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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 10
June 2010
Herring small-mesh addendum fails on tie vote
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Small-mesh bottom trawl (SMBT) fishermen will have to land herring this year under the same days-out schedule as the directed herring fleet.
During its May 3 meeting here, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Herring Section considered allowing SMBT boats, which primarily target whiting and other small-mesh species, to land herring caught in Area 1A on one additional “landing day” beyond that allowed for purse seiners and midwater trawlers targeting herring. Furthermore, the section considered creating different possession limits for SMBT vessels.
But the proposal, contained in Addendum III to Amendment 2 of the interstate herring plan, failed on a 3-to-3-tie vote.
Section member Doug Grout, head of New Hampshire Fish & Game’s Marine Fisheries Division, first proposed a small-mesh bottom trawl herring allowance last August and has fought hard for Addendum III’s passage on the premise that SMBT fishermen have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the section’s days-out restrictions (see CFN December 2009 and February 2010 for details).
After extensive refinement during the section’s fall and winter meetings, Addendum III went out to public hearing in late March and early April.
The addendum received support from many industry members who attended the Portsmouth, NH public hearing but was vehemently opposed by directed herring fishermen at all the hearings.
Proponents argued that the current 2,000-pound herring possession limit, which applies as a bycatch cap in Area 1A on days when directed landings are not allowed, simply created herring discards in the whiting fishery. These fishermen said they supported a higher possession limit and additional landing days to put small-mesh bottom trawl fishermen back “on par” with the directed herring fleet.
Making things “fair”
The ASMFC section considered this public comment on May 3, and then Grout made one final push to gain support among member states.
He argued that the SMBT fishery was extremely limited both seasonally and by area through the federal groundfish plan, and he further emphasized that the fishery was labor intensive and made up of small boats. From 2005 through 2008, SMBT boats have landed a total of less than 2% of the Area 1A TAC.
“This is not a new fishery,” said Grout. “It’s been going on for 25-plus years. This is historically an important fishery for lobster and tuna bait in the summer. We’re talking about a very, very small portion of the total allowable catch (TAC). We’re just trying to make things fair here.”
Section member Ritchie White of New Hampshire also strongly supported the addendum as a matter of equity.
Concerns
Grout initially made a motion to allow SMBT vessels to bring in herring on two extra landing days with Category C permit holders being allowed to land 10,000 pounds and Category D permit holders 6,600 pounds.
But Massachusetts section member David Pierce quickly challenged the proposal, saying he was still concerned about the potential for increased effort.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” Pierce said. He then moved to amend the motion to allow only one additional landing day, which was accepted “reluctantly” by Grout.
Maine section member Terry Stockwell still had reservations.
“I’ve struggled with this addendum since it was first introduced last fall,” he said. “The entire industry is under complete change with very low specifications. We have a lack of fishing opportunities in the Gulf of Maine this year.”
Federal fishery?
The section also discussed the New England Fishery Management Council’s concerns about the addendum.
During its late April meeting, council Executive Director Paul Howard said, “This is the states managing federal fish in federal waters, and I think we should say this is not right.”
The council wrote a letter to ASMFC conveying this message.
Even though much of the Area 1A fishery takes place in federal waters, which is where the small-mesh bottom trawlers work, ASMFC routinely takes action to regulate catch rates by imposing stateside landing restrictions.
Despite this longstanding practice, ASMFC section member Dave Simpson of Connecticut was still troubled by the jurisdiction issue.
While saying he genuinely appreciated Grout’s extensive efforts to modify Addendum III to make it more “palatable” for the section, Simpson said, “It still doesn’t get us away from the central issue for me, which is the commission meddling with a federal fishery management plan. I would feel very differently if this was a state waters fishery.”
Grout said that, for this very reason, he opted against proposing a separate TAC for SMBT fishermen, which was an option in Addendum III.
As for proposing different possession limits and additional landing days for SMBT vessels, Grout said, “Clearly, the commission has been involved with trying to manage the TAC for Area 1A for a number of years.”
But the arguments did not sway enough states, and when the time came for a vote, the resulting 3-to-3 tie put an end to the addendum.
Janice M. Plante
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