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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 5
January 2010
Mass DMF asks NMFS to reconsider 2010 open area scallop days
BOSTON, MA – Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Director Paul Diodati has asked National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul to reconsider the New England Fishery Management Council’s mid-November decision to allocate fewer open-area days-at-sea to scallopers in 2010.
The council voted to adopt a fishing mortality (F) rate of .20 in Framework 21 to the scallop plan, which would result in full-time limited-access scallopers receiving 29 open-area days in the next fishing year.
Diodati, however, said an F of .24, resulting in 38 open-area days, was warranted given previous advice from the council’s own Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and scallop plan development team (PDT).
“After reflecting on the council discussions … and reviewing documents not discussed at the council meeting, I conclude that important scientific advice was forgotten,” wrote Diodati in a Dec. 2 letter to Kurkul. “I request you consider that advice during your review of Framework 21 in preparation for its implementation next year.”
Diodati’s argument centers on the SSC’s recommendation for acceptable biological catch (ABC), which the SSC said should be set at 29,578 metric tons.
Diodati cited several SSC and PDT documents noting that the SSC, incorporating PDT advice, supported using “a 25% chance of overfishing,” which would be associated with an F of .24.
“The SSC/PDT probability of overfishing with corresponding 2010 Fs and yield never was brought forward by the scallop committee at the November council meeting,” said Diodati. “I believe this omission played a key role in the council adopting an F of .20 with all its attendant consequences.”
The DMF director then said it was “for this reason” he was requesting that Kurkul “take appropriate steps to account for PDT and SSC analyses of uncertainty” and, consequently, set the 2010 F rate at .24. He further suggested that the council could revisit this issue during its January meeting.
In conclusion, Diodati wrote, “Considering the success of sea scallop management and the tremendous support of the fishing industry for management and science, I feel your acting to correct an unfortunate situation caused by a council misunderstanding about technical/scientific recommendations is warranted.” /cfn/
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