This Sea Scallop Fact sheet was prepared by the NEFMC staff as part of the package of documents in preparation for the scallop reconsideration scheduled at the Council meeting in Portsmouth, NH. Read the sea scallop fact sheet here.
Council Discussion of Economic Impacts Scallop Framework Adjustment 21; and Georgetown Economics’ response
This "discussion" was posted by the New England Fisheries Management Council as part of the package of documents in preparation for the scallop reconsideration scheduled at the Council meeting in Portsmouth, NH. The council staff states that it is intended to clarify how different perspectives and methods used in outside analyses produced different results compared to the analyses in the FW21 document.
As the document references a Georgetown Economic Services study submitted to NMFS by the Fisheries Survival Fund, Saving Seafood requested a response from the economist who conducted the study.
Council Staff Discussion:
The discussion argues that the cost benefit analyses in the FW21 document considered both short and long-term economic impacts of the proposed action, including the impacts on costs, consumer benefits and net economic benefits for the nation, other published reports focused mostly on the short-term impacts for 2010 fishing year relative to the previous fishing year (2009). These short-term economic analyses do not accurately reflect the benefits and costs of the proposed action (F=0.20) or F=0.24 alternative for the following reasons:
1) The impacts on revenues were evaluated comparing projected revenues for 2010 to actual revenues from the previous years instead of to the projected revenues for no action. Different methods were applied in estimating the projected reduction in revenue relative to the previous years’ levels.
2) The impacts on fishing costs were not considered and as a result, the impacts on net revenues and profits were overestimated.
3) The impacts of the proposed action and the alternatives on scallop biomass, yield, revenues, consumer surplus, net economic benefits for the nation, regional impacts and impacts on communities beyond 2010 were not considered.
4) The impacts of exceeding the fishing mortality targets and removing an additional 8 million pounds of scallops in 2008 with an estimated F of 0.28 and 10 million pounds of scallops pounds in 2009 with an estimated F=0.30 compared to projections of catch and fishing mortality (F) from Framework 19 were not taken into account.
The discussion argues that short-term analyses completely ignore the impacts of landing 57 million pounds on revenues and on overall economic benefits in 2011 and beyond. They also overlook the impacts on regional revenues, incomes and employment of such scenario in the years following 2010. As a result, focusing on economic impacts only in 2010 or just for a three year period from 2010- 2012 (as was done in the Georgetown study submitted to NMFS by the Fisheries Survival Fund) fails to take into account the economic benefits from a risk averse action (i.e., F=0.20) compared to a F=0.24 option or compared to a option that would allocate 57 million pounds to the fishery in 2010.
Ariel Collis of Georgetown Economic Services replies:
1. The Georgetown Economic Services report does not "ignore the impacts of landing 57 million pounds on revenues and on overall economic benefits in 2011 and beyond." Rather, the Report examines the Council's projections and finds that NEFMC's economic benefit projections are not economically meaningful after 2012.
2. The Council's benefit calculations are not economically meaningful because they do not take into account the uncertainty associated with the assumptions that underlie the projections. This is especially true for the Council's projections for the years 2013-2016.
3. If a comparison of the economic benefits is made over the three year period from 2010 to 2012, then the NCLF24 option is more economically beneficial than the NCLF20 option.
OPINION: Scalloper calls Globe Editorial “both sensationalist and inaccurate.”
Paul Weckesser, a New Bedford scallop boat owner, wrote the following in a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe.
"The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Scientific and Statistical Committee reported that 80 million pounds of scallops could be legally caught without exceeding the overfishing limit, and that 65 million pounds of caught scallops was both sustainable and precautionary with only a 25 percent chance of the scallop biomass being overfished. The scallop industry supported a proposed catch of 47 million pounds, 18 million pounds less than the conservative allowable catch that would keep the 2010 fishing days at sea the same as 2009."
"When the scallop industry realized it was going to lose more fishing days without a reasonable explanation, it asked local, state, and federal representatives for support in persuading the council to revisit the issue. Governor Patrick asked the council chairman, John Pappalardo, to come to his office on a Sunday in order to understand the issue, and to ask Pappalardo to allow the council to reconsider its vote."
Fishing ‘sectors’ OK’d, decried as industry’s ‘darkest hour’
Amendment 16, a controversial rewrite of the rules of commercial fishing in the Northeast, was approved Friday by NOAA's Fisheries Service and will take effect May 1.
"I've been dealing with fisheries for 25 years. This is, in my estimation, one of the darkest hours this industry has ever seen," said Gloucester fishing industry attorney Stephen Ouellette.
The amendment restructures much of the fishing industry into 17 new cooperatives called "sectors." Sectors will have the ability to decide for themselves how to develop rules for taking and allocating their allowed catch to the various members.
Robert Lane of Bourne, a former owner of two draggers out of New Bedford, said he quit the business after a brief experience in a sector in Maine.
The sector system, he said, "I think is going to collapse of its own weight with all the paperwork managing the thing," he said.
"The quotas force you into groups, and it's a huge amount of work trying to manage it that way," he said.
Pat Kurkel, the northeast regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, has been a defender of the amendment and the science behind it, saying that "the real issue is that we've just been unable to eliminate overfishing." The existing system should have been changed years ago, she told reporters at the rally.
Read the complete story at the Standard-Times [subscription]
Voices from the Waterfront’ book recounts oral histories of fishing industry figures
A new book designed to provide its readers with a window into New Bedford's complex and colorful fishing industry was released Jan. 14.
Titled "Voices from the Waterfront," the book is just that — allowing 40 people, who derive their livelihoods from a business that annually contributes $5.5 billion to the New England economy, to tell their stories in their own words.
Subtitled "Portrait of the New Bedford Fishing Industry," the book was produced as a collaborative effort between Laura Orleans and Kirsten Bendiksen, co-founders of the annual Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, and Connecticut's Mark Starr, a professional photographer who has previously produced photo books on the commercial fishermen of Point Judith.
The personal narratives, each one a page in length, are accompanied by luminous black and white photographs of the subjects.
Permit banking needed to rebuild fish stocks, fisherman says
WINTER HARBOR, Maine — “It’s not a secret,” fisherman-scholar Ted Ames said Saturday night.
“There aren’t too many fishermen here anymore. There aren’t too many fish, either. About 5,000 square miles off the Maine coast no longer produces fish. Gone are the haddock, cod, white hake and halibut,” he said.
Ames was addressing a large crowd at the Schoodic Education and Research Center on the issue of Maine’s groundfishing industry and how to secure its future.
“It can’t happen overnight,” he said. “But we sincerely believe the stocks can be restored.”
Ames and Aaron Dority, director of the Downeast Groundfish Initiative, talked about the massive decline in Maine’s fishing fleet as fish populations have shrunk.
WBZ-TV4 Boston coverage of “scathing” Inspector General’s report
WBZ-TV reports on the "excessive and unwarranted" fines noted by the Inspector General in "scathing new government" report on NOAA Fisheries law enforcement. Last month, WBZ reported that NOAA assured the station that any changes recommended would be made, but targets of NOAA enforcement tell WBZ's Jonathan Elias that "things have gotten worse."
[click here to view WBZ's video report]
EDITORIAL: Virginia lawmakers hooked by menhaden industry
Menhaden – an oily, bony baitfish – attracts more than stripers and bluefish. It attracts Virginia lawmakers by the score.
Omega Protein, which harvests menhaden for industrial purposes and processes them in Reedville, has carved out the privileged status of having its fishery in the Chesapeake Bay regulated by politicians to whom it gives thousands of dollars in donations each year.
The commercial exploitation of creatures in state waters is ordinarily controlled by the Virginia Marine Resource Commission. The VMRC regulates oysters, blue crabs, striped bass, bluefish, speckled trout and much, much more. What it doesn't regulate – by law – is menhaden, one of the largest commercial catches in Virginia waters. Instead, the fishery is the only one overseen by the General Assembly, where marine scientists are in short supply.
Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association’s comment on IG Report
Report released Thursday, January 22, 2010, by Commerce Department's Inspector General highlights problems with NOAA's enforcement of fishing rules- particularly in Northeast Region
NORTH CHATHAM, MA: The Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association expressed disappointment today with the findings of the recently published Inspector General's report on the practices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Law Enforcement. The federal inquiry, which was undertaken after continuous complaints on the part of the fishing industry, found that the enforcement of complicated fisheries regulations was too often arbitrary and that fundamental reform is needed, especially in the Northeast.
"No one in the fishery is surprised by this at all- we've all known it, lived it for years," said Harwich commercial fisherman Bob Keese. "The fishermen have always been treated like they're guilty until proven innocent. It's just not right."
Read the entire press release from the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman's Associtation.
NMFS Clarifies Requirements for Federal Atlantic Herring Fishery
NOAA Fisheries Service Clarifies the Notification and Reporting Requirements for Participants in the Federal Atlantic Herring Fishery
This letter clarifies the notification and reporting requirements for participants in the Federal Atlantic herring (herring) fishery. If a vessel harvests, possesses, or lands herring in or from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on any fishing trip, it is considered to be participating in the Federal herring fishery. As you may know, some vessel owners and operators failed to comply with reporting requirements in previous years. These violations undermined the monitoring program established to assure that catch in the fishery does not exceed specified levels. Please share this information with all of your vessel operators….