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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 4
December 2008
ASMFC ups dogfish quota to 12 million pounds
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE – Backed by a scientific report stating that the stock is rebuilt, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Shark Management Board approved a 12-million-pound dogfish quota for the May 1, 2009-April 30, 2010 fishing year.
Under the board’s newly adopted Addendum II to the interstate dogfish plan, the 12 million pounds will be divided such that states from Maine through Connecticut receive 58% of the allocation, while North Carolina receives 16% and states from New York through Virginia will share the remaining 26%.
The quota level came as a recommendation from ASMFC’s Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee, which accounted for discards, Canadian landings, and the current low fishing mortality rate.
The board’s decision, which allows states to implement dogfish possession limits of up to 3,000 pounds, applies to state waters. The New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils will make their own quota recommendations to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for federal waters during separate meetings in November and December.
Higher quota
The ASMFC board approved the 2009-2010 quota – a 4-million-pound increase over the current 8-million-pound state waters quota – during an Oct. 22 meeting here.
Massachusetts board representative David Pierce thought the increase could have been even higher.
“We could easily justify having a far larger quota than 12 million pounds and still be below our threshold,” he said.
Nonetheless, Pierce emphasized that he “wouldn’t argue” against the 12 million pounds in the hope that NMFS would implement the same quota for federal waters.
“If that is the case, then there’s great incentive for us to go with 12 million pounds,” he said.
Mending a rift?
This year, NMFS implemented a 4-million-pound spiny dogfish quota in federal waters – half of ASMFC’s quota – causing yet another serious divide between state and federal permit holders, as has been the case for several years now.
NMFS announced in mid-October that the 4-million-pound quota for 2008-2009 had been fully harvested, and the agency shut down the fishery in federal waters for the remainder of the fishing year.
As a result, vessels with federal dogfish permits no longer can harvest dogfish – anywhere in state or federal waters – and the additional 4 million pounds authorized by ASMFC can be landed only by state waters fishermen who do not hold federal permits.
Furthermore, only fishermen in southern states can land the extra 4 million pounds. Fishermen from Maine through Connecticut already harvested their states’ 58% quota share under ASMFC’s new quota sharing program, which was adopted at the same meeting and made retroactive to the current fishing year.
Several people noted that bringing the state and federal dogfish quotas back in synch would benefit everyone. Pierce indicated that, based on conversations with NMFS staffers, the federal agency was prepared to seriously consider 12 million pounds in light of new scientific information showing that overfishing is not occurring and the stock is rebuilt.
NMFS Northeast Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul said she couldn’t “prejudge” what the New England and Mid-Atlantic councils would recommend to NMFS for federal waters, and she couldn’t prejudge NMFS’s response.
However, Kurkul called the 12 million pounds “a cautionary technical committee recommendation.”
“I would be surprised if something different came out of the councils,” she said.
What about this year?
Given the uplifting stock assessment information, Pierce moved to have ASMFC authorize an “in-season adjustment” to boost this year’s 8-million-pound quota to 12 million pounds.
Board Chairman Louis Daniel of North Carolina noted that the increase would put ASMFC “at odds” with NMFS, which had already closed the federal fishery.
But Pierce said, “We’re already at odds with NMFS. We have 8 million. They have 4 million. We’re going to get on the same page next fishing year.”
Board member Vito Calomo, who serves as proxy for ASMFC Commissioner and Massachusetts state Rep. Tony Verga, made a passionate plea for the board to endorse a 2008-2009 increase.
“This is an opportunity for an ailing commercial fishing industry up and down the coast,” he said. “This would just help keep things going to next season. Every pound of fish today is offsetting high fuel prices and insurance costs. ASMFC should embrace this and pass it unanimously.”
But dogfish technical committee member Jim Armstrong, who earlier in the meeting provided the board with a stock status update, noted that, according to projections, an increase this year to 12 million pounds may result in a fishing mortality rate (F) that’s higher than the current F rate of .11, which is also the rebuilding F, or the desired fishing mortality rate on a rebuilt stock.
However, Armstrong said, projections indicate that 10 million pounds might not exceed the rebuilding F.
Lack of support
Under ASMFC rules, the board needed to approve the proposed in-season adjustment by a two-thirds margin since it was altering an existing quota, and the motion to go to 12 million pounds was soundly defeated.
Calomo immediately made another motion for an in-season adjustment to 10 million pounds, which appeared to be better supported by the science. This proposal, too, needed a two-thirds majority vote.
Kurkul did not support the motion.
“I don’t think this changes the situation,” she said of the drop from 12 million to 10 million, adding that the full technical committee had not reviewed the proposal and had based its original projections on an ASMFC quota of 8 million pounds for 2008-2009.
Furthermore, she said, “You’re basically forcing the effort inshore on the female portion of the biomass since the federal portion of the fishery is closed for the remainder of the fishing year.”
Calomo argued that that was exactly the point.
“This is a small-boat fishery inshore, and this is who I’m trying to save,” he said.
Making one more plea for board support, Calomo added, “I agree that our responsibility is to rebuild the stock, but I also agree that our obligation is to keep the fishing industry going. The stock is completely rebuilt.”
Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, also urged the board to approve the increase.
Noting that Virginia officials had found a million-pound discrepancy between state landings and federal landings while reviewing a proposal for state-by-state quotas, McKeon tried to put the 2-million-pound in-season request in perspective.
“We’re only asking for 2 million pounds for an ailing industry,” he said.
However, this motion also failed to generate enough “yes” votes. Under the two-thirds majority rule, Daniel said, “We needed 11 and got eight.”
Janice M. Plante
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