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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 2
October 2005
General category scallopers need VMS by Oct. 21
GLOUCESTER, MA – General category scallop permit holders who want to possess more than 40 pounds of scallop meats will need to use a vessel monitoring system (VMS) effective Oct. 21.
Permit holders who don’t intend to catch, possess, or land more than 40 pounds of scallops will be issued a Category 1A “non-VMS” permit.
But everyone else – even those who only fish for scallops seasonally – will need to obtain a VMS unit from either Boatracs or Skymate, which are the only two vendors approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
All VMS users will be issued a Category 1B “VMS” permit, which will allow them to possess up to 400 pounds of scallop meats or 50 bushels of in-shell scallops.
Following this initial round of permit-issuing and a 45-day grace period for those who fail to get onboard by Oct. 21, vessel owners won’t have another chance to switch between Category 1A and Category 1B until May 1, 2006.
All current general category permit holders should have received an application from NMFS at the end of August to apply for a Category 1B permit. Those forms were due back to NMFS by Sept. 21 to ensure that vessel owners receive new permits in time for Oct. 21. The completed application forms needed to be accompanied by a VMS vendor installation receipt.
Current permit holders who don’t apply for a Category 1B permit will automatically be issued a Category 1A permit.
Think twice!
A note of caution. Any general category scallop permit holder who’s considering giving up the right to get a Category 1B permit to avoid the VMS requirement should remember that the fishery is now subject to a control date.
The control date is Nov. 1, 2004. No one knows how the control date will impact people in the future, but if the general category scallop fishery is converted to limited entry, as is expected to be the case, eligibility requirements could be established based on a vessel’s fishing history.
The VMS requirement is part of Framework Adjustment 17 to the federal scallop plan, which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council and approved by NMFS.
The final rule for the framework includes a “power down” provision so general category permit holders who don’t intend to leave the dock or mooring – for any reason whatsoever – can turn off their VMSs, assuming that continued VMS operation isn’t required in another fishery.
Once the unit is off, however, the boat cannot move around the harbor, transit, or steam across the bay to take on fuel unless the operator turns the VMS back on and enters the right VMS code into the unit.
“Many vessels in the general category fleet are moored or docked in locations that have limited electrical power,” said NMFS in the final rule. “The power-down provision was established to address this issue.”
How many impacted
According to NMFS, 2,554 vessels held general category permits in 2003. Of those, 2,278 boats didn’t have any scallop landings at all or didn’t land more than 40 pounds per trip.
Of the 276 vessels that landed more than 40 pounds in 2003, 53 of them already had VMSs and 223 didn’t. Since then, general category activity has increased substantially, so it’s likely that more than 223 vessels will need to purchase VMSs to continue scalloping in the future.
However, many current general category permit holders – probably over 2,000 of them – likely will opt to get Category 1A permits, which will allow them to possess up to 40 pounds of scallops without getting a VMS.
Maine fought back
The Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the vast majority of limited-access scallopers, strongly supported the new VMS requirement, emphasizing that VMSs will improve the information coming out of the general category fishery and allow for better enforcement.
However, the state of Maine and its fishermen strongly opposed the idea. The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the Stonington Fisheries Alliance, Associated Fisheries of Maine, and several individuals all expressed opposition to the requirement, arguing that the measure was inappropriate and too costly for many Maine vessel owners given their limited participation in the fishery.
DMR suggested exempting general category boats north of 42° 20'N latitude or at least allowing them to declare out of the fishery for a minimum of three months at a time. The Stonington Fisheries Alliance also urged NMFS to seek alternatives.
NMFS, however, said it only had the option of approving or disapproving – not altering – the measures submitted by the New England council. The agency opted to approve the VMS requirement, stating that enforcement and monitoring concerns in the general category were fleet-wide issues.
Furthermore, NMFS said, "A review of the analysis in Framework 17 shows that the concerns expressed … do not appear to be confined to Maine vessels."
Broken trips
On a final note, Framework 17 also eliminated the "broken trip" penalty for limited-access scallopers who were working in the access area program.
In the past, scallopers who had to break, for example, a Closed Area II trip – say for mechanical reasons – were allowed to go back into the area at a later date to resume fishing, but they were charged a poundage penalty.
Now, vessels will be issued a "compensation trip" for the full amount of unharvested product. If the trip was broken when the vessel had 10,000 pounds of scallops on board, the compensation trip would allow the vessel to fully harvest the additional 8,000 pounds to reach the 18,000-pound possession limit.
The provision became effective Aug. 22. NMFS said any poundage that was deducted due to a broken trip between March 1, the start of the new fishing year, and Aug. 22 will be automatically restored to the vessel. /cfn/
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