Fishing Capacity Reduction Program Retires 245 Permits
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NMFS Northeast Region N E W SGloucester, Mass -- NOAA Fisheries has retired 245 limited access permits that would have allowed their owners some 21,500 fishing days on rebuilding Northeastern U.S. groundfish stocks. The average cost was $39,000 per permit, for a total payout of $9.6 million.
Total # Bids Recevied: 502 Total Cost of Bids Received: $99.2 million Accepted Bids: 245 Total Cost of Accepted Bids: $9.6 million Ranking Factor Maximum: 0.42 [Ranking Factor = Bid /(Estimated of Fishing Capacity X DAS)] Lowest Acceptable Bid: $1400 Highest Acceptable Bid: $127,000 The voluntary program was open to all multispecies, or groundfish, limited access permit holders and was intended to reduce the number of such permits and their associated fishing capacity. In all, permit holders from 13 states were successful bidders. As expected, the retirement program proved most appealing to those with little or no history of groundfish landings since the permit was issued. Thus, there are now fewer vessels that can increase groundfish harvests in the future as these stocks rebuild.
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NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service * One Blackburn Drive * Gloucester, MA * 01930