Chairman Wise reminded the Council that, at its 13 January 2004 meeting, it adopted a motion to retain the 5% summer flounder commercial quota handline category set-aside for the 2004 season.  DEC had additional information that it thought was relevant to the necessity or wisdom of continuing this set aside that it would like to present to the Council.

Gordon Colvin, DEC’s Director of Marine Resources, informed the Council that, after the 13 January 2004 Council meeting, the Department distributed a written proposal for managing the 2004 commercial quota for summer flounder to the current summer flounder commercial permit holders, soliciting their comments.  The proposal dropped the handline set-aside and asked the recipients to specifically comment on whether they felt this set-aside should be dropped or retained for 2004.  The response from those in the "all gear" category was overwhelmingly in favor of dropping the handline set-aside, while the response from those in the “hook & line” category was overwhelmingly in favor of retaining it.  Mr. Colvin stated that the Department wanted the Council to be aware of this difference of opinion among current holders of the summer flounder commercial permit, before the Department made a final decision on the handline set-aside for 2004.

Councilor Sima Freierman commented that the 5% handline set-aside effectively gave hook & line fishermen 10% of the summer flounder quota in the summer period.  She noted that recent data on catch and effort by those in the handline category reveals that, of the 85 fishermen in this category in 2003, 31 did not land any summer flounder that year.  Only 11 fishermen in the category actually went fishing every week during the commercial open season for summer flounder.   She was opposed to setting aside 10% of the summer period quota (65,000 lbs.) for so few people.  She recommended dropping the set-aside and using trip limits that work for all gear types. 

Councilor Tom Jordan spoke on behalf of retaining the set-aside.  He noted that there were 50-60 active participants in the handline category in 2003.   He stated that the figure of 5% as the fraction of the annual commercial summer flounder quota for those declaring in the handline category was derived from a combination of the base years summer flounder landings by various commercial gear types.  Mr. Jordan observed that commercial hook and line fishermen can only catch a minimal number of fish and they do not want to see a closure in the annual open season; they believe that lower summer flounder trip limits keep fish available to them throughout the season.  He acknowledged that other gear types (e.g., gill netters and small trawlers) would like to see higher initial trip limits so they can make some money.  The inequity arises from the fact that some commercial summer flounder fishermen who register in the "all gear" category in fact use hook and line, so that the total catch by this gear slightly exceeds the 5% that is specifically set-aside for those who declare in the "handline" category.  Mr. Jordan urged the Department to explore a mechanism that would make registering in the handline category mandatory for any commercial fisherman catching summer flounder by hook & line.  He reminded the Council that it had discussed these issues at its 13 January 2004 meeting and, subsequently, the Council recommended that DEC retain the handline category set-aside for 2004 and address the concern about handline fishermen in the "all gear" category in 2005.  If the handline set-aside is dropped for 2004, the different gear types will be arguing over the need for lower or higher trip limits for the rest of the year.  Mr. Jordan predicted that the Department’s proposed 140 lb. trip limit for the summer flounder summer period (May – October) will lead to a minimum of a 12-week closure and nobody can afford a 12-week closure in the summer.   In his view, if the handline set-aside is retained, everybody gets a great trip limit.  He spoke against the suggestion from large offshore trawlers that they be allowed to stack trip limits (e.g., catch and retain 7 trip limits on a single trip each week).  We need to retain the hook and line set aside. 

Councilor Joe McBride stated that retaining the 5% set-aside for those declaring in the handline category had been agreed to by the Council at its January meeting and he saw no reason to reverse that position now.  Chairman Wise felt that there were enough questions raised about the 5% handline set-aside to warrant creating another industry discussion group to discuss these and to report back to the Council/DEC with a proposed resolution of them.  Councilor Freierman moved that a discussion process be developed to revisit issues associated with the 5% summer flounder handline set-aside for 2005.  Ms. Freierman’s motion was passed by a vote of 11 in favor; 0 opposed; 2 abstentions.

 

Page last modified Thursday, April 8, 2004 by George E. Carroll