September 10, 2012 — The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition.
Gloucester, Mass. — The Northeast Seafood Coalition’s (“NSC”) strongly recommended one-year proposal to modify the harbor porpoise Coastal Gulf of Maine Consequence Closure was denied by NOAA Fisheries for Fishing Year 2012. NSC’s congressionally supported proposal would have kept gillnet fishermen fishing during October and November 2012 and replace the scheduled closure with a modified closure in spring 2013. NSC analysis suggests the requested alternative would provide greater conservation protection to harbor porpoise and reduce the economic impacts on gillnet fishermen.
NSC’s proposal received bipartisan support from members of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. The proposal is based on the express regulatory authority of the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS” or “agency”) to modify the default closure of October through November 2012. The proposal calls for a modified closure from February 15 through March 31, 2013 with a southern boundary change of 42° 24’ for the upcoming management season (September 15, 2012 – May 30, 2013).
NSC leadership along with affected fishermen, their respective Sector Managers and Northeast Sector Service Network carefully reviewed Northeast Fishery Science Center data that documented harbor porpoise takes by month, gear type, position and statistical area from September 2008 through February 2012 for the gillnet fishery to craft a sensible, well-justified proposal. NSC sought to provide a rare win-win for harbor porpoise and fishermen by providing conservation protection for harbor porpoise in alternative months than the October and November consequence closure while lessening economic impacts on gillnet fishing entities. Along with the proposal, NSC submitted the peer-reviewed economic analysis “Economic Impacts of the Potential Harbor Porpoise Consequence Closure” by Northeast Fishery Sector XI & XII manager Joshua Weirsma, PhD to illustrate potentially devastating impacts of a October and November closure for dayboat gillnetters, their sectors and fishing communities in New England. Weirsma’s analysis estimates a total (direct and indirect) employment loss to these communities of over $10.3 million due to the scheduled October and November closure.
In their response to NSC, the NMFS wrote their economic analysis differs significantly compared to Weirsma’s because instead of losses in October and November, they believe displaced revenue from the closure will shift into summer months, December, or the spring. Alternatively, the agency wrote, “gillnetters that planned to catch their allocations in October and November may choose to lease a larger share of their quota, or fish in other areas during closure months. Given the suite of alternatives available, we believe that total revenue losses under the October/November closure are much lower than those estimated by Dr. Weirsma.” The reality is this fragile segment of New England’s groundfish fleet has had exceptionally low catch rates due to an array of issues including warm water temperatures. The analysis provided by the agency does not consider the seasonality of fisheries (when fish are present), vessel crews or the lease market under the sector system and generally refutes economic impacts anticipated by affected fishermen and Weirsma.
NSC—the largest membership organization in the northeast groundfish fishery, which represents a majority of the active groundfish fishermen in the region—is grateful for the congressional support from U.S. Senators Kerry, Brown, Shaheen, Ayote, Snowe, and Collins and Congressmen Frank, Tierney, Keating, Guinta, Michaud and Congresswoman Pingree and support of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. NSC is acutely aware of the critical importance of the gillnet fleet and values this fragile segment of the groundfish fleet. We look forward to continuing to work with our members, Northeast Fishery Sector managers, Northeast Sector Service Network, NOAA Fisheries, the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team and elected officials to develop a win-win for harbor porpoise and fishermen.
Background Information:
The NMFS completed analyses of observed harbor porpoise bycatch from September 2010 through May 2011 and determined the bycatch rate for the Coastal Gulf of Maine Consequence Closure Area exceeded the target rate of 0.031 harbor porpoises per metric tons (equivalent to 1 harbor porpoise per 71,117 lbs). As a result, waters from northern Massachusetts to Portland, Maine are scheduled to be closed to gillnetting in October and November beginning in fishing year 2012 to protect harbor porpoise.