Appendix XI: Detailed Community Profiles for Amendment 1 Communities of Interest
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Appendix XI: Detailed Community Profiles for Amendment 1 Communities of Interest Amendment 1 to the Atlantic Herring FMP Communities of Interest Detailed Community Profiles This section summarizes available fishery, social, economic, and cultural information about communities of interest in Amendment 1 to the Herring FMP – communities which are most engaged in the herring fishery and may be more proportionately impacted by the Amendment 1 management measures. Information contained in this section is useful for assessing the economic, social, and community impacts of the Amendment 1 management measures and helps to meet the Council’s legal requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as well as other applicable laws. COMMUNITY PROFILES TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 AMENDMENT 1 COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST.................................................... 1 1.1 Portland, Maine............................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Rockland, Maine ......................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Stonington, Maine....................................................................................................... 20 1.4 Deer Isle, Maine .......................................................................................................... 28 1.5 Vinalhaven, Maine ...................................................................................................... 34 1.6 Lubec/Eastport, Maine............................................................................................... 43 1.7 Prospect Harbor, Maine............................................................................................. 50 1.8 Bath, Maine ................................................................................................................. 62 1.9 Sebasco Estates, Maine............................................................................................... 69 1.10 Newington, New Hampshire ...................................................................................... 77 1.11 Portsmouth, New Hampshire..................................................................................... 85 1.12 Hampton, New Hampshire......................................................................................... 92 1.13 Seabrook, New Hampshire....................................................................................... 100 1.14 Gloucester, Massachusetts ....................................................................................... 108 1.15 New Bedford, Massachusetts ................................................................................... 121 1.16 Point Judith, Rhode Island ...................................................................................... 131 1.17 Newport, Rhode Island............................................................................................. 139 1.18 North Kingstown, Rhode Island .............................................................................. 146 1.19 Cape May, New Jersey ............................................................................................. 154 Community Profiles Amendment 1 FSEIS Intentionally Blank Community Profiles Amendment 1 FSEIS 1.0 AMENDMENT 1 COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST The purpose of identifying communities of interest is to ensure that more thorough consideration is given to the potential impacts on those communities which are most involved in the herring fishery and/or most important to the operation of the herring fishery as a whole. This helps the Council to better meet the requirements of NEPA as well as National Standard 8 to the MSFCMA. Note that some communities have been grouped together to acknowledge geographic proximity as well as similarities in terms of participation in and dependence on the herring fishery. Unlike some other fisheries in the region (multispecies, for example), the herring fishery is a smaller, more discrete fishery whose participating vessels and communities are easier to identify. Communities of Interest for Amendment 1 to the Herring FMP were selected because they meet at least one (and more than one in most cases) of the following five criteria: 1. Atlantic herring landings of at least 10,000,000 pounds (4,536 mt) in each of five years from 1994-2002, or anticipated landings above this level based on interviews and documented fishery-related developments. This criterion was selected to identify the most active ports currently engaged in the herring fishery. Landings of 10,000,000 pounds (4,536 mt) in a year indicate a relatively substantial degree of participation in the herring fishery, as 10,000,000 pounds equates to 7.5% of the Area 1A and 3 TACs, 45.4% of the Area 1B TAC, and 9% of the Area 2 TAC. Any port with herring landings at or above this level in multiple years can clearly accommodate large vessels that land large quantities of herring. The provision for anticipated landings above this level is included as part of this criterion to acknowledge that the shoreside aspects of the Atlantic herring fishery are still developing in some areas. Two new shoreside processing plants have opened since 2001 (in Gloucester and New Bedford), both of which are capable of receiving and processing large volumes of herring and other pelagic species. The development of these two facilities and the potential to increase landings in the communities where these facilities are located should be recognized even if these communities did not land more than 10,000,000 pounds of herring between 1994 and 2002. (For example, herring landings in New Bedford in 2004 were 7,791 mt (17.2 million pounds), reflecting increased activity as a result of the new shoreside processing facility.) Landings data alone, however, are not adequate to identify all of the communities that are engaged in the herring fishery. Because the fishery is a high-volume fishery, the most active participating vessels are relatively large, and many vessels come into port “loaded down” with herring. When landing large volumes of fish, herring vessels generally require larger, deep-water ports to ensure that they can land safely without running aground. Consequently, large volumes of herring landings tend to be concentrated in a relatively small number of ports. A transportation network is essential for distributing herring throughout the region from herring vessels to processing facilities, bait facilities, and lobster vessels, all of which are engaged in and dependent on the herring fishery to varying degrees. In some cases, processing facilities and other infrastructure dependent on herring are located in communities with little or no landings of herring, but these facilities employ many individuals and are important social and economic components of the fishery. As a result, it is necessary to consider criteria other than landings to identify the communities of interest in this amendment. Community Profiles 1 Amendment 1 FSEIS 2. Infrastructure dependent in part or whole on Atlantic herring. Infrastructure for the Atlantic herring fishery includes: • Shoreside processing facilities for food production (sardine canneries, whole frozen); • Shoreside processing facilities for bait production (salting, etc.); • Shoreside processing facilities for value-added production (pearl essence); • At-sea processing facilities (freezer vessels); and • Trucking and other essential services for distributing fish. Infrastructure and the opportunity to capitalize on available markets for herring are important elements of the fishery. For the most part, infrastructure in this fishery, whether it be shoreside or at-sea, is dedicated solely to serving the small pelagic fisheries (herring and mackerel, primarily). Very few elements of the infrastructure are engaged in other fisheries like multispecies, monkfish, or scallops. The investments that have been made in the infrastructure for the Atlantic herring fishery reflect a long-term commitment to this fishery. As previously noted, the number of ports that are capable of accommodating large herring vessels that land large volumes of fish is relatively small. A transportation network is essential to ensuring that herring are distributed as rapidly as possible to processing and other facilities. Trucking and transportation services are therefore a critical element of the infrastructure for this fishery. Herring are utilized by sardine canneries as well as whole frozen processing facilities to supply product for food markets globally. The sardine canneries rely on herring for 100% of their operations. For the most part, the whole frozen processing facilities rely on a combination of herring and mackerel for 100% of their operations. Joint venture (JV) and internal waters processing (IWP) operations at-sea remain important considerations in the Atlantic herring fishery, although interest in these operations has diminished as additional shoreside processing facilities have developed in recent years. 3. Dependence on herring as lobster and/or tuna bait. Atlantic herring is an important bait for the lobster and tuna fisheries, as well as other primarily recreational fisheries (striped bass, for example). The utilization of herring for bait is a very important aspect of the fishery, especially in the State of Maine, which relies heavily on herring to supply the significant lobster fishery in the region.