April 29, 2016 — Federal consideration of a remapping of off-limits fishing areas is expected to cross a hurdle in the next couple of months, according to a fishing advocacy group.
Bob Vanasse, executive director of the group Saving Seafood, said the National Marine Fisheries Service will likely begin a process of formally considering the plan in May or June. He said the plan was advanced last year by the New England Fisheries Management Council.
The move would increase from about 40,000 to 42,000 the amount of square miles in the Georges Bank area that would be off-limits to fishing gear boats use on the seafloor, according to Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney who represents clients in the Atlantic scallop fleet.
Vanasse and Minkiewicz told the News Service the adjustments stemmed from 10 years of deliberations and more than 100 meetings where compromise was reached between different fisheries and other groups.
In addition to scallop boats, Georges Bank is fished by the groundfishing fleet, which uses trawlers to catch cod, flounder and other species.
The plan would also do away with restrictions on large areas that cycle between being open to trawling and closed, known as mortality closures, according to Vanasse.