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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 4
December 2006
ASMFC board adopts 10% lobster trap tax for Area 2
ATLANTIC BEACH, NC – Area 2 lobstermen who transfer traps among each other will be subject to a new 10% “conservation tax.”
The measure is intended to help “sustain the lobster resource by passively reducing traps in the Area 2 fishery,” according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
In short, the tax works like this: An Area 2 permit holder who acquires 100 traps from another permit holder’s trap allocation will end up with only 90 traps because 10 will be permanently retired from the fishery.
The ASMFC American Lobster Management Board adopted the 10% conservation tax during the commission’s Oct. 23-26 annual meeting with the stipulation that it take effect “for the 2007 fishing year and beyond.”
The board further voted to annually review the effectiveness of the Area 2 effort control plan and, if necessary, amend the transfer tax if it is “no longer deemed necessary because conservation goals are met or alternative management strategies are adopted.”
On the flip side, the board also said the tax could be increased if “further analysis” showed a tax hike was warranted.
Back in November 2005, the board adopted Addendum VII to the interstate lobster plan, which established an effort control program for Area 2 that capped the number of traps fished in the area at “recent levels” and adopted permit-holder-specific trap limits. Trap transfers were allowed under the program – subject to a conservation tax and up to a maximum 800-trap limit per permit holder – but the amount of the tax, by mistake, wasn’t spelled out in Addendum VII.
To correct the problem, the lobster board drafted Addendum IX, which proposed five conservation tax alternatives: 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island both accepted public comments on the tax during hearings in September. The majority of those who spoke at the hearings supported 0%. Many argued that Area 2 was under numerous restrictions already and said that these measures should be given time “to work” before any additional trap transfer tax was imposed.
Dan McKiernan, representing Massachusetts on the lobster board, said the omission of a 10% tax from Addendum VII was purely an “oversight” and that the “general expectation” of Area 2 lobstermen last year was that 10% was part of the program.
He urged the board to stick with its original intent by adopting a 10% tax through Addendum IX.
“There are a lot of traps waiting to be transferred,” he said. “This is an outstanding time to take some traps out of the system.”
From Massachusetts’ experience with the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Conservation Management Area, McKiernan said he knew that many of the transfers occur right at the start of a new trap transferability program, which is why he wanted to see the board adopt the tax for the 2007 fishing year when the Area 2 effort control program goes into effect.
Rhode Island Commissioner Mark Gibson was a bit hesitant.
“I’m not comfortable we have enough information yet,” he said. “We don’t have a strong technical basis to pick a number. We don’t know what it does to businesses.”
In the end, however, the board, by a large majority, voted for 10%.
Janice M. Plante
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