Contact: Teri Frady FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 1998
By managing when, where and how gillnetters fish in waters off of New England and the Mid-Atlantic, federal officials believe harbor porpoises can be protected from accidental entanglement in fishing gear. New measures announced today by NOAA Fisheries are expected to prevent more than 1,600 of the nearly 2,000 annual harbor porpoise deaths currently caused by gillnet fishing in these areas.
"We've worked closely with gillnetters and with environmental advocates over the past few years to understand this problem and devise a solution," says NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Assistant Administrator Chris Mantzaris. "We are optimistic about the prospects for improving survival of these small porpoises." NOAA Fisheries is the federal agency that works with the public to protect the nation's marine mammals and manage commercial and recreational marine fisheries.
Since gillnetting operations differ between the Gulf of Maine and Mid-Atlantic regions, two sets of measures were devised. Under the plan, six areas in the Gulf of Maine are closed to gillnetting. During the majority of the closures, gillnetters may fish in those areas if they use sound-emitting devices called "pingers" on their gear. The closures may run for as little as one to as many as eight months of the year. Gear modifications and area closures, but not pingers, are required in the Mid-Atlantic.
Present stock assessments show that the harbor porpoise stock can withstand the loss of 483 animals per year to commercial fisheries. Management measures taken to reduce harbor porpoise entanglement are expected to reduce harbor porpoise deaths to approximately 300 animals per year in the Gulf of Maine and fewer than 50 deaths in the Mid-Atlantic.
In general, the plan takes advantage of the behavior and distribution of the harbor porpoise, a small, four-to-five-foot cetacean, to minimize the risk of their entanglement in the gillnets. Gillnets are typically used in the Northeast to catch groundfish such as cod and flounders, and small sharks. The nets hang vertically in the water and are tethered in various ways to prevent "drift." Harbor porpoises are found from North Carolina to the Gulf of Maine/ Bay of Fundy. Annually, approximately 2,000 harbor porpoise (1800 in the Gulf of Maine and 200 in the Mid-Atlantic) encounter gillnets, become entangled, and drown.
The porpoises also sense and respond to a range of sound frequencies, including that emitted by a pinger. In scientific experiments in the Gulf of Maine, initiated by the gillnet industry and sponsored by NOAA Fisheries, it was found that gillnets used with properly placed and operating pingers took far fewer harbor porpoises than nets without pingers. The new regulations require those who intend to fish using pingers to attend training and certification sessions on the use of the technology.
In a recently settled lawsuit filed by environmental advocates, NOAA Fisheries agreed to a series of deadlines on harbor porpoise actions. The agreement did not change any specific protection measures in the final rule, measures that were developed through a negotiation with various fishing and environmental interests as required by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. As part of the settlement, however, the agency waived the usual 30-day waiting period between announcing and implementing a final rule, making the measures effective over the next two weeks. The agency also agreed to make a decision by Jan. 4 on whether to list the harbor porpoise as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Further, the agency reiterated its intention to periodically review and report on the results of the measures taken to reduce harbor porpoise entanglement, the effect of pingers on other animals, and the status of the harbor porpoise stock.
Maps and a press backgrounder on the regulations are available from NOAA Fisheries Northeast Research Communications Office and on the Web at: http://www.wh.whoi.edu/cgi-bin/press.1