January 2016 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13. MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
Statement from Russell F. Smith III, NOAA deputy assistant secretary for International Fisheries, and U.S. com- missioner to the International Whaling Commission
The United States is disappointed with the Japanese government’s decision to restart lethal research whaling in the Southern Ocean early next year. We con- tinue to believe that it is unnecessary to kill whales in order to conduct scientifi c research necessary to promote the manage- ment objectives of the IWC. We note that while Japan submitted its research proposal to the International Whaling Commis- sion’s (IWC’s) Expert Panel and Scientifi c Committee (SC) for review and comment, Japan has decided to proceed with the hunt without addressing several signifi cant issues raised in their reports. One of the key issues raised during both the Expert Panel and SC meetings was that Japan had not justifi ed the need for lethal whaling to carry out its research. Unfortunately, rather than giving itself time to modify its research program to fully address these issues, Japan has decided to restart its program now. We are also concerned that Japan is dis- regarding the 2014 IWC resolution calling on parties to submit to the IWC for review and comment any new proposals for lethal research whaling before such research is permitted to begin. This resolution was, in part, a response to the 2014 decision of the International Court of Justice that an earlier version of Japan’s Southern Ocean research whaling program violated the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Allowing Commission review of such pro- posals would help to ensure that any future lethal research whaling gives due regard to the guidance found in the opinion on ensur- ing that such whaling is consistent with the obligations under the Convention. The United States will continue to engage with the Government of Japan in an effort to address U.S. concerns with Japan’s new lethal research program. We believe all of Japan’s primary research objectives can be met through non-lethal activities and continue to oppose their scientifi c whaling programs. The United States also continues to oppose any commercial hunting or killing of whales.
Drag from Fishing Gear Entanglements Quantifi ed
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Study Focused on North Atlantic Right Whales
Entanglement in fi shing gear is the lead- ing cause of death for North Atlantic right whales—one of the most endangered of all the large whale species. Their migratory routes take them through some of the busi- est commercial fi shing areas along the East Coast of the United States and into Canada. Entangled whales can tow fi shing gear for tens to hundreds of miles over months or even years, before either being freed, shed- ding the gear on their own, or succumbing to their injuries.
In a paper published online Dec. 9,
2015, in Marine Mammal Science, a re- search team led by the Woods Hole Ocean- ographic Institution (WHOI), has for the fi rst time quantifi ed the amount of drag on entangled whales that is created by towing fi shing gear, such as rope, buoys, and lobster and crab traps. The study provides import- ant data for teams evaluating the risks and benefi ts of whale disentanglements. “We know that entanglement can change a whale’s diving and swimming be- havior and depletes their energy,” said Julie van der Hoop, lead author of the paper and a PhD Candidate in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, “but the big thing we have never really known is what it must be like for animals to tow the gear. Is it like wearing an empty backpack or is that backpack overloaded with heavy books? Does removing part of the gear improve chances of survival? These are some of the questions that we were looking to answer with this research.” Working with colleagues from the Cen- ter for Coastal Studies and NOAA Fisheries, van der Hoop used a tensiometer to measure the drag forces on various types of fi shing gear collected from past right whale entan- glements. The team tested 16 sets of gear— fi ve sets that included fl oats or buoys, one that included a two-brick lobster trap and 10 that were line only— towing them behind the WHOI vessel R/V Tioga across a range of speeds and depths.
The team found considerable variation in drag created by the different sets of gear, with the presence of fl oats and buoys having a signifi cant effect on the overall drag creat- ed for the entangled animal.
“Some entanglements have very low drag, for example if a whale is towing 10 meters of rope, which is basically the length
of the whale itself,” van der Hoop said. “The weighted lobster trap created the most with three times the amount of natural drag on a whale’s body. That’s a huge increase in what is normal to these animals.”
On average, the team found that entan- glement increases the total body drag to 1.5 times that of a non-entangled whale. They also calculated the additional energy costs to the animal.
“Entangled animals have to spend twice
as much energy to swim at the same speed,” van der Hoop said, based on results from a separate study.
“This study signifi cantly improves our understanding of the energetic cost of large whale entanglement drag forces. These persistent entanglement cases can be a very serious barrier to whales attempting to grow migrate and reproduce,” added Michael Moore, a coauthor and van der Hoop’s advisor. “The study also reinforces current disentanglement efforts to minimize entan- gling gear if it cannot be removed entirely.” The tests also allowed researchers to establish a relationship between drag and gear length, which will help in estimating the amount of drag on an entangled whale when it is fi rst spotted. By reducing trailing line length by 75 percent, drag on the animal can be decreased by 85 percent. This research is an expansion on an
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individual case study in 2013 of a two-year- old female North Atlantic right whale called Eg 3911, or Bayla, who was fi rst sighted emaciated and entangled in fi shing gear on Christmas Day 2010 near Jacksonville, Florida, by an aerial survey team. Using a small, suction-cupped device called a Dtag to monitor the animal, van
Continued on Page 21.
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