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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 11
July 2007
MA tackles lobsters, tuna, limited-access
WESTON, MA – The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) was poised in late June to take some kind of action to rein in the growing harvest of lobsters by gillnetters that was happening off the backside of Cape Cod.
DMF Director Paul Diodati reported during the June 7 meeting of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Commission that he had been ready to file a 90-day emergency action to reduce the nontrap harvest of lobsters by gillnetters from 100 lobsters per day to 100 pounds per day and 500 pounds per trip. However, he decided first to call a public meeting, which happened in early June and was attended by about 30 gillnetters.
“It was a good discussion overall, with some admitting that their activities were directed at lobster,” Diodati told the commission.
He added that while what the gillnetters were doing was not illegal, the fishery, which has expanded significantly recently, was not consistent with current rules limiting nontrap effort on lobsters.
According to Diodati, the gillnetters were redirecting their efforts to the outer Cape because their ability to fish elsewhere had been seriously curtailed by closures, days-at-sea reductions, and trip limits.
“They felt the 100-pound limit would put a major dent in their income,” Diodati said. “I made it clear that we want to allow diverse participation in the fisheries but we will not allow a bycatch fishery to undermine the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Conservation Management Area program.”
Outer Cape lobstermen have, for several years now, accepted trap limit reductions, minimum size increases, and other measures as part of an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission-approved lobster conservation plan.
Diodati told the commission he decided to hold off on his original planned emergency action and to instead try to organize a second public meeting – this time between the gillnetters and outer Cape lobstermen – to “see what we can negotiate.”
That meeting was scheduled for June 26 after CFN went to press.
Hook control date
Following some intense debate, the commission voted to set June 7, 2007 as a control date for the commercial hook fishery – excluding striped bass – and to take the date out for comment during DMF’s next round of public hearings.
Diodati brought up the idea of re-establishing the control date after the DMF staff realized a prior hook fishery control date expired last year.
Amorello opposed the idea, saying DMF should only impose a control date for a specific reason rather than confuse the public by establishing one without tying it to a particular issue.
Commission member John Pappalardo, who is the policy analyst for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association, strongly disagreed.
“In Massachusetts, we have controlled access to the mobile gear sector through the coastal access permit and to the gillnet sector through the limited-access gillnet permit. Yet we leave the hook fishery open for the most part,” he said.
“There are fewer and fewer opportunities due to quota reductions,” Pappalardo continued. “It is difficult to make a living as it is, but then there’s a price spike and it’s smash, grab, and go. Every plumber and carpenter out there can go and make a few hundred dollars before going to work, leaving the people who are trying to be watermen high and dry,” Pappalardo said. “We’re asking for parity.”
Weissman said he thought it was reasonable to bring the control date to public hearing and get a read on the public’s attitude.
“Let’s find out what the public has to say about fostering and sustaining hook and line fishing as an occupation,” he said.
Bluefin seining redux
Last year at its April 7, 2006 meeting, the commission handled the explosive question of whether to allow bluefin tuna purse seining in Cape Cod Bay by voting to prohibit tuna seining in the bay until the general category quota was taken. Only then would the seine boats be allowed into the bay.
The commission further agreed that this measure would sunset in one year and the rules would revert back to their original state with bluefin purse seining allowed in the bay after Sept. 1. The sunset clause was intended to pressure the two camps – pro- and anti-seiner – to sit down and work out some kind of compromise.
At the commission’s June 7 meeting, the bluefin seining issue was once again on the agenda and, according to Diodati and members of the public in attendance, no deal had been struck.
That means the rules revert to what they were prior to last year’s ban. Diodati said he wasn’t interested in taking up any additional petitions to bar the seiners from the bay or in conducting any more public hearings since the conflict has been discussed in every way possible repeatedly for years.
Commission member Mark Weissman suggested putting the bluefin seining issue on the agenda for the next commission meeting as an action item so people who cared about the issue would have an opportunity to weigh in.
Commission member John Pappalardo suggested little would be gained by doing that.
“It will be the same thing all over again,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, this issue is dead.”
Commission member Pat Frontierro offered a new idea. “If the bluefin stock is that bad, then let’s close it, period. If you’re going to do it for one group, do it for all. Then we’ll really hear some hollering.”
The issue likely will be considered again at the commission’s next meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 2.
Processed lobster
With little discussion, the commission approved a DMF recommendation to repeal regulations requiring all lobster parts to be processed within 30 minutes of their separation from the tail and prohibiting the sale of frozen shell-on lobster parts other than the tail.
The 30-minute provision was judged to be redundant with current rigorous HACCP food safety regulations. The processors who asked to be allowed to sell shell-on frozen parts explained that they were speaking specifically of carapaces, which are sold to chefs for use in making lobster stock.
Gillnets, scuba
Referring to several items the commission and DMF had recently aired at public hearings, Diodati informed the commission that he would not be recommending approval of a petition to ban gillnetting in state waters. Instead, he said the division is working to put together a package of proposed regulations that he will present to the commission at a later date.
He did, however, decide to go ahead and make a policy change that will allow a very small number of fishermen who have made a career out of diving for lobsters the option to give up dive harvesting in exchange for a trap allocation.
Diodati estimated that maybe three individuals would qualify for this exchange and that the traps they would receive – likely less than 900 in all – would not be transferable.
The commission had no objection.
New commissioner
Chairman Vito Calomo welcomed newly appointed state Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Mary Griffin to her first commission meeting.
Griffin was named to the department’s top job by Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles on May 2. The department is the parent agency of DMF.
An experienced administrator and environmental attorney, Griffin has served numerous state agencies, including the Office of Coastal Zone Management and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In addition to DMF, the Fish and Game Department is comprised of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the Office of Fishing and Boating Access, and the Riverways Program. The Massachusetts Environmental Police report directly to the secretary.
Griffin told commission members that she looked forward to collaborating with them and others present at the meeting.
“I have a lot to learn about fishing,” she said.
Ocean plan revived
Calomo and several other commission members made it clear that a top priority of theirs was to weigh in on the subject of ocean management.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Rob O’Leary to pave the way for a comprehensive ocean management plan proved too controversial for passage last year but has been reintroduced in the Legislature.
Generally speaking, the commission’s beef with the last version of the bill was that, while it provided for an ocean management plan to be crafted by a committee representing a wide variety of interests, the decision on the final make-up of that plan would be left in the hands of the politically appointed secretary of environmental affairs rather than a citizen’s commission.
At Calomo’s request, Griffin said she would see about setting up a meeting between the secretary and commission members.
DMF budget blues
The 2008 budget news for DMF was not good, according to Diodati, Calomo, and Griffin. As of the June 7 meeting, the House version of the budget was recommending $1 million less in appropriations than the Senate version.
“I think it’s going to be a challenging year for us,” Griffin said.
Added Diodati, “The House side feels very strongly about keeping our budget at a very low number – about a 25% reduction. There is no way we can conduct our programs at that level. We lose approximately 20 (DMF) individuals and about two-and-a-half programs as of July 1. It is dismal and unfortunate, but we’ll deal with it one way or another.”
Calomo urged commission members and anyone else interested in restoring the DMF budget to current levels to contact their state representatives and ask them to work to increase the appropriation recommendation on the House side.
Rec registry, ethics
Diodati also informed the commission that the recently amended and reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) mandates the creation of a national recreational fishery registry by 2009.
All states will have to comply with the new mandate, though states with existing recreational saltwater license programs will be able to use those programs to fill the requirement.
Diodati indicated this situation leaves Massachusetts, which does not have a saltwater rec license, with a choice – either work fast through the state Legislature to establish a saltwater license program or hand over future control of recreational licensing matters to the feds.
Bay State sportfishermen have been adamant in their opposition to such a license, especially if license fees will be directed into what some refer to as the “black hole” of the state’s general fund rather than into a dedicated fund for the betterment of their fisheries.
“Any legislation will have to decide where the money goes,” said commission member Mark Amorello. “If it’s the general fund, no one will support it.”
Amorello remarked that proposing such legislation without strong political support from both the Legislature and the public was “like trying to climb Mt. Everest in sneakers.”
Added Pappalardo, “I agree with Mark, but I’d rather have the commonwealth develop a registry and have the money go into the general fund than have the money go to the feds.”
Calomo appointed four commission members – Pappalardo, Amorello, Chuck Casella, and Randy Sigler – to a subcommittee to further explore the rec registry/licensing issue.
Ethics workshop
In other business, Diodati announced that recent problems the commission has run into over its decision-making process had convinced him and others that it would be a good idea to go over operating procedures.
A workshop was scheduled for June 12 with Department of Fish and Game General Counsel David Hoover to review with all commission members conflict-of-interest rules, ethics, and the parliamentary process.
Striper enforcement
In her law enforcement report, Environmental Police (EP) Major Kathleen Dolan told the commission that stripers had arrived on Cape Cod and, with them, complaints about violations. In response, EP officers had been conducting more striped bass patrols. On one particular night they wrote $1,600 worth of tickets.
State EP officials also recently teamed up with Rhode Island and National Marine Fisheries Service officers to conduct an enforcement sweep among gillnetters to make sure they were complying with laws requiring the use of pingers to protect harbor porpoise from fixed gear entanglements.
Herring rules
Prior to the start of the June 7 meeting, the commission and DMF held a public hearing on proposed changes to herring season regulations required to come into compliance with rules adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s herring section.
DMF proposed establishing Saturday and Sunday as no-fishing days in herring management Area 1A until 50% of the area’s 50,000 metric-ton (mt) quota is projected to be caught. At that time, no-fishing days will be expanded to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Dave Ellenton of Cape Seafoods in Gloucester and vice president of Western Sea Fishing Co., which operates three midwater trawlers and one purse seine vessel, spoke in favor of the proposal.
“We totally support two days out – Saturday and Sunday – and three days after 25,000 mt are caught,” he said. “We are looking at a 10,000 mt reduction in the amount of quota available this year. The intention is to leave about 15,000 mt available to be caught after Oct. 15.”
Acknowledging the lobster industry’s concern over the availability of bait with the quota cut and midwater trawl ban, commission member Bill Adler clarified remarks made to say that the total herring needs for the lobster industry are around 100,000 mt with 50,000-60,000 mt going to Maine alone.
Diodati told the commission that because the state’s public comment period would remain open through June 8, a final vote on herring rule revisions would happen by fax poll or during the commission’s next meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 2.
For more information on any of these issues, call DMF at (617) 626-1520.
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