C O M I N G W O R K S H O P S
Workshop on Catch Share
Programs on Tap
by Laurie Schreiber
Identified as a 2011 priority by the New England Fisheries Management Council, a workshop on catch share programs is in the planning stage for Oct. 18-19.
Former Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe is heading up the steering committee that is planning the workshop. Lapointe presented the plans, to date, to the NEFMC at their April 26-28 meeting.
In his presentation, Lapointe said that the goal of the workshop is to develop comprehensive guidance for the development and implementation of catch share programs in New England fisheries.
The workshop, he said, will provide information “about the positive and negative impacts of catch share systems within and among sectors or communities using experiences and lessons learned from different fisheries and regions.”
LaPointe explained that the workshop will compare impacts of catch share systems with measures that reducing fishing mortality through lower catch limits, consider social and economic impacts of catch share systems, as well as consider the integration of catch share systems and evaluations of the systems in the development of future fishery management plan actions.
NEFMC member David Pierce said the workshop “is going to be pretty aggressive in its approach, since it’s comprehensive.”
Pierce asked the steering committee to consider whether it had too many objectives to address in one workshop.
“I think the feeling on the committee is – if you’re trying to put together a strategy and implementation of catch shares – if you don’t deal with it comprehensively, the risk is that you end up dealing with some of the issues and then later on you have to deal with other issues, and they’re hard to mesh together at a later date," said LaPointe, adding that the workshop will be for NEFMC members and a broader group of stakeholders.
The groundfish fishery in New England has had numerous implementation issues relative to the development of its catch share system, and lessons there and elsewhere will be shared at the workshop, but the workshop is aimed at all fisheries with catch share aspects, he said.
Workshop To Replace Council’s Committee Process
The New England Council’s Groundfish Committee, along with its Advisory Panel, Plan Development Team and socio-economic experts from the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, will participate in a facilitated workshop on the subject of accumulation limits for the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan. The workshop format will replace the committee’s standard decision-making process. Fishermen and any interested parties are invited and will have opportunities to comment during the day.
The purpose of the workshop is to explore issues associated with accumulation limits and relevant fleet diversity measures. This group will not revisit the allocation structure for Potential Sector Contributions determined in Amendment 16 to the Groundfish Plan. Recommendations to manage excessive shares in the fishery will be developed for Council consideration at its June 2011 meeting.