Final Report:
"Evaluation of Monitoring and Reporting Needs for Groundfish Sectors in New England"
By:
Bruce Turris
Pacific Fisheries Management Incorporated
Vancouver, BC Canada
Howard McElderry
Archipelago Marine Research Ltd.
Victoria, BC Canada
April 2008
For a copy of the Monitoring report summary click here:
Monitoring Summary Report
For a copy of the FinaI report click here:
Groundfish Monitoring Final Report
A sector is a group of persons holding limited access vessel permits who have voluntarily entered fishing restrictions for a specified period of time, and which have been granted a TAC(s) in order to achieve objectives consistent with Fisheries Management Plan goals and objectives.
"Groundfish Spawning Clousure Workshop:
An Initial Conversation"
April 23,2008
Sheraton Ferncroft Hotel
Danvers, Massachusetts
For a copy of the final report click here:
Workshop Final Report
For a copy of the presentations click here:
Workshop Presentations
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GMRI has initiated a Sector Extension Program in response to the expressed need from the fishing industry for technical assistance in developing and implementing sectors in the New England multispecies (groundfish) fishery.
Sectors are a relatively recent management tool authorized in Amendment 13 to the multispecies fishery management plan in May 2004. A sector is a group of self selecting fishermen who decide to form a cooperative-type business arrangement in which, as a group, they accept a Hard Total Allowable Catch (TAC) (also called quota) on the species they harvest. In exchange for staying within their allocated quota, the group can develop some of their own management measures and thereby avoid the complex set of effort controls and trip limits that have undermined economic efficiency and safety and have led to substantial regulatory discards. Council and federal agency oversight occurs throughout the development and approval of every sector.
At this time, only the groundfish industry is authorized by regulation to create sectors, however, in a recent amendment to the scallop fishery management plan, the New England Fisheries Management Council agreed to allow the General Category fishery to form sectors and there are also portions of the limited access fleet that are interested as well. Additionally, harvesters in the herring industry have expressed an interest in forming sectors.
GMRIs Sector Extension Program is designed to assist the fishing industry and managers with the technical aspects of sector development, and we are poised to provide objective advice to managers as the details of sector policy are further developed.
The technical aspects of sector development include helping prospective sector members acquire documentation of their catch history, calculating the likely allocation to a developing sector, facilitating the development of and drafting the sectors proposal, operations plan and environmental assessments required at both the initial proposal stage and with the final operations plan.
