July 5, 2017 — Last month, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to prohibit most fishing in two prime areas off the Downeast coast, but the ban aimed at protecting deep sea corals won’t affect Maine lobstermen.
Meeting in Portland, the council approved two coral protection zones in the Gulf of Maine as part of a wider Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.
The Outer Schoodic Ridge zone comprises a roughly rectangular area 12.8 miles long in a northeast to southwest direction and about 2.4 miles wide comprising 30.5 square miles located some 25 southeast of Mount Desert Island with water depths ranging from roughly 350 to more than 800 feet.
The five-sided Mount Desert Rock zone includes an area of 8.2 square miles with a perimeter of 13.7 miles extending southwest of the tiny islet, which lies about 20 miles south of MDI. Water depths in the coral protection zone range from 330 to 650 feet.
As part of a wider action aimed at protecting fragile deep sea corals along the Northeast Atlantic coast, the council banned the use of all bottom-tending mobile gear in the two protection zones. The prohibition includes gear such as trawls used to harvest groundfish and dredges used to harvest shellfish such as ocean quahogs and scallops.
“I’m very pleased the council struck a balance that provides protection for corals and will enable additional research on fishing gear impacts to corals, while ensuring millions of dollars of continued economic opportunity for Maine’s Downeast communities,” DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher said in an email last week. “I’m also grateful that industry stepped up to provide the detailed information on potential impacts that helped the council make a fully informed decision.”