August 22, 2013 — NOAA Fisheries is proposing to revise the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan to eliminate the consequence closure strategy due to changes in fishing practices that have resulted in lower harbor porpoise bycatch in the gillnet fishery. The following is how the proposal was explained to Congressional offices.
NOAA filed with the Federal Register a proposal to amend its Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan and eliminate the plan to close areas to gillnet fishing during certain times of the year to reduce unintended catch or bycatch of harbor porpoises in commercial gillnet fisheries.
NOAA Fisheries will be accepting public comments on these proposed measures through Tuesday, September 10, 2013. I've attached the proposal.
Since the implementation of this measure in 2010, a new sector management scheme has been implemented in the groundfish fishery, resulting in a significant shift in areas where fishing has typically occurred.
The harbor porpoise population appears to be increasing and the current overall bycatch of harbor porpoises is now below federal limits that are established under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
NOAA Fisheries, in consultation with the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team, which is comprised of fishermen, scientists, environmentalists, state managers and gear specialists, determined that these changes in fishing practices have rendered the closures, which are triggered by high bycatch, to be obsolete.
We don't anticipate that eliminating the closures will pose any risk to harbor porpoise.
The closures had been done when bycatch rates exceeded the target rates in Coastal Gulf of Maine, Eastern Cape Cod, and Cape Cod South Expansion Consequence Closure Areas. They were done as an incentive for fishermen to use pingers, acoustic devices designed to scare porpoises away from nets.