Cod, it's going to go from bad to worse ! - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Raider Ronnie · 10-12-2012, 08:22 AM

Gloucester Daily Times
---- — A large number of big commercial trawlers — 70 feet or more in length — from Gloucester and Boston have been drawn this week to the nearby inshore grounds of Middle Bank in pursuit of the season’s first pulse of cod, combing areas that are the usual domain of smaller, independent day boats from multiple ports, several sources told the Times Wednesday.
The reports were confirmed by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, vessel monitoring section.
“Over the past 72 hours (3 days), there have been 8 vessels of 70 feet or larger with possible fishing activity in the vicinity of Middle Bank,” said NOAA spokeswoman Maggie Mooney-Seus.
The majority of the big trawlers — described by eyewitnesses as continuing to fish as of Wednesday — was said to be registered members of Sector 2, the fishing cooperative made up of more than 40 Gloucester-based boats. Most of them are of a size that limits their range to day-boat fishing, but Sector 2 also includes six big “trip” boats, which have the scale to allow them to work the offshore grounds of Georges Bank.
The Sector 2 manager said he had no information about the whereabouts of his boats, but said that, at times, they have worked inshore.
The cod the big boats were chasing on the inshore grounds was described to the Times as a relatively small pulse, but the first of the season.
Middle Bank, a shallow section of Stellwagen Bank, is less than an hour’s steam from Gloucester, Boston and the small ports along Massachusetts Bay, and the primary locale for dayboat fishing for cod primarily.
But since the advent in May 2010 of catch share fishing, predicated on the trading of allocated fishing rights between gear types and boat sizes — allowed to members of sectors or fishing cooperatives — the taking of inshore cod by offshore boats has been a persistent theme and complaint by dayboat fishermen that the only available source of their harvest and income has been subject to plunder by boats of a much larger scale.
A critical element in the pulse fishing for cod on Stellwagen was the elimination of daily catch limits for boats which entered sectors; these boats were given allocations and encouraged to catch as much as they were allowed at any time. The efficiency of the new system was one of its prime selling points.
But inshore fishermen watching the big boats trawl out sized gear across Middle Bank’s shallow sandy bottom have argued the need to re-establish daily catch limits.
The trajectory of the rebuilding of inshore or Gulf of Maine cod took an acute downward turn in early 2012, with the disappointing and surprising findings of a benchmark assessment leading to a 22 percent cut in allowable landings this year and a potentially catastrophic restriction on landings beginning May 1, 2013. With that, the possibility that the rebuilding of the inshore cod stock has been interrupted by big boat trawler activity has been broached publicly in official circles.
David Pierce, the deputy director of marine fisheries in Massachusetts, aired this concern during the February meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council in Portsmouth, N.H. Speaking as a member of the council, NOAA’s regional policy making, advisory panel, Pierce described multiple schemes — made legal or viable in the unrestricted catch share trading system activated in May 2010 — that have put enormous pressure on the cod stocks on Stellwagen Bank and in other inshore fishing grounds.
Fishermen-members of the 17 sectors or nonprofit cooperative businesses are allowed to trade and lease their allocations in the 19 groundfish stocks between one another — including between the smaller inshore to larger offshore boats and across various gear types.
Because NOAA approved the catch share trading regimen and restructuring of the industry into sectors without restrictions on the trading or accumulation of catch shares, Pierce and a growing consensus believes it is watching a classic market consolidation that will leave a handful of the best capitalized businesses in control of the Northeast groundfishery – the nation’s oldest continuous fishery, and — since last month’s formal declaration by NOAA — an industry confronting economic disaster.
The failure is due in large measure reduced catch limits, a result of congressional amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act which mandate rebuilding overfished stocks within a 10 year timetable and hard catch limits. The disappointing assessment of inshore cod that contradicted a three-year-old benchmark assessment and a broader update of off shore stocks completed a Perfect Storm of travails for a fishery that had been assumed to be on the right track after decades of sacrifice.
“We need to address the transfer from small to larger boats,” said Pierce, who argued that the system worked to tilt the playing field in favor of the best capitalized and major corporations, while further limiting the opportunity for smaller, independent boats to stay economically afloat.
His sentiment is imbedded in a growing consensus among stakeholders of the need for accumulation caps and measures to ensure fleet diversity.
David Levielle, Sector 2 manager, said he had no information about the whereabouts of the sector’s boats. But he said as a general rule, his sector’s “big boats” spend 95 percent of their time “outside” meaning working on Georges.
“Have they been on Middle Bank? I’m sure (they have),” Levielle added.
But he also added that there are only six trip boats left in Gloucester and only about 40 in the entire regional groundfishing fleet.
“The perception is that the big boats are killing the little boats,” he said in a telephone interview.

PRBuzz · 10-12-2012, 08:55 AM

Whatever gave DL this impression: "“The perception is that the big boats are killing the little boats,” he said in a telephone interview." THEY ARE!

What a dragger can net up in a day what it takes the little boats to do in a year?

That 5% is a killer: "...his sector’s “big boats” spend 95 percent of their time “outside” meaning working on Georges."

turbor2 · 10-12-2012, 10:01 AM

This sucks BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!! Now im sure they will blame the lack of Cod on the rec fishermen.

thefishingfreak · 10-12-2012, 10:06 AM

What else is new.
Last year I said "well they can't take them all"
After this season of cod fishing I'm starting to think they sure did.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

MAKAI · 10-12-2012, 02:44 PM

A commercial fisherman's worst enemy is another commercial fisherman in a bigger boat. Sad way of life.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

likwid · 10-12-2012, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAKAI

A commercial fisherman's worst enemy is another commercial fisherman in a bigger boat. Sad way of life.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

or any other commercial fisherman fighting for the best price.

niko · 10-12-2012, 03:02 PM

didn't the canadian cod fishery collapse teach us anything. we still are fishing them into exitinction. it's a damn shame, they will be missed

MAKAI · 10-12-2012, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niko

didn't the canadian cod fishery collapse teach us anything. we still are fishing them into exitinction. it's a damn shame, they will be missed

Money trumps logic.
The masses will learn to like dogfish & chips, then scup & chips, then sculpin & chips, then cunner& chips..............ö
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thefishingfreak · 10-12-2012, 05:18 PM

They will let them clear-cut all the cod off the bank, again, and then the test trawls will show no fish,again, and then they will restrict the recreational fishermen,again.
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Raider Ronnie · 10-12-2012, 05:30 PM

Brought to you courtesy of Dr. Jane Lubchenco and catch shares !

likwid · 10-12-2012, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAKAI

Money trumps logic.
The masses will learn to like dogfish & chips
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

The masses already like dogfish & chips.. in the UK, and its damn good.

And most fish & chips you're eating these days already is pacific cod or from the bottom of the hold.

MAKAI · 10-12-2012, 07:55 PM

[size=1]Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device[/size

I've been invited to try.
But dogfish and I have this contemptuous relationship...

Joe · 10-13-2012, 05:09 AM

Might be time to call it a day for the old commercial fishing industry, and load the harbor up with condos, slips, and tiki bars.
Seems like we're just delaying the inevitable. The feds are never going to straighten things out. A lot of regulation expense and headaches for not much fish. They could dissolve the fed monitoring system, clean out the harbors, and move on. It's sad to see the fishermen lose a way of life, but they ain't the first ones.
Communities like New Bedford would get far greater tax revenues from lining the former harbor with luxury condos with boat slips, that don't take kids - so they would not drain on the schools, while subsequently getting some people in the community with money to spend.

Mr. Sandman · 10-13-2012, 05:49 AM

But it is the "best science"

we have.

Each time you pressure them that is the reason you will get in the end.

It is hard to argue logic with idiots.

IMO any time the a species is approaching some trouble all commercial activity should stop abruptly. They should have stopped commercial fishing for cod many years ago and let them really rebound strongly, then slowly let a little commercial activity back in a little each year watching the levels like a hawk. This species has been managed for over 30 years...how is it we could be at catastrophic levels if they are "managing" it? We should never even get close to ever letting stocks get close to this level.. They let it happen right before their own eyes. Heck they were letting them take the breeders during the spawn up to a few years ago. They really don't care about the fishery, (any fishery) it is all about squeezing the most they can from the "resource". They simply have the wrong perspective.

MAKAI · 10-13-2012, 09:53 AM

Human nature seems to be to not get serious until the worst conditions exist. Then try and fix the possibly non repairable. Being proactive isn't our strong suit.
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