WASHINGTON — NOAA has approved a sector exemption request from the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund (GFCPF), which will utilize the sector system to preserve 30 metric tons of cod in exchange for relaxing some of the Gulf of Maine cod Interim Management Measures enacted in November 2014. The compromise meets the agency's cod conservation goals while providing regional fishermen and ancillary businesses with the opportunity to catch and sell abundant and under-harvested groundfish species.
The previous emergency measures made it substantially harder for fishermen to successfully catch abundant groundfish species, and substantially more difficult for shoreside businesses to fill orders and meet market demand. Even though stocks of pollock, haddock, and redfish are plentiful, fishermen have caught less than 30 percent of their allotted quota on all of these species: 23 percent for pollock, 21 percent for Georges Bank haddock, and 35 percent for redfish.
Regional businesses, federal and state government have urged the development markets for, and encouraged the harvesting of, these healthy species. Just last week, the New England Fishery Management Council reminded its email subscribers of the "Seafood 101" supplement it distributed last year in the Boston Globe together with NOAA and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The Council encouraged those eating seafood in observance of Lent to specifically seek out these sustainable species.
While guaranteeing the conservation of 30 metric tons of cod, the GCFPF compromise gives fishermen the flexibility necessary to catch these healthy stocks while still avoiding cod, allows the full retention of any cod that is caught rather than being wastefully discarded, and remedies current disruptions in the market for underutilized groundfish, which regional businesses have developed in recent years.
The text of the amendment follows:
AMENDMENT 1 TO THE NORTHEAST FISHERY SECTOR IV OPERATIONS PLAN
APPROVED BY THE NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE MARCH 3, 2015 EFFECTIVE MARCH 3, 2015 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2015
7.1.A Reserve Sector Members will not harvest sector ACE. The sector manager will utilize Inter and Intra sector transfers to move ACE between members and to fully utilize the unreserved ACE allocated to the Sector.
7.1.B GOM Cod ACE Reserve For the remainder of the 2014 fishing year, the NEFS 4 shall reserve and maintain a minimum balance of 30 metric tons of Gulf of Maine Cod ACE (referred to in this Section 7.1.B as the "Reserve"). The following conditions and restrictions apply to the Reserve:
(1) The Reserve shall not be utilized or traded during the 2014 fishing year.
(2) The Reserve shall not be utilized during any post-year reconciliation or trading.
(3) Any trade of the Reserve is void.
(4) The Reserve may not be carried over into any subsequent fishing year and shall not becounted in calculating any potential carry-over.
(5) Failure to maintain the Reserve shall be treated as an ACE overage and may subject theNEFS 4 to civil penalties.
Source: Saving Seafood
