| ACTION ALERT: Help Protect Groundfish Nursery Grounds From Midwater Trawlers |
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Herring midwater trawlers have repeatedly exceeded their allowable bycatch in sensitive areas closed to protect cod and haddock. Take action now to help us fix this serious problem
The Herring Alliance is working on a wide range of comprehensive reforms to Atlantic herring management through the ongoing Amendment 4 to the FMP, but one issue cannot wait: midwater trawler
access to groundfish closed areas. Since 1998, midwater trawlers have been
allowed to fish in these sensitive nursery areas for cod, haddock and other
groundfish. But data released by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
last week shows that these trawlers
have repeatedly exceeded their allowable threshold for groundfish bycatch in
these areas over the past 4 years,
sometimes by two or three times the allowable limit. In fact, as these additional data from last October show, midwater
trawlers caught over 20,000 pounds of haddock in just one tow!
NMFS will ask the Council for guidance on what to do about this issue next week. We need your help to make sure NMFS asks the Council to support a prohibition on future trawler access to these important groundfish nursery areas. The alarming and ongoing nature of the midwater trawl bycatch demands that NMFS immediately rescind their access to groundfish closed areas until suitable criteria for re-entry are developed. Help us protect groundfish and traditional groundfishing businesses by contacting Patricia Kurkul, Northeast Regional Administrator of NMFS. Ask her to make it clear to the Council that the midwater trawl fleet has exceeded its threshold and to use her Council vote to cast a "Yes" on the question of prohibiting these destructive ships from sensitive groundfish nursery areas. |