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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 12
August 2006
Scallopers back to paying for observers they carry
GLOUCESTER, MA – The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) took emergency action in mid-June to reactivate the scallop fishery’s industry-funded observer program, which was put on hold two years ago.
Most of the fleet expected the action, and NMFS timed the emergency rule to coincide with the beginning of the 2006 rotational access-area program, which was officially implemented on June 15 through Framework Adjustment 18 to the federal scallop plan.
Beginning in 1999, scallopers made direct payments to an independent contractor to cover observer costs. But in June 2004, NMFS didn’t renew the arrangement due to “unresolved concerns” about using a sole-source industry-funded observer provider.
Instead, NMFS’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center resumed funding scallop observers through its regular observer program. But once the center received its significantly reduced fiscal year 2006 budget in February, it realized the program wouldn’t be able to provide adequate levels of coverage for scallops.
Observer coverage in the scallop fishery is important to monitor finfish bycatch, especially for yellowtail flounder, as well as turtle interactions, according to NMFS.
The agency said it went ahead with the emergency rule only after determining that it couldn’t provide sufficient scallop observer coverage “through any other mechanism.”
Costs, contractors
Scallopers in the past were willing to pay for coverage to avoid any potential fishing delays due to a lack of available observers or concerns over data quality.
Framework 18 contains two set-aside provisions that help compensate scallopers – either in terms of the number of days they’re charged or the pounds they’re allowed to retain – to defray observer costs.
Although service providers are responsible for setting daily observer costs under the industry-funded program, NMFS said it expected the total to average $750-$1,000 per day.
At press time, the only authorized observer provider was AIS Inc. in New Bedford, but the emergency rule contains details for how additional contractors can apply for approval.
NMFS will post any new authorized contractors, as well as a “planned schedule of observer deployments,” on the Internet at <www.nefsc.noaa.gov/femad/fsb>.
2006 allocations
Framework 18, which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council, contains the following trip allocations for the 2006 fishing year, which began on March 1:
• Full-time boats – two trips into the Nantucket Lightship Closed Area and three trips into Closed Area II plus 52 open-area days;
• Part-time boats – two trips total under one of three options, which scallopers can choose: a) one trip into Closed Area II and one into the lightship area, b) two trips into Closed Area II and zero into the lightship area, or c) two trips into the lightship area and zero into Closed Area II, plus 21 open-area days;
• Occasional boats – one trip total into either Closed Area II or the lightship area, plus four open-area days; and
• General category boats – 577 trips fleet-wide into the Nantucket Lightship area, all of which were taken by July 13 (see story this page), and 865 trips fleet-wide into Closed Area II.
The Hudson Canyon Access Area is only open during 2006 to general category vessels and to limited-access vessels with unused 2005 Hudson Canyon trips.
On July 20, NMFS shut down the Nantucket Lightship area to limited-access vessels to prevent the fleet from exceeding its yellowtail flounder bycatch allowance. More on that below.
Set-asides
Of Framework 18’s two set-aside provisions, one involves days-at-sea for open-area fishing, and the other involves a total allowable catch (TAC) set-aside for access-area fishing.
For the 2006 fishing year, the open-area set-aside is 165 days. Any limited-access vessel fishing on an open-area day while carrying an observer will have its time accrue at the rate of 0.85 days-at-sea for each day fished.
That means a vessel on a 10-day trip would be charged 8.5 days, and could use the remaining 1.5 days on a subsequent trip. The 1.5 days would be deducted from the set-aside pool of 165 days.
Under the access-area TAC set-aside, any limited-access or general category vessel asked to carry an observer on an access-area trip will be able to possess and land an additional 400 pounds of scallops per day to help defray observer costs.
The limited-access vessel trip limit in access areas is 18,000 pounds. So, for a five-day trip, a vessel carrying an observer would be able to land an extra 2,000 pounds for a total of 20,000 pounds.
A general category boat on a two-day trip into an access area would receive an additional 800 pounds – plus its 400-pound possession limit – for a grand total of 1,200 pounds, according to NMFS.
The access-area TAC set-asides for 2006 are:
• Nantucket Lightship Closed Area – 115,390 pounds;
• Closed Area II – 173,085 pounds; and
• Hudson Canyon Access Area – 149,562 pounds.
NMFS emphasized that once the available days-at-sea and/or TAC set-asides are fully utilized, scallopers asked to carry observers on access-area trips or, for the limited-access fleet, on open-area trips, still will be responsible for paying all costs of the observer without additional compensation.
Yellowtail
Framework 18 contains numerous other modifications to the scallop rotational management program for the 2006 and 2007 fishing years, and it also contains yellowtail flounder bycatch TACs for all scallopers working in the access areas, including general category boats.
If the yellowtail TACs are reached, the affected access area will be closed to scallop vessels for the rest of the fishing year. Furthermore, if the groundfish fleet is projected to harvest 100% of the Georges Bank US/Canada Management Area yellowtail TAC of 2,070 mt, scallopers will no longer be able to retain yellowtail from Closed Area II.
For the 2006 fishing year, the yellowtail TAC for the Nantucket Lightship area was only 31,544 pounds. With heavy fishing pressure in the area following the June 15 opening, the TAC was taken quickly and, on July 20, NMFS shut down the lightship area to prevent the yellowtail bycatch allowance from being exceeded.
As allowed for in Framework 18, NMFS now will allocate 4.9 additional open-area days to scallopers with unused Nantucket trips, and it will address unused “compensation trips” that were supposed to be taken in Nantucket in exchange for broken trips though a different formula.
For Closed Area II, the yellowtail TAC is 447,230 pounds.
These bycatch allowances equal 9.8% of the 2006 yellowtail TAC for the groundfish fleet.
General category boats are prohibited from possessing any species other than scallops, but vessels are required to report their yellowtail discards on a daily basis through their vessel monitoring systems. This bycatch will be deducted from the available yellowtail TAC for the area.
For more information about Framework 18, call NMFS at (978) 281-9315. For more information about the industry-funded observer program, call the observer program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center at (508) 495-2262 or (508) 495-2338.
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