October 6, 2015 – This week, the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition – a trade group representing herring fishermen and processors – submitted comments in response to the New England Fisheries Management Council’s supplemental scoping process on the issue of “localized depletion in near shore waters.” “Localized depletion” is a theory that intensive localized harvest, in this case of Atlantic herring, can cause adverse impacts on various other marine species.
No such impacts or impacted species were identified by the New England Council, yet it has made a goal of Amendment 8 to Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to “address” localized depletion. SFC stated that “it puts the cart before the horse” to develop management measures to address a problem that likely does not exist. The group also called for basing any actions taken in the amendment on scientific evidence, noting that none of the scientists advising the Council had identified any such problems.
As SFC noted in its letter, the real issue involves conflicts between various users of inshore waters, particularly around Cape Cod and the islands—a view shared by several Council members when this goal was debated at its June meeting. In its letter, SFC urged the Council to address any spatial conflicts among various users groups – including herring vessels, recreational anglers, whale watching companies, environmentalists, and other fishermen – directly in a separate action.
In response to public pressure, the New England Council had long made defining and measuring localized depletion a research priority. Previously it approved a project to define and measure localized depletion, funded through the herring research set-aside program. Working with industry vessels, Gulf of Maine Research Institute researchers undertook a project to define and assess whether or not localized depletion was occurring. Funding constraints allowed only for development of a technique to assess the issue. To date, however, no follow-up research has been funded.
Amendment 8 is designed to develop management reference points to address herring’s role in the ecosystem and will take several years to complete. The Atlantic herring resource is in strong shape, with populations more than twice long-term targets.
Read the letter from the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition submitted to the NEFMC