Deirdre Boelke, NEFMC Staff, Scallop PDT Chair Inshore Scallop - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Deirdre Boelke, NEFMC Staff, Scallop PDT Chair Inshore Scallop Workshop February 22-23, 2016 1

Outline of Presentation Who is the scallop fishery today? 1. General fishery trends 2. Estimates of landings per unit of effort (LPUE) 3. Landings by meat weight size categories 4. Trends in fishing location and biomass 5. 2

1. Who is the scallop fishery today? Limited Access  About 340 vessels (310 FT, 50 are FT small dredge);100% active  Average vessel length is 79 feet and 750 horsepower  About 40% from MA, 25% from NJ, 25% from VA/NC  About 40 also have LAGC IFQ permit, 27 have NGOM and 112 have incidental permit Limited Access General Category  In 2008 about 280 IFQ permits, now about 200 (2014)  Average vessel length is 56 feet and 450 horsepower  # active vessels has declined from about 200 to 115 (2014)  About 45 active vessels in New England and 60 in Mid-Atlantic 3

2. Scallop landings by permit type (2015 not complete – through August 2015) 4

2. Fishery Allocations LA FT LA FT IFQ Year DAS AA (mil lbs.) CA1 CA2 NL HC ETA Del 2010 38 72,000 2.5 -- -- open -- open open 2011 32 72,000 3.2 open open -- open -- open 2012 34 72,000 3.4 open* open open open -- open* 2013 33 26,000 2.4 open** open open open -- -- 2014 31 24,000 2.4 -- open open -- -- open*** 2015 30.86 51,000 3.0 -- -- -- open * Delmarva trips converted to CA1 by emergency action ** FW25 allows unused CA1 trips to be carried to future fishing year when CA1 reopens *** LA vessels give choice to take Delmarva trip or 5 DAS 5

2.Scallop landings by area (2015 not complete) LA – Top 2013 and 2014 – less access area effort LAGC – Bottom Very little in access areas in 2012 and 2013, majority of catch to date from AA in 2015 6

2.Scallop landings by area (2015 not complete) LA – Top 2013 and 2014 – less access area effort LAGC – Bottom Very little in access areas in 2012 and 2013, majority of catch to date from AA in 2015 7

2. Distribution of active LA permits and landings by homeport state 8

2. Distribution of active LAGC permits and landings by homeport state LAGC - Some consolidation in MA region. And some occurred in both regions before ITQ program in effect (2008 and 2009). 9

Preliminary info on IFQ transfers  About 1% of the total IFQ allocations were transferred in the 2010-2011 fishing years  Transfers increased to 5.1% in 2012 and back near 1.6% in 2013  Leasing activity was very extensive.  32% of the total annual scallop IFQ leased out to vessels with different owners (0.8 million lb. in 2010 to 1.0 million lb. in 2012).  If leasing between vessels with the same owner is included, the total increases to 1.0 million lb. in 2010 and 1.4 million lb. in the 2012 (About 45% of total).  In 2012, Massachusetts became the main state with net leasing of IFQ from other states (figures next silde). 10

Net leasing by primary State 2010-2012 only 11

LA vessels with LAGC IFQ permits  About 40 LA vessels also have LAGC IFQ permits  These vessels had to qualify under the same criteria  These vessels are prohibited from leasing or buying quota 12

3. Landings per unit of Effort (LPUE) PDT Analyzed LPUE several ways: Estimates of average trip length 1. Estimates of open area LPUE: reported landings / trip length 2. -includes steaming time Estimates of catch rate per 24 hours - based on individual 3. tow data from observer data - removes the effect of steaming time – most direct way to evaluate and compare catch rates 13

Average trip length LA – Top Open area trip length pretty stable- average lower in 2013 LAGC – Bottom Slow increase in open areas 14

Estimate of Open Area LPUE LA landings per month / LA DAS used 15

Estimate of open area LAGC LPUE by region (catch / trip length per 24 hours) Data support input that changes in LAGC LPUE vary by region 16

Comparison of Open Area LPUEs Increase and then decrease for both fisheries LA LPUE is roughly 4 times greater than LAGC, but that ratio has declined slightly over time 17

Estimate of Open Area LPUE per tow from Observer Data by region Issues with per trip comparisons – the steaming time and trip lengths very different for these fleets – GC has possession limit. PDT looked at per tow basis - All observed tows from 2006-2015 used to calculate pounds per hour per permit and area 18

Average catch per hour GB – Top Similar trends Peak in 2010 for LA and 2012 for GC Avg. LPUE for LA is 2- 3x LACG LPUE when steaming time removed MA – Bottom Increase for LA from 2006-2011 then decline, same for GC but not as extreme 19

Normalized LPUE for comparison LPUE relative to the max LPUE for that fishery and area GB – Top GC LPUE has increased more from 2006 to max in 2012, and dropped more compared to LA MA – Bottom GC LPUE has dropped less than LA 20

4. Landings by meat weight category Total fishery by area - increases in u10 and 11-20 count increases open area catch rates 21

Size Category by permit and area Dealer data broken into the same 3 regions LA - Top U10 and 11-20 still strong in MA, but lower on GB LAGC – Bottom U10 lower in MA in recent years 22

5. Trends in fishing location - VTR Area 514 Area 613 521 Area 613 23

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) VMS data 2007-2015 filtered by speed (4.5 knot cut off) (Applegate) Summarized to points at 1 minute intervals and binned into 3 minute squares for each fishery. Total estimate of days fished by the fleet PDT evaluated degree of overlap and relative importance of overlap 24

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Fishery Overlap – in days fished Identifies where overlaps occurs each year – but not the extent or importance of the overlap in terms of total landings for that fleet. 26

Total Fishery Overlap by Region (open and AA) 27

Open Area Fishery Overlap by Region 28

Fishery Overlap in LAGC fished areas only 29

Contribution of overlap – % caught in that location Days fished per cell / total days fished that year per fishery Overlap LA GC Contribution Contribution 30

Effort and biomass by distance from shore PDT estimated the amount of effort and scallop biomass in each 10 nautical mile zone 31

All scallop weights from NEFSC dredge survey (2000-2014) Heatmap based on bivariate kernel smoothing methods Most biomass is found in 50-60 nm zone from shore and again at 100+ miles (CA2) 32

Scallop effort by 10 nm zones from shore Majority of LAGC effort 10-50 miles from shore, overlap primarily between 30-50 miles. Fishery is constrained by closed areas and cannot always access areas with high biomass. 33

In Summary  There has been some consolidation in the LAGC fishery since ITQ program, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic.  During the last 5 years total landings, revenues, and catch rates increased, and then decreased for both fleets.  Normalized LAGC catch rates have dropped more than LA catch rates in the Channel, and LA catch rates have dropped more than LAGC have dropped in the MA.  Areas of overlap and their relative importance to each fishery vary from year to year, but there are likely a handful of areas that consistently light up.  For example, while the area of overlap in the Channel is not very large (in nm 2 ), those relatively small areas represent 50-75% of the total area GC vessels fish in the Channel.  So now what? 34

Special thanks to several PDT members that spent a substantial amount of time on these analyses while working on other Scallop PDT work. Mr. Benjamin Galuardi, NMFS, APS Dr. Demet Haksever, NEFMC Dr. Dvora Hart, NEFSC Questions? 35