Dear Paul,
I guess one clue is the passage in the article describing pairs of trawlers
dragging cables between them in order to knock down formations to facilitate
future passes.

Possibly there are other methods of preserving fishing equipment. There's a
certain amount of desperation about all this.

David

----------
>From: "Monfils, Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Deep reefs
>Date: Mon, Oct 2, 2000, 2:30 PM
>

>Forgive my ignorance, but something about this deep reef/commercial
>fisheries business doesn't make much sense to me.  How does one trawl over a
>reef??  I would think this would be, at best, extremely destructive to
>trawling gear, if not downright impossible?  I am not surprised to hear that
>commercial fishing vessels are trawling in ever deeper waters, as fish
>populations in shallow water become reduced.  But wouldn't they select
>relatively flat bottoms, far away from reefs?
>
>Paul M.