BOSTON (AP) – Fishermen say the practice of dumping unintentionally caught fish overboard is a major industry threat, but they have little trust in environmentalists who also want to stop the waste, according to a new poll.

The fish, called “bycatch,” was seen as a major problem by 61 percent of New England fishermen, according to the survey of 500 commercial fishermen commissioned by the environmental group Oceana.

Bycatch was second only to government regulation, which 72 percent of fishermen viewed as a major problem.

The survey also showed that fishermen blame government regulators and environmentalists far more than themselves for the waste. In addition, 75 percent of those surveyed agreed that environmentalists are more interested in stopping them from fishing than helping them.

The poll was released to The Associated Press the same day environmentalists, fishermen and regulators met in Wakefield, a suburb north of Boston, to discuss ways to reduce bycatch.

Gib Brogan, a projects manager for Oceana, said there’s a history of animosity between fishermen and environmentalists, but added the poll shows common ground in the desire to stop bycatch.

“How we get to a solution, that’s probably where things hit a speed bump,” he said.

“I’m hopeful,” Brogan said. “I may be naive, but I’m hopeful on that.”

Jackie Odell, director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, said conservation groups rarely get down to the docks to understand fishermen and their problems, preferring instead to go to court, take polls or attend conferences with academics.

“Are they looking to stand on the sidelines and file lawsuits and cry about the problem?” she said. “I feel it’s time they jumped in the water with the rest of us.”

The telephone poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent, was conducted last year between Oct. 25 and Nov. 8 by the Voter/Consumer Research Group.

Poll respondents were chosen randomly from the list of federal commercial fishing permit holders. The vast majority of respondents were owner-operator/owner captains and worked in single vessel operations. Thirty-one percent were groundfishermen, followed by lobstermen at 30 percent. Fifty-three percent had more than 20 years experience and 34 percent had annual family incomes of $75,000 or more.

Bycatch occurs when fishermen exceed federal limits on a protected species, such as cod, whether they were after it or another species. Fishermen are forbidden to keep the catch because of fears they would start targeting protected fish. So it’s dumped overboard.

The waste is galling to all corners of the industry, which is under a court mandate to reduce it as part of efforts to rebuild depleted stocks.

Environmentalists say closing fisheries down after fishermen exceed tough limits on bycatch is the best way to stop the problem. Brogan said such rules would force efficiency.

“I sort of look at it that it’s going to force a dirty part of our industry to evolve,” he said.

The poll indicated fishermen prefer different solutions. Increased bycatch observers on fishing boats (54 percent), allowing fishermen to keep and sell bycatch (53 percent), and gear modifications that enable nets to avoid protected species (52 percent) were all “strongly” favored more than the tough bycatch limits (36 percent).

“These conservation group need to think a little more about how it affects our fishermen … to just close down an area,” Odell said.

Other poll results included the following:

– 61 percent of fishermen say the fishing industry is on the wrong track.

– 66 percent say pollution is the greatest threat to the coast and marine habitats; 17 percent say commercial fishing is the greatest threat.

– 47 percent said regional or federal managers were most responsible for the bycatch problem; 22 percent blamed environmental groups; 19 percent blamed fishermen.

AP-ES-06-30-04 1620EDT