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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 3
November 2005
Hook gear haddock SAP underway in Closed Area I
GLOUCESTER, MA – It took a bit of doing, but sector and nonsector hook fishermen are now being given an equal chance to participate in the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program (SAP).
Members of the Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector have already begun fishing in this year’s SAP. They gained access to the area on Oct. 1 and can keep fishing through Nov. 15 – or until their 500 metric ton (mt) allocation of haddock is fully harvest, whichever comes first. Nonsector boats can begin fishing Nov. 16.
According to sector Manager John Pappalardo, all 49 of the sector’s members declared into the fishery to be sure everyone was covered, but only 27 vessels are being used to catch the available sector tonnage, which equates to roughly 1.1 million pounds.
Pappalardo said many of the sector’s members were doubling up on boats to save on fuel and other expenses. They were “working in cooperation” with each other to spread out the available quota over the full length of the six-week fishery.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), sector boats landed 247,125 pounds of haddock during the first two weeks of the fishery. Pappalardo predicted that by the end of the third week, vessels would have landed roughly 40 percent to 45 percent of their available haddock allocation, leaving a little more than half to go for the last three weeks of the fishery.
The sector has been monitoring harvest levels and weather conditions, which deteriorated during the second week of the SAP period. It initially imposed a “soft limit” on landings per week among its members, as well as a cap on the number of trips per week, to stabilize the fishery and avoid flooding the market, though a few weeks into the program, those measures became unnecessary.
“We meet weekly and review what’s happened,” said Pappalardo. The sector then makes appropriate changes as negotiated by the membership.
Any cod harvested during the SAP is counted against the sector’s overall hard quota for Georges Bank cod, which, for the 2005 fishing year, is 455 mt.
Nonsector boats
Unlike sector vessels, which fished in the SAP last year, nonsector hook boats only recently gained access to the fishery through Framework Adjustment 41, which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council and approved by NMFS in mid-September.
The designated fishing period for nonsector boats is Nov. 16-Dec. 31. Participating vessels have to have a vessel monitoring system (VMS) and must fish exclusively with demersal longline or tub trawl gear.
Like the sector boats, they’ll receive a 500 mt allocation of haddock, though NMFS can adjust that tonnage to account for any under- or over-harvest by the sector boats during their first participation period. Furthermore, nonsector vessels will be limited to 1,000 pounds of cod per trip and an overall fleet-wide cod cap of 15.5 mt, which is just over 34,000 pounds.
Nonsector boats need to report cod and haddock landings on a daily basis via VMS and report whether they’re using a B-regular day-at-sea or a B-reserve day. Plus, they still have to submit vessel trip reports logging all species kept and discarded.
NMFS will flip-flop the participation period each year. That means in 2006, nonsector vessels will be authorized to fish during the Oct. 1-Nov. 15 period and sector boats will go second.
Four dozen boats
To be eligible to participate, nonsector vessels were required to declare into the fishery by Oct. 24. According to NMFS fishery policy analyst Brian Hooker, 43 vessels had made the declaration as of Oct. 11, and industry members predicted that another handful of boats would do so by the deadline.
Not all of those boats were expected to go fishing. Some declared into the SAP just to be on the safe side in case they decided to gear up in the end.
Plus, not all vessels were outfitted with VMSs yet, and some still needed to line up bait supplies, market outlets, and, in what was becoming a common woe across all fisheries, some questioned whether high fuel prices would make the fishery cost prohibitive.
“I think the price of fuel will have a big impact on some people,” said fisherman Mike Leary, who hopes to make one trip into the SAP prior to Thanksgiving. Leary was recently appointed to the New England Fishery Management Council.
Bait, sets
Although nonsector vessels aren’t required to negotiate with each other, Leary is hoping to touch base with most of the boats for two primary reasons.
First, he wants to discourage participants from using squid or mackerel as bait, which tend to attract cod, because the nonsector fishery as a whole will be ruled by the 15.5 mt cod cap.
“Once we catch that, it’s over,” he said.
Some hook vessels reportedly have had good success at reducing cod bycatch by using frozen herring as bait. Others have used Norbait, which is made with fish waste and binders.
Leary also wants to caucus with fellow fishermen to ensure that everyone sets their gear in the same direction.
“We don’t want giant gear conflicts out there,” he said.
Derby fishery issues
The reason sector boats received a separate participation period was because many feared a derby fishery would develop once nonsector vessels gained access to the fishery.
To address this concern, the two groups of fishermen met and negotiated the split season, which the New England council eventually endorsed in Framework 41.
Sector vessels were expected to regulate themselves, which has proven to be the case.
But whether or not a derby fishery among nonsector vessels will develop come Nov. 16 is anyone’s guess.
Leary’s not overly concerned. Between harsh weather, high fuel costs, the VMS requirement, access to bait, and a host of other issues, the fleet could be constrained by default.
Plus, he said, “Hooking is not easy. It’s labor intensive. Not everyone will do it.”
Janice M. Plante
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