By RUDI HEMPE
CELS News Editor

Researchers in the Department of Fisheries, Animal & Veterinary Science are well-known for their collaborative work with the fishing industry in Rhode Island and New England but now they are spreading their expertise internationally.

Laura G. Skrobe and Kathleen M. Castro recently returned from Vigo, Spain where they made a presentation to the World Summit on Fisheries Sustainability describing the unique collaboration project they created in concert with Rhode Island fishermen in developing the “Eliminator” net which allows trawlers to catch haddock without catching cod—the latter species being on a protected quota list.

Their project won a Smart Gear award from the World Wildlife Fund and when the Spanish government decided to hold its summit Sept. 12-16, Skrobe and Castro were invited to attend the first-time event to deliver a 15-minute presentation.

The summit was held in conjunction with a trade show, says Castro and Skrobe, who was to be the presenter, thought initially they wanted her to describe how the Eliminator net worked.

But no—they instead wanted her to describe the process of the project—how the fishermen and the scientists at URI got together to come up with the development of the net.

"We were different from other talks," says Skrobe who was on her first international presentation. Castro, who has traveled on fisheries projects many times overseas, went along as an interpreter and assistant in the presentation.

"The amazing thing was how many people came up to us" after the talk, said Skrobe. "They said ‘We really need help on this.’ "

The interesting aspect of the presentation revolved around the fact that while URI scientists and Rhode Island fishermen were able to combine efforts on a project, such collaboration is apparently unheard of in other countries where fishermen, fisheries managers and scientists find it difficult to communicate.

"One man from Ireland said the only way he could get information from fishermen there was to go out and get drunk with them," says Castro.

"They can’t believe we could talk with fishermen like that," she adds.

The idea for the Eliminator actually was thought up by a couple of Rhode Island fishermen who brought their proposal to URI scientists. From there, a collaborative effort resulted in successful small-scale and then full-scale tests and trials.

The key to the successful Eliminator project was that the commercial

fishermen and the scientists were able to communicate so well. Communication is apparently a problem elsewhere in the world.

"The fishermen are out there everyday. They have ideas based on many observations and they can come up with ideas. What is needed is some way to prove it to the scientific community," says Skrobe, adding that the scientific community can be underestimating the power of the fishermen in many fisheries around the world.

"There is the fishermen’s culture, the scientists’ culture and the managers’ culture," says Castro and it is difficult to get them to meet." "Luckily we here seem to be able to bridge it," she adds.

Just how effective their presentation in Spain will be remains to be seen—they have had positive feedback and queries from people they met.

But the summit was populated in large part by government ministers of fisheries and their aides—there were few actual fishermen there and of the presenters, only two were women.

"It was mostly political," says Castro of the summit, describing the formal events which required dark suits and gowns. One big novelty was that she and Skrobe were able to stay in a medieval castle.

Such accommodations cannot be expected on the researchers’ new project. Thanks to a 2 grants: $2.5 million for work in Gambia and $10 million in Ghana, the Coastal Resources Center at the Graduate School of Oceanography will be working in parts of Africa for the next five years, helping the fisheries there and Castro and Skrobe have a major part in the project.

Castro has already visited Gambia and Ghana.

In Ghana, the fisheries are run on a hierarchy system and there is usually a head fisherman for each village.

"They could really use some education," says Castro who relates on her visit that someone told her that it was not that long ago when fishermen thought the fish came from the sky when it rains.

View from the summit site in Vigo, Spain

"It’s exciting because they have some unique ways of looking at things."

There are all sorts of things that can be done to help African fishermen, she continues. For example, they don’t have life preservers. "Our fishermen can help their fishermen," she says, adding ideally there should be a sustainable fisheries summit for fishermen. "I would love to bring some of our fishermen over there."

Castro has two more trips to Gambia for next year. "I’m looking for involvement of the fishermen and how to implement a code of responsibility, establish the trust and the vocabulary. We just need to find the right project where everyone can jump in."

Gambia, continues Castro, had one fishery that applied for an a sustainable fishery designation from the Marine Stewardship Council (it helps with the marketing of fish internationally) and the effort failed. That fishery now has to improve its data collection and management techniques.

In Ghana, it’s a different story. Recently oil was discovered off the coast and drilling is on the horizon. "And so this beautiful, pristine part of Ghana is now going to be developed very quickly. And so when you talk to the fishermen you have to ask them whether they have any information about what they see and what they catch. You have to convince them to start collecting information now so that if something happens, perhaps an oil spill, and the fish die they can show what actually has happened."

Helping fisheries in Africa is not easy because of the various cultures. Some fishing villages have community centers that were set up with World Bank funds. Some died when the funding ran out but others continue. "They understand the value of organizing," says Castro. "They know they can’t get credit unless they have some organization."

For example, one economic problem is the lack of ice plants—to run them is extremely expensive because the cost of electricity is so high. Instead the fishermen preserve their catch by salting and drying, a process that is decimating the forests.

African fishermen also have a marketing problem—they catch so much, thanks to the Canary Current, that they cannot sell it all. "They have to slow down their fishing to create a market. They also have problems with bycatch which we can help them with."

Still another issue is the type of catch. Blue crabs abound off the coast of Africa but they are not fished. "I suggested they might want to go blue crab fishing," says Castro with a smile. Such a development would be right down her alley—she did her masters thesis on the development of a blue crab fishery in Ecuador

Published: September 23, 2009.