June 13, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council today approved research priorities for the 2019-2020 Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. Once again, the Council ranked resource surveys as “high” on the list of preferred projects.
The Council also initiated Framework Adjustment 30 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The framework will include specifications for fishing year 2019 and default measures for 2020, as well as the addition of “standard default measures” – actions that have become a routine part of each year’s fishery and can be included automatically in each specifications package, barring Council objection.
RSA PRIORITIES – TWO CATEGORIES
More specifically, the Council approved two categories of priorities for the next RSA cycle. These include: (1) “high” priorities; and (2) “general research areas” with no preference in ranking. Survey-related research is at the top of the list with three subcomponents, all of which carry equal weight:
- 1a: An intensive industry-based survey of each relevant scallop rotational area – Closed Area I, Closed Area II, Nantucket Lightship, Elephant Trunk, and Hudson Canyon – that will provide estimates of total and exploitable biomass to be used for setting catch limits under the fishery’s rotational area management program;
- 1b: An intensive industry-based survey of areas of importance, such as open areas with high scallop recruitment or areas of overall importance to the fishery, which possibly could cover:
- The Habitat Area of Particular Concern in Closed Area II and surrounding bottom,
- The area south of Closed Area II that formerly was part of the Closed Area II extension,
- Delmarva,
- Areas off Long Island, and
- Areas in the Gulf of Maine that recently have been or are likely to be fished;
- 1c: A broadscale industry-based survey of Georges Bank and/or Mid-Atlantic scallop resource areas, which does not need to be carried out by a single grant recipient.
The other “high” 2019-2020 Scallop RSA priority involves dredge efficiency. The Council is looking for proposals that investigate variability in dredge efficiency across habitats, times, areas, scallop densities, and gear designs to improve dredge survey estimates either through new research or analyses of existing data sets.