GB biomass GB landings GoM biomass GoM landings

1. A U Georges Bank 100,000 GB biomass GB landings GoM biomass GoM landings 75,000 50,000 Metric Tons 25,000 0 1950 1970 1990 2010 Year AMERICAN UNIVERSITY Sustaining the Unsustainable A New Outlook for the New England Cod Fishery E. Broderick, R. Ghosh, K. Goetschius and S. Shampine Introduction In 1992 the Newfoundland cod fishery, one of the world’s greatest, was closed by the Canadian government. The number of cod able to spawn had dropped by 99% from what it had been in 1962. Hope that the cod stocks would recover has been dashed, and the livelihoods of 40,000 people have been irrevocably lost. Georges Bank, the principal New England cod fishing ground, is undergoing a similar decline, putting it at risk of closure. Advances have been made in using an ecosystem-based strategy for recovering and sustaining lost fish biomass. The Maine lobster fishery provides a case study of a fishery which recovered from the brink of collapse through regulation. Current Management The New England Fishery Management Council manages fisheries within the 200-mile federal zone off the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, which includes the Georges Bank area. It is comprised of federal and state officials, as well as other appointed members including representatives of local groups. The council implements theNortheast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. The plan manages the cod fishery by: imposing seasonal and year-round fishing area closures; gear restrictions (e.g. mesh sizes for nets, hooks per net); minimum fish sizes; limiting fishers to specific pounds of fish per trip; and limiting days at sea per vessel per year. • The Problem • The Georges Banks cod stocks are on the verge of complete collapse: • Selective pressure on larger fish has decreased the size of fish • (Body size is exponentially related to fecundity) • Fishers desperate to make a living continue to harvest in an • unsustainable way • Fishers are moving to the Bering Sea and Alaskan waters where • overfishing levels are high The U.S./Canada Resource Sharing Understanding specifies the total annual catch (TAC) limits for Georges Bank cod. The 2007 TAC limit is 1,900 metric tons (1,406 metric tons for Canada and 494 metric tons for U.S.), an increase of about 12% from the 2006 TAC limit of 1,700 metric tons. The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan promotes sustainable fisheries through local initiatives, such as the Georges Bank cod hook sector community based management program. Fishers in the sector are allowed 20% of the total annual catch for Georges Bank cod and determine how to harvest this amount. Fishers are directly involved in management actions, and work with scientists and the community to conduct research and to monitor bycatch. • Proposal • Despite current local, state, federal, and international laws, regulations, and management efforts, the Georges Bank cod fishery remains in serious danger of collapse. In order to create a more sustainable fishery, the New England Fishery Management Council should consider implementing the following initiatives: • Require the creation as many additional sector community based management programs for local fishers as possible so that at least 60% of the TAC • limit is included in these programs • Implement aquaculture programs in areas that • are currently being fished commercially with an emphasis on including local fishers • Experiment with increasing the minimize size • limit to see if an increase in the spawning stock biomass (SSB or the total weight of all sexually • mature fish in the population) of at least 5% per • year for a continuous period of five years can be attained • Conduct extensive larval dispersal studies to identify the feasibility of creating networks of • marine reserve areas that enhance the availability • of cod recruits • Reviving the Georges Bank cod fishery will be an ongoing process. Sustainability initiatives should be considered successful if the TAC limit can be increased each year and the SSB increases as well. Population Trends Atlantic Cod Biomass and Landings from Georges Bank (GB) and the Gulf of Maine (GoM), source: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch Aquaculture The United States has recognized that the fishing industry can not keep up with increasing domestic demand for seafood; trade in seafood shows a $9.1 billion deficit. As per capita consumption continues to increase, so does interest in marine aquaculture. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has created an aquaculture program to provide structure and regulation for this growing industry. NOAA’S 10-year Plan for Marine Aquaculture calls for an increase in production of 590,000 megatons finfish (including cod) by 2025. TO encourage industry development, NOAA has been authorized to distribute $20 million annually in grants to aquaculture projects as part of the National Marine Aquaculture Competition. NOAA also hopes to use aquaculture to increase wild stocks. References Acheson, James. 1988. The Lobster Gangs of Maine. Hanover: University Press of New England. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. 1997. “Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster”. Washington, DC: Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, (http://www.asmfc.org). Debas, Cheryl Lyn. 2006. Ode to a Codfish. Bioscience. Vol. 56 No. 3; 184. Department of Marine Resources State of Maine. 2006. “Maine Commercial Fisheries Landings Data”. Maine: Department of Marine Resources, (http://www.maine.gov/dmr/comfish.htm). Department of Marine Resources State of Maine. 2007. “Rule Chapters for the Department of Marine Resources”. Maine: Department of Marine Resources, (http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/13/chaps13.htm). Dobbs, David. 2000. The Great Gulf: Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World’s Greatest Fishery. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. FAO Fisheries Department (2006) State of world aquaculture 2006. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 500. Rome, FAO. 2006. 134p. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Total Allowable Catches for Georges Bank Cod, Haddock, and Yellowtail Founder in the U.S./Canada Management Area for Fishing Year 2007. 72 Fed. Reg. 87, 25709 (2007). Gillnetts get Georges Bank fixed gear sector. Commercial Fisheries News. January 2007. Vol.34 No. 5 (http://www.fish-news.com) Guichard, Frederic, Simon A. Levin, Alan Hastings, et al. 2004. Toward a Dynamic Metacommunity Approach to Marine Reserve Theory. Bioscience. Vol. 54 No. 11; 1003. Kurlansky, Mark. 1997. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. New York: Penguin Books. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 1996. “Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act”. Washington, DC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/magact/). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2007. NOAA Aquaculture program. (http://www.aquaculture.noaa.gov). NEFSC – Resource Evaluation and Assessment Division. Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern U.S. Revised December 2006, (http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/sos/spsyn/pg/cod/#gom). New England Fishery Management Council (http://www.nefmc.org). NOAA 10-Year Plan for Marine Aquaculture, October 2007 Northeast Multispecies (Large Mesh/Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan (http://www.nefmc.org/nemulti/index.html). NE Council rates sector policy 2007 ‘priority’. Commercial Fisheries News. January 2007. Vol.34 No. 5 (http://www.fish-news.com) O’Brien L, Shepherd N, Col L. 2006. Assessment of the Georges Bank Atlantic Cod Stock for 2005. Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref. Doc. 06-10; 148 p. Small Entity Compliance Guide to Amendment 13 of the Northeast Fishery Management Plan, (http://www.nero.noaa.gov/amend13/). Walters, C. J. and S. J. D. Martell. 2004. Fisheries Ecology and Management. Princeton University Press.