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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2009
Monkfish ITQs bumped; ACLs drive priorities
PLYMOUTH, MA – Once again feeling pressured to meet a federal requirement to develop annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for all fisheries, the New England Fishery Management Council has deferred consideration of any catch share or individual transferable quota (ITQ) proposals for monkfish.
The New England and Mid-Atlantic councils, which jointly manage monkfish, currently are working on Amendment 5 to the federal monkfish plan, a package that initially included consideration of ITQs and catch share proposals.
But during its July 30 meeting, the councils’ joint monkfish committee voted to split off ITQs and catch shares from Amendment 5. Instead, the plan is to make them a priority for the next monkfish amendment or framework.
ACLs and AMs are now required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and monkfish committee members expressed concern that the councils would not be able to meet their 2011 deadline for these requirements if the joint monkfish committee continued to pursue ITQs and/or other catch share proposals at the same time.
Monkfish committee Chairman Terry Stockwell explained the decision to the New England council during its Sept. 22-24 meeting.
“Due to the complexity of the issues, attempting to include these alternatives in Amendment 5 would jeopardize the ACL/AM timeline,” he said.
The council concurred and also agreed to keep ITQs and catch shares on the radar screen for the very next monkfish action.
Industry disappointed
Connecticut council member Sally McGee asked the council to confirm that it would, indeed, move forward immediately with another monkfish action and not delay the process by going out for another round of scoping meetings beforehand.
Council Executive Director Paul Howard indicated he did not believe formal scoping meetings would be needed.
“We’re going to continue work on the issues we identified. We’re not going to identify any new issues,” he said.
Some industry members were extremely disappointed by the overall result.
In a Sept. 11 letter to the council following the committee’s decision, Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine (AFM) said her association had long supported converting monkfish to an ITQ fishery. The association’s catch share proposal was endorsed and amended by both the monkfish committee and advisory panel and included in Amendment 5, she explained.
As a result, Raymond said AFM was “troubled” by the monkfish committee’s decision to split off this significant portion of Amendment 5. She urged the council to “make development of an ITQ proposal for monkfish a high priority” and hoped the New England council would initiate an immediate subsequent action at the Sept. 22-24 meeting.
The council did not do so, but Chairman John Pappalardo said people should view the next monkfish action as being “in tandem” or “a trailer to” Amendment 5.
Monkfish plan coordinator Phil Haring said he looked forward to receiving more input on catch share programs in the next action.
“I think we will benefit from additional input and comments,” he said.
What’s next?
The New England council is expected to select preferred alternatives for Amendment 5 during its Nov. 17-19 meeting in Newport, RI, while the Mid-Atlantic council is expected to do the same during its Dec. 8-10 meeting in Wilmington, DE.
Public hearings tentatively are expected to take place in January and/or February, and both councils are scheduled to sign off on final measures in April 2010.
For more information, call Haring at (978) 465-0492 or e-mail him at <pharing@nefmc.org>.
Janice M. Plante
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