WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:19.940 I like being out on the ocean. I love it. 00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:26.780 The Channel Islands are really very pristine, an amazing pristine environment. 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:30.980 This time of year especially, while islands really green and we've 00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:38.460 seen exceptional numbers of birds and forage fish, tons of pelagic red crabs and anchovies. 00:00:38.460 --> 00:00:41.000 So the environment out there is just 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:43.380 exciting and alive. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.670 The most enjoyable part about being a commercial lobster fisherman is the freedom 00:00:48.670 --> 00:00:53.170 it provides me. Being my own boss, being on the water, being underneath the sun 00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:56.160 and not fluorescent lights, and just enjoying what I do. 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:01.220 If a new fisherman was to actually ask advice of a veteran fisherman, 00:01:01.220 --> 00:01:03.900 most specifically about trap loss and how do I avoid it, 00:01:03.900 --> 00:01:07.020 he might get some really valuable information. 00:01:07.020 --> 00:01:10.140 When these are left in the water for five months at a time, 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:14.060 your string, your entire set of gear, 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:19.680 it's quite expensive, and it's your source of income, so you protect it. They're your babies. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.440 You want to know what's going to happen to them. 00:01:22.440 --> 00:01:26.480 You want to do everything in your power to make certain that you don't lose your gear. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:31.440 If we lose a trap then the opportunity to catch in that trap is 00:01:31.450 --> 00:01:36.460 gone and not only that. That trap can damage the resource as it continues to 00:01:36.460 --> 00:01:42.250 fish and we all kind of know that and so it hurts the grounds if you have a trap 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:46.080 that's lost and potentially fishing. 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:48.759 Traps can continue to capture lobsters 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.260 and other species when they're lost and until they break apart. 00:01:52.300 --> 00:01:58.020 Some lobster fishermen are self-organizing and are making an effort to clean up traps that 00:01:58.030 --> 00:01:59.200 end up on the beach. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.180 The primary loss of gear is due to negligence. 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:06.009 Weather is the factor that actually causes the loss of the gear but 00:02:06.009 --> 00:02:09.860 generally it's negligence by a fisherman and not being able to move his traps. 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:13.500 The NOAA Marine Debris Program along with Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary 00:02:13.510 --> 00:02:16.930 and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have been 00:02:16.930 --> 00:02:22.340 interviewing lobster fishermen to develop these best practices for prevention of gear loss. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:33.160 Of course you want to avoid setting your pots in anchorages or in the mouths of harbors 00:02:33.160 --> 00:02:38.100 because you're far more likely to lose them that year due to the boat traffic. 00:02:38.100 --> 00:02:42.579 It's common sense to not set a whole lot of gear in areas that are 00:02:42.579 --> 00:02:44.960 going to be heavily trafficked. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.739 You need to have your trap properly weighted 00:02:47.739 --> 00:02:53.379 because when the swell comes up it can pull your trap away from where it is 00:02:53.380 --> 00:02:58.560 and drag it shallower or throw it on the beach or it can just simply drag it deeper 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:00.540 deeper and sink your buoy. 00:03:00.540 --> 00:03:03.860 Using steel is far better than using concrete 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:09.250 because concrete has a great deal of air in it and isn't nearly as effective at 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:11.160 holding the trap to the bottom. 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:14.700 [Weather report on radio] 00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:17.540 If the swell is going to be six feet I can fish in this depth of water. 00:03:17.540 --> 00:03:19.940 If it's going to be 12 feet I've got to go to this depth. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.860 In order to stay abreast of the weather I spend a 00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:25.900 lot of time on a website called 17ft.com. 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:28.540 It gives a projection of the swell 00:03:28.540 --> 00:03:34.640 as well as NOAA's readout of their forecast for the five or six days into the future. 00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:38.540 Watch what other veteran fisherman do when the storm and the swell happen. 00:03:38.540 --> 00:03:41.560 Learn. I mean the second that they move their gear out, 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:43.000 you should be right behind them. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.260 If you're going to fish in a high current zone, you need a 00:03:46.260 --> 00:03:49.090 lot of buoy, but the more buoy you put on a trap, 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:53.780 the more likelihood it is to slide away if it's not properly weighted. 00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:57.240 Weighted lines is paramount to be able to make sure that boats can travel around them 00:03:57.250 --> 00:03:59.300 as safely as possible. 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.540 In order to keep someone from running over your line 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:08.140 and cutting off your trap, you want the last third of your line to be sinking. 00:04:08.140 --> 00:04:14.860 To get those dimensions accurately we fathom it really fast. So this is just 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:20.380 counting out your six-foot wingspan or whatever your height is. 00:04:20.380 --> 00:04:25.660 Just count out your depth. And then you attach the floating to sinking where the 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:28.320 fisherman's knot or a lover's knot. 00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:31.460 Most fishermen know how to bring two lines together. 00:04:31.460 --> 00:04:35.740 By law, the buoy has to be, the number has to be kept in a condition 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:37.720 that's easily readable by enforcement. 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.120 Secondly, the lines, the more drag you have 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:43.180 is created by the more growth you have on it. 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:45.360 The cleaner the line, the less drag you're going to have. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.400 The less opportunity for that trap to be able to be pulled away 00:04:48.400 --> 00:04:49.880 by the currents or by surf. 00:04:49.880 --> 00:04:52.580 Okay so this is a line cover. 00:04:52.580 --> 00:04:58.740 Inside of it is engine cooler and it fits in a barrel like that. 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:00.780 You fill the barrel with water. 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:05.289 I just plug this into my engine and this assumes the temperature of my engine 00:05:05.289 --> 00:05:07.340 which is about 180 degrees 00:05:07.340 --> 00:05:10.300 And so by the time you fill it up with water, 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:12.720 when you run about an hour, your water is 180 degrees. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.260 So you take the coil of rope 00:05:14.260 --> 00:05:17.169 as the trap comes over the side and you take the entire coil and you just hold 00:05:17.169 --> 00:05:22.780 it underwater, you know, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and then takes it out and it 00:05:22.780 --> 00:05:26.280 looks like nothing has happened but in effect you basically killed all the growth. 00:05:26.280 --> 00:05:29.900 You throw the trap back over, you come back the next day, and the rope looks brand new. 00:05:29.900 --> 00:05:31.400 It's a fantastic thing. 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:41.060 When you set a trap, it's super beneficial to make a mark on your GPS 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:44.540 so that you have a waypoint to go back to. 00:05:44.540 --> 00:05:47.120 Not only will you consistently recover gear 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.820 that may be pulled down in current or move slightly even, 00:05:49.820 --> 00:05:54.640 you can easily find it. It can be foggy, it can be horribly windy, it can be really 00:05:54.650 --> 00:05:59.210 difficult to see traps. Having them logged in to your plotter is really 00:05:59.210 --> 00:06:03.380 beneficial in getting to your gear and servicing it regularly. 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:08.780 With the next fishing season there will be a limit per permittee of 300 traps. 00:06:09.340 --> 00:06:14.980 The trap limit that is going to go into regulatory action this coming year and for the years to come, 00:06:14.990 --> 00:06:18.240 I think will significantly reduce the amount of trap loss. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.500 Each permittee will be given 300 trap tags 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:23.640 by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. 00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:27.060 Each trap must carry a tag while it's in use 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:29.270 or while it's in transit on the water and those 00:06:29.270 --> 00:06:31.260 trap tags will be renewed each year. 00:06:31.260 --> 00:06:36.260 The department's goal in managing lobster is sustainability for the fishery in perpetuity. 00:06:36.260 --> 00:06:38.760 It's a neat community. 00:06:39.400 --> 00:06:41.560 What we do for a living is pretty special. 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:46.760 I get it and if you're doing it next to me you get it too. We share that. 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:23.120 you