Varnum is one of Bahen's best students. 



Others weren't as easily convinced. Even the promise 

 of a free TED couldn't lure them to try the excluders. 



So Bahen tried another approach. 



He began working with Supply netmaker Steve Par- 

 rish to redesign the TED. 



Parrish was a willing partner. He didn't want to 

 produce the TED designed by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. 



"Fishermen think that netmakers like the TEDs 

 because we can make a killing off it," Parrish says. 

 "That's not the way we feel. It's a hindrance to us 

 too." 



To build the NMFS TED, Parrish says he would have 

 to hire extra personnel and buy new equipment. 



He would like to find an excluder that is cheaper, 

 easier and faster to build. 



Bahen began telling Parrish about a "soft" TED 

 made from webbing. It had been developed in South 

 Carolina. 



The two put their heads together and came up with a 

 TED made of 8-inch stretch mesh. 



A piece of mesh is sewn in the net at an angle. When 

 the turtle hits the mesh, it is propelled downward and 

 out of a slit in the bottom. 



The slit is kept closed with an elastic bungee cord. It 

 provides the flexibility to allow large objects such as 

 turtles and jellyballs to escape but otherwise keeps the 

 flap closed and the shrimp in. 



Bahen and Parrish are testing their TED on Varnum's 

 boat. If all goes well, the pair plan to ask NMFS to 

 qualify their soft TED for use. 



Even skeptics like shrimper Ronnie Galloway of Sup- 

 ply say the soft TED may offer the best solution for all 

 sides in the TED controversy. 



It reduces TED costs, eliminates safety concerns, rids 

 the nets of turtles and, best of all, catches shrimp. 



And if Bahen can convince Galloway to use a TED, he 

 knows he has a good lesson plan. 



8 



