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NMFS modifies rule; groundfish emergency measures start May 1
GLOUCESTER, MA - Responding to a torrent of opposition to its proposed emergency rule for groundfish, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) made a significant change to the way it will count days-at-sea under the emergency rule, which went into effect May 1 and will remain in place until Framework Adjustment 42 is implemented later this summer.
Instead of counting days-at-sea everywhere at the rate of 1.4-to-1 as initially announced in late March, NMFS is now requiring differential counting only in the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas.
Days-at-sea for vessels fishing offshore in the US/Canada Management Areas will be counted 1-for-1.
NMFS also tightened up trip limits for Georges Bank winter flounder and white hake to better protect those two weaker stocks. The limits – 5,000 pounds per trip for winter flounder and 1,000 pounds per day up to 10,000 pounds per trip for white hake – were initially proposed by the New England Fishery Management Council for Framework 42.
1.4 to 1 too broad
During the comment period on the proposed emergency rule, the majority of fishermen, industry associations, and elected officials told NMFS – in no uncertain terms – that across-the-board 1.4-to-1 counting was inappropriate and unwarranted.
NMFS, in response to the comments, said it agreed that “differential days-at-sea counting on Georges Bank may unnecessarily reduce the ability to achieve optimum yield from healthy stocks.”
After further consideration, NMFS concluded that a “more targeted approach” would likely reduce fishing mortality on the specific stocks that need help on Georges Bank “without reducing the catch of healthy groundfish stocks.” Hence, the agency adopted 1-for-1 counting with stricter winter flounder and white hake trip limits.
While it could justify 1-for-1 counting on Georges Bank, NMFS said it could not do so for the other areas.
“Differential days-at-sea counting is appropriate in the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas,” said the agency.
Gulf of Maine cod and yellowtail flounder, as well as Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail and winter flounder, “require substantial fishing mortality reductions,” said NMFS.
Industry reacts
Many Georges Bank fishermen and industry leaders applauded the change in days-at-sea counting offshore and said they’d be better able to continue fishing under the 1-for-1 counting.
Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine supported the modification, but she didn’t think NMFS went far enough to ease unnecessary burdens on the fleet.
“The relaxation of differential counting in the US/Canada areas is appropriate, but differential counting in the entire Gulf of Maine continues to be an excessive approach to achieve the fishing mortality reductions for cod and yellowtail,” she said.
“Fishermen along the coast of Maine are being asked to pay a very heavy price to reduce fishing mortality on fish stocks on which they have little or no impact,” Raymond added. “Likewise, fishermen in Southern New England who have little or no impact on yellowtail will suffer needlessly. This whole notion of ‘spreading the pain’ has gotten way out of hand.”
Vito Giacalone of the Northeast Seafood Coalition also supported the 1-for-1 counting on Georges.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked if the change made a difference. “It was very helpful to a good number of our members in both New Bedford and Gloucester.”
Jackie Odell, the coalition’s executive director, echoed that sentiment. But she added, “We still have problems. There are a lot of areas – the channel, the area to the west and north of Closed Area I, all of Southern New England – that have healthy stocks, but they’re in the 1.4-to-1 area.”
According to Giacalone, the differential counting won’t do anything to protect Gulf of Maine cod or other stocks that need rebuilding. If anything, it will merely exacerbate the problem, he said. People will be forced to fish shorthanded and closer to shore – in prime cod territory – to make a trip pay.
“The 1.4-to-1 counting will make everyone look at the fishery that way,” he said.
Working the more distant bottom of the Gulf of Maine or Southern New England or the Great South Channel – where traditional mixed fisheries have taken place – will be far more difficult under differential counting.
“There’s almost no economically viable way to fish those areas,” Giacalone said.
Trip limits, leasing
The emergency rule contains numerous other provisions. It extends the leasing program and the B-regular days-at-sea program, though the B-day program is limited to the US/Canada areas.
Participating B-day trawl vessels must use a haddock separator trawl, and only 500 days-at-sea have been allocated to the first quarter, which runs May through July. Trip limits for monkfish, flounders, and skates apply, and possession of lobsters is prohibited.
The rule contains an assortment of other trip limits, including a 600-pound-per-day limit on Gulf of Maine cod with a 4,000-pound trip maximum.
The Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine and Southern New England yellowtail limit is 250 pounds per trip during May, June, October, and November, which some industry members view as extremely problematic. This is especially true for June given the opening of Blocks 124 and 125 where renewed and extremely concentrated effort is expected to create yellowtail discards.
The yellowtail limit during July, August, September, December, January, February, March, and April is 500 pounds per day with a 2,000-pound trip maximum.
NMFS did not impose any trip limit whatsoever on haddock.
The emergency rule, which was published as a 44-page notice in the April 13 Federal Register, is complicated and extremely detailed. Everyone is encouraged to study it carefully.
NMFS, which is accepting comments on the rule through May 15, has produced a 20-page permit holder letter and a helpful question-and-answer sheet, along with other materials. All are available on the Northeast Regional Office web site at: <www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/hotnews/multiemer/index.html>.
For more information call NMFS at (978) 281-9315.
Janice M. Plante
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