April 19, 2012 – NOAA Fisheries has announced that an area of the Gulf of Maine will be closed to gill-nets annually from October 1 through November 30 beginning in 2012 to reduce harbor porpoise deaths.
According to NOAA, "this closure is required because observed by-catch rates for harbor porpoises in this fishery have exceeded the trigger specified in the harbor porpoise conservation plan. The plan was developed by a Take Reduction Team, a group of fishermen, scientists, environmentalists and managers. Take Reduction Teams are required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act to reduce by-catch of marine mammals."
The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Historically, October and November are among the months with the highest harbor
porpoise by-catch rates in the Gulf of Maine. In 2011, 36 groundfish sector gill-net vessels made
721 fishing trips into this area during October and November. The economic impacts of this
closure area will depend on the extent to which fishermen are able to shift their effort to other
areas outside the closure area.
Owners and operators of permitted gill-net vessels were advised in a letter from NOAA
Fisheries last August that closures might be necessary because observed harbor porpoise
by-catch rates were high. Final analysis of the first year of fishing under this conservation plan
indicates that the observed by-catch rate for the Gulf of Maine was more than double the trigger
level, requiring the closure this fall to comply with the harbor porpoise conservation plan.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted on October 21, 1972. All marine
mammals are protected under this Act, which prohibits, with certain exceptions, the "take" of
marine mammals in U.S. waters and by Americans on the high seas, and the importation of
marine mammals and marine mammal products into the United States.
A conference call and webinar lead by the Take Reduction Team has been scheduled
from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. on Thurs., April 26. Interested members of the public are welcome to join
the call. During the call, an overview of the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan and by-catch
analysis for the first complete fishing year under the new conservation management plan will be
presented. Please send an email to Marjorie.Mooney-Seus@noaa.gov for call-in information.
NOAA is also planning to convene a formal meeting of the Take Reduction Team this fall
to assess new harbor porpoise population information and additional by-catch data. This meeting
will be announced in the Federal Register and on the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional
Office website.
Read the permit holder letter (Fisheries Bulletin) for further details.
See the Northeast Fisheries Science Center harbor porpoise by-catch rate analysis.
Other information about the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team can be found here.