NOAA Fisheries Service Announces That Effective November 26, 2009, Vessels Issued Federal Permits For Atlantic Herring May Not Fish For, Catch, Possess, Or Land More Than 2,000 Pounds Of Atlantic Herring In Or From Area 1A Per Trip Or Calendar Day. Read the complete notice at NOAA.
Updated Table of ACLs for FY 2010 – 2012
Framework 44 Overfishing Levels (OFLs), Acceptable Biological Catches (ABCs), and Annual Catch Limits (ACLs)
The New England Fisheries Managment Council has posted an updated table of ACLs for FY 2010 – 2012 on their web page (www.nefmc.org). This table incorporates the allocation of yellowtail flounder to the scallop and groundfish fisheries.
New Englanders not only ones bedeviled by spiny dogfish; Japanese say they hurt Hokkaido cod fishery
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [BANR JAPAN REPORTS] Hokkaido – Nov 23, 2009 – Hokkaido cod fishermen troubled with massive occurrence of spiny dogfish in longlining.
Cod fishermen have been unable to catch the targeted cod as many spiny dogfish are hooked in longline fishing in areas off Esan, Hakodate, western Hokkaido, since late in October.
Fishermen are truly troubled as the prices of dogfish are less than one tenth of those of Pacific cod.
Spiny dogfish, a species of Squalidae, has a body length of 50cm to 1.5 m. It is distributed in the area of 50-200 meter sea depth near Hokkaido and Tohoku, northern region of the main island.
According to the fisheries cooperative at Esan, dogfish started migrating to the fishing ground since around spring this year, showing sharp increase around late October.
The catch of dogfish in October soared 2.5 times from a year ago to 74.6 tons while cod catch plunged 66% to 12.4 tons.
Local fishermen say that cod do not come to longlines because dogfish eat up the baits before longlines reach the sea depth of about 200 meters. ‘All we find in the fishing grounds are dogfish,’ complains a 67-year-old fisherman.
As for the reason of the sudden increase in spiny dogfish, the Hokkaido fishery laboratory at Hakodate analyzes that the changes in warm sea currents at the Tsugaru Strait (separating Hokkaido and the main island) affected the state of the stock.
Pacific cod are priced at Y 500-800 per kilo at the Hakodate wholesale fish market, while dogfish is traded at Y10-30 per kilo after removing skins and viscera.
(Summarized from the Hokkaido Shimbun)
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher
Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441
Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com
Pew Calls for Countries to Implement New Illegal Fishing Treaty
Rome, Italy – 11/23/2009 – The Pew Environment Group today welcomed an announcement by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization that the new treaty to address illegal fishing is open for signature and called on governments to ratify and implement this treaty.
Officially known as the Agreement of Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, the treaty specifies minimum standards for inspection and provides port States with the obligation to prohibit entry to illegal fishing vessels.
“Governments must immediately start to crack down on illegal fishing and refuse port entry to those responsible,” said Stefan Flothmann, director of International Ocean Governance at the Pew Environment Group. “Ratifying and implementing the treaty is critical to end illegal fishing.”
Herring & Scallops – Guest: Dave Frulla of the DC law firm Kelley Drye
Each week, WBSM in New Bedford, MA hosts the Saving Seafood Hour on "Morning Magazine with Phil Paleologos."
Attorney Dave Frulla of the DC law firm Kelley Drye joins Phil Paleologos and Bob Vanasse to discuss the actions taken at the New England Fisheries Management Council on Herring and Scallops.
[click here to listen now]
Congressman Frank upset over scallop restrictions; determined to re-examine Magnuson-Stevens
Congressman Barney Frank has expressed disappointment over the New England council decision on scallop restrictions; and stated determination to re-examine Magnuson. WASHINGTON – Nov 23, 2009 – In the wake of a decision to further restrict scallop fishing, Congressman Barney Frank expressed determination to "reexamine" fisheries law. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was last reauthorized in 2006.
The Congressman expressed disappointment with the New England Fishery Management Council’s recent decision to reduce scalloper’s days at sea. “We should be looking at ways to improve access to abundant scallops in closed areas and not continually reduce what fishermen are allowed to catch. This reinforces my determination to not only work through this situation, but to reexamine the law as well," said Congressman Frank in a press release.
Last week, the New England Fishery Management Council reduced days at sea for full-time scallop vessels fishing in open areas to 29 days, and decreased the number of allowed trips to special access areas from 5 to 4 for the 2010 fishing year.
“The economic impact to fishermen and the regional economy is substantial,” said Congressman Frank.
In August, two independent studies, one by NOAA and one by UMass, were in agreement concluding that numbers of young scallops were rising. Read the studies and coverage by the Boston Globe and Standard Times here.
Last month, following up on an October 6th meeting, Congressman Frank wrote to NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco asking for a review of the issues discussed “so that substantive action can mitigate some of the economic stress this industry is currently experiencing.” A list of the issues raised in the meeting and a copy of the Congressman’s letter is available here.
OPINION: Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act receiving renewed attention in the Southeast
The Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009 currently being lobbied by the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and their Gulf allies is receiving renewed attention in the Southeast as anglers throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf regions react to continued recreational fishing closures.
MSA’s requirements that all marine fish stocks must be rebuilt to historic levels simultaneously and within rigid, arbitrary timeframes is reckless, unrealistic and without regard for coastal communities and recreational fishermen.
On November 7, a flotilla of charter boats from the Destin Charter Boat Association in Florida formed a symbolic blockade along Florida’s Destin Harbor, while simultaneous rallies were held in nearby Panama City and Mexico Beach, and also in Orange Beach, Alabama. Additionally, both the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council have seen a huge increase in meeting attendance as fishermen and environmental activists have squared off over recreational fishing closures of amberjack and red snapper.
“Many anti-fishing environmental groups who have lobbied against our efforts want to see the waters off of Florida in a condition more pristine than when Ponce de Leon sailed the coast, regardless of the negative impact on fishing businesses and coastal economies,” Donofrio said. “This is not a reality. It is patently unfair to hold the recreational fishing industry to an unrealistic standard not expected by any other industry in the US,” he added.
Read the complete story at Foster Folly News.
Salmon farming fury
Norway has closed 100 of its fjords to salmon farming to protect its wild stock, John Mulcahy, chairman of Save the Swilly (Ireland) told a packed audience following the screening of Farmed Salmon Exposed: The Global Reach of the Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry in Buswells Hotel, Dublin.
The 23-minute documentary lifts the lid on the problems caused by open net cage salmon farms worldwide and reveals the pervasive nature of the issues plaguing salmon aquaculture today. As part of a Global Week of Action, premieres took place in Edinburgh, Dundonnell and Oban in Scotland; Santiago in Chile; Washington; Vancouver; and Oslo and Bergen in Norway. Further screenings in Orkney, Shetland, Arran, London, Las Vegas, Santa Cruz, Puerto Varas, Ancud and Vancouver Island are planned.
The film features ghillie Brian Fraser from Scotland; John Mulcahy; Orri Vigfusson from North Atlantic Salmon Fund in Iceland; Alexandra Morton and Dr Daniel Pauly from British Columbia; Dr Matthias Gorny from Oceana in Chile as well as Sven Helge Pedersen, King Harald and Vegard Heggem in Norway.
OPINION: N.E. fish council’s allocations will decide fate of catch shares
Given all of the factors now in play, it’s obvious the New England Fishery Management Council jumped the gun in June when it approved converting the New England groundfishery to a regulatory system of fishermen’s catch shares based on allowable quotas, rather than days at sea.
Indeed, it’s most telling that the New England Council and its staff didn’t participate in a major workshop on implementing the new system until four months later in October, when it hosted a retreat of sorts in Bretton Woods, N.H., at the foot of Mount Washington, not exactly an easy drive for fishermen or many other industry officials who, while the event was required to be public, were pretty much discouraged from sitting in.
But, amid calls for pushing the catch share conversion back a year, the council this week has to make perhaps an even more important series of decisions regarding the viability of any New England catch share: In its monthly meeting in Newport, R.I., (see Page 1 news story), the panel is poised to set the actual catch limits for the region’s groundfishery — and with it, show just how committed it truly is to all aspects of the fishery, notably the economic effect these changes may have on the industry, and communities such as Gloucester that are so deeply tied to it.
Read the complete story at the Gloucester Daily Times.
Fishery Council Approves Sea Scallop Management Rules and Sea Turtle Conservation Measures
The New England Fishery Management Council issued this press release on November 20, 2009
NEWBURYPORT, MA The New England Fishery Management Council finalized scallop fishery management measures for 2010 at its late fall meeting in Newport, RI this week. Framework Adjustment 21 to the Scallop Fishery Management Plan will continue the successful management of the scallop resource through the use of an innovative program that employs area rotation along with specific measures in defined geographic “access” areas to control levels of fishing. The action represents a reduction in catch to ensure that the scallop resource is fished at sustainable levels.
Allocations for 2010 will include four access area trips. Two scallop trips will be allowed in the Elephant Trunk Access Area and one in the Delmarva Access Area — both off the Mid-Atlantic coast; and one in the Nantucket Lightship Access Area located south of Nantucket. Twenty-nine days-at-sea per vessel will be allocated to full-time scallop vessels fishing in the “open areas”, fishing grounds outside of the access areas. Forty percent of that will be reserved for part-time vessels and 8.33% for vessels in the occasional permit category. These measures were developed using a Council-approved fishing mortality target, or level of fishing that allows roughly 16 percent of the commercially-sized scallops to be harvested.
Framework 21 also includes measures to comply with the recent finding prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service that requires limited scallop fishing in areas and during the time of year when sea turtle distribution overlaps with scallop fishing activities. To reduce the risk of interactions, the Council selected a September-October closure of the Delmarva Access Area, as well as a restriction on the number of access area trips that can be taken in either the Delmarva or the Elephant Trunk Access Areas between June 15 and August 31. The outcome, with only two of the three available access area trips allowed in the Mid Atlantic areas during the period in which turtles are likely to be present, is expected to result in a shift of a portion of the projected fishing activities to other areas and/or times of year when turtles are less likely to be encountered.
The New England Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional councils established by federal legislation in 1976, is charged with conserving and managing fishery resources from three to 200 miles off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.