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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 10
June 2007
NE council proposes nine HAPCs in habitat amendment
MYSTIC, CT – Here – in very general terms – are the nine proposals for habitat areas of particular concern (HAPCs) in Phase 1 of the New England Fishery Management Council’s omnibus habitat amendment. The council is expected to make final decisions about which areas to designate as HAPCs at its June 19-21 meeting in Portland, ME.
• Alternative 1, no action – The council would keep its current HAPCs in place but add no new ones.
• Alternative 2, seamounts – This alternative proposes an HAPC designation for Bear, Retriever, and possibly Physalia seamounts and the minor topographic rises surrounding them that are within the US EEZ off the southern edge of Georges Bank.
• Alternative 3, deep-sea canyons – This alternative identifies deep-sea canyon habitats that “contain, or are believed to contain, structure- or habitat-forming organisms, including, but not limited to, stone corals, black corals, cerianthid anemones, soft corals, sea pens, and sponges.”
The following canyons – either singly or in combinations – are proposed for HAPC designations: Heezen, Lydonia, Gilbert, Oceanographer, Hydrographer, Veatch, Alvin and Atlantis, Hudson, Toms and Hendrickson, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington, Norfolk, a combination of Oceanographer/Gilbert/Lydonia, and a combination of Toms/Hendrickson/inter-canyons areas.
• Alternative 4, Cashes Ledge – This alternative seeks to extend the boundaries of the current Cashes Ledge Habitat Closed Area and designate the area as an HAPC. The larger area would include deeper water habitats and ridges associated with Cashes Ledge.
• Alternative 5, Georges Bank – This alternative would expand the existing Georges Bank HAPC westward to encompass more gravel, cobble, and boulder habitat features known to improve the survival of juvenile cod and other species.
• Alternative 6, Jeffreys Ledge, Stellwagen Bank – This alternative would designate portions of Jeffreys Ledge and Stellwagen Bank, including the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area, as HAPC because they are “diverse and highly productive features within the Gulf of Maine.”
• Alternative 7, inshore Gulf of Maine and Southern New England – This alternative seeks to designate the inshore areas of the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England as HAPC “specifically to recognize the importance of the inshore areas to juvenile Atlantic cod.”
• Alternative 8, Great South Channel – This alternative proposes to designate the Great South Channel as an HAPC for Atlantic cod “in order to recognize the importance of the area for its high benthic productivity and hard bottom habitats, which provide structured benthic habitat and food resources for cod and other demersal-managed species.” And
• Alternative 9, remove current HAPCs – This alternative proposes to “un-designate” one or both of the current HAPCs for juvenile cod on Georges Bank and Atlantic salmon in Maine rivers and estuaries. /cfn/
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