The deaths of Nine dead whales and about 50 dead harbor seals found along the United States Maine's coast have aimed a spotlight on a fleet of fishing boats plying the waters off the Maine coast in search of herring, the small silvery fish used to fill cans of sardines and bait lobster traps.
There is so far no conclusive evidence about what killed all the whales and seals, according to federal investigators. But suspicions that they were caught in the paths of the trawlers is fueling pressure to post government observers on the boats and, ultimately, ban the trawlers from operating in coastal waters.
Along with having the potential for killing other fish species and marine mammals, critics say, the midwater trawlers are taking too many herring out of the Gulf of Maine and depleting a key food source for predators such as tuna, cod, and whales.
But members of the herring industry say those critics are wrongly blaming the trawlers for anything and everything, from declining tuna catches to the dead whales, simply because the trawlers are newcomers.
Herring are worth only about 5 to 7 cents a pound and are pumped off of boats into tank trucks, like the kind that carry gasoline. Most of the herring brought to Portland and other ports aren't for eating, but for lobster bait.
But the fish has immense ecological value, and is indirectly important to many of New England's more lucrative commercial and recreational fisheries, including lobster, cod, haddock and striped bass. Herring is a primary food source for fish as well as marine mammals. And it has become virtually irreplaceable to Maine's $200 million lobster industry, which uses more than 55,000 tons of herring a year.
Until the mid-1990s, New England fishermen caught most herring by encircling them in a net called a purse seine when the herring came to the surface at night to feed. But the industry expanded and invested in new technology during the last five years as government agencies declared herring an abundant and "underutilized" species. Now there are a handful of purse seiners left, and about a dozen large trawlers that sometimes drag nets in pairs for peak efficiency.
The midwater trawlers have come under steady fire from conservationists, from purse seiners and from fishermen who chase tuna, groundfish and other species.
Niaz Dorry, an environmental consultant in Gloucester, Mass., says it made no sense for fishery managers to encourage expansion in the herring fleet while also trying to restore species such as cod, haddock, swordfish and endangered whales.
“To me, it seems like by allowing the excessive catches of the prey, you are undermining the recovery of the predators,†she said.
“Whatever is in their path is going to get caught,†said Rich Ruais of East Coast Tuna Association, an industry group representing tuna fishermen. The fact that the appearance of dead whales coincided with the activities of the herring fleet raises legitimate questions, he says.
Tuna fishermen have already been pushing for banning the trawlers in coastal waters, saying they are so efficient at catching schools of herring that the fish have disappeared from some fishing grounds.
“The whales are gone, the tuna are gone, the herring are gone,†he said. “It's just like turning a switch. As soon as the midwater trawlers get going, the tuna are gone.â€
Regulators are now looking hard at the trawlers, partly because of the political pressure but also because of increasing doubts about how many herring there are in the Gulf of Maine and offshore on Georges Bank. The New England Fishery Management Council is drafting new rules for the herring fishery that will be adopted next year. One of the most contentious pieces is a proposal to prohibit midwater trawlers from the inshore region of the Gulf of Maine.
“It's a ludicrous idea, in my opinion,†said Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association, a group that represents the herring industry.
Purse seiners are limited to fishing at night and in good weather, and cannot be relied on to supply the almost insatiable demand for lobster bait, Tooley says. Midwater trawlers are needed to fill the current market, she says.
The herring fleet is already limited to a pre-set quota, and there is no evidence that herring schools are being depleted, she says.
Herring trawlers may be easy to blame for any changes in the ocean because they are relatively new arrivals. But, Tooley says, the disappearance of tuna is more likely due to overfishing of tuna and the decline in that population.
Tooley and others also say the midwater trawlers do not catch significant amounts of groundfish or marine mammals, in part because the nets they drag have holes more than 20 feet wide at the entrance.
“The accusations were fueled by tuna fishermenâ€, she says. “It gave them an opportunity to say those whales eat herring, so herring fishermen did it . . . We think it's irresponsible to point fingers with absolutely no evidence that this is so.â€
More than 50 dead harbor seals were found along the Maine coast between July and mid-October. The typical number is about 15 per year, according to Greg Jakush, president of Marine Animal Lifeline, Maine's volunteer marine mammal rescue network.
Seven dead minke whales were found between Aug. 10 and Oct. 2. On Oct. 3, scientists also examined a dead humpback whale on Pemaquid Beach and a dead beaked whale on Parson's Beach in Kennebunk.
Federal officials described the incidents as unique and sent a team of investigators to Maine to photograph the animals and gather samples of tissues and wastes for analysis.
The National Marine Fisheries Service said last week that the whale deaths and harbor seal deaths are still unexplained, and that testing continues. “We plain don't have enough information on those to rule anything in or out,†spokeswoman Teri Frady said.
There are clearly a number of suspects.
An unusually severe bloom of toxic red tide algae hit the Maine coast in late September, after being detected offshore this summer. The natural toxin can poison the plankton and fish that whales eat.
Adding to the suspicion of an environmental poison, the fisheries service announced last week that a different toxic algal bloom may have caused the deaths of at least 14 humpbacks and other whales found floating around 200 miles southeast of Portland in July.
Given the controversy over the herring fleet, and the fact that the herring trawlers were working in the waters a few miles away from the beaches, and the fact that seals and minkes feed on herring schools, many were quick to suspect the trawlers.
On Sept. 9, in fact, Maine Marine Patrol agents caught a pair of trawlers illegally working inside state waters near Mt. Desert Rock. The trawlers had a seal in their net when they hauled in. It was alive and allowed to swim away.
In addition, at least two of the dead minke whales had marks that appeared to have been caused by some type of line or net. One also had a square patch cut out of its abdomen, a sign that someone had tried to lance and sink the carcass to keep it from being discovered.
State and federal officials said it wasn't clear what kind of fishing gear might have caused the marks, and there was no proof it was herring net rather than a lobster buoy line. At the same time, however, they held a meeting with the some of the herring trawler owners, who told them the boats were not responsible for the deaths.
Political leaders called for a closer look at the fishery as the accusations swirled.
“The New England herring fishery is in need of immediate attention because of questions raised about potential bycatch in the fishery,†U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, wrote in an Oct. 1 letter to the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Bycatch is the term used to describe the accidental killing of marine mammals or nontargeted fish species.
A spokesman for Snowe said Friday that the agency responded and is shifting resources to post agents on the boats at least some of the time. “They're basically getting it under way as we speak,†Ted McEnroe said.
State officials also have called for observers on board the boats. Only solid proof and scientific evidence can help settle the whale mystery, as well as the long-running dispute over the impacts of the trawlers.
“It's a witch hunt right now,†said Terry Stockwell of the Department of Marine Resources. “Until we can get some actual data to work with, all we're doing is fueling the fire.â€