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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2009
Red crabbers rocked by ABC that could drastically cut catch
PLYMOUTH, MA – Red crab fishermen, still riding high after obtaining MSC certification for being a sustainable and well managed fishery, were dealt a completely unexpected blow just weeks later when the New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) calculated an allowable biological catch (ABC) for the fishery that, if left to stand, could seriously curtail 2010 landings by this tight-knit, four-boat fleet.
The SSC news stunned everyone, including red crabbers themselves and the council, which manages the fishery.
During its Sept. 22-24 meeting here, SSC Vice-Chair Pat Sullivan said the committee concluded that the “interim ABC” for 2010 should be 1,284 metric tons (mt), based on 2007 landings in the fishery.
This number is a big departure from the fishery’s track record. From 2002 to 2006, the red crab fleet landed between 1,716 mt to 2,142.5 mt annually. However, in 2007, due to market condition issues, landings dipped to 1,284 mt – an anomaly in recent history.
Industry made this point clear to SSC members on Sept. 16 and, the following week, the New England council strenuously challenged the use of 2007 as the be-all for determining ABC given that recent landings in the fishery appeared to be sustainable.
But it seemed the SSC was following legal protocol.
The SSC based its decisions on peer-reviewed information, which focused heavily on the December 2008 assessment by the Data Poor Stocks Working Group.
Red crabs are considered “data poor” because they inhabit deep water and are rarely caught in the National Marine Fisheries Service bottom trawl surveys, so “little is known” about their life history.
Sullivan, clearly sympathetic to industry’s difficult situation, explained, “Our job is not to bring in all of this information and do an assessment. Our job is to look at a peer reviewed assessment and decide what to do with it.”
More info to come
The council determined that the only way to potentially alter the SSC’s position was for someone to supply additional peer reviewed information.
Drew Minkiewicz of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, representing the New England Red Crab Harvesters’ Association, said industry members were “committed” to doing just that.
“But please,” he said, “don’t saddle this industry with an ABC that will cripple it in the interim.”
Minkiewicz emphasized that industry “just went through a three-year auditing process to show it was sustainable.”
“Everyone recognizes there is a problem here,” he said. “No one is happy with how this turned out.”
The council voted to “send the red crab ABC back to the SSC for further analysis after new peer review information is available and that a quorum is present throughout SSC deliberations.”
The hitch is the council must still set red crab specifications for 2010 at its November meeting using the SSC’s current ABC if none other replaces it.
Janice M. Plante
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