Innovative gear workshop brings together diverse perspectives

On a beautiful end of summer day, along the waterfront in Boston at the New England Aquarium, an unusual group of collaborators joined forces to address one of the most challenging issues affecting the sustainability of pot and trap fisheries: entanglements of marine wildlife. The group convened to discuss efforts to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, while at the same time supporting local lobster and crab industries.

The plight of endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARWs) has placed a spotlight on entanglement interactions of endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species, specifically within lobster and crab trap/pot fisheries on the US East Coast and Canada, which overlap with the migration range of the NARWs. Currently, the population of NARWs is estimated to be approximately 372 animals. Entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes are their two main causes of death, with 86% of all NARWs showing scars and other signs of entanglement. This has driven increased efforts to find solutions to reduce entanglements of NARW and other ETP marine species, such as other whale species and leatherback sea turtles, while allowing fishing efforts  to remain in place.

Coming together to discuss challenges and opportunities

To address this critical issue, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) partnered with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium to host an Innovative Gear Workshop and Tour on September 11 and 12, 2025.

This first-of-its-kind workshop brought together representatives of the seafood industry, harvesters, gear innovators, and scientists to review innovative pot and trap technologies, discuss challenges with supporting responsibly harvested lobster and crab efforts, and understand the significance of ETP species bycatch within the pot and trap industry.

The workshop attendees often lack opportunities to interact with each other, which can lead to misinformation and present barriers to change. The workshop aimed to break down these barriers, allowing the scientists, seafood industry leaders, and fishers to collectively discuss ideas for change and how to address the issue of entanglement while still meeting market demand for valuable lobster and crab.

The two-day workshop  consisted of informational presentations by science experts about marine mammal entanglement frequency and protection efforts, on-demand technologies, facilitated roundtable discussions, a tour of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Gear Lending Library in Woods Hole, MA, and an on-water demonstration of on-demand lobster gear with fishermen and gear specialists Rob Martin and Marc Palombo.

Promoting the use of on-demand gear

Historically, lobster and crab fishing is done with rectangular or round fishing traps normally made of steel and wire mesh with wooden battens. The traps are strung together in a row on the ocean floor and attached to a surface buoy by a static vertical line. The vertical line extends from the first and/or last trap in the string on the ocean floor to the surface buoy, which fishers use to locate and retrieve their gear. On-demand fishing (also known as ropeless fishing) removes the static vertical line to the surface buoy, which is the primary risk leading to entanglement, by containing the rope on the ocean floor until triggered by a remote release mechanism to surface “on demand.”

The NEFSC Gear Lending Library and other gear libraries provide these new whale-safe technologies at no cost to harvesters to conduct trials and provide feedback that is used to further improve the technology.  In addition to reducing entanglement risk, the gear also helps reduce gear loss and provides fishers with the ability to monitor sea conditions using Smart Buoy technologies.

While no definitive solution was reached during this brief workshop, some ideas that came out of the discussions included:

• Promoting the successful use of on-demand gear. Most participants weren’t aware that testing of on-demand gear has been going on for years, and that several gear types were already approved and successfully being used in closed areas in Cape Cod Bay. While there is still more work to be done to improve the gear, many were surprised to learn that it’s already being used in the South Carolina sea bass fishery, as well as during fishing ground closures in the Canadian snow crab and lobster fisheries, and the California Dungeness crab fishery.
• Increasing the visibility of the gear libraries in Massachusetts and Maine. More work still needs to be done to improve the gear and address interoperability issues with other fisheries – and fisher input and feedback is vital. Most participants weren’t aware of the gear library programs, and that there are stipends available to harvesters to try the gear as well. Both gear libraries reported having more gear and permits available than are being used by harvesters.
• Promoting the other benefits of on-demand gear and its corresponding technologies. Harvesters using the gear have reported less gear loss and theft, since it’s able to be tracked and found without a buoy line. They also said that they’ve had reduced fuel costs and shorter trips, because they know exactly where the gear is and can “pop” the buoy on their way to retrieve it. Trap tracker apps and smart buoy technology can also expedite trip reports and can provide other helpful data like bottom temperatures.
• Identifying market incentives could help drive more harvesters to use – or even just trial – on-demand gear. However, the complexity of the supply chain makes separating product caught by different gear types too difficult, at least at this time. More information about the differences in regulations by state and country could help inform seafood buyers seeking responsibly harvested product in the absence of certifications.

Many of the industry attendees expressed an appreciation for the opportunity to discuss these issues directly with the fishers and scientists working on the issue of entanglement. They offered to continue to stay engaged, finding ways to reduce ETP entanglement while working within their supply chain and with others from the workshop. Some even expressed an interest in attending the upcoming Ropeless Consortium Annual Meeting in New Bedford, MA on October 20-21.

Overall, the workshop offered proof that many different perspectives working together around the same issue can advance sustainable fisheries that protect marine ecosystems and fishers’ livelihoods.