A three-month trial of whale-friendly “ropeless” fishing gear off central California resulted in a 229,000-pound harvest of Dungeness crabs valued at $1.6 million with zero whale entanglements, according to results released Friday.
The study was the most extensive field test to date of the gear, which avoids entanglement risk by storing a crab trap’s vertical line and buoy on the ocean floor until a fisherman sends an acoustic “pop-up” signal releasing the gear.
Nineteen commercial crab fishermen participated in the trial that deployed pop-up gear systems under an experimental fishing permit issued by the California Fish and Game Commission. The central coast Dungeness crab fishery has been closed for five years after regulators found increased entanglement risk for both whales and sea turtles in the lines and buoys of conventional crab gear.
The demonstration gear was developed by two private firms, Sub Sea Sonics and Guardian Ropeless Systems, and approved for experimental use by California regulators.
