New England Groundfish Sectors: A Review of the Development, Implementation, and First Year Catch Results of Groundfish Sectors

Amendment 13 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan established the first groundfish “sector” in New England.  Amendment 16 expanded sector management of groundfish to a total of 19 sectors.  A sector is a group of fishermen holding limited access vessel permits that voluntarily enter into a contract and agree to certain fishing restrictions for a specified period of time in exchange for an allocation, referred to as an annual catch entitlement (ACE).  Sectors are a type of fishing cooperative and different than Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs).  As currently designed, sectors are not considered Limited Access Privilege Programs because the allocation goes to the entire sector; individual permits do not receive an allocation.  The allocation to each sector is not permanent; sector members must design an operations plan and request an allocation for a specific time period.  A sector’s ACE is based upon the sum of its members’ individual potential sector contributions (PSC).  Sectors are able to trade ACE amongst themselves and sector managers are responsible for monitoring their sector’s allocation so it is not exceeded.  The first fishing year for sectors following the implementation of Amendment 16 was from May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011.  This presentation briefly summarizes the development and implementation of sectors and discusses initial groundfish landings by sectors as well as sector catch share trading data.