A Fishing Gear Workshop for the Non-Fishermen
Above: Industry instructor, Erik Anderson (left) discusses the gill net fishery with Northeast Consortium representative Troy Hartley. |
Increasingly, people without fishing gear backgrounds are involved in fisheries management. While they have strengths in their respective professions, an operational knowledge of fishing gears is lacking. Such gaps can be filled with collaborative learning workshops such as the Fishing Gear Workshop for Non-Fishermen, which utilizes industry members as instructors. This reversal training strategy builds mutual understanding between groups that are usually at odds. Commercial trawlers and gillnetters owned and operated by the industry are used as at-sea workshop platforms for two days of demonstrations. |
This has been an annual workshop since 2004. Participants have included National Marine Fisheries Service employees, Congressional and Senatorial staffers, State fisheries scientists, Marine Docents, members of conservation organizations, extension professionals, and cooperative research funding organizations. |
