The commercial harvest of black sea bass in Winter Period One greatly exceeded the allocation for that quota period.  Mr. Colvin noted that Addendum 16 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass.  Because of the terms of this Addendum, DEC will close the 2006 black sea bass commercial fishery on the date that it projects 125% of New York’s 2006 commercial black sea bass quota will be caught.  He noted that, under Addendum 16, New York’s 2007 black sea bass quota will be reduced by 1.5 lbs for every 1.0 lb of black sea bass it reports in 2006 in excess of 125% of its quota, if it does not close its fishery.  Whether this approach will leave the fishery open in October this year remains to be seen.  Mr. Colvin stated that he expects that the fishery will get through quota allocation period 3 and the closure will likely take place sometime during period 4.  The trip limit for black sea bass is scheduled to drop to 150 lbs on 01 June 2006.  Mr. Colvin stated that the Department will raise the trip limit to 500 lbs on 01 June 2006, if the landings in May 2006 do not reveal a sudden surge in catches of this species.

Councilors Sima Freierman and Tom Jordan asked whether the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass will ever incorporate a provision whereby if a state fails to land its annual quota of one of these species, the amount not taken would be added to the following year’s quota?  Mr. Colvin responded that this is one of the many issues that will frame the discussion over Amendment 15 to this fishery management plan, whose terms and provisions will evolve as a result of discussions over the next two years.  He suggested that the Council should give some thought on how and to what extent it should become involved in the Amendment 15 discussions.

In response to a question from Mr. John Mihale, Mr. Colvin observed that the dialogue on Addendum 16 (see above) has been ongoing for the past two years and its provisions should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Mr. Steve Heins of DEC distributed a table showing New York’s reported commercial landings of black sea bass by month for the period 01 January 2006 – 10 May 2006.  He noted that more detailed records reveal that the landings reported from a single vessel account for more than 28% of the actual landings in Period One (or 49% of New York’s 115,000 lb quota in Period One).  The vast majority of the landings to date were from otter trawls, but other gear types were also represented (e.g., handlines, fish pots) and the landings came from all along the South Shore of Long Island.

Someone from the audience questioned why the trigger mechanism (75% of a period’s quota landed) wasn’t used earlier in Period One to prevent the excessive overage that occurred.  Mr. Colvin replied that the Department activated the trigger when the data it hand in hand at the time suggested that 75% of the Period One quota had been caught.  Late reports subsequently indicated that this percentage had probably been reached earlier.  Several people expressed reservations about setting these type of trigger mechanisms as high as 75% unless the timeliness/accuracy of the catch reports reaching DEC are much improved.

 

Page last modified Saturday, July 8, 2006 by George E. Carroll