The environmental community gets a lot of ink criticizing the fishing industry. But here's one story with lots of local ties that shows that fishermen, environmentalists and scientists can work together to make fishing more sustainable around the globe.

More than three years ago, the United States banned U.S.-owned swordfish boats from fishing for swordfish on the Grand Banks because of a concern that endangered Leatherback and threatened Loggerhead sea turtles were being snagged in the long lines.

Instead of throwing in the towel, the idled swordfish boats joined with scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct three years of experiments to improve turtle safety.

Six of the 13 boats that participated in the experiment dock regularly in Fairhaven at D.N. Kelley Shipyard. And fishermen aboard those boats as well as shoreside companies helped develop new technology to protect the rare turtles while still allowing swordfishing.

This week, William Hogarth, the director of NOAA Fisheries, announced in Washington, D.C. that the experiment had shown that new techniques, different bait and new gear led to a 90-percent reduction in turtle bycatch -- the accidental snagging of these 500- to 1,000-pound creatures.

NOAA is now strongly urging other fishing nations to adopt the new gear and techniques to protect sea turtles worldwide. While U.S. boats were banned from the Grand Banks, swordfishermen from 40 other countries continued to cast their long lines in these waters these past three years.

"The science came right off this dock," said James Budi, the manager of four of the local swordfish boats that participated in the experiments.

Mr. Budi hopes the successful experiment will lead to a lifting of the ban on U.S. swordfishing on the Grand Banks. These international waters are some of the most productive areas for the fishery as many people now know because of the book and movie, "The Perfect Storm," set aboard a swordfish boat in the Grand Banks.

The two major changes that helped cut down turtle snaggings were a new type of hook and different bait. Instead of using a standard, J-shaped hook, the researchers found a circle-shaped hook was less dangerous to turtles. They also found that using mackerel instead of squid was much less attractive to the creatures.

As part of the experiments, the fishermen and scientists also designed new equipment to remove hooks with minimal injury from turtles to free them. And they designed an 8-foot diameter, round net with a hydraulic lift to pull up a turtle, tag it for scientific study and then release it safely into the ocean.

Tor Bendiksen of Reidar's Manufacturing in Fairhaven helped create the "turtle elevator" now featured in a 10-minute NOAA video on the NOAA Web site (www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter/turtles). The film shows the round net gently scooping up a beautiful, 500-pound Leatherback. The animal is brought to the deck of the Eagle Eye II where Capt. John Caldwell and his crew remove the hook from the turtle's armpit and scientists insert a tag to track the creature on its vast journey. The lift, powered by hydraulics from Scandia, another local firm, then carries the creature back into the ocean where it swims gracefully away.

The experiment was a triumph of cooperation between science, industry and the environmental community. And the study results have received a rare endorsement from the World Wildlife Fund. WWF plans to push other nations to adopt the new methods.

The port of New Bedford-Fairhaven is also once again in the forefront of much-needed cooperation between science and the fishing industry to pioneer more sustainable fishing practices.