Fisheries Theme Team

Harvesting Technology/Conservation
Engineering

Introduction

At the time of Sea Grant’s inception, the commercial fishing industry had tremendous potential for growth. In the late 1960s and most of the 1970s, after the passage of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, it was national policy to promote increased harvesting of our fisheries resources in order to stimulate the economy and displace the foreign fishing fleet in U.S. waters. During that period, Sea Grant had significant and successful programs focused on developing underutilized species and improving fishing efficiency through the development of new technology.

By the mid 1980s, the situation had changed. National goals of displacing foreign fishing fleets and maximizing our fisheries yield were achieved. However, many U.S. commercial fisheries had reached or exceeded maximum sustainable yields. Sea Grant programming with the commercial fishing industry also evolved, and new programs focusing on fisheries conservation engineering, value-added processing and new management techniques were added. Pioneering efforts by Sea Grant have been responsible for major advances in fishing vessel safety, seafood inspection under Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) guidelines and bycatch issues related to endangered or threatened species; all are outstanding examples of Sea Grant’s vision and capability. During the same period and continuing today, the number of recreational anglers have dramatically increased with concomitant impacts on fishery resources and their involvement with fishery management issues and political action groups. Conflict has been further exacerbated through the self-serving interest in fishery resources by environmental and conservation advocate groups.

Commercial and Recreational User Conflicts

Sea Grant’s research and extension roles in fisheries currently face a more dynamic challenge from when commercial fisheries were the dominant concern. Commercial fishery problems are more complex, and the rapid growth in marine recreational fisheries has resulted in increasing conflicts on the fishing grounds and in fisheries management arenas. These problems often relate to fishing gear and harvesting strategies and solutions may be addressed through Sea Grant efforts in the form of research and technology transfer programs. Research and extension programs to evaluate circle hooks, catch and release strategies and conflict resolution are some recent examples of Sea Grant involvement.

Tribal/Native American Fishery Issues

Sea Grant’s strengths in research, outreach, and education can be brought to bear on the issues and controversies associated with tribal fishing rights. The role that Sea Grant can execute in tribal rights issues is similar to a role that Sea Grant has already been involved in dealing with the recreational/commercial fishery user conflicts. The primary difference is that the native American treaties carry the weight of federal law and are not often a socio-cultural issue. In some cases harvesting technology and conservation engineering can be used as a tool to ameliorate conflicts in this arena.

Fisheries Development Through Value-Added Products

One trend cited by analysts indicates that there is a transition in the composition of the global and U. S. catch. Today’s landings are made up of less traditional and therefore lower valued species which may present an opportunity for economic stability and expansion through the development of value-added products. One strategy to compensate for slow market growth or under-valued fishery resources is to increase the value of fishery products with consumer friendly product forms which minimize preparation time and waste. These areas often relate to extensive research and development activities by seafood technologists. However, to compliment these efforts there is often a need to expand or refine harvesting technologies which maximize landed product quality. Often, the availability of new seafood products is made possible through the development of new harvesting technologies.

Bycatch Issues

The issue of bycatch and discards in commercial and recreational fisheries has captured the attention and scrutiny of the general public, resource managers, and environmental groups. The real or perceived waste of potentially valuable fishery resources, the inadvertent capture of protected or endangered species, and the inherent inefficiencies related to harvesting operations capturing unwanted animals require the attention of responsible research and educational programs dedicated to the wise utilization conservation of marine resources. Advances in species specific fishing and size selectivity of fishing techniques are necessary in order to advance the wise utilization of our fishery resources.

Despite some techniques and available technology to address the problems of bycatch, progress has been hampered by the lack of specific goals for the management of bycatch. However, through several Sea Grant sponsored technical presentations and workshops, some consensus of goals have emerged. These goals include: (1) the approach of full utilization of fishery resources by minimizing bycatch discards; (2) the elimination of over-exploitation to minimize the impacts of bycatch on the viability of fishery populations; (3) the reduction of conflicts between fishery sectors caused by competition for bycatch species; (4) the development of credible data and accurate information on bycatch issues and conflicts; and (5) define realistic goals for bycatch reduction.

With the advent of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, bycatch related issues have taken new directions and challenges related to landing quotas or allowable catches. It is becoming increasingly common to see a directed fishery closed because of the bycatch of non-target species exceeded the allowable catch. If the abundance of non-targeted fishery species is below a critical point, the result could close a more valuable target species fishery. Research to improve bycatch reduction should be a high priority.

Intertwined in the issues of bycatch is the increasing awareness of the importance of non-harvest mortality of both the target and non-target species. To fully evaluate and quantify, discard mortality has always been an elusive target. In addition, the mortalities associated with fishing gear contact is becoming an increasing important question as it relates to habitat impacts of fishing gear and the ability to estimate total fishing related mortality for management purposes. Sea Grant is uniquely positioned to conduct needed research to quantify non harvest fishing mortalities and to further the development of bycatch reduction strategies.

Protected or Endangered Species Interactions

Human activity and the natural variations in the oceanic environment combine to cause unpredictable changes in the biomass of the world’s oceans. These changes are especially problematic in areas that host significant commercial fishing pressure. When a species is declared threatened or endangered, access to fishing grounds can be restricted or declared off-limit when resource managers perceive a possible link between commercial fishing and the death of threatened or endangered species.

Public perception of the fishing industry also suffers as people begin to associate seafood harvest with destruction of protected wildlife. Consumers may stop buying certain seafoods that they believe come from fisheries that incidentally kill turtles, birds, marine mammals or other animals. These outcomes can cause extreme economic loss to the fishing industry and others who depend on seafood harvest. Many of the solutions to solving fishing industry interactions with endangered or threatened species has been the result of research and extension activities conducted by Sea Grant. Sea Grant has the capability to react quickly and successfully to immediate issues that unexpectedly surface. For example, a new concern is the use of certain species such as horseshoe crabs as bait for pot and trap fisheries. Increasingly, as the fishing industry develops more stationary gear fisheries that require the use of bait, pressures on the supply of bait will require research on the development of alternative baits using fish and animal processing wastes and/or non-animal base baits.

Sea Grant has conducted concerted efforts in certain regions to incorporate harvesting technology/conservation engineering toward the protection of endangered species impacted by commercial fishing. Significant success has been achieved however additional conflicts are inevitable and a need still exists to refine technology in this area.

Habitat/Gear Issues

More than 75% of our economically important fishery stocks depend on the health of our inshore and /or near shore environments. The increasing loss of habitat in these nursery grounds is likely the single most critical long-term threat to our fisheries. While pollution, unwise development, and other human non-fishing activities are known to impact habitats, certain commercial fishing practices have recently been indicted as being potentially destructive. Specifically, some groups have identified mobile gear as being potentially harmful to marine habitats. It is perceived that this concern may well become a major issue in the new millennium. Fishery managers are proceeding to develop concepts in area based management strategies to improve yield per recruit, rebuild depleted fish stocks and to protect critical habitat. Sea Grant should be poised to conduct meaningful research on the application of area based management strategies to assist in the conservation and recovery of important fisheries habitats.

Sea Grant’s historic role as a non-advocate places it in a unique position to work effectively with opposing groups and functions to provide unbiased, scientifically verifiable information. In order to conduct this task, considerable effort and capital outlay will be of ultimate necessity to support vital research and extension efforts