Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 31 december 2019
West Coast fishery rebounds in rare conservation 'home run'

By GILLIAN FLACCUS Trawlers brought maps de-
Associated Press veloped over generations,
WARRENTON, Ore. (AP) — A alerted environmentalists
rare environmental success to reefs they didn't know
story is unfolding in waters about, and even shared
off the U.S. West Coast. proprietary tow paths.
After years of fear and un- "All we could do on our end
certainty, bottom trawler is make a good-faith offer,
fishermen — those who and I really credit the guys
use nets to scoop up rock- in the industry for taking
fish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific that up," said Seth Atkinson,
Ocean perch and other an attorney with the non-
deep-dwelling fish — are profit Natural Resources
making a comeback here, Defense Council. "These
reinventing themselves as were tough compromises."
a sustainable industry less Last year, regulators ap-
than two decades after proved a plan to reopen
authorities closed huge the 17-year-old Rockfish
stretches of the Pacific Conservation Area off Or-
Ocean because of the egon and California, while
species' depletion. banning future trawling in
The ban devastated fisher- extreme-depth waters and
men, but on Jan. 1, regu- making off-limits some hab-
lators will reopen an area In this Dec. 11, 2019 photo, Kevin Dunn, who fishes off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, holds itat dubbed essential to
roughly three times the size a rockfish at a processing facility in Warrenton, Oregon. Associated Press fish reproduction, including
of Rhode Island off Oregon a large area off Southern
and California to groundfish ture of extreme deepwa- Starting in 1976, the feder- developing the plan to re- California.
bottom trawling — all with ter habitats where bottom al government subsidized open fishing grounds. "A fair number of fishermen
the approval of environ- trawlers currently don't go. the construction of domes- "We really wiped out the thought it was a good deal
mental groups that were A tract of ocean the size tic fishing vessels to lock industry for a number of and if it was going to hap-
once the industry's biggest of New Mexico with waters down U.S. interests in West years," Pettinger said. "To pen, it was better for them
foes. The two sides col- up to 2.1 miles (3.4 kilome- Coast waters, and by the get those things up and go- to participate than not,"
laborated on a long-term ters) deep will be off-limits 1980s, that investment paid ing again is not easy." said Tom Libby, a fish pro-
plan that will continue to to bottom-trawling to pro- off. Bottom trawling was In 2011, trawlers were as- cessor who was instrumen-
resuscitate the groundfish tect deep-sea corals and booming, with 500 vessels signed quotas for how tal in crafting the agree-
industry while permanently sponges just now being dis- in California, Oregon and many of each species ment. "It's right up there
protecting thousands of covered. Washington hauling in 200 they could catch. If they with the best and most
square miles of reefs and "Not all fishermen are rapers million pounds (91 million went over, they had to buy rewarding things in my ca-
coral beds that benefit the of the environment. When kilograms) of non-whiting quota from other fishermen reer — and I've been at it
overfished species. you hear the word 'trawler,' groundfish a year. Unlike in a system reminiscent of 50 years."
Now, the fishermen who very often that's associ- Dungeness crab and salm- a carbon cap-and-trade Some groups, like Oceana,
see their livelihood return- ated with destruction of on, groundfish could be model. Mandatory inde- wanted even more protec-
ing must solve another the sea and pillaging," said harvested year-round, pro- pendent observers, paid tions from bottom trawl-
piece of the puzzle: drum- Kevin Dunn, whose trawler viding an economic back- by the trawlers, accompa- ing, which it calls the "most
ming up consumer de- Iron Lady was featured in bone for ports. nied the vessels and hand- damaging fishing method
mand for fish that haven't a Whole Foods television But in the late 1990s, sci- counted their haul. to seafloor habitats off the
been in grocery stores or commercial about sustain- entists began to sound the Fishermen quickly learned West Coast." In a news re-
on menus for a generation. able fishing. alarm about dwindling fish to avoid areas heavy in off- lease, the group empha-
"It's really a conservation Groundfish is a catch-all stocks. limits species and began sized that the agreement it
home run," said Shems Jud, term that refers to dozens Just nine of the more than innovating to net fewer did get safeguards 90 per-
regional director for the En- of species that live on, or 90 groundfish species were banned fish. cent of the seafloor in U.S.
vironmental Defense Fund's near, the bottom of the in trouble, but because of Surveys soon showed waters off the West Coast.
ocean program. "The re- Pacific off the West Coast. the way bottom trawlers groundfish rebounding — in Even so, with fragile species
covery is decades ahead Trawling vessels drag fished — indiscriminate- some cases, 50 years faster rebounding, trawlers could
of schedule. It's the biggest weighted nets to collect as ly hauling up millions of than predicted — and ac- harvest as much as 120 mil-
environmental story that no many fish as possible, but pounds of whatever their cidental trawling of over- lion pounds (54 million kilo-
one knows about." that can damage critical nets encountered — regu- fished species fell by 80%. grams) a year, but there's
The process also netted rocky underwater habitat. lators focused on all bot- The Marine Stewardship only demand for about half
a win for conservationists The groundfish fishery tom trawling. Multiple spe- Council certified 13 species that much. That's because
concerned about the fu- hasn't always struggled. cies of rockfish, slow-grow- in the fishery as sustainable groundfish have been re-
ing creatures with spiny in 2014, and five more fol- placed in stores by farmed,
fins and colorful names like lowed last year. foreign species like tilapia.
canary, darkblotched and As the quota system's suc- A trade association called
yellow eye, were the hard- cess became apparent, Positively Groundfish is try-
est hit. environmentalists and ing to change that by tour-
By 2005, trawlers brought in trawlers began to talk. Reg- ing food festivals and culi-
just one-quarter of the haul ulators would soon revisit nary trade shows, evange-
of the 1980s. The fleet is the trawling rules, and the lizing to chefs and seafood
now down to 75 boats, said two sides wanted a voice. buyers about the industry's
Brad Pettinger, former di- They met more than 30 rebound and newfound
rector of the Oregon Trawl times, slowly building trust sustainability. They give out
Commission who was key in as they crafted a proposal. samples, too.q