July 2009 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 11.
Commercial Fishing News
MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
Final 2009 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Quota fied in 2007. investment in research into the seasonal dis- based upon the level of serious injury and
Specifications and Effort Controls Implementing the “Area To Be tribution of right whales provided the Coast mortality of marine mammals that occurs inci-
NOAA has published a final rule to es- Avoided” and narrowing the “Traffic Separa- Guard with valuable data and information and dental to each fishery. This categorization
tablish 2009 fishing year specifications for tion Scheme” by one nautical mile will reduce helped identify shipping lanes that reduce determines whether fishery participants are
the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery, including the relative risk of right whale ship strikes by the likelihood of vessel interactions with this subject to certain provisions of the MMPA,
quotas for each of the domestic fishing cat- an estimated 74 percent during April-July (63 protected species. Fewer collisions involv- such as registration, observer coverage, and
egories and effort controls for the General percent from the area to be avoided and 11 ing commercial shipping vessels and right take reduction plan requirements.
category and Angling category. This rule percent from the narrowing of the Traffic whales will be a great outcome for the agen- Comments may be submitted at
implements an overall quota reduction that Separation Scheme). cies, for mariners and coastal commerce and www.regulations.gov until August 10, 2009.
was adopted at the November 2008 meeting Slow moving North Atlantic right for the public,” said Steven Tucker, deputy
of the International Commission for the Con- whales—among the most endangered chief for marine protected species, U.S. Coast Federal Agencies Protect More Gulf of
servation of Atlantic Tunas, the international whales in the world—are highly vulnerable to Guard Law Enforcement Office. Maine Atlantic Salmon to Recover
body that manages tuna, swordfish and other ship collisions, since their primary feeding Existing protective actions also include Imperiled Stocks
highly migratory species in the Atlantic and migration areas overlap with major East seasonal and dynamic vessel speed restric- June 15, 2009
Ocean. Coast shipping lanes. Along with existing tions in selected areas, mandatory lanes into NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the U.S.
The final rule sets a recreational daily measures to prevent entanglement of right certain ports, surveying whale migration Fish and Wildlife Service today extended
catch limit of one school bluefin tuna, plus whales in fishing gear and regulations to routes by aircraft and mandatory ship report- Endangered Species Act protection to more
one large school/small medium bluefin per reduce ship strikes by slowing ships, these ing systems that provide advisories and in- Atlantic salmon by adding fish in the
vessel. This is the same recreational daily changes in vessel operations are a part of the formation on right whale locations to mari- Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin
catch limit that was implemented during the comprehensive approach that NOAA has ners. rivers and their tributaries to the endangered
2008 season. NOAA had originally proposed taken in its effort to help right whales recover. NOAA understands and predicts Gulf of Maine population first listed in 2000.
a daily limit of one for the 2009 season, but “Through years of study we have deter- changes in the Earth’s environment, from the The decision is part of the ongoing effort
raised the limit to two per day after reviewing mined that these changes will likely provide depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, to recover the imperiled fish, which once
comments from the fishing industry and ana- a safer environment for whales and mariners, and conserves and manages our coastal and returned by the hundreds of thousands to
lyzing the change for consistency with the and at the same time, provide the least amount marine resources. Visit http:// most major rivers along the Northeastern U.S.
bluefin tuna rebuilding program. The final of disruption and impact to the economy,” www.noaa.gov. and now returns in small numbers only to
rule maintains the three-bluefin per day limit said Jim Balsiger, NOAA’s acting assistant rivers in Maine.
for commercial fishermen in the general cat- administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. NOAA Proposes 2010 Fishery Classifica- “Legend has it you could once walk
egory. “NOAA and our partners are working ex- tions, Consistent with Marine Mammal across these rivers on the backs of salmon,”
tremely hard to do all we can to help save this Protection Act said FWS Acting Director Rowan Gould.
Changes in Vessel Operations May critically endangered species, while helping NOAA Fisheries has published its pro- “Unfortunately, in most years we are able to
Reduce Risk of Endangered Whale mariners stay safe and productive.” posed List of Fisheries for 2010, as required count barely 1,000 fish returning to the
Shipstrikes Approximately 3,500 ships move by the Marine Mammal Protection Act Penobscot and fewer than a hundred in the
Years of study and effort by NOAA and through the entire Boston shipping lanes (MMPA). The proposed List of Fisheries for other two rivers. If we are ever going to
the U.S. Coast Guard will pay off this summer area every year, and more than half of the 2010 reflects new information on interactions recover this iconic species so that future
when two changes to shipping lanes into world’s North Atlantic right whales are between commercial fisheries and marine generations can witness the teeming runs
Boston are implemented. Both changes sig- known to be in this area during the spring. mammals. NOAA must categorize each com- that awed past generations, we need to pro-
nificantly reduce the risk of collisions be- NOAA researchers used more than 20 years mercial fishery on the List of Fisheries into
Continued on Page 12.
tween large ships and whales. of sighting data to determine the risk of one of three categories under the MMPA
Beginning on June 1, ships 300 gross whales being struck by ships in and around
tons and above will be asked to avoid an area the Boston shipping lanes to help develop
in the Great South Channel from April these changes. Working with the Coast
through July, when right whales face the Guard, which assessed safety and naviga-
highest chance of being struck by ships. The tional effects of ship lane modification to the
channel is a feeding area for the endangered shipping industry, NOAA proposed the
North Atlantic Right Whale. changes to the International Maritime Orga-
Also, ships transiting primarily from the nization in March 2008.
south and entering Boston Harbor in ship- The International Maritime Organiza-
ping lanes will travel a slightly different path. tion adopted both of these changes, so they
The north-south traffic lanes have been will be reflected on all charts globally and
modified to reduce the threat of ship colli- used by the international shipping industry.
sions with endangered right whales and NOAA’s Fisheries Service is working with
other whale species. NOAA’s Ocean Service and the U.S. Coast
The width of the north-south portion of Guard to have these changes added to nau-
the lanes will narrow from a total of four miles tical charts and to the U.S. Coast Pilot as well.
to three miles. The width of the east-west “NOAA’s scientific expertise and their
portion of the lanes was narrowed and modi-
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