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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 7
March 2006
FW 42 to extend DAS leasing, create sector
PORTLAND, ME – Among the two-and-a-half dozen decisions it made on Framework Adjustment 42 to the groundfish plan, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to extend the days-at-sea (DAS) leasing program “indefinitely” and adopt the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector.
The leasing decision sailed through on a 16-1 vote with only one council member – David Goethel of New Hampshire – dissenting during the council’s Jan. 31-Feb. 2 meeting here.
“I do not believe we will ever control mortality as long as we give people a ‘get out of jail free card,’ which is what days-at-sea leasing is,” said Goethel.
But audience members who spoke on the issue all supported leasing.
“Of course we need leasing. This should be a no-brainer,” said Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando, who leases days to himself to keep one vessel economically operational.
Port Clyde, ME fisherman Gerry Cushman also strongly endorsed leasing. Arguing that fishermen in his area “can’t use B-days” due to limited B-day opportunities and don’t catch either cod or yellowtail, Cushman said, “Every time we come here, you take more days away from us. With all these cuts coming down, it’s important that we have leasing to get by.”
According to the groundfish plan development team (PDT), over 6,000 days – or 15 percent of the total number of allocated days – were leased during the 2004 fishing year, which ended April 30, 2005. In addition to 36 intracompany leases, 174 lessors and 163 lessees accounted for the trades.
Fishing mortality decreased on windowpane flounder as a result of leasing, but it increased on all other stocks between 0.1 percent and 7.6 percent.
The PDT concluded, “The leasing program provided regulatory relief, which allowed lessee vessels, on average, to fish enough to cover their overhead and crew expenses.”
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul said she supported the program.
“The mortality impacts are minimal and the economic benefits are significant,” she said.
Transfer program
The council also approved changes to the days-at-sea transfer program to make it more user-friendly. To date, no one has used the program because restrictions have been so onerous.
Under Framework 42, a vessel that participates in the transfer program would no longer be required to leave all state and federal fisheries. Although a vessel transferring its groundfish permit would still be required to transfer all its limited-access permits as a bundle, it could then “acquire another federal limited-access permit, a federal open-access permit, or state permits and continue to operate as a fishing vessel.”
In addition to other changes, the council specified that any vessel participating in the leasing program could not participate in the transfer program during the same fishing year.
Sector
The discussion about authorizing the Cape Cod Gillnetters Association’s proposed fixed gear sector, however, proved to be more controversial.
Almost everyone who opposed the sector did so for one primary reason – the sector had asked to work under a hard total allowable catch (TAC) for Georges Bank cod but not for other species.
“This is not a precedent you want to set,” said Maine vessel owner Barbara Stevenson. “It totally skews the way the sector was expected to work.”
Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine added, “Associated Fisheries of Maine is not opposed to the concept of the sector. We could fully support this proposal if they had a hard TAC on everything they catch. That would address the legitimate concerns people have about this.”
Supporters
Some council members, however, thought the sector would give participating gillnetters an opportunity to work under their own rules, which wouldn’t lead to as much waste as the current 1,000-pound Georges Bank cod trip limit.
New Hampshire council member Mike Leary supported the sector, saying, “I think this is a step in the right direction. This is a group that has a discard problem. They’re trying to address it.”
Connecticut council member Sally McGee echoed that sentiment.
“I do agree this is precedent setting,” she said. “It’s precedent setting because we have a group of fishermen who have come forward with a proposal to substantially solve a discard problem. This group has been organized to be sure they can be viable as an industry and with the resource.”
Sector member Stuart Tolley urged the council to endorse the proposal.
“We need this sector to survive and maintain a viable fishery for our community,” he said. “Some of us have sons fishing with us. We want to see this go on in the future. We can have a sector with a hard TAC and no discarding.”
Fisheries consultant Eric Brazer Jr., who has been working with the sector, added, “We are willing to take responsibility for our target species. By signing into the sector, we are guaranteeing that we will not be redirecting effort into the Gulf of Maine.”
Brazer concluded, “Please reward these fishermen for taking responsibility and accountability for their fishing practices. The regional administrator can pull the plug on it at any time if it’s deemed to be undermining the FMP .”
A close vote
Maine council member George Lapointe wasn’t quite convinced.
“I support the idea, but I don’t think the proposal has enough information for us to judge the impacts,” he said.
Massachusetts council member David Pierce, however, put it this way.
“I look to the sector in part as experimental in nature. They know they’re being watched,” he said. “It’s a good overall effort. Even though there are some issues, I’m putting them aside for now. I think this sector has merit.”
Kurkul also backed the proposal.
“I do think we need to support these types of controls put forward by the industry,” she said. “This has more controls than many other programs we have.”
In the end, the council approved the sector by a vote of 9-to-7 with one abstention.
Janice M. Plante
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