>>Fishermen's Voice Monthly Newspaper, Gouldsboro Maine

Herring is an important part of the whales diet. Tuna and others also feed on herring, but the star quality of whales has brought to light the pressure that has impacted the resource in recent years. The importance of herring to the fishing industry is not well known beyond the industry. Within the industry the reduced stocks have caused concerned that has been largely overlooked. Photo: Fishermen’s Voice Files

NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — A seasonal ban on midwater trawling for herring in Area 1A was included by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) in their final recommendations for Amendment 1 to the Atlantic Herring Management Plan at their November meeting.

NEFMC essentially chose Alternative 7 for Amendment 1, which was also the alternative favored by many Maine lobster and herring fishermen, conservationists, and tuna fishermen.

The recommendation was expected to be finalized at this point, for submission to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in early January 2006 for their approval, and implementation as soon as possible.

However, NEFMC’s modifications of Alternative 7’s qualification criteria for limited entry, which determines which boats can fish in the various fishing zones, means the alternative must go back to NEFMC staff for a new impact analysis.

The analysis is expected to be completed by the NEFMC’s next meeting on Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2006 in Portland, Me., said NEFMC plan coordinator Lori Steele.

That would put submission of the amendment to NMFS in March, with implementation by the beginning of the next fishing year in January 2007. Parts of the amendment could be implemented sooner, said Steele, but it’s doubtful the portion most pertinent to many Maine interests — the ban on trawlers in 1A from June 1-Sept. 31 — will be ready in time to cover much, if any, of that season this year.

“The council wants to see the amendment implemented as soon as possible,” said Steele.

Although Alternative 7 remains essentially the same, she said, there is enough modification to warrant a new analysis.

It’s possible that proposed bycatch caps on haddock can be implemented this year, she said.

“It’s going to be up to people to put pressure on NMFS if they want it to move along faster,” she said.

It’s doubtful the trawl ban, which will provide for a purse seine and fixed gear-only season for all of Area 1A for the four months, will be able to move along faster, she said, due to the measure’s significant impact on trawl fishermen and the required review period the process entails.

The amendment’s seven alternatives consisted of combinations of limited access and purse seine/fixed gear-only (PS/FG) areas. Eligibility requirements were proposed for limited access permits.

Three of the alternatives provide for a purse seine/fixed gear-only area within inshore Area 1A, east of the 69-degree line, from June to September, but Alternative 7 was the only one to provide for an exclusive area for all of Area 1A.

The PS/FG area was a significant portion of Alternative 7 to remain intact, Steele said, so it’s expected to get NMFS approval.

“Although nothing’s a done deal with NMFS,” she added.

To that point, NMFS regional administrator Patricia Kurkul expressed her concerns with that measure in an Oct. 25 letter to NEFMC.

Kurkul noted the PS/FG area is being offered as an option due to concerns about localized depletion of herring in the inshore Gulf of Maine.

Kurkul writes there needs to be an explanation of how the PS/FG area would address this concern.

“Right now” Kurkul wrote, “the document states that there is no scientific evidence for localized depletion or any biological basis for distinguishing between midwater trawlers and purse seiners, and notes that the measure could provide an opportunity to ‘research differences between purse seines, fixed gear, and midwater trawls; and observe short-term/long-term changes in the ecosystem within the area where midwater trawling is restricted.’ Further confusing the issue,” she continues, NEFMC rejected such a proposal for an area east of Chatham, Mass.

Kurkul said the NEFMC must address the imbalance of benefits and costs to purse seiners and fixed gear fishermen as compared with trawlers, before moving forward with the measure.

Steele said the NMFS response raised concerns for NEFMC, but not enough to keep them from including the measure in their final recommendation.

As to the modifications to qualification criteria, it is unclear who will be affected or how, said Steele.

“Whether it excludes or allows more people, I don’t know,” she said.

The analysis will reveal the impacts, Steele added.

On the surface, Steele said, it appears the modification will allow more boats into Area 1. Changed is the qualifying time period for all limited access permits in Areas 1, 2 and 3, knocking five years off the back end and adding four years to the front end, making the qualifying time period Jan. 1, 1993-Dec. 31, 2003.

The change will allow more new entrants to stay in the fishery and will cut off fishermen who have an older history in the fishery but stopped fishing.

“There’s a lot of concern this will leave out historical participants,” Steele said.

Conversely, she said, NMFS had concerns about going back as far as 1988 and excluding more recent entrants.

The amendment summary is available at the council’s website, www.nefmc.org/herring.