Northeast Anchored Float Gillnet Fishery - MMPA List of Fisheries

U.S. fisheries are classified under the Marine Mammal Protection Act according to the level of interactions that result in incidental mortality or serious injury of marine mammals.

New England/Mid-Atlantic

Current Classification on the List of Fisheries

Category	II
Estimated Number of Participants	852
Target Species	Mackerel, herring (particularly for bait), shad, and menhaden.
Applicable Take Reduction Plans	Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP)
Observer Coverage	During the period 1990-2013, estimated observer coverage (number of trips observed/total commercial trips reported) for Northeast sink gillnet, Northeast anchored float gillnet, and Northeast driftnet fisheries was 1%, 6%, 7%, 5%, 7%, 5%, 4%, 6%, 5%, 6%, 6%, 4%, 2%, 3%, 6%, 7%, 4%, 7%, 5%, 4%, 17%, 19%, 15%, and 11%, respectively
Marine Mammal Species/Stocks Killed or Injured	Harbor seal, Western North Atlantic (WNA); Humpback whale, Gulf of Maine; White-sided dolphin, WNA.

^ Number of participants estimates are based on state and federal fisheries permit data. The estimated number of participants is expressed in terms of the number of active participants in the fishery, when possible. If this information is not available, the estimated number of vessels or persons licensed for a particular fishery is provided. If no recent information is available on the number of participants, then the number from the most recent LOF is used. NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that, in some cases, these estimations may be inflating actual effort.

*Observer coverage levels include the latest information reported in the most current final Stock Assessment Report (SAR).

¹ Indicates the stock or species is driving the classification of the fishery.

Basis for Current Classification

This fishery was categorized as a Category II based on anecdotal reports a mortality of a white-sided dolphin and an entanglement of a humpback whale. Although there had been little effort in the fishery in the years prior to the 1996 LOF, this fishery was proposed to be listed as Category I because it had been a Category I on the 1994 LOF (created under the interim LOF process established under section 114 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act [MMPA]). However, because the reports were anecdotal and there was little effort in this fishery, NOAA Fisheries categorized it as a Category II in the final 1996 LOF (under the LOF process established under the 1994 amendments to the MMPA). NOAA Fisheries stated that Category II was warranted because the fishery operated in an area of high marine mammal concentration and there was a reported mortality.

Distribution

The fishery operates from the U.S.-Canada border to Long Island, New York, at 72° 30'W. long south to 36° 33.03'N. lat. (corresponding with the Virginia-North Carolina border) and east to the eastern edge of the EEZ, not including Long Island Sound or other waters where gillnet fisheries are listed as Category III.

Gear Description

This fishery uses gillnet gear of any size anchored and fished in the upper two-thirds of the water column.

Management

The fishery is managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission under the Interstate Fishery Management Plans for Atlantic Menhaden and Shad and is subject to ALWTRP implementing regulations. A total closure of the American shad ocean intercept fishery was fully implemented in January, 2005.

Total Effort

(includes descriptions of Northeast anchored float and Northeast drift gillnets) Total metric tons of fish landed from 1998 to 2012 were 22,933, 18,681, 14,487, 14, 634, 15,201, 17,680, 19,080, 15.390, 14,950, 15,808, 18,808, 17,207, 18,170, 19,279 and 17,490, respectively (NOAA Fisheries). Data on total quantity of gear fished (i.e., number of sets) have not been reported consistently among commercial gillnet fishermen on vessel logbooks, and, therefore, will not be reported here.

Historical Information

Original Category (Year added to the LOF)	II (2001)
Original Number of Participants	133
Basis for Original Classification	This fishery was categorized as a Category II based on anecdotal reports a mortality of a white-sided dolphin and an entanglement of a humpback whale. Although there had been little effort in the fishery in the years prior to the 1996 LOF, this fishery was proposed to be listed as Category I because it had been a Category I on the 1994 LOF (created under the interim LOF process established under section 114 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act [MMPA]). However, because the reports were anecdotal and there was little effort in this fishery, NOAA Fisheries categorized it as a Category II in the final 1996 LOF (under the LOF process established under the 1994 amendments to the MMPA). NOAA Fisheries stated that Category II was warranted because the fishery operated in an area of high marine mammal concentration and there was a reported mortality.
Past Names	“Gulf of Maine small pelagics surface gillnet fishery” until 2001.
Species/stocks historically documented as killed or injured (but not currently on the list)	N/A

Timeline of Changes

2017	Estimated number of participants updated from 995 to 852.
2016	Estimated number of participants updated from 421 to 995.
2013	Estimated number of participants updated from 414 to 421.
2012	Estimated number of participants updated from 662 to 414.
2011	Estimated number of participants updated from 133 to 662. This estimation may be an inflation of actual effort; however, it represents the potential effort for the fishery, given the multiple gear types several state permits may allow for.
2009	Clarified the boundary description for effort in this fishery by adding the following language (in italics), “…a from the U.S.- Canada border to Long Island, New York, at 72° 30'W. long. south to 36° 33.03'N. lat. (corresponding with the Virginia-North Carolina border) and east to the eastern edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)...”
2008	Changed the name of the stock of humpback whales interacting with this fishery from “WNA" to “Gulf of Maine" to reflect the interactions taking place between this fishery and the Gulf of Maine feeding stock of humpback whales. The Gulf of Maine stock was classified as a separate feeding stock and reported as such in the 2000 SAR. Updated the fishery description to reflect that this fishery is now subject to ALWTRP implementing regulations under an October 5, 2007, rulemaking (72 FR 57104, October 5, 2007).
2007	Reworded the fishery description to better align with management boundaries under the ALWTRP by removing "…from the Maine/Canada border through the waters east of 72° 30'W…" and replaced with "…from the U.S./Canada border to Long Island, New York, at 72° 30'W. long south to 36° 33.03'N. lat. and east to the eastern edge of the EEZ…" Added herring, mackerel, and menhaden (and reiterated the inclusion of shad) to target species in this fishery.
2006	Added a superscript “2” after this fishery, indicating that this fishery is categorized by analogy.
2001	Renamed from the “Gulf of Maine small pelagics surface gillnet fishery” to the “Northeast anchored float gillnet fishery" to include anchored pelagic gillnet effort in other parts of the Northeast Atlantic and for species other than small pelagics. This fishery now covered the use of any size gillnet for any target species that was anchored and fished in the upper two-thirds of the water column, not including sink gillnet fishing listed as Category III inshore gillnet fisheries. Added shad to the list of target species in this fishery as a result of the deletion of the "Gulf of Maine, Southeast U.S. Atlantic Coastal shad, sturgeon fishery" from the LOF.