NOAA Fisheries Service Announces That Effective 0001 hour April 21, 2010, The Winter I Scup Possession Limit Will Be Reduced To 1,000 lb For The Remainder Of The Winter I Period (through April 30, 2010).
Small Entitiy Compliance Guide for Amendment 16
NOAA has released a compliance guide about regulations implementing measures approved under Amendment 16 and Framework Adjustment 44 (FW 44) to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) that become effective on May 1, 2010.
[click here to view the PDF document]
Environmental firm jumped gun on deal with NOAA
MRAG Americas, the environmental services firm headed by Andrew Rosenberg, who helped Jane Lubchenco write the nation's catch share policy as vice-chair of the Environmental Defense Fund board before she became head of NOAA, prematurely announced winning a contract to provide monitors on groundfishing boats when the policy comes to the groundfishery, a federal contract officer said Tuesday.
Although the award and probable sharing of a contract worth at least $6.5 million in New England's first year under the catch share program remains to be made, MRAG Americas had posted on its Web site Monday that it had been chosen by Lubchenco's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and had a contract.
"MRAG Americas is contracted to provide sector and dockside monitors for sectors within the New England multispecies groundfish fishery," the company announced on its Web site.
[read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full]
Environmental firm jumped gun on deal with NOAA
MRAG Americas, the environmental services firm headed by Andrew Rosenberg, who helped Jane Lubchenco write the nation's catch share policy as vice-chair of the Environmental Defense Fund board before she became head of NOAA, prematurely announced winning a contract to provide monitors on groundfishing boats when the policy comes to the groundfishery, a federal contract officer said Tuesday.
Although the award and probable sharing of a contract worth at least $6.5 million in New England's first year under the catch share program remains to be made, MRAG Americas had posted on its Web site Monday that it had been chosen by Lubchenco's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and had a contract.
"MRAG Americas is contracted to provide sector and dockside monitors for sectors within the New England multispecies groundfish fishery," the company announced on its Web site.
[read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full]
Gloucester & New Bedford mayors urge boycott of NOAA forum
New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang said Tuesday he will urge the city's fishing industry to boycott a meeting intended to repair relationships with federal fisheries law enforcement officials.
Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk suggested such a boycott last Friday, and was considering organizing an alternative meeting.
The three-hour forum, scheduled for 7-10 p.m. Monday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Gloucester, was called by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco in the wake of a scathing report by the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general, Todd J. Zinser. The report confirmed what Northeast fishermen have been saying for years: that fisheries law enforcement is uneven, often unfair, sometimes vindictive and especially bad in the Northeast.
Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk told The Standard-Times she started thinking boycott after NOAA announced the meeting without consultation about the agenda or participants, and at the worst possible time: less than a week before the launch of an entirely new regulatory scheme that has roiled the industry.
"The timing is horrible, just five days before implementation on May 1 of the new regime," Kirk said.
She wasn't naming names Tuesday, but many in the industry are particularly upset that Andrew Cohen, agent in charge of the Gloucester office, is first on the agenda for, among other things, "communicating with fishing industry members."
[read the SouthCoastToday story in full]
OPINION: Fly, Rod & Reel Magazine: There’s no room for flexibility in sound management.
Congress strengthened Magnuson with the “Fishery Conservation and Management Amendments.” Delaying recovery was made more difficult by the requirement that annual, sustainable catch limits be in place by 2010 for depleted stocks and by 2011 for other stocks. The amendments also strengthen the role of scientists in council decision-making, provide for National Environmental Policy Act compliance in management plans, expand research, improve data and enhance habitat protection. The new law isn’t perfect; it retains the “stake-holder” councils, for example. But it’s a huge step forward.
And it’s working.
“Closing the fishery with almost no advance warning last October was bad enough,” Olander writes in his January 2010 editorial, “but to announce such a closure during the last days of the very popular annual fishing rodeo in Destin, Florida, simply reiterates how out of touch and some fishery council members seem to be with the recreational fishing community.”
On October 27, 2009, Jane Lubchenco—chief of NMFS’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—made this declaration to the American Sportfishing Association at its annual meeting in San Diego: “It is my intention to improve our relationship. I look forward to a new era of cooperative relations between NOAA and anglers across the country.”
The Magnuson Act and our marine fish would be a lot safer if Lubchenco would get on with that.
Read the complete story at Fly Rod and Reel Magazine.
NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO: Fishermen Say New Rules Could Damage Industry
New federal regulations that take effect May first will fundamentally change fishing in New Hampshire and the rest of New England.
The rules are designed to rebuild depleted stocks of groundfish, such as cod and flounder. But fishermen say the new management policy hits New Hampshire fishermen particularly hard – and could put half the state’s fishing boats out of business.
Dozens of New Hampshire fisherman packed into a small conference room recently in Portsmouth. They came to hear details about new groundfish rules set by the New England Fishery Management Council. Those rules, for the first time, place a cap on the amount of groundfish that fisherman can catch off New England.
Read the complete story at NH Public Radio.
Eastern U.S./Canada Area Closed Effectively Immediately to Limited Access NE Multispecies DAS Vessels
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is closing the Eastern U.S./Canada Area, effective immediately, to limited access NE multispecies days-at-sea (DAS) vessels and prohibiting the harvest, possession, and landing of GB yellowtail flounder by all federally-permitted vessels within the entire U.S./Canada Management Area for the remainder of the 2009 fishing year (through April 30, 2010).
NE multispecies DAS vessels that have declared their intent to fish exclusively in the U.S./Canada Management Area, departed on a trip, and crossed the vessel monitoring system (VMS) demarcation line to start their trip prior to 1615 hr April 20, 2010, may possess and land yellowtail flounder up to 5,000 lb per trip, on that trip.
For more information see attached permit holder letter which was issued today.
NEFMC Meeting – Addition to Herring Agenda Item
Addition to Council meeting Agenda, April 27-29, 2010, Hilton Mystic Hotel, Mystic, CT
Please note the Council will add another item of business under its Herring Committee Report, scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 27. Following the issues listed already, the Council will discuss measures proposed in Draft Addendum III to ASMFC’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring. The action includes measures to address days out of the fishery and landing limits for small mesh bottom trawl vessels operating in the Gulf of Maine.
Why We Need A National Ocean Policy, Jane Lubchenco
Environmental scientist, marine ecologist and biologist, Jane Lubchenco was named administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in early 2009, the top political job in the country on ocean issues. She is using everything she has learned from her many days on the sea as a scientist and activist to try and shape a national ocean policy. Can politics really make a difference? An excerpt from our new book, companion to the DisneyNature release, "Oceans, The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do To Turn the Tide."
Jon Bowermaster: Is it easy for you to name a highest priority?
Jane Lubchenco: There are multiple. One is definitely oceans, another is climate, and obviously they intersect with one another. Those are the focus of NOAA's responsibilities and are just so incredibly timely right now because of the importance of oceans and the importance of addressing climate change, both on the mitigation side as well as the adaptation side.
JB: Which is easier mitigation or adaptation?
JL: Well it's not an either/or, they are both incredibly important. I think that one way to think about them is: Mitigation is really about avoiding the unmanageable and adaptation is about managing the unavoidable.
Read the complete interview at The Huffington Post.