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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 3
November 2009
US, Canada disagree on Georges yellowtail TAC
PLYMOUTH, MA – The US/Canada Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) could not reach agreement this fall on a 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, which has put the US in an extremely difficult position.
The bottom line is that Canada was unwilling to go with a TAC of less than 2,100 mt while the US argued for 1,500 mt. The US said it was unable to go above 1,500 mt because that was the recommendation of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), which now sets acceptable biological catch (ABC) levels. By law, these ABCs are now, for all intents and purposes, unchangeable.
The TMGC meets annually to review assessments for three Georges Bank transboundary groundfish stocks – Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern Georges Bank haddock, and Georges Bank yellowtail. The committee uses scientific advice from its joint Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) to establish TAC recommendations and quota shares for each country based on historical catches and resource distribution.
US TMGC and council member Jim Odlin of Maine reported the TMGC conclusions to the New England council during its Sept. 22-24 meeting.
“The US and Canada agreed on the TACs for haddock and cod,” he said. “But we were unable to reach consensus on the 2010 TAC for Georges Bank yellowtail. We don’t know what to do about that.”
The size of the yellowtail TAC is critically important not only to US groundfish fishermen but to scallopers as well.
Cod and haddock
For Eastern Georges Bank cod, the TMGC agreed to a 1,350 mt TAC for 2010, down from the 2009 TAC of 1,700 mt. This resulted in a US share of 338 mt, down from 527 mt in 2009, and a Canadian share of 1,012 mt, down from 1,173 mt.
The 189 mt US quota drop – if approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) – is expected to further impinge on US efforts to harvest the abundant haddock resource without exceeding cod and yellowtail quotas on Georges.
But the TMGC said it took a precautionary approach in large part because of recent poor recruitment. While the 2003 Eastern Georges Bank cod year class is the highest since 1990, it is still lower than the pre-1990 average, and the 2002 and 2004 year classes are the lowest on record.
“With the passing of the 2003 year class through the population, rebuilding will not occur without improved recruitment,” the TMGC said in its “guidance document.”
As for Eastern Georges Bank haddock, the TMGC recommended a 2010 TAC of 29,600 mt, similar to the 2009 TAC of 30,000 mt. The resulting US share was 11,988 mt compared to 11,100 mt in 2009 and Canada’s share was 17,612 mt, down from the 2009 TAC of 18,900 mt.
The TMGC said that adult haddock biomass is projected to peak at 156,000 mt in 2009, reflecting recruitment and growth of the 2003 year class, but then it will decline to 95,000 mt in 2011.
Still, “biomass is currently the highest in the assessment series” and the 2003 year class is expected to make up 80% of the 2010 catch, reported the TMGC.
Yellowtail
With yellowtail flounder, however, the US and Canada couldn’t even come close to an agreement. US committee members felt bound to the 1,500 mt SSC recommendation for ABC, which, under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), would be the upper limit for a TAC.
The SSC, in a Sept. 23 report to the council, said the ABC was based on “the council’s stated objective of rebuilding the stock to Bmsy by 2014 with 75% probability.”
The Canadians expressed strong disagreement with the US position, arguing that under the US/Canada Resource Sharing Understanding, TMGC members were supposed to follow advice from the TRAC, not the SSC or MSA, which only apply to the US.
Furthermore, Odlin said Canadian TMGC members were convinced a 2,100 mt TAC was warranted because:
The Georges Bank yellowtail flounder biomass is at the highest it has been since 1973 and fishing mortality is at its lowest; and
An “exceptional” 2005 year class is recruiting into the fishery, followed by an average-size 2006 year class.
Said Canadian TMGC members in the guidance document, “With such positive indicators, it is not reasonable to reduce the TAC from the 2009 level of 2,100 mt. A 2010 TAC equal to that in 2009 results in virtually no risk of exceeding (the fishing mortality threshold) and in an appreciable biomass growth between 2010 and 2011.”
During the negotiations, however, US members remained committed to 1,500 mt, so the TMGC meeting ended with no consensus on yellowtail.
Odlin said to the New England council, “The question out there now is, ‘Where do we go with yellowtail?’”
Different opinion
Previous points of disagreement have at times been referred back to the TMGC for further consideration, but NMFS Northeast Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul said she didn’t think such a course of action would do much good this time.
“I think the battle was pretty hard fought,” she said.
Kurkul also disagreed with the Canadian portrayal of the status of the stock.
“I do not think we have a healthy resource,” she said.
While the 2005 and 2006 year classes were good, the 2007 year class is one of the lowest in the time series, and the stock continues to be “truncated,” meaning that certain sizes of fish, typically those in the middle, are nominal or missing in the population. Furthermore, uncertainty in the assessment is higher than in previous years, she said.
“The 1,500 mt is the ABC recommendation from the SSC,” Kurkul said. “We need to stay within those bounds.”
As the council debated what to do next, council staffer and groundfish plan coordinator Tom Nies informed the council that neither the US nor Canadian TACs would lead to overfishing. Instead, the issue was whether or not the US would meet its federal stock rebuilding target.
“We’re not talking about whether we’ll be overfishing or not,” he said. “These TACs are well below the overfishing level.”
US share
Assuming the TMGC had agreed to the 1,500 mt, the US share of that pie would have been 64%, resulting in a US TAC of 960 mt.
So the council first debated a motion to recommend that NMFS set the US TAC at that number.
This led Odlin to express considerable concern over that amount given that the 2009 TAC was 1,617 mt.
“This would be a significant reduction,” he said.
Massachusetts council member Rodney Avila asked what would happen if Canada adopted a higher TAC and allowed its fishermen to catch more than their 36% share of 1,500 mt.
“What if they overfish? Does that mean we get nothing?” he asked.
Kurkul said that would not be the case. The US could make an “assumption” about the Canadian catch for this year, but if the assumption was wrong, it might lead to further consequences next year.
Chris Brown of the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association strongly opposed having the US take such a sharp quota cut when overfishing was not occurring.
“It’s patently unfair to US fishermen that we’re going to have to take the hit before the catches occur,” he said.
Final vote
The council then took a different approach. It agreed to stick with a 1,500 mt total TAC and “assume” that Canadian fishermen would catch only 300 mt. The 2008 Canadian catch was 158 mt.
Under that assumption, the US would be left with a 1,200 mt TAC. The motion passed overwhelmingly.
However, the 1,200 mt outcome is not a done deal. The council’s TAC recommendation, along with those for Eastern Georges Bank cod and haddock, will be forwarded to NMFS, which will have the final say. NMFS is expected to publish a proposed rule with 2010 TACs in the coming months.
At press time, NMFS also was consulting with congressional staffers about the US/Canada Resource Sharing Understanding.
Janice M. Plante
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