Overview of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan1 May 21, 2014 Prepared by the New England Fishery Management Council in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service 1 This document has been prepared as background material for the June 12-13, 2014 peer review by the Center for Independent Experts of the Compass Lexecon report: “Recommendations for Excessive Share Limits in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery.” This document is a modification of the introductory and affected environment sections of recent fishery management plan action documents. 1 Intentionally Blank 2 Overview of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan Updated May 21, 2014 1.0 CONTENTS 1.1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Contents ..........................................................................................................................3 1.1 Table of Contents.........................................................................................................3 1.2 Tables ..........................................................................................................................4 1.3 Figures.........................................................................................................................5 1.4 List of Acronyms .........................................................................................................6 2.0 Goals and Objectives of the Northeast Multispecies FMP ................................................8 2.1 Goals ...........................................................................................................................8 2.2 Objectives ....................................................................................................................8 3.0 Context of Existing Management System ........................................................................9 3.1 History of the Northeast Multispecies FMP..................................................................9 3.1.1 Amendment 5 ..........................................................................................................9 3.1.2 Sustainable Fisheries Act .........................................................................................9 3.1.3 Amendment 7 ........................................................................................................ 10 3.1.4 Amendment 9 ........................................................................................................ 10 3.1.5 Amendments 11 and Essential Fish Habitat ............................................................ 10 3.1.6 Frameworks 27 to 39 ............................................................................................. 10 3.1.7 Amendment 13 ...................................................................................................... 11 3.1.8 Frameworks 40A to 43 ........................................................................................... 12 3.1.9 FW 42 Lawsuit ...................................................................................................... 13 3.1.10 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act13 3.1.11 Interim Rule ....................................................................................................... 14 3.1.12 Amendment 16................................................................................................... 14 3.1.13 Amendment 16 Lawsuit ..................................................................................... 14 3.1.14 Frameworks 44-46 ............................................................................................. 15 3.1.15 Amendment 17................................................................................................... 15 3.1.16 Frameworks 47-51 ............................................................................................. 15 3.2 Other Actions Affecting the Fishery........................................................................... 16 3.2.1 Actions to Minimize Interactions with Protected Species ....................................... 16 3.2.2 EFH Omnibus Amendment .................................................................................... 17 4.0 Regulatory Changes Under Consideration...................................................................... 18 3 Overview of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan Updated May 21, 2014 4.1 Framework 52............................................................................................................ 18 4.2 Amendment 18 .......................................................................................................... 18 5.0 Affected Environment ................................................................................................... 19 5.1 Physical Environment and Essential Fish Habitat ....................................................... 19 5.2 Target Species ........................................................................................................... 20 5.3 Non-Target Species and Other Fisheries .................................................................... 22 5.3.1 Non-Allocated Groundfish Species ........................................................................ 22 5.3.2 Non-Groundfish Species ........................................................................................ 22 5.3.3 Bycatch .................................................................................................................. 22 5.4 Protected Resources ................................................................................................... 22 5.5 Fishery-Related Businesses and Communities ........................................................... 23 5.5.1 Overview of New England Groundfish Fishery ...................................................... 25 5.5.2 Fishing Communities ............................................................................................. 25 5.5.3 Commercial Permit Categories ............................................................................... 36 5.5.4 Commercial Fishery Holdings ................................................................................ 38 5.5.5 Sector Fishery ........................................................................................................ 46 5.5.6 Common Pool Fishery ........................................................................................... 50 5.5.7 Handgear A Permit Fishing Activity ...................................................................... 55 5.5.1 Commercial Effort ................................................................................................. 58 5.5.2 Groundfish Catch ................................................................................................... 61 5.5.3 Groundfish Landings and Revenue......................................................................... 66 5.5.4 Groundfish Trade and Processing ........................................................................... 67 5.5.1 Recreational Harvesting Component ...................................................................... 69 6.0 References ..................................................................................................................... 70 7.0 Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 75 1.2 TABLES Table 1 – Status of the Northeast groundfish stocks for FY2014. ............................................... 21 Table 2 - Summary of major trends in the Northeast multispecies fishery .................................. 24 Table 3 - Primary and secondary multispecies port communities ............................................... 27 Table 4 - Groundfish fishery in Portland, ME ............................................................................ 28 Table 5 - Groundfish fishery in New Hampshire ....................................................................... 29 Table 6 - Groundfish fishery in Gloucester, MA ........................................................................ 30 Table 7 - Groundfish fishery in Boston, MA.............................................................................. 31 Table 8 - Groundfish fishery in Chatham, MA........................................................................... 31 Table 9 - Groundfish fishery in New Bedford, MA .................................................................... 32 4 Overview of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan Updated May 21, 2014 Table 10 - Groundfish fishery in Point Judith, RI ...................................................................... 33 Table 11 - Groundfish fishery in New York State ...................................................................... 34 Table 12 - Number of crew positions and crew days on active vessels by homeport and state .... 35 Table 13 - Number of Northeast multispecies permits/MRIs...................................................... 39 Table 14 - Multispecies MRIs held by permit banks, as of January 28, 2014 ............................. 39 Table 15 – Average PSC shares held by individual human persons and permit banks ................ 40 Table 16 – Total PSC shares held by individual human persons and permit banks ..................... 40 Table 17 - Stock-specific PSC shares held by individual human persons and permit banks, as of May 1, 2010 (FY2010) .............................................................................................................