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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 12
August 2008
SMAST video survey finds seed scallops
NEW BEDFORD, MA – Underwater images from the 2008 scallop video survey have revealed the presence of seed scallops in the Delmarva closed area in the Mid-Atlantic.
“This is a very good sign for the future,” said video survey Program Manager Mike Marino of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST).
Survey data showed an expected decrease in biomass in Hudson Canyon and the Elephant Trunk Access Area, which both have been subject to recent harvesting activity under the scallop rotational area management program.
But the Elephant Trunk continues to have the highest densities of scallops anywhere resource-wide. Furthermore, open areas in the Mid-Atlantic were also showing increases in scallop abundance.
These new findings were welcome news for sure, but Marino said, “The real surprise for us was Delmarva. Not only did we see growth in the scallops that were already there, but we saw a lot of seed.”
All told, SMAST’s overall 2008 biomass estimate for the Mid-Atlantic – in terms of meat weight based on the video survey – has settled out at 187.2 million pounds, up 10 million pounds over last year, Marino said.
Biomass estimates for Georges Bank were still being calculated at press time, and final numbers for 2008 were expected to be available in August.
Based on last summer’s video survey, biomass totals for 2007 were 193 million pounds for Georges Bank and 177.6 million pounds for the Mid-Atlantic, adding up to 370.6 million pounds resource-wide.
Great South Channel
Video survey participants saw a different picture in the Great South Channel. Simply put, they didn’t see very many scallops.
Furthermore, said Marino, “We really didn’t see any recruitment in there, so that’s something that needs to be on the radar of industry for the next few years.”
According to Kevin Stokesbury, chair of SMAST’s Department of Fisheries Oceanography, this is exactly what the video survey is meant to do – give industry a heads-up about recruitment levels and future stock status.
Furthermore, given the changeover in the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) annual scallop dredge survey from the Albatross IV to the Hugh R. Sharp, Stokesbury believes the video survey has taken on an especially prominent role.
“I do think this year’s video survey is more critical than ever,” he said. “It’s the only continual survey that’s going to bridge the whole transition period that the fisheries service is going through.”
Furthermore, the scallop fleet seems to have embraced the video survey even more strongly than previous years.
“It gives them a level of certainty in a time of great uncertainty,” Stokesbury said.
Industry donations
The commercial scallop industry has strongly supported SMAST’s full-scale, resource-wide video surveys since 2003.
But this year’s support outmatched all others. Despite tightening budgets, staggering fuel costs, and a new regulatory landscape dealing with a reshaped general category fishery, over one-third of the full-time limited-access fleet donated money to make the video survey happen in 2008.
All together, 119 vessels and numerous shoreside support companies donated more than $134,000 in cash, fuel, food, and other services.
New Bedford Ship Supply covered food costs for every one of the survey cruises, as the company has done since 2003, and the fuel industry’s support for the survey was nothing short of remarkable.
“We were really worried about the fuel costs for this year’s survey, but the fuel companies donated a lot,” said Stokesbury.
Marino added, “We really didn’t expect the increased amount of support we got from the fuel industry in light of soaring fuel prices.”
Fuel contributors, all from New Bedford, included: Bay Fuels; Sea Fuels; Dockside Repairs; Warrior Fuel Corp.; and Hansen Scalloping Inc., owner of the fishing vessel Endeavor, which also carried out one of the survey cruises.
Participating vessels – Liberty, Courageous, Ranger, Guidance, Chief & Clyde, Endeavor, and Diligence – all donated the use of the vessels. Only the crews received compensation, and some vessels outright donated either the captain’s time or the crew’s time.
Furthermore, Marino emphasized that, although most of the vessels and support companies donating resources are located in New Bedford, the survey overall is financially supported by vessel owners from Virginia Beach to Barnegat Light and north – all of whom make hard cash donations.
“This is really an industry-wide supported survey,” he said.
Staunch defenders
The fact that the video survey is fiercely supported by industry became abundantly clear during the New England Fishery Management Council’s June 3-5 meeting in Portland, ME.
There, industry members raised questions about NMFS’s transition from the Albatross to the Sharp and demanded to know why the council didn’t put more weight on the video survey.
Harriet Didriksen, owner of both New Bedford Ship Supply and a scallop vessel, said of the SMAST video survey, “I think this is the survey that has proven itself to be the best.”
She asked, “Why would you not want to stay with something tried and true? Why would you want to experiment (with a new dredge survey) when something has been going reasonably well and you could build on it? I think we should continue with what we’ve got with the university survey.”
Former scalloper Jim Kendall, now of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, considered the SMAST video survey data to be “the best available science.”
“The Magnuson-Stevens Act compels you to use the best science, and right now, the best science that is available is the SMAST camera survey,” he said.
“Bring the other science forward, but don’t put it ahead of your best available,” Kendall continued. “The SMAST survey proves what we have on the bottom.”
Deirdre Boelke, the council’s scallop plan coordinator and chair of the scallop plan development team (PDT), assured audience members that the PDT was working with SMAST researchers and had added one of them to the PDT to help the team better incorporate video survey data into the big stock status picture.
“We are definitely using all the sources of data available, and we have every intention of continuing to do that,” Boelke said.
Janice M. Plante
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