Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Adjusts Fishing Year 2015 Catch Limits for NE Groundfish Sectors

August 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries announces adjustments to the 2015 groundfish catch limits based on current sector enrollment, to account for unused sector quota from 2014, and to account for a 2014 common pool overage.

Each year we publish an adjustment to the groundfish catch limits after we know the final sector enrollment. This adjustment is necessary since the sector enrollment deadline is April 30, while the annual catch limits are effective at the start of the fishing year on May 1.

This action also incorporates carryover quota available to each sector (i.e., sector quota unused in fishing year 2014 and that can be fished in fishing year 2015).

This rule also reduces the Eastern Georges Bank cod common pool sub-annual catch limit by 1.3 metric tons to account for a 2014 fishing year overage, leaving an allocation of 1.4 metric tons for the remainder of fishing year 2015, which ends April 30, 2016.

Another adjustment rule may be necessary to account for any additional underages or overages after final catch accounting is concluded later this fall.

For more information, read the rule as filed in the Federal Register and read the permit holder bulletin.

Questions? Contact William Whitmore, Regional Office, at 978-281-9182 or william.whitmore@noaa.gov.

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

In New England, Plenty of Fish in the Sea, But Red Tape Keeps Them There

July 2, 2015 — Many of the fisheries around the Vineyard have declined as a result of commercial fishing. In 2009 a new regulatory system based on sectors and annual quotas replaced the previous system, which worked by limiting fishing trips and days at sea. But the new system tends to favor larger companies that can afford to purchase quota from other fishermen and reinvest in equipment.

The fisheries have largely rebounded, Mr. Brighton said, but the Island’s commercial fishing fleet is struggling to compete with companies in New Bedford and other large fishing ports in New England.

Along the coast, however, community groups have emerged to reclaim some of the access to their local waters. The Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, a small group of fishermen, businessmen and others, is now working to establish a permit bank to make permits and quota affordable and keep them in the community.

The most active fisheries on the Vineyard — conch, lobster and monkfish — are managed by limited access (only a certain number of permits are issued). But groundfish, which include cod, flounder, haddock and other bottom-dwelling species, are regulated in part by quotas, which can be bought and sold on the open market. As one project, the trust plans to raise money through loans, grants and donations to buy quotas and lease them to fisherman at an affordable rate.

Obtaining a quota, however, requires first obtaining a state or federal permit, and most permits are already in use, placing them in high demand. A conch permit, for example, might sell for $40,000. A monkfish permit might exceed $50,000. A full-time scalloping permit for a large boat could easily run in the millions.

Quotas can be owned and leased by anyone, but permits are tied to individual vessels, so the trust would be hard-pressed to lease a permit without relinquishing control. “There is nothing keeping me from going to any other place in the world at fair market value and just selling it,” said Mr. Brighton, who is also a trustee for the fishermen’s trust.

“Obviously the hope is to one day be able to have boats that could lease quota,” said Shelley Edmundson, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Hampshire who is studying conchs and also working as treasurer for the trust. But the trust has raised only about $20,000 so far and has no immediate plans to purchase a boat.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette