Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 44 



2) Fixed Gear 



Hook and Line are hand-held gear used for 

 catching either groundfish or tuna. 



Tub Trawls also target groundfish, using multiple 

 hooks baited with natural or artificial lures and 

 attached to a long line. Trawls may be anchored or 

 permitted to drift at any level in the water. 



Fish Traps /Lobster Traps are stationary gear used 

 to harvest groundfish species, or lobsters and crabs. 

 Traps are rigid in construction, and vary in design 

 and dimension. 



Sink Gillnets are anchored stationary nets 

 commonly used for catching groundfish. Gillnets 

 may be generally described as vertical "walls" of 

 fiber netting, which capture and hold individual 

 fishes in their meshes. Mesh size is designed for 

 specific sizes of targeted fish species. Depending on 

 the target species, gillnets may be suspended at the 

 water's surface, in midwater, or close to the bottom 

 by controlling the number and size of floats and 

 weights. At Stellwagen Bank, sink gillnets are used 

 for a variety of mid-water fisheries. 

 Harpoons in the Southern New England fishery are 

 hand-thrown, and used in catching large fish species, 

 such as bluefin tuna. 



d. Fisheries Management 



Most commercial and recreational fishing 

 activities in the Stellwagen Bank area are regulated 

 by fishery management plans (FMPs) developed by 

 Fishery Management Councils. FMPs recognize the 

 inseparable association between fishery resources 

 and the commercial/recreational interests 

 dependent upon them. The goal of FMPs is to 

 preserve the fishery resource, through implemen- 

 tation of a management scheme which provides 

 operational flexibihty, encourages efficiency and 

 lessens regulatory mechanisms. 



Depending upon the particular target species, 

 Stellwagen Bank fisheries are managed by the New 

 England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), 

 and/or the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

 Council (MAFMC), pursuant to the provisions of 

 the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and 



Management Act (16 U.S.C. § 1801) (FCMA). 

 Section 303 of the FCMA requires that FMPs 

 contain conservation jmd management measures; 

 assessment of present condition of the fishery and 

 its maximum sustainable yields; the capacity and 

 extent of fishing vessel harvest of the fishery; and 

 information on the significance of the habitat of the 

 fishery. Owing to the seasonal variabihty of specific 

 species, the two Fishery Management Councils 

 make recommendations to each other when 

 additional information is required. 



Once an FMP is approved by the Secretary of 

 Commerce, implementation of its provisions is the 

 responsibility of the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), 

 and an FMP Technical Monitoring Group. 



Approved fishery management plans developed by 

 the New England Fishery Management Council 

 currently exist for the following species: Atlantic 

 Salmon Fishery (August 1988); Atlantic Sea Scallop 

 Fishery (most recently amended August 1989); 

 American Lobster Fishery (most recently amended 

 July 1989); and the Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

 (most recently amended 1990, and presently being 

 updated to incorporate silver hake, red hake, and 

 ocean pout). 



The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management 

 Plan establishes the following: 



• minimum size regulations for several major 

 commercial species (including but not limited to): 

 Atlantic cod, haddock, pollack, witch flounder, 

 yellowtail flounder, American plaice, and winter 

 lounder. 



• minimum size regulations for recreationally- 

 caught haddock and Atlantic cod. 



• closure of spawning areas over Georges Bank 

 and southern New England. 



• major increase in the mesh size of mobile trawl 

 gear. 



• marking requirement for gillnet gear. 



In response to continuing documentation of 



