Catch limits and other regulations are set by Federal research vessels that survey fish populations. But Joel Hovanesian, captain of the Excalibur, says the people on board simply don’t know how to fish. "All species that we catch are in very good shape. They’re clueless when it comes to catching fish, and being where the fish are," says Hovanesian. See the video at WPRI 12.
Governor wants facts about fish stocks
Gov. Deval Patrick wants local fishermen and scientists to do for groundfish stocks what they did for scallop stocks: produce a body of scientific evidence that will convince federal fisheries regulators that groundfish are in better shape than their own science shows.
Patrick, who visited the port Thursday to understand how federal regulations are crippling the groundfishing fleet, challenged scientists at UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology to come up with a research proposal in 30 days. Upon its receipt, he promised his staff would take an additional 30 days to look for a means of financing the research study, which would focus on the Southern New England winter flounder stock.
"There’s no guarantees, but we’ll go from there," Patrick said.
Federal regulators believe Southern New England winter flounder to be in such bad shape that fishermen are not allowed to catch any as of May 1. Local fishermen contend that the flat, bottom-dwelling fish are healthier than what is reported in stock assessments conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service. They told Patrick that regulations aimed at rebuilding winter flounder and other weak stocks will prove "devastating" to the industry because they hinder fishermen’s ability to harvest healthier stocks.
Fishermen look to NOAA in dogfish fight
East Coast fishermen are making their strongest case yet against federal protections for the fish everyone loves to hate.
Surging populations of spiny dogfish, the small pack-feeding sharks with seemingly bottomless stomachs, have prompted a group of recreational and commercial fishing interests to call on America’s new chief ocean regulator to take steps to beat back the unpopular species.
In a letter to Jane Lubchenco, the recently appointed director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Fishermen Organized for Responsible Dogfish Management describe dogfish as a perfect example of how attempts to rebuild all fish species equally has caused dire consequences for the valuable fish marine economies rely on.
Patrick to take fish fight to Capitol
Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday agreed to take up the cause of the fishing industry and lead a science-based political insurgency right up to the White House to rewrite federal fishery policies that have diminished the size of the fleet in the name of conservation.
Patrick crafted a working plan based on scientific research and the special access he has to President Barack Obama at the end of an impromptu brainstorming session with about 100 of the industry’s leading stakeholders — as well as his own governmental fishing brain trust — in a harborfront restaurant following a tour of what’s left of the state’s once iconic fleet of big boats that venture out on weeklong trips into the open ocean.
Patrick set tight deadlines — a 30-day window for the research proposal from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology — and made urgent the demand for a funding and strategic game plan.
French fishermen lift blockades
French fishermen protesting against EU fishing quotas have lifted their blockade of three Channel ports.
Ferry traffic is resuming between Britain and Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne. The fishermen said they would continue protesting in different ways.
The French government has rejected demands to renegotiate the quotas. But the fisheries minister has offered 4m euros in aid to the fishermen.
Ferry operator P&O has condemned the government for "rolling over".
Chris Laming, director of communications for P&O, said he feared it was "very likely" the strikes could return because of how the French government had handled the situation.
OPINION: Political Science by David Freddoso on National Review Online
One of the most significant promises that President Obama made when he came into office was that science, not politics, would drive his administration’s policies. “We will restore science to its rightful place,” Obama said, and he has repeated this in various ways on various occasions. Although he famously used this pledge to make his case for scientific research that destroys human embryos, he has most often invoked it in the context of his environmental beliefs.
The promise has come with an unmistakable air of superiority and a hint of ridicule for his predecessor. No longer would knuckle-dragging, faith-based government officials ignore science, expecting Christ’s return to solve the problem of human damage to the environment. In an Obama administration, decisions would be based on science, not politics or ideology.
To make clear his serious intentions, Obama chose marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal government agency charged with mapping the oceans and conducting and funding a broad range of climate-related scientific research. Lubchenco’s selection cheered environmentalists concerned about the human role in climate change.
Forty percent of global fisheries catch wasted or unmanaged – WWF
Nearly half of the world’s recorded fish catch is unused, wasted or not accounted for, according to estimates in a new scientific paper co-authored by WWF, the global conservation organization.
The paper, Defining and estimating global marine fisheries bycatch, estimates that each year at least 38 million tonnes of fish, constituting at least 40% of what is taken from our oceans by fishing activities, is unmanaged or unused and should be considered bycatch.
“The health of our oceans cannot be restored and fisheries sustainably managed if 40% of the global fishing catch is unused or unmanaged,” says James P. Leape, Director General, WWF International.
Stimulus money will help clean up New Bedford Harbor
Millions of dollars in federal stimulus money will be invested in a massive cleanup of polluted New Bedford Harbor, home of one of New England’s oldest and largest Superfund sites, federal officials announced today.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson came to the Whaling City to unveil the award of at least $25 million, and perhaps as much as $35 million — the single largest portion of the $600 million in stimulus money designated for cleanups nationwide. Four other New England properties in Mansfield, Lowell, Kingston, N.H. and Strafford, Vt. also received millions in funding.
“Today we are finally back on the road to get our harbor back,’’ boomed Sen. Edward Kennedy via telephone at a press conference that included Jackson, Governor Deval Patrick and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank. Kennedy has been a champion of the harbor and pushed hard for the stimulus funds, designed to help jumpstart the ailing economy, to be sent to New Bedford.
Fish panel seeks closer eye on herring boats
A near-unanimous New England Fishery Management Council has asked federal regulators to end the practice of allowing industrial sized, midwater herring trawlers to work without observers in a section of Georges Bank that is closed to groundfishing boats.
The concern is not about the target prey — there’s plenty of herring, maybe too much, an industry group suggests — but of "bycatch," the possibility that the herring boats have landed and could continue to land too much haddock in their big nets.
Gloucester is home to two major herring fishing companies that use industrial-sized boats working in pairs at times to trawl huge nets. Herring are essential bait for the lobster fleet and much is also exported to Egypt and other Third World nations.
REPORT: New England Fishery Management Council – April 2009
The Council Report summarizes major issues voted on or discussed at each regularly scheduled meeting of the NEFMC. The Council met most recently on April 7-9, 2009 in Mystic, CT.
Council Report
An update published by the New England Fishery Management Council – April 2009
The Council Report summarizes major issues voted on or discussed at each regularly scheduled meeting of the NEFMC. The Council met most recently on April 7-9, 2009 in Mystic, CT.
At its April meeting, the Council addressed management issues related to skates, sea scallops, herring, groundfish, interspecies and monkfish, and also received a report from its Scientific and Statistical Committee.
NOAA Administrator Pays a Visit
Dr. Lubchenco Addresses the Council in Mystic
Attending the April Council meeting on short notice, NOAA’s Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco explained the temporary rules that will govern the groundfish fishery for the next year, as the Council works to complete Amendment 16 to its Groundfish Fishery Management Plan. She termed the new interim rule one that will “build a solid bridge to a larger, long-term solution for managing the fishery through catch shares, which will help restore the ecosystem and the economic health of the fishing communities.”
Dr. Lubchenco recognized the costs to the fishing industry during such a transition, and pledged to identify $6 million dollars in agency funds that would support cooperative research efforts, assisting economically strapped fishermen while promoting innovative gear solutions, better fishing practices and enhanced data collection. She added that an additional $10 million dollars would be dedicated to improved data reporting and fishery monitoring, infrastructure that is in need of an upgrade to support the sector management programs the Council is proposing in Amendment 16.
Skates
Amendment 3 Finalized
By a 15-1 vote, the Council approved Amendment 3 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Northeast Skate Complex. The Secretary of Commerce will receive, for final approval, a package which includes an annual catch limit framework with accountability measures to account for any excess catch, or overages, and prevent overfishing. Other measures include a three-season quota allocation, a 20,000 pound whole skate possession limit for what is chiefly a Southern New England skate bait fishery, and a 1,900 pound skate wing (4,313 poundswhole) possession limit for vessels that target skates for commercial seafood. For both fisheries, the Council approved triggers that would automatically reduce the possession limits to an incidental limit of 500 pounds of skate wings (1,135 pounds whole) once landings reach 80-90% of the amount allocated to each fishery. Use of a Multispecies Category B day-at-sea to target skates will be prohibited.
The new measures are intended to reduce landings and the total catch of skate, and promote increases in biomass to rebuild smooth and thorny skates, which are overfished. They also address the concern that winter skate could become overfished if high catches continue. Discards will be controlled through measures in other fishery management plans that allocate days-at-sea, which all vessels must use when targeting skates.
The amendment also would replace the existing baseline review process with a more comprehensive annual review, biennial Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report, and biennial specification process. During the annual review process, the Skate Plan Development Team will evaluate the most recent data available on skate stock status, fishing levels, landings, discards and new or pending regulations for other fisheries that may affect the catch of skates. The Council could, in the future, revise management measures in the skate or other plans as appropriate, based on the PDT’s findings and recommendations.
The skate amendment is expected to be in place by January 2010. The Council recommended that the trip limits become effective when the amendment is implemented and the quotas and accountability measures take effect at the start of the fishing year on May 1, 2010.
Sea Scallops
Alternatives Added to Amendment 15/Framework 21 Moves Forward
The Council addressed a range of scallop-related issues at the April meeting. Its members approved the final range of alternatives to be analyzed in Amendment 15 to the Scallop Plan, initiated Framework Adjustment 21 and approved 2010 priorities for the scallop research set-aside (RSA) program.
The Council already approved a majority of the Amendment 15 alternatives at its February Council meeting, although several additional issues were addressed in Mystic. These included specifications for accountability measures (AMs), potential fishery spillover into other fisheries as a result of leasing scallop days-at-sea and/or access area trips and a limited access general category (LAGC) permit -splitting alternative. Members adoptedseveral motions related to the AM alternatives for different components of the fishery, as well as several alternatives for a sub-annual catch of yellowtail flounder. Members also voted to omit alternatives that wouldlimit fishing in other fisheries, but did leave in others that would allow a scallop vessel to transfer some or all quota to another LAGC vessel.
Framework 21 also was formally initiated. Scheduled to be implemented in March 2010, the action will include specifications for the 2010 scallop fishing year and comply with the first “reasonable and prudent measure” identified in the most recent Turtle Biological Opinion — to limit scallop fishing effort in the Mid-Atlantic when turtles are expected to be present. Modifications to the observer program and adjustments to the access area program to reduce yellowtail flounder bycatch also may be addressed in Framework 21.
The Council reviewed the 2010 RSA priorities and supported elevating the bycatch and sea turtle researchpriorities as recommended by the Scallop Oversight Committee and Scallop Survey Advisory Panel. This year’s RSA announcement is scheduled to be published in June 2009.
Herring
Higher Levels of Observer Coverage Called for on Herring Boats in Closed Area I
The Council received a brief update on the development of alternatives for inclusion in Amendment 4 to the Herring Fishery Management Plan, and, as scheduled, will review them in detail at the June 2009 Council meeting.
The more compelling discussion took place during the National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator’s consultation with the Council regarding the agency’s review of observer data from herring vessels fishing in Groundfish Closed Area I.
The report, requested by the Council late last year, indicated that between 2004 and 2008, observed haddock bycatch in Closed Area I totaled less than one percent of the observed herring and mackerel catch from the area. Because some individual tows and trips exceeded the one percent threshold, general concerns were raisedabout haddock and other groundfish bycatch in all of the groundfish closed areas.
During the ensuing debate, the Council recommended to the Regional Administrator that letters of authorization to fish in Closed Area I include a requirement for 100% observer coverage and a prohibition on “slipped” codends to ensure that all fish would be pumped aboard the boat and sampled by an observer.
Groundfish
Council Responds to Judge Harrington
On April 7 the Council considered a document presented by NOAA General Counsel titled Draft Consideration and Analysis of the Application of the Mixed-Stock Exception to Ending Overfishing and its Applicability to Framework 42 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan and its attached addendum. The April discussion was a follow-up to the February 2009 Council meeting at which the agency presented the Council with an initial draft report onthe applicability of the “mixed stock exception” to Framework 42 and asked then for Council concurrence with its conclusions.
As background, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and State of New Hampshire v. Carlos M. Gutierrez, the First District Court temporarily vacated the management measures contained in Framework 42. The court alsoordered a review of the applicability of the mixed stock exception, a management option that was not employed by the Council in the development of the Framework 42 management measures.
A provision of the Magnuson Act and the National Standard 1 Guidelines for addressing overfishing and stock rebuilding, the exception allows, under specific conditions, the harvest of one stock at its optimal level, despite potentially overfishing another stock, when those stocks are part of the same fishery. In February, a majority of Council members disagreed with the conclusions in the NMFS report to the court, that the mixed stock exception cannot be applied to the Northeast multispecies fishery and asked NMFS to reconsider its position.
After discussion of the revised document and its addendum last week, the Council took a position similar to its February stance, to “disagree with the conclusions of the NMFS report, as ordered by Judge Edward J. Harrington.” In its April response, the Council maintained “that NMFS has failed to perform the analyses for Council review; consequently, the Council is unable to provide the court with a review.”
On Friday, April 10, Judge Harrington ruled that the Fisheries Service had complied with the court order to seriously consider the mixed stock exception, granted the agency’s summary judgment and fully reinstated all of the provisions of Framework 42. All documents submitted by NMFS to court and court’s rulings can be found athttp://www.nero.noaa.gov/sfd/sfdmulti.html#fw42.
Interspecies
Committee Addresses Cross-cutting Fisheries Issues
The Interspecies Committee developed Council comments on priorities for the deployment of fisheries observers in the Northeast, provided recommendations on issues forwarded by the Scallop Committee and discussed the topics of combining FMPs as well as streamlining adjustments to FMPs. Its members recommended that the Scallop Committee not take specific action to address displaced fishing effort to other fisheries — a potential result of consolidation in the scallop fishery. Based on public testimony and further discussion, members concluded the displacement would be minimal.
The committee also recommended that scallop general category permit holders should be allowed to transfer all or part of their scallop quota without invalidating other fishing permits. This recommendation would make it unnecessary for the Council to allow the splitting of permits in other fisheries. Finally, the committee chair announced that while the Interspecies Committee had useful discussions about combining FMPs and streamlining, it was appropriate to ask the Council to approve specific terms of reference prior to undertaking further work.
Monkfish
Amendment 5 on Track with ACLs and AMs
The Monkfish Committee updated the Council on the development of Amendment 5 to the Monkfish FMP based on its first meeting. The staff summarized the development of overfishing limits, annual catch limits and other management reference points, as well as the approaches being considered for accountability measures to prevent and react to catch reaching the annual limit. The committee also briefed the Council about its progress to develop specific management measures using the current system of days-at-sea and trip limits, in addition to catch share management strategies, specifically individual fishing quotas and sectors. The Council took no action at this meeting.
Scientific and Statistical Committee
Scallop, Monkfish and Habitat Issues Reviewed
The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) met on March 17-18, 2009 and reviewed its advice to the Council on the topic below. Copies of the SSC’s April reports can be found at http://www.nefmc.org/tech/new_ssc.html.
Ø Proposed methods for analyzing Scallop Amendment 15 social and economic impacts;
Ø Proposed methods for determining monkfish ABC and ACLs, as well as other management reference points to be included in Amendment 5 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan;
Ø The sufficiency of the Habitat Plan Development Team’s Fishing Gear Seabed Impact (FiGSI) model as a basis for crafting and analyzing alternatives to be included in Essential Fish Habitat Omnibus Amendment 2; and
Ø Planning for a proposed Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Workshop.
Materials on the Web
Meeting materials and presentations related to the above issues and other agenda items are located on the Council’s website www.nefmc.org. Audio files of the full meeting discussions are posted athttp://www.nefmc.org/actions/index.html.