Nature Conservancy buys Pacific Coast trawling permits

The Nature Conservancy has purchased six federal trawling permits and four trawling vessels from commercial fishermen in Morro Bay.  The deal is the result of a three-year process of negotiation with fishermen, and trawl permit owners in Monterey, Moss Landing and Half Moon Bay have also expressed an interest in selling their permits and vessels.

The Conservancy initiated the trawler buy-out program at Morro Bay as a pilot project three years ago. Concerned by a National Academy of Sciences report that documented the negative environmental effects of bottom trawling, the Conservancy and its nonprofit partner, Environmental Defense, approached Morro Bay trawl fishermen and harbormasters about developing a market-based plan that would protect seafloor communities and help boost a troubled fishery.

Trawlers drag large, weighted nets along the sea bottom, damage habitat and scoop up fish and other creatures not targeted by the fisherman. The catch they produce is high in volume but often low in value, and it puts pressure on several other species.

Revenues from Pacific groundfish trawling fell from $110 million in 1987 to $35 million in 2003.  Fishermen and the Conservancy worked together to identify areas that would be off limits to trawling and submit them to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.  In June 2005, the council approved the no-trawl map covering 3.8 million acres of ocean between Santa Barbara to south of Monterey Bay [PDF of map].