The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) has for some time been concerned about the issues surrounding longline fishing in Bermuda's waters. We have anticipated the public release of the results of a pilot study done by the Bermuda government.That has not happened. We understand that few fishermen are interested in longline fishing. That is no basis for a national policy. We hear that most fishermen are unconvinced they will have economic success with longlining – a position reinforced by available data.

In the interest of providing the public with current information on the social, economic and environmental impact of longline fishing in Bermuda, this article was written for BEST by researcher Candace Jantzen-Marson with assistance from Matthew Strong.

What do Bermuda's scuba-diving tourists, visiting sea turtles and her fisherman have in common? They should all be concerned about the introduction of longline fisheries to Bermuda's waters.

These fisheries use fishing lines that stretch up to 40 miles and dangle thousands of individually baited hooks. The hooks are set at depths to target specific species such as large, pelagic species like tuna and swordfish. Longline fishing technology raises hook-and-line fishing of open-ocean species to an industrial scale. If successful, each line can catch thousands of pounds of fish.

There are hard questions that need to be asked about the suitability of this industry for Bermuda's marine environment and tourism and fishing industries.

First, can our waters support this kind of fishing? Newly implemented industrial-scale fishing tends to follow a particular trend. The fisheries are relatively successful initially, but within a matter of years fish stocks decline to the point where the industry becomes marginally profitable, if at all. This situation reflects the law of diminishing returns in which more effort (time, equipment, money) is put into trying to maintain the level of fish catches while facing an ever-decreasing fish stock.

A decline in fish stocks caused by a sharp and sustained increase in catch volume will impact Bermuda's smaller-scale commercial fisherman, charter fishing boats, recreational fishermen and our tourist industry. Fish population surveys and careful quota setting can go a long way in avoiding this outcome. Unfortunately, fish surveys often are not conducted until fishermen begin to notice a significant decline in the fish population. Quotas can become a matter of politics rather than science. Heavily invested stakeholders lobby government agents to disregard scientific recommendations and set increased fish quotas and reduced size/weight limits, which too often results in more rapidly reduced fish stocks.

Second, should Bermuda's people support an industry that goes against our own environmental sustainability and biodiversity goals? The longline fishing industry has been challenged globally for the waste it generates: thousands of baited hooks on a longline do not exclusively catch their intended target. Environmentally protected sea turtles such as loggerheads and leatherbacks, migrating marine mammals such as humpback whales, and seabirds including the globally-threatened albatross and shallow-feeding petrels like the greater, cory, sooty, and manx shearwaters that migrate through Bermuda's territorial waters are among the unintentional longline victims. Many of these air-breathing species migrate through or forage in the same zone in which the gear is set. They are attracted to the baited hooks, swallow them or become tangled in the line, and often die before the lines are pulled back to the boat hours later. These untargeted species, referred to as "bycatch," are removed from the line and discarded as waste.

Legal challenges have led to new hook designs that decrease – but do not eliminate – the risk to turtles and other untargeted species. A federal panel in the United States that regulates fishing in the Gulf of Mexico voted in August 2009 to close specific areas to longline grouper fishing in addition to reducing the number of active fishing boats by half due to unacceptable levels of loggerhead sea turtles being snagged and drowned. We must ask if we can accept the idea of our local marine animals becoming "waste" on fishermen's hooks. In Bermuda's waters, leatherback turtles, a critically endangered species known to migrate past Bermuda, and loggerhead turtles, which can have a very long pelagic phase, will be at risk.

After considering if Bermuda is a suitable place for a large-scale fishing industry that could decimate our fish stocks and maim or kill our marine mammals, turtles and seabirds, we must then ask if this type of fishing makes financial sense for Bermuda. The initial cost for longline fishing gear, boats, and bait is a significantly large investment. The industry is not likely to be accessible to small, local fishermen without financial support through the local banks or the Bermuda government.

In addition, while expressing excitement about the idea of catching huge volumes of fish, a local commercial fisherman raised a concern about the small size of the Bermuda market and the consequent limits for attaining a profitable return on investment. One local fisherman estimated that one boat could catch over $100,000 worth of fish in a single trip which would likely be difficult to sell solely in Bermuda. Bermuda's market is too small to absorb thousands of pounds of fish coming off each of these boats daily. Thus, some kind of government intervention would likely be necessary to prevent fish prices from collapsing either through new import/export legislation or appealing to international markets. The odds of Bermudian fishermen being able to compete successfully on an international scale against global fisheries are slim, given the current local living costs and shipping costs.

The longline fishing industry is becoming more heavily regulated in the United States and worldwide. There are complex environmental and economic management questions that need to be addressed when evaluating if this technology is appropriate for Bermuda.

The Bermuda Government recently completed an introductory study on longline fishing in our waters, complete with training for some of our fishermen. The study and the opinions of the fishermen who were exposed to the technique have yet to be made public. According to one local fisherman, most of those who participated allegedly agreed that longlining is too aggressive, produces large amounts of bycatch, and the cost of lost gear alone is reason enough to avoid it.

This industry has the potential to impact a great number of Bermudian families, her economy, and her ocean environment. The eventual impacts will likely be negative – after a major investment in new technology, the probable decline of our fish stocks and collapse of our local fisheries will be a hard pill to swallow. An open and public discourse should be undertaken before such an investment is contemplated. To initiate the discussion, the pilot study and the opinions of the fishermen who took part should be made freely public. There are too many stakeholders for this decision to be made without a thorough and public examination of all the issues.