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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 9
May 2006
MA adopts limited Cape Cod Bay tuna seine ban
WESTON, MA - Bluefin tuna purse seiners will be banned from fishing in Cape Cod Bay for much if not all of the 2006 season.
The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Commission approved the ban – with a one-year sunset provision – during its April 7 meeting after a brief consultation with Department of Fish and Game attorney David Hoover on voting procedures.
Specifically, the commission approved the following recommendation from Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Director Paul Diodati:
“Prohibit seining for tuna in Cape Cod Bay except during those times that the general category (bluefin) quota has been reached. If the general category quota is reached in a given year, then seine harvest by properly permitted vessels will be allowed back in the bay during the remainder of the year or until all quotas are reached.”
At the request of commission member John Pappalardo, Diodati eventually modified his recommendation so that the ban is in effect only for the 2006 fishing season.
Long history
The public petition that triggered the vote was submitted to DMF by Peter Weiss, president of the General Category Tuna Association, way back in 2004.
At the time, it was the fifth petition DMF had received seeking to ban purse seine vessels from fishing for bluefin in Cape Cod Bay. Weiss’ petition went out to public hearing on April 28, 2004.
Two months later, during aJuly 29, 2004 meeting, Diodati offered a recommendation – basically the same one the commission just approved. But due to the extremely controversial nature of the issue and the fact that a number of commission members were not present, the commission postponed consideration of that original recommendation. Then further discussion of the issue was tabled indefinitely at the October 2004 meeting.
But last fall, the presence of all five tuna seiners in Cape Cod Bay stirred up strong feelings once again, and DMF received yet another petition for the end of bluefin purse seining in the bay.
In February, Diodati put the commission on notice that it had not followed proper procedures when it failed to act on his 2004 recommendation. The DMF director told the commission that it would be required to cast an up or down vote on the original recommendation at the April 7 meeting.
Attorney Hoover concurred, saying the regulations governing the activities of the commission required it to “approve or disapprove” the director’s recommendation.
Pro ban
Because nearly two years had passed since the last public hearing on the issue, Diodati encouraged the commission to allow the two principal representatives in the conflict – Weiss and East Coast Tuna Association Executive Director Rich Ruais – to briefly address the commission.
For his part, Weiss cited numerous reports of gear conflicts between seiners and hand-gear boats and the fact that the seiners were larger vessels that had the ability to fish outside of the relatively protected waters of the bay.
He also said that he believed the typically large bluefin found in the bay were a part of a subpopulation that returned to the area each year and were vulnerable to being fished out.
In summarizing his remarks, Weiss said, “There’s a limited amount of fish in a limited area in the bay. We’re not asking these people to go out of business. They can fish the whole ocean.”
Anti ban
Noting that the last time the general category closed early was in 1998, Ruais told the commission that Diodati’s recommendation would mean a complete end to 44 years of seining in Cape Cod Bay.
This, he said, was “inconsistent with federal actions to identify ways to help us catch our quota.”
Ruais explained that serious underharvests in all commercial categories during the last few years had resulted in a 2,843.8-metric-ton total US bluefin quota for 2006 – nearly double the annual baseline quota. He added that Canada, Mexico, and France have mounted a campaign within the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to strip the US of its unharvested quota and parcel it out among themselves.
Ruais also refuted claims that the seiners displaced hundreds of hand-gear boats.
Finally, he said that existing restrictions on seiners in the bay – no fishing before Sept. 1, no weekend fishing before Sept. 15, and no inner bay fishing until Oct. 1 – plus the gentlemen’s agreement that the seiners will fish in the bay only as a last resort are more than enough.
“We hope you’ll continue to allow seining within Cape Cod Bay with current restrictions,” Ruais said.
One year
During the commission’s subsequent discussion, Diodati pointed out that former DMF Director Allen Peterson established rules in 1977 that he believed would lead to the end of seining in the bay through attrition.
But subsequent state and federal rule changes allowed owners to replace their aging vessels with newer boats and kept the fishery alive.
Commission Chairman Vito Calomo scolded both sides for failing to work out their differences.
“In this day when groups are working to get fishermen off the water, it irks me very much to see two user groups battling over something that should be shared,” he said.
Pappalardo acknowledged the complexity of the conflict.
“This is a passionate issue. The seiner operators can move into the bay and, when their gear is deployed, everyone has to move out of the way,” he said. “I also understand that purse seiners (by their historical landings) provided the US with a big chunk of its ICCAT quota. And it’s not clear to me that the gentlemen’s agreement has been broken.”
Diodati agreed with the last point.
“The way it’s written, the gentlemen’s agreement has been upheld. It does allow (the seiners) to come into the bay,” he said. “I tried to meet with both sides but there didn’t appear to be any give on either side.”
Commission member Mark Weissman questioned what would be accomplished by simply approving Diodati’s recommendation for a ban.
“If the motion is approved, what incentive do they have for working things out?” he asked.
Pappalardo then asked for the recommendation to be modified to limit the ban to the 2006 fishing season.
“This is not a black and white issue,” he said. “That’s why I want this (change) – to put heat on both parties.”
The motion to adopt Diodati’s modified recommendation passed in a 5-to-2 vote.
Lorelei Stevens
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