Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 322 CMR - Division of Marine Fisheries › Title 322 CMR 12.00 - Protected Species › Section 12.01 - Purpose

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
In 1972 the federal government passed the Marine Mammal
				Protection Act to protect marine mammal species that may be in danger of
				extinction or depletion due to anthropogenic activity and to keep populations
				levels at sustainable levels. In 1973 the federal government passed the
				Endangered Species Act to provide a program for the conservation of threatened
				and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found. As
				marine mammals and sea turtle species may interact with fishing gear and
				fishing activity, and are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act or
				the Endangered Species Act, fisheries are managed at the state and federal
				level to address the risk posed to these protected species.
For the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, the
				management of fisheries for protected species is accomplished by the Division
				of Marine Fisheries pursuant to its authorities at M.G.L. c. 130. Management
				measures have evolved over time, but currently include certain restrictions on
				the use and configuration of fixed gear (
i.e.
, traps and
				gillnets) designed to reduce the risk of protected species becoming entangled
				in the gear and make any entanglements that may occur less injurious, as well
				as certain rules governing vessel conduct in areas where protected species may
				be present.
The regulations at
				322 CMR
				12.00 are particularly focused on minimizing the risk
				of interaction between fisheries, vessel activity, and North Atlantic right
				whales ("right whale"). The right whale is a critically endangered species.
				There are estimated to be approximately 400 known individuals in the
				population, as of 2019, and the population has been declining since 2010. Large
				numbers of these whales migrate into Commonwealth waters during the winter
				period and aggregate in Cape Cod Bay to feed on zooplankton before migrating
				out of the area during the early spring.
Commercial fishery interactions with large whales, including
				the right whale, are principally managed by the federal government under the
				Marine Mammal Protection Act through NOAA Fisheries and their Take Reduction
				Teams and Take Reduction Plans. Federal regulations adopted as part of Take
				Reduction Plans apply to affected commercial fisheries within both state and
				federal waters. It is at the discretion of the state to further regulate
				fishing activity to protect large whales, including managing recreational
				fisheries and adopting additional measures affecting commercial
				fisheries.
Massachusetts actively regulates its commercial fixed gear
				fisheries and recreational lobster and crab trap fishery to further protect
				right whales and has adopted a series of conservation regulations at
				322 CMR
				12.00. This includes:
(1) seasonal fixed gear closures and speed
			 limits, which may be extended based on the continued observed presence of right
			 whales in waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth;
(2) fixed gear modifications designed to
			 reduce the risk of entanglement and the risk of serious injury or mortality
			 should an entanglement occur;
(3)
			 buoy line marking requirements specific to Commonwealth fisheries;
(4) prohibitions on abandoning gear;
			 and
(5) guidelines related to
			 vessel conduct if interacting with a right whale.
This establishes a portfolio of measures designed to minimize
				the impact fishing and vessel activity may have on protected species when in
				the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth and improving management
				moving forward.
As a result of the state's extensive regulatory program
				affecting trap gear, NOAA Fisheries has listed the commercial trap fisheries
				operating in Massachusetts state waters as the "Massachusetts Mixed Species
				Trap/Pot Fishery" on its 2022 List of Fisheries. This distinguishes
				Massachusetts commercial lobster and crab trap fishery from the broader
				Northeast Lobster and Jonah Crab Trap/Pot Fishery and its commercial scup,
				black sea bass, and whelk pot fisheries from the broader Atlantic Mixed Species
				Trap/Pot Fishery. As a result, Massachusetts manages these commercial trap
				fisheries as a single unit and in a manner that is more restrictive than the
				regulations adopted to implement the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction
				Plan.