June 3, 2013 — Despite the economic data supporting the designation of speckled trout, red drum and estuarine striped bass as gamefish, House Bill 983 was recently shelved by North Carolina lawmakers.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island Schedule Joint Public Hearing on American Lobster Draft Addendum XXI
June 7, 2013 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Arlington, VA – The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of Rhode Island have scheduled a joint hearing to gather public comment on Draft Addendum XXI to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for the American Lobster. They are the only states that will be conducting a hearing; the hearing details follow.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries & Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
June 26, 2013; 7 – 9 PM
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center
151 Martine Street
Fall River, MA
Contact: Jared Silva at 617.626.1534
Draft Addendum XXI proposes changes to the transferability program for Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) 2 and 3. These changes are designed to allow for flexibility in the movement of traps as the consolidation program for LCMAs 2 and 3 is implemented. The proposed measures are intended to address latent effort (unfished allocation) while also providing a mechanism for industry to maintain a profitable fishery as trap reductions occur.
The Draft Addendum is the second in a series of addenda that respond to the depleted condition of the Southern New England (SNE) lobster resource by scaling the capacity of the SNE fishery to the size the SNE resource. Since the scope of the SNE resource encompasses all or part of six of the seven LCMAs established by Amendment 3, additional addenda will be developed to address effort reductions in the remaining LCMAs (4, 5, and 6).
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending the joint public hearing or providing written comment. Draft Addendum XXI is available here or by contacting the Commission at 703.842.0740. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on July 15, 2013 and should be forwarded to Kate Taylor, Senior FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or ktaylor@asmfc.org (Subject line: Lobster Draft Addendum XXI). For more information, please contact Kate Taylor at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
Scituate, Massachusetts fishing industry: Lawsuit may be too late
June 7, 2013 — The lawsuit filed last week by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to block new regulations that threaten the fishing industry may benefit local fishermen in the long run, but probably would help them now.
“We just don’t have the luxury of time,” said Scituate fisherman Frank Mirarchi. “This will take years and those of us struggling now won’t be around to reap whatever benefits there might be.”
Mirarchi called the suit “an unfortunate and desperate last move,” but added that it was necessary to bring the plight of fishermen to light.
“They just don’t get it,” he said of those setting the regulations. “We can’t survive like this.”
State Rep. Jim Cantwell, D-Marshfield, called it “a sad day for our storied fishing industry and its proud tradition.
“Though I greatly appreciate the suit taken by Attorney General Coakley, I am concerned that this justified legal challenge will not be able to bring change in federal fisheries management in time to better manage our fish population while saving thousands of jobs in New England,” Cantwell said.
Read the full story at the Scituate Mariner
NEW BEDFORD WORKING WATERFRONT FESTIVAL: June Portholes programs consider the importance of preserving the working port
June 7, 2013 — The following was released by the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival:
New Bedford, MA – – In September 2013, the Working Waterfront Festival will mark its’ tenth anniversary. To celebrate, we are presenting Portholes, a series of free, monthly programs designed to engage residents and members of the commercial fishing industry in conversations about critical issues facing the working waterfront. Each month’s programming centers around a theme. Programming during the month of June considers the importance of preserving the working waterfront. Partial funding for the Portholes Project is provided by Mass Humanities. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is the sponsor of our June programs.
Thursday, June 13 (AHA NIGHT)
Dock Walk, Whaling Museum Plaza 7:00 PM, FREE
Learn about the shoreside businesses, workboats, and historic landmarks that are part of our port. The 45 minute tour will depart from the Whaling Museum Plaza.
Talk: New Bedford: A Designated Port
Whaling Museum Theater 8:00 PM, FREE
Find out how and why New Bedford became a “designated port”, what that means, and what lies in store for our working waterfront in the years to come. Fishing industry veterans, John Linehan and Rodney Avila, and Port Director, Jeffery Stieb will share perspectives on the past, present, and future of the port.
Friday June 21 – Film Screening: No Pretty Prayer, National Park Theater, 7:00 PM, FREE
No Pretty Prayer explores the gritty character of an old seaside neighborhood in the oldest seaport in America. Known locally as the Fort, the enclave has long served as the working heart of Gloucester, Massachusetts' marine industrial economy and as home to the city's Sicilian community. The film examines how this mix of industry and culture has fused the character of this place and its people over the past one hundred years. With the threat of neighborhood gentrification as a haunting backdrop, the film invites viewers to contemplate what it means to sustain cherished roots to a humble place that the broader world threatens to erase and forget in time. Film maker, Sal Zerilli, and long time Gloucester resident, Jimmy Tarantino, will lead a discussion following the screening.
The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. The FREE festival, a family friendly, educational celebration of New England’s commercial fishing industry, features live maritime and ethnic music, fishermen’s contests, fresh seafood, vessel tours, author readings, cooking demonstrations, kid’s activities and more. It all takes place in New Bedford, MA, America’s #1 fishing port, on the last full weekend of September. Navigate to us at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Orleans, Director 508-993-8894, info@workingwaterfrontfestival.org
Vietnam makes breakthrough in breeding Russian sturgeon
June 5, 2013 — When it comes to aquaculture, people usually think of coastal regions or the Mekong Delta where shrimp and pangasius earn revenues of upto tens of billions annually. However, recently people found mountainous regions in the North and the highland provinces as suitable for breeding Russian sturgeon, a fish variety of high economic value in the world.
In 2008, Russian sturgeon was bred in the Da Mi hydropower reservoir in the central province of Binh Thuan adjacent to the highland province of Lam Dong.
The breeding of this fish was a real breakthrough as the fish grows quickly. It takes 8 to 10 years for the fish to weigh 15 kilograms in Russia but it takes only 4 to 5 years in Vietnam.
Le Anh Duc, Chairman of Vietnam Sturgeon Group, said sturgeons grow faster in Vietnam because the weather is warmer than in Russia.
Breeding in highly controlled environment in fresh water means that farmed caviar can be of as good quality as that in the wild in the Caspian or Lagoda Lake in Russia.
VIDEO: Australian fish and Pacific shrimp, raised in local tanks
May 30, 2013 — In this edition of WCVB-TV’s Chronicle, Channel 5 Boston explores fish farms along New England’s coast and meets two individuals with a passion for healthy and sustainable farm-raised seafood.
Hundreds of fish farms line New England’s coast, mostly producing shellfish and some salmon. Finding food sources for farm-raised fish that do not produce high levels of toxins has been a challenge, and raising species such as cod has proven to be commercially inviable. This is why Josh Goldman, co-founder and CEO of Australis, a fish farm in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, looked at 50 different species of fish before settling on the perfect candidate for aquaculture.
The species that Goldman selected was barramundi, an Australian sea bass, which he raises in a 2-acre indoor facility. Barramundi mature in only 9 months and reproduce on a lunar cycle. This means that barramundi spawn 12 times a year, as opposed to other species, which spawn only once.
The Australis aquaculture facility contains 40 tanks, which filter and reuse 60 million gallons of water daily. This facility, combined with the viability of the species, will allow Goldman to harvest well over 1 million fish per year, all of which will be raised sustainably and in an environment that is free of mercury and other harmful contaminants.
WCVB-TV also interviewed Peter Howard, co-owner of Sky 8 Shrimp Farm in Stoughton, Massachusetts, who, is working to deliver healthy, farm-raised seafood to the public. Howard has already raised between 15 and 20 thousand Pacific tropical shrimp and he has done it without the help of dangerous additives like antibiotics and growth hormones. Once they acquire additional tanks, Sky 8 Shrimp Farm plans to produce 60 thousand shrimp per month.
These farm-raised Pacific tropical shrimp and Australis’s barramundi are already making their way to chefs like Toby Hill, owner of Lyric Restaurant in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, who are always on the lookout for locally sourced fish that are not only fresh, healthy, and sustainably raised, but delicious as well.
TEXAS & LOUISIANA: Feds must redo red snapper seasons
June 4, 2013 — A judge has ruled that federal regulators used a false claim of emergency to cut the federal season for red snapper off of Texas and Louisiana, and did so to punish those states for setting seasons and catch limits beyond federal dates and limits.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, of Brownsville, Texas, overturned the emergency rule under which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries division set one season for the popular game fish off Mississippi and Alabama and others off Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
The agency "should not be in the business of penalizing states, and their citizens, merely because they exercised the very rights bestowed upon them by Congress" to set a different season in state waters, he wrote.
NOAA Fisheries will set a Gulf-wide season, said a statement emailed Tuesday by spokeswoman Allison Garrett. "The number of fishing days has yet to be determined, but is expected to be announced within the week," it said.
Hanen wrote in a ruling Friday that Texas has had a year-round season since 2008. The agency knew about Louisiana's plans for a long season in plenty of time to go through standard procedures for changing federal season dates, but chose to wait until the last moment, he wrote.
"If the federal defendants had really cared about the fishermen they were about to discriminate against, they would have gone through the normal rule making procedure," he wrote.
"This battle with NOAA has been a long and tedious one, but we are glad to have persevered once again for the people of Louisiana," Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham said in a news release Tuesday.
The red snapper season opened June 1 in federal waters, where red snapper are most likely to be found, with a catch limit of two a day.
NOAA Fisheries Announces Changes to the Recreational Red Snapper Season in the Gulf of Mexico; Gulf-Wide Season Set at 28 Days
June 5, 2013 — The following was released by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council:
Earlier this year, NOAA Fisheries published an emergency rule giving the agency the authority to adjust seasons off each Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) state based on whether their state-water seasons and bag limits were consistent with federal regulations. On May 31, 2013, the U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, set aside that emergency rule.
As a result of this Court decision, the federal recreational red snapper season must be the same in federal waters off all five Gulf states. Considering the catches expected later in the year during the extended state-water seasons off Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, NOAA Fisheries projects the Gulf-wide federal recreational red snapper season can be 28 days long. Federal waters of the Gulf will close to recreational red snapper harvest at 12:01 a.m., June 29, 2013.
NOAA Fisheries reminds all federally permitted for-hire vessels that they must abide by the stricter federal regulations, and after the federal water closure, they will not be allowed to harvest and retain recreationally caught red snapper in open state waters.
For more information about how the season was calculated, please see the NOAA Fisheries 2013 Red Snapper Recreational Season Length Report.
About Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional Fishery Management Councils established by the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. The Council prepares fishery management plans, which are designed to manage fishery resources within the 200-mile limit of the Gulf of Mexico.
New England States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Herring Draft Addendum VI
ARLINGTON, Va., — June 5, 2013 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Maine Department of Marine Resources
July 9, 2013; 1:00 PM
Rockland Ferry Terminal
517 Main Street
Rockland, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at 207.624.6553
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
July 8, 2013; 1:00 PM
Region 3 Office
225 Main Street
Durham, New Hampshire
Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
July 15, 2013; 5:30 PM
Annisquam River Station
30 Emerson Avenue
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Contact: David Pierce at 617.626.1532
Draft Addendum VI proposes several changes to the Atlantic herring management program: (1) allow seasonal splitting of the annual catch limit sub-components (sub-ACLs) for Areas 1B, 2, and 3; (2) allow up to 10% carryover of a sub-ACL for all management areas; (3) establish triggers to initiate the closing of directed fisheries, and (4) use the annual specification process to set triggers. The Draft Addendum was initiated to establish consistent tools for all four management areas for Atlantic herring and to complement the New England Fishery Management Council’s Framework 2, which was submitted to NOAA Fisheries in February 2013. While the current Interstate FMP provides states the flexibility to split quota in Area 1A, it does not include provisions for seasonal splitting in Areas 1B, 2, and 3. The Draft Addendum proposes to allow for up to 10% of unused sub-ACL for all management areas to carry over from one year to the next. This provision would allow for unused quota to be rolled from one season to the next within the same fishing year. Additionally, the Draft Addendum proposes triggers that would close directed fisheries (1) in a management area when 92% of a sub-ACL is projected to be reached and (2) stock-wide when 95% of the ACL is projected to be reached. A 2,000 pound bycatch allowance would continue after directed fisheries are closed. The 10% rollover provision is intended to provide greater flexibility to herring industry, while the triggers are intended to prevent overharvesting in individual management areas and coastwide.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Draft Addendum VI is available here or by contacting the Commission at 703.842.0740. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on July 19, 2013 and should be forwarded to Melissa Yuen, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or myuen@asmfc.org (Subject line: Atlantic Herring Draft Addendum VI). For more information, please contact Melissa Yuen at myuen@asmfc.org.
AUDIO: Sen. Kelly Ayotte discusses issues facing the fishing industry on New Hampshire’s WGIR
June 5, 2013 — In an interview with Jack Heath on WGIR's New Hampshire Today, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte discussed recently imposed catch limits on cod and their effect on New Hampshire fishermen.
Sen. Ayotte criticized the catch limits on Gulf of Main cod, as well as NOAA's catch share management system, as a "classic Washington government too-big-to-fail policy" that hurts small fishermen the most. The Senator also discussed legislation she introduced to repeal the new regulations, replacing them with "common-sense measures" that both "preserve the stock and allow our fishermen to continue what they've done for generations."
Listen to the interview with Sen. Kelly Ayotte on WGIR's New Hampshire Today