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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 10
June 2007
ASMFC herring section holds off on TAC changes
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Besides discussing days-out of the fishery, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Herring Section took up several other topics of interest to industry during its May 7 meeting.
For one, the section considered whether it needed to modify its 2008-2009 total allowable catch (TAC) specifications to match those adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
At the commission’s annual meeting last October, the section lowered its Area 1A TAC from 60,000 mt to 50,000 mt for 2007 through 2009 to match the recommendation of the New England Fishery Management Council.
However, NMFS did not adopt the council’s recommendation and instead published final specifications with a 45,000 mt TAC for Area 1A for 2008 and 2009.
Later this summer, the New England council intends to review the status of the fishery and the resource and decide whether it will recommend a change in the 45,000-mt specification.
Given this pending review, New Hampshire Commissioner John Nelson said, “It seems as if we could wait until the council hashes this over one more time. We could make changes next year if necessary.”
The section agreed and took no action for the time being.
However, Maine representative Terry Stockwell asked if the section could receive additional information about herring from NMFS’s 2006 bottom trawl survey. The last two survey points for inshore Gulf of Maine herring showed a decline, which was a significant contributing factor in the New England council’s decision to recommend a 10,000 mt TAC reduction for Area 1A and a factor in NMFS’s decision to adopt even more precautionary TACs for 2008 and 2009.
ASMFC herring plan coordinator Chris Vonderweidt agreed to get the latest trawl survey information and will report back to the section at its next meeting.
East of Cutler
The section also discussed a specific difference between its own recent interstate herring plan amendment and the federal plan amendment developed by the New England council.
NMFS disapproved a provision in the council’s amendment related to the harvest of herring by fixed-gear fishermen in Downeast Maine east of Cutler.
Both ASMFC and the council proposed exempting this fishery from the Area 1A TAC, presuming that the catch, when combined with the New Brunswick weir fishery, wouldn’t exceed 20,000 mt.
NMFS disapproved this proposal in the federal plan after determining it was “inconsistent” with two national standards in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act because it left a portion of the fishery unregulated and failed to manage the stock throughout its range.
ASMFC herring section Chairman Eric Smith of Connecticut said, “It’s a fishery that rarely occurs anymore, and when it does, it’s not much.”
However, added Smith, “It’s a culturally significant fishery.”
Landings east of Cutler have varied widely over the past seven years – sometimes amounting to practically nothing and, at a high point last year, reaching 500 mt. The latest seven-year average is 125 mt.
Section members agreed they wanted to preserve the fishery as is, but Vito Calomo, proxy for Massachusetts state Rep. Tony Verga, said he knew from experience that the fishery had the potential to take large volumes of fish, which could be problematic if the Area 1A fishery continues to be curtailed.
“I’m a little concerned at this time,” he said. “I’m not trying to eliminate a fishery for small boats and weirs, and I know this is a community fishery, but if the reductions continue for 1A, then it would be a fishery only enjoyed by Cutler.”
The section decided not to change its own plan allowance for this Downeast fishery and instead agreed to monitor landings on an annual basis.
David Turner, chairman of the Downeast Fixed Gear Association, thanked the section for its consideration.
“It was a very concerning issue for our fishery,” he said.
In other actions, New York requested de minimis status for 2007, which would relieve the state of considerable paperwork requirements. The section easily granted the request.
In order to achieve de minimis status under ASMFC protocol, a state’s combined average commercial landings – by weight – for a particular species must “constitute less than 1% of the coastwide commercial landings” for the most recent two year period.
Final landings for 2006 were unavailable, but from 1995 through 2005, New York’s share of the total coastwide catch of herring amounted to less than .05% annually.
Finally, the section elected Terry Stockwell as its new vice chair.
Within ASMFC, the vice chair automatically assumes the chairmanship when the current chair’s term expires. Chair Eric Smith’s term expires in August.
Janice M. Plante
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