New England Fishery Management Council Omnibus Habitat Amendment Get involved: It could change where you fish

1. New England Fishery Management CouncilOmnibus Habitat AmendmentGet involved: It could change where you fish Maine Fishermen’s Forum March 1, 2013 Michelle Bachman & Andy Applegate Maine Fishermen’s Forum

2. Outline • Status quo management • Intent of amendment • Habitat management proposals • Groundfish management proposals • Timeline and opportunities for comment Maine Fishermen’s Forum

3. Status quo management • Groundfish closures • Year round • Rolling • Habitat closures • Exemption areas approved in December 2012 (currently undergoing NMFS review) Maine Fishermen’s Forum

4. Area (nm2) Maine Fishermen’s Forum

5. Area by Percent Maine Fishermen’s Forum

6. Current rolling closures Maine Fishermen’s Forum

7. Intent of amendment • Objectives include: • Integrate and optimize measures to minimize the adverse impacts to EFH across all Council managed FMPs • Enhance groundfish fishery productivity • Maximize societal net benefits from the groundfish stocks while addressing current management needs • More targeted and effective management areas used to achieve objectives Maine Fishermen’s Forum

8. Primary Goals of Groundfish Closed Area ManagementAdopted Nov 2012 • Enhance groundfish fishery productivity • Maximize societal net benefits from the groundfish stocks while addressing current management needs Maine Fishermen’s Forum

9. Objectives for Groundfish Closed Area Management • Improved spawning protection; including protection of localized spawning contingents or sub-populations of stocks • Improved protection of critical groundfish habitats • Improved refuge for critical life history stages • Improved access to both the use and non-use benefits arising from closed area management across gear types, fisheries, and groups. These benefits may arise from areas designed to address other three groundfish closed area objectives. Maine Fishermen’s Forum

10. Management policy • Spawning closures should be narrowly defined spatially and temporally • Spawning closures should be designed to be adaptive and responsive to variations in environmental conditions • Spawning closures should include specific triggers that would allow areas to re-open to fishing Maine Fishermen’s Forum

11. Management policy • Fishing by all gears and fleets catching groundfish should be prohibited in spawning closure areas • Fishing by gears that have a significant effect on habitat would be prohibited in juvenile groundfish habitat areas. Maine Fishermen’s Forum

12. Management policy • Groundfish spawning and habitat closures should include provisions for monitoring the resource conditions • Monitoring of gears fishing in closed groundfish spawning and habitat areas should be required. Maine Fishermen’s Forum

13. Timeline and opportunities for comment 2013 • April – Present draft groundfish management alternatives to Council • April-June Habitat/Groundfish Oversight Committee meetings to reconcile differences • June – Council approves draft alternatives for analysis is an EIS • June-November – EIS development • November – Council approves DEIS 2014 • January-February – Public hearings and formal comment period • April – Final approval • Council submission, NMFS review and approval • Rules become effective Dec 2014 Maine Fishermen’s Forum

14. Proposed adjustments to habitat management Habitat Management Areas Habitat Research Areas Designed to encompass the locations throughout the region with vulnerable benthic features Intended to minimize the adverse effects of fishing on designated Essential Fish Habitat Some areas entirely new; some are modifications of existing areas Fishing restrictions focused on gear types that have the greatest impact Provide space where research can be conducted on habitat types and species of particular interest Research agenda includes four themes: impacts, recovery, natural disturbance, productivity Sometimes overlapping with HMAs General restrictions on fishing to allow for research-directed impacts Reevaluation after an initial period to determine if area should continue Maine Fishermen’s Forum

15. New or modified Habitat Management Areas Colored areas show new or modified HMAs that have been recommended by the Council’s Habitat Committee. The Committee has requested modifications to the options in the Great South Channel and these are currently under development. Maine Fishermen’s Forum

16. Jeffreys Ledge and Stellwagen HMAs Jeffreys Ledge Area designed to focus on shallower ledge habitats and allow fishing access in the deeper, muddier areas in the northwestern portion. The ledge itself contains gravel dominated habitats more vulnerable to fishing than adjacent soft bottomed habitats Proposed as a mobile bottom tending gear closure Stellwagen Area overlaps with Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Area designed to encompass gravel dominated habitats more vulnerable to fishing; extent of these habitats documented in multibeam data Also proposed as a mobile bottom tending gear closure Maine Fishermen’s Forum

17. Cashes Ledge and Fippennies Ledge HMAs Modified Cashes Ledge area shifts boundary to the east – designed to encompass the majority of the shallower ledge areas and allow fishing access in the deeper western portion Fippennies Ledge area designed to focus on portions of the ledge where gravel substrates are present Cashes Ledge and Fippennies Ledge proposed as mobile bottom tending gear closures Ammen Rock area proposed for enhanced protections – no fishing zone Maine Fishermen’s Forum

18. Platts Bank HMA Currently open to fishing Platts Bank areas designed to focus on portions of the bank where gravel substrates are present Proposed as a mobile bottom tending gear closure Maine Fishermen’s Forum

19. Jeffreys Bank HMA Current habitat area implemented via Amendment 13, or Proposed modification designed to encompass the shallowest areas of Jeffreys Bank when cobble and boulder-dominated habitats are most common Both areas proposed as mobile bottom tending gear closures Have gotten some industry feedback specific to the new area indicating a preference for the existing area Maine Fishermen’s Forum

20. Eastern Maine DHRA Would be based on highly vulnerable habitats identified using Swept Area Seabed Impact model (red/pink areas) Boundaries and specific goals and objectives under development – PDT is meeting on 3/6. Maine Fishermen’s Forum

21. Groundfish management • Groundfish management (data sources and example maps) • Juvenile groundfish habitat to protect critical environments for juvenile fish survival • Replace existing year round groundfish areas • Closed to vessels using mobile bottom tending gears • Spawning areas • Replace rolling closures and year round groundfish areas • Closed to all fleets • Ames results Maine Fishermen’s Forum

22. CATT Analyses • Geographical modeling of juvenile groundfish distribution: depth, temperature, substrate • Fishery net revenue maps • Classify movement and spawning from tagging data Maine Fishermen’s Forum

23. CATT Analyses • Relevant case studies • Intended effect • Actual effects • Geographic cluster analysis • State and Federal surveys • Observer data Maine Fishermen’s Forum

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27. Cod spawning by decade (red latest) Maine Fishermen’s Forum

28. Large cod by season and survey Maine Fishermen’s Forum

29. Cod spawners Maine Fishermen’s Forum

30. Large Haddock, spring Maine Fishermen’s Forum

31. Cod juveniles by season and survey Maine Fishermen’s Forum

32. Haddock juveniles by season and survey Maine Fishermen’s Forum

33. Cod & Haddock juveniles with seabed forms Maine Fishermen’s Forum

34. Cod & Haddock juveniles with ecological classifications Maine Fishermen’s Forum

35. Juvenile cod (age 0-1) Maine Fishermen’s Forum

36. Cod & Haddock spawners with seabed forms Maine Fishermen’s Forum

37. Cod & Haddock spawners with ecological classifications Maine Fishermen’s Forum

38. Cod Spawning Maine Fishermen’s Forum