The following summary of Council actions on groundfish at the September 23, 2009 meeting in Plymouth, MA was provided by council staff.
As always, the staff reminds readers that this brief summary does not capture the entire discussion. Sound files should be available on the council web page in a few days. Motions will be available in about a week. Please contact Tom Nies at TNies@NEFMC.ORG if there are any questions or corrections.
1. US/CA Issues: NEFSC scientists provided summaries of the 2009 assessments for Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern Georges Bank haddock, and Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder. The status reports for these stocks are available at http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/TRAC/tsr.html. Next the Council accepted the recommendations of the Trans-Boundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) for 2010 TAC for EGB cod (1350 mt total; US 338 mt) and EGB haddock (29,600 mt total; US 11,988 mt). The TMGC could not reach agreement on a TAC for GB yellowtail flounder. As a result the Council adopted a TAC of 1500 mt total, with the assumption that Canada will harvest 300 mt, giving the US a TAC of 1200 mt. These TACs will be submitted to NMFS and assuming NMFS approval will be effective May 1, 2009.
2. Science and Statistical Committee Report: Dr. Pat Sullivan presented the SSCโs determinations for multi species acceptable biological catches for fishing years 2010-2012. The values are available in the SSCโs report, which is attached.
3. Preliminary ACL development: The Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT) presented its preliminary determination for FY 2010-2012 ACLs. Basically, to address management uncertainty the PDTโs approach is to apply a default reduction from the ABC to the ACL for each component of the fishery, and then to examine stocks to see if a deviation is warranted (that is, an adjustment that is larger or smaller than the default). The Council concurred with this approach in general, but also modified some of the adjustments. The Council also discussed the allocation of yellowtail flounder to the scallop fishery, and directed the scallop and groundfish PDT to bring information forward describing the impacts of these allocations on each fishery. The Groundfish PDTs will next prepare a specification package for the Councilโs approval in November. Please note the PDT report is on the Council web page, but some of the numbers in that report will change because of Council decisions at this meeting.
4. Amendment 16 issues: The Council next considered a letter from the Regional Administrator reporting industry concerns that common pool management measures for cod and pollock were insufficient to control mortality on these stocks. The concern raised was that many vessels could catch more of these stocks in the common pool than in sectors, would choose to fish in the common pool, and that this would lead to rapidly exceeding the ACLs. The Council decided to include in the specifications package modifications to trip limits and differential DAS (possibly for other stocks besides just cod and pollock), and to authorize the Regional Administrator to adjust these measures in season if necessary to prevent the ACL from being exceeded. These options will be presented in November for Council approval. Also, the Council and NMFS will prepare a letter to permit holders describing options for permit holders that may not have committed to sectors by September 1 based on the A16 rules. The details of this letter are still being developed.
5. Amendment 16 is still being completed by NMFS and Council staff. Formal submission should occur within the next few weeks.