June 2012 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13. Commercial Fishing News MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
help minimize the economic loss for commer- cial fishermen who face cuts in Georges Bank fishery quotas, which are jointly fished and managed with Canada. One particular stock, Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, is a mid- value fish often caught incidentally while fishermen target high value stocks like cod, haddock, and scallops.
Poor stock conditions have continued because fewer fish are growing to catchable size than previously expected. As a result, the overall U.S. allocation of the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder stock will be reduced by 61 percent this fishing year.
The U.S. yellowtail flounder allocation is divided between the scallop and groundfish fisheries. Yellowtail flounder are bycatch in the high value scallop fishery. Under existing regulations, the yellowtail flounder alloca- tion to the scallop fishery will increase by 53 percent to approximately 679,024 pounds in 2012. The allocation to the groundfish indus- try, however, will be reduced by 80 percent to roughly 480,608 pounds.
“While this is good for the scallop indus- try, it’s a challenge for the bigger and some of the smaller groundfish boats that go to Georges Bank,” said Samuel Rauch, acting assistant administrator, NOAA Fisheries Service. “Several actions that we already have in the works may help mitigate some of these impacts.”
NOAA actions that may help mitigate eco- nomic loss
NOAA has just approved management plan revisions giving NOAA the authority to reallocate any projected unused portion of the scallop fishery’s Georges Bank yellowtail flounder allocation to groundfish fishing vessels.
These new management measures also authorize mid-sized fishing vessels to use a new type of trawl fishing gear that may enable fishers to reduce their bycatch of yellowtail flounder while they target other groundfish
species.
NOAA and the New England Fishery Management Council, through the scallop research set-aside program and other NOAA Cooperative Research Program funds, will support several new research projects in 2012 aimed at reducing yellowtail bycatch on Georges Bank and in other areas. Funding is expected to be awarded to the University of Massachusetts School of Sci- ence and Technology, to the Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc. in collaboration with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute for three separate projects, all designed to pro- vide real time information to help fishermen avoid yellowtail and maximize their fishing opportunity on abundant target species. Last week, NOAA and the council also announced the formation of a new working group, modeled after the successful Gulf of Maine Cod Working Group that plans to work closely with the fishing industry to explore how to advance these current initiatives and to identify other ideas and management alter- natives that may ease the impact of the new regulations on the fishing industry. The situation with yellowtail flounder could be worse, were it not for legislation introduced by Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Olympia Snowe in 2010, sup- ported by the entire Northeast delegation, and enacted in January 2011. The Interna- tional Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act allowed NOAA in 2011 to extend the rebuild- ing timeframe for these shared stocks. The Georges Bank yellowtail flounder rebuilding timeframe was extended from 2016 to 2032, enabling larger allocations. Even with the extended rebuilding schedule, NOAA and the industry are faced with this big reduction in 2012.
Thirteen Cooperative Research Projects to be Funded through Atlantic Sea Scallop Research-Set Aside Program NOAA announces the selection of 13 new cooperative research projects between fishermen and scientists. This marks the 14th anniversary of a unique program, which was initiated by the scallop fishing industry in 1998. The scallop industry opted to set aside a portion of their total annual scallop catch in order to promote greater industry involve- ment in scientific research. Now, each year when the New England Fishery Management Council sets the annual catch limits for the fishing industry, a portion is reserved for cooperative research projects.
The 2012 projects include research to survey the scallop resource, better under- stand and reduce unintended catch of yel- lowtail flounder, skates and sea turtles in the commercial scallop fishery, improve vessel fuel efficiency, and minimize effects on habi-
tat. This year’s research set-aside is approxi- mately three percent of the total allowable scallop catch. Approximately 60 vessels will participate in the program this year, and share in the sale proceeds of an estimated 1.2 million pounds of scallops in 2012, worth an esti- mated $12 million.
Public-Private Partnership Provides Elemen- tary School Students with Opportunity to Learn Ocean Science onboard Historic Fish- ing Schooner
A new collaborative effort, called the Ocean Explorers Program, will provide more than 600 Gloucester elementary school students a chance to learn first-hand what it is like to be a marine or physical scientist. This NOAA- supported informal educational program is being conducted by Maritime Gloucester at their waterfront museum/educational facility
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