A voice for the seafood harvesters and processors throughout New Jersey

Industry Proposal for Southern Gear Restricted Area

The commercial fishing industry has conducted formal research to test modifications to the Loligo net to reduce scup bycatch. Those experiments have not been successful.  The 5 inch square mesh escapement panel is very inefficient and retains less than 20% of the Loligo. Therefore, the escapement panel is not an alternative.

The Access Program is unrealistic and has proved to be a failure. Observer costs were too high, 100% observer coverage was unreasonable. The industry has not been supportive of the allowable gear because of its ineffectiveness .We are considering to request it be removed from the FMP.

It is the belief of the commercial fishing industry that if the GRAs are not eliminated completely then the location of the GRA could be modified to reduce the impacts of the GRA’s to the Loligo fishery. We currently support a proposal that would shift the location of the Southern GRA approximately 1.75 miles to the west. A boundary shift of the Southern GRA would not increase scup discards at any significant level, but would allow access to the most productive margins of the historical Loligo fishery and mitigate the impacts of the GRAs on the Loligo fleet.

We are seeking input from fishermen to consider options for changes to the Northern GRA that would reduce the impact on Loligo fishermen without significantly impacting scup.

We plan to build support for these proposals within the industry.  We are working with the staff of the MAFMC, NMFS, and Rutgers to have our proposal analyzed for discussion and action at the August Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting and eventually for review and approval by the National Marine Fisheries Service. We hope to gain support for this proposal from the MAFMC so they can recommend this position to NMFS for final approval and implementation for the 2005 fishing year.

We are working with the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association, Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association and the NFI-SMC to resolve the GRA issue and welcome support from any other commercial fishing organizations and members of the fishing industry.

Summer Flounder Allocation Issue

On April 21, 2004 I attended the Summer Flounder Technical Committee Meeting. The recommendation from the Committee to the Summer Flounder Management Board was to reassess the allocation formula by considering the recreational catch estimates from 1965 and 1970. These years the recreational catch was estimated to be 14.807 and 9.67 million pounds respectively, if this change were to be approved the current 60% commercial, 40% recreational spilt could be 44% commercial, 56% recreational. This possible scenario would cause a reduction in the current allocation of summer flounder because commercial reported landings for those same years does not accurately account for all commercial landings in fact commercial landings for those years are greatly under estimated.

If reallocation of summer flounder quotas occurs between the commercial and recreational sectors you can expect a reduction in catch that would have a sever economic impact on the commercial fishing industry.

We will be monitoring this issue as it develops and will need your involvement and possibly your public testimony during the August Council Meeting.

License to sell fish in New Jersey

On Tuesday April 20th GSSA met with Marty McHugh and NJDEP Staff regarding the creation of a state license to sell.  The meeting was productive and we must strongly consider a three-tiered license system separated by the type of fishing gear. The purpose of this license would help insure the quality and safety of seafood harvested and handled by the commercial fishing industry of New Jersey and at the same time protect the consumer. We have been asked by the NJDEP to provide our recommendations for the penalties associated with selling or buying seafood without a license.  Penalties would apply to those illegally selling fish and/or those illegally buying fish from someone who does not have the appropriate license. The Division was proposing some penalty that could impact the permit or license of the wrongdoer, however we commented that strict monetary penalties would be more appropriate.

Deep Water Coral Protection

A Congressional Bill has been drafted that would seek to protect deep-water coral and sponges from bottom trawling.

Current language would set-aside no trawling areas in the Mid Atlantic/New England area and would be designated as Coral Management Areas. The areas that are being discussed are South of Georges Bank and are called Oceanographer and Lydonia. These areas have traditionally been fished by vessels from all over the Mid-Atlantic and New England, particularly for both Illex and Loligo squid.

This bill seeks protection for Coral and Sponges that the Councils are already taking action to protect, in effect, the bill circumvents the Federal fishery management process that the Council has put in place. GSSA is working with its DC representatives and providing comments in opposition to this legislation.

Research Set – Aside Proposals

With the help of Rutgers University Staff and National Fisheries Institute – Scientific Monitoring Committee we have submitted three proposals for the 2005 RSA Program. Those include a third year of the Supplemental Finfish Survey, Bycatch Reduction and Gear Development in the Loligo and Scup Fisheries and a proposal that would use paid observers to monitor scup discard rates in the Loligo fishery that occurs in the Southern GRA.

GSSA has requested a one-day workshop for each project that would be held with the NMFS and the commercial fishing industry to develop protocol for these research projects. We are waiting to see if the MAFMC and NMFS approve our proposals for cooperative research for 2005.

Scallop Amendment 10 / Limited Access Permits

A group of GSSA members went to Washington DC to meet with staff from NMFS to deliver the GSSA message that the exclusion provision proposed in Amendment 10 would have excluded limited access scallop vessels from scalloping as General Category vessels, was unfair, would disproportionately impact one segment of fishermen and that the rational to do so was unsound. We submitted written comments as well. I am happy to inform you that the exclusion provision was not approved by the NMFS. LIMITED ACCESS SCALLOP VESSELS WILL BE ABLE TO SCALLOP WHEN NOT ON A SCALLOP DAS FOR A GENERAL CATEGORY TRIP NOT TO EXCEED 400 POUNDS.  The final version of Amendment 10 will be published in the next few weeks and should become effective in early June 2004. Opposition to the exclusion provision came from individual fishermen as well as the Fisheries Survival Fund and other industry advocates as well.