CHATHAM, MA – September 27, 2010 – The midwater trawlers fishing for herring in federal waters from Chatham to Provincetown went over their catch limit by almost 40 percent this year, according to NOAA Fishery's Atlantic Herring Weekly Landing Report released last week.
By greatly exceeding their quota in Area 1B, a sensitive habitat located a mere three miles from shore, the herring boats are taking even more fish away from the striped bass, cod, pollock and tuna that Cape Cod fishermen depend on for their businesses. And with inadequate monitoring and rules governing this fleet, the trawlers were allowed to go over their limit by around 3.7 million pounds with no consequence this year or next.
"The Cape's commercial fishermen can't go over our allowance by a single pound of fish without being shut down and these guys went over by 38 percent," said John Our, a Chatham-based groundfish fisherman. "Those boats went over by more pounds of herring than the weight of all fish Chatham boats caught last year."
"If National Marine Fisheries is going to make everyone accountable, that's got to include the herring industry too," he added.
The overage in Area 1B is just another example of the fact that there is not adequate monitoring of this fishery.
"If observers had been on board the boats to track their catch, this area could have been shut down when it should have been and those herring would be there for stripers and tuna," said Darren Saletta, a commercial striped bass fisherman from Chatham.
A plan to enhance monitoring on midwater trawlers is in the works at the New England Fishery Management Council, but there are still important measures that need to be included in Amendment 5 in order to ensure the rule changes actually have an impact and stop overage events like what happened in 1B this year.
The Council is scheduled to take up this issue tomorrow — Tuesday, Sept. 28 — when it meets at the Hotel Viking in Newport, R.I.
· READ the Atlantic Herring Weekly Landings Report.
· CHECK OUT the agenda for the September Council meeting.
· FOLLOW our Tweets on the CCCHFA Twitter page for updates on tomorrow's meeting.
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