Researchers, Lobstermen Seek Solutions to Fish鈥檚 Decline as a Team
Few would have guessed cusk, an elusive fish that emerges from lobster traps with inside-out guts and bubbling skin, would become a focal point in the Gulf of 海角社区. The bottom dwellers have no commercial value; with their tough skin, they鈥檙e not even considered viable as bait. Still, a group of researchers, lobsterman and others have joined together to find a way to raise awareness of the cusk鈥檚 plight and return the potentially endangered species to its home on the rocky gulf floor.
Over the last year, a cusk survival strategy has begun emerging. U海角社区 researchers and project partners discovered they could keep accidentally caught fish, or bycatch, alive by returning them to the back to the bottom in lobster traps. The research team鈥檚 strategy also involved hours of information sharing between stakeholder partners, including lobstermen, community groups and government officials at the local, state and federal levels.
The yearlong study, funded by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, is part of the Emerging Opportunities 鈥 Foundations for Future Research grant program, focused on broadening the scope of the Mitchell Center鈥檚 community-based mission. These projects offer researchers a chance to engage new stakeholders in new places in new ways.
The issues facing researchers and stakeholders over the course of the project were multifold. In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) named cusk a 鈥渟pecies of concern鈥 and began reviewing the fish for possible endangered status in 2007. It is not known how the lobster fishery could be impacted by such a listing. However, any Endangered Species Act listing results in the prohibition of harming the protected species and their habitat. This could create economic hardship for families that have lobstered in the bay for generations.
鈥淭his is a really good example of one of those 鈥榳icked鈥 sustainability problems,鈥 said , Assistant Professor of Anthropology and co-investigator on the project, 鈥淚t鈥檚 one that requires some understanding that takes into account the social, the ecological and the economic considerations.鈥
鈥淭his is a complex problem, the kind that benefits from active engagement with stakeholders who hold diverse viewpoints and, thus, help create a more complete understanding of the picture,鈥 Beitl said.
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