West Coast trawl fishery was hashed out by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and now its major overhaul is being underway. Federal regulators will soon approve a major reorganization of trawl fishery. The council adopted significantly different means of managing trawl fishing that it says will reduce waste and be safer and more profitable for fishermen.
It is said that if the plan was approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service the management regime would simplify how bottom-dwelling fish like sole, rockfish, sharks, skates and whiting are managed. It would allow individual fishing vessels to hold catch quotas, keep observers on boats to account for the catch, and allow fishermen to fish at any time — corresponding with good weather and market conditions.
Figures show that about 40 trawlers fish for groundfish on the West Coast, in a fishery worth about $61 million a year, with between 10 and 15 fishing out of Eureka. The new management plan would allow each a federal permit to harvest a certain quantity of fish. That individual fishing quota can be transferred, leased or sold to captains, crews, communities, fish processors or environmental groups.
According to the fishery management council the program puts limits on how many IFQs can be held in order to avoid large operators from accumulating too many IFQs. The council said that permit holders can get out of the fishery with some compensation if, for example, their boat is inefficient, or if they want to retire.
The allocation of shares to processors was opposed by the Fishermen’s Marketing Association, which represents trawlers. The association questioned its compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Association Executive Director Pete Leipzig after the Friday meeting told that the FMA position was that allocation to processors was something that is not provided for under Magnuson.
