By Richard Gaines
An 83-second amateur video of dead and dying large striped bass purportedly shot off Chatham in early October has reignited a festering conflict between recreational fishermen and the herring fleet.
While some believe the herring fleet are the culprits, others point out the dead bass could be the result of the groundfishing boats.
In either case, the likely explanation for the striper kill is "bycatch," the word that has come to define the waste in commercial fishing from retrieving either more of the targeted species than regulations allow or disallowed catches of non-targeted species.
After summering along the coast of the Gulf of Maine, stripers begin the fall migration to their winter homes in warmer southern waters, and feed on schools of herring. The epicenter of the action is an intersection of bass and herring off Cape Cod in October.
Bycatch from groundfishing boats and mid-water trawlers is normal in the sector where the video was said to be shot at this time of year, according to state and federal fishery management officials.
The primary groundfish are haddock, cod, and flatfish; the mid-water trawlers fish for herring.
Both sectors are known to accidentally and unavoidably bring up stripers with their targets.
Gary Nelson, an aquatic biologist and striped bass expert for the state Division of Marine Fisheries in Gloucester, said it was common for the Atlantic herring fleets to catch striped bass bycatch in October.
And Teri Frade, a spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said bycatch does happen. The most recent trawl survey produced an estimate of 289,808 pounds of striped bass bycatch in with groundfish taken from the area where the striper kill is said to have been videotaped.
"In October is when we expect to see striped bass aggregating in the Great South Channel depending on where the herring aggregate," said Frade. The Great South Channel is between Georges Bank and the Nantucket shoals, southeast of Cape Cod.
All areas were open for herring fishing on Oct. 5, Frade reported.
Environmental groups, recreational fishermen and commercial groundfishermen have complained that the National Marine Fisheries Service does not adequately monitor mid-water trawling herring boats. Gloucester is the leading port on the Gulf of Maine for the herring fleet of Cape Seafoods.
Dave Ellenton, general manager for Cape Seafoods, which lands, processes and exports from the Jodrey Fish Pier in Gloucester, denied that any of the company's three 145-foot boats were responsible for the striper kill.
"None of the midwater fleet was in the area," said Ellenton, who also noted that the video did not show a fishing boat. "If I were Steve Morley (the man who shot the video of dead fish), I'd make sure I'd get a mid-water trawler on the video."
But Paul Diodati, the state director of marine fisheries, said he has seen the video. "It is not clear what vessel was involved," Diodati said. "This time of year there is striped bass as bycatch of groundfish and other fisheries. It is not a surprise" though he also said it is a problem that state and fishery regulators are struggling to control and eliminate.
"The video," said the Sustainable Fishery Coalition, which represents the herring boats, "is more notable for what it doesn't show than what it does show. It does not show mid-water trawlers are in any way responsible for the fish mortality."
Herring tends to migrate long distances within the Gulf of Maine in the midwater sectors, and are chased by most larger species, including tuna, bluefish and striped bass. Whales and dolphins also feed on herring.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has acknowledged the need to develop effective policies to monitor midwater trawling by the herring fleet, which has been demonized by environmental groups.
The New England Fishery Management Council, which advised the National Marine Fisheries Service, has begun the formal process of forming a "comprehensive catch monitoring program for the Atlantic herring fishery."
"The catch monitoring program ... must address the need to accurately estimate all catch in the fishery (landings and discards of all species including Atlantic herring) and improve real-time quota monitoring," according to a posting on the council Web site.
In the video, shot by Morley of Upton, a recreational tuna fisherman, the stripers were belly up, but many of about a dozen seen in the panning of the camera were still alive, as they moved in pathetic death throes.
Morley said he came upon the fish, widely dispersed over what he said was a "slick" about 300 to 500 feet wide and longer than that about 20 miles east of Chatham on Oct. 5.
"Fish everywhere ... everywhere" is the voice over the video.
"What a waste," he noted in a posting on the Sportfisherman.com Web site.
Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
