University Press of Florida
289 pages.
Dis-entangling whales from fishermen
The College of the Atlantic has long taken an interest in the large marine mammal life of the Gulf of Maine. The institution is host of the research group Allied Whale, and offers a number of courses in whale biology and conservation. This is really not all that surprising considering that COA’s President, Steven Katona, literally wrote the book on our local marine mammals, entitled A Field Guide to the Whales, Porpoises and Seals of the Gulf of Maine and Eastern Canada. Another researcher from the college has now taken on one of the thorniest issues of man-whale interactions: the ensnaring and subsequent death of whales from commercial fishing gear. Tora Johnson’s new book, Entanglements: The Intertwined Fates of Fish and Fishermen, provides not only the history and legislative background of this problem, but also delves into the tricky next step of suggesting alternatives and suggestions.
All Maine lobstermen have probably been affected by this issue, as regulations have recently come into force requiring breakaway links on every vertical line in the water. These required pieces, most often installed in the region of the swivel right beneath the buoy, are weak links engineered to break away with any in-line pull greater than 600 lbs (272.4 kg). Such links may take the form of modified swivels, plastic weak links, a section of rope of the appropriate breaking strength, an arrangement of hog rings, rope stapled to a buoy stick, or other devices approved in writing by the NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator. In addition, this weak link must be designed so that the bitter end of the buoy line is clean and free of knots when the weak link breaks. The whole idea behind these changes is so that a lobster warp will not lodge in the baleen of the whale’s mouth, and that it will break off when wrapped around a fluke.
While these interactions are causing whale deaths, it should be recognized that entanglements are not the only threats to the animals, and about half of the documented deaths are due to ship strikes. In order to address this problem changes have recently been made to the shipping lanes that run along the Maine coast and up into the Bay of Fundy, taking large vessels farther from the usual right whale migration paths. These particularly slow moving cetaceans seem less aware of the traffic around them when migrating through busy shipping corridors and also spend more time at the surface than other species, making it a particular challenge to protect them. Between reducing gear entanglements and reducing ship strikes there is hope that the species will rebound, although some pessimistic observers think that the population might be already reduced so far that recovery may not be possible.
Tora Johnson suggests that the Dynamic Area Management (DAM) policy for reducing entanglements has been a failure. Under this policy large areas (something like half the coast of Maine) where whales were sighted were to be closed immediately to fishing, with a requirement that all gear be removed within two days. Fishermen understandably chafed under these measures, which were most likely to go into effect in the heart of the lobstering season. There were right whale sightings, and DAM closures were called for, but both removal of gear and enforcement proved impossible.
Johnson suggests that this strategy should be scrapped, and that fishermen, conservationists and regulators working together could craft a better answer. This would require all parties staying flexible, and working quickly to implement a new solution that federal agencies would accept. As always in these types of multi-party, environment-vs.-jobs issues, she acknowledges, the devil is in the details.
Considering that regulations and gear changes continue to be implemented, and that possible expensive additional changes for fishermen are in the works, this book is very timely. Whales continue to be affected by gear, with another right whale death as recent as March 5, when one of the animals entangled in line came ashore on Ship Shoal Island in Virginia. With the total right whale population now hovering at around the 300 mark, it is important for conservation and recovery of the species that each and every individual survives. Johnson’s book is one step towards coming up with an effective and feasible solution.
Ben Neal is marine programs officer at the Island Institute.