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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 1
September 2006
ASMFC: No herring during spawning closures
CRYSTAL CITY, VA –- Except for a small bycatch allowance, fishermen will not be allowed to “fish for, take, land, or possess” herring during a spawning closure under a new rule adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Herring Section.
At it’s Aug. 14 meeting here, the section approved Technical Addendum I to Amendment 2 to the interstate herring plan, which “clarified” the section’s intent that no directed fishing whatsoever take place during closures.
States have to implement the zero-fishing-during-spawning-closures provision in time for the 2007 season.
The vote came as no surprise, but it still dealt a big blow to Maine fishermen, who for years have been working under a 20% tolerance rule. Fishing was allowed in spawning closure areas, as long as less than 20% of the herring onboard were in gonadal stages V and VI, representing “ripe and running” fish.
Industry representatives at the meeting argued that when ASMFC went out to public hearing with Amendment 2 in 2005, fishermen never thought the zero tolerance proposal involved zero fishing in spawning areas. They assumed it meant zero possession of “spawn” fish in stages V and VI.
“What this will do is cause a tremendous disruption in the bait market for weeks,” said Jeff Kaelin of Maine, representing the vessels Providian, AJ, and Atlantic Frost. “I just cannot understand what the rationale is for this approach from a biological perspective. Where’s the technical analysis for this?”
Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association, echoed those concerns. She found the commission’s vote to be particularly disturbing because she said the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) had done a good job of monitoring the 20% tolerance allowance.
“In the past, these closures have worked very well,” Tooley said. “They provided incentives for fishermen to move off of ripe and running fish. People have lost sight of the value and benefits of spawning closures in the Gulf of Maine.”
Maine’s view
Maine Commissioner George Lapointe said he considered ASMFC’s action to be wrong.
“We think the technical addendum is inappropriate for what is being asked,” he said.
Prior to the meeting, Maine’s ASMFC delegation – Lapointe, Pat White, and state Sen. Dennis Damon – spelled out in writing why they considered this to be so.
They said a technical addendum can only be used for “the correction of accidental omissions, erroneous inclusions, and/or to address nonsubstantive editorial issues.”
The delegation said the language in Technical Addendum I went far beyond that scope.
“Amendment 2 as passed by the section contained no language stating that the spawning areas were to be closed in their entirety,” the Maine delegation wrote. “Closing areas to fishing when the record shows that Maine could and did enforce spawning tolerance goes way beyond the criteria for which technical addenda are warranted.”
Solid defeat
The state lost that argument and, with little discussion, the herring section overwhelmingly voted to approve the technical addendum, ushering in the zero fishing provision.
Under ASMFC rules, individual states must now go back and implement the zero tolerance provision as clarified in Technical Addendum I. The technical addendum contains a bycatch allowance so vessels may possess up to 2,000 pounds of herring per trip during a spawning closure, and it also includes a transiting provision for vessels with properly stowed gear.
The Maine DMR recently adopted new regulations that, according to state officials, meet what they consider to be the original intent of Amendment 2. The new Maine regulations completely prohibit fishing on “spawn” herring – those in stages V and VI – during spawning closures.
The DMR action eliminated the state’s previous 20% tolerance provision but still allows fishing during spawning closures, as long as vessels possess zero stage V or VI herring.
Next year, ASMFC will review each state’s record to determine whether member states are in compliance with existing commission-approved regulations.
For more info on how the herring section got to this point, see CFN July 2006.
Janice M. Plante
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