Proposed 55-square-mile no-fishing zone dropped from new Habitat Plan

On April 23rd in Mystic, CT, the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) voted by a 13 to 4 margin to drop from consideration a proposed 55-square-mile zone off the Massachusetts coast that would have banned recreational groundfishing.

The contested zone, known as the "Reference Area," would have been part of a larger, 330-square-mile Designated Habitat Research Area (DHRA) contained in the new Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, a massive plan designed to protect fish and bottom habit off the Northeast coast that the Council has been working on for over five years. The DHRA would prohibit commercial groundfish fishing, but allow recreational fishing. The Reference Area, created and strongly supported by the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary ostensibly for their own research needs, would have banned all bottom fishing, including recreational angling, within its borders.

"This is a major victory for both private anglers and the for-hire fleet," said Capt. Mike Pierdinock, RFA's Massachusetts Chapter Chairman. "This is an important area for party and charter boat operators in particular, as it normally holds good numbers of pollock and other bottom species. The fact that the recreational sector cannot possess any cod this year now makes it even more valuable to us. This was not the time to implement any new restrictions on sport fishing."

"Mike fought this battle tirelessly, dating back to the original SERA I/II in 2010," commented Barry Gibson, RFA's New England Director. "Several other key opponents worked alongside him, including Capt. Charlie Wade, President of the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association. This core group was remarkably successful in getting hundreds of anglers and charter operators, as well as a number of bipartisan federal and state elected officials, to turn out at the public hearings and oppose the Sanctuary's attempted grab of publicly-owned ocean bottom. Mike and his guys did the groundwork, and it paid off."

Several Council members stated at the meeting that they had never received so much correspondence and testimony on a single issue of fishery management. "This was important to us, so we knew we had to pull out all the stops," said Capt. Pierdinock. "The press releases from RFA urging folks to attend the hearings and send emails were huge. The recreational sector can really mobilize if there's a good incentive and a strong push. And, I want to thank those Council members who went to bat for us, particularly those representing the commercial fishing sector. It shows we really can work together when we need to."

The new Habitat Amendment will be re-drafted to reflect the Council's decisions at the meeting, and will go out to public hearing in the coming months. Final implementation will likely not be until 2016.

"I'm very proud of what our New England officers have accomplished," said Jim Donofrio, RFA's Executive Director. "It's all about preserving access to our publicly-held marine resources. Unless there's an iron-clad, scientifically supportable justification for a closure to recreational fishing, we're going to oppose it. That's what our guys did in this case, and by a lot of hard work they were able to prevail."