Two stories this month describe research into new technologies for fishing and aquaculture. Catching cod in traps, as we report in this April web-issue, could be a way to greatly reduce bycatch and mortality in that fishery. Traps have been used for cod for generations in Newfoundland, of course, but this method may have wide applications in the “new” cod fishery that we all hope will emerge from years of stock decline, catch limits, closings and other efforts to save the Northeast’s once-most-valuable fishery.
Open ocean aquaculture, likewise (also in this issue), could solve some of the problems fish farmers have experienced in their efforts to establish operations inshore. Cages suspended 40 feet below the surface would pose comparatively little risk to navigation, for example; and being farther from shore they’d be less likely to affect water quality.
Like any mature industry, fishing will benefit from ideas for change.