Permits are being issued to commercial swordfish fishermen who forgo large drift nets for a new system that won’t also capture whales and dolphins.
The National Marine Fisheries Service recently issued its first 50 permits to fishermen using a new deep-set buoy gear that, unlike the mile-long, 100-foot-wide nets that drift in the ocean to tangle up fish, uses hooks to target only swordfish.
The permits are going to the drift net fishermen who first agreed to pioneer the new gear and to fishermen who took buyouts to ditch the mesh nets permanently. The plan is to develop a new fishery using the gear and issue 25 new permits each year until 2027.
Geoff Shester, a senior scientist with the nonprofit advocacy group Oceana, is among those who have been pushing for the new gear for years and called the new permits “a banner day for whales, dolphins and sea turtles that swim off our shores,” while also being “a massive leap forward for sustainable swordfish fishing in California.”
“A thriving and profitable swordfish fishery that does not threaten marine life is a win-win for everyone and represents one of the great success stories of fisheries management and ocean conservation, not just here in California but in the nation,” Shester said, adding that the buoy gear is a happy medium between drift nets and the other traditional option of harpooning.
The buoy gear is set to catch fish during the day and fisherman stay close to monitor for catches. Mesh drift nets were often unattended for hours as they floated across the ocean, mostly between sunset and sunrise. And the nets often caught more than swordfish, including whales, dolphins and sea turtles, earning them the name “curtains of death.”
While the fishery is small with only about 20 boats fishing between San Diego and Santa Barbara, the effort to develop it new equipment has taken nearly two decades. During that time, scientists, fishermen, environmental groups and legislators worked…
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