stakeholders discuss male-only dogfish fishery

A series of regulations were established in the 1990s to help restore the over-fished spiny dogfish population. The small schooling sharks made a successful comeback, but, in the process, the ratio of male to female dogfish shifted dramatically. Males continue to outnumber females and are competing for food with other important fish species.

“Typically with dogfish, if you talk about a population in equilibrium, you want to see a two-to-one ratio—two males to every one female,” said Ken La Valley, commercial fishing specialist with New Hampshire Sea Grant. “What you’re seeing now is a five or six to one ratio. Because of that, it’s out of balance.”

On April 2, a meeting was held at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine, to discuss the potential for establishing a male-only dogfish fishery. Joining that meeting via videoconference was a smaller gathering hosted by N.H. Sea Grant at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye.

“This is a big contentious issue for both commercial and recreational fishermen,” La Valley said prior to the meeting. “It will be interesting to hear what is said tonight.”

In a sign of how sensitive the issue is, Laura Taylor Singer, of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, asked all media to leave the meeting, despite the fact that the University of New Hampshire and N.H. Sea Grant had distributed a press release about the event. Singer later said she was worried that attendees of the meeting would be afraid to speak their minds if members of the media were present. 

The event was initiated by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which is made up of federal and state agencies, as well as private citizens. Several regional organizations, state agencies and local groups also attended, as well as commercial and recreational fishermen and lobstermen.

During the summer, dogfish migrate northward to the Gulf of Maine region. “It’s pretty well accepted in the industry that the spiny dogfish are everywhere during certain parts of the year and are bordering on nuisance,” La Valley said. The size of the population also has an impact on other Atlantic fish species. “There is no energy left in the system to allow other species to continue recovering,” La Valley said.

A fishery would allow commercial fishermen to target a certain region in the Gulf of Maine during a certain time of year and give them a higher catch limit on male dogfish. The idea is that targeting male fish would eventually lead to a more balanced ratio of males to females. The April 2 meeting was the first chance interested parties had to discuss the viability of a fishery and the issues surrounding its establishment. They are still in the very early stages of discussion and there is no guarantee that a fishery will be established.

According to La Valley, there are a number of challenges and potential risks associated with a male-only dogfish fishery.

“The biggest challenge is selectivity. Males are smaller than females, so it is difficult to use size (to differentiate),” La Valley said. Also, because they are larger, females are easier to catch with nets.

From the industry perspective, the economic viability of a male-only dogfish fishery is questionable. 

“What’s the sense of having a fishery if you don’t have a market,” said Clare McBane, of the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game. According to her, Fish and Game will have to weigh the pros and cons of a fishery before offering an opinion. “It would definitely help with the sex ratio,” she said.

McBane is concerned about “bi-catch” issues, or accidentally capturing other species while fishing for dogfish. Instead of establishing a fishery, some people at the recent meeting suggested that fishermen should simply use more selective practices to ensure that only male dogfish are kept while females are released unharmed.

A number of theories have been put forth to explain why male dogfish outnumber female dogfish. “We couldn’t come up with one key reason,” La Valley said. Some people believe that while males are maturing to a point at which they can mate, which can take up to 25 years, they cannibalize younger fish, including females.

A growing trend among environmental and conservation groups has been to look at problems from an ecosystem-based perspective. Instead of concentrating on a single species, these groups try to assess how their policies will affect the entire ecosystem, since any change to a single organism will affect the dynamic of the whole system. By only focusing on how to balance the gender ratio of dogfish, La Valley and others worry about sliding back into a more narrow-minded form of management.

Another challenge is coordinating the numerous agencies and organizations that have a stake in such a project. Along with federal and state entities in Maine and New Hampshire that deal with fish populations, there are nonprofit and educational organizations like N.H. Sea Grant and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. These agencies don’t always agree on policy issues.

During the course of the April 2 meeting, a couple of key points emerged, according to La Valley. “It became very evident that a couple of things need to be fleshed out. A regulatory framework needs to be in place. There needs to be an economic viability to it. We need a better understanding of what’s out there,” La Valley said. “We’ll continue having discussions.”