NEW BEDFORD, Mass., — August 22, 2013 — A scallop industry group has written to fisheries scientists declaring recent yellowtail flounder stock assessments "deeply flawed" and unsuitable for use as a regulatory tool.
The Fisheries Survival Fund wrote to NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Director Dr. Bill Karp. It said the uncertainty factor in the assessments is so great that they are effectively useless.
The science center reports yellowtail populations are about as low as they have ever been and recommends another year of sharp quota cutbacks.
The scallopers are concerned because yellowtail are typically found living in scallop beds and come up as bycatch. In recent years, the bycatch has been limited by an avoidance scheme developed by the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology.
If yellowtail bycatch exceeds the very low quotas, scallop fishing will have to stop.