Management & Regulation

The New England Fisheries Management Council has begun a four-day meeting in Portland that may bring a new approach to groundfishing rules.

The council is slated to vote on a plan to allocate shares of the annual groundfish catch to groups of fishermen, or sectors. Fishermen who join a sector would no longer be limited to a diminishing number of fishing days each year, but could face shutdowns if their sector exceeds its catch limit.

The Portland Press Herald said the council is discussing other issues Tuesday but plans to turn its attention to the proposed changes, known as Amendment 16, on Wednesday.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

After years of hard work, a monumental vote next week could finally put fish and fishermen on a path toward a brighter future.

Cape Cod is currently home to an innovative fishing system that allows groups of fishermen to manage their annual catch cooperatively as part of a "Sector." On Wednesday, the governing body for New England’s fisheries will weigh whether to expand that system to a majority of the region’s fleet fishing for cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish stocks, in recognition of the tremendous success of the Cape Cod-based Georges Bank sectors.

The decision of the New England Fisheries Management Council has the potential to turn around the region’s failing fisheries, increasing profits for fishermen and local fishing communities, and rebuilding New England’s once abundant groundfish stocks. But there’s also a significant risk that the success of the new system could be undermined if the council doesn’t approve a fair and equitable system that holds all fishermen accountable for their catch.

Read the complete story at Cape Cod Times.

The Fisheries Survival Fund, representing the bulk of the full-time Limited Access scallop fleet from New Bedford south to Hampton Roads, is concerned about how NMFS will administer the yellowtail flounder TAC associated with this opening.  NMFS closed the Nantucket Lightship Area prematurely last summer due to the yellowtail bycatch TAC.  Major questions arose about how NMFS estimated total bycatch from observer information.  Many captains and crew were also angry about how much yellowtail bycatch some observers were estimating from the hauls.

NMFS is opening Groundfish Closed Area II on June 15, 2009, for the scallop access area program.  Each full-time limited access vessel is allocated one 18,000 pound trip.

The Fisheries Survival Fund, representing the bulk of the full-time Limited Access scallop fleet from New Bedford south to Hampton Roads, is concerned about how NMFS will administer the yellowtail flounder TAC associated with this opening.  NMFS closed the Nantucket Lightship Area prematurely last summer due to the yellowtail bycatch TAC.  Major questions arose about how NMFS estimated total bycatch from observer information.  Many captains and crew were also angry about how much yellowtail bycatch some observers were estimating from the hauls.

Fisheries Survival Fund representatives have been trying to improve the situation for Closed Area II, and have been working with the NMFS Observer Office since last summer.  The Observer Office has announced it will be using electronic data collection systems during Closed Area II access area trips to facilitate speedier updating of bycatch information.  They explain their system should enable observer data to be uploaded within hours after observed trips land.  Initial trip, bycatch, and sub-area information will initially be posted on the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program’s website within the first week of the Closed Area II opening, and continuously updated thereafter.  Go to www.nefsc.noaa.gov/femad/fsb and look for either the “Scallop” or “What’s New” link along the right hand side of the page. Also, the NMFS Regional Office will also be updating its monitoring reports every Thursday or Friday, at www.nero.noaa.gov/ro/fso/scal.htm.  Hopefully this information will give us a better sense of potential yellowtail bycatch hot spot areas within Closed Area II, as well as about the status of the scallop and bycatch TAC.

No amount of NMFS data will be able to take the place of communication among the fleet on the water, in real time, regarding bycatch hot spots, however.  Minimizing bycatch is important now, and it will become even more important in the coming years, as the new annual catch and bycatch limits are put in place in both scallop open and access areas for many species such as monkfish, skates, and other flat fish, in addition to yellowtail flounder.

In addition, Fisheries Survival Fund participants’ cooperative research partners at University of Massachusetts School of Marine Sciences and Technology and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences have prepared information regarding Closed Area II scallop and yellowtail abundance and concentrations based on cooperative research surveys. Both institutions have provided helpful maps overlaying their scallop and yellowtail abundance data. This information is available from these institutions, and the Fisheries Survival Fund would also be glad to provide the information to scallop fishery participants.  FSF appreciates the efforts of the dedicated research teams at SMAST and VIMS.

Finally, NMFS announced in May that the scallop observer set-aside for the Elephant Trunk Access Area had been used up, only two months into the fishing year.  NMFS is attempting to plan better for the Closed Area II access program.  NMFS has just announced that it is reducing the set-aside rate for Closed Area II from 400 pounds of scallops to 200 pounds.  NMFS explained in its June 10, 2009, Small Entity Compliance Guide that this step should allow the set-aside to cover most if not all of the observed access area trips.