Advancing a new, more sustainable fishing method from concept to commercial use is no small feat. But after a decade of collaboration among scientists, fishermen, fishing communities, fishery managers, and conservation organizations, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) has officially added deep-set buoy gear to the list of fishing methods that can be used to target swordfish off California and Oregon. Final approval of this highly selective and innovative gear type gives fishermen a more sustainable way to catch swordfish—without the unacceptably high levels of bycatch associated with methods such as large-mesh drift gillnets.
Deep-set buoy gear uses a hook-and-buoy system that enables fishermen to target swordfish where they typically feed during the day by dropping hooks as deep as 1,200 feet. When a bite-indicator buoy is triggered, fishermen can respond within minutes. If they catch a swordfish or other marketable species, they can land it. If it is another animal, they can release it alive.
Chugey Sepulveda, director of research and education at the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research (PIER), and his staff spent thousands of hours developing and testing the gear, with financial assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The results unequivocally show that, compared with other fishing methods, deep-set buoy gear is effective at catching swordfish while significantly reducing harm to other species, with a bycatch rate that averages only 2%. By comparison, drift gillnets have a bycatch rate of 50% or more.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees fishing for more than 100 West Coast species, approved commercial use of deep-set buoy gear in September 2019. Several commercial swordfish vessels have been using the gear under provisional permits while awaiting approval of final regulations by NOAA Fisheries. With the adoption of those regulations this month, deep-set buoy gear is now part of the management plan for West Coast swordfish, allowing for a fully authorized fishery that largely avoids harming whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and other marine wildlife.
Deep-set buoy gear’s approval follows the recent passage of a federal law to phase out the use of drift gillnets and encourage the transition to more sustainable fishing methods. The alignment of these two federal actions—one regulatory, one legislative—along with a recently implemented California drift gillnet transition program heralds a more sustainable West Coast swordfish fishery and a safer future for Pacific Ocean wildlife.
This historic achievement notwithstanding, work continues to reduce bycatch and offer consumers more sustainable seafood options. In April, researchers at Oceana and Turtle Island Restoration Network issued a report detailing their concerns about bycatch in the set gillnet fishery that targets California halibut and white seabass off Southern California. According to data from NOAA Fisheries’ federal observer program, this state-managed fishery throws overboard 64% of the animals caught—among the highest bycatch rates of any fishery in the country. California resource managers are tracking this issue closely and may make a determination on next steps this summer.
As these and other efforts to improve the sustainability of West Coast fisheries move forward, the development, testing, and authorization of deep-set buoy gear serves as a model for how innovation and collaboration can intersect to yield meaningful benefits for people and wildlife.
Gilly Lyons is an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ conserving marine life in the United States project.