Maine Asked to Consider Halibut Management
by Laurie Schreiber
Maine’s tagging program for halibut has shown hundreds of the tagged fish returning after roaming the seas. It’s illegal to possess or land Atlantic halibut smaller than 41 inches long. The number of landed fish allowed on commercial vessels was halved in 2010. Fishermen's Voice file photo
DANVERS, Mass.—At its September meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) said it would send a letter to the State of Maine asking it to consider, in its management of Atlantic halibut within state waters, the problem of overages in the fishery throughout its range.
The letter was part of an overall discussion about potentially imposing new accountability measures (AM) on groundfishermen to account for incidental catches of Atlantic halibut, a type of groundfish.
Atlantic halibut is one of the largest fish in the Gulf of Maine, and a species of concern, although data deficiencies around its biology and discard rates make its status difficult to determine. No directed fishing is allowed on Atlantic halibut, and there are strict limits on the amount allowed to be landed as bycatch when fishing on other species.
In the letter, NEFMC explains the impacts to the federal commercial groundfish fishery if the Atlantic halibut acceptable biological catch is exceeded in Maine’s state waters.
NEFMC member Terry Stockwell, who is also with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR), said he’s discussed the issue a number of times over the past summer with DMR Commissioner Pat Keliher.
“We have a small halibut fishery,” said Stockwell, that “keeps doing better and better. Downeast Maine, in particular, has seen a huge influx of [Atlantic halibut] in the last two years.”
Stockwell reported that Canadian waters appear to enjoying a similar influx.
Summing up the draft letter, Stockwell said it “basically requested the state of Maine to consider this information and make some adjustments to ABC [allowable biological catch] to prevent depletion. That’s pretty strong.” Bringing the idea to the state legislature of limited entry into the fishery “would be a waste of time,” he said. And the state already has controls in place on Atlantic halibut fishing. He predicted it would be tough to achieve further restrictions when the state is finally seeing some better fishing. Stockwell said he expected to be able to report back on the state’s perspective to NEFMC at its November meeting.
Maine’s management measures for its directed Atlantic Halibut fishery apply to commercial, recreational, and party/charter fishermen. The fishery is seasonal, running from May 1 through June 30. It’s illegal to possess or land Atlantic halibut smaller than 41 inches long. In 2010, the number of landed fish allowed, on commercial, party, or charter vessels, dropped from 50 to 25 per year, and recreational vessels no more than five per year. Gear type is limited to circle hooks on long lines or tub trawls, with no more than 450 circle hooks per vessel. In addition, vessels are restricted to one halibut per trip, whether fishing in state or federal waters. Fishermen authorized to catch halibut must keep detailed logs.
Fishing effort has been increasing—the number of permits issued in 2015 was 719 and, in 2016, 858. But on average, approximately 60 percent of harvesters land between 1 and 5 fish, and less than 10 percent reported landing more than 20 fish.
In a Sept. 7 memo, NEFMC’s Groundfish Committee wrote the topic arose at the committee’s June 9 meeting, when industry members of the federal commercial groundfish fishery “raised concerns that recent catches of Atlantic halibut in Maine state waters in the directed Atlantic halibut fishery continue to increase, and the situation may lead to the triggering of accountability measures for the federal commercial groundfish fishery in the near-term.”
Based on those discussions, the Groundfish Committee decided to study the matter, asking NEFMC’s Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT) to evaluate recent Maine landings of halibut through fishing year (FY) 2015, and including FY 2016 preliminary catch information, as well as the number of Maine state permits issued from 2010-2016, to help determine whether Atlantic halibut management should be adjusted.
In its rationale for the move, the committee wrote, “The federal commercial groundfish fishery is fully accountable for any overages of the total ACL of Atlantic halibut and subject to accountability measures. An examination of the impact of the state waters fishery for halibut in Maine is needed to understand how the directed fishery in Maine might be impacting the federal commercial groundfish fishery.”
According to committee information, Atlantic halibut is in a rebuilding plan with an end date of 2056, with a 50 percent probability of achieving the rebuilding target. The federal groundfish plan has a 41-inch minimum length, and federally permitted groundfishermen are allowed to land just one legal-sized Atlantic halibut per trip. Federal groundfishermen are held accountable for overages of catch limits, and if AMs are triggered, certain types of groundfishing vessels face possession restrictions—from one fish to zero—as well as gear and area restrictions, which impact the ability to catch other types of fish.
But the AMs for Atlantic halibut do not apply to state-only permitted vessels and other subcomponents of the Atlantic halibut fishery.
Jackie O’Dell, executive director of the Gloucester, Mass.-based Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC), said groundfishermen were concerned that NEFMC has “grossly underestimated” economic impacts around AMs.
“Scituate didn’t even make it on the list of ports that would be impacted by fixed gear closures in the Gulf of Maine, under an AM closure,” O’Dell said. “So as you’re completing your letter, know that there’s concern from the industry that this will have significant economic impacts on the federal fishery, greater than the PDT has reported.”
In a letter to NEFMC dated Sept. 9, O’Dell, on behalf of NESFC, wrote, “The AMs, if triggered for the 2017 fishing year, will impose significant economic hardships upon the commercial groundfish fleet.”
In addition and aside from the AM, wrote O’Dell, “it is apparent the present signals of abundance of Atlantic halibut greatly differ from assumptions that led to the specifications adopted for the 2016-2018 OFL/ABC [overfishing limit/allowable biological catch] for Atlantic halibut. If a previous assessment model had been accepted, “abundance estimates would have been much greater.”
She continued, “The most recent information available concerning the abundance of Atlantic halibut is not being accounted for in the present OFL/ABC. The signals differ greatly from the assumptions accepted. NSC strongly urges the Groundfish Committee to recommend the NEFMC direct the Science and Statistical Committee to revisit the OFL/ABC for 2017-2018 based upon the most recent information.”
Basically, O’Dell wrote, federally permitted fishermen were not interested in being negatively impacted by groundfish catches exceeded in Maine state waters or any other subcomponent of the fishery’s annual catch limit.
In a second motion, NEFMC agreed to ask the National Marine Fisheries Service to consider revising the catch/mortality estimates of Atlantic halibut to account for discard mortality rates that are lower than 100 percent, by utilizing available scientific information on the subject. NEFMC members said it’s possible that the assumption that all discarded Atlantic halibut died could be incorrect for certain types of gear types.
Stockwell said that Maine’s tagging program for halibut has shown hundreds of the tagged fish returning after roaming the seas.
“So the idea there’s 100 percent discard mortality is ludicrious,” he said.
In the draft letter, NEFMC wrote in part, “Atlantic halibut is incidental caught with other species in the federal commercial groundfish fishery. The federal commercial groundfish fishery is subject to strict catch limits with associated accountability measures (AMs) for Atlantic halibut. Vessels with a Northeast multispecies permit are currently allowed to land one legal sized Atlantic halibut per trip, while all other halibut must be discarded.
“The Council anticipates that the ABC may have been exceeded in fishing year 2015 (May 1, 2015- April 30, 2016). The federal groundfish fishery (sectors and common pool vessels) are the only components of the Atlantic halibut fishery held accountable for an overage of the catch limits should one occur. Catches in state waters are considered in the evaluation to determine if an overage occurred.
“Once the AMs are triggered and put in place, fishing opportunities would be reduced, particularly within the AM areas, and would cause adverse economic impacts to the federal commercial groundfish fleet. The most recent evaluation of the AM used fishing year 2010 data and estimated that the economic impacts to gross revenue for the federal commercial groundfish fishery could be up to $6.5 million if the fishery could not relocate outside of the closures or operate effectively in the gear-restricted areas to target other species. Many of these vessels that would be adversely impacted land in Maine ports. The AMs for Atlantic halibut do not apply to state-only permitted vessels and other subcomponents of the Atlantic halibut fishery.”