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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2009
Pressure on for immediate herring monitoring
GLOUCESTER, MA – The Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) has petitioned Commerce Sec. Gary Locke for emergency action to impose stricter monitoring requirements on herring midwater trawl vessels fishing in Closed Area I.
The petition was filed on Sept. 3, the day before the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to do almost exactly what the association requested.
However, CCCHFA leaders said the NMFS rule was not timely enough to be in place before fishing in the area hits its peak. They argued that midwater trawlers typically fish in Closed Area I from September through November and, since the comment period on the proposed rule ran until Sept. 21, a final rule might not be in place until after the 2009 season was pretty much over. (NMFS later announced it was extending the comment period by six days to Sept. 27.)
“We’re asking Sec. Locke to do what should have been done months ago and issue an emergency rule to get this extra monitoring in place now,” said Tom Rudolph, manager of CCCHFA’s herring campaign. “Otherwise, we won’t get any new information until the fall of 2010.”
While supportive of several aspects of the proposed rule, midwater trawl fishermen expressed frustration over the petition for emergency action, calling it an attempt to “end run” the formal regulatory process.
“CCCHFA and other opposition groups have continuously tried to convince the public that midwater trawlers catch groundfish species of concern. It’s blatantly dishonest,” said Skip King, media relations counsel for the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition, which represents three of the largest midwater trawl operators.
“Solid data proves that the only groundfish encountered in any relevant number is haddock. Haddock is a fully recovered species and midwater trawlers are specifically authorized to retain a tiny percentage of the total allowable catch for haddock,” he said.
Tension between herring and groundfish fishermen, which has been thick for years now, significantly escalated last fall.
In its petition for emergency action, CCCHFA stated that a failure to implement new monitoring requirements in time for the fall 2009 season would worsen the situation.
“Absence of solid information generates mistrust and conflict,” CCCHFA stated.
What’s on the table?
If implemented as currently written, NMFS’s proposed rule would allow the regional administrator to add language to the letter of authorization (LOA) that herring vessels must obtain to fish in groundfish closed areas. The added language, which is proposed to be effective “indefinitely, until changed by a subsequent action,” would, in short:
Require 100% observer coverage on midwater trawlers fishing in Closed Area I; and
Prohibit vessels in Closed Area I from slipping codends, transferring fish to another vessel that is not carrying an observer, or otherwise discarding fish at sea “unless the fish have first been brought aboard the vessel and made available for sampling and inspection by the observer.”
The above restrictions would apply even if a vessel did not fish the entire trip in Closed Area I “to ensure that the maximum amount of information is obtained.”
Exceptions
NMFS did say it recognizes “there are certain conditions under which fish must be released from the codend without being sampled” and that the no-slipping provision is “not intended to limit the discretion of the captain to regulate the stability of the vessel in adverse sea conditions.”
Therefore, NMFS is proposing that vessel operators could release fish prior to observer sampling if:
Bringing the fish aboard the vessel “could compromise the safety of the vessel or her crew;”
Mechanical failure of the pump would “preclude bringing some or all of the catch aboard the vessel;” or
Spiny dogfish comprised more than 50% of the catch since “high concentrations of spiny dogfish can cause the fish pump to clog, slowing the pump-out process and potentially damaging the rest of the catch.”
However, under the proposal, any vessel operator slipping a codend would be required to sign an affidavit for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement “attesting to the specific reason for the release” and make a “good-faith estimate” of both the weight of fish caught and the weight of fish released.
Furthermore, any vessel operator releasing fish due to mechanical or safety problems would have to terminate the trip and return to port, although trip termination would not be required for dogfish clogging problems.
Finally, NMFS is proposing that midwater trawl vessels not be required to pump out the catch from a test tow in Closed Area I if the net is simply reset without releasing the catch. Test tows are made to check for target species abundance and bycatch concentrations.
Council request
NMFS’s Sept. 4 proposed rule is the direct result of a request made by the New England Fishery Management Council back in April.
At that time, the council was presented with a NMFS analysis showing that haddock bycatch by midwater trawlers fishing in Closed Area I exceeded an established 1% threshold level.
Under existing regulations, midwater trawl vessels fishing in groundfish closed areas cannot have bycatch of regulated multispecies that “exceeds or is likely to exceed 1% of the herring and mackerel harvested by weight” either by an individual fishing operation or on a fishery-wide basis.
Over the course of 40 observed tows during a four-and-a-half year period from May 2004 through October 2008, the 1% threshold was exceeded twice at the trip level and eight times at the tow level. Haddock bycatch during that period totaled 57,560 pounds out of roughly 10.33 million pounds of herring and mackerel harvested (see CFN May 2009 for details).
After hearing this report, the council voted to ask NMFS to modify herring vessels’ letter of authorization for closed areas to require 100% observer coverage in Closed Area I and prohibit slipping, which is what NMFS proposed in the Sept. 4 notice.
“Too late”
While the proposed rule did follow through on the council’s request, CCCHFA’s Rudolph said the action was “simply too late.” Without emergency action, he said, “We will not have the requirements requested by the New England council last April in time to assure that trips to Closed Area I receive the extra monitoring everyone agrees is needed.”
Eighteen hook association members and representatives signed the petition for emergency action and noted that the issue of allowing midwater trawl vessels access to groundfish closed areas was currently the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association and others.
In its petition to Sec. Locke, CCCHFA stated, “Herring vessels fishing in Closed Area I operate in the same area as the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program (SAP), so any bycatch will have a significant economic impact on New England groundfish vessels, which have invested heavily in establishing this (SAP) program.”
According to CCCHFA, hook fishermen made nearly 150 experimental trips with 100% observer coverage at a cost of over $500,000 to win approval for the SAP.
“We can’t afford even a little mistake in these closed areas,” said Harwich longliner Greg Walinski. “Many groundfish fishermen have sacrificed for years so cod and other groundfish populations could rebuild, including giving up access to these closed areas.”
100% coverage OK
Skip King, too, referenced the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association’s lawsuit. The suit was filed in February after NMFS denied the association’s similar petition for emergency action to prevent midwater trawlers from fishing in groundfish closed areas.
“The petition was rejected because it didn’t demonstrate a true emergency,” said King.
When the formal lawsuit was filed, the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition joined the case as a “friend of the court” in support of NOAA.
Petitions and lawsuits aside, King said the coalition was now focusing its efforts on the proposed rule.
“We fully support some components of the proposed rule, especially the commitment to additional observer coverage,” he said. “That seems to be the only way to prove that bycatch rates are indeed low and that activist groups are grossly misrepresenting the impact of midwater trawling on nontarget species.”
But the coalition does plan to express opposition to other provisions, which, said King, “reveal a troubling lack of understanding of the realities of fishing.”
Top on the list is the proposal for vessels to terminate the trip if mechanical problems require them to release fish before they’ve been inspected, which midwater trawlers view as “ludicrous.”
“All fishing boats encounter gear problems,” said King. “Logically, you attempt to fix your gear and resume fishing. It is our hope that we can work with the agency to arrive at a more reasonable set of rules.”
NMFS seemed to recognize that trip termination might be an issue. In the Federal Register notice, the agency said it was specifically looking for comments on two provisions: the requirement that vessels end a trip if fish are slipped due to safety concerns or mechanical failures; and whether or not 50% is the appropriate level of dogfish bycatch at which to allow a codend to be released.
Janice M. Plante
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