Reducing Bycatch in the Haddock Fishery

The Sustainable Fisheries Extension Program recently evaluated an experimental net, the “Eliminator Trawl,” designed to target haddock while reducing bycatch of declining stocks of cod and flounder.

“The new gear catches just as much haddock as the existing gear, but without catching the stocks of concern,” said David Beutel, a URI fisheries researcher and Rhode Island Sea Grant Sustainable Fisheries Extension Specialist who was joined by colleague Laura Skrobe in testing the net. “And it virtually eliminated all of the bycatch like flounders, cod, skates, lobsters and dogfish.”

The new net configuration exploits the different behaviors exhibited by groundfish when a net is dragged toward them. Haddock, a high-value fish that has experienced a strong population surge, typically swim upward when a commercial fishing net is dragged along the bottom of the ocean. Cod, whose stocks are perilously low, and flounder swim downward when a net approaches.

At the suggestion of Rhode Island fishermen Jim O’Grady, Phil Ruhle Jr, and Phil Ruhle, Sr., and with the assistance of net builder Jonathan Knight, a net typically used in mid-ocean depths was rigged for use as a net dragged along the seafloor. The upper and rear portions of the net have the regulated six-inch mesh, which captures the haddock that swim upward and into the net, while the lower portion of the net has an eight-foot mesh easily allowing downward swimming cod and flounder to escape capture.

To scientifically document the effectiveness of the new net configuration, Beutel and Skrobe were awarded a $422,000 grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Cooperative Research Partners Program to conduct a series of trials. Two vessels participated, the F/V Iron Horse and the F/V Sea Breeze. With one fishing boat rigged with the experimental net and one rigged with existing regulated gear, the researchers and fishermen conducted 100 side-by-side comparison hauls over 19 days at a closed area of Georges Bank in June, November, and December 2005, and April 2006.

“We tested the net throughout the year because fish behavior changes at different times of the year, depending on when they’re spawning and the depths and locations they’re found at,” said Beutel. “While the experiments were a success, I worry that at some point in the future the cod may change their behavior and not escape capture as readily.”

Beutel and Skrobe have made a recommendation to the New England Fisheries Management Council to certify the net.

Fishermen are allowed a certain number of days at sea (DAS) —called “A DAS ”—when they could potentially catch species of concern like cod and flounder. They are also allowed additional DAS—called “B DAS”—as long as the gear used on those days does not affect stocks of concern. Because existing fishing gear captures all groundfish indiscriminately—cod, haddock and flounder, among others —that gear can only be used on A DAS. The experimental net will allow fishermen to selectively fish for haddock on B DAS.

“The cooperative nature of this process—between the fishermen, the scientists, and the fishery managers—has been key,” Beutel said. “We’re very excited about the possibilities. It’s going to give fishermen access to haddock while allowing the cod stocks to rebuild at the same time.”

To view more photos of the haddock study, click here.
To download the technical report for this project or see the article that appeared in Fisheries Research, click here.