July 13, 2012 – The following was released by the office of Senator Olympia Snowe:
U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, today applauded a decision from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to adjust the U.S. Georges Bank yellowtail flounder quotas from the scallop industry to the groundfish industry. The action, supported by both parties, increases the allocation for the groundfishery by 69 percent. In April, NOAA created a working group with its National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the New England Fishery Management Council, and other stakeholders to address a drastic reduction in Georges Bank yellowtail flounder for the fishing year beginning on May 1st.
Senator Snowe said:
“I am pleased the National Marine Fisheries Service has adjusted the yellowtail flounder quota that will expand opportunities for the Gulf of Maine’s hardworking fishermen. The transfer of quota from the scallop fleet to the groundfish fishermen will help prevent yellowtail flounder from being a choke species by reducing catch for the entire groundfishery. This action was only possible through the cooperation of the scallop industry and the tremendous work of NMFS and the New England Fishery Management Council. It further underscores that creative management and collaboration between all our fishermen can provide tangible progress in ensuring a viable New England fishing industry. Here in Congress, I have worked to ensure our groundfish fleet has a sufficient yellowtail flounder quota by authoring the International Fisheries Clarification Act, which allowed for greater flexibility in the rebuilding time of yellowtail flounder.”
BACKGROUND: According to NOAA, the action supported by both groups, transfers roughly 332,000 pounds of yellowtail quota from the scallop industry to the groundfish industry, which still provides enough yellowtail flounder to maintain what is generally harvested by the scallop fleet. In New England, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is charged with developing management plans that meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (M-S Act). The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) specifies the management measures for thirteen groundfish species (cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, pollock, plaice, witch flounder, white hake, windowpane flounder, Atlantic halibut, winter flounder, redfish, Atlantic wolffish, and ocean pout) off the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts.
In 2009, Senator Snowe authored the International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act (S. 2856), which allowed a desperately needed extension of the rebuilding timeline for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder critically important to both groundfishermen and scallopers. Of Senator Snowe’s efforts, Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, has said: “To my knowledge, the New England groundfish fishery is the only U.S. fishery to have gained truly meaningful and tangible statutory flexibility under the arbitrary rebuilding provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act since those provisions were enacted in 1996. Senator Snowe was the author and definitive champion of the International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act of 2010 which provided that unique flexibility.”
Read the announcement from NOAA here.