Management & Regulation

Recreational and commercial fishermen have filed separate actions against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) seeking to obtain materials and close loopholes in the way it monitors the industrial Atlantic herring midwater trawl fleet.

Read the complete story at Cape Cod Today.

The federal government will push for the expansion of a controversial concept that gives commercial fishermen a guaranteed share of the overall catch as a tool for restoring depleted stocks in the Gulf of Mexico and other fisheries.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday the approach, known as “catch shares,” is a proven strategy that can make fishing safer and more profitable while rebuilding fish populations.

The federal push for catch shares arises from concerns that traditional methods, including seasonal limits and buyouts of fishing boats, have brought only marginal recovery of fish stocks. More than 20 percent of U.S. fisheries have not been rebuilt, despite a mandate from Congress three years ago to end overfishing of all species by 2011.

“The current tools we have aren’t getting the job done,” NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said, “so we’re expanding the toolbox.”

The approach would let commercial fishing crews harvest their share of the catch when they can command higher prices, rather than competing in derby-style openings that often lead to market gluts and wasted fish. Scientists say that once given a fixed share of the catch, fishermen are less likely to overfish because they have a financial interest in seeing the species thrive.

Read the complete story at the Houston Chronicle.

Rockport fisherman Bill Lee's decision to bow out of the industry may not seem like the biggest commercial fishing news of the day, week, or year. It may, however, be the most telling.

The word that Lee, longtime captain of the Ocean Reporter and — perhaps more importantly, a fierce defender of fishermen's rights — has sold his permits and bowed out of the industry to cover a $19,000 settlement for a questionable National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration violation should cry out loud and clear to our federal legislators of the need for drastic changes in the way that NOAA and its enforcers do business.

He was one of the first to come forward and legitimately cry foul over the outrageous tactics used by Coast Guard enforcement agents on NOAA's behalf, a step that helped spawn an ongoing Inspector General's Office probe into heavy-handed tactics by NOAA and its National Marine Fisheries Services.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Recently, a few representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service have stated that they must work to regain the trust of the fishing industry.

Talk is cheap, actions are what matter. Here are a few suggestions that NMFS should take if its officials are serious about rebuilding trust between themselves and the fishing industry.

The most critical and easiest remedied involves the North East Fishery Science Center trawl surveys and stock assessments. Currently fish species stock assessments rely heavily upon trawl surveys, primarily conducted in the spring and the fall, using a three year moving average to estimate stock abundance.

If fishermen believe in the results of the stock assessments, they will certainly be more inclined to believe in the management measures implemented because of them. The overwhelming majority of recreational and commercial fishermen do not believe in the science NMFS presents because it does not come close to what they observe.

Since "Trawlgate," the NEFSC has taken a few positive steps to address this discrepancy through the Trawl Survey Advisory Panel. The new survey vessel, the H. Bigelowe, now uses an industry-designed net that fishermen may eventually have confidence in. Unfortunetely, the NEFSC has created large holes in the trawl survey data by a few of their actions.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

NOAA released today for public comment a draft national policy encouraging the use of catch shares, a fishery management tool that aims to end overfishing and rebuild and sustain fishing jobs and fishing communities. In doing so, NOAA recognized that catch shares are not a panacea or one-size-fits-all solution, but are a proven way to promote sustainable fishing when designed properly at the fishing community level.

The public may submit written comments until April 10. After reviewing and considering comments, NOAA will issue the final policy.

Read NOAA's release on the draft policy

Read and comment on the draft policy

Listen to the teleconference in which Dr. Lubchenco and NOAA colleagues discuss the draft policy with members of the media

Facing a 2011 deadline to end overfishing in U.S. waters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been working to expand the use of a management system designed to end the race for fish that has resulted in dozens of ocean species in trouble.

On Thursday, a task force handed the agency a set of recommendations to build support among fishermen and break through the bureaucracy that has held up wider adoption of catch shares. The system gives individual shares of the catch to fishermen, cooperatives or even communities, as well as responsibility not to overfish protected stocks. Each permit holder has a specific quota of fish they can catch, ending the race to gather as many fish as possible.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco has pushed the system as part of a comprehensive national ocean policy endorsed by President Barack Obama. But it can take years for regional fishery management councils that set commercial fishing seasons to work through the process.

The Environmental Defense Fund praised the recommendations, saying that catch shares have restored fish populations while improving the livelihoods of fishermen.

Read the complete story by the AP at Google.

The Obama administration proposed a national fisheries policy today that promotes the use of new cap-and-trade management schemes for federal fisheries.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's proposal (pdf) encourages regional fishery managers to use "catch shares" in a bid to end overfishing and restore depleted stocks. The plan calls for establishing a support system and laying out federal guidance to expedite efforts by fishery management councils that want to switch to the new management systems.

"Catch shares may not be the best management option for every fishery or sector," the proposal says. "NOAA will not require the use of catch shares in any particular fishery or sector, but it will promote and encourage the careful consideration of catch shares as a means to achieve the conservation, social and economic goals of sustainable fishery management."

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

WASHINGTON (CN) – A new National Marine Fisheries Service rule will allow commercial fishermen to dump bycatch without bringing it onboard to be monitored, and a longtime sea captain says the final rule, which differs from the proposed rule, will hurt the New England fishing industry.

Peter Taylor, a long-line commercial fisherman with more than 30 years of experience, says the NMFS’ new rule invites abuse or a rule meant to ban the discarding of unmonitored bycatch.

Taylor says the proposed rule would have forced midwater trawl boats to have an observation crew take note of the vessel’s groundfish bycatch, the only exception being in instances where a bycatch of sharks prevented the crew from bringing the catch on board.

But Taylor says the NMFS issued a final rule that added a new exception without consulting commercial fisherman interested in renewing and sustaining groundfish populations in New England.

Read the complete story at Courthouse News Service.

Effective 0001 hours December 10, 2009, fishing vessels issued a Federal permit for Atlantic herring may once again land herring harvested in Management Area 2 until it is determined that the allocated total allowable catch (TAC) has been harvested.

Vessel owners issued Federal permits are reminded that they must continue to complete and submit Interactive Voice Response (IVR) reports and vessel logbooks.  Additionally, dealers issued Federal dealer permits for Atlantic herring are advised that they may once again purchase Atlantic herring harvested in Management Area 2 from federally permitted vessels until it is determined that the allocated TAC has been harvested.  Federally permitted dealers must continue to report all fish purchases from any vessel.

The directed Atlantic herring fishery in Management Area 2 will reopen until the 95-percent quota threshold of 28,500 mt is projected to be attained.  This reopening is because catch data indicate the 95-percent quota threshold has not been fully attained, and approximately 1,450 mt of herring is still available for harvest in Area 2.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance wasted no time in mounting a legal challenge to an interim red snapper closure, announced Thursday by the federal government and entered into the Federal Registry on Friday, Dec. 4th.

RFA attorney Dave Heil said from his Orlando office that the complaint “is sitting in the clerk’s office” in the U.S. District Court’s Jacksonville Division.

“We had the paperwork ready,” Heil said.

The RFA had anticipated an earlier closure. 

Heil said that the interim closure “took everybody by surprise.” He said that the RFA believed that the secretary of commerce would forgo the interim rule because a more sweeping closure proposal — Amendment 17A — is going to a public hearing this month. The hearing takes place in Charleston, SC., this week.

Read the complete story at The Florida Times-Union.