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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 11
July 2010
Turtle observers to ride all types of NE boats
SILVER SPRING, MD – Over the next five years, Northeast region fishermen, if asked, will have to carry an observer whose primary job will be to monitor fishery interactions with turtles.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently announced that it had placed 19 different fisheries – 17 in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and two in the Pacific Ocean – on the 2010 Annual Determination for Sea Turtle Observer Requirements list. The list went into effect on June 17.
Many major fisheries and gear types from Maine through North Carolina are affected, including those involving lobsters, crabs, northern shrimp, scallops, mackerel, monkfish, summer flounder, whiting, dogfish, scup, black sea bass, groundfish with certain gear types, and others.
The problem with turtles is that all species found in US waters are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as either threatened or endangered, which means they cannot be “taken” – caught, killed, or harmed in any way – without a NMFS-issued incidental take statement or an incidental take permit.
NMFS has the authority to grant these exceptions if it has information to determine that a particular fishing activity “is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the affected listed species.”
But for many fisheries, NMFS can’t make this determination because it has no information about turtle interactions. This puts everyone in a bad spot because “any incidental take of sea turtles in those fisheries is unlawful” without the ESA exemption.
Turtle factors
NMFS hopes to address the problem by gathering more information.
“The most effective way for NMFS to learn more about sea turtle-fishery interactions … is to place observers aboard fishing vessels,” the agency said.
NMFS selected the 19 listed fisheries based on: “the best available scientific, commercial, or other information regarding sea turtle-fishery interactions; sea turtle distribution; sea turtle strandings; fishing techniques; gears used; target species; seasons and areas fished; or qualitative data from logbooks or fisher reports.”
Fisheries also were selected because: the fishery operates in the same waters and at the same time as sea turtles are present or at the same time or prior to elevated sea turtle strandings; or the fishery uses a gear or technique that is known or likely to result in incidental turtle takes based on documented or reported takes in the same or similar fisheries.
No direct costs
Anyone involved in one of the 19 listed fisheries who is asked to carry an observer must legally do so except under specific exempted conditions, such as having a vessel that may be too small to accommodate an observer.
Vessels carrying turtle observers “will not incur any direct economic costs,” NMFS said, meaning the government will pay for the observer.
NMFS also said that “only a fraction of the total number of participants,” which amounts to 65,940 vessels among the 19 fisheries nationwide, will be asked to carry turtle observers based on a sampling protocol for each fishery by region.
Identified fisheries will remain on the list for five years. In the event that more time is needed to “obtain sufficient scientific data,” NMFS said it would include the fishery in the next list at the end of the five-year period.
Listed fisheries
Here are the 17 Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico fisheries on NMFS’s 2010 turtle observer list, along with NMFS estimates of the number of people involved.
• Northeast/Mid-Atlantic American Lobster Trap/Pot Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 13,000 vessels/persons who target American lobsters primarily with traps.
NMFS said it wanted to “obtain information on sea turtle bycatch and how sea turtles may be interacting with trap/pot gear, particularly in waters off of Massachusetts and waters south of this area.”
• Atlantic Shellfish Bottom Trawl Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 972 vessels/persons and encompasses: calico scallop trawls; crab trawl; Georgia/South Carolina/Maryland whelk trawls; Gulf of Maine/Mid-Atlantic sea scallop trawls; and Gulf of Maine northern shrimp trawls.
NMFS said it was “particularly interested in observing this fishery in waters off of Massachusetts and south as sea turtles more commonly occur in this area.”
• Mid-Atlantic Bottom Trawl Fishery – This fishery involves “less than 1,000 vessels/persons” and encompasses bottom trawl gear used to target bluefish, croaker, monkfish, summer flounder, winter flounder, whiting, spiny and smooth dogfish, scup, black sea bass, and other species. This category also covers the Mid-Atlantic flynet fishery.
• Mid-Atlantic Midwater Trawl Fishery – This fishery, which includes pair trawls, involves an estimated 620 vessels/persons who primarily target Atlantic mackerel, chub mackerel, and miscellaneous other pelagic species.
NMFS said it wanted to “more adequately observe this gear type in areas and during times where it overlaps with sea turtle distribution.”
• Northeast Sink Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves less than 6,455 vessels/persons who target Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, yellowtail flounder, American plaice, windowpane flounder, spiny dogfish, monkfish, silver hake, red hake, white hake, ocean pout, skates, mackerel, redfish, and shad.
• Atlantic Mixed Species Trap/Pot Fishery – This fishery involves an “unknown number of vessels/persons” who target hagfish, shrimp, conch/whelks, red crab, Jonah crab, rock crab, black sea bass, scup, tautog, cod, haddock, pollock, redfish, white hake, spot, skate, catfish, stone crab, and other species.
• Mid-Atlantic Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 7,596 vessels/persons who target monkfish, spiny and smooth dogfish, bluefish, weakfish, menhaden, spot, croaker, striped bass, large and small coastal sharks, Spanish and king mackerel, American shad, black drum, skates, yellow and white perch, herring, scup, kingfish, spotted seatrout, and butterfish.
For this fishery, NMFS said it planned to “focus observer coverage during times and in areas where sea turtles are known to occur.”
• Long Island Inshore Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 20 vessels/persons who set nets west of a line from the north fork of the eastern end of Long Island, NY to Watch Hill.
NMFS said it included this fishery because “sea turtles are known to occur in the same areas where the fishery operates and takes have been documented in similar gear types.”
• North Carolina Inshore Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 94 vessels/persons who target southern flounder, weakfish, bluefish, Atlantic croaker, striped mullet, spotted seatrout, Spanish mackerel, striped bass, spot, red and black drum, shad, and other species.
This category encompasses all gillnet gear, including set, drift, and runaround gillnets, used for any of the target species inshore of the COLREG lines in North Carolina.
• Southeastern US Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Trawl Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 18,000+ vessels/persons who target shrimp using various trawl types.
• Atlantic Blue Crab Trap/Pot Fishery – This fishery involves less than 16,000 vessels/persons who target blue crab using pots baited with fish or poultry typically set in rows in shallow water.
• Mid-Atlantic Haul/Beach Seine Fishery – This fishery involves more than 221 vessels/persons who target striped bass, mullet, spot, weakfish, sea trout, bluefish, and kingfish and harvest fish using seines with one end secured, such as swipe nets and long seines, as well as seines secured at both ends or anchored to the beach and hauled up on the beach.
• Mid-Atlantic Purse Seine Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 22 vessels/persons who target menhaden and thread herring using purse seine gear.
• Mid-Atlantic Mixed Species Stop Seine/Weir/Pound Net Fishery – This fishery, which does not include the North Carolina row mullet stop net fishery, involves an estimated 751 vessels/persons who target weakfish, striped bass, sharks, catfish, menhaden, flounder, gizzard shad, white perch, and other species.
• Chesapeake Bay Inshore Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 45 vessels/persons who target menhaden and croaker using gillnet gear with mesh sizes ranging from 2.75" to 5" depending on the target species.
• Southeast Atlantic Gillnet Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 779 vessels/persons who target a variety of finfish species. And
• Virginia Pound Net Fishery – This fishery involves an estimated 41 vessels/persons who target croaker, menhaden, mackerel, weakfish, spot, and other species using stationary gear in nearshore Virginia waters, primarily in Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
For more information, call Ellen Keane in NMFS’s Northeast Office at (978) 282-8476 or Kristy Long in NMFS’s Office of Protected Resources in Silver Spring at (301) 713-2322. /cfn/
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