March 2009 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13.
ASMFC 2009 WINTER MEETING SUMMARY
sion at (202) 289-6400 or via the Amendment 3 of the interstate fishery man- Board Approves Initiation of Smooth Dog-
Continued from Page 1.
Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org agement plan for American lobster as a final fish Addendum
in order to ensure that the various LCMA- under Breaking News. addendum with selection of the following The Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks
specific effort control plans remain cohesive Meeting Summary options: Approve Option B (4.2.2) of the Management Board approved the initiation
and viable, and that one jurisdiction’s inter- The American Lobster Board met to re- “Most Restrictive Rule” that would conform of Draft Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery
pretation of its effort control plan does not view a number of issues, including final ap- to the current NOAA Fisheries regulation; Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal
undermine the implementation of another proval of Addendum XII and approval of and Approve Option C (4.4.3) of the “Effects Sharks. Draft Addendum I will propose mea-
jurisdiction’s plan,. First, it requires that any Draft Addendum XIV for public comment of permit & Trap Allocation Transferability sures to allow commercial fishermen to re-
trap allocation transfers among state-waters (see above press release for information on on LCMA’s Without History-based Alloca- move smooth dogfish fins at sea and elimi-
licensed permit holders must occur within the both issues). Staff announced the Lobster tions (Currently LCMA 1)” that would pre- nate smooth dogfish recreational posses-
same state. This is to ensure that trap num- Peer Review for the assessment will be March vent the holder of any permit holder who sion limits. Finning, the act of cutting off the
bers do not increase in a particular state’s 17-20 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, MA; transferred trap allocation from fishing in
waters, eliminating any potential problems additional information on the meeting can be LCMA 1. All other sections shall be enacted
Continued on Page 14.
associated with increasing trap numbers, found on the ASMFC website as a final Addendum as
such as interactions with marine mammals (www.asmfc.org). The State of Connecticut written.
and other fisheries, as well as increases to updated the Board on the current v-notch Motion made by Mr.
fishing effort. program and indicated it would not meet the McKiernan, second by
Second, the Addendum clarifies certain conservation equivalency program second Mr. Gibson. Motion
principles present in the Commission’s over- year target because the program’s funding passes. Move to approve
all history-based trap allocation effort con- has been exhausted. As a result, a gauge Addendum XIV for pub-
trol plan. These are: (1) A lobster permit and increase to 3 3/8 inches in LCMA 6 will be lic comment. Motion
its history cannot be separated. When a required by January 2010. The National Ma- made by Mr. Lapointe,
permit holder transfers a permit, the fishing rine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced it second by Mr. Gilmore.
history is also transferred; (2) A single fish- had published an advanced notice of Motion carries (9 in favor
ing entity is considered to have established rulemaking in response to the Board request and none opposed).
a single lobster fishing history even if that at the last meeting. NMFS is seeking public Move to approve 2008
person was a dual permit fishing holder fish- comment on a control date for the LCMA 1 FMP Review. Motion
ing under state and federal fishing permit; (3) fishery. This rulemaking will work in conjunc- made by Mr. Lapointe,
Lobster history accumulated under the dual tion with the upcoming addendum on limited second by Mr. Grout.
state/federal permits cannot be divided and entry for LCMA 1. NMFS also updated the Motion passes. Move to
apportioned between the permits. If a dual Board that is has completed the public com- remove “Utilize the
permit holder splits his state and federal per- ment period for proposed rulemaking includ- CKWM to evaluate stock
mits, the history shall be considered to have ing mandatory federal dealer electronic re- status projections” from
gone entirely with one permit or the other but porting, maximum size limits, and v-notch the term of reference.
not portions of both; and (4) When any definition. The majority of this rule responds Motion made by Mr.
individual transfers (sells) trap allocations to recommendations from the American Lob- Lapointe, second by Mr.
from any LCMA, his trap allocation in all ster Board under Addenda X and XI. The Grout. Motion passes.
LCMAs (with history based allocations) will Board accepted the 2008 Fishery Manage- SPINY DOGFISH &
be reduced by that same number. ment Plan Review, which gives an overview COASTAL SHARKS
Third, the Addendum modifies the of the 2007 fishing year. MANAGEMENT
Commission’s most restrictive rule first es- Motions BOARD
tablished in Addendum IV. As approved, Move to approve draft Addendum 12 to ASMFC Spiny Dogfish
fishermen will be allowed to place traps in
multiple areas but must comply with the most
restrictive management measures of all areas
fished, including the smallest number of traps
for the areas selected.
Lastly, the Addendum establishes addi-
tional programs that address issues associ-
ated with ITT programs, such as management
measures to ensure that history-based trap
allocation effort control plans in the various
LCMAs would be implemented without un-
dermining resource conservation efforts of
neighboring jurisdictions or LCMAs. Con-
servation taxes will be applied to both partial
transfers of trap allocations and full business
■
New Cushions
sales once all jurisdictions have allocated
traps and implemented the provisions of the
■
Addendum. A database will be developed to
New Canvas
track all lobster allocation and trap transfers.
■
In other business, the Board approved
New Sails
sending forward Draft Addendum XIV for
■
public comment. The Draft proposes modifi-
Repairs
cations to the LCMA 3 trap transfer program,
including changes to the conservation tax
5% Donation to
and trap cap. Specifically, the Draft Adden-
dum proposes applying a single conserva- for every new Bimini or Dodger
tion tax for partial trap transfers within LCMA
ordered through July 1st.
3 (versus a two tiered conservation tax based
on the number of traps transferred) and an-
“The kids build the boat...the boat builds the kids”
other conservation tax for the sale of a com-
plete fishing operation. It also proposes low-
ering the trap cap under the transfer program
for Area 3 to 2000 (currently set at 2200 traps)
in order to prevent permit holders from maxi-
mizing their trap allocations through trap
transfers and thereby nullifying any poten-
tial conservation benefits associated with
HALLETT CANVAS & SAILS
trap transfers and conservation taxes. It is
anticipated that several states will be con- 215 Foreside Rd, Falmouth, Maine
ducting public hearings on Draft Addendum
XIV; information on those hearings will be (207) 781-7070 (800) 639-9907
released once they become finalized.
Addendum XII and Draft Addendum
www.h2ube.com
XIV will be available by February 17, 2009 and
www.hallettcanvasandsails.com
can be obtained by contacting the Commis-
©johnharriesphotography.com
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