March 1, 2015 — The confluence of the Eastern Gulf of Maine (GOM) Habitat Area closure to groundfish gear, the emergency action on GOM cod and the claims around cod bycatch in lobster traps in recent months has made it all a front-burner issue for a lot of lobstermen. Lobstermen know cod bycatch is minimal and the cod, when they do come up in a trap, go back overboard. So where did this tempest in a teapot over cod bycatch come from?
Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said the Marine Stewardship Council’s review of the Maine lobster fishery’s sustainability certification released data they were given and that became the source of the bycatch issue picked up at the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) meeting in October.
The Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 is part of a lengthy plan to meet habitat requirements of the Magnuson Stevens Act. The emergency action on Gulf of Maine cod is rooted in a recalibration of a previously accepted stock assessment in September 2014. That recalibration came up with a lower figure on cod than the original assessment. The original went through the conventional required third-party peer review process. The recalibration was given an in-house Northeast Fishery Science Center (NEFSC) review. NEFSC does the stock assessments for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).