The New England Fish Forum’s next conversation will be about Amendment 16, its implications for industry, environment and community, and unresolved issues from the Portland NEFMC meeting. To form the agenda for this meeting, they are collecting lists of issues and concerns from people in the New England commercial fishing community, scientists and managers.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
Your opinions, ideas and questions about Amendment 16 and the enhanced sector allocation program are needed!
As you know, last week the New England Fisheries Management Council approved a sector/catch share program for groundfish management (Amendment 16). The Council approved 17 new sectors in addition to the existing two Cape Cod sectors. Sectors will develop their own sets of rules but must operate within a Council-provided quota on each sector’s harvest level, based on historic catch levels by each sector member between 1996-2006, using landing data. Fishermen who do not join sectors (fishermen in the “common pool”) will be subject to the current Days-At-Sea management program, closed area system and gear-type specific rules. (For a more detailed summary, see the bottom of this email.)
Draft Amendment 16 must still be approved and implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service. It is expected to be submitted to NMFS later this summer, with a proposed rule published in fall or winter and implementation on May 1, 2010.
The NEFMC and NMFS both have acknowledged that there are challenges to the success of the approved program, which must be addressed with improved science and more effective monitoring and enforcement.
Many of you have your own opinions about challenges that must be addressed for this transition to succeed. You were either at the meeting in Portland or have been following the discussion and rulings from around New England. It is important that these discussions continue in this period of time before NMFS approval. It is especially key that these discussions engage as many people as possible, in as productive and collaborative a way as possible. This is a major period of change in fisheries management that may have greater implications outside of the groundfish fishery. I strongly encourage you to join in conversation with others in your community, as well as with people with whom you may have differences.
TAKE A MOMENT TO BRAINSTORM A LIST of issues that were either unresolved or that you think need to be discussed further, and email them to me at the New England Fish Forum. The New England Fish Forum will use your feedback to draft a loose agenda for discussion meetings that will include fishermen and other industry members, scientists, managers and other policy makers in July and August.
Email your list to the New England Fish Forum ne.fishforum@gmail.com or to the organizer, Katie Okamoto, at Katie.okamoto@gmail.com. Make your list as specific as possible.
Some topics may include:
– Details about enforcement and monitoring
– Informational / scientific needs
– DAS vs. catch share systems for the common pool
– Transitional needs
– Safety concerns
– Bycatch and discards
– Communication among and between sectors and common pool fishermen
– Family and community concerns
And spread the word by showing this article to your colleagues.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Very best,
Katie Okamoto
New England Fish Forum organizer
C: 908 477 4631 << Please call me with questions, advice or to discuss your list by phone!
See more information about the New England Fish Forum.
Below, please find a brief summary of NEFMC actions on groundfish from the June 24-25 meeting.
Council Fishery Analyst Tom Nies provided the following brief summary of Council actions that took place on June 24-25 pertaining to groundfish:
The approval of draft Amendment 16 included the following elements:
A. Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) were adopted. Actual ACLs will be set in the fall based on Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) figures set by the Science & Statistical Committee in early August.
B. SECTOR FORMATION. Council modified how the potential sector contribution (“PSC”) is calculated for each permit. For almost all stocks, PSC will be based on permit history of landings between FY 1996-2006. Cape Cod sectors are the exception.
C. ENFORCEMENT & MONITORING. Dock-side and at-sea monitoring requirements were established. The levels of dockside monitoring required begin at 50 pct of trips in FY 2010 and declines to 20 pct of trips in future years. Less than 100 pct at-sea monitoring is proposed with details to be coordinated between sectors and NMFS (NERO and NEFSC).
D. Sectors will be allowed to transfer their annual catch entitlement (ACE), which is determined by adding the potential sector contributions (PSCs) of each sector member (based on permit history between 1996-2006).
E. Sector members will be granted universal exemptions from some of the rolling closures in the inshore Gulf of Maine, but not all.
F. Seventeen new sectors were authorized and modifications made to the existing two Cape Cod sectors. Vessels not joining sectors will be regulated as the common pool.
G. For vessels not entering sectors, effort control option 3A was selected. This option counts days-at-sea (DAS) in 24-hour increments, reduces allocated Category A DAS by 50% from FW 42 allocations, removes differential DAS counting areas, and increases trip limits for many stocks.
H. ACCOUNTABILITY. Commercial fishery accountability measures were adopted. For non-sector vessels, the differential DAS option will be used in FY 2010 and 2011, but will be replaced by the hard total allowable catch (TAC) option in 2012. For sector vessels, the accountability measure is the hard TAC components of the sector policies.
I. FISH. The minimum size for haddock is reduced to 18 inches. The minimum size for halibut is increased to 41 inches. The retention of wolfish is prohibited. Atlantic wolfish was added to the management.
In addition, the Council received a report from the Science & Statistical Committee on setting groundfish Acceptable Biological Catches. The Council also directed the Interspecies Committee to draft a proposal to combine and consolidate, to the extent possible, all current Fisheries Management Plans.
SOURCES: https://www.savingseafood.org/management-regulation/summary-of-council-groundfish-actions-june-24-25-2.html and http://www.nefmc.org