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Art- It is futile trying to make a point with this guy. Again he trys to make a point but is ignorant to reality. >Art, nets drift. A trawl costs over 60.000 dollars and no one >with some brain will trawl in wreck areas. This is painfully inaccurate. In some cases, particularly in the scallop fishery, draggers work very tight to wrecks as the scallops can be quite abundant in the "wash-out" adjacent to large wrecks. I have had friends about to dive a wreck when a dragger shows up on the scene and basically outlines the wreck, thanks to GPS and having a pretty good record of the wreck layout due to their thick hangbooks. For all of the VB guys -- a few years back a dragger ran a lane right next to the Eureka and left a berm of scallops alongside the wreck; there were so many scallops you couldn't have enough goodie bags to put them into. All of the "scallop terrorists" had a blast that day... Of more interest is the enhancement of otter trawls in the NW Atlantic. Some of these draggers have denuded benthic habitat to the point where the grounds are no longer economically productive. Whereas many may believe trawlers don't work rough bottom because they may lose their gear, many would be wrong. Whereas in the past this was the case, trawlers have been using "rockhoppers" and "streetsweepers" for several years now. These basically are modifications to the ground/foot rope so it can "bounce" over bottom obstructions such as boulders or even wrecks. With increased horsepower and rockhopper gear, some trawlers have been targeting wrecks to fill their nets. Off Cape Cod and on Georges Bank, I have heard of wooden wrecks being obliterated in the period of *days*. The hook-and-line fishermen are incensed as, in some cases, they depend on wrecks for a large portion of their catch. They have to watch their radar to make sure no draggers are around, otherwise one may steam right over and learn of a new fishing hole that they did not have before. However, once a dragger moves thru, many times the hook fishermen are no longer able to pick up any sign of the wreck on their bottom reader. The trawlers use robust gear and work it hard. This brings up yet another problem with the UNESCO document. It mentions (in one sentance) "incidental damage" yet I do not forsee any way to protect the wrecks from draggers, whether it be incidental or intentional. That is the reality, and although I despise "finger pointing," trawling and dredging is where a good deal of the wreck degradation is originating from (in certain areas of US coastal and offshore waters). Unfortunately, there are too many other issues in fishery management to give "cultural heritage" much priority, however righteous it may be. I don't even need to discuss enforcement of UNESCO and all of its objectives, because that is even a sadder realtity. Art, do yourself a favor and just add Aldo to your killfile as we don't have enough time to keep correcting him on these basic fisheries issues. Methinks he needs to go back for some more of those academic classes he values so highly. BTW, NOAA usually marks wrecks for navigation reasons (obstructions) and not to mark cultural heritage sites. I also tell them to mix the numbers up so you guys can't find them ;>) Cheers, Mike Michael C. Barnette Association of Underwater Explorers Because it's there...somewhere...maybe. http://www.mikey.net/aue _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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