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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 4
December 2006
LCMTs work on SNE lobster rebuilding
ATLANTIC BEACH, NC –Three Lobster Conservation Management Teams (LCMTs) have submitted recommendations to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) for rebuilding the Southern New England lobster stock, which now covers Long Island Sound and offshore waters as well as fishing grounds off Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
At its Oct. 23 meeting here, ASMFC’s American Lobster Management Board received a quick update on proposals developed by the LCMTs for management Areas 2, 3, and 6.
The board expected to receive recommendations from LCMTs 4 and 5 in the near future, but pulling together representatives from those areas was proving to be difficult.
“This Area 4 situation is not a question of foot dragging,” said New York Commissioner Gordon Colvin. “It’s an area where not a lot of lobster fishing is going on. Every time we call a meeting we find we have to reconstitute the LCMT because more people have left the fishery.”
The board charged its lobster technical committee with reviewing the LCMT recommendations for further consideration at the next ASMFC meeting in January. The recommendations – and/or other stock rebuilding measures suggested by the board – will become part of draft Addendum XI to the interstate lobster plan. This addendum will go out to public hearing over the winter before the board takes final action, possibly in the spring.
Area 1, which covers the Gulf of Maine, and the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Conservation Management Area are not part of the Southern New England stock area and are not impacted by this action.
Rebuilding timeframe
Addendum XI is extremely important because it contains three alternatives for setting new rebuilding periods.
The first alternative is status quo, which would continue to require the resource to reach a level above the overfishing definition before the end of 2008 in each of the lobster management areas.
“That ought to strike terror in anybody’s heart,” said Connecticut Commissioner Eric Smith.
As a result of the most recent stock assessment, the overfishing definition for each stock area is now based on new biological reference points that center around abundance levels and fishing mortality rates. Meeting those targets and thresholds by 2008 in Southern New England could be extremely difficult if not impossible. Action by the board is needed to change the 2008 deadline since it’s embedded in the existing plan.
The other two alternatives are:
A 10-year rebuilding program, which would restore abundance in each of the management areas to greater than the abundance reference point and decrease fishing mortality to less than the fishing mortality reference point before the end of 2017; and
A 15-year adaptive rebuilding program, which would restore abundance and decrease fishing mortality to the reference points before the end of 2022, with the rebuilding progress and status evaluated every two years and, if necessary, having the rebuilding program adjusted after five and 10 years.
Smith indicated it was important to reduce fishing mortality to the appropriate target “as quickly as reasonably possible,” but he expressed concern about setting finite dates for meeting abundance targets.
“We need to have a way to talk about rebuilding without absolute deadlines,” he said.
Area 2
ASMFC has given the LCMTs the choice of meeting the stock rebuilding targets in either one or two steps (see CFN October 2006 for details).
LCMTs choosing the two-step approach must reduce fishing mortality by 10% in Addendum XI and then meet the abundance targets in a second addendum – Addendum XII.
The Area 2 LCMT is proposing that it has met the required 10% reduction in fishing mortality through numerous actions it has already taken – or soon will be subject to – since the last stock assessment.
These include: minimum size increases; escape vent size increases; a more restrictive v-notch definition; increased egg production from the North Cape Lobster Restoration v-notch program; and attrition in the fishery.
As a result, LCMT 2 has asked the board to “hold further mortality reduction requirements” in this area for at least 12 months and “pending receipt of the 2004-2006 stock assessment.” The last assessment only used data through 2003.
Elizabeth Kordowski, executive director of the Rhode Island Lobstermen’s Association, said, “The Area 2 LCMT has worked diligently and fully expects its proposals to be included in this addendum.”
Area 3
The Area 3 LCMT is proposing to reduce fishing mortality and meet the abundance targets in one fell swoop through Addendum XI.
Among other things, the team is proposing additional active trap reductions in 2009 and 2010 immediately following its ongoing trap reduction program, plus a 7" maximum gauge that will be reduced 1/8" per year for two years to 6-3/4". It is also researching mechanisms for implementing an industry-funded buyout.
Furthermore, LCMT 3 is proposing to adopt a 1/8" v-notch definition and to change its trap transfer conservation tax so that a 20% tax instead of a 10% tax would be imposed on any partial trap allocation transfer. The 10% tax would remain in place for full allocation transfers.
LCMT 3 submitted most of its proposals to the board back in August and then submitted additional measures in time for the October meeting.
New Hampshire Commissioner John Nelson said, “Area 3 should be commended for being very progressive on this.”
Area 6
The LCMT responsible for Long Island Sound – Area 6 – is proposing to meet both its fishing mortality and abundance targets through v-notching.
In late September, LCMT 6 endorsed most of the key provisions outlined by the Connecticut Lobster Restoration Advisory Committee, which developed the v-notch based stock restoration program that will be funded through a $1-million appropriation from the Connecticut General Assembly (see CFN September 2006 for details).
According to the Area 6 proposal, lobsters 3" and greater in carapace length will be notched initially. And then, “if the program goals seem to be covered adequately during the first year, consideration will be given to notching only legal sized females in subsequent years.”
LCMT 6 is also proposing to:
V-notch between November and June;
Define a v-notch as 1/8" in depth with or without setal hairs; and
Seek “conservation equivalency” for the v-notch program in lieu of additional gauge increases.
3" females?
Several board members questioned Area 6’s proposal of v-notching 3" females, which are below the legal minimum size.
Eric Smith explained that in Long Island Sound, females mature earlier than in other areas and are sexually reproductive even when they’re below the minimum size.
“The question you have to ask is: ‘How many lobsters do you want to get protected as soon as possible?’” said Smith.
The 3" size issue is “one of the few things that has been debatable in this,” Smith added, saying that support for the v-notching program otherwise was widespread.
Since many viewed the v-notching of undersized mature females as a way to get “a jump start” on stock rebuilding, the LCMT opted in the end to include the provision in the program.
The board will review all of the LCMT proposals and the technical committee’s analysis of them at its next meeting, which will be held during the week of Jan. 29.
For more information, contact ASMFC lobster plan coordinator Toni Kerns at (202) 289-6400. She can be reached by e-mail at <tkerns@asmfc.org>.
Janice M. Plante
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