April 9, 2014 — Several groups dedicated to stopping development of the proposed Pebble Mine are criticizing Alaska’s senior U.S. Senator for supporting legislation that would limit a power the EPA is using to stop development of the mine. KDLG’s Mike Mason reports. Listen to the Audio from KDLG
MASSACHUSETTS: 2014 Working Waterfront Festival
Aptil 11, 2014 — The following was released by the Working Waterfront Festival:
The Working Waterfront Festival is a non-profit organization which is committed to celebrating the culture of the working waterfront and strives to educate the public about its history and culture. A Festival is held every September on the historic waterfront of New Bedford and we would greatly appreciate your assisting us to inform the public by listing our event on your website and/or magazine.
Below is a description of this year’s Festival:
Working Waterfront Festival, New Bedford, MA (September 27-28, 2014). An award winning, family friendly event celebrating the history and culture of New England's commercial fishing industry featuring live music, children’s activities, cooking demonstrations, vessel and harbor tours, fisherman’s contests, author readings, film screenings, local seafood, festival bookstore, maritime artisans marketplace & more. The FREE festival presents all that goes into bringing seafood from the ocean to the table in a way that is hands-on, educational and fun.
This year, we put the spotlight on the historic and contemporary role of fishing families, both on shore and at sea. Programming will highlight the skills, knowledge, and traditions which are passed from one generation to the next. We will explore what it means to grow up in a fishing family; consider the important support role family members play; and pay tribute to the many family businesses which are part of the industry.
Learn more about the Working Waterfront Festival
Fishing, energy interests spar over possible Long Island wind farm lease
April 8, 2014 — Some potential effects are already known. Scallop fishing would be curtailed by a wind-farm project proposed in the South Shore waters off western Long Island by the Long Island Power Authority, Con Edison and the New York Power Authority, according to maps shown at the meeting. Two other energy firms also are bidding for that lease, which hasn't yet been awarded.
"We're very concerned about it," said Andrew Minkiewicz, an attorney representing scallop industry interests. "We will use all means at our disposal to fight" the loss of fishing grounds, he added.
A 256-square-mile lease already has been awarded for waters off Rhode Island to Deepwater Wind, which proposes selling energy to LIPA. Bornholdt said similar wind farm proposals are being considered in waters of nearly every state along the East Coast from Massachusetts to Florida.
Larry Penny, a biologist and former East Hampton Town natural resources director, suggested the bureau scale back those plans to "do a few of these and see what the impacts will be."
Bornholdt said the step-by-step process of approvals and monitoring would help prevent unforeseen problems. "We can build in some monitoring capability . . . and stop project activity once we approve a plan," she noted.
Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, an industry group in Montauk, expressed concern about wind farms' impact on sea bottom.
"You're blasting [wind towers] onto the ocean floor," she said, potentially creating "mini dead zones" where fish cannot live.
Read the full story at Newsday
One in Three Fish Imported Into U.S. May Be Illegal
April 10, 2014 — Do you know if the fish on your plate is legal? A new study estimates that 20 to 32 percent of wild-caught seafood imported into the U.S. comes from illegal or "pirate" fishing. That's a problem, scientists say, because it erodes the ability of governments to limit overfishing and the ability of consumers to know where their food comes from.
The estimated illegal catch is valued at $1.3 billion to $2.1 billion annually and represents between 15 and 26 percent of the total value of wild-caught seafood imported into the U.S., report scientists in a new study in the journal Marine Policy.
Study co-author Tony Pitcher says those results surprised his team. "We didn't think it would be as big as that. To think that one in three fish you eat in the U.S. could be illegal, that's a bit scary," says Pitcher, who is a professor at the fisheries center of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Read the full story at National Geographric
Committee approves dramatic reduction in 2014 Gulf red snapper season
April 9, 2014 — A committee assigned with processing a controversial ruling from a federal judge has recommended this year's recreational red snapper season be cut from 40 to 11 days in length. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will vote on the measure Thursday.
Randy Pausina, assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, attended the Reef Fish Committee meeting Tuesday and was frustrated with the outcome.
"(The red snapper fishery) is so poorly managed that NOAA keeps getting sued, so the judges are doing all the fisheries management," he said. "That's really what ends up happening."
A federal judge in late March ruled in favor of commercial red snapper fishers in a suit the industry brought last June, stating that NOAA Fisheries, the agency that regulates red snapper harvest, had not sufficiently held the recreational sector accountable for exceeding its quota six of the past seven years.
Federal management of red snapper has been a comedy of errors in recent years as season dates and regulations have changed by wide margins and sometimes after the seasons had already opened.
In December, NOAA Fisheries announced the 2014 recreational red snapper season would stretch 40 days from June 1 through July 10. The sector was set to receive 49 percent of a total allowable catch of 11 million pounds, with the commercial industry receiving the other 51 percent.
Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune
Judge rules fisheries service violated federal law
PORTLAND, Maine — April 14, 2014 — A judge has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated federal law when it allowed New England fishermen to carry uncaught groundfish allocation into the following year.
The service made the adjustment as part of a group of changes to New England’s Multispecies Fishery Management Plan in 2013. Judge James E. Boasberg of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled April 4 the carryover provision increases likelihood that ‘‘environmental harm, in the form of excessive fishing’’ would take place.
Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe
LOUISIANA: Gulf Council Could Shorten Recreational Red Snapper Season
BATON ROUGE, La., — April 9, 2014 — The following was released by Share the Gulf:
Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico will be facing an even shorter recreational season for red snapper as the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, a group of state and federal fishery managers that oversee offshore fisheries, works to comply with several standards set by the Magnuson-Stevens Act after a federal court ruled their years of management of the recreational fishery illegal.
On Tuesday the Council's Reef Fish Committee, which makes recommendations to the full Council, voted in favor of an 11-day recreational season with a two-fish per day, per angler limit.
"Nobody wants 11 days and shortened seasons will not solve the problem the fishery is facing," said Billy Archer, Share the Gulf member and a charter captain from Panama City, Florida. "The good news is that better solutions for recreational fishermen exist and we urge the full Council to adopt comprehensive management measures instead of the same old failed approaches."
The full council will consider the recommendation of the reef fish committee on Thursday and will likely vote to request that the Secretary of Commerce take this emergency action to reduce the likelihood of quota overages during the 2014 season.
Some Council members are attempting to attach new must-pass accountability measures for the recreational fishery to Amendment 28, a proposal to take a portion of the commercial fishery's quota and give it to recreational fishermen, so that the Council will be forced to pass the amendment and reallocate the red snapper fishery.
"These types of maneuvers are wrong and confuse a fish grab with real changes that can improve fishing for anglers across the Gulf of Mexico," said Bubba Cochrane, Texas Co-Chair for Share the Gulf and commercial fisherman. "Reallocation is a false promise to recreational fishermen and a distraction from improving the management of the recreational fishery. It will take fish out of Gulf seafood industry and do nothing to help anglers in the long-term. Combining new accountability measures with Amendment 28 will only cause more chaos and more division in the Gulf."
The Gulf Council has been presented with several alternative management programs that could improve fishing opportunities for recreational fishermen while improving accountability, but have yet to move any of them forward for serious consideration. "The Council cannot continue to ignore the demands for new management options," said Archer.
The Council must implement an adequate management plan for the 2014 season by May 15, 2014 in order to comply with the federal court's ruling, and has until next year to implement permanent changes to the management program for the recreational red snapper fishery.
"The Council should permanently end the reallocation distraction so that it can avoid further legal action and fulfill its obligations under the law to improve recreational management and ensure long-term sustainability of the fishery," said Cochrane.
Alabama charterboat pilot program could fundamentally change how red snapper are managed in Gulf
April 10, 2014 — An Alabama-based, two-year pilot program that would give the state's entire charterboat fleet the freedom to catch a predetermined number of red snapper whenever they wanted got a second life and the blessing of the full Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Wednesday afternoon.
A new day may have dawned on management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.
An Alabama-based, two-year pilot program that would give the state's entire charterboat fleet the freedom to catch a predetermined number of red snapper whenever they wanted got a second life and the blessing of the full Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Wednesday afternoon.
The program garnered so much support during a public hearing Wednesday afternoon at the council's meeting in Baton Rouge that National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office Administrator Roy Crabtree suggested it may be time to consider options for implementing a similar program in the for-hire sector Gulfwide.
"I think we are at a point where I haven't seen as big a mess as we are in," Crabtree said. "There are fundamental problems that are going to require that we change how we are managing the fishery and measuring the catches."
Crabtree went on to say that he believed the Alabama pilot program could be a good test for a Gulfwide system and that the council should begin the process now of looking at options to create a for-hire individual fishing quota program instead of waiting for results generated by the pilot after it ends two years down the road.
"While this test program in ongoing, this council should be focusing on working on a for-hire IFQ options paper . That would be a good starting point, then we can begin getting the public involved, get their comments and in two years we could be ready to roll on something Gulfwide," Crabtree said. "It could be time to really start thinking this thing through."
Seiners get first crack at Gulf of Alaska pollock
April 9, 2014 — Kodiak seiners will be scooping up pollock in their nets starting this week.
You heard right. Seiners have a chance to test the waters to determine if a directed pollock fishery makes sense for that type of gear in the Gulf.
Except for a small jig fishery, the only pollock fishery in state waters (out to 3 miles) is at Prince William Sound, where trawlers this year have an 8.5 million-pound catch.
"The initial seine opportunity will just run from April 11 through June 8 so we don't overlap with salmon season. And during that time the harvest will be limited to 500,000 pounds," said Trent Hartill, a groundfish manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Kodiak. Pollock weigh three to four pounds on average.
The proposal for the trial pollock fishery got the nod in January from the Alaska Board of Fisheries to operate under a special commissioner's permit, Hartill said.
"The purpose of that permit is to test the efficacy of seine gear in catching pollock," he explained. "If it's successful, it will provide information for the Board to determine whether they want to pursue a full-blown fishery or move in whatever direction they desire."
Roughly 190 salmon seiners operate out of Kodiak, and Hartill said there is lots of interest in pollock. The dock price in town is 12-14 cents per pound.
"This is the time when they will have to actually get some gear wet. We may have quite a few that come forward and we may have no vessels," he said. "April 11 is the deadline to sign up, so we'll see."
Read the full story at Capital City Weekly
Recreational summit sets national fishing agenda
April 10, 2014 — Last week I attended NOAA's Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit in Alexandria, VA with Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet and Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too Charters, Pt. Judith. This was quite a showing for Rhode Island as we were three of the 70 recreational fishermen, charter captains, boat manufacturers and fisheries policy makers attending the Summit.
The Summit gathered recreational fishing leaders from around the country to discuss ways of improving the science, service and stewardship of America's saltwater recreational resources. The last Recreational Summit was held in 2010.
Capt. Bellavance gave a presentation on fishing data collection and the RI Fish for the Future's efforts (a pilot project that ran this summer) in which eight RI charter captains recorded and collected their catch data in real time on computer tablets on their vessels. Capt. Bellavance said, "I guess you might say I'm a data geek… I believe good reliable data is necessary for effective management."
The Summit's agenda included developing an action plan that would help the Country shape fishing law as the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) that governs commercial and recreational fishing will be coming before congress for Reauthorization this year. The hope was that the Summit would not only guide legislation but would also serve as an action plan for NOAA and its ocean work for the coming years.
Eileen Sobeck, assistant administrator for fisheries at NOAA (their top fisheries executive) said, "There is a lot of positive energy in the room with more than a modest supply of hope and a commitment to follow through on key recreational issues." Sobeck, who attended the two day Summit participating in discussion groups and listening sessions, said "Resolving issues facing our fisheries today requires partnerships between managers, scientists and people who enjoy the resource… I commit that NOAA Fisheries will actively engage the recreational fishing community, and we will do our part to find cooperative solutions."
Read the full story at Johnston Sunrise