The DMF released their latest newsletter yesterday. You can download a PDF of the newsletter from their web site. The lead article is about new regulations for catching striped bass that are under consideration.
Add Comment By Richard Gaines / Gloucester Daily Times Tuesday, August 24, 2010 Leaders of the recreational and commercial fishing industry are planning a boat protest against federal policies Thursday outside the harbor of Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard, where President Obama and his family are summer vacationing.The protest is being organized after a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of federal lawmakers -- including the core of the President’s Congressional base on banking and health care issues -- have given up hope of working productively with Obama’s top appointee for oceans and fisheries, Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration... Read the rest at The Boston Herald. NEW BEDFORD — Jarrett Drake turns on the ignition — vroom — and the satisfying thrum of the boat’s motor suddenly swallows the quiet of early morning. It’s 5:06 a.m. Drake, 40, a lobsterman from Marion, starts early so he has enough time to haul in his roughly 400 traps before sunset. Caffeinated soda and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches keep him going during 15-hour days, the tedium interrupted by the thrill of reeling in a trap teeming with lobsters. But in recent years those moments have been fewer and fewer, he said. And now, because of the dwindling lobster population, a multistate commission will begin deciding this week whether to ban all lobstering from south of Cape Cod to North Carolina for five years... Much of the New England fishing industry is going through the wrenching transition from every-man-for-himself to a system of sharing the region’s allowable catch of depleted species. Making this work will require trust between boat crews and federal fisheries regulators. Two reports detailing questionable practices by the regulators leave their boss, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Jane Lubchenco, no option but to clean house where needed and insist on the highest standards. New England fishermen have long complained of overzealous enforcement of the complex rules governing allowable catches, and a recent report by the inspector general of the Commerce Department backed them up... Read the rest of this editorial from the 7/19/2010 Boston Globe. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce has officially approved a sixfold increase in the catch limit of a key fish stock. Gary Locke said Wednesday he was raising the limit on pollock from six to 36 million pounds. Fishermen had pressed hard for the change. Under a new management system, fishing stops on all species if the limit is reached on one. Fishermen said the pollock limit was so low it would be too quickly reached... Read the rest in the Boston Herald. BIOLOGISTS WHO monitor fisheries in the Atlantic are getting ahead of themselves with a recommendation to impose a five-year ban on lobster fishing south of Cape Cod down to Virginia. There should be ways to protect the stock while still allowing for some commercial activity. Lobster stocks in southern New England are down by more than half from their peak of 35 million a decade ago. This isn’t a mere fluctuation in an industry known for its ups and downs. The consensus of both scientists and fishermen is that warmer water, possibly the effect of climate change, is the chief culprit. Predators might also play a role. But the bottom line is that stressed lobsters are leaving inshore waters for deeper, cooler water offshore. And scientists from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a multi-state governmental body, don’t want the lobsters pursued — even though there’s no guarantee that a moratorium will result in a significant rebound of the stock... Read the rest of the editorial at The Boston Globe. Public Comment Accepted Until October 1 Washington, DC – Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings togather public comment onDraft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The dates, times, and locations in Eastern New England of the scheduled meetings follow: Maine Department of Marine Resources September 14, 2010; 6:00 PM Town of Yarmouth Log Cabin 196 Main Street Yarmouth, Maine Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6553 New Hampshire Fish and Game September 13, 2010; 7:00 PM Urban Forestry Center 45 Elwyn Road Portsmouth, New Hampshire Contact: Doug Grout at (603) 868-1095 Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries August 16, 2010; 6:00 PM Holiday Inn 55 Ariadne Road Dedham, Massachusetts Contact: Jared Silva at (617) 626-1534 Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife August 17, 2010; 6:00 PM URI, Narragansett Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium 215 South Ferry Road Narragansett, Rhode Island Contact: Mark Gibson at (401) 423-1935 The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice. The proposal to increase the coastal commercial quota is intended to improve equality between the commercial and recreational fishery sectors. Although Amendment 6 established management programs for both fisheries based on the same target fishing mortality rate, the implementation of state-specific quotas for coastal commercial harvest (and not for recreational harvest) has prevented the commercial and recreational fisheries from responding equally to changes in striped bass population size. Since 2003, coastal commercial harvest has decreased by 3.6 percent, while recreational harvest has increased by 13.7 percent. Under the option, the Board would select a percent increase to be applied to the coastal commercial allocations assigned in Amendment 6. The Management Board voted to include a second issue in the Draft Addendum based on information presented at the meeting. As part of its review of the juvenile abundance indices, the Striped Bass Technical Committee recommended to the Management Board a revision to how striped bass recruitment failure is defined. Juvenile abundance indices are an important component of the striped bass monitoring program and are used to determine periods of recruitment failure which can trigger management action under Amendment 6. Adopting the proposed recommendation would result in a fixed value to determine recruitment failure in each surveyed area rather than a value that changes from year to year. Use of either the Amendment 6 definition or the Technical Committee recommendation for recruitment failure does not result in any necessary changes to the current management program. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 1, 2010 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at nmeserve@asmfc.org (Subject line: Striped Bass Addendum II). For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator at (202) 289-6400 or nmeserve@asmfc.org. By Jay LindsayAssociated Press Writer / May 12, 2010 BOSTON--More than a dozen members of Congress from Northeast fishing states met Wednesday with the U.S. Commerce Secretary to ask for emergency increases in fish catch limits, but he didn't commit to any immediate ones. The meeting in Washington with Secretary Gary Locke came at the request of 23 members of Congress, who wrote to Locke last month before a May 1 switch to a new fishing system. Under the change, fishermen working in groups called "sectors" may catch a certain amount of each species of groundfish annually, such as cod and flounder. But if the sectors exceed their limit on any species, they must stop fishing for all species... Read the rest at the Boston Globe. | DYCNews and commentary about boating and fishing ArchivesMarch 2012 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed