UNIT 4 

 NORTHEAST INVERTEBRATE FISHERIES 



in the early 1980's, and annual landings during 

 1983-96 averaged only about 3,300 t, but dem- 

 onstrated a significant increase to 1 5,400 t in 1997. 

 U.S. landings increased steadily from 1988 to a 

 record high of 18,3^0 t in 1994, but they have 

 dropped somewhat to a recent average yield ol 

 14,900 t (Table 4-1). This decline has been due 

 primarily to a weak export market. The stock was 

 classified as fully utilized and at a medium level ot 

 biomass when it was last assessed (Northeast Fish- 

 eries Science Center, 1996c,d). 



ISSUES AND PROGRESS 



Individual Transferable Quota 



An individual transferable quota system tor the 

 surlclam and ocean quahog hsheries was imple- 

 mented in 1990 (Amendment 8 to the fishery 

 management plan). This system eliminated the 

 need lor complex restrictions on the amount of 

 etlort and time each vessel could fish, which had 

 been characteristic ot the management system 

 under the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

 Council since 1977. As a consequence ot the in- 

 dividual transferable quota, the number of vessels 

 in the surfclam fleet has decreased substantially, 

 with a reduction from about 160 to fewer than 

 100 vessels in the first year alone. Further consoli- 

 dation ot fishing eftort, as well as construction of 

 new and more efficient vessels to reduce overhead, 

 is expected in the tuture. Fewer than 60 vessels are 

 now used to fish tor both surtclams and ocean 

 quahogs. 



Scientific Advice and 

 Adequacy of Assessments 



Considerable progress has been made in the 

 past several years in assessing the status of many 

 of the exploited invertebrate stocks ot the North- 

 east region. In 1996, an independent panel of in- 

 ternationally recognized scientists, convened by the 

 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 

 reviewed and endorsed the scientific basis tor the 

 existing overfishing definition for lobsters and the 

 validity of current assessment methods. This panel 

 ottered a number of recommendations for im- 



provements (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Com- 

 mission, 1996). A major benchmark assessment 

 of American lobsters followed later in 1996 

 (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 1996a) and 

 employed length-based cohort analysis, lite-his- 

 tory-stage-based population estimation models, 

 and an improved egg-production-per-recruit 

 model as the basis tor management advice. In 

 1 997, a major breakthrough was made in the abil- 

 ity to provide reliable swept-area estimates of 

 surfclam and ocean quahog populations from re- 

 search vessel dredge surveys as a result of success- 

 fijl NMFS-academia-industry tield experiments to 

 estimate efficiency ot the research dredge and im- 

 proved capability to monitor dredge performance 

 (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 1998a). Also 

 in 1997, a first-time analytical assessment of Gulf 

 of Maine northern shrimp was conducted inte- 

 grating catch and survey abundance indices into 

 estimates of stock size and fishing mortality rates 

 (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 1997c). 



Management Controls 



Fishing mortality on sea scallops is well above 

 the level defined as constituting overfishing. In 

 1994, the New England Fishery Management 

 Council implemented Amendment 4 to the fish- 

 ery management plan which was aimed at reduc- 

 ing fishing mortality on sea sctllops. Measures in- 

 cluded provisions to reduce fishing effort through 

 days-at-sea reductions and a moratorium on new 

 vessel entrants, while removing the meat count re- 

 quirement. Meat count regulations did not con- 

 trol the overall rate of fishing mortality, but redi- 

 rected mortalirv onto older scallops. To reduce fish- 

 ing mortality rates on smaller scallops, the mini- 

 mum ring diameter in the chain bag at the end ot 

 the scallop dredges was increased to 3-1/2 inches 

 (87.5 mm). This was intended to compensate for 

 the removal ot the meat count requirement by re- 

 ducing fishing mortality on small scallops. Given 

 the current overfished status ot the sea scallop re- 

 source, the New England Fishery Management 

 Council is currently considering additional man- 

 agement measures for reducing fishing mortality, 

 protecting undersized scallops in the Mid-Atlan- 

 tic region by means of closed areas, and possibly 

 allowing limited scalloping in the three ground- 



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