Over 200 scallop vessels have signed up to participate in this year’s University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) Yellowtail Flounder Bycatch Avoidance Program. Participants in the program range from North Carolina to Massachusetts and include owner-operated vessels as well as vessels from larger fleets. The program is endorsed by the Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the vast majority of full-time Atlantic scallop fishermen from Maine to Virginia.
The SMAST Yellowtail Flounder Bycatch Avoidance Program is ready to start at the opening of Closed Areas I and II on August 1st at 12:01am. The scallop management actions, Amendment 15 and Framework 22, were published in the Federal Register on July 21st authorizing vessels to harvest their allocations from the Georges Bank closed areas. All vessels were allocated two 18,000 lb. trips to the areas with 75% of the effort in Closed Area I and 25% of the effort in Closed Area II. The fleet must operate under a Total Allowable Catch of yellowtail flounder set at 201 mt. (~306,000 lb.). Reaching this catch limit on yellowtail flounder will force a closure of both areas to all scallop fishing.
The program uses data collected by active fishermen on the location and amount of yellowtail and scallop catch. SMAST sends a summary of the information back to the fleet each day to provide a real-time update of bycatch hotspots.
The program began in 2010 in the Nantucket Lightship area with 122 participants. The fleet was able to harvest their full allocation of scallops, worth ~$40 million, while only catching 32% of the yellowtail flounder Total Allowable Catch. With over half of the fleet participating in the program in 2011, SMAST is optimistic that the scallop fleet will be able to harvest their full allocation of scallops from the Georges Bank access areas. The value of the 2011 access area scallop fishery could be as high as $125 million.
Read the Standard-Times editorial: SMAST, scallopers develop another model program