June 17, 2020 — The following is an excerpt from a release published today by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was created on September 15, 2016 by a Presidential Proclamation, which included a ban on commercial fishing within the monument area. Fishermen in the lobster and deep- sea red crab fisheries, however, were given seven years to phase out their operations.
The proclamation superseded the Council’s ability to manage fisheries through its usual process under the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) within the marine monument’s boundaries.
A second Presidential Proclamation was issued on June 5, 2020 – the Proclamation on Modifying the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
This second proclamation removed the prohibition on commercial fishing and allowed management of fisheries within the marine monument to revert to the Council through the MSA process.
“We’ve said from the beginning that fishery management councils are best suited to address the complicated tradeoffs involved in managing fisheries, and we appreciate regaining our control to do so in the monument area,” said Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn.
However, the Council has been concerned by some of the news coverage surrounding this most recent Presidential Proclamation. Several articles indicated that fishing in the marine monument will be unrestricted and lead to “devastating” habitat impacts and the resumption of destructive fishing practices.
“This is not true at all,” said Tom Nies, the Council’s executive director. “The monument area will not be ‘wide open to industrial fishing.’”
In the canyons and seamounts region, the Council’s Coral Amendment will:
- Prohibit the use of bottom-tending commercial fishing gear within the designated deep-sea coral area, including otter trawls; beam trawls; hydraulic dredges; non-hydraulic dredges; bottomtending seines; bottom longlines; pots and traps; and sink or anchored gillnets; and
- Protect the majority of coral habitats occurring in the canyons and on the slope in the New England region. The protected area will encompass 75% of plotted occurrences of corals, 75% of estimated soft coral habitat based on a habitat suitability model, and 85% of the areas with slopes greater than 30°. Steep slopes are a strong predictor of coral occurrence.
The prohibition on the use of bottom-tending gear types will provide substantial protection for deep-sea corals from being damaged by commercial fishing activities. The Council provided one exemption for red crab pots. The small-scale deep-sea red crab fishery has only four active vessels, and the canyons and slope are vital to its operation.