As the government is moving ahead with grant of permit but the fishermen are concerned the good news may be too little, too late, as dramatic new restrictions on groundfishermen are being contemplated by fishing regulators. The government is ready to approve the Eliminator Trawl developed by fishermen Phil Ruhle and James O’Grady, along with local fisheries scientists Laura Skrobe and David Beutel, and netmaker Jon Knight.
The trawl has been successfully tested which shows that when the net is pulled along the bottom through schools of cod, haddock and flounder, the cod and flounder dive downward and are allowed to escape through gaps in the netting. Haddock swim upward and are captured in the fine mesh at the top of the net. Thus the new trawl net reduced the fish by-catch. The UK authority has given its consent to use the nets there.
But in New England, the National Marine Fisheries Service still undecided whether to permit use of the net. After much debate the fisheries service announced plans to permit the new net in the Federal Register. So far this year, fishermen have caught only about three percent of the total allowable take of haddock. If the net had been permitted earlier fishermen might have been able to catch another $200 million worth of fish.
According to spokeswoman Teri Frady the council expects to complete its fish stock assessments in September. She added that still there are problems with the groundfish stocks as it is bad.
