To achieve this vision, MIGA is collaborating with fishing communities off the West Coast to test and introduce whale-safe fishing technologies that promote both economic and environmental resilience.
Working With Fishers in Southern California
Since 2021, MIGA has partnered with fishers in southern California to offer training and hands-on experience in deploying a variety of pop-up fishing systems.
Pop-up (also known as "ropeless" or "on-demand") fishing systems help reduce the risk of whale and sea turtle entanglements, as well as gear loss and resulting marine debris. These issues are more common for fixed fishing gear (e.g., crab pots and lobster traps) due to the use of vertical buoy-lines that are used to mark where the gear is on the seafloor.
Pop-up fishing gear works by storing vertical buoy-lines at depth or replacing them entirely with an inflatable lift-bag until the fisher is ready to retrieve the gear. For more information on pop-up fishing systems see the Sustainable Seas Technology website.
MIGA is currently supporting the experimental box and King crab fishery in southern California, which is fishing using only pop-up gear to reduce risk of entanglements of threatened and endangered whales and sea turtles.
MIGA and our partners in the fishing community are working to attain commercial status for the fishery and to establish a new and vibrant market for entanglement-free California box crab. MIGA has also dedicated resources towards advancing the use of pop-up fishing in the California commercial Dungeness crab fishery.
Our Alliance
MIGA was formed by the by Endangered Habitats League, Ocean Defenders Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sustainable Seas Technology, and is supported by the Malk Nature Fund, Orange County Community Foundation, LUSH, and private donations.
