Cod bycatch in lobster fishery requires further study

First published in Landings, December 2014/January 2015.

The possibility that the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) would prohibit lobster fishing in areas recently designated as closed to protect spawning codfish caused an uproar in Maine’s lobster industry in mid-November.

On November 10, John Bullard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northeast administrator, announced six-month emergency closures of both recreational and commercial cod fishing in parts of the Gulf of Maine. And fishermen are limited to just 200 pounds of cod per trip in the areas that remain open. The goal of the closures is to protect aggregations of spawning cod in an effort to rebuild the sagging population. “We’re trying to absolutely shut down fishing where there are concentrations of cod, so there will be zero cod caught,” said Bullard at the time.

Angry cod fishermen responded by alleging that lobstermen setting traps in the now-closed areas catch large amounts of cod and so should also be banned from fishing. The issue of cod bycatch in the offshore lobster fishery quickly made its way into discussion at the NEFMC meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, on November 19.

Both the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) opposed the effort to shut down lobstering because of cod bycatch. As DMR commissioner Patrick Keliher stated publicly, the number of cod (177,000) referenced as having been caught in the traps of Maine lobstermen during the Council’s discussion was simply raw data pulled together for the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability certification process for Maine lobster.

“The data, which were from 2008, were a very rough estimate, and do not fully account for the variability of by-catch in the lobster fishery in different parts of the coast, in different depths, and in different seasons. That variability is significant. This rudimentary analysis should not be the basis for management decisions,” stated Keliher.

The MLA also took issue with the notion that the volume of cod caught in lobster traps was significant to the overall Gulf of Maine population. “There haven’t been any real studies of this,” said MLA executive director Patrice McCarron. The organization submitted a letter to the NEFMC stating in part, “The MLA has serious concerns regarding the science used to characterize the level of cod bycatch in the lobster fishery and the lack of peer-reviewed research on the impact this bycatch may have on cod stock recovery in the Gulf of Maine. The lobster fishery is executed in distinct spatial-temporal patterns; any data relating to cod bycatch in the lobster fishery thus must be analyzed on a spatial-temporal scale that corresponds to lobster fishing activities. Further, in order to characterize the incidence of bycatch, sample size must be representative of the fishery.”

Furthermore, argued the MLA, lobster management falls under the purview of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), not the NEFMC. Any adjustments to the lobster management plan, to which Maine and other East Coast lobstering states adhere, must be undertaken through a Commission process. “The MLA strongly urges the Council to refer any concerns regarding the potential impact of the lobster fishery on the recovery of cod stocks to the ASMFC for analysis by the Lobster Technical Committee. Any management recommendations should be referred to the Lobster Board and include broad input from lobster industry stakeholders,” the MLA letter stated.

At its November 19 meeting the NEFMC members voted 14-1-1 that the closed-area measures do not apply to lobster pot gear. It directed its groundfish Plan Development Team to collaborate with ASMFC’s Lobster Technical Committee to fully analyze available data to better understand cod bycatch in the lobster fishery. It further agreed that any future management measures involving the lobster fishery would be considered by ASMFC.

“The decision [by NEFMC] is appropriate,” commented Commissioner Keliher. “It will allow necessary time to conduct a more rigorous analysis of available data.” McCarron agreed. “This is great news and will give us a chance to participate in research and discussions as this issue moves forward,” she said.