Management & Regulation

The following, and many other problems with Amendment 16, the new system of regulating groundfish, popped up in meetings in New Bedford and Gloucester last week Only about one third of the New Bedford boats have been working, according to industry and government estimates made last week. And those that are working are grappling with a variety of issues, including: Computer software that does not work correctly in allowing instantaneous reporting of boats' comings and goings as required. Mandates requiring that fish coming up half eaten by predators and thus spoiled must be kept in the hold with the good — thus jeopardizing the whole catch. Statistical rules that allow gaming the system of on-board observers — and observers who do not appear to be either knowledgeable or trained. In Gloucester on Friday, Mayor Carolyn Kirk led a 90-minute meeting to exchange reports on the first six weeks of Amendment 16. Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, told the Gloucester gathering that the satellite communications technology at the core of the system is overburdened and is reliable only 25 percent of the time. Tina Jackson, a commercial fisherman and president of the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities, objected to the claim made in an interview by Eric Schwaab, who heads the NOAA Fisheries office, that fishermen can't catch enough to satisfy the American demand for fish. She scoffed and told the bureaucrats, who work under Schwaab, that the problem was the allocation not the capacity of the fleet. We're striving to improve," said Dan Morris, an assistant to NOAA fisheries regional director Patricia Kurkul — who was not present in New Bedford and is not expected for tonight's Gloucester session in the Blackburn Industrial Park building that houses her own office.   Read the full Gloucester Times story      

New England lobster fishermen are saying a drastic new plan being floated to save depleted lobster stock in the region will spell a death sentence for their businesses.

One of the options under consideration is a five-year ban on lobstering in the waters south of Cape Cod. The aim is to help the local lobster population bounce back, but many fishermen say it means the end of their livelihood.

"I've spent most of my life on the ocean. It's just where I'm at home," said Jarrett Drake, a second-generation fisherman who has been catching lobsters out of New Bedford since he was 13.

Watch the video at WCVB TV 5 Boston.

Representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came to New Bedford on Thursday for the first in a series of regional meetings intended to gather feedback from commercial fishermen grappling with complex new management regulations.

The fishermen largely stayed away.

Seafood consultant Jim Kendall said he was not surprised so few fishermen attended.

"They're frustrated; they've had enough," he said. "They say it doesn't make any difference if they come or not."

Only 32 percent of New Bedford boats in the groundfish fleet are now fishing, Kendall said.

The fishermen who did attend gave fisheries managers plenty to think about.

Frank Mirarchi, who runs a 55-foot dragger out of Scituate, expressed fear that once federal monies subsidizing the costs associated with managing sectors are withdrawn, the burden on fishermen would become unsustainable.

"These are large subsidies and there's no guarantee they will be renewed. In my sector, we're already paying a fee of 8 cents per pound on the fish we land as our share. There's not enough coming out of the hatch to support the overhead associated with sectors if the subsidy goes."

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]

NOTE: The Standard-Times is a subscription site.  Unregistered visitors are able to read three stories per month, and registered visitors may view ten.  For unlimited access, please follow the subscription instructions on the site. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lobster populations in a large swath of the Atlantic Ocean have declined so much that biologists are recommending a five-year ban on catching lobsters south of Cape Cod down to Virginia to allow the stock to bounce back.

The proposal is the most drastic of several options that will be considered in July by a multi-state commission that regulates fishing of coastal species in the Atlantic, and it is drawing strong objections from lobstermen.

Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said he opposes the proposal because it would put hundreds of fishermen out of business. Waters farther north, where most of New England's lobsters are trapped, are unaffected, because the populations there remain healthy.

Lobstermen and some scientists believe warming waters, possibly due to climate change, have allowed disease and infections to overtake lobster populations off southern New England, killing many and pushing others farther offshore into deeper, cooler waters.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

BOSTON—Lobstermen in southern New England are facing a possible five-year fishing ban after biologists made that recommendation to regulators, saying the drastic step is needed to save the depleted stock.

The Lobster Technical Committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission acknowledged "the catastrophic effects" on local lobstermen if the moratorium was enacted. But it said it was needed to rebuild the lobster population and secure the industry's long-term health.

Rhode Island lobsterman Bill McElroy said there will be no industry in southern New England if the recommendation is adopted.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently launched a programme that will entitle the nation’s USD 4 billion fishing industry with far-reaching privileges through the allocation of “catch shares” to private fishing businesses and individuals, warns a green group.

Ecotrust believes these programmes favour the fishing practices that caused overfishing to begin with and, additionally, threaten the income of fishing communities.

According to the environmental group, oceans are about to become one of the largest government handouts of a public resource to private interests.  Although historically the exclusive use of valuable public resources — like grasslands, forests, oil and mineral deposits and airwaves— produces substantial public revenues from the auctioning and leasing of these privileges, the fishing industry is not anticipated to pay for its new entitlement, Ecotrust argues.

Read the complete story at FIS Worldnews.

 

 

 

 

 

If protest is in the game, fishermen's angry cards will be played to an absent figure.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman said Tuesday that Patricia Kurkul, the Glouceser-based federal regional fisheries administrator, will not be attending the series of meetings her agency has scheduled beginning Thursday in New Bedford for fishermen who say they're struggling mightily with miniscule catch allocations and confounding software and bureaucracy.

Kurkul's spokeswoman, Maggie Mooney-Seus, said the meetings are intended for training and problem-solving as the new catch share regulatory system for groundfishing enters its seventh week — with many fishermen in open revolt against the fisheries administration of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco.

Mooney-Seus said NOAA Fisheries Service would send a sizable team to New Bedford, including line employees of the Sustainable Fisheries Division, scientists and staff to help sort out start-up problems.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

 

 

 

 

In an interview with World Fishing and Aquaculture, National Marine Fisheries Chief Eric Schwaab made the following statements:

– NOAA is strongly committed to the success of catch share programs.

– Because their share is secure under catch share programs, fishermen plan their business to take advantage of good weather, markets and other business considerations and tend to be more selective about when and how they catch their allotment.

– We believe that more fishermen over time will chose catch share systems.

– I understand the concern with the 10-year rebuilding time frames in Magnuson. However, I believe Magnuson already contains some of the flexibility we need by allowing certain exceptions based on biology and other issues.

–  In response to a January review of [enforcement by] the Commerce Department Inspector General, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco recently outlined specific steps the agency has taken and will take … while we strive for transparency in our process and to ensure fair treatment, we also know that an effective program is essential if we are to protect fisheries and other marine resources that sustain the jobs and economic vibrancy of America’s coastal communities. … The steps we’ve taken, along with those we’ll implement as we move forward, will go a long way toward protecting our nation’s marine resources through the enforcement of fair, well understood, and effective regulations.

– … catch share funding is not requested at the expense of other fisheries research and management programs. … The National Marine Fisheries Service Operations, Research, and Facilities budget request increased from $724.2 million (€563.8 million) in fiscal year 2009 to $907.8 million (€706.5 million) in FY 2011; this $183.6 million (€142.9 million) increase demonstrates that fisheries research and management has been, and continues to be, a clear priority for NOAA.

– Currently, 84% of the nation’s seafood is imported. Americans eat way more seafood than our fishers can provide. We believe that fish farming may provide some of the solution to this challenge. Right now, NOAA is holding public listening sessions around the country to help guide the development of a new national aquaculture policy.

 

 

 

 

 

There has been a small reduction in the number of US fisheries that are deemed as being overfished, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Eric Schwaab, the NOAA assistant administrator for fisheries has delivered the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s Report on the status of US fisheries for 2009.

Stocks discussed in this report are characterised under two broad categories: (1) subject to overfishing and (2) overfished.

A stock that is subject to overfishing has a fishing mortality (harvest) rate above the level that provides for the maximum sustainable yield. A stock that is overfished has a biomass level below a biological threshold specified in its fishery management plan.

Read the complete story at World Fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I won't play into this hand. This work is for the lawmakers," said Fuka. "Any time NOAA has a desire to reach out to fishermen, it's just to upgrade their intelligence against us. Especially on the eve of a lawsuit, you just don't sit down and tip your cards to the people you're taking to court."

The fishing communities of New England, New York and New Jersey — angry, bitter and deeply alienated from their government and now in virtual revolt against it — find themselves today in passionate debate while strategizing the next phase of the battle.

That phase entails a series of public meetings for "feedback" and "training" planned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over its latest regulatory scheme.

The first session is scheduled for New Bedford on Thursday, with Gloucester's meeting a week from today at NOAA's regional headquarters in Blackburn Industrial Park. Others will go on through early July, from Maine to Montauk, N.Y.

Based on Internet chatter, each one promises a mix of participation and rejection, with fishing activists taking different sides over a number of questions: Should fishing people attend and speak their minds again? Should they boycott to demonstrate their perceived disenfranchisement? Or should they try to do both, and somehow get the media's attention?

As of Sunday, there was no apparent consensus.

"No more meetings. Get rid of (NOAA chief Jane) Lubchenco and her Pew (Pew Environment Group) folks in the agency and fix Magnuson," Donofrio wrote. Those references are to pending bills in both houses of Congress to write statutory language into the Magnuson Stevens Act explicitly directing NOAA to balance economic and social stability against fish conservation.

Two federal lawsuits were filed last month on behalf of fishing interests up and down the coast, based on constitutional flaws in the new regulatory format called Amendment 16. The cities of Gloucester and New Bedford have joined in one of the suits.

NOAA's professed aim in the coming meetings is to get "feedback" and provide "training" for dealing with Amendment 16 — which, on May 1, introduced the catch-share regulatory format to New England.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.