Saving Seafood

Council Actions

ASMFC 2023 Winter Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

January 25, 2023 — The following article was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Winter Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2023-winter-meeting for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2023WinterMeeting/2023WinterMeetingSupplementalCombined.pdf. Additionally, for some Boards, there is also a link called “Supporting Documents” that include pertinent background material.

 
Atlantic Herring Management Board – Revised Agenda & Meeting Overview
 
American Lobster Management Board – Revised Agenda & Meeting Overview
 
Winter Flounder Management Board – Technical Committee Meeting Summary; FMP Review for the 2021 Fishing Year
 
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Advisory Panel Recommendations on Draft Addendum I Options
 
Executive Committee – Revised Agenda; Commissioner Stipend Discussion Paper; Public Comment
 
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Draft Proceedings from November 2022; Plan Development Team Review of Addendum I State Implementation Plans; State Implementation Plans;  Technical Addendum I to Addendum I
 
Shad & River Herring Management Board – Revised Meeting Overview; Technical Committee Meeting Summary; North Carolina American Shad Sustainable Fishery Management Plan; FMP Review for the 2021 Fishing Year; Revised Advisory Panel Nominations
 
Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board – 2022 Commissioner Survey Results; Draft Terms of Reference and Schedule for the 2024 Atlantic Croaker and Spot Benchmark Stock Assessments; Draft Terms of Reference and Schedule for the 2024 Red Drum Benchmark Assessment
 
Webinar Information
Meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Tuesday, January 31 at  9:30 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 11:30 a.m.) on Thursday, February 2. To register for the webinar, please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6463339894285834846 (Webinar ID:  905-077-435). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), you can may also call in at 562.247.8321, access code 941-166-838. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see the attached webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, press the # key when asked for a PIN.
 
Meeting Process
In terms of meeting process, Board chairs will ask both in-person and virtual Board members if they wish to speak. In-person members can simply raise their hands at the meeting without logging on to the webinar, while virtual members will raise their hands on the webinar. The Chair will work with staff to compile the list of speakers, balancing the flow of questions/comments between in-person and virtual attendees. The same process will be used for the public and interested stakeholders when the Board Chair provides an opportunity for public comment. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
 
Each day, the webinar will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter.  If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790. 
 
Public Comment Guidelines
To provide a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:
 
For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
 
For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.
 
For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.
 
In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action). 
 
1.    Comments received three weeks prior to the start of a meeting week (January 10) have been included in the briefing materials.
2.    Comments received by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, January 24 will be included in supplemental materials.
3.    Comments received by 10:00 AM on Friday, January 27 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.
 
The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail and email.

Proposed menhaden ban blocked in Virginia legislature

January 25, 2023 — Virginia state House Bill 1383, recently introduced by Delegate Tim Anderson of Virginia Beach to shut down Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery in all of the state’s territorial ocean waters and inland Bay waters for two years, was unanimously tabled Jan. 18 by the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee.

The vote was 22-0 to table and “pass by indefinitely.”  The bill has a delayed effective date of Nov. 18, 2023 and a sunset date of Nov. 22, 2025.

“Normally when they vote PBI it means the bill dies forever unless someone brings it back next year,” said Montgomery Deihl, vice president of operations for Omega Protein in Reedville, Va.  “But the fact that it was a unanimous vote sends a strong signal that there’s no support for it.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Scallops dying off in Long Island are ‘a cautionary tale’ for New England

January 24, 2023 — Once one of the largest fisheries on the East Coast, Peconic Bay scallops have faced near complete die-offs on Long Island since 2019.

A study by Stony Brook University shows this could be a cautionary tale for New England.

Christopher Gobler, a co-author and endowed chair of coastal ecology and conservation in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, used satellite thermal imaging and recorded scallop heartbeats to measure how less oxygen and warming waters put stress on shellfish populations.

Data shows over the past two decades, the Peconic Bay estuary — and the entire Northeast — are warming at rates during summer that far exceed global average; Gobler said, “about threefold higher.”

Read the full article at wbur

MAINE: Scallopers meet with DMR on tweaks to the commercial fishery

January 24, 2023 — Fishermen have seen sea scallops stacked on top of one another in flush beds on the ocean floor and then vanish time and again throughout the decades of commercial fishing. In 2009, when stocks and landings fell concerningly low in what had been hot spots, fishermen agreed to a Department of Marine Resources (DMR) request to close some areas for three years. Then, after more than 60 meetings with fishermen, led by the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, in Stonington, a 10-year state management plan was adopted in 2012.

State waters were divided into three scallop fishing zones, with Zones 1 and 3 operated under limited access areas and designated open fishing days for divers and draggers, while a three-year rotation of fishing sites was used in Zone 2. As a whole, scallopers were on board, even though it meant operating under rules that limited when and where draggers and divers could fish.

With that plan at an end, Melissa Smith, the DMR’s resource coordinator for scallops, met with scallopers in January in all three zones to get input to tweak the plan. However, changes to the Zone 2 rotational plan were the main discussion.

“I think we’ve got a hard-fought battle ahead of us,” said Machiasport fisherman Mike Murphy, who has fished under the Zone 2 rotation for a decade. He said he had been willing to try the rotational management plan when it was floated over 10 years ago. But scallop areas change with time all along the Maine coast and so does the fishermen’s catch. Now Murphy is not so sure, after experiencing crowded fishing spots in the open areas, something that also depletes the stock.

“You put 70 boats [in one spot] and we’re going to clear it,” he said. “A lot of us want to see the whole rotational management thing go away. That’s going to be our battle.”

Read the full article at Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: The waters of Boothbay Harbor have gotten warmer over the past century, data show

January 24, 2023 — Maine’s Department of Marine Resources has maintained a hidden treasure in Boothbay Harbor for nearly 120 years — a daily measurement of sea surface temperatures, which provides an uncommonly long record of a warming ocean.

In the latest Data Monitor, The Maine Monitor broke those daily records (more than 42,000 of them!) into annual averages to show the estimated increase in water temperatures at Boothbay Harbor between 1905 and 2021. It shows a rough increase of 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit on average, from an annual average of 45.3 degrees F (or 7.4 Celsius) at the turn of the 20th century to just over 50 degrees F in recent years.

One important caveat on this data: DMR’s method for collecting the water temperatures in the harbor changed around 1950. Before, measurements were taken three times a day, during the day, using a thermometer in a bucket lowered into the water. In the 1950s, this was replaced with instruments installed just below the surface to take continuous measurements.

Read the full article at the Boothbay Register

MASSACHUSETTS: A net win: Recycling company works with New Bedford fisheries to repurpose their old gear

January 24, 2023 — When you love what you do, as is case for Caitlin Townsend, advocating for fishermen by collecting old fishing nets, ropes and other gear in New Bedford so it can be recycled feels like a dream job.

“If I knew that this was a job option when I was a kid, I would have said this is my dream job, because it is something I am so extremely passionate about,” she said.

It may not sound like everyone’s dream job, but Townsend feels she’s making a difference working for Net Your Problem, a fishing gear recycling service doing its part for the fishing industry as the Massachusetts representative.

“My dad taught me so much as a kid,” she said. “I learned from him that fishermen love the ocean more than anywhere and they would do anything to continue to fish. So programs like this and our business can really help people be able to continue to fish,” said Townsend, a resident of Truro.

Her father, Chris Townsend, fishes out of Provincetown, and she still fishes with him as much as she can. When she was a teenager, she fished full-time with him as his deckhand.

Read the full article at Standard-Times

14 whale deaths along US East Coast remain a mystery

January 24, 2023 — Local officials and environmentalists are trying to find out what is behind the mysterious death of 14 whales along the US east coast since 1 December.

Some are blaming the deaths on the development of an offshore wind farm in the area.

Officials, however, say they have found no evidence to suggest wind farms are to blame.

Since 2016, they have been tracking the “unusual mortality” of humpback whales along the eastern shores.

Over the past six years, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tallied 178 dead humpback whales from Florida to Maine.

NOAA performed necropsies on about half the whales and found that of those, 40% of the deaths were caused by human interaction, either being caught in fishing gear or struck by vessels.

Sperm whales, an endangered species, have also been found dead along the eastern coasts.

The most recent death of a humpback whale, which washed ashore in Maryland on 16 January, prompted a press conference by NOAA officials and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), as it came amid mounting concerns a local wind farm development was to blame.

Read the full article at BBC News

Fishery council executive retires

January 24, 2023 — The executive director of the Newburyport-based New England Fishery Management Council is retiring.

The council opened its Jan. 24 to 26 meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with the announcement that Executive Director Thomas A. Nies, a 25-year veteran of the council staff, will retire this summer. The council is initiating a nationwide search for his replacement.

“I’m fully committed to the council process, said Nies in the announcement. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job.”

Nies joined the council staff in 1997. He first worked on the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan and then spent 13 years as the council’s lead analyst for groundfish. In that role, he led the Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT), as he did the Herring PDT beforehand. He also helped develop a standardized bycatch reporting methodology for Northeast fisheries. He became executive director in 2013.

Read the full article at Gloucester Daily Times

NEFMC Executive Director Tom Nies Announces Retirement

January 24, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council opened its January 24-26, 2023 meeting in Portsmouth, NH with the news that Executive Director Thomas A. Nies, a 25-year veteran of the Council staff, will be retiring this summer. The Council will immediately initiate a nationwide search for his replacement.

Tom joined the Council staff in 1997. He first worked on the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan and then spent 13 years as the Council’s lead analyst for groundfish. In that role, he led the Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT), as he did the Herring PDT beforehand. Tom also helped develop a standardized bycatch reporting methodology for Northeast fisheries. He became Executive Director in 2013.

Council Chair Eric Reid said, “The New England Fishery Management Council has had the rare privilege to have Tom at the helm of what can be, at times, a rather unwieldy ship. On every voyage, Tom’s tremendous work ethic and institutional knowledge have been unsurpassed assets not only to the Council members and “I’m fully committed to the Council process. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job.” – Executive Director Tom Nies. staff but also to our stakeholders and the public.”

As Executive Director, Tom’s many responsibilities have included participating in: (1) the Council Coordination Committee (CCC), which includes leadership from all eight of the nation’s regional fishery management councils; and (2) the Northeast Region Coordinating Council (NRCC), which, among other tasks, determines the region’s stock assessment schedule.

Chair Reid said, “Tom has earned the respect of all of us in New England and nationwide from Gloucester to Guam. He is a true professional, and we’ll always be grateful for his strong leadership.”

Prior to joining the Council, Tom completed a 21-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard. He logged over 10 years of at-sea duty and served as the Commanding Officer of the Boston, MA-based USCG Cutter Spencer. His land-based assignments included a stint at the fisheries law enforcement branch at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He later served as the Admiral’s representative for the First Coast Guard District Law Enforcement Division at New England Council meetings, which was his introduction to the Council.

The Council will issue a vacancy announcement to solicit a new Executive Director. Tom will overlap with his successor to ensure a smooth transition. Additional information will be forthcoming.

Read the full release here

Loss of tiny organisms hurts ocean, fishing, scientists say

January 23, 2023 — The warming of the waters off the East Coast has come at an invisible, but very steep cost — the loss of microscopic organisms that make up the base of the ocean’s food chain.

The growing warmth and saltiness of the Gulf of Maine off New England is causing a dramatic decrease in the production of phytoplankton, according to Maine-based scientists who recently reported results of a yearslong, NASA-funded study. Phytoplankton, sometimes described as an “invisible forest,” are tiny plant-like organisms that serve as food for marine life.

The scientists found that phytoplankton are about 65% less productive in the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by New England and Canada, than they were two decades ago. The Gulf of Maine has emerged as one of the fastest warming sections of the world’s oceans.

Potential loss of phytoplankton has emerged as a serious concern in recent years in other places, such as the Bering Sea off Alaska. The loss of the tiny organisms has the ability to disrupt valuable fishing industries for species such as lobsters and scallops, and it could further jeopardize imperiled animals such as North Atlantic right whales and Atlantic puffins, scientists said.

Read the full article at The Associated Press