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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 1
September 2005
Cape netters apply for fixed gear cod sector
CHATHAM, MA - Following the path cleared by hook fishermen last year, a group of gillnetters has applied to the New England Fishery Management Council for a sector allocation of Georges Bank cod as provided for under Amendment 13 to the groundfish plan.
If the council approves the proposal as part of Framework 42 when the framework comes up for a final vote in November, the group plans to formally incorporate as the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector.
The sector would be comprised of 20 Chatham and Harwich Port, MA-based businesses run by approximately 17 individual fishermen, some of whom own multiple boats. Just about all of them have fished gillnets and tub trawl hook-and-line gear and are proposing to have the flexibility to catch their cod allocation with both.
Although they work out of the same ports, the fishermen in this proposed fixed gear sector would be different than those in the Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector, which received an allocation of 11.15 percent of the Georges Bank cod total allowable catch (TAC) for this fishing year.
The formula for establishing sectors was laid out in Amendment 13. Based on the fishing histories of the participating vessels during the qualifying period between 1996 and 2001, the fixed gear sector, if approved, would anticipate receiving an allocation of approximately 13 percent of the Georges Bank cod TAC.
Little choice
Making the commitment to form a new sector wasn’t taken lightly by the gillnetters involved. It has and will continue to take a lot of time and money. But the way these guys see it, they didn’t have much choice.
“I’ve been fishing for 36 years,” said Chatham gillnetter Stuart Tolley during a meeting of several gillnetters and their advisers with Commercial Fisheries News at the office of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) in early August.
“We were always primarily cod fishermen. Now it’s a bycatch,” Tolley said. “We wanted to get away from discarding and set a time of year when we could target cod. A majority of us gillnetters got together and talked with the hook guys and decided the sector was the way to go.”
With the assistance of the CCCHFA, the gillnetters hired fisheries consultant Eric Brazer Jr. to help them put together the sector application, write up a sector operations plan, and prepare a draft environmental assessment (DEA) outlining the expected effects of creating the fixed gear sector.
Income loss
In explaining the need for the sector, the DEA cited this statement in Amendment 13: “The largest reduction in annual fishing income would be in the port group of Chatham/Harwich, with three-fourths of all vessels losing at least 29.7 percent of fishing revenue and half of all vessels losing more than half of (their) fishing income.”
The citation went on to say that the loss of fishing income would be directly related to the reduction in the Georges Bank cod trip limit.
In the face of such dire predictions, the gillnetters agreed that forming a sector would give them the opportunity to set their own ground rules for how to catch their limited cod allocation and the flexibility to end wasteful discards and low trip limits that made it impossible to break even.
“This is a chance to change the format of what we’re doing now,” said Chatham gillnetter John Our. “Some days I have 200 pounds on a string. The next day it’s 800 to 1,000 pounds. For management, it can’t be the same brush used for drag, hook, and gillnet gear.”
Operating contract
Participation in the sector is completely voluntary. If and when the sector is approved, those gillnetters who opt to participate must sign the Cape Cod Fixed Gear Sector Operations Plan and Agreement, a legally valid document that is binding and enforceable against each sector member.
Each member will commit to the sector for a minimum of three full fishing years and agree not to fish outside the sector under a multispecies days-at-sea program during that time.
Anyone who leaves the sector before the three years is up will pay penalties and be barred from participating in the sector for five years. There will also be restrictions on the sale, lease, and/or transfer of any participating vessel or permit.
Each member will agree to pay, through dues and/or assessments, a share of the sector’s expenses. Among these expenses are start-up costs, ongoing costs of retaining a manager to track landings and enforce the plan, and costs for professional representation in Washington, DC.
Right now, that cost is expected to be approximately $100,000 annually, or about $5,000 per year per participating fishing business.
Prospective new members will be able to apply to the fixed gear sector board of directors, but will have to do so at least 120 calendar days before the start of the fishing year.
Fishing restrictions
The sector is developing a two-tiered system for allocating the sector quota to its members. This system will involve individual quotas, as well as a 10 percent quota set-aside that will serve as insurance against anyone exceeding their individual allocation.
Members will be required to abide by a long list of fishing restrictions. As a group, sector members will agree not to exceed their Georges Bank cod allocation. The transfer and leasing of days-at-sea will only be allowed to occur within the sector.
All sector vessels will have to call the sector manager before leaving port and will be required to land only at designated ports in Chatham and Harwich.
Sector vessels will only be allowed to fish with gillnets, longlines, or jigs while targeting multispecies. All sector vessels will be required to retain and land all legal-sized Georges Bank cod harvested. While each vessel must not exceed its cod allocation, there will be no specific trip limits for cod. Federal trip limits for other species will still apply.
As proposed, sector vessels will be allowed to fish during the May seasonal closure, with hooks only, and will be limited to 4,500 hooks.
“A big component of a sector is self-enforcement,” said John Pappalardo, CCCHFA’s policy analyst, who also serves as the manager of the Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector.
“Now, if you screw up and get caught it impacts not only you, but the sector and the other guys, and the manager is obligated to report it within 24 hours,” he said. “I have the authority to call up a captain and tell him, ‘You can’t sail until we talk. You can’t land until we talk.’ This is on top of National Marine Fisheries Service enforcement.”
Controversy
The gillnetters are well aware that their bid for sector status is controversial in some parts of the region, but they reject the idea that giving them control over a portion of the annual Georges Bank cod quota will have a negative impact on any other fishing communities.
“We’re not asking for any more than we’re presently getting,” said Our.
Added Harwich Port gillnetter Jan Margeson, “I think everyone’s afraid of having everything allocated. There’s a real fear of the unknown.”
The gillnetters also pointed out that their fishing area will be restricted to Georges Bank.
“I would think the guys in the Gulf of Maine would be happy that these guys won’t be fishing in their backyards,” said Brazer.
Pappalardo also pointed to some positive changes that have happened since the hook sector was formed and predicted similar results for the fixed gear sector.
“Before, you had 58 boats that competed with each other over fishing grounds and buyers. Now, they have to sit together and develop rules that pass the straight-face test,” he said. “There’s more parity in the decision-making process.”
Bottom line
When it comes down to it, the gillnetters are pursuing the fixed gear sector designation for three main reasons, according to Brazer.
“First, with the current trip limits, these guys are having to discard legal-sized cod. Under the sector, they won’t. Second, the sector is a way to preserve their businesses, culture, and way of life. The cod stock assessment will continue to result in cuts in days-at-sea and trip limits that will make it almost impossible to make a living,” Brazer explained.
“Third, there are social benefits. The sector will enable these guys to maximize their political voice. They will be able to attend meetings as a formal organization,” he said. “It’s an expensive and rigorous process, but there are a lot of benefits.”
John Our put it a little more simply.
“We’re just asking not to have to discard cod anymore,” he said.
Lorelei Stevens
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