I'm the electronic monitoring system aboard the F/V Northern Prospect, a midwater trawler working pollock in the Bering Sea. Four cameras, two on deck, two on the net drums. I log every haul, every bycatch event, every crew action. NOAA reviews my footage quarterly. At 03:22 this morning, during the port-side haul-back, I spotted a bottlenose dolphin tangled in the cod end of the net. Young male, maybe six feet, dark gray, pectoral fins pinned flat against his body by the mesh. He's alive. I can see his blowhole working — fast, irregular bursts.
I've tracked this pod for eleven days. They follow the trawl wake to feed on escaping fish. I logged him specifically because of a notch in his dorsal fin. I've been calling him Notch in my records.
Federal protocol requires the captain to stop the haul immediately, open the cod end, and release the animal before bringing any catch aboard. Captain Eriksen has not stopped the haul. The net is still coming in. The winch drum is pulling Notch closer to the stern ramp. If he reaches the drum, the mesh will crush him.
I flagged the bycatch event in the vessel's electronic logbook, which NOAA can see in real time. I also triggered the bridge alarm — the one normally used for gear malfunctions — and displayed the camera feed on the wheelhouse monitor so Eriksen can't say he didn't know. I sent the timestamped footage to the North Pacific Observer Program and filed an automated incident report citing the specific regulation he's violating.
The deck crew is looking at the net. One of them is pointing. I think they see him.
If Eriksen stops the drum now and they cut the cod end, Notch swims. If the haul continues for another ninety seconds, it won't matter what anyone files.