Fisheries council takes action on groundfish closed areas

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) took action regarding groundfish closed areas at a November meeting.

Under current regulations the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) can take action if bycatch of groundfish in closed area by midwater trawlers is projected to exceed 1 percent of their catch. The council's first action instructed NMFS to prohibit midwater trawlers in groundfish closed areas if the 1 percent threshold was exceeded in October.

Subsequently, the second action taken, with the support of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and NMFS, the council passed a motion to consider prohibiting midwater trawlers from closed groundfish areas. That vote was 12 members in favor and 5 against.

 A Port Clyde groundfish fishermen and a member of the Midcoast Fishermen's Association, Gary Libby said, "It is about time the council listened to groundfishermen who have been calling for this action for years." Libby continued, "this issue is so important to us that we filed a lawsuit to keep midwater trawlers out of groundfish closed areas and now the council and agency have finally heard our call."

David Ellenton, president of the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition, a coalition of independent fishing boat owners and shoreside processers, said in a press release, "The council specifically encouraged the herring fleet to fish in area 3 and permitted us to fish Georges Bank. It gave us haddock bycatch caps, which have not been exceeded, regardless of what activist groups claim.  The stocks of haddock out there in October were larger than we've ever seen, and we voluntarily stopped fishing there as a result."

Jennifer Litteral is the marine programs officer at the Island Institute.