Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe says the decision of the Scientific and Statistical Committee to slash the acceptable biological catch of herring by 53% over 2009 levels was based on ‘data which, according to the SSC itself. contains high degrees of uncertainty.’
She says ‘I will not stand by and allow this fishery and the businesses it supports to be decimated based on information so woefully outdated that the scientists themselves complain about its applicability. It is absolutely critical that National Marine fisheries Service (NMFS) carry out a new benchmark assessment as soon as possible to ensure that our fishermen are not unfairly punished by the absence of viable data.’
Herring is a keystone species for the Gulf of Maine, providing most of the bait for the lobster fishery, which represents 79% of Maine’s commercial landings. Snowe says that lobstermen are already absorbing costs of $10,000 to $15,000 per vessel to convert to sinking lines, while receiving an historically low price for their catch. They cannot afford a bait crisis brought about by lack of availability of herring. SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton – Oct 8, 2009 – Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe has some of the best fisheries staff in Washington. This is seen in her recent letter to NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco, that succinctly lays out the need for better data collection in the herring fishery, before huge reductions are mandated by the Scientific and Statistical Committee based on poor data.
Under Magnuson-Stevens, the Fishery management councils are not legally bound to accept the recommendations of the SSC on stocks that are not overfished until 2011. As a result, in 2010, the Council can revisit the herring TAC issue.
Snowe says the decision of the SSC to slash the acceptable biological catch of herring by 53% over 2009 levels was based on ‘data which, according to the SSC itself. contains high degrees of uncertainty.’
She says ‘I will not stand by and allow this fishery and the businesses it supports to be decimated based on information so woefully outdated that the scientists themselves complain about its applicability. It is absolutely critical that National Marine fisheries Service (NMFS) carry out a new benchmark assessment as soon as possible to ensure that our fishermen are not unfairly punished by the absence of viable data.’
Herring is a keystone species for the Gulf of Maine, providing most of the bait for the lobster fishery, which represents 79% of Maine’s commercial landings. Snowe says that lobstermen are already absorbing costs of $10,000 to $15,000 per vessel to convert to sinking lines, while receiving an historically low price for their catch. They cannot afford a bait crisis brought about by lack of availability of herring.
Calls for redfish assessment also
In the letter, Snowe said ‘Before herring became the preferred bait in the lobster industry, many lobstermen used redfish in their pots. After years of overfishing followed by drastic regulatory changes, in 2007 Acadian redfish was removed from both NMFS’s ‘overfished’ and ‘overfishing’ lists. Subsequently, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources proposed to NMFS an experimental fishery for Acadian redfish. If found to be successful, this proposal could benefit the lobster and herring fisheries by diversifying the bait supply and reducing pressure on the herring stock. Furthermore, it could provide additional fishing opportunities for ground-fishermen, as redfish is managed under the Northeast Multi species Fishery Management Plan. As such, in addition to prioritizing a herring assessment, I request that you expedite review of this redfish proposal to determine whether it is viable under the terms of current law.
The SSC itself has acknowledged the shortcomings of its data set and has called for NMFS to fund a new benchmark assessment of Atlantic herring. When our scientists clamor for better data, it is the responsibility of the Federal government to heed that call and ensure that our fisheries managers are capable or setting limits that meet the MSA’s mandate of achieving, ‘on a continuing basis, the optimum yield’ from our oceans. A new herring benchmark assessment will help achieve this goal and I urge you to prioritize such research .’
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher
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