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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 12
August 2009
Council rejects drop chains in SNE/MA area
PORTLAND, ME – New York fishermen in particular let out a huge sigh of relief when the New England Fishery Management Council agreed on June 25 to eliminate a proposed drop-chain requirement from Amendment 16.
The proposal called for all vessels – in any fishery – to use drop chains of at least 12" on all bottom trawl gear with codends smaller than 6-1/2" throughout much of Southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic. In the Amendment 16 public hearing document, this proposal was called the “Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Small-Mesh Fisheries Gear Requirement.”
The innovative drop-chain/net design was put forward by Rhode Island fishermen and gear experts as a means of reducing winter flounder bycatch. Winter flounder is one of the groundfish stocks thought to be in the poorest condition and is driving the extremely restrictive measures in Amendment 16.
But the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association fiercely fought the provision, arguing that the drop chain requirement would make it impossible to economically fish for squid, scup, and other small-mesh species.
“What troubles us the most is there’s no data and no research and no economic impact analysis,” said Bonnie Brady, the association’s executive director. “To do this without having peer review from the fishermen themselves is patently unfair. We’re saying, ‘Get more science. Please.’”
Brady emphasized that the drop chain requirement would not only impact Long Island fishermen. Rhode Island and New Jersey fishermen would be hit hard as well.
Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation asked the council to consider the consequences of eliminating the drop chain requirement.
“If this bycatch issue isn’t solved, we’re looking at an area closure that will have a far greater impact,” he said. “I encourage you to keep pushing this process forward so we can implement the gear if it works without a plan amendment.”
Gear trials needed
Jeff Kaelin, representing Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, NJ and the Garden State Seafood Association, said most of the winter flounder bycatch was occurring seasonally and in a smaller area than the council’s proposed drop chain area.
“We think the area in the document is broader than necessary,” he said.
Boundaries aside, Kaelin said, “We don’t want to use this gear until it’s been tested and we know the impacts on other fisheries.”
Recognizing the potential ramifications of not addressing the winter flounder bycatch issue, Kaelin concluded, “We do need a placeholder in this amendment to allow the use of alternative gear in the area.”
Joel Hovanesian of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance echoed that stance.
“I don’t think this is something we should be moving forward with at the moment but somewhere down the line when it’s appropriate,” he said.
Hovanesian urged the council to give industry the leeway it needed to alter the gear during testing.
“We need to have some flexibility so boats can adjust these nets to make them work,” he said. “You need to leave room for tweaking.”
Jonathan Knight of Superior Trawl in Narragansett, RI agreed.
“I think this net can be made to work efficiently and catch selected species, but to lock us in to an unadjustable product is just not what we need to do,” he said.
Not ready yet
The council attempted to craft a two-fold motion to first allow the gear to be fully tested before making it mandatory and also give the National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator the authority to approve and implement the appropriate gear without another formal council action.
But the council struggled to find the right way to make this work and, in the end, voted to simply move the drop chain requirement to the “considered but rejected” portion of Amendment 16.
Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Nancy Thompson told the council that the center was already planning to conduct gear trials with the proposed net design.
“This is a project we’re actually considering under cooperative research,” she said. “We are going to pursue work on this.”
Janice M. Plante
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