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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2009
ASMFC to consider herring options for small-mesh boats in Area 1A
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Small-mesh bottom trawl vessels fishing for herring in Area 1A may end up working under their own set of rules next summer if the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Herring Section approves a new addendum to the interstate herring plan.
The proposal was put forward during the section’s Aug. 18 meeting here by board member Doug Grout, head of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Marine Fisheries Division. The state’s two other ASMFC commissioners – Ritchie White and state Rep. Dennis Abbott – also supported advancing the proposal.
According to Grout, small-mesh bottom trawl vessels have traditionally harvested small amounts of herring from Area 1A on a regular basis for bait. Some directly target herring, while others target whiting and sell their herring bycatch.
But over the past two years, these small-boat operations have been “disadvantaged” because vessels fishing in Area 1A have only been allowed to land fish two or three days per week.
“These vessels count on landing relatively small amounts of herring each day to sell as bait,” said Grout. “They don’t have the capability of fishing on no-landing days and holding large volumes of catch until landing days,” which is what larger purse seiners and midwater trawl vessels sometimes do.
Abbott added, “I think we have the unintended consequence of penalizing these small boats.”
Not many boats
A background memo prepared by New Hampshire Fish and Game stated that in 2007, when five landing days were allowed per week, small-mesh boats landed 715 metric tons (mt) of the 44,862 mt caught from Area 1A. A total of 19 vessels were involved, averaging roughly 3,600 pounds per trip at the peak of the harvest season in August and September.
Citing the memo, Grout said, “Allowing small-mesh bottom trawl vessels an exemption from no-landings-day provisions either under expanded trip limits or allocating the gear type a share of the Area 1A quota would have little or no impact on the resource.”
These vessels historically have landed less than 2% of the Area 1A quota under limited or no days out, he said.
Ritchie White told the section the problem impacted boats from Maine and Massachusetts as well as New Hampshire boats.
Addendum launched
Several board members said they wanted to hold off on initiating an addendum until the section’s November meeting so that ASMFC staffers, industry advisers, and others could investigate the issue in more depth.
But Grout expressed grave reservations about delaying action. If the addendum wasn’t initiated until November, then the section would not be able to approve public hearing alternatives until February, he said. That would delay the sign-off on final measures until May, which would be very close to the start of the 2010 fishing season in Area 1A, leaving ASMFC member-states with little time to go through their own rule-making processes to implement the new measures.
Grout moved to initiate the addendum. Then section member David Pierce of Massachusetts moved to postpone action until November.
When the move to postpone failed, Pierce asked for a full analysis of river herring bycatch by small-mesh bottom trawlers.
The section then approved the main motion. As a result, the draft addendum, which will be reviewed in November, will include – but not be limited to – the following options:
Allocation of a fixed percentage of the Area 1A total allowable catch (TAC) to small-mesh bottom trawl vessels based on historical landings; and
Allocation of a fixed amount of the Area 1A TAC based on historical landings for small-mesh bottom trawl vessels.
Suboptions under the above two alternatives would allow small-mesh bottom trawl vessels to land up to 2,000 pounds per day or, instead, zero pounds once their quota has been harvested.
The draft addendum also will include options to allow small-mesh bottom trawl vessels or C and D federal permit holders to land more than the 2,000-pound bycatch allowance on days-out of the fishery and other measures as recommended by the plan development team, technical committee, and advisory panel with approval by the herring section.
Janice M. Plante
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