WAKEFIELD, Mass. — March 7, 2013 — Both the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the Canadian government are concerned that vessels may be fishing in one area and then claiming the catch is from another, federal fishery officials revealed at a New England Fishery Management Council Groundfish Committee meeting Wednesday.
"I think this has the potential to be a significant issue, with a number of important consequences," Tom Dempsey, a member of the groundfish committee, said.
The cheating on the catch could affect an international treaty with Canada and erodes confidence in the integrity of the new fishery management system that portions out fish stock quotas to individual fishermen, he said.
New England fishing grounds are separated into various management areas. Cod, for instance, is divided into Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank cod. Another cod area is co-managed under an international agreement by the United States and Canada.
Fishermen must form groups, known as sectors, to manage their combined quota shares so that they don't catch any more fish than they are assigned. They also can sell or lease their portion of that quota to another fisherman under the new management system.
Some experts believe fishermen might be gaming the system, catching a lot of fish during a trip to one area but where they themselves possess little quota. On the same fishing trip, they also fish an area with few fish but where they have a high share in the quota. They then report most of trip's catch as being from the second area. Also, in some cases, there is a significant difference in the price for fishermen to lease quota in one area as compared with another.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times