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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 5
January 2007
RI council OKs fluke plan, scup set-aside
NARRAGANSETT, RI – The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council approved in early December revisions to two state management plans, the one for summer flounder, which has been under close scrutiny all year, and the one for scup.
The council approved a black sea bass management plan that maintains status quo from 2006. The council forwarded these plan recommendations to state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Michael Sullivan, who is authorized to implement plan revisions for the new fishing year.
The council-approved summer flounder plan was originally developed by the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association and was aired as Option 2 during a public hearing on Nov. 20.
Under the recommended plan, the annual quota will be divided across three subperiods: 54% to the Winter subperiod, Jan. 1-April 30; 35% to the Summer subperiod, May 1-Oct. 31, which is a combination of the existing plan’s Summer I and Summer II subperiods; and 11% to the Fall subperiod, Nov. 1-Dec. 31.
Basic daily possession limits will be: 100 pounds during the Winter subperiod; 60 pounds during the Summer subperiod; and 225 pounds during the Fall subperiod.
The council-approved plan also features possession limits for revised periods of time for vessels participating in an aggregate landing program for the Winter or Summer subperiods.
Under the Winter aggregate landing program, a vessel may land up to 1,000 pounds in a calendar week from the Sunday of the first full week in February to Saturday of the first full week in April or until the program is terminated by DEM action.
The Summer aggregate landing program sets a 300-pound limit per week until 80% of the allocated quota for the Summer subperiod is harvested. The program then switches to a 60-pound daily limit.
Vessels participating in the Winter aggregate landing program may not participate in the Summer aggregate landing program and vice-versa.
Certificate transfers
All participants in either aggregate landing program must possess a Summer Flounder Exemption Certificate.
Division of Fish and Wildlife (F&W) biologist Jason McNamee, said that the council also approved a change to the fluke exemption certificate program.
“Now fishermen can transfer a state fluke exemption certificate in the same way a federal (permit) can be transferred,” he said.
According to DEM regulations, an exemption certificate can be sold with a vessel along with all related permits and history. A vessel owner may also transfer his exemption certificate to a replacement vessel.
Vessel permits, certificates of exemption, and fishing history cannot be split. And, a replacement vessel’s specifications cannot exceed that of the vessel that originally received the fluke exemption certificate by more than: a 10% increase in overall length; a 10% increase in gross registered or net tonnage; or a 20% increase in horsepower.
Certificates of exemption cannot be combined to meet specifications that exceed these limits.
Scup fish traps
The scup plan changes involve an increase in the amount of annual quota set aside out of the floating fish trap sector quota for use starting in late spring.
McNamee explained that the scup tend to go into the east side of Narragansett Bay first and the west side later in the season. The set-aside ensures that west side traps will have a crack at the fish.
Rhode Island splits the annual state commercial scup quota, allocating 60% to the fish trap sector and 40% to the general fishery.
The new set-aside figure is recommended to be 12% of the fish trap sector’s 60% share. That’s up from 10%.
The floating fish trap quota is available over the Summer and Fall subperiods. If the Winter quota is reached by April 15, the floating fish trap quota becomes available on April 15. If the Winter quota is not reached by April 15, the fish trap quota becomes available on May 1.
Fish trap daily limits are 25,000 pounds until 90% of the quota is reached, at which point the daily figure drops to 5,000 pounds per day until 100% of the quota is reached – minus the set-aside.
The set-aside comes into play on June 7 when the 12% becomes available for harvest by fish traps at 5,000 pounds per day. The daily limit changes to 300 pounds once 30,000 pounds of the set-aside has been caught and stays there until the set-aside is exhausted.
If, by June 7, 90% of the total fish trap allocation has not been caught, the daily limit remains at 25,000 pounds until the 90% figure is reached. Then, the set-aside arrangement described above becomes active.
V-notch definition
In other news, the council’s vote on the specific wording of the v-notch definition for the state’s lobster fishery ended in a tie, with half voting for the 1/8" definition and half voting for a zero-tolerance definition.
In such a situation, the vote is forwarded to the DEM director with no formal recommendation from the council. DEM Director Sullivan will use what resources exist, including prior comments on the issue from council and advisory meetings, as well as comments stemming from the public hearing, to make his decision.
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