“NAMA, with its partners throughout New England, is working on a number of strategies to develop long-term, sustainable solutions to New England’s fisheries woes,” Pendleton wrote. “However, these efforts may be overshadowed by the imminent threat to the short-term survivability of commercial fishermen and whole fishing communities. Continued cuts in DAS, as well as the seeming lack of fish have lowered landings, and therefore income.” Plan coordinator Tom Nies said NEFMC will accept alternative management systems for the 2009 adjustment, when it announces in the Federal Register its intent to prepare an amendment and environmental impact statement, at which time there will also be an announcement for scoping hearings. “Alternative management systems can either be presented at the hearings or mailed to the council before the end of the scoping period,” Nies said. “We are pinning down the details for the hearings, but at present it looks like they will be held the last week of November and first week of December.” In order to facilitate preparation of alternative systems, said Nies, the council intends to publish standards or principles that must be met. It is expected, Nies said, the council will begin discussions this month regarding which results from the current system should be promoted or discouraged, as part of the process for figuring out which principles should be adopted for the next action. The new measure comes in the wake of the August 2005 Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting, which indicated measures to date don’t achieve Amendment 13 mortality objectives for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod, Cape Cod/GOM yellowtail flounder, Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder, GB winter flounder, Southern New England (SNE) /Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, and white hake. An emergency action implemented this past May initiated measures to reduce mortality while FW42 was being completed. A13 is intended to rebuild most stocks by 2014. But results indicate fishing rates on the seven stocks were higher than called for at that point in the plan’s gradual reduction schedule. In 2008, stock condition and fishery activity will be reviewed again and, if necessary, steps taken to ensure effort reduction and rebuilding goals are met. FW42 doesn’t change DAS measures, nor the number of DAS allocated to vessels on May 1, 2006. Vessels will continue to get Category A and B DAS based on the A13 baseline: 55 percent Category A DAS and 45 percent Category B DAS. No changes to current allocations are anticipated until May 2009. The modification comes in what is called differential DAS counting. All Category A DAS used within the two specific areas will be charged at a rate of two for every one used. These differential DAS counting areas, or differential areas, are the primary means to achieve the mortality reductions for overfished stocks. For example, a trawl vessel fishing in the GOM differential area for 10 hours will be charged for 20 hours of DAS use. The measure also includes new trip limits when fishing under a Category A DAS; and revised clock-running rules for cod, i.e., a vessel in the GOM or the SNE differential area will not be required to run its clock to account for an extra day’s worth of cod catch. FW42 renews the Regular B DAS Program in order to continue limited access opportunities for using regular B DAS outside of special access programs to target stocks that can withstand additional fishing effort. But because of the need to reduce mortality on cod and other stocks of concern, modifications include certain area restrictions, gear requirements, quarterly DAS limits, revised requirements for flipping from a Regular B DAS to a Category A DAS, and possession and landing limits. The DAS Leasing Program, as adopted under A13, is continued indefinitely, as is the DAS transfer program, with some modification to make it less restrictive — notably, the elimination of the rule requiring the vessel transferring its DAS permit to exit all state and federal fisheries; those vessels will now be allowed to acquire other permits after the transfer. FW42 approves the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector, with an allocation based on a hard total allowable catch or DAS and a maximum allocation of 20 percent of a stock’s TAC. In the meantime, an industry-led buyout initiative is in the works, through the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Capacity Reduction Program, formed in November 2005 and comprising members from New Jersey to Maine, with staff from the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries. In the past decade, there have been two federally funded buybacks in New England. The proposed buyout would be industry-led and -funded, and would be designed to improve the health of the fishery as well as those who get out and those who stay in. Thanks to stringent measures to date, the bulk of latent effort has already been removed. The buyout’s objectives would be permanently to reduce existing capacity, provide those wishing to leave the fishery a legitimate, financially sensible way of doing so, preserve the essential character of the New England groundfish fleet by not targeting any one gear type, size class, or geography for buyout, and ensure the benefits justify the costs. The program would seek a federal loan of $75-$150 million with a 30-year payback target and a working figure of 30 percent of fleet capacity removed. All Category A, B, and C DAS permit holders would be allowed to participate. Loan repayment would be funded by a fee of about 3 percent gross revenues on all groundfish trips. The action may be found at www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/nr. |
