OXFORD, Miss. Faced with cheap foreign imports and rising
fuel costs, commercial shrimpers working in the Gulf of
Mexico are facing some hard times.
The waters from Alabama to Louisiana account for nearly
half of all U.S. shrimp production, and a University of
Mississippi marine scientist hopes to enable shrimpers to
be more productive, as well as environmentally friendly, by
reducing bycatch.
“When targeting a certain species, there’s always other
species that get caught in the nets, which is bycatch,”
said Glenn Parsons, UM professor of biology. “Not only do
fishers have to spend more time sorting their catch, they
also end up with dead and dying species.”
Bycatch from shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico is among the
highest in the United States. “For every pound of shrimp,
there are about 5 pounds of bycatch,” Parsons said.
Parsons interest in biological oceanography began when he
watched the late ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s
television programs as a child. Family vacations to the
Gulf of Mexico further instilled his passion: “I’ve always
loved the ocean,” he said. “I love fishing.”
Reinforcing his enthusiasm, Parsons has worked over the
past five years to develop a device that releases
nontargeted species, such as juvenile red snapper, from
shrimping trawls. Fifteen designs later, his bycatch
reduction device, which Parsons calls a nested cylinder,
has proven successful in reducing the amount of red snapper
bycatch.
“At a time when the shrimp industry is enduring tough
economic challenges, cheap imported shrimp, high fuel costs
and pressing environmental issues, it is gratifying to know
that there are people like Dr. Parsons, with his extensive
knowledge and experience, willing to spend the time
improving both my industry and the overall health of the
Gulf of Mexico,” said Steve Bosarge, owner of Bosarge Boats
& Dockside Seafood in Pascagoula.
A third-generation commercial fisherman, Bosarge said
Parsons’ bycatch reduction device shows real potential.
“The benefits of reducing overall bycatch are less time
spent sorting the catch and more efficiently performing
trawls,” he said. “That, in turn, reduces fuel consumption
and that equates to an economic benefit to shrimp
fishermen.”
Parsons innovative device takes advantage of natural fish
instincts. Made of two sleeves a smaller cylinder nested
inside a larger outer cylinder the device is attached
inside a trawl. The openings of the cylinder generate a
continuous escape route around the circumference of the
net, allowing nontargeted fish species to escape.
According to field results, the device is a success, with
40 percent to 60 percent reductions in bycatch. “This is
good news for fishermen and conservationists,” Parsons
said.
Parsons work has been recognized by the World Wildlife
Fund. More than 70 fishing-related designs from around the
world were submitted in the WWF’s 2007 International Smart
Gear Competition, and Parsons was named a runner-up. The
accolade included a $10,000 award.
“It’s a great honor,” he said. “I never win anything, and
it’s gratifying when people recognize your work.”
Parsons also has examined the effects of illumination and
water flow on red snapper behavior, using a different
bycatch device under a $100,000 grant awarded to UM by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National
Marine Fisheries Service in Pascagoula.
Shrimp trawling is done at night, and illuminating the
trawl with light sticks seems to help fish find their way
out of the trawl, Parsons said. “I expect that light sticks
placed in any bycatch reduction device will improve the
performance of that device, at least in regards to red
snapper bycatch reduction.”
Flow interruption plates on the nested cylinder device that
Parsons designed also appear to help reduce bycatch,
Parsons said. The plates help create dead water, which the
fish gravitate toward, leading them out of the trawls. “The
snapper don’t have to fight a strong current to escape,” he
explained.
Project collaborator Dan Foster, a research fisheries
biologist with NOAA Fisheries, described Parsons as an
“expert” in the study of fish swimming ability.
“This is very important research,” Foster said. “The nested
cylinder appears to be a viable method for bycatch
control.”
Since 1998, NOAA Fisheries regulations have required Gulf
of Mexico shrimpers to reduce juvenile red snapper bycatch
by 44 percent. Despite the intentions, Foster said the
available devices certified by NOAA Fisheries have yet to
meet standards.
“Proposed changes to the certification criteria would
require bycatch reduction devices to reduce finfish bycatch
by 30 percent starting in 2008,” Foster said. “This new
proposal could allow for new bycatch devices to be approved
by NOAA, including Dr. Parsons’ nested cylinder design.”
With assistance from the WWF, Parsons is refining his
design, which he believes is the most important work of his
career. With a patent pending, he hopes to continue testing
the device with Gulf Coast shrimpers this summer under the
National Marine Fisheries Service’s free certification
program.
“I hope that I will soon have the device ready for the
certification process,” Parsons said.
He already has gotten calls from fishermen as far away as
Alaska who want to purchase the device.
“The last thing I want to do is burden a poor, hardworking
fisherman with something else that makes them lose money,”
Parsons said. “I want this device to help, not hurt them,
and I’m optimistic that it will have a significant and
positive impact on both them and the environment.”
For more information about the device, contact Parsons at
bygrp@olemiss.edu. For more information on biology programs
at UM, go to