Effects of excluding bottom-disturbing mobile fishing gear on abundance and biomass of groundfishes in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, USA

Abstract The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (southern Gulf of Maine, northwest Atlantic) is partially overlapped by the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area (WGMCA). This is a region in which mobile, bottom-disturbing fishing gear has been banned by the New England Fishery Management Council to facilitate the rebuilding of depleted groundfish populations. We assessed the effects and effectiveness of the WGMCA on groundfish assemblages using habitat-stratified (gravel, sand, mixed benthic habitats) sampling by means of a commercial trawler, inside and outside of the WGMCA. Sampling occurred over three month-long sampling periods in 2004-2005, two during the spring seasons and one during the fall season. A total of 18 species were analyzed for protection effects. After controlling for substratum, location and sampling season, eight groundfish species exhibited higher mean proportional abundance inside than outside the WGMCA while two were proportionally more abundant on average outside of the closure. Four species had higher mean proportional biomasses on average inside the closure and three outside. We conclude that the WGMCA may be achieving its goal of rebuilding abundance and biomass for some commercially targeted groundfishes but not all. This study, six to seven years post-closure establishment, reveals fine-scale spatial and taxonomic complexity which will require a very different monitoring protocol than the one currently in place if adaptive management is to be successful in the region.

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Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine ◽

10.47886/9781934874301.ch4 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Resource Sharing ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Ecosystem Approach ◽

Management Plans ◽

Federal Management ◽

Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management ◽

Management Council ◽

The U.S

<i>Abstract</i>.—There is a strong desire to move toward ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) in New England. However, there are many other problems in U.S. fisheries that have prevented timely adoption of EBFM. Changes in the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, requiring catch limits for federally managed fisheries, may help speed the movement toward ecosystembased approaches to fishery management. In the meantime, the term “integrated fishery management” (IFM) is being used by the New England Fishery Management Council to mean incorporating flexibility between fishery management plans to allow, and account for, mixed catch. If IFM is going to provide a step toward EBFM, there are several actions that must be taken: (1) adequate monitoring across all fisheries must be provided, (2) flexibility across existing management plans must encourage reporting and landing rather than discarding, (3) interjurisdictional coordination within and among states and federal management bodies must improve, and (4) application of the U.S./Canada Resource Sharing Understanding must expand.

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The Role of the New England Regional Fishery Management Council on Georges Bank

Georges Bank ◽

10.1201/9780429048548-9 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 141-149

Author(s):

Henry Lyman

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Georges Bank ◽

Management Council

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Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management for the New England Fishery Management Council

Global Progress in Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management ◽

10.4027/gpebfm.2012.05 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 87-104 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

L. O'Boyle ◽

S. Cadrin ◽

D. Georgianna ◽

J. Kritzer ◽

M. Sissenwine ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Management Council

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Utilization of pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags to evaluate thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) discard mortality in the Gulf of Maine groundfish bottom trawl fishery

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsz177 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan Knotek ◽

Jeff Kneebone ◽

James Sulikowski ◽

Tobey Curtis ◽

Joseph Jurek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Bottom Trawl ◽

Incidental Capture ◽

Trawl Fishery ◽

Discard Mortality ◽

Stock Biomass ◽

Trawl Fishing ◽

Fishing Practices

Abstract Thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) remain one of the most overfished species in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) despite being designated as a prohibited (zero-possession, mandatory release) species by the New England Fishery Management Council in 2003. To better understand the extent to which discard mortality (DM) occurring after incidental capture in the GOM groundfish bottom trawl fishery may be impeding recovery, 75 individuals (55–94 cm total length, TL) were tagged with pop-up satellite archival transmitting (PSAT) tags and monitored for up to 28 days following capture under representative commercial trawl fishing practices. Data recovered from 61 PSAT-tagged skate were analysed with a longitudinal survival analysis to estimate DM and identify influential capture-related variables. DM rate was a function of TL, with larger skates (>70 cm; DM = 16.5%) experiencing lower mortality than smaller conspecifics (55–70 cm; DM = 24.5%). From our results, we estimate annual thorny skate DM in the GOM groundfish bottom trawl fishery to be 79.2 ± 0.2 mt, which accounts for <1% of the existing stock biomass in the GOM (8400 mt). This study confirms that thorny skate are relatively resilient to bottom trawl fishing practices in the GOM, and suggests that other sources of mortality may be impeding population recovery.

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Age-at-size relationships of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) from three contrasting thermal regimes using gastric mill band counts as a direct aging technique

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjfas-2020-0018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 77 (10) ◽

pp. 1733-1740

Author(s):

Carl J. Huntsberger ◽

Raouf Kilada ◽

William G. Ambrose ◽

Richard A. Wahle

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Age Determination ◽

Homarus Americanus ◽

Gastric Mill ◽

Band Formation ◽

Southern New England ◽

Thermal Regimes ◽

The One

Direct age determination of crustaceans has remained a long-standing challenge because all calcified structures are shed with each molt. Cuticle bands in the ossicles of the gastric mill have shown promise as age indicators. We validated the one-to-one relationship between known age and number of cuticle bands for 15 hatchery-raised juvenile American lobsters (Homarus americanus). Additionally, we applied this method to 308 lobsters from three contrasting thermal regimes in New England, USA. Band counts matched our expectations of differences in age-at-size across this thermal gradient; lobsters at harvestable size in southern New England were estimated to be 5.5 (±1.5) years old compared with 7.5 (±1.6) years in the Gulf of Maine. We found 81% of our band count estimates of age fell within 2 years of independent, regionally specified growth model estimates of age-at-size for lobster. Notwithstanding remaining uncertainties regarding the mechanism of band formation, our findings indicate the method may provide an independent and direct means to determine the age of individual American lobsters, which will improve estimates of essential life history parameters.

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New England Fishery Management Council involvement with the Mid-Atlantic Council's surf clam to ocean quahog fishery management plan /

10.5962/bhl.title.62720 ◽

1983 ◽

Author(s):

David E. Pierce ◽

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Management Plan ◽

Surf Clam ◽

Management Council

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OFFSHORE RING STRUCTURES AND IGNEOUS BODIES BENEATH THE CONTINENTAL MARGIN OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES AND THE GULF OF MAINE: EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE NEW ENGLAND HOTSPOT TRACK BETWEEN THE WHITE MOUNTAIN MAGMA SERIES AND THE NEW ENGLAND SEAMOUNTS

10.1130/abs/2016am-287889 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Ronald Marple ◽

◽

Robert J. Altamura

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New England ◽

Continental Margin ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

Ring Structures ◽

Magma Series

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Genotyping of Two Mediterranean Trout Populations in Central-Southern Italy for Conservation Purposes Using a Rainbow-Trout-Derived SNP Array

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11061803 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1803

Author(s):

Valentino Palombo ◽

Elena De Zio ◽

Giovanna Salvatore ◽

Stefano Esposito ◽

Nicolaia Iaffaldano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rainbow Trout ◽

Genetic Structure ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Snp Array ◽

Fine Scale ◽

Principal Coordinates Analysis ◽

Data Set ◽

Management Actions ◽

Principal Coordinates ◽

Mediterranean Trout

Mediterranean trout is a freshwater fish of particular interest with economic significance for fishery management, aquaculture and conservation biology. Unfortunately, native trout populations’ abundance is significantly threatened by anthropogenic disturbance. The introduction of commercial hatchery strains for recreation activities has compromised the genetic integrity status of native populations. This work assessed the fine-scale genetic structure of Mediterranean trout in the two main rivers of Molise region (Italy) to support conservation actions. In total, 288 specimens were caught in 28 different sites (14 per basins) and genotyped using the Affymetrix 57 K rainbow-trout-derived SNP array. Population differentiation was analyzed using pairwise weighted FST and overall F-statistic estimated by locus-by-locus analysis of molecular variance. Furthermore, an SNP data set was processed through principal coordinates analysis, discriminant analysis of principal components and admixture Bayesian clustering analysis. Firstly, our results demonstrated that rainbow trout SNP array can be successfully used for Mediterranean trout genotyping. In fact, despite an overwhelming number of loci that resulted as monomorphic in our populations, it must be emphasized that the resulted number of polymorphic loci (i.e., ~900 SNPs) has been sufficient to reveal a fine-scale genetic structure in the investigated populations, which is useful in supporting conservation and management actions. In particular, our findings allowed us to select candidate sites for the collection of adults, needed for the production of genetically pure juvenile trout, and sites to carry out the eradication of alien trout and successive re-introduction of native trout.

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