October 17, 2012 — The NEFMC released an announcement today stating that the Groundfish Oversight Committee will meet on November 5, 2012 at 9 a.m. in Portland, Maine.
View the meeting notice on the NEFMC website
Boxer: Something Fishy in Seafood Production
October 16, 2012 — The apparent widespread fraud involving seafood labeling practices around ports of entry for imported fish poses a serious health risk for some, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to step up enforcement of this food, says a longtime U.S. Senator.
“It is unacceptable that proven fraud is occurring on such a widespread basis,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, wrote Monday in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. “Seafood fraud is not only deceptive marketing, but it can also pose serious health concerns, particularly for pregnant women seeking to limit exposure to heavy metals or individuals with serious allergies to certain types of fish.”
FDA has recognized seafood fraud as a problem since at least 1991.
“Seafood is a high-value product and it is a particularly attractive target for fraud,” says the agency’s Seafood Fraud website, which offers both guidance for the industry and tips on identifying certain fraudulent practices.
Boxer’s pressure on FDA is over a study released in April 2012 by Oceana, a world ocean conservation group that often takes on projects to draw consumer interest into its larger agenda to protect oceans. For the study, Oceana researchers in 2011 and 2012 collected and tested 119 seafood samples from grocery stores, restaurants and sushi bars.
Read the full story on Food Safety News
AUDIO: NEFMC Groundfish Committee on Closed Area Access and Transboundary Agreement
WASHINGTON – October 18, 2012 – The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) Groundfish Oversight Committee met last Thursday to continue development of Framework Adjustment 48 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.
The Committee discussed recreational measures for fishing year 2013, reviewed recommendations from both the Groundfish Advisory Panel (GAP) and the Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP), and worked to develop alternatives to improve at-sea and dockside monitoring programs. Issues related to closed area management and access, as well as the groundfish resource sharing agreement between the United States and Canada prompted discussion.
Highlights from the committee and public comments follow.
Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, comment on the delicate nature of the U.S. and Canada stock sharing agreement.
Listen to NEFMC Council Chair, Rip Cunningham, discuss the possibility of renegotiating with Canada for a larger share of the groundfish resource in the vicinity of eastern Georges Bank.
Listen to Groundfish Committee Member, David Goethel, discuss the effectiveness of the closed areas, as well as what environmental factors merit a closure.
Listen to Groundfish Advisory Panel Chair, Bill Gerencer, discusses the past, present, and future of the closed areas.
Listen to Maggie Raymond, of Associated Fisheries of Maine, discuss closed area access and the fishery’s need for changes to accountability measures.
Listen to Groundfish Committee Member, David Goethel, express the need for accurate yellowtail stock assessment data.
Listen to Rich Canastra, of Buyers And Sellers Exchange (BASE) New England, take issue with the value of the closed areas.
Listen to Peter Shelley, of the Conservation Law Foundation, stress the importance of recognizing all of the productivity factors present in the closed areas before opening them up.
Listen to Shaun Gehan, an attorney for the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the scallop industry’s desire to reduce yellowtail bycatch in the scallop fishery.
Listen to Ron Smolowitz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss closed area management and the future of the scallop fishery.
French urge boycott of British catch as scallops war over fishing rights intensifies
October 15, 2012 — Militant French fishermen yesterday demanded a boycott of British caught scallops as the war over fishing rights intensified.
The French are furious that British fishermen have harvested scallops in the Bay of Seine at a time when they are banned from going to sea.
They have rammed British boats, pelted them with iron bars and rocks and attempted to snag their propellers with rope.
Now they are calling for a campaign of 'actions on land' to force French shops and restaurants to stop selling scallops imported from the UK.
Previous protests have seen Norman fishermen overturn trays of scallops in supermarkets and hurl fish in front of shoppers.
Norman farmers have even set fire to live lambs in a dispute over cheap foreign imports.
Fishermen from the Calvados and Manche counties of Normandy yesterday demanded action against British trawlers and the import of their scallops.
At an angry meeting in Sainte-Mere-Eglise they claimed scallop fishing off the Normandy coast was being destroyed by the British.
Read the full story at the Daily Mail
U.S. seafood retail prices dip
October 15, 2012 – U.S. supermarket seafood sales and volume rose this summer, according to new data from fresh food consulting firm Perishables Group.
Sales of all fresh seafood items rose 7.8 percent while volume jumped 8.9 percent for the 13 weeks ending 28 August, compared to the same three months last year.
The average retail price of all seafood items fell 1 percent to USD 6.06 per pound, which may have helped spur the sales increase, according to Steve Lutz, Perishables Group executive VP. “I am sure it did help. There has been fairly significant price inflation across the proteins, particularly for beef. They have been hit with the drought and cost of feed input,” Lutz said.
Price drops for the major species were particularly significant. The average retail price for salmon, which makes up around 8 percent of total grocery seafood department sales, fell 7.9 percent. The average retail price for tilapia dropped 8.2 percent during the 13 weeks, while the average lobster retail price plummeted 15.1 percent and prices on all crabs dropped 10.5 percent.
There was a glut of New England lobsters this summer, which sent wholesale and retail prices plummeting. As a result, lobsters realized the highest volume increase in the quarter with a 35.2 percent spike, while dollar sales grew by 14.8 percent.
All of the top-selling seafood categories had strong volume and sales increases for the quarter. For example, salmon volume spiked 23.4 percent while salmon dollar sales rose 13.7 percent. Tilapia volume rose by 21.1 percent and dollar sales grew 11.2 percent. Shrimp volume rose 9.1 percent and dollar sales increased 11.1 percent.
Read the full story on Seafood Source
New England Fishery Management Council eyes lifting of closures; EDF supports, Pew and Conservation Law protest
October 16, 2012 –The New England Fishery Management Council has shown a willingness to consider allowing fishermen into areas of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank that, through conservation efforts and attempts to grow the stocks, have been off limits for many years.
Among those advocating for the opening of closed areas was new NOAA regional administrator John Bullard; he was joined in support by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, the region’s largest industry group, and the Associated Fisheries of Maine.
Peter Shelley, senior counsel at Conservation Law Foundation, said his organization would sue to prevent the opening of the closed areas. Also registering opposition were the groups Earthjustice and The Nature Conservancy. But the Environmental Defense Fund, which played an important role in the decision to create a catch share system for New England, argued conditionally for the opening of the closed areas, if sought by the sectors.
“While that larger important and significant analysis continues, we support the committee’s motion to conditionally consider exemption requests from individual sectors for access to groundfish closures that do not overlap with current (habitat) closures,” said Emilie Litsinger, New England Fisheries project manager for EDF.
“Whether or not access is granted to any sector should be transparent, temporary, and determined based on clear demonstration of the benefits of access in terms of high (catch per unit effort) for healthy stocks and low CPUE of weak stocks,” she added. “We believe that access should also require 100 percent at-sea monitoring to ensure that we are capturing total catch and accounting for all mortality.
Fishery council member David Goethel, a Hampton, N.H., groundfisherman, said mortality closures have had enough time — 16 years — to prove themselves a wellspring for the stocks.
“We should be overflowing with groundfish; instead we have a disaster,” said Goethel, who said the closed areas should be opened.
“When the Northeast groundfish fishery transitioned to hard total allowable catches,” the Northeast Seafood Coalition said in statement, “it was understood the measures that continued to exist under the old mortality controls would be removed. Sectors are now in the third year of operations and very little has been done to remove the artifacts of the old system, other than removing trip limits. Areas fishermen could gain access to (via the request of sectors) are conservative and will not overlap existing habitat areas or new areas being considered under the larger habitat amendment currently under development.”
The Gloucester-based coalition is the region’s largest industry group, and its subsidiary, the Northeast Sector Network, supports 13 of the region’s 17 sectors including all gear types and boats from all the port states.
“We have supported closures, but we at Associated Fisheries of Maine don’t see that they’ve produced,” said Maggie Raymond, the organization’s executive director. “In some way … we regret supporting it. We have to do something different. The hard TAC (total allowable catch) is the control.
“If not this, then what do we do?” Raymond told the council. “This is an opportunity to bring more fish across the dock.”
Associated Fisheries of Maine is another major trade association of fishing and fishing dependent businesses. Membership includes harvesters, processors, fuel/gear/ice dealers, marine insurers and lenders, and other public and private individuals and businesses with an interest in commercial fishing.
Shelley, representing Conservation Law Foundation, sees otherwise.
“This is a bad idea,” he Shelley. “There is no definition of what the economic emergency is. There is an emergency for some fishing operations, but it’s not everybody.”
Shelley said he was concerned that opening the closed areas without conducting a full environmental impact study was illegal, but he also said he worried that the underlying catch share system insured that, if more fish became accessible, they would end up in the holds of the biggest operators without helping the mom-and-pop fishing boat businesses.
Read the full story in the Gloucester Times
California Senator Barbara Boxer tells FDA seafood mislabeling is unaccepatable
October 15, 2012 — Add another powerful political voice urging the Food and Drug Administration to better combat rampant seafood mislabeling in restaurants and stores.
This time, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California has written a strongly worded letter to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking her to better deal with alarmingly high incidences of seafood fraud. Other politicians, including U.S. Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts who has co-authored a sweeping bill to stop mislabeling, have made similar pleas to the agency.
“It is unacceptable that proven fraud is occurring on such a widespread basis,’’ the Democrat wrote. “Seafood fraud is not only deceptive marketing, but it can also pose serious health concerns, particularly for pregnant women seeking to limit exposure to heavy metals or individuals with serious allergies to certain types of fish.”
The Boston Globe published a series on seafood mislabeling last year called “Fishy Business”. The five-month investigation found that Massachusetts consumers routinely and unknowingly overpay for less desirable fish. The Globe targeted fish most likely to be mislabeled from more than 100 restaurants, grocery stores, and seafood markets and DNA tested them. The investigated found that 48 percent of 183 samples turned out to be a different species than what was advertised.
Oceana, an environmental advocacy group, has been working to end seafood fraud and has also DNA-tested fish collected from numerous grocery stores, restaurants and sushi venues across the country. In Miami and Fort Lauderdale, 31 percent of the seafood tested by the group was mislabeled. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, 55 percent of the seafood tested was mislabeled.
Read the full story at the Boston Globe
‘You don’t scare us!’ Message from the crew of a British scallops boat who refuse to be intimidated by militant French fishermen
October 14, 2012 — Proudly clutching the Union flag, the crew of the British scallop dredger Van Dijck stand firm in the face of the sabre-rattling French.
Militant French fishermen have threatened to mobilise a 250-strong armada against British boats legally fishing for scallops off the Normandy coast.
They have already attacked the Van Dijck and other British boats with rocks, iron bars and flares in what the crew have called ‘The French Revolution’.
But skipper Gary Smith, 47, says his crew refuse to be intimidated by their Gallic foes.
Speaking from the wheel cabin of his 100ft boat he said: ‘These boys are hardened seafarers and there is nothing more they would like than a punch-up with the French.
‘But I told them we must not retaliate whatever they might throw at us. That’s just what the French want. They are trying to goad us into fighting back and making us like the bad guys in this. We are not.
‘We have been fishing for scallops here for years and there is plenty to go round for all of us, they just want it all for themselves.
‘We have painted a Union Jack on the side of the boat to show we will not be intimidated.’
Read the full story at the Daily Mail
Jack Travelstead to Represent Mid-Atlantic Council on Regional Planning Body
October 16, 2012 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
Dover, DE — Mid-Atlantic Council member Jack Travelstead has been selected to represent the Council on the National Ocean Council’s regional planning body for the Mid-Atlantic region. Travelstead was appointed Commissioner of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission earlier this year after more than three decades of service with the agency.
The nine regional planning bodies, composed of Federal, State, tribal, and other representatives, are expected to play a substantial role in the coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) framework described in the National Ocean Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Ocean Policy).
The National Ocean Policy is based on the recommendations of an interagency task force that President Obama established in 2009. The policy emphasizes the importance of developing a nationwide system for CMSP and calls for the establishment of regional planning bodies to develop regionally-focused coastal and marine spatial plans.
The nation’s eight Regional Fishery Management Councils (Councils) reacted swiftly to an early draft strategic action plan for CMSP released by the National Ocean Council (NOC) last year that provided for ad-hoc consultation with the Councils but did not include official seats for Council representatives on the regional planning bodies. The chairmen and executive directors of all eight Councils jointly submitted comments regarding the draft CMSP framework and the membership of the regional planning bodies. The letter noted that the most effective consultation mechanism would be to provide each Council with an explicit seat. In early 2012 the NOC announced that full membership would be extended to the Councils.
“Marine spatial planning is an issue of concern for many stakeholders in Mid-Atlantic fisheries because it introduces additional uncertainty about the future,” said Mid-Atlantic Council Chairman Rick Robins. “Emerging uses of the ocean will demand a more proactive, coordinated approach to ocean planning, and the Councils have the experience and expertise needed to ensure that the region’s fisheries are effectively considered throughout the development of a regional ocean plan.”
"The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council welcomes the opportunity to participate in the Regional Planning Body for the Mid-Atlantic,” said Chairman Robins. “Jack Travelstead's experiences with the Council, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission make him one of the most knowledgeable and effective fishery managers in the Mid-Atlantic, and I am pleased to name him as the Council's representative.”
In Online Interview, Public Trust Project Director Mischaracterizes Health of Menhaden Stock
September 24, 2012 — Menhaden were once so plentiful in the Atlantic that early pioneers described them as swimming in schools twenty-five miles long or more, packing themselves into bays and estuaries where they came to feed on dense schools of phytoplankton (algae and vegetable matter). But those days are long gone.
In the 1950s, the introduction of spotter planes and hydraulic technology to the fishery resulted in blowout years: 1.5 billion pounds of menhaden were caught in 1956, largely from the Chesapeake Bay and its environs. Ten years later, the catch had declined 70 percent, to 464 million pounds.
The menhaden are currently at record low numbers.
Alison Fairbrother is the director of the Public Trust Project. She told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program about the regulators responsible for keeping the fisheries alive. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
Read the full story and listen to the interview on Govloop
Analysis: Discussing menhaden and the menhaden fishery in an interview with Chris Dorobek, of DorobekInsider (a blog and audio program focusing on the business of government), Public Trust Project Director Alison Fairbrother portrays the species as in decline and under threat from commercial interests. This characterization omits several key pieces of scientific data, providing a portrait of the fishery that is much more pessimistic than the reality.
Ms. Fairbrother details how, after a reevaluation of the menhaden stock assessment model by two Maryland fisheries scientists, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) went from declaring the stock as being in good health to recognizing that overfishing had occurred in 32 of the last 54 years. When offering this claim, Ms. Fairbrother omits important details in order to make an exaggerated point. From 1954-2008, of the 32 years during which menhaden was overfished, only two of those instances occurred in the last 15 years for which there is available data (1993-2008) – most recently in 2008. Because menhaden is a relatively short-lived species (10-12 years), the data from recent years is much more relevant in estimating the health of the stock than historical data from the 1950s-1970s.
Determining whether overfishing has occurred since 2008 is a more difficult task. In 2011, the ASMFC adopted a new, more conservative baseline for its definition of overfishing. Using this new reference point, the ASMFC’s Menhaden Management Board determined that overfishing occurred in 2011 (no overfishing determinations were made for 2009 and 2010 due to the new reference point). However, this is based on the 2012 assessment model, which was found by the ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee to have likely been too pessimistic, underestimating the population size and overestimating fishing mortality. The Technical Committee subsequently determined that the 2012 stock assessment based on that model was not suitable for management advice. Because of these inaccuracies and other problems with the assessment, the exact state of the menhaden population is currently unclear.
In the interview, Ms. Fairbrother alleges that, “the menhaden population had declined 88 percent in 25 years.” But this statistic does not provide a full picture of stock health over the history of the fishery. The 88 percent figure only represents a portion of all available data, and charts the decline from a very high population in the early 1980s that followed several years of strong recruitment. However, if the more complete time series (going back to the 1950s) is examined, the menhaden population shows fluctuations between highs, such as those seen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the current population, which is at levels similar to those seen in the 1960s. These fluctuations are more likely to be the result of favorable environmental conditions than a reduction in fishing activity. In fact, the Chesapeake Bay Office of NOAA states that environmental factors are likely to be the greatest influence on the size of menhaden stock -not fishing mortality.
Ms. Fairbrother offers that the “moral” of this story is the need to, “ensure that our regulatory panels are free from corporate influence and the influence of corporate science.” During the course of the interview, Ms. Fairbrother offered no evidence to support her claim that the ASMFC is subject to undue corporate influence, and presented nothing that would call into question the integrity and independence of ASMFC science. The ASMFC takes all viewpoints of a variety of stakeholders into consideration. These include advocacy organizations like Ms. Fairbrother’s Public Trust Project, many of which are partially funded by foundations created with corporate dollars. These opinions are joined with the many small and large companies involved with the bait and reduction fishery, as well as the working families (and the unions who represent them) directly and indirectly employed by the fishery. While Ms. Fairbrother seeks to disenfranchise one particular viewpoint, the ASMSC considers, and does not silence legitimate voices of those stakeholders who present their positions to the commission.
Through exaggeration and undocumented statements, Ms. Fairbrother presents selective and misleading facts about the menhaden fishery in her interview. This ultimately misconstrues their current status and misleads the public about the health of the fishery.
Citations:
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, “Stock Assessment Report No. 10-02 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment and Review Panel Reports,” 2010
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, "2012 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update," 2012
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, “Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee Conference Call Summary,” June 15, 2012
Saving Seafood, Areas of Concern in ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Assessment Update, 2012
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, “Menhaden Fact Page”