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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 32 Number 9
May 2005
MA changes striped bass 2005 season rules
PLYMOUTH, MA - It took a lot of discussion and a number of motions, but the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Commission ultimately approved some significant changes for management of this year’s commercial striped bass fishery.
During its April 7 meeting, the commission adopted a season start date of July 12 and a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday fishing week, with a five-fish possession limit on Sunday and a 30-fish limit on the remaining midweek days.
Previously, the fishing week ran from Sunday through Wednesday with a 30-fish limit for each day. But that set up was clearly not working. Fishermen – both serious and weekend-warrior types alike – complained that the limited-quota season was over in a heartbeat and prices were in the toilet.
In 1999, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) issued 3,577 permits and the commercial season lasted 40 days with 788,200 pounds harvested. In 2004, DMF issued 4,422 permits and the season lasted just 19 days, even with a significantly larger harvest of 1,204,100 pounds.
Many fishermen have attributed the problem to the Sunday fishery because of the heavy participation by part-timers. According to DMF statistics for 2003, substantially more fish were landed and sold on Sundays than any other day of the week –54,274 pounds through 352 transactions on average compared to 42,553 pounds through 272 transactions on average for Mondays.
Yet despite the large number of permits issued, most permit holders never sell even one fish. For example, DMF issued about 5,000 permits in 2003. Of those, only about 1,300 permit holders sold fish and about 600 of those sold 10 or fewer fish over the course of the entire season.
In a typical year, the bulk of the landings are made by about 200 permit holders. Most of these are full-time, experienced fisherman and they lobbied hard at a special March 29 striped bass public hearing to keep a high daily possession limit because they can catch it and rely on it for income.
Limited access
In his recommendation memo, DMF Director Paul Diodati attempted to explain what he saw as a dilemma.
“I’ve come to accept that our decisions about this fishery will be mostly criticized by the public regardless of their direction, so I’m willing to debate and acquiesce to the commission’s opinion over these rules,” he wrote. “Public comment during the hearing was spirited, unruly, and, at times, way off the mark.”
Diodati noted that an existing control date that would allow DMF to establish a limited-access program for the striper fishery is set to expire next year and many commercial fishermen urged the agency to use it to get rid of some of the part-timers. There was also a call to eliminate Sunday from the fishing-day roster as a way to reduce part-time effort.
However, Diodati said he strongly opposed such moves.
“The most obvious choice would be to eliminate Sundays. On the other hand, we’re trying to accommodate traditional users. Truly, a great number of part-time fishermen fish on the weekends only,” he said, adding that a number of large fishing clubs in the state were founded back in the 1940s around the part-time commercial striper fishery.
“That is the tradition and heritage of this fishery and something I think we want to preserve,” Diodati said.
He got little argument from the commission on that point.
“Preserving Sundays at 10 fish is a responsible thing to do,” commission member John Pappalardo said later in the discussion. “I’ve had a change of heart on this issue.”
Initial proposal
The commission then proceeded to bat around variations of the fishing week and possession limits.
As a starting point, Diodati recommended a three-day fishing week, Sunday through Tuesday, and a daily possession limit of 25 fish.
He characterized this as a compromise between two proposals aired at the March 29 hearing: the “10/20” public petition that called a 10-fish possession limit on opening day and Sundays and a 20-fish limit for the remaining fishing days; and the DMF proposal to drop the number of fishing days from four to three and drop the possession limit from 30 to 20 fish.
Dropping Monday
Immediately, commission member Bill Adler offered yet another suggestion – dropping the possession limit to 10 fish on Sunday and going with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday fishing days at a 30-fish limit.
“This would allow Sunday fishing to go on, help (end) stockpiling, and Tuesday through Thursdays would be when the boys could really go to work,” he said.
Advancing the discussion, commission member Rip Cunningham moved to adopt a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday fishery with a 25-fish bag limit, but no one was willing to second the motion.
Commission member Vito Calomo then moved to adopt a fishing week of Sunday with a 10-fish limit, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with a 25-fish limit, which was seconded by commission member Mark Weissman.
Speaking of what he’d seen at the Gloucester auction, Calomo said, “The fish caught Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are very valuable. Most fishermen feel catching less fish for more money is better than catching more fish for less money.”
However, Calomo was willing to accept a friendly amendment from Pappalardo to increase the Tuesday-Thursday possession limit from 25 up to 30 fish.
“Thirty fish was what people (at the hearing) wanted,” Weissman commented.
Role of the public
A number of members of the public attended the meeting and angled for an opportunity to speak. Commission chairman Mark Amorello was reluctant to acknowledge them, explaining that the meeting was not a public hearing and it might be considered unfair to those who weren’t in attendance.
However, some commission members did invite several to make brief remarks.
Cape Cod fisherman Dick Abele felt strongly that the motion under consideration by the commission did not reflect the sentiment expressed at the public hearing.
“Those fish on Sunday will wreck it. Ninety-nine percent of the men in that room wanted Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 30 fish,” he said. “There was definitely a mandate. How can you not do it? How can you bounce all these different thoughts around? It’s wrong.”
To that, Weissman responded, “I have (many) pages of notes from the hearing and I don’t see 99 percent of the people agreeing on anything. The hearings are held because we need your input, not so people can vote on a final recommendation.”
Chatham fisherman Bruce Peters suggested that allowing 10 fish on Sunday and 30 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday “would be an effective compromise.”
Final action
A motion for Sunday at 10 fish and Tuesday-Thursday at 30 fish failed after ending in a tie vote.
Cunningham then offered a motion for a three-day fishing week, Tuesday-Thursday with a 30-fish possession limit.
Another motion was made to amend that by adding Sundays at five fish, which passed.
The final vote on the motion for Sunday at five fish and Tuesday-Thursday at 30 fish with a July 12 start date passed five to one.
Year-round purchases
The commission then approved a DMF recommendation that resulted in allowing dealers to import legally caught whole striped bass, including those less than 34”, from other states year-round, except when the commercial season is open in Massachusetts.
Amorello said the change would ultimately result in higher prices for Bay State commercial fishermen by stabilizing the market.
“If you have a constant supply year-round, bass no longer will be a three-week chef special. It becomes a menu item,” he said. “The way it is now, no one wants to print up 1,000 menus for something that’s only there for three weeks.”
During the Massachusetts commercial season, all bass in the possession of dealers will have to meet the state’s commercial 34” minimum size. Dealers also must wait five days after the state season ends before resuming out-of-state importing. And all imported fish must be properly tagged with the state of origin.
Lorelei Stevens
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