Management & Regulation

September 11, 2012 — NOAA reminds commercial fisherman that if 90 percent of the total allowable landings are landed for a small-mesh multispecies stock, the possession limit for that stock will be reduced to the incidental possession limit for the remainder of the fishing year. Landings data through September 1, 2012, indicate that 70 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) for northern red hake have been landed.  If northern red hake landings reach 90 percent of the TAL, the northern red hake possession limit will be reduced to 400 lb.  This possession limit reduction would apply to the northern red hake stock area, which encompasses the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Exemption Area.  You can monitor small mesh multispecies landings and quotas on our weekly quota and landings reports webpage available here. 

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — September 11, 2012 — A fishing industry group says regulators didn't fully consider key factors when they rejected a request to delay a coming fishing area closure.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition made the proposal after regulators announced the two-month closure to protect porpoises in the Gulf of Maine, starting in October. Porpoises aren't endangered, but regulators say too many are getting killed in stationary gillnets.

The coalition asked the government to start the closure in February. It said that would better protect porpoises and ease a $10.3 million loss to gillnetters.

But regulators said the delay wouldn't help fishermen or porpoises much. It also said too many gillnetters failed to install net devices that drive porpoises away.

 

Read the full story from the AP at the Boston Globe.

 

 

September 10, 2012 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office.

There will be a public evening listening session with NOAA Fisheries' new Regional Administrator John Bullard from 6:30 – 8:30 pm on Wednesday, September 19th at the Fairfield Inn and Suites located at 185 MacArthur Drive in New Bedford.  John would like to hear from a variety of stakeholders about the challenges the fishing industry is facing and what success for the industry could look like.

 

 

September 10, 2012 — The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition.

Gloucester, Mass. — The Northeast Seafood Coalition’s (“NSC”) strongly recommended one-year proposal to modify the harbor porpoise Coastal Gulf of Maine Consequence Closure was denied by NOAA Fisheries for Fishing Year 2012. NSC’s congressionally supported proposal would have kept gillnet fishermen fishing during October and November 2012 and replace the scheduled closure with a modified closure in spring 2013. NSC analysis suggests the requested alternative would provide greater conservation protection to harbor porpoise and reduce the economic impacts on gillnet fishermen. 

NSC’s proposal received bipartisan support from members of the Senate and House of Representatives and  the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. The proposal is based on the express regulatory authority of the  National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS” or “agency”) to modify the default closure of October through  November 2012. The proposal calls for a modified closure from February 15 through March 31, 2013 with a  southern boundary change of 42° 24’ for the upcoming management season (September 15, 2012 – May 30,  2013). 

NSC leadership along with affected fishermen, their respective Sector Managers and Northeast Sector Service  Network carefully reviewed Northeast Fishery Science Center data that documented harbor porpoise takes by  month, gear type, position and statistical area from September 2008 through February 2012 for the gillnet  fishery to craft a sensible, well-justified proposal. NSC sought to provide a rare win-win for harbor porpoise and  fishermen by providing conservation protection for harbor porpoise in alternative months than the October and  November consequence closure while lessening economic impacts on gillnet fishing entities.  Along with the proposal, NSC submitted the peer-reviewed economic analysis “Economic Impacts of the  Potential Harbor Porpoise Consequence Closure” by Northeast Fishery Sector XI & XII manager Joshua  Weirsma, PhD to illustrate potentially devastating impacts of a October and November closure for dayboat  gillnetters, their sectors and fishing communities in New England. Weirsma’s analysis estimates a total (direct  and indirect) employment loss to these communities of over $10.3 million due to the scheduled October and  November closure. 

In their response to NSC, the NMFS wrote their economic analysis differs significantly compared to Weirsma’s  because instead of losses in October and November, they believe displaced revenue from the closure will shift  into summer months, December, or the spring. Alternatively, the agency wrote, “gillnetters that planned to  catch their allocations in October and November may choose to lease a larger share of their quota, or fish in  other areas during closure months. Given the suite of alternatives available, we believe that total revenue  losses under the October/November closure are much lower than those estimated by Dr. Weirsma.” The reality  is this fragile segment of New England’s groundfish fleet has had exceptionally low catch rates due to an array  of issues including warm water temperatures. The analysis provided by the agency does not consider the  seasonality of fisheries (when fish are present), vessel crews or the lease market under the sector system and  generally refutes economic impacts anticipated by affected fishermen and Weirsma. 

NSC—the largest membership organization in the northeast groundfish fishery, which represents a majority of  the active groundfish fishermen in the region—is grateful for the congressional support from U.S. Senators  Kerry, Brown, Shaheen, Ayote, Snowe, and Collins and Congressmen Frank, Tierney, Keating, Guinta,  Michaud and Congresswoman Pingree and support of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. NSC is acutely  aware of the critical importance of the gillnet fleet and values this fragile segment of the groundfish fleet. We  look forward to continuing to work with our members, Northeast Fishery Sector managers, Northeast Sector  Service Network, NOAA Fisheries, the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team and elected officials to develop  a win-win for harbor porpoise and fishermen. 

Background Information: 

The NMFS completed analyses of observed harbor porpoise bycatch from September 2010 through May 2011 and determined the bycatch rate for the Coastal Gulf of Maine Consequence Closure Area exceeded the target rate of 0.031 harbor porpoises per metric tons (equivalent to 1 harbor porpoise per 71,117 lbs). As a result, waters from northern Massachusetts to Portland, Maine are scheduled to be closed to gillnetting in October and November beginning in fishing year 2012 to protect harbor porpoise. 

 

 

BOSTON — September 9, 2012 — Federal regulators have rejected a fishing industry request to change plans to close a key fishing area off New England to protect harbor porpoises.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition, a fishing industry group, asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to begin the two-month closure next February, instead of November, and change the closed area's boundaries.

The coalition says that would better prevent porpoises from getting caught in fishing nets and ease a projected $10 million loss to fishermen.

But the head of the agency's Northeast office, John Bullard, said in a letter last week that an analysis indicates the coalition's suggestions wouldn't much help fishermen or porpoises.

 

Read the full story from the AP at NECN.

 

 

September 10, 2012 — "We've got to end overfishing," said Louis Daniel, a North Carolina fisheries manager who chairs ASMFC's menhaden board. But because the stock assessment "blew up," he added, the extent to which cuts should be made beyond what's needed to end overfishing is uncertain.

"Until we get a new stock assessment, what justification do we have to continue ratcheting down?" Daniel asked.

Regional fisheries officials in August reaffirmed their desire to reduce the catch of menhaden along the East Coast, even as they acknowledged greater uncertainty about what the catch limit should be.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission agreed to take public comments this fall on a range of options to reduce harvest of the small, oily fish that has sparked a huge controversy in recent years.

But it also concluded that the latest update to its menhaden stock assessment has flaws that cast doubt on its usefulness to identify the optimal size for the coastal menhaden population.

The ASMFC, which consists of state and federal fishery managers, is responsible for managing migratory species in state waters — those within 3 miles of the shoreline — along the East Coast.

Last November, in the wake of a stock assessment showing that overfishing was taking place, its Menhaden Management Board agreed for the first time to limit the coastwide catch of menhaden to protect the stock. Recreational anglers and conservationists claimed victory, having long contended that too many of the fish are being harvested, depriving striped bass and other predators of an adequate food supply.

But an update to that assessment clouded the picture. The results—generated by a computer model — poorly matched actual data about the stock in several instances. Although those problems had been evident in the last assessment, the magnitude of the mismatch increased.

Ron Lukens, a representative of Omerga Protein, the largest menhaden harvester along the coast, voiced concerns to the board about "significant issues with the latest stock assessment."

But the scientific technical committee that advises the menhaden board concluded that uncertainties in the model likely don't change the overall conclusion that menhaden overfishing is taking place, because other data also support that conclusion.

 

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Journal.

 

 

September 6, 2012 — The Fishery Management Action Team (FMAT) that has been tasked with developing alternatives for a new Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Omnibus Amendment will be meeting by conference call on Monday September 10, 2012, starting at 10:00 am.

Read the official announcement on the NOAA website

 

 

September 5, 2012 — Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation today announced that the top regional officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will be in Rhode Island on Monday, September 10 to hear directly from Rhode Island fishermen about issues facing the industry.

John K. Bullard, who was recently appointed to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Bill Karp, who was recently named Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, will hold a “listening session” with stakeholders and members of the public concerned with challenges facing the fishing industry.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at Superior Trawl in Point Judith.

Bullard has held a series of public meetings around the NMFS Northeast Region, which stretches from Maine to North Carolina, and says he wants to hear from fishermen, scientists, environmentalists, seafood dealers and processors, aquaculture industry and other members of the interested public about not only the challenges they are facing, but also what success looks like.

Read the full story here 

 

 

ELLSWORTH, Maine — September 5, 2012 — When John Bullard came to Ellsworth last Thursday, he had had been the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Northeast regional administrator for just three weeks and four days. During that brief period, he told some two dozen fishermen and other interested parties who came to him at Ellsworth City Hall that he’d been on the road attending similar “listening sessions” with fishermen in harbors from New Jersey to Portland and spent just three days in his new Fisheries Service office in Gloucester.

“Nobody knows me there,” Bullard said.

If last week’s meeting was any indicator, that won’t be the case for long.

Before taking comments from his audience, Bullard made it clear that he shares the view of most of the Maine fishing industry that it faces a crisis and that finding a solution may be more complex than ever before.

The problem facing New England’s fisheries — and the regulators at NOAA and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) who try to manage them — could be summed up as too many fishermen wanting to catch too few fish, primarily cod but other species as well. Why the fish are in short supply and how to ensure that access to those fish is fairly allocated among the region’s fishermen are the among the key issues that Bullard said he hopes to address in his new job.

“This is worse than the ’90s,” when many New England fishermen left the industry through a federally financed vessel buyout plan, Bullard said.

“Then the problem was one-dimensional — overfishing. Now there is a higher degree of difficulty than we’re used to dealing with.”

That difficulty is the result, at least in part, of the impacts of changes in the ocean that fishermen in the room spoke about.

James “Howdy” Houghton, a Bar Harbor lobsterman, said the bottom temperature of the water around that Frenchman Bay harbor had been “45 degrees forever,” but has increased significantly over the past few years. Five years ago, he said, the temperature had risen to 50 degrees.

“Now it’s up to 60. We’re seeing all kinds of squid around we never see.”

Dana Rice, a Bunker’s Harbor lobster dealer and a former longtime NEFMC member, also is seeing changes in the kinds of fish present in the Gulf of Maine.

“Things have come back we haven’t seen for years,” he told Bullard.

One thing that hasn’t come back is the stock of cod and other groundfish that were once plentiful in Downeast waters.

“It’s a very depleted suite of fisheries we have here,” Ted Ames, co-founder of the Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington, told Bullard.

 

Read the full story on Fence Viewer 

 

 

 

John Bullard is the newly-appointed Northeast administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–or NOAA–the federal agency that oversees the fishing industry, among other things. With much of the commercial fishery in crisis, Bullard, who is the former mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, decided the first thing to do in his new job was to undertake a "listening tour" to hear the concerns of those who work in the industry. That tour has brought him to Maine, where he heard from fishermen in Portland yesterday. Tomorrow he heads to Ellsworth to listen some more. Today, he came to our Portland studios and talked with Maine Things Considered host Tom Porter.

Listen to the audio from MPBN.