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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 10
June 2010
Herring border transfers prickly due to low TAC, sardine plant closure
MYSTIC, CT – The long-standing practice of issuing permits to Canadian carrier vessels to transship herring caught by US fishermen into Canada for sardine processing has become even thornier this year for two reasons.
First, the US total allowable catch (TAC) for herring has been dramatically reduced in all management areas for the 2010, 2011, and 2012 fishing years.
And second, the Connors Bros. sardine plant that will be processing these US-caught fish is located in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada and owned by Bumble Bee Foods LLC. This year, Bumble Bee shut down its Prospect Harbor, ME sardine plant, the last of its kind in the US for Atlantic herring.
The state of Maine and its herring industry are still struggling to cope with the Prospect Harbor closure, which became official on April 15 and put an estimated 130 people out of work.
While negotiations are underway to bring another seafood tenant into the facility, some industry insiders remain upset about Bumble Bee’s actions. As one said, “If they didn’t have enough fish, they could have shut down the Blacks Harbour plant instead of the Maine plant.”
That said, few industry leaders wanted to ruffle more feathers over the issue, at least not right now given the current upheaval in the bait and sardine worlds.
Furthermore, US specifications for the next three fishing years already include a 4,000-metric-ton allocation for border transfers with Canada, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) contains a provision specifying that the government will issue border transfer permits to “up to 14 Canadian transport vessels” within 30 days of receiving an application.
Annual application
The issue became a subject for debate when Rebecca Lent, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Office of International Affairs, wrote a routine letter to New England Fishery Management Council Executive Director Paul Howard to announce that, on April 13, NMFS had received this year’s application for 10 Canadian vessels to transport Atlantic herring from the US into Canada.
The fish, picked up by “small cargo transport” vessels varying from 16 to 22 meters (52'-72') in length, all would be destined for the Blacks Harbour sardine plant.
“Transshipment would occur from within the boundaries of the state of Maine or within a portion of the US Exclusive Economic Zone east of the line 69º30’W longitude and within 12 nautical miles from the seaward boundary of Maine,” Lent said.
“Let’s let it go”
The New England council discussed the application during its April 27-29 meeting in Mystic.
In previous years, the council would submit what it called a “boilerplate” response to NMFS by stating, “The proposed permits for Canadian carriers are consistent with the MSA and the herring plan, and we have not heard any objection that would cause the council to reconsider the provision in the current fishing year.”
However, Maine council member Jim Odlin questioned whether a boilerplate response was appropriate this time given the shutdown of the Prospect Harbor plant.
Although several council and audience members remained troubled by the US plant closure, many proposed maintaining a steady course, at least for the coming year.
Maine council member Mary Beth Tooley said, “I wouldn’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction here. We often call the Canadians and beg them to send a truck down with bait.”
Dave Ellenton of Western Sea Fishing Company and Cape Seafoods said US industry members actually talked with the Canadians in advance to find out whether they would still put in a border transfer application for 2010.
When the Canadians responded affirmatively, Ellenton said, “We told them we would not put up a hue and cry this year.”
However, he added, “We do have some concerns. We will have to talk about this in the future.”
Jeff Kaelin, representing Lund’s Fisheries, concurred.
“I think we’ve all decided, ‘For now, let’s let this go.’ But over the long term, I think this is something we should look at.”
Janice M. Plante
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