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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 12
August 2007
Haddock discard problem on Georges grows
PORTLAND, ME – Hoping to stem the enormous haddock discard problem on Georges Bank, the New England Fishery Management Council has asked the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take immediate action to reduce the minimum size from 19" to 17".
The council’s request is for Georges Bank haddock only and not for the Gulf of Maine stock, which is rebuilding at a slower rate and is not experiencing the same level of discard mortality.
The problem on Georges comes from the staggering size of the 2003 year class, which is possibly the largest on record. The fish from this year class are growing exceptionally slowly, and scientists now predict they won’t reach 19" until sometime in 2008 when they’ll turn five years old. According to the council, that’s two years later than other recent haddock year classes have recruited into the fishery.
Fishermen working on Georges Bank have found it impossible to avoid undersized haddock and, as a result, discarding has become a common though widely distained practice. One fisherman reported throwing over five fish for every keeper on a trip in May. Official NMFS statistics indicate that discards so far this fishing year have been roughly equal to landings.
“It just seems to me to be a total crime to be wasting this fish,” said Maine council member Jim Odlin at the council’s June 19-21 meeting in Portland.
“I don’t think we need to let it happen,” he said. “We’re not catching anywhere near the TAC for this stock. All I want to do is turn waste into something other than waste.”
For the past three fishing years, the US has harvested less than 10% of the overall total allowable catch (TAC) for Georges Bank haddock. The council staff estimated that 2006 discards from the stock resulted in a $3 million loss in revenue to the fleet.
Canadians catching it
The Canadians, on the other hand, are harvesting a far greater percentage of their Georges Bank haddock quota, and this was affecting domestic harvesters, processors, and dealers, according to Rich Canastra of the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction in New Bedford.
“We never got a share of our quota, yet the fish are being caught in Canada. They’re coming down from Canada as fillets “ he said.
As for the US discard problem, Canastra added, “The fish are dying. Either you’re going to give it to lobsters or your scavenger fish or you’re going to give it to US consumers. It’s not going to be a targeted fishery for 17" and 18" haddock. The market would not pay the price for that size fish. What we’re asking for is that it be able to be landed. This is a big sin when we throw fish over that we rebuilt.”
Hank Soule, general manager of the Portland Fish Exchange, added, “It certainly would be nice for some of our US processors to process some of that fish.”
Two views
July 21 was the day the council focused on groundfish issues. The meeting room at the Eastland Park Hotel was packed, and everyone in attendance – council members, commercial and recreational fishermen, environmentalists, and scientists – universally agreed that the discard problem was bad. Bad for the fish. Bad for the fishermen. And a total waste of a valuable resource.
But figuring out how to fix the situation turned out to be anything but straightforward, and, in the end, the council’s vote seeking an immediate reduction in the minimum size to 17" passed by only one vote. The final count was 9-8.
“I know there’s a big discard issue out there, but why can’t we look at other measures to prevent discards?” asked New Hampshire council member John Nelson. “This is definitely the wrong way to go.”
Rhode Island council member Mark Gibson was of a similar mind.
“I think there are alternative ways to deal with discard problems other than altering the spawning stock biomass,” he said. “You have to think of this more in a long-term equilibrium sense.”
On the other hand, Massachusetts council member Rip Cunningham, chairman of the council’s groundfish committee, said he “cautiously” supported action to temporarily reduce the minimum size.
“It is a way to change some of this discard waste into a real product that can be landed,” he said. “The TAC is not being reached on this fish.”
Rhode Island council member David Preble said, “This is an immediate problem and I think what we have here is a measured response.”
Science center
The council was considering the minimum size reduction request – to be made either through emergency action or through the NMFS regional administrator’s authority to modify rules in the US/Canada Management Area – as a one-year, temporary solution to the discard problem.
According to Jim Weinberg of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, scientists determined that Georges Bank haddock from the 2003 year class caught during the center’s spring bottom trawl survey averaged 16.6" in total length.
Center scientists predict those fish will reach a total length of 18.2" by the fall of 2007. However, the fish – like last year – are not expected to grow much at all over the winter and will likely still be around 18.2" by the spring of 2008, said Weinberg.
Under emergency action, NMFS, through the secretary of commerce, can implement regulations for 180 days and then extend them for a second 180-day period.
A 360-day extended action – if implemented this summer – could possibly cover the bulk of the time undersize haddock are expected to dominate the catch on Georges Bank, according to fishermen who support the move.
What about 18"?
Given the new science center information and his own experience on the water, New Hampshire council member David Goethel attempted to gain council support to ask NMFS to lower the minimum size to 18" instead of 17".
Goethel also wanted the 18" size to apply resource-wide – on Georges and in the Gulf of Maine – because the council’s enforcement committee recommended sticking with a single size to enhance enforcement.
“This has been a tough one for me because I fundamentally believe we need minimum fish sizes to deter bad behavior,” he said. “If we go too small, we’re creating incentives to do bad things, and I think 17" is too small.”
Goethel supported taking the 18" middle ground to reduce the significant discard problem.
Furthermore, he said, “Haddock survival is poor among discards. You toss them back and they don’t live. They’re feeding sea gulls and lobsters.”
But Rhode Island council member Phil Ruhle couldn’t support 18".
“In my estimation, the 17" fish on Georges is the proper thing to do.”
By not being able to work effectively on the extremely large haddock resource, Ruhle worried that fishermen were being put in the difficult position of having to shift effort onto other species, some of which would be far better off without the extra effort.
“We need to think about what this is doing to every other fishery on Georges,” Ruhle said. “By not being allowed to fish on these haddock, it just forces boats on the other end and pushes them to yellowtail or monkfish or something else.”
The council’s vote for 18" resource-wide failed 6-8.
Two different sizes?
That put the council back on the 17" discussion. While many on the council were sympathetic to the enforcement predicament, members in general appeared even more concerned about allowing people to harvest 17" haddock in the Gulf of Maine.
Several insisted that enforcing two different minimum sizes – 19" in the Gulf of Maine and 17" on Georges – shouldn’t pose a problem, especially since boats carry VMSs and declare into the Georges Bank fishery.
Furthermore, Maine council member Jim Salisbury said, “We have a situation where the bulk of this haddock will be landed at one of the three auction sites, so there will be an ability to enforce this at the first point of landing.”
Hank Soule agreed. He said enforcement agents stop by the Portland Fish Exchange almost daily to measure fish and ensure that regulations are being adhered to. Soule also emphasized that until recently, the minimum size on monkfish was different in the north vs. the south, and several different trip limits have been set for different yellowtail flounder stocks, and those differences have been manageable.
Criteria met?
Then the council shifted to considering a request for 17" haddock only on Georges Bank.
Many still had concerns.
Mike Flaherty, a recreational fisherman from Wareham, MA, said, “I really can’t believe we’re discussing this. All you’re doing is instead of fixing the problem, you’re accommodating the shortcomings of the gear.”
Gib Brogan of Oceana questioned the use of emergency action to address the problem.
According to NMFS’s published guidelines, secretarial emergency action can be taken only if the situation:
“Results from recent, unforeseen events or recently discovered circumstances;”
“Presents serious conservation or management problems in the fishery;” and
“Can be addressed through emergency regulations for which the immediate benefits outweigh the value of advance notice, public comment, and deliberative consideration of the impacts on participants to the same extent as would be expected under the normal rule-making process.”
Brogan said, “I don’t think this meets those criteria. I think this is something that needs to go through the full council process.”
Unforeseen problem
The council staff, however, had researched the emergency action criteria thoroughly and distributed a memo addressing each of the points.
The enormous size of the 2003 year class “was not anticipated during the development of Amendment 13, as can be seen by the stock size projections in that document,” stated the memo.
Furthermore, “The magnitude of the discards in 2006 only recently became available as observer reports were entered into the data bases,” it continued.
The memo described the discarding situation as “wasteful,” saying it “conflicts with the guidance of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to reduce bycatch as much as possible.”
It also said, “Wasteful discards of Georges Bank haddock can be reduced by lowering the minimum size to 17". … This will nearly eliminate discards of the 2003 year class if implemented over the next six months.”
Final vote
As the discussion reached its end, the council clearly remained divided on the 17" emergency action request for Georges Bank haddock.
“I never expected I would support reducing a minimum size,” said Massachusetts council member David Pierce.
But he, like several others, viewed it this way.
“This really is considered to be a crisis situation and quite unique. It would be for only one year by emergency action. If we can do anything to reduce that amount of discarding, so be it,” he said.
Pierce was on the “yes” side of the 9-8 vote.
At press time, NMFS was still considering the request and had not announced a decision.
Janice M. Plante
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