Dogfish Links

"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." (Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, Bigelow, H.B. and W.C. Schroeder, 1953)

A plague of spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) is interfering with fisheries in coastal states from Maine to North Carolina. Unprecedented numbers of these voracious predators are clogging nets, stealing bait and ruining the catch in fishery after fishery, needlessly penalizing the affected fishermen and coastal fishing communities. In addition to this direct interference with other fisheries, dogfish are eating vast quantities of much more valuable species, negating the effects of drastic management-mandated fishing effort reductions in those fisheries. Fishermen are sacrificing to conserve extremely important recreational and commercial species and their efforts are doing little more than providing more food for an ever-increasing population of dogfish.

How have we gotten to this sorry state? How have we let a low value species like the spiny dogfish become so plentiful that it is standing in the way of the successful rebuilding of other, far more valuable species and costing the coastal economies of a dozen states tens of millions of dollars? The simple answer is that’s what federal law requires.

Building on similar meetings in Biddeford, Maine and Hyannis, Massachusetts, on September 30th we’ll be bringing together federal, state and regional managers, researchers and commercial, recreational and party/charter boat fishermen most familiar with spiny dogfish to discuss the status of the dogfish stocks, the current situation regarding their depredations on East Coast fish and fisheries, and the expectations for the future. We will also be searching for solutions to the problems they are currently inflicting on virtually every other fishery. Our intention is to prepare and widely distribute the proceedings of the Forum, with the aim of acquainting the public and policy makers with the scope of the dogfish problem and of the need for an effective and immediate solution.

Registration is limited and a minimal fee may be required to partially offset expenses. Please contact Nils Stolpe, the Foum Coordinator, for more information.

Also, if you have any pictures illustrating the impact of dogfish on traditional fisheries or dogfish abundance, please let let us know via the contact information above.

We are planning - barring unforeseen technical difficulties - on having an audio recording of the forum, as well as the Powerpoint presentatyions, available on this website within a week.

The agenda is:

The Dogfish Forum is being sponsored by the Fishermen's Dock Cooperative, Lund’s Fisheries, National Fisheries Institute’s Scientific Monitoring Committee, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Recreational Fishing Alliance, United Boatmen of NY & NJ and Viking Village.