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Commercial Fisheries News Volume 33 Number 3 November 2005 Herring Alternative 7 focus of public hearing in Maine ROCKPORT, ME - Nearly thirty people attended a public hearing on the New England Fishery Management Council’s draft Amendment 1 to the federal Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Interstate FMP for Atlantic Herring at the Samoset Resort here on Oct. 13. Those who made public comments on the 700-page document included representatives of the herring, lobster, tuna, whale watch, and conservation communities. They largely spoke in favor of the council’s preferred measure, known as Alternative 7, though described as Option 7 by most of those speaking. Alternative 7 contains the most restrictive criteria for a vessel to qualify for a limited-access permit in each of the federal plan’s management areas. It also would make Area 1A off limits to midwater trawlers during the summertime, from June 1 through Sept. 30 each year. In addition to the seven alternatives, the draft amendment contains independent measures, which can be mixed and matched with any of the primary alternatives, to address issues such as groundfish bycatch, adjustments to the herring management area boundaries, open-access herring incidental catch permits, and vessel monitoring system requirements. MLA position During the development of Amendment 1, which was initiated to set a limited-access plan for the herring fishery, “localized depletion” became an issue, and many people said they were worried about the Gulf of Maine herring stock despite an overall assessment that shows a healthy herring resource. Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) President David Cousens spoke to that concern, as well as several others, when he gave the MLA position in support of Alternative 7. The council’s analysis of Alternative 7 indicates that the restrictive measures could result in a 42 to 47 percent reduction in Area 1 harvest capacity. Cousens said many lobstermen worried about the impact this would have on bait supply, but he added, “The long-term sustainability of the herring resource outweighs these short-term losses.” In its written comments, the MLA further stated, “We believe it is imperative to protect the herring resource, which … (supports) many other species. If we are successful with this, the future bait supply for the lobster industry will be secured.” According to Cousens, the MLA also supported two independent measures – one to set maximum sustainable yield at 220,000 metric tons (mt) instead of the current 317,000 mt, and another to establish a new definition for midwater trawl gear that would mirror the one used in the West Coast groundfish plan. Although the West Coast definition is complex, the association “believes it is important to clearly define midwater trawl gear to ensure that (vessels) do not fish on the bottom.” Cousens said Alternative 7, the lower MSY amount, and the new gear definition “are needed to protect the health of the Area 1 resource, which is under tremendous pressure with the risk of localized depletion.” He argued that purse seines, unlike midwater trawlers, were less harmful to herring stocks because they were inherently less efficient in catching entire schools and allowed for the release of bycatch. “We’d like a year-round ban on pair trawling (in Area 1A),” he admitted, “but we recognize that can’t happen now.” Herring as forage base Members of the bluefin tuna industry have seen a decline in the availability of tuna in the Gulf of Maine in recent years. They blame midwater trawlers for breaking up herring concentrations, which, they say, results in inadequate food supplies to hold bluefin on traditional grounds. Maine tuna harpooner Lexi Krause made that point in his comments. “Midwater fishing has been destructive to the lifestyle of herring. We’ve seen a lack of any big fish since 1995, which is when the tuna started to decline,” he said. “There are fewer and fewer big schools of fish (herring), they’re all broken up. The incessant fishing (by midwater trawlers) gives the herring no break,” Krause said. He concluded by saying the East Coast Tuna Association “wants increased observer coverage. You can’t have enough out there.” But Jeff Kaelin disputed the notion that excessive harvesting of herring by midwater trawlers has affected the bluefin tuna population and urged consideration of the economic consequences of Alternative 7. Kaelin, who has a long history in the Maine herring industry and is now a member of the state Legislature, spoke on behalf of the Raber family of Sabattus, ME, which owns and operates the 113' midwater trawler Providian. Kaelin presented the written comments of Leslie Raber, the widow of Walt Raber, who built and managed the operations of the midwater trawler until his death in December 2004. The council’s preferred alternative “would threaten the financial feasibility of the family-owned business and the welfare of the employees who depend on the business,” Raber wrote. Further, reading from Raber’s written statement, Kaelin argued that it was premature to conclude that “bluefin tuna are down just because they are not where someone thinks they should be. Restricting trawlers won’t preserve herring and will cause real economic hardship to the trawlers.” Observer coverage Many of the audience members were participants in Maine’s whale watching businesses. Zach Klyver from the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company was the only member of the industry to speak. He supported Alternative 7. However, he cautioned the council not to neglect the fishing vessel observer program. “Don’t just move them (midwater trawlers) out of sight offshore and out of mind,” Klyver said. “The observer program needs to do a better job monitoring, particularly out around Great South Channel.” Klyver noted that whale watching crews see the interactions between herring boats and whales constantly and have noted a decrease in the numbers of whales in the gulf and also a decrease in the amount of time those whales spend on the surface feeding on herring. “If there’s a downturn going on in the ecosystem,” Klyver said, “all the more reason to take a precautionary approach to this resource.” Bycatch Gib Brogan, representing the environmental organization Oceana, spoke in favor of Alternative 7. In addition, he said Oceana supported the independent measure to establish a haddock bycatch cap for the herring industry. The cap would be equivalent to one percent of the overall haddock total allowable catch (TAC). “This is an important first step toward controlling bycatch for other groundfish species,” said Brogan. Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) attorney Roger Fleming said that his organization supported Option 7. “Option 7 provides the greatest benefit to the widest range of stakeholders, preserves the feeding grounds, and prevents the dispersion of schools,” he stated. In addition, CLF also favored the one percent haddock bycatch cap. “We would like to see the council expand this measure to other species as well,” Fleming said. Spawning closures Enforcing spawning area closures, which are part of the ASMFC plan, worried herring fisherman Glenn Lawrence of the carrier Double Eagle. “We’ve got to protect the spawning beds so they’re not ripped up by trawlers,” he said. “We’re having that problem right now and it’s not right.” Lawrence noted that a sustained drop in the herring catches happened over 20 years ago “because we fished on the spawning grounds. Maybe we should keep everything out of Area 1A altogether.” Current participants In the hearing’s final comments, Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association, spoke against Alternative 7. “You should know that 85 to 90 percent of the current participants in the fishery don’t support Alternative 7,” she said. Echoing the statement of Leslie Raber, Tooley said, “Tuna don’t indicate the health of the herring resource. Tuna are overfished with overfishing occurring.” The comment period on the council’s draft Amendment 1 closed on Oct. 24. All comments on the ASMFC plan were due by Nov. 7. Melissa Waterman |
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