20 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES NEWS FEBRUARY 2014

Tis page sponsored by:

REDNET finds restoring redfish fishery
involves trade offs, stumbling blocks
R
eviving the Gulf of Maine
redfish fishery is proving to be
a challenge, but the members
of REDNET, a network of fishermen,
scientists, managers, outreach
specialists, processors, and marketers,
are continuing to work toward that goal.
Funded by the Northeast
Cooperative Research Program out of
the NOAA Fisheries Services Northeast
Fisheries Science Center, REDNET is
conducting research and gathering data
on redfish marketing and processing
capacity, fish distribution, and codend
selectivity.
The REDNET project is coordinated
by Mike Pol of the Massachusetts
Division of Marine Fisheries, Pingguo
He of the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth, and Sally Sherman of the
Maine Department of Marine Resources
who recently have been joined by Erik
Chapman and Gabby Bradt of New
Hampshire Sea Grant/University of
New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.
Midway through a REDNET meeting
held in December in Portsmouth,
NH, Jamie Cournane, groundfish
plan coordinator for the New England
Fishery Management Council, said that
if the council chooses to explore a small-
mesh redfish fishery, it sure could use
a summary of all the trade-offs that we
need to consider.
Its easy to see Cournanes point as
you sort through the dizzying set of
factors and challenges that must be
considered as fishermen search for ways
to sustainably catch and sell this long-
lived, slow-growing, relatively small-
sized but abundant stock.
Because of these challenges,
fishermen have had to leave much of
their redfish quota in the water. But
redfish could be a lifeline for many
fishermen struggling to adapt to recent
groundfish quota cuts, so the need to
find a way to sustainably harvest these
fish is growing.
Exemptions
As REDNET has pursued research
projects, the fishing industry, in some
cases using data collected by REDNET,
has moved forward on its own with
sector-led exemption requests to fish
with meshes smaller than the legal
minimum.
While NOAA Fisheries has granted
these requests, some of the exemptions
have not been used. In particular, the
exemption to fish with 4.5" mesh was
problematic because it was coupled with
expensive industry-paid 100% observer
requirements for trips using the gear.
This industry-paid observer
requirement has led to significant
frustration and questions that became
the backdrop of the December meeting,
which aimed to provide an update on
REDNET research while facilitating
an open discussion about the gear
exemption process.
Brett Alger, a NOAA Fisheries
fisheries management specialist at
the Northeast Regional Office, who
was joined by colleagues Don Frei,
Nathalie Berthiaume, and Ryan Silva,
explained the agencys perspective on
the situation.
Sector exemption requests can be as
much about process as they are content,
meaning adequate planning and
opportunity for review can be just as
important as what is being reviewed,
Alger said.
He explained that, while his office
ushers the exemption requests through
the approval process, the system
involves review by many other NOAA
Fisheries offices, including Protected
Resources, Habitat Conservation,
Analysis and Program Support for
quota monitoring purposes, Office
of Law Enforcement, the Observer
Program, and the Population Dynamics
Branch.
In other words, we need to ensure
that a new exemption can be monitored
for landings and discards, that its
enforceable, and that it doesnt impact
other resources or habitat, Alger said.
It was during its trip through the
winding road of the exemption approval
process that the industry-paid 100%
observer coverage requirement was
added to the original 4.5" codend
exemption request. Alger explained
that this requirement was added
because of observer program funding
constraints and to confirm that bycatch
was limited. Ultimately, the economics
didnt work out and 4.5" mesh codends
were not used.
Despite these stumbling blocks, two
redfish related gear exemption requests
are now being considered that could
provide new opportunities for fishermen
in 2014.
Distribution, size
Results from previous work by
REDNET were reviewed during the
December meeting, including a research
project that involved exploratory
fishing by five commercial vessels using
their own nets and a 4.5" codend. The
project was designed to investigate fish
distribution, seasonality, and bycatch.
On balance, the exploratory surveys
found redfish distributed over a broad
area with little seasonal change in
catch. Pingguo He explained that the
exploratory surveys found that bycatch
was minimal, even with the 4.5" mesh
codends.
However, the surveys were conducted
by seasoned redfish fishermen, and
there was some discussion about
whether this low bycatch rate really
would be experienced by fishermen new
to redfish fishing.
Catching redfish requires some
skill, said Boston fisherman and vessel
owner Mike Walsh.
Meeting participants also reviewed
results from a separate codend size-
selectivity study led by Mike Pol that
looked at redfish catch and bycatch
differences among 4.5"-, 5.5"-, and
6.5"-mesh codends. The data were
used to create a model that can predict
the sizes of fish that would be caught
along a gradient of codend mesh sizes,
information that is vital for finding a
sustainable approach to harvesting.
The results dimmed hopes that
redfish could compete in some European
markets that demand larger redfish,
since redfish were found to be relatively
small, with the largest fish reaching
only about 16" and most falling in the
8"-to-11" range.
The data also showed that, even
with a 4.5" codend, a lot of redfish were
escaping through the codend meshes
and, potentially, ending up dead. If fish
Mike Walsh photo
The happy crew following the first codend selectivity trip in March 2013 on the
Boston-based Guardian. From left to right. Front row: Richard Walsh, San Farren,
Pingguo He (SMAST), Mike Pol (DMF), Jos Garcia; back row: Bobby Blethen, Capt.
Bradford Horrell, and Chris Rillahan (SMAST).
See REDNET, page 29
Paid copy, materials provided by the sponsor.
Pingguo He photo
From left, San Farren, Jos
Garcia, and Bobby Blethen
with a codend full of redfish on
a codend selectivity research
trip in the southern Gulf of
Maine on the F/V Guardian.
COMMERCIAL FISHERIES NEWS FEBRUARY 2014 29
Osmond Beal Designs from
H&H Marine, Inc.
Osmond Beal Designs from
H&H Marine, Inc.
Osmond 38
LOA 38'4"
Beam 14'10"
Transom 13' 5"
Osmond 36
LOA 36'8"
Beam 13'3"
Draft 4' 4"
Cockp|t 24'
Osmond 37
LOA 37'6"
Beam 12'8"
Draft 3'6"
Cockp|t 22'6"
NOTE: Our Osmond 42 is available with up to 17'6" beam and 16'8" transom widths.
Osmond 40
LOA 40'
Beam 14'10"
Transom 13'3"
Cockp|t 25'
Osmond 27
LOA 27'
Beam 10'5"
Draft 3'
Cockp|t 16'
Osmond 34
LOA 34'8"
Beam 13'3"
Draft 4'3"
Cockp|t 20'6" - 22'
Osmond 35
LOA 35'11"
Beam 12'8"
Draft 3' 6"
Cockp|t 21'
Osmond 29
LOA 29'8"
Beam 10'8"
Draft 3'6"
Cockp|t 17'6"
Osmond 42
LOA 42'
Beam 15'3"
Draft 4'8"
Cockp|t 26'6"-28'
TALK WITH BRUCE GRINDAL AT (207) 546-7477 Fax (207) 546-2163
INC.
932 US Route 1
Steuben, ME 04680
H&H MARINE
Draft 3'4"
Osmond 32
LOA 32'2"
Beam 11'3"
Cockp|t 19'
Osmond 47
LOA 47'4"
Beam 19'2"
Transom 18'6"
Cockp|t 32'
Visit our website at www.hhmarineinc.com
TFL MLL3 AVAILALL AL3: LFAI3 & LFWL3
CUSTOM FINISHING TO ANY STAGE OF COMPLETION
CALL FOR PRICING ON HULLS & KITS
in Maine during the mid-1800s. The
biggest owner held five-sixteenths of the
shares and the seven smallest owners
each held a one-sixteenth ownership.
OLeary cited the cod banker
Accumulator out of Castine, ME as
another example, a banker being a
vessel that worked on the banks. Two
merchants each owned three-sixteenths
of the vessel, giving them effective
operational control, while the remaining
shares were held by five quite ordinary
individuals two farmers, two house
joiners, and one fisherman, each of
whom owned a one-eighth share.
MA vs. ME
Repeatedly, OLeary suggested that
Massachusetts superiority over Maine
in various aspects of the fishing industry
resulted from the differences in the scale
and capitalization of Massachusetts
fishing firms. He contrasted Gloucester
and Castine as examples.
In 1832, OLeary wrote, Gloucester
had by conservative count 96 company-
owned fishing vessels. These were
controlled by 17 mercantile firms. The
average number for each firm was six
vessels, and seven of the companies had
more than that. The two largest owned
10 schooners each.
By 1868, there were 52 fishing firms
and 400 vessels in Gloucester.
By then, OLeary wrote, the top
seven Gloucester firms owned 106
vessels between them, and each had
more than a dozen. The leader was
Joseph Friend, with no fewer than 18
schooners, and the average for all 52
companies was eight.
In Castine, which he called the center
of the Penobscot Bay cod fishery, things
were different, according to OLeary.
In 1854, when it was one of the
leading fishing ports in the entire state,
Castine had eight mercantile firms
engaged in fisheries activity. If only
fishing schooners are considered, the
average (per company) was closer to
four, and only one company, the firm of
Samuel Adams, had more than six.
Because of their small size and
limited capital, OLeary observed that
Maines mercantile firms were forced
to be somewhat conservative in their
approach to the fishing industry.
And what was true for the small
fish merchant of Camden, Bucksport,
or Castine was doubly true for the
independent fisherman in the outports,
who lived from year to year and
depended on the one small schooner he
operated himself, he wrote.
Pierce noted the industrious nature
of the Italian fishermen in Gloucesters
mackerel fishery.
By the time that Italian lad is
21 years old, very likely he will have
several thousand dollars saved up in the
bank, so that he will be able to buy an
interest in a seiner and most likely go
skipper of her himself, Pierce observed.
In 1860, Southport was considered
the most prosperous and wealthiest
town in Lincoln County, ME, according
to Pierce.
But by 1889, there were only 11
vessels left in Southport, six of them
owned by the William T. Maddocks fish
firm and five by Freeman Orne & Sons.
These firms continued in business
until about 1893, and then sold their
vessels and closed their doors for good,
chiefly because of the scarcity of both
cod and mackerel, Pierce wrote.
Other historians attribute the
decline in the Maine fishing fleet in
the late 1800s to the loss of the subsidy
provided by the federal cod bounty,
which was repealed in 1864.
In nearby Boothbay, the fish firm of
S. Nickerson & Sons had a fleet of 20
bankers and seiners in addition to a
large general store and a ship supply
business during the latter half of the
1800s. They sold out in 1903.
Pierce reported that by the time
he wrote his book in 1934, the entire
fishing business of Boothbay Harbour
and Southport, Maine is gone, a thing of
the past.
Dick Allen
Dick Allen was a commercial
fisherman in New England for over four
decades and served on the New England
Fishery Management Council for nine
years. He is now a fishery consultant
and lives in Westerly, RI.
His consulting clients have included
various fishery and environmental
organizations, including the
Environmental Defense Fund. In 1998,
he was the recipient of a Pew Fellowship
in Marine Conservation that supported
his efforts to demonstrate how lobster
conservation could produce higher
profits for fishermen.
Footnotes and references have been
removed from the serialized version of
this history but will be included when
the entire series is published in a single
volume.
escape at depth, mortality may be low,
but some observations suggested that
escape happens mostly at the surface
during haul-back when redfish are
vulnerable to predation by birds and
other fish.
REDNET members are considering
several related projects, including one
to improve our understanding of when
and where small redfish escape from
the codend.
Using a grid in front of the 4.5"
codend could keep more fish alive so
they can remain in the population and
reproduce, which would help support
the fishery over the long term, DMFs
Mike Pol said.
Tim Miller, a stock assessment
scientist from the Northeast Fisheries
Science Center, offered a caution.
When mesh size is reduced, it
causes smaller fish to be caught and die,
which causes the long-term yield of the
stock to be reduced, he said. This is
because (those deaths) result in smaller
average weight of fish in the population
that is available to be caught.
Miller suggested proceeding carefully
due to the long-lived and lower-
productivity nature of redfish, coupled
with the uncertainty associated with
estimates of current stock size.
Market challenges
Dan Georgianna, emeritus
economics professor at the University
of Massachusetts Dartmouth, has
researched historical and current
redfish markets and offered further
insights into the complexity of the
redfish fishery revitalization challenge.
The market right now wants larger
fish than the stock seems able to
supply, Georgianna said. In specific
terms, the market wants 10" or larger
fish, will pay reasonable prices for
redfish down to 9", but, after that, will
only pay the bait price.
He added that, at the moment, there
also are infrastructure challenges the
filleting machines wont take small fish
or are very inefficient in terms of yield.
Nevertheless, Georgianna said, The
market generally works this out fairly
quickly if there is a fairly steady supply,
as was shown with tilapia.
As you might have guessed, this is
about when Jamie Cournane asked for
the trade-offs summary.
Understandably, some members of
industry were less interested in that
than in testing Georgiannas tilapia
principle If we catch it, the markets
and infrastructure will come.
We feel like we know all that we
Continued from page 20
REDNET
need to know at this point, said Maggie
Raymond of Associated Fisheries of
Maine. Just let us use the 4.5" nets.
Members of REDNET will continue
to collect and provide information
to industry and managers. Future
projects being considered include:
testing a gear system that creates
escape opportunities while the net is on
the bottom; examining a value-added
seafood product; and exploring ways the
Northeast Fisheries Science Centers
Study Fleet might help alleviate costs
resulting from observer requirements
for the fishery.
Fisheries managers also are eager
to work more closely with industry to
find solutions that enable them to catch
their redfish quota as soon as possible.
The REDNET meeting provided an
opportunity for communication that
could help realize that goal.
Oh, and REDNET is working on that
trade-off summary to help us all make
choices that are sustainable for the fleet
and the fish.
Erik Chapman
Erik Chapman is the fisheries
extension specialist for the University of
New Hampshire Cooperative Extension/
New Hampshire Sea Grant College
Program.
For more information or to discuss
how to organize a meeting to talk
about project results with a group of
fishermen, call Chapman at (603) 862-
1935 or e-mail him at <erik.chapman@
unh.edu>.