Contact: Scott Smullen or           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
         Gordon Helm                5/16/96
         Teri Frady

RECOVERY MEASURES FOR NEW ENGLAND GROUNDFISH APPROVED;

The U.S. Commerce Department today approved measures that will help rebuild New England groundfish stocks. The fishing regulations to be implemented by July 1 are intended to stop declines of New England cod, haddock, and yellow-tail flounder stocks that have fallen to record lows.

The stock declines are the result of unrestrained fishing over the past 30 years by international as well as domestic fleets, which also now threatens other groundfish and flounders. To achieve a recovery, the new rules reduce groundfish harvesting through a variety of adjustable measures.

These are the first major fishery actions made by Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor. "I know that addressing New England fishery problems was a priority for the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown," he said. "I am pleased to maintain our momentum toward ecological and economic recovery of these critical natural resources. Managing our resources with a focus on keeping America competitive is key to President Clinton's economic program."

"We put strong scientific analysis of the problem together with the expertise of managers and the fishing industry. It was a tough public policy negotiation during a serious stock crisis," says Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service regional director Andrew Rosenberg. "It meant hard choices, but New England finally has the tools to recover these groundfish stocks, protect others, and guarantee a better, sustainable future for our fisheries."

Unlike present groundfish rules, under measures approved today more vessels in the fleet are subject to limited access permits and days at sea limits; groundfish possession limits are more stringent outside of days at sea, and there are more area closures. Also, for the first time, sport fishers will have restrictions on gear, groundfish possession, fish size and sale.

The recovery plan, known as Amendment 7, was approved by the New England Fishery Management Council in January and forwarded to the fisheries service for review and implementation. The fishery council worked for more than a year to develop the plan. It was initiated after scientists documented collapsed stocks of Georges Bank haddock and yellowtail flounder both on the bank and in southern New England, as well as a cod stock teetering on the brink of large scale collapse similar to that already experienced in cod stocks in the North Sea and off Newfoundland.

As part of the groundfish recovery efforts, the Commerce Department is expected to implement a $25 million program in the next few months to reduce fishing capacity in the groundfish fleet by paying vessel owners to retire vessels and their fishing privileges. The pilot version has already awarded a combined $2 million to 11 vessel owners for scrapping their vessels, each of which had significant fishing histories.

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PRINCIPAL AMENDMENT 7 MEASURES

1. Eliminates exceptions to the days-at-sea (DAS) program: All limited access vessels are now in the DAS program. Multispecies hook vessels (4,500 hooks and less), formerly using open access permits, may qualify for limited access permits, or must switch to open access categories if they want to retain multispecies. Vessels 30 ft and under can opt out of the DAS program (in the so-called "small vessel" category) but would have a trip limit for cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder. Open access permit holders (hand gear, charter/party, scallop multispecies possession limit), and recreational anglers have restrictions, but are not in this days-at-sea program.

2. No retention of regulated species outside of DAS: Only "small vessel" and open access permit categories are excepted. All fisheries using nets must be shown to have less than 5% bycatch of regulated species before they are allowed.

  

3.   Accelerated days-at-sea reduction:
     DAS Program         1996-97 Days        1997-98 Days
     Fleet                    139                 88
     Individual*              35%                 50%  
     Large Mesh**             155                 120

     *    Percentage of the 1993 baseline days
     **   Gillnet and trawl vessels using larger than regulated
          mesh all year. 

DAS for the 1996-1997 fishing year will be prorated.

4. Target Total Allowable Catch (TAC) set for regulated species: A target TAC (not a quota) is set for monitoring plan performance. The 1996-97 targets are: Georges Bank cod, 4.1 million lb; Georges Bank haddock, 6.2 million lb; Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, 849,000 lb; Gulf of Maine cod, 6.1 million lb; Southern New England yellowtail flounder, 331,000 lb; Aggregate TAC, 56.2 million lb.

6. Establishes additional closed areas: Time/area closures imposed on sink gillnet vessels as of November 29, 1995 for harbor porpoise protection in the Northeast Closure Area (August 15- Sept. 13), the Mid-Coast Closure Area (Nov. 1-Dec. 31), and Massachusetts Bay Closure Area (March 1-March 30) will be closed to all gear types capable of catching multispecies. Existing closed areas remain closed.

7. FDAS time "out" and layover days eliminated: All vessels in the DAS program will have to take a 20-day block out between March 1 and May 31 of each calendar year. Vessels in the small vessel category and open access hand gear permit vessels must take March 1 to March 20 out.

8. Haddock trip limit doubled: Multispecies trips may now retain 1000 pounds of haddock per trip. The volumetric measure by tote is eliminated. Limit will be enforced by weight only.

9. Capability to adjust plan as stocks respond: Plan measures can be adjusted through frameworking rather than amendment.