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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 7
March 2007
SNE up against more lobster stock rebuilding needs
ARLINGTON, VA – Lobstermen in Areas 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be able to comment in March on new stock rebuilding options that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is proposing under Addendum XI to Amendment 3 to the interstate lobster plan.
The Lobster Conservation Management Teams (LCMTs) developed some of the options, which vary widely by area and range from increased v-notch protection to minimum and maximum gauge size changes. ASMFC’s lobster technical committee drafted other options.
The proposals are aimed at rebuilding the Southern New England (SNE) lobster stock and do not affect Area 1 or the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Conservation Area. The rebuilding is required as a result of the last stock assessment, which was published in January 2006.
At a Jan. 29 meeting here, ASMFC’s American Lobster Management Board approved the addendum for public hearing purposes even though some commissioners expressed concern over not having a fully developed public hearing document in hand prior to the vote.
And since a rough draft had only become available to the board that morning, Massachusetts board member Bill Adler advocated holding off on hearings.
“I haven’t had time to digest all of this stuff,” he said.
Other board members, however, argued that the staff could make editorial additions to the public hearing document and a delay would only further push back the rebuilding effort.
“We got a stock assessment that said the Southern New England stock was in bad shape,” said Connecticut board member Eric Smith. “If we keep delaying this, we run the risk of doing nothing for five years when we know the stock is in terrible shape.”
New York Commissioner Gordon Colvin agreed and noted that the LCMTs would continue to suggest refinements to the proposals during public hearings and through additional LCMT meetings.
“I kind of see this as a work in progress,” he said. “Some of the details will continue to develop as the LCMTs debate them. I’d hate to see that dialogue put off. The LCMTs will make some changes but that’s OK as long as we go forward together.”
Stock status
Since the stock assessment came out last year, scientists have been measuring the health of the lobster resource by a series of biological reference points. Under this new system, the Southern New England stock is below its “abundance threshold” and is at or near its “fishing mortality threshold,” according to ASMFC, meaning the stock is depleted and that fishermen are either overfishing or on the verge of overfishing.
To reverse this situation, the lobster board launched a stock rebuilding initiative – Addendum XI – but gave the LCMTs the option of proposing measures to meet the fishing mortality target first and then deal with reaching the abundance target in a subsequent addendum, which most likely would become Addendum XII.
Most LCMTs went with the two-step rebuilding approach, which required that measures ultimately adopted under Addendum XI reduce fishing mortality by 10%.
Area 6 lobsterman John German, president of the Long Island Sound Lobstermen’s Association, told the board he was convinced the stock in his area was in far better condition than scientists thought.
“When was the last time you went out there?” he asked. “The last time I fished was yesterday. I fish hard, and I think the stock is in pretty good shape.”
The most recent assessment only looked at data through 2003 and four options for establishing a rebuilding timeframe. This part of the addendum would apply to the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank stocks as well as Southern New England.
The four options are:
• Status quo, which ASMFC lobster plan coordinator Toni Kerns said was “outdated” since it refers to the old 10% egg production definition that was replaced following the last stock assessment by new biological reference points;
• A 10-year rebuilding program, which would “seek to restore” lobster abundance to greater than the abundance reference point by 2017 and reduce fishing mortality (F) to less than the F threshold by 2017;
• A 10-year rebuilding program that would use 2017 as the target for meeting the abundance threshold but would reduce fishing mortality to the threshold “immediately” to comply with new Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requirements;
• A 15-year rebuilding program that would use 2022 as the target for meeting both the abundance and fishing mortality thresholds; and
• A 15-year rebuilding program that would use 2022 as the target for meeting the abundance threshold but would reduce fishing mortality to the threshold “immediately” to meet new Magnuson-Stevens Act requirements.
For more information on Addendum XI or to find out more about the public hearing schedule, which was unavailable at press time, call Kerns at (202) 289-6400 or e-mail her at <tkerns@asmfc.org>. Or visit the ASMFC web site at <www.asmfc.org>.
Janice M. Plante
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