SavingSeaFood - Scalloping effects cited by Oceana in letter to Gov. Patrick were refuted by UMass in 2006

Scalloping effects cited by Oceana in letter to Gov. Patrick were refuted by UMass in 2006

A letter from Oceana Senior Campaign Director David Allison in Washington, D.C. to Governor Deval Patrick -- also submitted to the New England Fisheries Management Council as a public comment -- has come under fire. In the letter, Mr. Allison says "the scallop fishery is one of the most destructive fisheries in operation today" -- a perennial argument of the ocean advocacy group that was demonstrated to be false four years ago by research conducted by the University of Massachusetts. Scientists from the University of Massachusetts tell Saving Seafood that scientifically valid experimental studies assessing dredging impacts of the scallop fleet in actual fishing areas are rare. Most work has been descriptive, looking at the immediate impacts of one dredge pass (often not a real scallop bed) without monitoring a valid control site (without fishing) to test the impacts question in context. A frequently cited case study was a test in which the researchers examined the impacts of a scallop dredge in a muddy habitat in a Maine river which had little similarity to Georges Bank. The impacts of fishing gear on the seabed need to be evaluated in the context of natural disturbance. For example, there is an environmental impact to building a sand castle below the tide line but the recovery of the disturbed site occurs within a few hours, rendering the long-term affect of the disturbance insignificant. A paper entitled "Impact of limited short-term sea scallop fishery on epibenthic community of Georges Bank closed areas", by Kevin D. E. Stokesbury and Bradley P. Harris of the School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, tested the hypothesis that scallop dredging changes the benthic community by comparing actual scallop fishing grounds which were open to those which were closed. Changes resulting from real fishing fleet activity were compared with the changes that occurred naturally and they found no difference. They did find, regardless of fishing activity, that the composition of the seabed changed a great deal from year to year (e.g. sand was washed away exposing gravel, gravel was buried by moving sand). Read the paper "Impact of limited short-term sea scallop fishery on epibenthic community of Georges Bank closed areas" here. Read the letter to Governor Patrick from Oceana Senior Campaign Director David Allison

Will catch shares do the trick? by Lisa Duchene

I support catch-shares in principal, and I support ending overfishing and bringing fisheries into balance.

But will this latest regulatory overhaul and the catch-share system help rebuild New England’s traditional fisheries? I don’t know, but I certainly hope ― and pray ― it will.

Hopefully, when the stocks return, there will still be New England fishermen around to catch them.

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