UNIT 1 

 NORTHEAST DEMERSAL FISHERIES 



ing mortality rates in 1997 for the Georges Bank 

 stocks ot cod, haddock, and yellowtaii floiuider 

 and the Southern New England stock of yellow- 

 tail were at or below the overfishing definitions 

 for those stocks and below the more restrictive 

 Amendment 7 targets (F^j) tor all but Georges 

 Bank cod. For Gulf of Maine cod, however, fish- 

 ing mortalirv' in 1 997 was well above both the over- 

 fishing definition and the target (F ). Substan- 



^ t' MUX 



tial reductions in fishing effort have occurred in 

 the New England area in recent years. For example, 

 the total number of limited access permitted ves- 

 sels with individual days-at-sea allocations declined 

 from 197 in 199S to 162 in 1997, and the total 

 davs at sea allocated to these vessels declined from 

 37,320 in 1 995 to 1 8,293 in 1 997. The fixed-gear 

 sector was brought into the limited access category 

 in 1996, and the total number of days allocated 

 to the fleet days-at-sea category decreased from 

 187,372 in 1996 to 109,888 in 1997. In addition 

 to these reductions in days at sea for fishing ves- 

 sels, a vessel buyout program, authorized by the 

 Secretary of Commerce and administered by the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- 

 tion, was initiated in 1995, first as a pilot project 

 and later as a comprehensive fishing capacity re- 

 duction project. The program was designed to pro- 

 vide economic assistance to fishermen adversely 

 affected by the collapse of the groundfish fishery 

 and who voluntarily chose to remove their vessels 

 permanently from the fishery, while helping fish 

 stocks recover to a sustainable level by reducing 

 the excess fishing capacity in the Northeast. The 

 vessel buyout program, which concluded early in 

 1998, removed 79 fishing vessels at a cost of nearly 

 $25 million and resulted in an approximate 20% 

 reduction in fishing effort in the Northeast 

 groundfish fishery. The ultimate net benefits of 

 all these effort reductions for the Northeast 

 groundfish resources will be both positive and sub- 

 stantial to the Nation as a whole. 



Progress 



Considerable progress in the development and 

 implementation of management alternatives for 

 the Northeast demersal resources has been made 

 since 1994. The implemented measures include 



reductions in days at sea, increased min 



imum me. 



esh 



sizes, a moratorium on new vessels, expanded 

 closed areas to fishing (Figure 1-3), and trip limirs 

 for depleted cod and haddock stocks. An annual 

 review provision allows the level of effort reduc- 

 tion measures to be changed, depending on the 

 actual state of fishing mortality relative to plan 

 targets. Mandatory reporting systems for North- 

 east resources have been developed to better moni- 

 tor the performance of the fishery. New assess- 

 ipents for principal species including cod, had- 

 dock, and yellowtaii flounder have documented 

 patterns of fishing mortality, discarding, and re- 

 cruitment, and form the basis for additional regu- 

 latory proposals. 



Fishing effort in the Northeast demersal fish- 

 eries has been reduced substantially since 1994 

 when Amendment ^ to the Northeast Multispecies 

 Fishery Management Plan became effective. Be- 

 ginning in March 1994, Amendment 5 introduced 

 a phased-in, 5-year, 50% reduction in days at sea, 

 and expanded Closed Area II on the Northeast 

 Peak of Georges Bank. Closed Areas 1 and II were 

 closed on a vear-round basis by emergency action 

 in December 1994, and the closures became per- 

 manent following implementation of Framework 

 9 in April 1995. Amendment 7, which became 

 effective in July 1 996, incorporated the essential 

 features of Amendment S and Framework 9. 

 Amendment 7 introduced further restrictions on 

 days at sea to cover fixed-gear as well as mobile- 

 gear sectors, accelerated the days-at-sea reduction 

 schedule, and adopted biomass targets. These tar- 



Winter flounder. 



9 5 



