Sentinel Fishery

A Fishermen/Scientist Partnership

The catch share system, now called ACE, makes it possible for us to design a “sentinel fishery” to research the status of the fishery in eastern Maine, according to a research design designed by populations dynamic professor Dr. Yong Chen from University of Maine.

Using habitat-friendly hooks or traps to protect the coastal shelf, starting May 1, 2010, select fishermen began exploratory fishing to collect spatially explicit groundfish data in previously depleted areas in the eastern Gulf of Maine. Participating fishermen are all sector members with quota provided through the Penobscot East Permit Bank. Trips are monitored by a NMFS-trained on-board observer. Information is collected and shared by Penobscot East, The Nature Conservancy (Maine), the fishing industry, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and University of Maine to determine whether fish stocks can support a viable commercial small hook fishery.
Jason Joyce Jason Joyce, Sector member and participant in the Sentinel Fishery, preparing Andanamra (seen below) for electronic monitoring. Andanamra

 

Billy Chaprales and Ted Ames
Cape Cod fisherman Billy Chaprales shows Ted Ames the preferred circular hook for the sentinel fishery project.

 

hook-fishing Unlike other fishing methods, hook-fishing damages neither the fish nor the habitat surrounding it.