As referenced from Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, Bigelow, H.B. and W.C. Schroeder, 1953: "Voracious almost beyond belief, the dogfish entirely deserves its bad reputation. Not only does it harry and drive off mackerel, herring, and even fish as large as cod and haddock, but it destroys vast numbers of them. Again and again fishermen have described packs of dogs dashing among schools of mackerel, and even attacking them within the seines, biting through the net, and releasing such of the catch as escapes them. At one time or another they prey on practically all species of Gulf of Maine fish smaller than themselves, and squid are also a regular article of diet whenever they are found." And that folks, is really only the tip of the iceberg.

According to an article in the Gloucester Times from September of this year, one single fishing vessel hauled up a grand total of 15,000 pounds of these vexations in a single day – much to the extreme disappointment of the fishermen on board. Their nightmare began when they noticed a lot of strain on their nets. The gear was so packed with dogs, they could not even haul it up to clear it. Instead, they ended up having to improvise and tow the net backwards, a process that took over two hours, on one single net. Keep in mind that the seasoned fishermen were not fishing for dogs, their nets were set to catch whiting and ling. Unfortunately, the aggressive dogfish had destroyed all of the whiting and ling in their nets – the fish where they make their money. Another incident that caught the attention of authorities occurred when a fisherman in Cape Cod threw over three hundred lines – and landed three hundred dogfish – in a ten minute period. In a report by David Pierce, on September 6, 2006; an estimated10,000 lbs. of dogfish were taken in a mere 1.3 hour tow on Stellwagen Bank.That doesn’t sound like a depletion problem to me. Additionally, dogfish are tough, coarse, with fins that can destroy a fisherman’s gear with little effort. It has been estimated that dogfish destroy over $400,000 worth of nets and catch off of the Massachusetts coast alone yearly.

As early as the 1800’s, fishermen were complaining of the destruction caused by the vermin in their nets. In 1905, the Annual Report of the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game in Massachusetts concluded that large numbers of tubs of trawls were reported lost to the spiny dogfish. Throughout the 60’s, 80’s, 90’s and more – studies have been done to prove how detrimental this creature is to our ecosystem. An assessment of spiny dogfish made at the 18th SAW in December 1994 concludes: "...Preliminary calculations indicated that the biomass of commercially important species consumed by spiny dogfish was comparable to the amount harvested by man. Accordingly, the impact of spiny dogfish consumption on other species should be considered in establishing harvesting policies for this species”. Perhaps even more interesting, as early as 1964, there was a special report of the Department of Natural Resources pertaining to the control and eradication of dogfish, written by Fairbanks, Hutton, and Wilbour in response to instructions to the Division of Marine Fisheries to establish and maintain a dogfish nuisance control and eradication program and submitted to Legislature. In part it states: "Said director may contract, subject to appropriation, a schedule of payment rates which may be paid to fishermen as fees or as a bounty for catching and disposing of said dogfish..." And I guess my question is, for so many years, this predator has created innumerable problems not only for our commercial fishing industry, but for the entire ecosystem as well. So why does it seem as if no one is listening? Why are we being fed statistics and theories instead of a solution to the problem?

Recently, some new testing equipment has been devised that have proven the initial tests to be alarmingly erroneous. Originally, the spiny dogfish was thought to contain its travels to small areas, just off the coast, traveling only unpretentious distances. However, a new tag has been designed that has shown one particular dogfish to have traveled south to Delaware, north to Novia Scotia, to Prince Edward Island – and then continuously looping back, all during a three month period. With findings like this, is it any wonder that the estimates on the number of spiny dogfish are so inaccurate?

The problem is, the government is trying to regulate a single species when it is in fact, a multi-species issue. Dogfish are a huge threat to many of the other, more valuable and fundamental species of marine life. Cod, summer flounder, haddock, crabs – to just name a precious few – are all at a great risk, falling prey to the dogs. Aside from the obvious – the eaten fish found in the commercial fishermen’s nets and the tuna or cod ripped from the line of a recreational fisherman; spiny dogfish travel in packs, and are known to feed in the safe areas where small, immature fish of other species gather until they are large enough to venture out in deeper waters. And of course, you also need to consider the fact that spiny dogfish are born live, fully matured and an able hunter at birth - meaning that their young are much more likely to reach full maturity than the weaker, more fragile cod, haddock or other species. Now, think about this. Based on another study, the government readily admits that the dogfish consume more than 2.4 million tons of prey per year. In 1998, a test conducted on one year old male cod proved that dogfish consumed over 2.15 million fish of this species – considering the total population was given as only 5.77 million, that’s over 37% of the juvenile cod population. If you do the math, based on one estimate of 478,000 metric tons of dogfish currently in the system, then they are consuming 2.4 million metric tons of fish per year. Tests have shown that 93% of their diet consists of fish; mostly cod, haddock, hake, fluke, herring and sand lances. But the predation does not stop there. Another food source of the spiny dogfish are the eggs of the horseshoe crab. And if the eggs of the horseshoe crab are depleted, you are not only affecting the population of its own, you are also affecting the population of migratory shorebirds who acquire a 40% or more weight gain during the staging period when they are gathering to build their energy reserves before migration. The effect of this overabundance of spiny dogfish touches all aspects of marine life, in essence, much like a domino effect, from food fish, to crabs, to shorebirds, and even the endangered sea turtles. Spiny dogfish are an unforgiving predator, and will eat anything, they have even been known to eat themselves. This lack of thought in considering the other multi-species implications could prove catastrophic in the marine balance. So - when the government wants to express concern over the depletion of the number of stock of the spiny dogfish, shouldn’t they address the diminishing number of stock of other, much more advantageous species of fish as well? And along that line of reasoning, shouldn’t they also be able to accept the fact that it’s not the commercial fishing industry that is doing so much damage to the stock of these species, rather, they need to acknowledge that is a direct result of their own faulty and over stringent regulations? Nature has it’s own check and balance system. Regulations imposed through inaccurate and incomplete test results that do not take into consideration the other species in the ecosystem are going to prove costly and interfere with natures own, much more realistic balance.

Something else that might be noteworthy to mention. These regulations simply prevent the commercial fishermen from landing the spiny dogfish. But exactly what happens when these copious predators get entangled in the nets anyway as a bycatch? The spiny dogfish are then discarded – thrown overboard. One report back in 1997 shows the highest discard during the targeted years was 25.6 million pounds by fishermen who were fishing for ground fish such as cod and flounder. In most instances, the discards exceed the rate of the allowable quota for the fishery. Shouldn’t this fact alone tell officials that whereas the species is so plentiful that it is invading nets and gear not even designed to catch them in such boundless quantities that there is indeed an overpopulation problem? These fisherman don’t want to catch the dogfish, they are a nuisance to them. So why are we penalizing those fisherman that have chosen to enter the dogfish market?

The Solution

Speak Out! Write your congressman, senator, representatives. (Links are provided above) Don't miss an opportunity to let your voice be heard. A sample letter is attached should you wish to use it.

If there is a public meeting concerning the future of the commercial fishing industry, be there. If everyone figures "someone else will speak up" we are going to lose ground. One of the reasons we have been given such stringent regulations is because of the enormous amount of support the conservation groups have garnered. You've all heard the phrase "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and nothing could be more true. There is strength in numbers, we need to come together as a unified and strong force to be reckoned with.

PLEASE NOTE! Our petition is now closed. We have gathered signatures from all up and down the East Coast and beyond, and we thank each and every one of you for your support and encouragement. We will continue to fight for more realistic regulations, and to protect our industry.