Chairman Wise reminded the Council that it had created a subcommittee to develop recommendations on how New York should address the requirements of Addendum IV to the Tautog Interstate Fishery Management Plan, with particular reference to the discussion draft on this issue prepared by DEC and distributed to the Council at an earlier meeting.  The subcommittee held two meetings and has come up with a set of recommendations.  Mr. Wise thanked members of the subcommittee and asked subcommittee member Tom Jordan to present the group's recommendations to the Council.  They are as follows:

Recreational Proposals

1. Set bag limits and seasons to meet reductions in mortality called for in Addendum IV. (Season: October 16-April 30, bag limit: 5, 14”fish)
2. Set bag limits and seasons to account for current changes in wave/effort distribution to prevent huge swings in landings.
3. Set bag limits and seasons to ensure equal access to all recreational modes.
4. Prohibit recreationally landed tautog from being kept alive.
5. Prohibit the use of tautog as bait in any form.
6. Institute mandatory, timely reporting requirements for the charter/head boat industry for any trip in which tautog are landed.
7. Recommend the highest fines possible for violators to include license revocation for third offenses.

Commercial Proposals

1. Institute a commercial license sticker to identify legitimate commercial fishers (already accomplished.)
2. Prohibit the retention of live tautog by anyone other than licensed commercial fishermen (already proposed.)
3. Establish mandatory live tautog dealer registration with adequate reporting requirements.
4. If possible, to require tags with individual identifiers to be carried by all live tautog for sale.
5. If a tag system is devised, tags should be non-reusable and only issued monthly based upon maximum usage during that month.
6. Maintain the hook and line retention limit at 25.
7. Maintain the trawl retention limit at 25.
8. Maintain the 10 fish lobster pot possession limit at all times, whether lobsters aboard or not.
9. Maintain the current pound net retention limit at 25, with the requirement that owners of pound nets who have reported landings register the location of theses nets and no other new locations are created without prior DEC approval.
10. Establish dedicated enforcement actions on well know avenues of abuse.
11. Federal (EEZ) regulations should, as soon as possible, reflect those of the states.
12. Prohibit vessels with only “landing permits” from landing tautog in New York taken from federal waters.
13. Recommend the highest fines possible for violators to include license revocation for third time offenders.

Recommended General Pot Requirements

1. All pots (fish, crab, lobster) should be marked with owner information, both on the pot and buoys.
2. All pot gear must have floats/buoys.
3. No pots may be fished without buoys (grappled.)
4. The location of any lost gear should be immediately reported to the DEC.
5. Pot fishermen should not be allowed hook and line gear aboard unless the hauling apparatus is stowed (leave the hauling block at the dock.)
6. If delayed release mechanisms are allowed, require that the location of such gear is reported to the DEC.

Councilor Davi said that he would like the subcommittee to meet one more time.  As a member of the group who was unable to attend its most recent meeting, he feels there are additional ideas and concerns that he would be able to contribute, especially in light of the pending development by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries commission (ASMFC) which would allow individual states to use reductions in their commercial tautog fishery to count towards the fishing mortality reductions they face under Addendum IV (which specifically disallows commercial fishery reductions in counting towards required tautog fishing mortality reductions)..

Mr. Colvin noted that the Department does not want the development of Addendum V to interfere with the implementation schedule for Addendum IV, which needs to be in place by 01 January 2008.  The Department may address the requirements of Addendum IV with some different options that reflect both with and without Addendum V, which is easy enough to do.

Councilor Davi said he would still like to get together one more time because it wasn’t known what reduction will be taken from the commercial or recreational fisheries when the list was created and he feels that information is necessary before the Council moves forward with a recommendation.

Mr. Arnold Leo, also a subcommittee member, noted to the Council why Addendum IV stipulates that only reductions in recreational tautog fishing mortality counts towards a state's mortality reduction target.  Due to the recreational tautog harvest increase in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Virginia over the last few years, the Commission felt that the recreational regulations in those states were not effective because they were not adhered to; as a consequence, the Commission was in favor of a reduction from the recreational sector.  ASMFC is considering Addendum V because of the situation in Massachusetts, where tautog landings are evenly split between commercial and recreational and requiring the recreational fishery to absorb the entire state landings reduction meant draconian tightening of recreational measures in that state.  However, Mr. Leo pointed out, in New York, commercial tautog landings have averaged less that 9% of total tautog landings.  If New York's required 28.6% total reduction is taken only from the recreational fishery, that fishery will have to be reduced by 32%.  If the State splits the reduction between commercial and recreational fisheries, this will significantly harm the small commercial tautog fishery while, at the same time, making only a marginal change in the reduction necessary in the recreational fishery.  In his view, this would be an inequitable approach to this issue.

Chairman Wise said that, at the subcommittee meeting the previous evening, information was provided by DEC staff Alice Weber and Sandy Dumais that he found staggering.  The new fishing mortality target for tautog is 0.2; the present fishing mortality rate is approximately 0.29, so the mortality rate has to be decreased by about 33%.  He noted that the data suggest that, even if the new 0.2 mortality target is reached and retain for 15 years, even after that long a period at the reduced mortality rate, the stock is projected to have recovered to only 60% of the spawning biomass target for this species.  This is a striking testament to the difficulty of recovering a species with this kind of biology (slow rate of growth, high age at sexual maturity, etc.)

Councilor Sima Freierman asked if the Council might at this point recommend moving forward with size and bag limits in recreational fisheries that would achieve 90% of the required reduction in tautog fishing mortality in New York and then, if further reductions were necessary and could be possibly taken from either the recreational or commercial fishery, those could be dealt with at the Council's July 2007 meeting.  Mr. Colvin replied, saying that the subcommittee's recommendations do not include any measures that would immediately reduce commercial tautog catches; therefore, the Department would need to develop and implement regulations that would achieve the full 28.6% reduction from the recreational fishery.

Even though time is of the essence (recommendations must be completed by the beginning of July in order for DEC to prepare a regulatory proposal which will be effective in 2008), several councilors felt that uncomfortable acting at the present meeting on so important an issue; they wanted time to further digest and discuss the subcommittee's recommendations.  Further, Mr. Colvin asked whether the subcommittee could look a little harder at three specific issues:  1) whether or not the recreational fishery should bear the entire burden of the reduction or if there should be some measurable reduction in the commercial fishery, as well; 2) should New York set a hard TAL (Total Allowable Landings) figure for tautog and a management program for it.  Mr. Colvin stated that, as far as the commercial landing reports for this species are concerned, the Department is not confident of the accuracy of what is reported.  He believes that landings are probably much higher than reported; and 3) take a closer look at how to realistically control the illegal harvest and sale of blackfish for the live fish trade, including getting input on this from Environmental Conservation Officers.
 
Councilor Witek made a motion to move this topic back to the subcommittee for further discussion.  Councilor Yaxa second.  This motion was adopted by a vote of 10 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstention.

 

Page last modified Tuesday, June 26, 2007 by George E. Carroll