Saving Seafood

Council Actions

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel Conference Call Scheduled for February 23

January 4, 2017 — The following was released by the ASMFC:

 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel (AP) will meet via conference call on Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 3:30 P.M., to provide feedback on the development of Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp. The Northern Shrimp Section will meet Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 10:00 A.M. to review and consider approving Draft Amendment 3 for public comment. The details of the Section meeting will be released when they become available.
 
While the northern shrimp fishery is currently under a moratorium due to its depleted stock condition, the Northern Shrimp Section is moving forward on the development of Draft Amendment 3 to explore options to manage the fishery when and if the fishery reopens. Options include  state-by-state allocations and seasonal- and area-based management measures to better manage effort in the fishery, and the mandatory use of size sorting grate systems to minimize harvest of small shrimp to protect the stock. The Draft Amendment will also explore additional reporting measures to ensure all harvested shrimp are being reported.
 
To access the meeting, please dial 1.888.394.8197 and enter passcode 815277 when prompted. To access the webinar, type the following address in your web browser: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/710614109. Since this is a working meeting of the Panel, the Chair may allow limited public comment as time allows.
 
For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.  

Fisheries managers seek Delmarva anglers’ input on flounder regulations

January 4, 2017 — BERLIN, Md. – The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control each have public hearings scheduled to gather public comment on a new proposal for summer flounder management by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The ASMFC’s Draft Addendum XXVIII seeks alternative management approaches for a coast-wide 30% reduction in the recreational harvest of summer flounder in 2017. This comes after the ASMFC says a 2016 stock assessment estimated the flounder population as lower than previously expected and fishing mortality higher than it had been in recent years.

According to the the addendum, the commission is considering several different management options to meet reduction goals, including coast-wide size limit increases for flounder and more consistency among different states’ possession and size limits.

Delaware, Maryland and Virginia all make up one region within the ASMFC’s five region flounder management area up and down the Atlantic coast.

Read the full story at WMDT

Cod, pollock now included in EU discard ban

January 4, 2017 — The latest stage of the landing obligation, or “discard ban,” took effect on New Year’s Day, confirmed U.K. Fisheries Minister George Eustice, with the country’s fishermen now required to land cod and pollock.

U.K. government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said the discard ban has gradually introduced to allow time to adapt and that two species – North Sea cod and northwestern waters pollock – had joined the list of fish that must be landed. Existing bans for species such as sole, plaice and haddock have also been extended to include more vessels.

“Fishing sustainably is one of our biggest priorities, both now and for the future, and the discard ban is an incredibly important step to help us reach maximum sustainable yield by 2020,” said Eustice. “While there will always be challenges in adapting to new polices, ending the wasteful practice of throwing dead fish back overboard will not only help maintain stock levels, but will help create a profitable fishing industry for years to come.”

The latest phase of the landing obligation follows the implementation of the ban to pelagic species such as mackerel and blue whiting in 2015, and the extension to demersal species haddock, sole and plaice at the start of 2016.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

A high-tech battle for the future of the fishing industry

January 3, 2017 — OFF THE COAST OF SCITUATE, Mass. — The high-tech battle for the future of the Massachusetts fishing industry is being waged aboard a western-rigged stern trawler named the Miss Emily.

Onboard the commercial groundfish vessel, in addition to the satellite positioning system and other sophisticated tools that have become standard in the industry, are at least five computer monitors and a $14,000 fish-measuring board that has halved the time it takes to gauge the catch.

State officials say it’s money well spent.

Federal catch limits — caps on how many fish each boat can catch — have devastated the state’s most iconic commercial sector, fishermen say. In response to an outcry from the struggling local groundfishing industry, environmental officials are now using the Miss Emily to try to come up with a new — and, they say, more accurate — estimate of codfish in the Gulf of Maine.

Under a survey launched last April, local fishermen hope new technology and an aggressive timetable will yield what they have concluded based on their own anecdotal evidence: There are more fish in the sea.

“That’ll give the federal scientists something to think about,” says David Pierce, director of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries. “It’s going to be eye-opening, I suspect. It’s going to force them to do some soul-searching.”

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration estimates put the Gulf of Maine groundfish stock at historically low levels, dictating a corresponding reduction in catch limits. Between 1982 and 2013, the number of metric tons of cod landed aboard commercial vessels plunged from more than 13,000 to 951, according to federal estimates. That, predictably, has drastically undercut the industry.

“The fleet has been decreasing in size, and we’re seeing less effort due to these catch limits,” says Bill Hoffman, a senior biologist with the state who oversees the survey. “Guys have gotten out.”

The 55-foot Miss Emily, skippered out of Scituate by captain Kevin Norton, has been equipped to approximate a smaller version of the Henry B. Bigelow, a 209-foot floating research vessel operated by NOAA, that is used to count fish for the federal government. Using a small portion of $21 million in federal fisheries disaster relief, the state launched a series of random “tows” to counter what some think is the less accurate federal vessel.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Seafood being added to state Farm to School Project

January 3, 2017 — BOSTON — The state Division of Marine Fisheries’ Massachusetts Seafood Marketing Program has partnered with the nonprofit Massachusetts Farm to School Project to promote the consumption of local seafood in schools.

“The Massachusetts commercial fishing and seafood industries provide delicious food and employment for thousands of people in the Commonwealth,” said Gov. Charlie Baker in a news release. “This is a great connection to make and we look forward to the partnership between Massachusetts fishermen and farm-to-school programs to provide the Commonwealth’s children with fresh, nutritious seafood products that support cognitive development.”

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton, in the release, said “Increasing sales of local seafood to schools will not only help find new markets for Massachusetts fishermen, but will also address the critical issue of access to healthy food, and introduce future consumers to the benefits of incorporating seafood into their diet.”

During the two-year partnership, the partners will promote seafood as part of Massachusetts Farm to School’s Massachusetts Harvest of the Month campaign, hold a series of local seafood cooking demonstrations for institutional food service providers, and have already offered a seafood focus track at the Massachusetts Farm & Sea to Cafeteria Conference in November 2016.

“This partnership helps DMF better increase awareness and preference of Massachusetts seafood to support the Commonwealth’s seafood industry and communities by reaching schools, universities, and hospital food service staff, educators, and families though Massachusetts Farm to School’s network,” said DMF Director David Pierce.

The Baker-Polito Administration launched the Massachusetts Seafood Marketing Program in August 2016 to increase awareness and demand for local seafood products and support Massachusetts’ fishing and seafood industries.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MAINE: State seeks more authority in investigations of suspected lobstering violations

January 3, 2017 — Legislation is being drafted to make it easier for Maine Marine Patrol officers to secretly install tracking or surveillance devices on boats.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is drafting legislation that would expand the authority of Marine Patrol officers to covertly install electronic surveillance devices on the boats of fishermen suspected of violating state fishing regulations.

The proposal is similar to one that faltered in the Legislature two years ago and is a response to ongoing concerns that some lobstermen are fishing more traps than allowed or engaging in other tactics to skirt Maine’s strict fisheries laws. The proposal also coincides with high-profile turf wars or personal disputes between lobstermen last year that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost or damaged equipment.

The language of the bill has not been released, and DMR officials declined to provide specifics until the legislation has been finalized, consistent with a LePage administration policy. But in a general outline, DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said the proposal would ease restrictions on Marine Patrol officers when they want to install electronic tracking or surveillance equipment on boats as part of investigations.

It was unclear last week whether the Marine Patrol would be required to obtain a warrant from a court before deploying surveillance devices, a question that could dictate whether the proposal raises constitutionality concerns among fishermen. But it appears the department is seeking to make it easier to track vessels of fishermen suspected of violations of fishing laws, whether civil or criminal.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

US issuing new rules to curb illegal fishing, seafood fraud

January 3, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The Obama administration is issuing new rules it says will crack down on illegal fishing and seafood fraud by preventing unverifiable fish products from entering the U.S. market.

The new protections are called the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, and they are designed to stop illegally fished and intentionally misidentified seafood from getting into stores and restaurants by way of imported fish.

The rules will require seafood importers to report information and maintain records about the harvest and chain of custody of fish, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The program will start by focusing on “priority species” that are especially vulnerable to illegal fishing, such as popular food fish like tuna, swordfish, Atlantic cod and grouper. The government hopes eventually to broaden the program out to include all fish species, NOAA officials said.

“It sends an important message to the international seafood community that if you are open and transparent about the seafood you catch and sell across the supply chain, then the U.S. markets are open for your business,” said Catherine Novelli, a State Department undersecretary.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle Times

Selling shark fins now banned in Rhode Island

January 3, 2017 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Selling shark fins is now banned in Rhode Island as it is in Massachusetts.

A law took effect Sunday that makes it a crime to own or sell a shark fin unless it’s used for scientific research or in preparing a shark for ordinary consumption.

Rhode Island became the 11th state to ban shark fin sales when Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed legislation into law in June. Hawaii was the first in 2010. Massachusetts banned the sales in 2014.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted in August to approve a new rule that allows fishermen to bring smooth dogfish, a type of shark, to land with fins removed, as long as their total retained catch is at least 25 percent smooth dogfish.

The rule change better incorporates the Shark Conservation Act of 2010 into management of the dogfish, staff with the fisheries commission said. Dogfish are harvested from Rhode Island to North Carolina, and are among the many shark species that fishermen bring to land in states from Maine to Texas.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Fish caught by slaves may be tainting your cat food

January 3, 2017 — Crack open a can of seafood-flavored cat food and whiff that fishy broth. Now try to guess where those gloopy bits of meat originate.

It’s a futile task. Oftentimes, no one knows quite how they got there, or who hauled those fish aboard which boat. Not even the multinational corporations who sell it on supermarket shelves.

Sure, pet food conglomerates can tell you which factories ground up the fish. They know who mixes in the additives, like tricalcium phosphate, and then dumps it into a can.

But the men who actually yanked it out of the sea? They’re usually anonymous, obscured by a murky supply chain.

That’s unfortunate. Because much of the pet food sold in the West is supplied by a Southeast Asian seafood industry, centered in Thailand, that is infamous for its use of forced labor.

For years, this industry has been scandalized by reports of human trafficking and even outright slavery. The victims are men from Myanmar and Cambodia, duped by human traffickers.

Here’s how the scam works. Traffickers promise desperate men a job on a factory or farm in Thailand — a relatively prosperous country compared to its poverty-stricken neighbors.

But there is no legit job. The victims are instead forced onto squalid trawlers. Once the boats leave port, they enter a lawless sea, and the men are forced to toil without pay — sometimes for years on end.

Read the full story at PRI

VIRGINIA: Derelict pots killing 3.3 million crabs annually in the Bay

January 3, 2017 — When Virginia closed its winter dredge fishery in 2008, waterman Clay Justis turned his attention from catching crabs that season to collecting the gear that captures them.

He was one of several watermen hired under a program that taught them to use sonar to find and remove lost and abandoned fishing gear, primarily crab pots, littering the bottom of the Bay.

“As a waterman, I knew there was stuff on the bottom, but when I turned the machine on, I was like, ‘Wow!’” said Justis, who fishes out of Accomack on the Eastern Shore.

Out of sight in the Bay’s often murky water, crab pots lay scattered all over the bottom, the sonar showed — along with other fishing gear such as gill nets, and all manner of trash, even a laundry machine.

But the so-called “ghost pots” are a special concern because the wire mesh cages with openings to draw crabs in but not let them out can continue to catch — and kill — crabs and fish for years. They are taking a bite out of both the crab populations and the wallets of watermen. More often than not, Justis noted, the derelict pots he pulled up had something in them. “You’ve got fish, you’ve got crabs, you’ve got ducks. All kinds of things,” he said. But, he added, “most of the time, they are dead.”

Concern about delict crab pots in the Bay has been growing for a decade, and a new report for the first time attempts to estimate their Baywide impact. It found that more than 145,000 pots litter the bottom of the Bay — a number the report authors consider to be conservative.

Each year, the report estimated that those pots kill about 3.3 million crabs, 3.5 million white perch, 3.6 million Atlantic croaker, and smaller numbers of other species, including ducks, diamondback terrapins and striped bass.

The number of crabs killed amounts to 4.5 percent of the 2014 Baywide harvest, the report said. Nor is the problem limited to the Bay. Studies have found similar problems with fisheries that use “trap” devices to catch crabs and lobsters globally.

“It’s an issue that, around the country, folks may not be aware of unless you live close to an area where commercial fishing is a way of life,” said Amy Uhrin, senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, which funded the study. “It is one of those ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ issues.”

Read the full story at the Bay Journal