Chairman Wise noted that Councilor Freierman had requested that the Council reconsider its support for the current regulation that limits trawl fishermen to a limit of seven striped bass in possession per vessel.

Ms. Freierman stated that the 7-fish bycatch allowance given to trawl fishermen is needlessly restrictive, given that all holders of the special striped bass commercial harvest permit are limited in how many fish that can retain and sell during the year by the yearly tag allotment.  She alleged that, in some situations, trawl fishermen holding this permit do not have enough trips in the year to allow them to use all of their striped bass tags under a 7-fish per vessel trip limit.  This is especially so in the case of a vessel with several striped bass commercial permit holders among its crew, as the 7-fish applies to the vessel, not each permit-holder aboard. She thought this restriction was unfair, in as much as, in her observation, users of other commercial gears (e.g., gill netters, pin hookers, ‘for hire” vessels who choose to fish commercially) often catch and retain many more fish than 7 in a day’s fishing.  

Mr. Colvin briefly reviewed the history of this by-catch only allowance.  DEC had received suggestions in the late 1990’s to remove or raise the otter trawl daily limit for striped bass, currently set at 7- fish per vessel.  Such a proposal was included in a proposed rule making and put out for public comment, initially with the Council’s support.  Most of the comments received at the time were from recreational fishing interests and opposed the proposed rule.  The original striped bass regulations had restrictions on certain gear types that were perceived to be problematic in terms of catch and release of excessive striped bass.  The directed use of otter trawls was restricted through a by-catch allowance.  DEC examined the records of tag use reported by those holding the special striped bass commercial harvest permit.  The pattern of tag use among trawl fishermen was inconsistent with the original advocacy of the proposal.  The vast majority of the commercial trawl trips did not report using as many as 7 striped bass tags.  Based on the negative comments on the proposed rule and the evidence from the tag use database, DEC decided at the time not to modify the 7-fish allowance for trawl fishermen.

Councilor Jordan expressed a concern that removing the trawl by-catch allowance might result in trawlers taking out large numbers of striped bass commercial harvest permit-holders to direct their fishing effort on a local area and catch a lot of fish that are not within the commercial slot size.  This could result in excessive release mortality and perhaps locally deplete the striped bass population in certain areas. 

Councilor Danielson and several other Councilors suggested that, in lieu of removing the by-catch allowance entirely, it might be applied not to an entire vessel but to each striped bass permit-holder aboard.  When asked, Environmental Conservation Officers present saw no significant enforcement problem in switching the by-catch allowance to a per individual basis from a per vessel basis.

Councilor McBride stated that, in his view, trawler crewmembers don’t work consistently or continually aboard draggers; some work in the summer months aboard “for hire” vessels and they do have the time during a year to use their striped bass tag allotment, if they really want to.  He thinks the striped bass regulations are working fairly well and the trawler by-catch allowance should be retained as is.

Mr. John German of the Long Island Sound Lobstermen’s Association felt that, as long as an individual qualifies for an allotment of striped bass tags, he/she should be allowed to harvest that many legal-size striped bass with any gear they desire.  Harvest effort can be deployed most efficiently that way.  He also suggested that striped bass tags should be made transferable among special permit-holders.

Mr. Neil Delanoy, Captree Boatmen’s Association, said that a problem with removing the by-catch allowance would be that, if a trawl fishermen used up all his/her tags early in the striped bass commercial season, for the rest of the year he would have to throw back any bass that he/she caught; as trawl caught fish are often dead on deck, this would likely increase the wastage of fish.  He suggested removing the by-catch allowance late in the season so that, if a trawl fisherman at that point in the year still has unused tags, he/she can use them before the season ends.  Mr. Jordan said that one problem with the suggestion of removing the by-catch limit at the end of the season is that special permit-holders actually receive more tags than necessary; if all the fishermen used all the tags, the total catch would be over New York’s quota for the year.  This is what might happen if the by-catch limit is removed late in the season.

Mr. Colvin offered to provide the Council at its next meeting with recent data on the use of striped bass tags by commercial fishermen using various gears, including trawl fishermen.   Chairman Wise stated that he felt that Ms. Freierman’s concern about the current 7-fish trawl by-catch allowance was a reasonable one and the Council should re-visit this issue at the July 2004 Council meeting with pertinent data on recent striped bass tag use by different gears in hand.  Councilor McBride moved that further discussion on this issue be tabled until the July 2004 Council meeting.  This motion was adopted by a unanimous vote.

 

Page last modified Monday, July 5, 2004 by George E. Carroll