After years of a season of shortened crab fishing aimed at preventing tangles of whales on the west coast, California Crabbers is experiencing with a new fishing method that allows them to remain in the water longer while keeping marine mammals safe.
The State has been executing a pilot program since 2023 to test the so -called emerging teams to protect whales, while finding a solution to fishermen’s problems and the equipment for calm craft fishing in 2026 is expected to completely authorize.
The gear, which uses a remote device to lift lines placed horizontally through the bottom of the sea, is also being tested lobster In Maine, the black lubina in Georgia and fishing in Australia and Canada.
“Unfortunately, six years have passed that we have delayed or closed early for whales,” said Brand Little, a Dungeless crab fisherman from San Francisco who is among those who participate in the pilot.
“This is a way to recover our industry,” he said.
The effort is produced after the whale tangles reports off the Pacific coast. sea heat wave. The temperature change promoted the whales, many of them threatened or humpbacks in danger of extinction, to search for food sources closer to the Coast of California, where they were caught in vertical fishing lines that had been hanging between pots at the bottom of the ocean and the buoys that swayed on the surface.
In response, California state regulators prohibited Dungeless crab fishing when it is known that whales are present. That He shortened the season Significantly, give fishermen a narrow window to make a living. Then, some began to test the emerging equipment and determined that the method works and the additional cost is worth it.
The equipment allows fishermen to use an acoustic liberation device of remote operation to appear a crab pot of the ocean bottom instead of tied to a floating buoy. The pots can be placed along with strings placed horizontally instead of vertically, so that the whales can pass on them while migrating through the area.
“If you eliminate the vertical line, it has eliminated the risk of tangles and has allowed a fishery to continue,” said Ryan Bartling, supervisor of senior environmental scientists of the Department of Fishing and Wildlife of California.
Many Dungeless crab fishermen have long had to heat the idea due to the cost, which can cost $ 1,000 per emerging device plus a unit on board. It also takes time to restrict the pots after an intense winter season of Derby style fishing, which takes place when the whales stop in warmer waters to the south.
There is also the need for a unified tracking system since the gear is not visible on the surface, Bartling said.
More than four dozen whales in fishing networks were entangled in 2015, compared to an annual average of 10 in previous years, according to the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration.
Many were humpback whales, which were in danger in the 1970s and have been recovering since the protections were implemented, the agency said.
The environmental defenders sued California for increasing tangles and reached an agreement with the State in 2019 that encouraged the use of equipment without ROP.
Bart Chadwick, owner of Sub Seics, based in San Diego, said he previously used emerging technology to recover expensive equipment while doing environmental work at sea. When he retired from his work, he made adjustments so that he could adapt for fishing.
“It allows them to fish in places where they would not do it otherwise,” said Chadwick, added that technology also reduces gear losses.
Most Dunkeness crab fishermen earn their money during the first part of the season, when whales are generally not close to the Coast of California. Experts say that the emerging team will not work because overcrowding and technology are currently being considered only for the smallest spring season, which begins on April 16 in the center of California.
Geoff Shester, a senior scientist at the Ocean Conservation Organization, said he believes that the method could eventually be used more widely if fishermen find it efficient and profitable.
“Think of electric cars, hybrids, or even digital cameras,” said Shester. “Every time you have a new technology, at first there is a lot of resistance.”
Ben Platt crab fisherman said he was a vocal opponent, but that this year’s pilot will join, since multiple pots can now be joined, which makes the method simpler and more cheap. Even so, he said that many fishermen have concerns and they are not likely to go on board.
“We will only have to see and take a look at the results,” Platt said.
For Stephen Melz, which fish in Half Moon Bay, California, having more time in the ocean is key. Years ago, he said that he would go out for crab Dungess from November and fish during spring.
Now, with the shortened season, he said that there is no place for error and that the team helps him out so he can pay his bills.
“Better than simply sitting on the dock,” he said.
