COMMERCE
Subscriber Services
Classified Ads
Subscribe
Advertise
NEWS
This Month
Editorial
Letters
F/V Safety
Past Issues
ABOUT US
Contact Us
Latest Issue
Subscribe
History
MORE CONTENT
CFN Archives
Links
Each month exclusively in the PRINT edition of CFN
Along the Coast
Ask the Lobster Doc
Bearin’s
Classifieds
Coming Events
Editorial
Enforcement Report
FISH SAFE
Fleet Additions
Letters
Lobster Market Report
New Boats
News Catch
Quahog Market Report
|
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 5
January 2010
Herring cuts prompt ME statewide meeting
AUGUSTA, ME – Maine lobstermen, bait dealers, and local and state politicians and officials gathered at the Augusta Civic Center on Dec. 1 to discuss the impact of herring quota cuts for the 2010 fishing season and beyond.
Organized by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the meeting followed the New England Fishery Management Council’s vote in November to reduce herring catch limits by almost 54,000 metric tons (mt) for the next three years compared to 2009.
Boats fishing in Area 1A, which covers the inshore Gulf of Maine, will see a nearly 18,500 mt reduction from the 45,000 mt catch they were allowed in 2009.
The reduced herring total allowable catch (TAC) raises many unknowns for Maine fishermen, particularly how much fresh bait will be available for the upcoming fishing season and what it will cost.
DMR Commissioner George Lapointe acknowledged that fact but added, “The purpose of tonight’s meeting is to get folks together and talk about what we do know.”
A lower than expected turnout for the meeting – only about 30 lobstermen within a crowd of more than twice that size – both alarmed and disappointed industry members who participated.
“I think it’s a crime not to be proactive,” said David Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “In the 1990s, bait was 2.5% of my gross. This year, it was 30%. Next year, everything will have to go perfect for us to get bait.”
Stock overview
DMR Deputy Commissioner of External Affairs Terry Stockwell and Atlantic herring and stock assessment scientist Matt Cieri, who is also with the DMR, provided an overview of the recent herring stock assessment that prompted the scientific recommendations to reduce the TAC starting in 2010.
Cieri explained that the scientific model used to calculate herring abundance takes into account fish populations slightly north of Maine because the stock ranges from New Brunswick, where there can be a significant weir fishery, all the way south to North Carolina.
Speaking about the herring landed in the New Brunswick weir fishery, Mary Beth Tooley, a member of the New England council who works with herring fishermen through the Small Pelagic Group, emphasized, “They are the same stock. Even though those fish are taken someplace else, we have to subtract them from our total.”
While fishery scientists have determined that the herring stock currently is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, they also have determined that the model is underestimating fishing mortality and overestimating population size.
“The stock is OK, but there is a huge amount of uncertainty,” Cieri cautioned.
The New England council is required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to follow the advice of its Scientific and Statistical Committee and, while some lobstermen are advocating for a new, more accurate assessment now, it will take more than a year to produce a statistical model that addresses the issues of concern in the current model.
The herring catch cuts recommended for 2010 contrast with increased quotas anticipated in the Canadian fishery next year. However, according to Cieri, the increased Canadian quotas are for an entirely unrelated herring stock landed by the offshore mobile gear fishery there.
Disease concerns
Lapointe addressed the fears of a bait shortage by discussing potential alternative options in the bait market. He strongly cautioned fishermen against bringing in any type of fish that might endanger local waters, referencing herring from Iceland that is contaminated with Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS). The DMR, he said, has discussed imposing new regulations on baitfish.
Cousens asked how the state would even begin the complex process of setting standards for something as broad and varied as baitfish.
Lapointe agreed it would be a challenge but said that it was an important one to meet.
“While the process of regulating baitfish is complicated, the disease issue is cut and dry,” he said. “If someone wants to bring in fish from an area with a known disease risk, we are likely to prohibit it.”
Marcy Nelson, an aquaculture and assessment scientist with the DMR, discussed the potential of using waste parts from food-grade salmon from salmon farms operating in Maine.
“We have a good hold on what’s out there for disease concerns. It’s certainly something we could talk about,” she suggested.
Frozen herring
Jennie Bichrest of Purse Line Bait discussed the options lobstermen had for frozen herring bait and when to consider using it.
“I would think about using frozen throughout the summer to allow for more fresh in the winter,” said Bichrest, explaining that frozen product would be difficult for fishermen to thaw during the colder months.
That idea didn’t fly with Cousens.
“We don’t have the space to thaw fish out for 48 hours,” he said. “Frozen doesn’t fish. It’s more expensive.”
Another bait dealer had a different perspective.
“It’s surprising how many fishermen walk into our plant when there’s fresh bait and ask for frozen,” he said.
Still, the potential for ramping up availability of frozen bait product could present problems for small bait dealers throughout the state.
“So many wharves do not have forklifts or freezers,” Bichrest pointed out. “They do not have the ability to thaw this stuff. If I were to sell a trailer load of frozen pogies in the summer, you have to unload box by box. If I have to sell more frozen, the price will go up because if you ask a driver to unload 45 boxes on a palette – and that’s only about 20 bushels of bait – it takes a lot of time.”
Bob Baines, chairman of the DMR Lobster Advisory Council, referenced a report presented by Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s Executive Director Patrice McCarron at the November advisory council Meeting that indicated fishermen had limited options.
“The only bait market that can fill the gap appears to be the pogie fishery,” he said.
The panel also discussed the potential positive impact of increased herring fishing activity in Area 3, which is an offshore area south and east of Cape Cod that includes Georges Bank. Landings from the area jumped unexpectedly from 11,000 mt in 2008 to 30,000 mt in 2009.
Conserve
Baines suggested that lobstermen think about actions that could potentially conserve the bait resource, including taking days out of the fishery, setting fishing seasons similar to those used in Canada, and/or considering a trap reduction.
“If there’s support to do any of the above, we’ll know this time next year,” he said.
Further discussion indicated that the idea of a trap reduction was not seen as an answer to the bait conservation issue because lobstermen would likely haul fewer traps more often. The idea of regulating bait bag size also was raised as a possible alternative.
Mike Dassatt, a Belfast area lobstermen, said he participated in a two-year study through the University of Maine that explored how using less bait affected lobster catches. He said he did not see a difference in catch when he reduced the amount of bait he set from 100 grams to 50 grams.
Dana Rice of D. B. Rice Fisheries, a Gouldsboro selectman and former member of the New England council, cautioned against the state taking action that would make it harder for fishermen to stay in business because doing so would only weaken the industry.
“Please let’s not try to legislate ourselves out of this industry,” he said. “We need as many people fishing as we can.”
Lapointe stressed that the DMR would look for unified backing from industry before taking any major steps.
“We’ve got to have some kind of consensus to work with,” the commissioner said. “If there’s something we can do, we have to know that there is support for it.”
Lauren Simmons
Back to story list
|
|
Tell us what you think.
