The often destructive nature of ocean trawling has led to innovations by The Nature Conservancy and some California fisheries that promise benefit to all, reported by PERC Reports.
Some Excerpts.
“Morro Bay is a picturesque coastal community in central California. The town’s most prominent physical feature is Morro Rock, the remnant of an ancient volcano, which stands at the entrance to the bay that gives the town its name. This small bay is home to a fleet of trawlers that target petrale sole, sand dabs, sablefish, and other groundfish. With an overcapitalized fleet and declining fish stocks, Morro Bay’s commercial fishing industry has suffered economically over the past two decades. This is a part of a widespread trend—between 1987 and 2003 gross revenues from Pacific groundfish trawling fell by two-thirds.
“Worsening the situation, commercial trawling has come under increasing criticism for its negative environmental effects. Bottom trawling involves dragging large, weighted nets across the seafloor, which can harm corals and rocky bottom structures. Avoiding sensitive habitats or using different gear can minimize these damages, but existing regulations provide no incentives to practice such safeguards…
“The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) conservation goals for the central California ground fishery were to change the method of fishing from bottom trawling to less damaging trap and hook and line gear and to exclude commercial trawling from sensitive habitats. Existing regulations made it impossible to negotiate easements that would stipulate these conditions on the trawl permit directly, necessitating the use of a less direct strategy. Working with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), TNC entered into discussions with the 22-member trawl fleet on California’s central coast with the objective of improving the ecological and economic performance of this fishery. Over time, TNC succeeded in acquiring 13 permits and 7 trawl vessels. Some of the vessels purchased were retired; other vessels were leased, with permits, to commercial fishers with restrictions on the kind of gear used. Thus, while the permits could not be encumbered directly, the desired objectives were met with lease restrictions. …
“Early signs of success from Morro Bay led TNC to try a similar experiment in Half Moon Bay, a coastal community to the north. One permit holder based there had long used Scottish seine gear instead of bottom trawl nets to harvest sand dabs and petrale sole. This alternative method catches bottom fish in a more environmentally friendly manner than traditional trawling— making the catch particularly attractive to buyers in the San Francisco Bay area. Scottish seining does not require the heavy doors and cables used with traditional trawling and the lighter gear and gentle retrieval process dramatically reduce sea floor degradation. This method has also been shown to result in low bycatch rates. To ensure that this practice continues, TNC negotiated with the individual to purchase the permit and then leased it back with the stipulation that the use of Scottish seine gear continue and with some geographic restrictions on areas fished.”
