February 23, 2014 — Regulations need to dually support a thriving fishery and sustain a healthy ocean habitat. On Tuesday, regulators have the opportunity to do just that with proposed updates to outdated fishing restrictions.
The New England Fishery Management Council has before it several scientifically-backed proposals for updating area closures off the coast of Massachusetts. These closures have been off-limits to fishermen for almost 20 years, but updated science indicates they may not be best suited for balancing the needs of industry and conservation.
One area in particular, the Northern Edge of the Georges Bank closure, has been under diligent review by scientists, conservationists and industry members.
The Northern Edge is an historic scallop ground known among fishermen for housing some of the largest and densest concentrations of scallops in the region. But since the early 1990s, millions of pounds of scallops have been off-limits.
A recent survey of the Northern Edge found that this closure contains almost 20 million pounds of scallops. This area alone may be home to as much as ten percent of Georges Bank's entire scallop population. This is a huge lost opportunity for our industry, one whose reputation for sustainable management is time-tested.
For years regulators and environmental groups have looked to scallopers as a model for effective cooperative research and responsible practice. At the same time, our industry recognizes that certain protective measures may be important for the rebuilding of some groundfish stocks. The same features of the Northern Edge ecosystem that benefit scallop populations may also prove valuable to the life cycles of other species, particularly cod.
Peter Hughes is a member of the Fisheries Survival Fund and the Director of Sustainability at Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc. in Cape May, N.J.