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Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Three new commercial boats in Morro Bay let fisherman test new federal program for less-disruptive methods of catching bottom fish

Three commercial boats in Morro Bay are onboard with a federal program that’s testing less-disruptive methods to catch bottom fish

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The stern of the commercial fishing boat Morning Light moored in Morro Bay is stacked with gleaming galvanized metal tubs laden with fishing lines and hooks.

Fisherman Bill Blue is busy getting the boat ready for a day of fishing for sablefish and thornyheads in the deep waters off the Central Coast.

The Morning Light is one of three Morro Bay commercial fishing boats that have taken to the water in recent weeks as part of an innovative community-based fisheries management program.

The fishermen are using a new fishing permit issued by federal fisheries regulators that allows them to experiment with traps and hooks and line to catch bottom-dwelling species that have historically been caught by trawlers.

The other fishermen involved in the program are David Rose on the Nikki J and Roger Cullen aboard the Dorado.

Obtaining the exempted fishing permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service is part of a cooperative ef fort by fishermen, harbor officials and environmentalists to rebuild the Central Coast’s commercial fishing fleet using less-disruptive harvest methods than those traditionally used.

A different battle

The area’s commercial fishing fleet has been nearly destroyed in recent years by closures and ever-increasing regulations intended to protect a handful of deep-dwelling fish species, which are considered to be depleted.

“I’m willing to try something new and hope it works,” Blue said. “We’ve been fighting a losing battle for the past 10 to 15 years.”

If successful, the model could be adopted by fishing communities in other parts of the country, said Rod Fujita, a scientist with Environmental Defense, one of the environmental groups involved in the effort.

“It will provide the Pacific Fisheries Management Council with the real on-the-water experience they will need to develop new ways to fix the long-suf fering West Coast groundfish fishery,” he said.

When Blue takes to the sea over the weekend, he will string lines of thousands of baited hooks along the ocean floor. He is mainly targeting sablefish, a fish popular in Japan that fishermen call black cod.

Long-lining for sablefish has some distinct environmental advantages over the traditional method of trawling. But long-lining also has some economic disadvantages that have, until now, made it unattractive, Blue said.

One of the goals of the cooperative fishing program is to experiment with ways to make long lines and traps more economical while preserving their environmental advantages.

“This will help secure what remains of California’s fishing heritage and working harbors, promote a variety of improved fishing methods and ensure supplies of sustainably harvested seafood for consumers,” said Rick Algert, Morro Bay’s harbor director.

The main environmental damage caused by trawling is that it has a tendency to catch nontargeted fish, called bycatch. Deep-water long-lining has very little bycatch, Blue said.

Most of the bycatch are skates, a group of flat shark species similar to rays. Skates caught on the long lines are returned to the ocean alive.

The disadvantage of using long lines is that they are more labor intensive, relative to trawling. For every day a long liner spends fishing, he must spend two days in port untangling his lines and rebaiting his hooks.

“There’s a lot involved in this project,” Blue said. “It takes a lot of manpower.”

Another complicating factor is that an observer must come along on every trip. The observer inspects a percentage of the catch to make sure it is legal.

Blue also has video cameras mounted on his boat. They are turned on every time he activates the winch that allows him to deploy and retrieve the lines. The observers may be phased out if the cameras prove to be a reliable monitoring tool.

Another participant of the community-based fishing program is Morro Bay fisherman Ed Ewing, who is experimenting with lower impact trawl gear. A variety of fish, mostly flatfishes such as sole and flounder, can only be caught with trawlers because they will not bite on baited hooks.

Not all fishermen are convinced that the community-based fishing program is necessary.

One skeptic is Barry Cohen, a fish buyer in Port San Luis and a member of the groundfish advisory council for the Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

Cohen insists that the council does a good job of protecting the ocean’s resources. And he said that little is likely to be learned from the Morro Bay fishermen’s experimenting because fishermen already know the environmental benefits of using the various types of gear.

“Everyone is trying to do good, but trawlers are already fishing with the most sustainable gear,” he said.

Blue has been fishing commercially for the past 33 years. Before participating with the exempted permit, he fished primarily for Dungeness crab with pots. He also fished for sablefish with pots and trolled for salmon.

Though he’s cautious, Blue is optimistic that methods can be found to keep the fishing industry alive so he can continue fishing 20 more years.

“The program has good intentions,” he said. “I think it’s feasible to do this if we are allowed to go out and catch the fish.”

Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.