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By TOM BELL
Blethen Maine Newspapers 09/11/2007

Blethen Maine Newspapers

Maine's coastal waters are teeming with schools of herring and the silvery fish's predators this summer, according to reports from people who work the waters.

"There has been lots of sea life, and it kind of amazes me," said Daniel Fill, captain of a Rockland-based fishing boat, during a cell phone interview from his boat. "I have seen fish where I haven't seen them for years. They're in nice, big bunches for miles."

Fill's observations are echoed by other purse seine herring fishermen, as well as whale-watching companies and tuna fishermen. They also report seeing more sea birds, dolphins, seals and tuna -- which all feed on herring.

This bounty of sea life, they claim, is the result of the new summerlong ban on midwater herring trawlers in Gulf of Maine coastal waters. And it's clear evidence, they say, that the trawler ban they have long sought to establish is working.

"I think the ban has made a big difference," said Zack Klyver, a naturalist who works for Bar Harbor Whale Watching and advocated for the ban.

Trawlers drag massive nets through the water and sometimes work in pairs, dragging an even bigger net between them. Midwater gear is similar to bottom-trawling gear, except it is designed to fish up in the water column, where herring spend most of their time

In August 2006, when 10 to 15 midwater trawlers were fishing in an area 30 miles west of Mount Desert Rock, it was rare to find whales, Klyver said.

This summer, he said, the trawlers are gone, and he's been able to see a dozen whales every day.

Scientists, though, say it will take months, if not years, to determine if the ban on midwater trawlers has had any effect.

The ban extends 50 to 60 miles offshore and is in effect from June 1 until Sept. 30.

Owners of midwater trawlers say the ban is based on politics rather than science.

"This is about a big agenda to eliminate fisheries and trawler fisheries worldwide," said Jeff Kaelin, a political consultant for the Portand-based trawler Providian, a 113-foot vessel that has been fishing here since 1996. "They found a small group of trawlers and kicked us off. We were not big enough or organized enough."

The ban does not apply to the handful of fishing boats that use purse seine nets, which encircle the fish when they come to the surface at night to feed.

The New England Fishery Management Council established the ban in response to pressure from a coalition of groups, including conservationists, tuna fishermen, lobstermen, charter fishing boats, sport fishermen and whale watching companies.

These groups - which are often at odds on other issues - united in their opposition to trawlers, which have dominated the herring fishery since the 1990s.

The trawlers' critics say the large nets break up herring schools and disrupt their breeding behavior.

The trawlers' owners have argued that there is no scientific data supporting these claims and that the overall herring population in the gulf is healthy.

Moreover, scientists say herring stocks have rebounded from the heavy overfishing that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.

The issue has significance because herring is one of the most important species in the gulf. Herring feed on tiny shrimp-like zooplankton called copepods and are consumed by top marine predators, such as finback and minke whales, seals, harbor porpoises, cod, tuna, hake, bluefish, pollock and striped bass. Maine's $300 million lobster industry depends on herring for bait.

"Everybody out there preys on herring. It's the keystone to the food web," said Don Perkins, president of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

MIGRATING WITH HERRING

The herring fishery in New England developed in the late 1800s, spurred by the development of the canning industry and the lobster fishery.

Until the 1940s, fishermen caught herring using weirs, fixed nets used in shallow water with good currents. Fishermen later began using boats with purse seine nets. The trawlers, which are more efficient and less labor-intensive, arrived in the mid-1990s.

Midwater trawlers move along the coast with the migrating fish, from the Gulf of Maine in the summer, around Georges Bank in the fall, and south of Rhode Island in winter.

The bulk of the herring caught in the gulf is landed in Maine, where it's primarily sold for lobster bait.

This year, the fishing effort for herring is down substantially, said Mary Beth Tooley of the East Coast Pelagic Association, which represents herring and mackerel midwater trawlers in the Northeast.

She said the total herring catch is 15,000 to 20,000 metric tons behind what it was this time last year. To make up the difference and supply the bait for the lobster industry, more herring has been imported from Canada, she said.

Bait supplies have been adequate this summer, and the price has been stable, according to the Maine Lobstermen's Association.

Tooley said converting a trawler to purse seining costs about $500,000 and takes as long as 12 weeks. She said two trawlers, including the Providian, have converted to purse seiners so far. Fishing on Georges Bank, where trawlers are permitted, has been poor, she said.

"It's been a tough year for the herring fleet," she said.

TOO SOON FOR CONCLUSIONS

Scientists say that not enough time has passed since the ban went into effect to cause any increase in the total herring population in the gulf.

It is possible, however, that herring are staying in coastal waters for longer periods and moving around less, so they are more available, said Bill Overholtz, who oversees stock assessment studies for herring for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

He said scientists don't really know how fishing gear affects herring behavior.

"Those links are thin," he said.

But there are plenty of people who are convinced those links are real.

The midwater trawler fleet "wreaked havoc" on the Gulf of Maine ecosystem to the extent that bluefin tuna have been bypassing the gulf for Canadian waters, said Chris Weiner, a harpoon tuna fisherman from Perkins Cove.

He said he is seeing a lot more tuna this summer, and the ecosystem is recovering.

"Everything seems to be back," he said.

Barry Mathews, a purse seiner from Stonington, said he caught more herring in two months this summer than he did all last year.

"I am seeing a huge difference," he said. "I am taking a deep breath and saying there is going to be a future."

Kaelin, of the Providian, said trawler owners are pushing for scientific research to examine the effects of midwater nets on herring schools.

"The idea that trawlers are scattering fish so whales and tuna don't have anything to feed on is a political issue," he said, "not a science-based issue."

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