October 2, 2017 — While commercial fishing goes back to the late 17th Century in Cape May, it has been based in Montauk on the very eastern tip of Long Island for nearly that long. Montauk is the largest commercial fishing port in New York State today. WBGO’s Jon Kalish recently went out with a commercial fishing vessel to see what the work is like.
Federal Managers Continue to Address Snapper Grouper Management
Council Votes to Allow for Red Snapper Seasons in 2017 and 2018
October 2, 2017 — CHARLESTON, S.C. — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council began their week-long September Meeting with a Full Council Session to discuss red snapper management in the South Atlantic. The Council voted to request a 2017 Red Snapper Emergency Action, which would allow for recreational and commercial harvest this year. The request was sent to NOAA Fisheries and then on to the Secretary of Commerce. A decision is expected in the coming weeks and will be announced by NOAA Fisheries. For more details about the 2017 Emergency Action request, please refer to the Council’s earlier news release from September 25 and see the Council’s Story Map:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=8928fd890b6841949238a2390ef0b27c.
In addition to the 2017 Emergency Action request for red snapper, the Council continued to move forward with changes to red snapper management for 2018 with the approval of Snapper Grouper Regulatory Amendment 43 for formal review by the Secretary of Commerce. The amendment follows the same actions outlined in the 2017 Emergency Action request, setting a total annual catch limit of 42,510 fish to be harvested in 2018. If approved, the amendment is expected to go into effect in the summer of 2018 with the recreational fishery opening the second Friday in July (July 13, 2018) and the commercial fishery opening the second Monday in July (July 9, 2018).
Vision Blueprint Recreational Amendment
The Council continued development of Vision Blueprint Recreational Regulatory Amendment 26, an amendment born from stakeholder guidance during the Council’s visioning process and workshops. After much discussion, the Council agreed on restructuring the approach to the amendment to reflect how the fishery currently operates, consider predictable seasons, and simplify regulations. Under this new approach, the recreational aggregates would be divided into three groups – deep-water species; shallow-water groupers; and other shallow-water species. Alternatives include options for modifications to bag limits, seasons for deep-water species and shallow-water groupers, and size limits for deep-water species and triggerfish that would help streamline the regulations for anglers, law enforcement, and managers. Council provided further guidance to staff and development of the amendment will continue at the December Council Meeting.
Atlantic Cobia Management
Discussion on the future of cobia management in the South Atlantic continued this week through the development of Coastal Migratory Pelagics (CMP) Amendment 31. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is currently holding public hearings to gather input from stakeholders about the Draft Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia (GA-NY), a plan that complements federal regulations already in effect in the South Atlantic. Since drafting this plan, ASMFC has requested that the Council consider removing Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia from the federal Fishery Management Plan and transferring total management jurisdiction to the ASMFC. Fishermen from all corners of the region have expressed concerns about the current recreational cobia closure in federal waters. To address public concerns, the Council began work on CMP Amendment 31, which proposes alternatives for a total transfer of jurisdiction or complementary management with ASMFC. The Council approved the alternatives in the document for further development and will continue to discuss the federal role in cobia management at the December meeting in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
Magnuson-Stevens Act Revision Discussion
The Council reviewed and approved modifications to the Council Coordinating Committee Working Paper that outlines the views of all 8 Councils on issues related to MSA Reauthorization. Impacts of various MSA-related senate and house bills were also reviewed. Topics include rebuilding timelines, annual catch limits, experimental fishing permits, recreational/commercial data needs, and many others. The Council expressed support for exploring ways to obtain more flexibility in managing recreational fisheries.
Election of New Chair and Vice Chair
During the full Council session on Thursday, Council members, staff, and audience members applauded Dr. Michelle Duval’s time as Chair of the South Atlantic Council. Dr. Duval, as noted by her peers, has proven to be a dedicated and driven leader. Council members and staff remain grateful that she will continue to offer her profound guidance and support as North Carolina’s state agency representative. Vice-Chair Charlie Phillips, the commercial representative from Georgia, was elected as the new Chair and South Carolina’s recreational representative, Mark Brown, will serve as the Vice-Chair. Chair Charlie Phillips expressed his gratitude and said, “I look forward to keeping the Council on track and to following up on the needs of stakeholders. Considering we have such great Council members and staff, there is no reason we cannot do that.” The Council is pleased to have these two career fishermen at the helm and looks forward to their leadership in the coming years.
The next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will be held December 4-8, 2017 in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Additional information about this week’s meeting, including an interactive story map, meeting report and summary reports from each committee are available from the Council’s website at: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/.
Little Fish, Big Worry: Future of Menhaden Sparks Concern
October 2, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — A big decision about the future of a little fish is attracting the attention of ocean conservation groups who say they are concerned about whether menhaden fishing can be considered sustainable.
Industry players are petitioning the London-based Marine Stewardship Council to offer its well-known sustainability certification to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico fisheries for menhaden, a small schooling fish that plays a vital role in the ocean food web.
The Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability marker, prominently displayed on seafood packages in grocery stores, is one of the most recognized seafood labels in the marketplace. The company requesting the certification is Omega Protein, which is the largest harvester of menhaden in the Atlantic and the Gulf.
A sustainable certification for menhaden is important because companies that use menhaden products are starting to require it, said Ben Landry, a spokesman for the Houston-based company. He said it’s becoming especially common for aquaculture firms to require that feed be certified responsibly harvested.
Landry said the company is hopeful to obtain certification sometime in early 2018.
“It’s the gold standard in seafood certification. It signals to consumers that you’re truly a sustainable company that harvests these fish,” he said.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New York Times
MASSACHUSETTS: ‘A new era’: UMass Dartmouth SMAST building to open
September 29, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — UMass Dartmouth’s new marine science building is finished, its laboratories gleaming with the promise of new research.
The $55 million School for Marine Science and Technology building, dubbed SMAST East, officially opens today in the South End of New Bedford. At 64,000 square feet, it nearly triples the physical size of SMAST, a graduate school and research center focusing on fisheries, coastal preservation, ocean modeling, and climate change.
The new building reunites the school’s programs in a campus-like setting. For several years, some have been housed in the AT&T building in Fairhaven for lack of space.
“Just to be back together was great,” said Steve Cadrin, a professor and chairman of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography. But more importantly, it’s a world-class facility, he said.
The building also helps cement the school’s relationship with the state Division of Marine Fisheries. The agency leased the third floor for its New Bedford office, and it will have a first-floor office for permitting.
The Division of Marine Fisheries works hand-in-hand with SMAST on research and sometimes hires its Ph.D. graduates. Recent hires have represented the agency on New England Fisheries Management Council committees, helped the state understand fish surveys, and studied algae blooms.
The agency’s director, David Pierce, is an adjunct professor.
“We are now in a far better position to collaborate,” he said.
Retiring NOAA exec has impossible to-do list: whale deaths, Rafael decision, more
September 29, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — John Bullard knows he has a daunting list of tasks to complete before he walks away, in about three months, from his position as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) top decision maker for the northeastern part of the US.
It’s urgent for NOAA to determine why so many right whales have recently died, take action to protect scallop populations in the northern Gulf of Maine and advance the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, a six-volume document that’s been in the works for 10 years and would address essential fish habitat as well as permanent and seasonal closed areas, he believes. But that’s just a few of the jobs he told Undercurrent News he wants to see to completion before leaving.
The announcement, made in July, that Bullard will retire as the administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic Region on Jan. 5 puts a cap on a recent five-year stint at the agency, which he told Undercurrent during a break at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting, is three years longer than he said he told his wife he would stay in the job. He said he has not yet decided what he will spend his time on after that.
“I’m retiring,” he reiterated when pressed. “I’m retiring.”
Neither will NOAA, which advertised Bullard’s job for a month starting on Aug. 7, say how many candidates it’s now considering to fill his post or suggest when a successor might be named. It’s the agency’s policy to “not comment on ongoing hiring actions,” a spokesperson said.
Whoever is awarded the position – one of five regional leadership positions for NOAA — will have the daunting job of working with the fishery councils to manage 44 fish stocks, including two in New England (scallops and lobster) that are worth more than $500 million per year each, according to the agency.
Researchers want to know why beluga whales haven’t recovered
September 29, 2017 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — New research aims to find out why highly endangered beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet have failed to recover despite protective measures.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded more than $1.3 million to the state for three years of research involving the white whales.
“While we know what we believe caused the initial decline, we’re not sure what’s causing the population to remain suppressed,” said Mandy Keogh, a wildlife physiologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
A population of 1,300 belugas dwindled steadily through the 1980s and early ‘90s.
The decline accelerated when Alaska Natives harvested nearly half the remaining 650 whales between 1994 and 1998. Subsistence hunting ended in 1999 but the population remains at only about 340 animals.
Cook Inlet belugas are one of five beluga populations in U.S. waters. Cook Inlet, named for British explorer Capt. James Cook, stretches 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Post
Japanese Animals Are Still Washing Up in America After The 2011 Tsunami
Plastics and metals have made it much easier for invasive species to raft across oceans.
September 29, 2017 — On March 11, 2011, an unprecedentedly powerful earthquake struck the Tōhoku region of Japan. It destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings, wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, created a tsunami that reached 40 meters in height, and shifted the entire planet a few inches on its axis. But among these catastrophic consequences, there were also subtler ones. For example, the tsunami inundated a small blue-and-white fishing boat called the Sai-shou-maru, ripping it from its moorings and casting it out to sea.
The boat drifted eastward through the Pacific, never capsizing. Then, on March 22, 2013, a couple weeks after the two-year anniversary of the quake, it washed ashore on Long Beach, Washington. Its hull was encrusted with seaweed and barnacles, and one of its compartments was full of water. And living in that water were five striped beakfish. The fish were youngsters, just four inches long. They had probably been swept into the boat as larvae, and spent their entire lives growing up within this ersatz aquarium. For two years, the boat was their entire world.
Four of those fish were euthanized by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the fifth—now known as the “tsunami fish” was relocated to Oregon’s Seaside Aquarium. Its story astonished John Chapman, an ecologist at Oregon State University who studies aquatic invasive species. Somehow, this coastal species had endured a two-year, 4,000-mile voyage across the open ocean, in the tiniest of living spaces. “We said this couldn’t happen,” Chapman told OregonLive. “And nature is like: Oh yes it can.”
Of late, nature has been saying that to Chapman a lot.
In the last five years, he and his colleagues have documented 634 pieces of debris that were swept away by the Tōhoku tsunami and eventually washed up on the coasts of North America. And it hasn’t stopped coming yet. Between them, these bits of ocean-hopping junk carried 289 species that are typically found along Japanese coasts—a vast horde of sponges, sea stars, sea anemones, mussels, limpets, barnacles, and fish.
Politicians call for more flexibility in Magnuson-Stevens Act
September 29, 2017 — During testimony at a Congressional hearing Tuesday, officials and lawmakers alike called for the next version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act to include greater flexibility to oversee the country’s regional fisheries.
The House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans discussed three bills and a draft of another all focused on reauthorizing or amending the law that oversees the country’s fishery management programs in federal waters.
“It is my hope that we can use these bills in front of us today to produce a strong, bipartisan Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization that supports jobs and our fishermen by strengthening the science, data and process used in federal fisheries management,” said U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), the subcommittee chairman.
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) welcomed the call for a bipartisan approach. In noting that it’s been more than a decade since the last reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens, he said that partisan agendas have delayed important updates that would address flexibility and accountability issues.
“This process has focused on weakening fundamental environmental protections in place of making meaningful improvements to our important fisheries management framework,” said Huffman, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee.
Fishing plan with Canada gives US more cod, less haddock
September 29, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — American fishermen may soon have less access to haddock and slightly more access to cod in a key fishing area, following an agreement between U.S. fishing regulators and Canada.
The U.S. shares the total allowable catch for eastern Georges Bank cod and haddock with Canada. The bank is a piece of ocean located east of New England and south of Nova Scotia.
The New England Fishery Management Council accepted a 2018 catch share plan on Wednesday.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Herald
Federal lawsuit alleges Fall River fish plant, staffing firm, allowed sexual harassment
September 29, 2017 — A Fall River seafood processing plant and its staffing firm have been accused of allowing the sexual harassment of non-English speaking female employees in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc. and BJ’s Service Co. Inc. violated federal law “by maintaining and failing to remedy a hostile work environment where female workers were subject to ongoing sexual harassment,” the commission said in a press release issued Wednesday night.
BJ’s Services Co. hired and transported workers to the Fall River facility.
In a statement issued Thursday, Atlantic Capes Fisheries accused the commission of attempting to try the case “in the court of public opinion” by releasing a statement to the media before the company was notified of the lawsuit.
Atlantic Capes denies the claims, the statement said.
After reviewing the allegations in December 2015, the company “actively investigated all sexual harassment claims as soon as they were raised,” the statement said.
“ACF is, and always has been, an equal opportunity employer, and is committed to the cultivation and maintenance of a positive workplace environment,” the company said.