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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 11
July 2006
Herring fleet waits for new bycatch rules
NEWPORT, RI – Until recently, herring vessels were allowed to possess up to 1,000 pounds of haddock bycatch under an emergency action implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) last summer.
But on June 6, the emergency action, having already run for two consecutive 180-days periods, expired for good, forcing the fleet to fish under existing groundfish rules, which prohibit herring boats from retaining even one pound of haddock or other regulated groundfish species.
The situation should be short-lived. At press time, NMFS was almost ready to release a proposed rule for Framework Adjustment 43 to the groundfish plan, which, once finalized, would put in place a new and permanent set of measures to address haddock bycatch.
“Framework 43 is extremely important to the success of the 2006 herring fishery,” said Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagics Association. “Few if any boats will be willing to work on Georges Bank without a haddock bycatch allowance.”
Although herring fishermen worry that a complete prohibition on bycatch might be impossible to achieve on a regular basis given the enormous size of the 2003 haddock year class, bycatch problems so far this summer have been practically nonexistent.
Andy Cohen, special agent in charge for the NMFS Office of Law Enforcement in the Northeast Region, told the New England Fishery Management Council at its June 13-15 meeting in Newport that enforcement agents monitoring herring offloads weren’t witnessing any problems.
“We’re seeing a really good level of compliance,” said Cohen. “We’re seeing herring boats come in with zero bycatch whatsoever.”
Cohen warned, however, that continued high levels of monitoring could be problematic given the amount of time involved in each operation. Agents have to devote 12 hours per single herring offload, and the time-factor needs to be weighed against their responsibilities to monitor other fisheries.
Crucial for Georges
According to NMFS officials, a final rule for Framework 43 could be implemented by late July or early August.
But the timing could be tight for the Area 3 Georges Bank fishery, where haddock/herring interactions have been most troublesome.
“Generally, fish show up outside Area 3 around mid-July and this is our area of concern,” said Tooley. “If we do not have access on Georges Bank, the impacts would be significant for our vessels and shoreside markets – bait, canneries, and the fresh-frozen market.”
The 60,000 metric ton (mt) total allowable catch for Area 1A in the Gulf of Maine isn’t enough to fill even the estimated demand for bait, Tooley said, making the Georges fishery critically important to maintaining a steady supply of product for all herring markets.
What’s in FW 43?
Under Framework 43, herring purse seines and midwater trawls would no longer be classified as “exempted gear” incapable of catching groundfish. Instead, vessels using these gear types would operate under an “exempted fishery” and be allowed to legally possess a small amount of groundfish bycatch.
Haddock bycatch fleet-wide under Framework 43 would be capped at 0.2% of the target TAC for Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank haddock. Vessels also would be allowed to possess up to 100 pounds of other regulated groundfish.
The bycatch allowances will apply to Category 1 vessels – those intending to catch 500 mt of herring or more and that carry a vessel monitoring system – during the 2006 fishing year. Once Amendment 1 to the herring plan comes online in 2007, the bycatch provisions will apply to all “directed fishery” herring limited-access vessels.
Area 1A buffer zone
Amendment 1, which was approved by the council earlier this year, also contains a seasonal midwater trawl ban for the inshore Gulf of Maine. Known as the purse seine/fixed-gear-only season or “buffer zone,” this provision – if finally approved by NMFS – would prohibit midwater trawlers from fishing in Area 1A from June through September annually.
Although Amendment 1 is not expected to be implemented until Jan. 1, 2007 – the start of the next herring fishing year – a large group of stakeholders has asked NMFS Director Bill Hogarth to implement the buffer zone this summer through secretarial action, interim action, or emergency action.
“We asked Bill Hogarth to consider all three vehicles because we’re so concerned about the resource in Area 1A,” said Rich Ruais, executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association (ECTA).
Ruais was part of the delegation that traveled to NMFS headquarters in Silver Spring, MD on May 1 to meet with Hogarth and top-level NMFS staffers about the issue. The group included representatives from ECTA, Oceana, the Conservation Law Foundation, CHOIR, Bar Harbor Whale Watch, the General Category Tuna Association, and the Recreational Fishing Alliance.
On June 6, representatives from the directed herring fishery also traveled to Silver Spring to meet with Hogarth. According to Tooley, the group emphasized to the NMFS director its position that a seasonal ban was not legally justifiable. Herring fishermen outlined the anticipated economic impacts of seasonal restrictions, along with the cost of outfitting midwater trawlers with seine gear, which would allow them to continue fishing in Area 1A all summer.
Tooley said industry members also explained that a seasonal prohibition on midwater trawling would create “disruptions in the market.”
No word yet
At press time, NMFS had not made any announcement about potential emergency action.
However, NMFS Northeast Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul informed the New England council on June 14 that a final decision on Amendment 1 wouldn’t be available until October or November at best.
Furthermore, NMFS hasn’t made a secret of its concerns over the legality of a seasonal midwater trawl ban. Back in October 2005, NMFS informed the council that it would have to adequately address the “apparent imbalance in benefits and costs” of a four-month gear prohibition in Area 1A and provide “sound rationale” for the proposal.
Janice M. Plante
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