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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 12
August 2005
Scallopers looking at new ’06-’07 rotation
PORTLAND, ME – Scallopers will be working under a revised area rotation schedule and new days-at-sea allocations during the 2006 and 2007 fishing years.
At its June 21-23 meeting here, the New England Fishery Management Council held its first public meeting on Framework Adjustment 18 to the federal scallop plan. The framework is the regulatory package that’ll contain the new fishing schedule and several other modifications to scallop fishing rules.
The council will hold its second framework meeting and make final decisions during its Sept. 13-15 session in Fairhaven, MA.
Meanwhile, the council’s scallop committee and advisers were working at full speed to finalize framework details for the general category fishery, the Elephant Trunk Area, crew size limits, and much more. The committee met on July 19 and was scheduled to meet again on Aug. 3 after Commercial Fisheries News went to press.
The sense of urgency was driven by the fact that the council needs to submit the framework to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) this fall so the agency can review, approve, and implement the new measures by March 1, the start of the 2006 fishing year.
Mid-Atlantic problem
For years now, the scallop fleet has been working in four “controlled-access” areas on a rotating basis – the Nantucket Lightship Closed Area, Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Hudson Canyon Area.
A fifth area came into play last year under Amendment 10 – the Elephant Trunk Area in the Mid-Atlantic. According to the scallop plan development team (PDT), abundance in this area is at “extraordinary levels.”
However, the PDT recently recommended that the Elephant Trunk Area remain closed until 2007 because many of the scallops are still small. Meanwhile, the Hudson Canyon area, which has been significantly fished down, is scheduled to revert to an “open” area in 2006.
This situation has created one of the biggest dilemmas confronting scallopers right now: If the Elephant Trunk Area doesn’t open in 2006 and Hudson Canyon is no longer an access area, scallopers in the Mid-Atlantic won’t have any controlled-access areas in their own backyard during the next fishing year.
Georges looks good
Based on scallop abundance, the PDT for the very first time recommended that Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Nantucket Lightship area be opened simultaneously during 2006. Industry has strongly supported this proposal.
“We do think it’s important to have access to all three areas of Georges Bank in 2006,” said attorney David Frulla, who represents the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF).
However, the proposed rotation schedule – if adopted – would pose a serious problem for Mid-Atlantic scallopers who wouldn’t have any close-to-home access areas and, therefore, nothing to swap their Georges Bank trips for. Scallopers have been able to trade trips between areas since Amendment 10 was implemented.
While it was far from certain that the PDT’s original rotation recommendation would hold up through two committee meetings and the council’s final vote in September, scallopers began scrambling right away to find a fix for the Mid-Atlantic void.
Leasing not possible
At the June meeting in Portland, the FSF asked the council to create a one-time leasing program so that Mid-Atlantic scallopers who couldn’t make the trip to Georges could lease their trips to, for example, New Bedford scallopers.
“We have a one-year situation where we have nothing to trade,” said Frulla. “We want a leasing program so permit holders can realize some economic compensation for those trips.”
Maine council member Jim Odlin made a motion to include the leasing proposal in Framework 18 but ended up withdrawing it after others raised concerns about whether leasing could be done through a framework action.
Nonetheless, Odlin stood firm by his intent.
“I think it’s unfair to take people who usually fish in the Mid-Atlantic close to shore and push them to fish on Georges. To me it’s a safety issue. There’s nothing more important than safety,” he said.
Scallop plan coordinator Andy Applegate explained that current regulations prohibit the council from putting forward a scallop leasing program without conducting “a full set of public hearings,” which would significantly delay Framework 18.
New Bedford vessel owner and gear supplier Harriet Didriksen expressed vehement opposition to the council even considering the idea.
“I don’t think any leasing is appropriate in any framework. I do not want to see it,” she said.
Finding an alternative
In the end, no one on the council was prepared to delay Framework 18 and risk putting the fleet in jeopardy come March 1.
The council charged its scallop committee with exploring ways to address the problem in some other fashion besides leasing, whether through a trip-exchange program between 2006 Georges Bank trips and 2007 Elephant Trunk trips or some other mechanism.
The issue was on the committee agendas for both the July 19 and Aug. 3 meetings.
Poundage vs. trips
Another issue the committee was exploring was whether vessels could be allocated a total poundage allowance for an access area instead of a fixed number of trips.
For example, instead of being allocated two 18,000-pound trips into an area, a vessel would be allocated 36,000 pounds that it could catch any way it wanted.
NMFS Northeast Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul strongly supported the approach. In an effort to simplify the framework, the scallop committee had put this item aside, to which Kurkul responded, “I was disappointed to see it dropped out.”
Following these words of encouragement, the council added the item back onto the list of measures that will be considered for inclusion in the framework.
Much more
The council and committee were working on several other provisions for the framework, including a “trigger adjustment mechanism” or “notice action” process to change the Elephant Trunk Area and open area specifications quickly if results from the 2005 or 2006 scallop surveys indicate modifications are warranted.
Framework 18 may also contain a proposal to raise the crew size limit to eight or nine men during controlled-access trips.
For more information, visit the council web site at <www.nefmc.org> or call Applegate at (978) 465-0492.
Janice M. Plante
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