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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 32 Number 10
June 2005
Groups seek herring ‘buffer zone’ compromise
PEABODY, MA – Three vastly different interest groups have come together to propose a new alternative to creating an exclusive purse seine/fixed gear-only “buffer zone” in Area 1A
The proposal, developed by Oceana, CHOIR, and the American Pelagic Association (APA), would allow single and pair midwater trawl vessels to each make two trips per month into Area 1A from June 1 through Aug. 31. The area would be open to all herring gear types the rest of the year.
“It could very well be that there’s a compromise here, and if there is, we want to have the ability to pursue it,” said Rich Ruais, executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association and a leading supporter of CHOIR.
The groups will be asking the New England Fishery Management Council in June to include the proposal as Alternative 8 in draft Amendment 1 to the herring plan.
The amendment includes other buffer zone options. The strictest is Alternative 7, which proposes to prohibit all midwater trawling in Area 1A from June through September.
But midwater trawl vessels don’t want to be barred from the area completely, and Oceana and CHOIR recognized that it would be tough to gain support for a total ban on midwater trawling in a prime summertime fishing area from a majority of the 18 voting members of the New England council.
“Alternative 7 is the strictest alternative. We’ve been looking for ways to make it a little more flexible and a little more attractive,” said Ruais at a May 17-18 meeting of the council’s herring committee in Peabody.
“Peter (Moore of APA) came to us with a very creative idea. He wanted us to consider two trips per month. We’re certainly willing to look at this analysis,” Ruais said.
Timing issue
Limiting midwater trawl vessels to two trips per month in Area 1A for three months during the peak of summer would represent a significant reduction in effort for the midwater trawlers.
Calling it a “legitimate” and “viable” alternative, both Ruais and Moore urged the committee to support the compromise, even though the deadline for new proposals had long passed.
“We never intended for this to come at the eleventh hour,” said Moore, who added that it took over six months for the groups to talk things through not only with each other but with representatives from state agencies.
“It’s just the way it happened,” Moore said.
The agreement contains other elements, including a change in the limited-access criteria for Area 1A, which would make the criteria less restrictive than Alternative 7.
Moore said APA and the small pelagics processing company NORPEL have consistently supported allowing all current participants to have access to the herring fishery once it comes under limited access.
Jim Kendall, also representing NORPEL, said, “One of the benefits of this herring plan is that you’re not under the gun. The resource is healthy. If you can bring in a coalition of opposing groups and get them to develop a compromise, that’s worth something. I actually don’t see a better alternative out there right now.”
ECPA opposed
Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association, vehemently opposed the move.
“For one, 65-to-70 percent of the herring industry would not support this type of proposal,” she said. “But aside from that, this is totally inappropriate. This amendment is supposed to be about limited entry.
“All of these groups have been involved (in the development of Amendment 1) from the beginning, so to put forward a new proposal at this time is totally, blatantly unfair,” Tooley said.
Local depletion
Committee member David Pierce of Massachusetts wanted to see the compromise move forward.
“Over the last six or seven months, I’ve been engaged in discussions with the herring industry, the groundfish industry, the whale watch industry, and others who believe that local depletion is a concern. I’ve become more and more convinced that this is a legitimate issue,” he said.
However, Pierce said he recognized there were “procedural problems” with the timing of the proposal, which, if included in Amendment 1, would require additional analysis, delay public hearings, and possibly hold up implementation of the amendment by a year.
“Clearly this is a tricky one. But I’m in a bit of a bind myself because I find none of the alternatives in the document right now that attractive,” he said. “I’m concerned about local depletion but I don’t want to just boot out the industry (from Area 1A) either. I’m sensitive to the work that has been done on this to strike some sort of compromise to address local depletion issues.”
Committee Chairman Lew Flagg of Maine expressed strong reservations about allowing the proposal to go forward so long after the cut-off date.
“I have no position on this proposal,” he said. “My concern is whether we’re being fair to other people who might have an interest in putting forward alternatives. I’m not faulting the fact that people worked long and hard on this.”
Committee member Dana Rice of Maine also expressed concern.
“Even to consider this, I think it makes the control date very, very shaky.”
John Nelson of New Hampshire initially expressed guarded support for the proposal, but was swayed by the fact that consideration of a new alternative wasn’t publicized on the committee meeting agenda.
“Maybe we should just say that our recommendation to these industry groups is that they present this to the council in June,” he said.
So the committee took no stand on the proposal, and the involved interest groups agreed they would seek to have the item placed on the June 21-23 meeting agenda for the full council to consider.
Janice M. Pl
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