twofinbluna
09-25-2007, 01:15 AM
While the season is not over yet, I have been very happy with the signs of recovery in the GOM in the absence of midwater trawlers. We saw a lot more herring this summer than in the last 5+ summers. We saw a lot more herring this summer, especially in the first half of the season, which is a great sign. Given that the ban only began on the first of June, we were lucky to see any improvements this summer.
The most herring we saw was in the first half of the season, like I said. This is probably because of a couple reasons. First, early on, the herring are just arriving and they seem to all be together at first. Before midwater trawlers, when we truly had a lot of herring, it would fill in all the spots along the coast and offshore. But now, there is clearly less herring around and will be for a while to come, since so much damage was done. So, at first the herring was thick in a few spots, but then spread out across the coast. There were times and places later in the season with lots and lots of herring, but as a rule, it seemed spread from the west all the way to Canada as the season went on.
(Many people think that the 'resident' herring for most areas have been depleted, and the herring we are seeing is migratory. This makes some sense because the fish move aorund a lot. There does not seem to be enough herring to fill in all the spots. While it is better than last summer when there was nothing anywhere, this lack of consistency is a key example of the long term damage that has been done to the herring stock.)
Second, you have dogfish. The dogs seem to spread out the herring on top and inhore. It is not nearly as bad as with midwater boats, but it was noticeable. Luckily, herring has ways to avoid the dogs, like going deep...it does not have any defense to midwater trawling. Later in the summer, the herring was often on bottom all day on pieces of bottom, or out in the deep water.
There were more big tuna around this summer than anything in years. We saw so many more tuna it is not even funny. Multiple days with 50+ bunches chased or seen. The weather paralyzed us, but whenever we got out, we saw plenty of fish. And those fish were in places we had not chased them since before midwater trawlers showed up. As of the last time we sent out, a couple weeks ago, the fish were still there. That may be the most amazing thing of all: we never saw a fish in the GOM after mid-june in multiple summers. This summer they are still here and its almost Fall.
The little ones invading combined with weather really hurt the harpoon fleet, and the dogfish basically shut down the chummers...but do not let any of that fool you into thinking that there were not more tuna...I cannot get too specific, but trust me, we had many *hours* this summer seeing more fish in the GOM than in the last 5 years *combined*; that is, single hour-long periods seeing more than in 5 years combined.
And groundfish guys, commercial ones especially, were seeing fish in places they had not seen them inshore in years. That is a great sign.
Whales, birds, and everything else was around. Like I said, the best whale show was in the first half of the summer, and because more spread out as the herring spread out.
Another truly amazing sign was/is the little forage around. We saw so many more little herring this summer than in the last 5 years it is a joke. We had not seen little herring in a long time, this summer at times it was everywhere. Many of us believe this is a sign of the true damage that was done by midwater trawlers- the last few years, there were so few herring spawning that there was almost no little herring around. And the little herring, easy to catch, we slaughtered by the trawlers.
Same goes for other species- there are little macks everywhere. Portland harbor has been full of them for weeks now...completely thick. Last night I caught two tinkers on a single mackerel jig (inch long), both foul hooked. Thats a lot of fish to foul hook two at the same time with a tiny hook. And you could have sat there all night doing that.
What we are seeing is that there are a lot of species other than herring that were crushed by the midwater boats. Whiting, and pogies are he other key examples. All are doing better this year than in the last 5...that is not a coincidence.
But unfortunately, we are not there yet. The summer ban is nice but not enough. It is painfully clear that even with our improvements this summer, there has been some serious long term damage. These boats will be back in in a week, and will be hungrier than ever. Many people worry that unless we get a year round ban, that covers aall of the New England coast, nothing will get back to where it should be. There is little doubt in my mind that midwater trawling does not ever belong inshore. My guess is that many of you agree.
In the next few weeks, I will start putting stuff up here for people to use to show their support for more changes to how herring is managed. Hopefully all of you have been able to see the improvements from our efforts so far, but will also see that much if left to do. The next few months are crucial because in November the NEFMC will be making its priorities for 2008. If we cannot get them to put herring on the list, we will not see any more changes to the herring fishery until, at the earliest, 2010. That would not be good, given the problems remaining.
As I said, there are ways to help. Watch for the sample letters I will post in the coming weeks that you can sign and send in. Also, any of you who have charter companies, tackle shops, or any business-related link to this part of the ocean, end me a PM because we have a Sign-On letter going around that people can sign on to.
Anyways, I was happy with the improvements, I think a lot of people believed nothing would change in such a short time. But midwater trawling is so damaging that any time without them will mean improvements. If we can all fight together on this, we will be able to get rid of th trawlers inshore for good, all throughout New England.
The most herring we saw was in the first half of the season, like I said. This is probably because of a couple reasons. First, early on, the herring are just arriving and they seem to all be together at first. Before midwater trawlers, when we truly had a lot of herring, it would fill in all the spots along the coast and offshore. But now, there is clearly less herring around and will be for a while to come, since so much damage was done. So, at first the herring was thick in a few spots, but then spread out across the coast. There were times and places later in the season with lots and lots of herring, but as a rule, it seemed spread from the west all the way to Canada as the season went on.
(Many people think that the 'resident' herring for most areas have been depleted, and the herring we are seeing is migratory. This makes some sense because the fish move aorund a lot. There does not seem to be enough herring to fill in all the spots. While it is better than last summer when there was nothing anywhere, this lack of consistency is a key example of the long term damage that has been done to the herring stock.)
Second, you have dogfish. The dogs seem to spread out the herring on top and inhore. It is not nearly as bad as with midwater boats, but it was noticeable. Luckily, herring has ways to avoid the dogs, like going deep...it does not have any defense to midwater trawling. Later in the summer, the herring was often on bottom all day on pieces of bottom, or out in the deep water.
There were more big tuna around this summer than anything in years. We saw so many more tuna it is not even funny. Multiple days with 50+ bunches chased or seen. The weather paralyzed us, but whenever we got out, we saw plenty of fish. And those fish were in places we had not chased them since before midwater trawlers showed up. As of the last time we sent out, a couple weeks ago, the fish were still there. That may be the most amazing thing of all: we never saw a fish in the GOM after mid-june in multiple summers. This summer they are still here and its almost Fall.
The little ones invading combined with weather really hurt the harpoon fleet, and the dogfish basically shut down the chummers...but do not let any of that fool you into thinking that there were not more tuna...I cannot get too specific, but trust me, we had many *hours* this summer seeing more fish in the GOM than in the last 5 years *combined*; that is, single hour-long periods seeing more than in 5 years combined.
And groundfish guys, commercial ones especially, were seeing fish in places they had not seen them inshore in years. That is a great sign.
Whales, birds, and everything else was around. Like I said, the best whale show was in the first half of the summer, and because more spread out as the herring spread out.
Another truly amazing sign was/is the little forage around. We saw so many more little herring this summer than in the last 5 years it is a joke. We had not seen little herring in a long time, this summer at times it was everywhere. Many of us believe this is a sign of the true damage that was done by midwater trawlers- the last few years, there were so few herring spawning that there was almost no little herring around. And the little herring, easy to catch, we slaughtered by the trawlers.
Same goes for other species- there are little macks everywhere. Portland harbor has been full of them for weeks now...completely thick. Last night I caught two tinkers on a single mackerel jig (inch long), both foul hooked. Thats a lot of fish to foul hook two at the same time with a tiny hook. And you could have sat there all night doing that.
What we are seeing is that there are a lot of species other than herring that were crushed by the midwater boats. Whiting, and pogies are he other key examples. All are doing better this year than in the last 5...that is not a coincidence.
But unfortunately, we are not there yet. The summer ban is nice but not enough. It is painfully clear that even with our improvements this summer, there has been some serious long term damage. These boats will be back in in a week, and will be hungrier than ever. Many people worry that unless we get a year round ban, that covers aall of the New England coast, nothing will get back to where it should be. There is little doubt in my mind that midwater trawling does not ever belong inshore. My guess is that many of you agree.
In the next few weeks, I will start putting stuff up here for people to use to show their support for more changes to how herring is managed. Hopefully all of you have been able to see the improvements from our efforts so far, but will also see that much if left to do. The next few months are crucial because in November the NEFMC will be making its priorities for 2008. If we cannot get them to put herring on the list, we will not see any more changes to the herring fishery until, at the earliest, 2010. That would not be good, given the problems remaining.
As I said, there are ways to help. Watch for the sample letters I will post in the coming weeks that you can sign and send in. Also, any of you who have charter companies, tackle shops, or any business-related link to this part of the ocean, end me a PM because we have a Sign-On letter going around that people can sign on to.
Anyways, I was happy with the improvements, I think a lot of people believed nothing would change in such a short time. But midwater trawling is so damaging that any time without them will mean improvements. If we can all fight together on this, we will be able to get rid of th trawlers inshore for good, all throughout New England.