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Feature Articles
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Groundfish restrictions: New round coming Aug. 1
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This article is reprinted with permission of Commercial Fisheries News, the Northeast's fishing newspaper for over 30 years, ©2003 Compass Publications Inc. Commercial Fisheries News is published monthly; annual subscriptions are $21.95. To subscribe or request a sample issue: call (877) 263-4496; fax (207) 367-2490; e-mail (cfoster@fish-news.com); or click on the hot link.
Groundfish Court Case - Highlights at a glance
GLOUCESTER, MA - The hard thing about fishing used to be getting onto the fish - knowing the right bottom, finding the right size for designated markets, working around the weather, making it back to port before the price dropped.
Now, the hardest thing about fishing is knowing the rules. Leaving the dock feeling confident about what's legal and what's not has become a feat in itself, especially given the staggering matrix of boundary lines and closed areas that have carved up the entire ocean off the Northeast coast.
While most people are just starting to get a grip on the rules that went into effect around May 1 under court order in the Framework 33 lawsuit, the next round of regulations is well in the works and will be implemented by Aug. 1.
At press time in late June, the official proposed rule hadn't been published by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) yet, but the guts of this enormously complex regulatory package were fairly well-know.
The measures are all contained in Phase II of the settlement agreement that was negotiated by most of the intervenors, defendants, and one plaintiff in the lawsuit (see time line below for a brief history of the case).
The May 1 rules only marked Phase I of the groundfish stock rebuilding "fix," while the Aug. 1 rules - representing the second "interim" remedial action - add the next layer onto the first set.
All of these restrictions will stay in place until Amendment 13 to the groundfish plan is completed by the New England Fishery Management Council and implemented by NMFS under the court-ordered deadline of Aug. 22, 2003.
What's in store
Phase I was bad enough, but it's Phase II that people have dreaded most.
On Aug 1, the 20% cut in active days-at-sea (DAS) will go into effect. So will the 50-net limit for gillnetters on Georges Bank that some say will be flat-out crippling.
The minimum size on cod will go up to 22", though it should be said that the new size is an inch smaller than the 23" minimum that US District Judge Gladys Kessler called for in her original April 26 order before she went back to the negotiated settlement agreement. It's also an inch smaller than the recreational minimum.
Southern New England fishermen will have tough new possession limits on yellowtail flounder and numerous gear restrictions, while Georges Bank fishermen also get gear restrictions, a large closure, and cod limits.
Next spring, inshore Gulf of Maine fishermen will still be bound by closures of blocks 124 and 125 in May and 132 and 133 in June - a swap for the opening of 124 and 125 in January, February, and March.
20% cut in days
All of the measures will impact different people at different levels in different areas. But everyone is anxious about the days-at-sea reduction.
Under the Aug. 1 rule, NMFS will freeze each permit holder's days-at-sea at the maximum annual number of days used between May 1, 1996 and April 30, 2001.
So, if a permit holder used 40 days in the 1996 fishing year (May 1, 1996-April 30, 1997), 50 days in 1997, 60 days in 1998, 22 days in 1999, and then 74 days during the 2000 fishing year, which ended April 30, 2001, that permit holder's maximum used days would be registered at 74, as long as that number didn't exceed his current allocation.
As ordered by the court and as described in the negotiated settlement agreement, NMFS will then impose a 20% reduction from each permit holder's new baseline.
The permit holder who had a baseline starting point of 74 days would be reduced to 59.2 days. No one will get less than 10 days. That was part of the deal.
At press time during the third week of June, NMFS was in the process of finalizing letters to permit holders informing everyone of their baseline DAS.
Whatever the number after the 20% cut turns out to be, that's what permit holders will be able to fish during this fishing year, which started on May 1, 2002 and will end on April 30, 2003.
General measures
Everyone will have to wait for the actual rule to be published in the Federal Register before the nitty gritty of the regulations can be fully taken in, but based on the settlement agreement, here's a quick rundown of what multispecies vessels can generally expect in addition to the days-at-sea freeze/reduction and the 22" cod size:
- A reversion to counting days-at-sea as before May 1 (the system changed under court order between May 1 and July 31);
- An increase in observer coverage on groundfish boats to 5%;
- A reduction in the trip limit for open-access handgear vessels to 200 pounds of regulated species;
- A freeze on the issuance of new open-access permits;
- A prohibition on frontloading of the days-at-sea clock in all areas;
- A prohibition on the use of de-hookers or crucifiers "with no less than 6" spacing between the fairlead rollers"; and
- A requirement that vessels in the large-mesh permit category use mesh that's at least 2" greater than the current regulated mesh.
All other existing groundfish measures will remain in place as well. Plus, the settlement agreement also calls for area-specific measures on Aug. 1. Here's a very brief rundown.
Georges Bank
- Gillnetters will have to use 6-1/2" minimum mesh and will be limited to 50 nets. Monkfish gillnets will have to have 10" mesh or greater.
- The Georges Bank cod trip limit will be 2,000 pounds per day with a maximum of 20,000 pounds per trip.
- Multispecies hook boats will be limited to 3,600 circle hooks size 12/0. And
- Blocks 80 and 81, plus blocks 118, 119, and 120 south of 42°20'N latitude will be closed during May 2003.
Gulf of Maine
- The Gulf of Maine cod trip limit will increase to 500 pounds per day with a 4,000-pound-per-trip maximum.
- Trip gillnetters will have to use 6-1/2" minimum mesh and will be limited to 150 nets. Monkfish gillnet mesh will have to be 10" or greater.
- Dayboat gillnets will be capped at 50 stand-up nets with no less than 6-1/2" mesh and 100 tie-down nets with no less than 7" mesh. Monkfish nets will have to be 10" mesh or greater, capped at 150. From March-June, only tie-down nets will be allowed except for the 10" monkfish nets.
- Multispecies hook boats will be limited to 2,000 circle hooks size 12/0.
- Blocks 124 and 125 will be opened in January, February, and March but will be closed in May, along with a closure of 132 and 133 in June. And
- The Cashes Ledge Closure Area and the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area will stay closed year-round.
Southern New England
- The Southern New England area will be designated by specific boundary lines.
- Trawl vessels will be required to use 7" diamond or 6-1/2" square mesh.
- Gillnet vessels will be limited to 75 nets with no less than 6-1/2" mesh. Monkfish nets must be made of 10" mesh or greater.
- Multispecies hook boats will be capped at 2,000 circle hooks size 12/0.
- The yellowtail flounder possession limit south of 40° latitude will be zero.
- North of 40° latitude in the Southern New England area, the yellowtail possession limit will be 750 pounds per day with a 3,000-pound-per-trip maximum from June 1 through Feb. 28, dropping to 250 pounds from March 1-May 31.
- A series of "Georges Bank measures" will apply to the portion of the current Southern New England regulated mesh area that ends up being east of the new boundary line. CFN will attempt to run a chart next month showing this area.
Recreational fishery
- People on private recreational vessels will be limited to 10 cod and/or haddock, with the limit in the Gulf of Maine dropping to five fish from Dec. 1 through March 31. The minimum size on privately caught recreational cod and haddock will be 23".
- People on party/charter boats will be limited to 10 cod and/or haddock in the Gulf of Maine from April 1-Nov. 30 and to five cod and/or haddock in the Gulf of Maine from Dec. 1 through March 31. The minimum size for both species "for vessels not on a day-at-sea" will be 23".
Also, party/charter boats intending on fishing in the Gulf of Maine closed areas must declare into an area for the duration of the closure or for three months, which is greater.
Janice M. Plante
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Groundfish court case
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Highlights at a glance
- Dec. 28, 2001 - US District Judge Gladys Kessler rules that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the secretary of commerce violated the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) by approving Framework Adjustment 33 to the groundfish plan, which used Amendment 7 as the rebuilding standard instead of the more stringent and SFA-compliant targets in Amendment 9.
- Jan. 22 - April 22, 2002 - The case enters the "remedy" phase. Judge Kessler holds status conferences, establishes briefing schedules, and issues orders. Most parties join forces to submit a negotiated settlement agreement to the court (see CFN April 2002 and May 2002 for details).
- April 26 - May 22, 2002 - Judge Kessler hands down a stunning "remedial order" with additional and, most say, untenable restrictions to the already oppressive settlement agreement. The new fishing year begins on May 1. NMFS, which at the end of April had announced the implementation of the original settlement agreement provisions, sends out another notice to industry with the court-ordered additions. All parties to the settlement agreement, including the plaintiff Conservation Law Foundation and NMFS, ask Kessler to reconsider. Plaintiffs National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and The Ocean Conservancy file a brief opposing reconsideration (see CFN June 2002 for details).
- May 23, 2003 - Judge Kessler grants the motions for reconsideration, vacates her April 26 order, and replaces it with the measures and terms outlined in the original April 16 settlement agreement.
- June 2, 2002 - New Bedford hosts the next major rally (see page 12B of CFN, July 2002), continuing the series that began in Gloucester on May 5 and was followed by similar protests in Point Judith, RI and Portland, ME. A mock funeral procession marks New Bedford's event, with a convoy of industry vehicles winding from South Terminal to Fort Taber. Hundreds of people line the streets and a flotilla of fishing vessels keeps watch from the harbor.
- June 3, 2002 - The Portsmouth Fishermen's Co-op, which had closed its doors on May 3, reopens for business following Judge Kessler's decision to vacate her own remedial order and go back to the original settlement agreement.
- June 15, 2002 - A fifth groundfish rally is held in Montauk Harbor, NY with another impressive show of industry unity. Despite abysmal weather, a throng of people gather onshore to hear speakers voice support for commercial fishermen as boats circle the harbor.
- June 20, 2002 - Industry continues to limp along under the first set of remedial groundfish restrictions. Collectively, people wait for the imminent and dreaded publication of the Aug. 1 rule containing Phase II of the groundfish remedy in which days-at-sea will be cut by 20% (see story above).
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