Details:

Personal Author:
Bisack, Kathryn D.
Corporate Authors:
Northeast Fisheries Science Center (U.S.)
NOAA Program & Office:
NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center)
NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center) Less -
Description:
This paper presents an estimate of the number of vessels and the quantity of gear deployed in the lobster and gillnet fisheries in 1999 off the northeast coast of the United States. The analyses presented here were developed to support the Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (NMFS, 2000). Vessels actively fishing lobster gear were identified as well as vessels which held a fishing permit but had no recorded fishing activity in any database. In contrast, only vessels actively fishing gillnet gear were estimated. In both fisheries the total quantity of gear fished was estimated as the product of the number of vessels and the amount of gear fished per vessel. Vessel and gear estimates were stratified by management areas defined within the American Lobster Fishery Management Plan and the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. In 1999, there were 7,539 vessels potentially fishing lobster traps of which 79% fished in the northern inshore area (or state waters), 9% in northern nearshore, and 2% in the northern offshore area. The quantity of lobster gear deployed was expressed as the number of trawls, where a lobster trawl consists of several traps tied together with one line. A lower bound estimate was developed from recorded fishing trips, and an upper bound estimate was derived based on the maximum amount of gear a lobster vessel could legally fish. The lower and upper bound estimates of total lobster trawls fished in 1999 are 436,620 and 1,436,979, respectively. In 1999, 546 vessels actively fished gillnet gear. The quantity of gillnet gear deployed was expressed as the number of strings, where a string consists of several 300 foot nets tied together. Approximately 38% of the vessels operated in the northern nearshore area, 17% offshore, and 42% in the southern nearshore area. These vessels fished an estimated 3,254 strings of gillnet gear in 1999.
Content Notes:
by Kathryn D. Bisack

"September 2003."

"Web version posted October 6, 2003."

Includes bibliographical references (page 15).


Keywords:
[+]
Equipment And Supplies Fishery Management Fishing Boats Gillnetting Inventories Lobster Fisheries
Series:
Northeast Fisheries Science Center reference document ; 03-15
Document Type:
Miscellaneous
Place as Subject:
Atlantic Coast (U.S.)
Rights Information:
Public Domain
Compliance:
Library
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:f205e9a431ea9684f60e7a27e9d028729079f09cce534321b73cd7369d7afed3
Download URL:
https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/5353/noaa_5353_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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