of it is this loss is from bycatch we know.
In New England in the herring industry many people in management want to put a cap on alewife bycatch. Same as what you have with salmon in the pollock fleets. It hasn’t happened over here yet.
In New England we have a large-boat offshore fleet and a small-boat inshore fleet. Some conflicts arise when the big boats fish inshore, on what should be small-boat fishing grounds.
the greedy bastards should walk the plank in the u.s.people have to die before anyone does anything. why cant we all vote online to make laws we all knowhave to be passed .
It takes one man to lie and one man to listen.