DEM considers pair-trawling regs

FISHY BUSINESS: Seafreeze Ltd., in North Kingstown, is among the businesses concerned about out-of-state fishermen depleting the local fishing quota. Above, warehouse workers Andrew Terry, left, and Sam Fusco. / PBN PHOTO/CATIA CUEN
FISHY BUSINESS: Seafreeze Ltd., in North Kingstown, is among the businesses concerned about out-of-state fishermen depleting the local fishing quota. Above, warehouse workers Andrew Terry, left, and Sam Fusco. / PBN PHOTO/CATIA CUEN

This past winter, Rhode Island fishermen made it clear new rules for dealing with the Atlantic herring stock were needed for state waters. They also demanded a say in the matter.
They will get their chance over the next few months when the R.I. Department of Environmental Management begins the process of developing new regulations it hopes will prevent the depletion of the local fishing quota by out-of-state fishermen.
The reassessment is a minor victory for the local fishermen, thanks in part to Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D-South Kingstown and Sen. James C. Sheehan, D-North Kingstown, who took heed when those at the port of Galilee expressed concern when large, out-of-state boats entered state waters in January. Using a fishing method called pair trawling – dragging a net between two parallel boats – the out-of-state fishermen harvested large amounts of the state’s herring stock during its seasonal peak. Adding insult to injury, they off-loaded their catch in New Bedford, using ancillary services there instead of in Rhode Island.
House members passed legislation sponsored by Tanzi to ban pair trawling in Rhode Island waters for the next year, until March 1, 2013, to provide time for the DEM to review regulations and hold public hearings. The measure failed to pass the Senate, however.
The fishing method has a high bycatch rate, reaping fish that were unintended to be caught. It also snags traps, fixed fishing equipment and sometimes – rather dangerously – other fishing vessels, creating a potential safety concern. According to fishermen, the state is one of the few places where pair trawling is allowed. Tanzi and the House believed this resulted in this year’s quota being depleted while generating little state income.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski’s, D-South Kingstown, resolution requesting DEM to develop pair-trawl regulations, seeing that other Atlantic-coast states already have enacted new rules.
Robert Ballou, acting chief of DEM’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, agrees pair trawling needs to be addressed. “The overall issue of herring management, of which pair trawlers are a component, needs a thorough vetting to ensure we have a full sense of the Rhode Island community, so that we can look to carve out a management program that addresses all of the state’s interests. We need to get a sense on what our options might be and ultimately put forth some proposals, perhaps a series of options, so that there wouldn’t be one single way forward proposed but rather two or three options to address the issue,” he said. Ballou believes there are a range of perspectives throughout the Rhode Island community and that’s one of the reasons why this should go through the regulatory, as opposed to a legislative, process, he said.
After a series of meetings that began June 27, a herring advisory panel, along with members of the R.I. Marine Fisheries Council, can revise the regulations. Ultimate approval lies with DEM Director Janet Coit.
The regulations will include and consider the most recent herring landings, including figures from this past season.
Some fishermen still consider the quota to be based on questionable science done by the National Marine Fisheries Service. “I believe they haven’t done a stock assessment on herring in four or five years. They don’t know what’s going on out there,” said Tina Jackson, president of the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities.
Any proposed regulations would have a final review by RIMFC before being given to the director in the fall.
Usually herring is not a local fishery of consequence, but it became one six months ago, when unusually warm water brought them to the state’s southern coast by the ton. With them came about six large trawling vessels and the problems began.
What concerns most fishermen and regulators is safety. This past January, Phil Roule Jr., captain of the 55-foot Seabreeze, got caught up in a pair of 200-foot trawlers. It spun his boat 180 degrees, almost snapping it in two before being released. The two boats kept on fishing without so much as an acknowledgement of the accident. He estimates he lost $10,000 a day for a week while he was unable to fish, and $8,000 for repairs. That kind of incident won’t make many friends in Point Judith. “DEM could have taken an emergency action because of safety but they chose not to,” said Jackson. “If they aren’t going to ban out-of-state boats or at least those big 220-foot boats, then they should at least make the boats take out their product here. You don’t want to close it out to out-of-staters, but you should want them to take out their product here.”
“I’m not a big fan of the big pair trawlers being so close to the shoreline, but you have to understand that it’s an industry,” Jackson said.
“It affects us,” said Geir Monsen, vice president of Seafreeze Ltd. of North Kingstown. “It’s not our main type of fish but we do a fair amount. The quicker they deplete the quota, the quicker we have to stop.” According to Monsen, this year’s annual quota was exhausted in less than three months.
In addition, Seafreeze is currently renovating the former Slavin Point Judith Co. building in Galilee into a fishing receiver and processor. More herring for Rhode Island boats could translate into business for Seafreeze and its neighbor, The Town Dock, another processor.
“Most of the larger out-of-state boats couldn’t get into [the harbor] at Point Judith, but it would certainly help the smaller Rhode Island boats,” he said.
Monsen added that pair trawling in Point Judith was a common practice in the 1980s because fishing boats in the Northeast are generally small. Pair trawling increased catch sizes efficiently. “Maybe you shouldn’t attack the tool but the behavior of those using it,” he said. “The problem last year was more about the behavior of the fishermen than the tools they used.” His experience also tells him that if Rhode Island closes its waters to all out-of-state boats, then other states will follow suit, he said. •

No posts to display