(L-R) Sheryl Fink, International Fund for Animal Welfare; Eric Matzan, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center gear library; Briony Donahue, Maine Innovative Gear Library; Sahra Skripsky, CanFISH gear library; Erica Fuller, Conservation Law Foundation; Toby Mason, lobster fisherman; and Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Whale and Dolphin Conservation
A panel co-hosted with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) explored the invaluable contribution of gear libraries in the US and Canada to protecting both threatened marine wildlife and fishers’ livelihoods. Entanglement in traditional fixed line fishing gear poses a threat to the Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whale and other marine mammals. But the traditional solution to this threat – fishing area closures – meant that fishers could not practice their trade.
A solution to this problem is the introduction of on-demand, or ropeless, gear, which eliminates the static lines in the water and allows fishers to keep fishing, even in areas that are closed because of whales. But this gear is “new and expensive and needs real world feedback” if it is going to be used widely, said Sheryl Fink of IFAW, who moderated the panel.
Multiple members of the panel emphasized the importance of “getting the gear into the hands of fishermen” to help raise awareness and acceptance of the gear and to capitalize on their knowledge and expertise to improve the gear. “Our biggest hurdle is being able to engage in open conversations with fishermen so that they feel heard,” said Briony Donahue of the Maine Innovative Gear Library.
Toby Mason, a third generation lobster fisherman, noted that, at first, he was “a little skeptical, but after facing closures, I decided to give it a try.” After several years of using the gear, he has seen greater and greater success each year with improved designs and technology. But many of his fellow fishers are still skeptical, Mason said. “Everyone is different and everyone fishes differently, so we need as many people as possible to test the gear to see if they work.”
Regina Asmutis-Silva, of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, said the fishers who have tested the gear have contributed to “tremendous improvements’’ in the technology. She said that in three decades of working on these issues, on-demand gear seems to be the first really promising solution for both whales and fishermen. “There is no intent. There is nobody in the entire world who is trying to entangle whales. We’ve spent decades trying to figure it out and before this, the only solution was area closures,” which are good for whales but not for fishers, she added.