A fleet vessel in mid-operation as it targets groundfish. (Photo: NOAA)

Catch share programmes breed permit 'banks'

The partial change of the groundfishery to a catch share system based on hard catch limits has led to the establishment of permit banks, which will buy and broker rights to the shares.

Maine is in the process of forming a permit bank, as well as the Penobscot East Resource Centre along with the NGO Ocean Conservancy, Gloucester Daily Times reports. The shares’ value is principally established through the size of the total catch limits, a matter that remains problematic for the industry and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC).

In the interim, the permit bank for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, received a USD 500,000 grant from the Walton Foundation last month.

On its part, the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund obtained capital via a lump sum from the state, as mitigation for the state’s decision to site a liquefied natural gas terminal on a profitable fishing and lobstering area. By its charter, though, the fund may only do business with local fishing interests.

The prototype permit bank has been deemed necessary to offer fishers additional days at sea. Fishers’ days at sea have been halved twice by the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) in recent years to reach replenishing targets in the Magnuson Act. As a result, many people wish to keep operating once their allotted days at sea end.

The Cape Cod Fishery Trust decided on a goal of USD 10 million in permits by next year from loans, contributions and foundation grants. The 2008 annual report showed an accumulation of USD 2.3 million.

The federal government together with the state of Maine are also working to create a permit bank. NMFS announced its wish to create a new type of a bank in its draft of Amendment 16.

That next phase of governance for the groundfishery will divide the industry between voluntary cooperatives, or sectors, that will fish under catch shares, and the rest of the fishers, who chose to independently fish under stricter rules of effort control and days at sea.

"We are still negotiating with NMFS on the memorandum of understanding and hope to have it signed before the end of the month," said Terry Stockwell, director of external affairs for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Maine has USD 1 million from a previous appropriation from NMFS, which it will use to buy permits.

"We are aware of the permit bank provision, it is a provision we'll look at closely," said Paul Diodati, Massachusetts director of marine fisheries. "We plan to give it full consideration and find out if or how it may benefit the Commonwealth. We plan to publicly comment on it by 20 January.”

Business in the catch share/sectors and common pool boats industry is scheduled to begin on 1 May.

Related article:

- Northeast groundfish management measures proposed

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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