Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area:
2007 Symposium

March 26, 2007
Elliot Alumni Center
University of New Hampshire

For almost a decade, the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area has been a predominant fisheries management strategy for the Gulf of Maine. The Closure was established to protect spawning and nursery areas of key species, maintain age structure by retaining older and proportionately more fecund individuals, protect key habitats, and reduce bycatch of overfished and threatened stocks. With the increased drive to manage fisheries from more holistic approaches, it is highly important to rigorously evaluate current and proposed management strategies, especially the impact closed areas have had and are having on the environment and traditionally harvested species.

The 2007 Symposium on the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area was held at the University of New Hampshire on March 26. The meeting was open to the public and drew more than 80 commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists, fisheries managers, and representatives of nonprofit organizations, all eager to share their knowledge and collaboratively develop answers to the following primary questions:

• Is the Closure meeting its goals?
• What are the effects of the Closure?
• How far have we come in understanding the Closure?
• What research is needed to evaluate the Closure?
• What does the future hold for the Closure?

The Symposium included a series of talks and several opportunities for open discussion amongst attendees. Tom Nies, Senior Fishery Analyst for the New England Fishery Management Council began the day with a history of the Closure as a fisheries management tool, whether the Closure is meeting its goals, pending management actions that could influence the Closure, and information gaps that still exist about the success of the Closure. Each subsequent speaker addressed the primary questions from their own perspective as a commercial fisherman, anthropologist, fisheries manager, groundfish biologist, or benthic ecologist.

Those in attendance generally felt that:

• the Closure is meeting some of its objectives, but that it is difficult to single out the influence of the Closure from the complex array of management measures in the area;
• there should be clearer definition to the Closure’s goals and measures of success; and
• research is showing relative improvements in fish stocks and habitat quality due to the Closure, but research must continue to monitor the effects of present and future management actions.

Download the meeting summary document here.

Symposium Organizers:

Ray Grizzle
Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, UNH

Ken LaValley
New Hampshire Sea Grant

Rachel Gallant
Northeast Consortium