Page 14. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2009
Commercial Fishing News
LOBSTER TRAPS GO HIGH TECH
New England lobstermen have gone help determine how ocean currents disperse, lobstermen had many moorings of their own students in the marine science program at
high tech by adding low-cost instruments to condense and transport pollutants, invasive in the area at fixed locations and depths which Southern Maine Community College
their lobster pots that record bottom tempera- species, and food for whales in portions of could provide needed time-series data at (SMCC). The students build about 50 drifters
ture and provide data that could help improve the Gulf of Maine. more sites and at far less cost. a year, each costing about one third that of
ocean circulation models in the Gulf of Maine. “Local fishermen already spend their With the help of NEFSC port agent John commercially-made instruments.
Environmental Monitors on Lobster days at sea, have the biggest stake in preserv- Mahoney, Manning approached some local “About half of the cost goes to pay the
Traps, or eMOLT, is a partnership involving ing our coastal marine resources, and are the lobstermen in Sandwich and Hyannis, Mass. students to build the drifters, so it gives them
NOAA, the Maine, Massachusetts, most knowledgeable of the local waters,” to see if they were interested in helping col- practical working experience plus the knowl-
Downeast and Atlantic Offshore said Jim Manning, an oceanographer at the lect bottom environmental data, whenever edge they are participating in marine re-
Lobstermen’s Associations, the Gulf of Woods Hole Laboratory of the Northeast their lobster pots were out. They agreed. The search, and the other half is used for parts and
Maine Lobster Foundation, and the Marine Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), part of pilot project started with three lobstermen other related expenses,” Manning said. The
Science Department at Southern Maine Com- NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “They are inter- who each took the temperature-measuring drifters have been deployed by students and
munity College (SMCC) in Portland, Maine. ested, curious and enthusiastic to learn more devices and attached them via a plastic tie- researchers in studies by a number of col-
The data collected from temperature about lobster science and the environment. It wrap to one or two of their pots. leges and universities, including Bowdoin
sensors on the lobster pots and from GPS seemed like a natural fit, a win-win situation.” The devices, which cost about $150 each, College, the University of Southern Maine,
surface drifters deployed as part of the Manning got the idea for eMOLT while internally record temperature every hour University of New Hampshire, University of
eMOLT program help ocean circulation mod- conducting research on Georges Bank in the around the clock while the pots are in the New England, Endicott College, and the Uni-
elers better understand processes in the Gulf 1990s and seeing many lobster boats in the water. At the end of the season when the pots versity of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
of Maine, such as how lobster larvae and area. In 1995, he deployed some large moor- are hauled out, the instruments are removed The Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti-
other planktonic animals and plants, includ- ings to collect oceanographic data, but soon and shipped back to Manning in an envelope tution has deployed some of the drifters for
ing those that cause harmful algal blooms, recognized that this was a very expensive he provides. He downloads and processes NOAA-funded studies on harmful algal
drift and settle. This information may also effort in terms of time and money. He realized the data and then puts the temperature infor- blooms, commonly called red tides, in the Gulf
mation on the eMOLT web site. Each of Maine. Other researchers have used the
Complete Yacht Service in the Maine Tradition
lobsterman has his/her own personal web drifters for oceanographic studies ranging
page to see the data from their own pots, while from where coastal currents in the Gulf of
everyone including the general public can Maine could spread pollutants and invasive
see the overall data collected each year. species to the distribution of plankton and
By 2000, results from the pilot study were zooplankton that serve as a major food for
encouraging enough for Manning to apply whales and other marine life.
for funding from the Northeast Consortium to Manning and colleagues published
formally establish eMOLT. The Consortium drifter observations in the journal Continen-
has funded the project since. Each year, more tal Shelf Research in January 2009. The tem-
lobstermen participate in the program and perature observations will be published in• Boothbay Harbor’s Premier • Discounted Bulk FuelBoothbay Region Boatyard stands on a long tradition of
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One of the program’s successes has Close to 100 lobstermen have provided
WOTTON’S WHARF
been low-cost surface drifters equipped with sensor data since the program started, and
Global Positioning System (GPS) chips, de-
Southport, Maine Boothbay Harbor, Maine
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veloped by Manning and since 2004 built by
Continued on Page 16.
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