Page 20. MAINE COASTAL NEWS December 2016 M C F N Continued from Page 13.
working under a groundfi sh day-at-sea. The Council took this step to help northern area fi shermen better utilize the available TAL. In 2015, for example, only 71% of the TAL was harvested in the north. Northern area landing limits by permit
category are shown in the table at right. For the southern area, the Council ap-
proved a 15% increase in landing limits per day-at-sea, which are refl ected in the table at right. Landings in the southern area primarily come from fi shermen who directly target monkfi sh with gillnets. The Council deter- mined that the increase was warranted since, for example, monkfi sh fi shermen in 2015 only harvested 53% of the TAL specifi ed for the southern area. How Total Allowable Landings Specifi ca- tions are Calculated
Under the Monkfi sh FMP, the formula for
establishing total allowable landings (TALs) is as follows: Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) is equal to the Annual Catch Limit (ACL). The ACL is reduced by a management uncertainty buff er to obtain the Annual Catch Target (ACT). The ACT is reduced by a dis- card estimate to determine the TAL. Here are the Northern (left) and South-
ern (right) Fishery Management Area Flow Charts used to calculate 2017-2019 TALs for each area based on ABC recommendations from the Council’s Scientifi c and Statistical Committee (SSC). The SSC did not recom- mend a change to the ABC. However, the Council modifi ed the management uncertain- ty buff er in both areas and updated the discard estimates, which led to higher TALs for both areas. This year, the New England Council
agreed to reduce the management uncertainty buff er from 13.5% in the north and 6.5% in the south to 3% in each area. The Monkfi sh Committee, which includes members from both the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils, expressed confi dence that reducing the uncertainty buff ers would not result in any increased risk of exceeding the TAL in either area given that landings in recent years have been well below allowable levels.
Council Approves Scallop Framework 28 with 2017-2018 Specs
The New England Fishery Management
Council approved Framework Adjustment 28 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Man- agement Plan. The framework establishes specifi cations for the 2017 fi shing year and sets default specifi cations for 2018.
If the framework is approved by the Na-
tional Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), full- time limited access scallop vessels in 2017 will be allowed to make four 18,000-pound “scallop access area” trips – one into the Nantucket Lightship Access Area, one into the Closed Area II Access Area, and two into the Mid-Atlantic Access Area (MAAA) with the option of making one of those Mid-Atlantic trips in the newly created Elephant Truck “Flex” Access Area (light green in chart). The Elephant Trunk Flex Area will be subject to a seasonal July 1-Sept. 30 closure. Part-time limited access vessels will be allowed to make two 14,400-pound trips into the available access areas, one of which must be in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area. IMPORTANT: The 2017 scallop fi sh-
ing year will begin on March 1 but the 2018 fi shing year will begin April 1. This means the 2017 fi shing year will be 13 months long. To accommodate this adjustment, the Coun- cil agreed to prorate open area days-at-sea allocations by an additional 4.7% to cover 13 months. Exception: Specifi cations for the North-
ern Gulf of Maine Management Area will not be prorated. The fi shery there operates under a hard total allowable catch (TAC) and proration was not recommended by the Council’s Scallop Committee. Framework 28 initially proposed to allo-
cate 29.18 “open area” days-at-sea to full-time limited access vessels. Under the 13-month proration schedule and the automatic reduc- tion that allows vessels to steam off of the days-at-sea clock south of Cape May, full-time vessels will be allocated 30.41 open-area days. Part-time vessels will be allocated 12.16 days-at-sea under the prorated schedule, up from the initial 11.67 allocation that resulted for a 12-month fi shing year. The Council agreed to base these alloca-
tions on spatial management – an approach that uses projected landings – under the existing allocation split between the two com- ponents of the fi shery: 94.5% for the limited
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access component of the fi shery; and 5.5% for the limited access general category individual fi shing quota (IFQ) component. For 2017, this means the IFQ fi shery will
be allocated 2.43 million pounds – prorated for 13 months at 2.49 million pounds – and 5.5% of the access area allocations. These trips will be equally distributed across all ac- cess areas, but the Closed Area II trips, which are a long haul for some general category boats, will be prorated 50% to the Nantucket Lightship area and 50% to the Mid-Atlantic/ Elephant Trunk Flex Access Area, which are easier to steam to. Also as part of Framework Adjustment
28 to the scallop plan, the Council agreed to: Limit research set-aside compensation fi shing to the Mid-Atlantic Access Area and open areas, excluding the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area; Restrict the possession of shell stock inshore of the days-at-sea demar- cation line north of 42° 20’ N latitude to 50 US bushels, as is already the case south of the line; Adopt 2018 default specifi cations equivalent to 75% of the 2017 open area days-at-sea allocations for full-time vessels with one 18,000-pound Mid-Atlantic Access Area trip. The limited access general category IFQ component will receive 75% of the 2017 quota allocation, access area trips equivalent to 5.5% of the default access area allocation. Groundfi sh Actions Impacting Scallopers During its Groundfi sh Committee report,
the Council addressed two issues that impact the Atlantic sea scallop fi shery: • Northern Windowpane Flounder –
The Council voted to develop a Gulf of Maine/ Georges Bank northern windowpane fl ounder sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) for the scal- lop fi shery under Framework Adjustment 56 to the groundfi sh plan. The sub-ACL will be a fi xed percentage based on the 90thpercentile of 2005-2014 scallop catch rates of northern windowpane. Under this formula, the scallop fi shery will be allocated 21% of the total ac- ceptable biological catch for this stock, which then will be reduced by 7% to account for uncertainty to determine the scallop fi shery’s sub-ACL. The scallop fi shery currently is not subject to a sub-ACL or accountability mea- sures for northern windowpane, so this step represents a change for scallopers, assuming the action is approved by NMFS. The Council will be developing accountability measures for northern windowpane for fi shing year 2018. • Accountability Measures (AMs) –
The Council also voted to temporarily modify the existing AM policy for the scallop fi shery for a two-year period so that accountability measures only will apply when the scallop fi shery exceeds its sub-ACL for a groundfi sh stock and the overall ACL for that stock is also exceeded. The Council approved this temporary modifi cation for both the George Bank yellowtail fl ounder and northern win- dowpane fl ounder stocks. Under current regulations, AMs also are triggered when the scallop fi shery exceeds its sub-ACL by 50% and the overall ACL is exceeded. This new change removes the 50% trigger for the 2017 and 2018 fi shing years.
Atlantic Herring Framework 5 and Amendment 8 Take Shape
The New England Fishery Management
Council today discussed two actions related to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan.
• Amendment 8: The Council looked
over the draft goals and agenda for its sec- ond Atlantic Herring Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) Workshop (see blue box). MSE incorporates more public input and technical analyses upfront before alternatives are selected. The approach is being used to es- tablish an acceptable biological catch (ABC)
control rule for the Atlantic herring fi shery under Amendment 8 that: (1) may explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem; and (2) deals with biological and ecological requirements of the herring resource itself. The amendment also contains a set of still- evolving alternatives to address potential localized depletion and user confl icts in the herring fi shery. • Framework Adjustment 5: The
Council received an overview of the range of alternatives under consideration to modify the Georges Bank haddock accountability mea- sures (AMs) that apply to the herring midwater trawl fi shery. The Herring Plan Development Team will conduct additional analyses on the alternatives, and the Council is scheduled to take fi nal action during its January meeting. The herring/haddock issue is being ad-
dressed through two channels – one ground- fi sh action and one herring action. The Council voted yesterday to increase
the herring midwater trawl fi shery’s Georges Bank haddock sub-annual catch limit (sub- ACL) from 1% to 1.5% through Framework 56 to the groundfi sh plan. Herring Framework 5, on the other hand,
is the vehicle being used to potentially mod- ify the AMs to help keep the midwater trawl herring fi shery from exceeding the haddock sub-ACL. The range of alternatives includes two options for implementing a “proactive” AM closure in addition to maintaining the existing “reactive” AM closure. The reactive AM requires a shutdown
of all green and red areas in the charts below to directed herring midwater trawl fi shing – for the remainder of the groundfi sh fi shing year – once the haddock sub-ACL is caught. Framework 5 proposes a proactive approach that would prevent midwater trawl fi shing in Closed Areas I and II – either with or with- out a 15-nautical-mile buff er around the red areas – under three possible seasons: (a) a year-round proactive closure; (b) a May-Oc- tober proactive closure; or (c) a June-August proactive closure. The premise is that a seasonal proactive
closure of Closed Areas I and II would help keep the midwater trawl fi shery within its Georges Bank haddock sub-ACL and prevent a closure of the entire green/red area, which defi nes the reactive Georges Bank Haddock AM Area. In 2015, the reactive AM was triggered, and the whole AM area was closed to herring midwater trawling from Oct. 22, 2015 through April 30, 2016. Framework 5 contains other alternatives,
including one to seasonally split the Georges Bank haddock sub- ACL so that 80% of the quota is released on May 1 and then 20% is released on Nov. 1 to support a winter her- ring/mackerel fi shery. Copies of the draft alternatives and other herring materials can be found at:
http://www.nefmc.org/library/ atlantic-herring-committee-november-2016. Framework 5 is needed to: Reduce the
potential negative economic impacts on herring midwater trawl vessels that result from Georges Bank haddock AM closures, which in turn reduce the opportunity to harvest the herring sub-ACLs in Herring Management Areas 3 and 1B; Avoid poten- tial impacts to the supply of herring used as bait for the lobster fi shery; and Reduce the potential negative economic impacts on the mackerel fi shery from Georges Bank had- dock AM closures, which in turn reduce the opportunity to harvest mackerel on Georges Bank.
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