Management & Regulation

Barney Frank discusses the Commerce Secretary's announcements on fishery issues with WBSM.

[click here and listen now]

 

 

 

Over the past decade, the fisheries around New England have steadily rebounded from a state of near collapse in the early 1990s. According to the Fish Stock Sustainability Index, maintained by NOAA, the fisheries have improved their sustainability by some 60 percent since 2000. Fishermen say that stocks are in better shape now than they have been in years and dispute the science behind the current limits established in the catch shares system. Scientists, for their part, argue that the fisheries are still far from the levels they need to guarantee long-term sustainability.

But the regulations (and particularly their enforcement) that have helped lead to that rebound in stock levels have carried a huge cost, fishermen say. In particular, New Englanders have long groused that they were singled out for uniquely harsh treatment from NOAA and its enforcement agents. This summer, a Commerce Department inspector general's report confirmed their worst fears.

For the past decade, the investigation concluded, not only had New England fishermen been singled out for exceptionally harsh monetary fines, sometimes five- and six-figure penalties for minor infractions, fisheries law enforcement officers had then misspent the money collected, purchasing a $300,000 luxury "undercover" vessel, for example. Moreover, the former head of the enforcement division allegedly ordered the improper shredding of dozens of files, the inspector general found. "The Obama administration inherited a terrible situation with regard to management and enforcement in New England, and they are taking responsibility and moving to correct it," says Rep. Barney Frank, whose district includes New Bedford. "You can't police the oceans without the cooperation of those who are out there fishing in it."

The Commerce Department report, combined with the ongoing regulatory scuffles, prompted the creation of a rare bipartisan alliance that pushed the White House and NOAA to clean up their act. Indeed, there are few other issues these days that can bring together Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Scott Brown with Democrats like Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Charles Schumer, and Frank.

Late last month, as a result of the protests and the ongoing legislative pressure, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, in a rare personal dialogue with a group of New England fishermen, promised in a closed-door meeting to end abusive enforcement and help the industry find ways to become more profitable. Legislators have separately pushed for millions of dollars in emergency federal grants to help fishermen who have to leave the industry. Locke said the Commerce Department will also give more input to fishermen when it comes to catch-limit decisions.

Read the complete story from US News and World Report

 

 

A new federal rule will allow NOAA’s assistant administrator for fisheries to deny a vessel entry into a U.S. port or access to port services if that vessel has been listed for engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by one of the world’s international fishery management organizations. The rule takes effect on October 27.

“This is a global problem that subjects our fishermen to unfair competition with illegally caught fish products entering the marketplace here and abroad. Illegal fishing also depletes fish stocks, which ultimately hurts the legal fishermen, fishing nations and their economies,” said Eric Schwaab, NOAA assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “Denying port access to vessels engaged in illegal fishing is an effective way to curb this damaging activity.”

Foreign vessels are required to provide a notice to the U.S. Coast Guard prior to arriving in the U.S. If the vessel is on one of the IUU vessel lists, NOAA Fisheries will be notified and a consultation with federal agencies will ensue. NOAA’s assistant administrator for fisheries will determine whether to deny entry to the vessel or if other restrictions will be placed on the vessel consistent with our international obligations.

The new rule will also prohibit persons and businesses from providing certain services to, and engaging in commercial transactions with, listed IUU vessels. Those services would include at-sea transporting of fish harvested by a listed IUU vessel, processing fish harvested by a listed IUU vessel or processing fish using a listed IUU vessel; joint fishing operations; providing supplies, fuel, crew, or otherwise supporting a listed IUU vessel; and entering into a chartering arrangement with a listed IUU vessel.

Current U.S. law has largely discouraged IUU fishing vessels from arriving in U.S. ports.

However, there have been a few instances when transport vessels identified on IUU lists have reached U.S. ports. This rule clarifies actions that the U.S. can take to deny these vessels entry into, or access to, the United States.

The new rule is part of international efforts to address IUU vessels, which often flout other rules as well, including labor rights, habitat protection, safety-at-sea and food safety requirements.

In recent years, several organizations, such as the International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries commissions, have adopted binding measures that establish both procedures for identifying vessels that engaged in IUU fishing activities and actions to be taken against such vessels. Such measures can act as a strong deterrent to IUU fishing by reducing the profitability of such activities. Nations that are members of these organizations are required to take actions against the listed IUU vessels, such as today’s action which essentially closes markets to the vessels.

IUU fishing activities include fishing in an area without authorization; failing to record or declare catches, or making false reports; using prohibited fishing gear; re-supplying or re-fueling IUU vessels.

Links to relevant conservation measures and IUU vessel lists can be found at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/challenges/iuu.htm

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit us at http://www.noaa.gov or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov.

 

 

 

 

 

 The Council Report summarizes major issues voted on or discussed at each regularly scheduled NEFMC meeting. The Council met most recently on September 28-30, in Newport, RI.

At its September meeting, the Council addressed issues related to sea scallops, groundfish, monkfish, skates and red crab.

Sea Scallops

Amendment 15 Finalized

After nearly three years of development, the New England Council approved only some elements of Amendment 15 to its Scallop Plan in a final vote taken last week. Under consideration were measures to comply with annual catch limits, measures to address excess capacity in the limited access scallop fishery and several other more general issues. After substantial testimony from the public and individual Council members, the majority of members voted down alternatives that would have allowed limited access scallop vessels to voluntarily stack two permits on one vessel. Similarly, the Council voted down alternatives that would have allowed voluntary leasing of scallop days-at-sea and/or access area trips.

While the measures included numerous restrictions to prevent excess consolidation and limit potential increases in catch from stacking and/or leasing, the Council ultimately decided that the potential negative impacts on vessels that do not stack or lease outweighed the cost savings, efficiency gains, and conservation of non-fishery resources expected from stacking and leasing.

The primary concerns about leasing and stacking voiced by the public and Council members alike included potential loss of jobs on the waterfront that would have trickle-down impacts on other fisheries and communities, potential impacts on future fishing opportunities for vessels that do not stack or lease, potential impacts on other fisheries if scallop vessels redirect effort after leasing out scallop effort, and unintended consequences of additional consolidation in the scallop fishery.  

Read the council report here.

 

 

 

 

 

An area in the Gulf of Maine is being proposed to protect spawning aggregations of Gulf of Maine cod. The action could limit fishing at times and in areas when cod catch rates are high, by reducing opportunities to target large spawning fish and by preventing fishing from interfering with spawning activities.

Read the press release from the New England Fishery Management Council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each week, on WBSM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood joins host Phil Paleologos to discuss issues related to the fisheries with news-making guests.

October 7, 2010: David W. Cash, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, discusses Governor Deval Patrick's letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. (Click here to view a PDF of the letter from Governor Patrick to Secretary Locke.)

[click here and listen now]

 

 

 

After yesterday's announcement of potential changes to critical habitat for right whales, a number of fishermen and fisheries organizations asked the question "What, if any, is the potential affect on groundfishing and scalloping?"  We posed the question to NOAA Fisheries.

The following is their response: It's too early to say, since we have not fully determined what physical or biological features will constitute revised critical habitat for North Atlantic right whales and may require special management consideration or protection.  That's what we will be proposing next year.

The petitioners requested very large areas to be designated critical habitat.  We are evaluating the information presented in the petition as well as information from other sources in developing our proposed rule.

While NMFS may implement special management to protect the relevant physical or biological features in critical  habitat areas, we may also find that special management is not presently required.  For example, special management was not required in the current right whale critical habitat areas (designated in 1994)  in order to prevent the "adverse modification or destruction" of the seasonal copepod blooms that are the primary feature in these areas critical to right whales.

Newport, R.I. — The National Marine Fisheries Service will soon begin an extensive review of the agency’s management process.

The review will begin with the agency’s operations in New England and will expand to other regions across the nation, NMFS chief Eric Schwaab told the New England Fisheries Management Council at its Sept. 28-30 meeting in Newport, R.I.

Schwaab told the council that, since being appointed to his current position eight months ago, much of his time has been taken up by the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“At this point, while the event is not over, we’re moving from the response phase to what will likely be a longer-term but, hopefully, more predictable restoration down there,” Schwaab said.

Read the complete story from the Bar Harbor Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NMFS release: NOAA Fisheries Service today announced that it is now possible for federal multispecies fishery permit holders fishing under the Days-at-Sea (DAS) Program who are interested in leasing their allocated fishing days to other fishing vessels in the program to do so electronically. This website will make it easier to lease DAS.  Most leases will be able to be processed instantly.

Federal multispecies permit holders who are interested in making their leasing transactions electronically are encouraged to visit our Fish Online homepage and click on "Days at Sea Leasing":

https://www.nero.noaa.gov/NMFSlogin/

If you have any questions about the Leasing Program, please contact our Sustainable Fisheries Division at 978-281-9315.

NOAA’s Fisheries Service today announced that it is reviewing and revising critical habitat designations for the North Atlantic right whale and expects to propose changes in the latter half of 2011.

Press Release:

"Critical habitat" is an area that contains physical or biological features that may require special management and that are essential to the conservation of the species. The agency designated three critical habitat areas in U.S. waters for these whales in 1994: calving grounds off Florida and Georgia and feeding grounds in Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel, both off Massachusetts.

In 2008, the listing of Northern right whales was changed by listing North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales as separate species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

In 2009, NOAA received a petition to enlarge existing,and designate new,critical habitat for North Atlantic right whales. NMFS received the petition while conducting an ongoing analysis and evaluation of new information available since the 1994 designation that indicates the designation should be revised.

Today's announcement finds that the petition includes substantial scientific information indicating that a revision to the areas may be warranted. It also explains that the agency is proceeding with the petition by working on a rule to propose revisions to the critical habitat designation for this species.

NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public.