State and Local

June 1, 2014 — This report includes stories about the effort to reauthorize the Magnuson Stevens Act, Silver Bay Seafood's entering the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery, the upcoming Coast Guard safety inspections and the death of veteran commercial fisheries journalist Bob Tkacz.

Read the full story and listen to the audio from KDLG

BETHEL, Alaska — May 29, 2014 — More than $20 million in federal fishery disaster funds will be distributed in Alaska in response to poor king salmon runs in recent years.

KYUK says federal officials and 11 groups have worked out how some $20.8 million in disaster funds will be split.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim region will receive a little more than $9.6 million of those funds and Cook Inlet will get slightly more than $11.1 million.

Read the full story at the Daily News-Miner 

 

May 30, 2014 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission turned down the opportunity to open commercial netting of red drum at its meeting last week in Pine Knoll Shores, but it will allow netters to put large-mesh gill nets back in the water on June 1 in areas that haven’t traditionally been home to either reds or endangered sea turtles.

The Commission voted to allow anchored large-mesh gill nets back in the waters of the western Albemarle Sound, Currituck Sound, sections of the Pamlico, Pungo and Neuse Rivers that are exempt from regulations governing incidental take of sea turtles, and the area of the New River upstream from the line where it is closed to shrimp trawling. The nets are primarily set for flounder, and no commercial possession of red drum will be allowed.

Commercial netters caught more than their entire year’s quota in 84 days last fall, and the fishery was closed then until at least Sept. 1. The Commission was bound by regulations at the state and federal level to keep the fishery closed.

“The purpose of this is to let as many fishermen as possible go back to work,” said Joe Shute, who holds a recreational-industry seat on the Commission. “We looked at histories of these areas and examined fish-house reports and tried to open areas that didn’t have a history of catching many red drum.

Read the full story at the North Carolina Sportsman 

 

CAMBRIDGE, Md. — May 30, 2014 — It's been a long road for Capt. Boo Powley, chairman of the Harvesters Land and Sea Coalition, a group that filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

You may remember back in October, the coalition's lawsuit claimed the state had unfairly, and with no scientific evidence, cut the quotas on the menhaden fishery at the request of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.  They say that Virginia, which houses the company "Omega" that catches the fish in bulk, got 80 percent of the Atlantic quota, and Maryland only received 1.3 percent.

Wednesday's trial in itself was a ten and a half hour long ordeal for Powley, but in the end, he wasn't even able to argue his point.

"The merits of the case weren't even heard.  There was no professional testimony by any scientist on how many menhaden are in the bay.  We just lost on a technicality.  It's hard to lose because paperwork wasn't filed soon enough." said Powley.

Read the full story and watch the video from WBOC

May 30 , 2014 — The head of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association says he'll take the fight to Congress if need be to fend off the implementation of a series of fishing restrictions proposed this week by Biscayne National Park officials.

"It's going to have a significant impact on the Upper Keys and Miami River fishermen," FKCFA Executive Director Bill Kelly said.

Kelly was reacting to the Fishery Management Plan, which Biscayne National Park released Tuesday after a 13-year administrative and public process.

The 180,000-acre marine park, which stretches 22 miles from just south of Key Biscayne to just north of Key Largo, says it is seeking to reverse a trend of declining fisheries. The goal of the plan is to increase by 20 percent the size and abundance of fish and invertebrates within Biscayne Park waters.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which joins the National Park Service in regulating the fisheries of Biscayne National Park, also helped author the plan.

Read the full story from Key News

SEABROOK, N.H. — May 30, 2014 — New Hampshire’s beleaguered commercial fishing industry will receive more than $2 million in federal disaster funds, nearly half of which will go directly to groundfishermen who have suffered financially from regulations that drastically limited their catch.

The money is part of a compromise reached between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New England states on how to distribute $32.8 million in federal fishery disaster funds, part of $75 million in disaster relief resources that were secured earlier this year.

“The Northeast Groundfish Disaster has significantly affected New Hampshire’s treasured fishing industry, threatening our fishing infrastructure and causing economic harm across our state,” Gov. Maggie Hassan announced in her statement concerning the distribution agreement.

Hassan thanked those involved, including state fishery directors and NOAA, adding that she hoped “they continue to recognize that additional funds are needed to adequately address the unique needs of this critical New Hampshire industry.”

In late February officials at Seabrook’s Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative heard that nearly $33 million in fishery disaster relief funds had been allocated to those in the Northeast who make their living on the sea. Since then they’ve waited to learn how much of the money will trickle down to New Hampshire’s commercial groundfishing fleet owners, about two-thirds of whom work out of the Seabrook Cooperative.

Read the full story at the Newburyport News 

SEAFOODNEWS.COM (John Sackton) — May 29, 2014 — A new conflict is developing in Alaska as Silver Bay, a different type of processor that is fishermen owned, expands and competes with traditional Alaskan processors using a different economic model.

Instead of focusing on brand, value-added products, and a premium price, Silver Bay is comparable to Walmart, with an intense focus on costs and a mission to get fish out of the water as fast and in as high volume as possible for shipping to China. Most Alaskan processors have some commodity sales, but it has been a long time since a major processor focused almost exclusively on commodity sales. The resulting clash has the potential to be as significant for the future of the Alaskan fishery as the offshore vs inshore battle, or the ten year price-fixing lawsuit against Bristol Bay salmon packers.

The Louisiana brown shrimp season is open, and initial reports are it is slow, likely due to cold weather and slow growth. “This is not looking like one of our better seasons for sure,” said Kimberly Chauvin of the David Chauvin Seafood Company in Dulac.

US retailers slashed tilapia promotions by 50% during Lent this year, according to Urner Barry data. Reacting to higher prices, promotions were cut back across the board. This is the fourth year that frozen tilapia prices rose during the Aug- Dec buying season, with the consequent pressure on retail prices. This year it looks like price increases were allowed to flow through to the customer.

Bill Taylor, of Taylor Shellfish, the largest West Coast producer, says it is a relief to have the Chinese geoduck ban lifted, and more importantly, future problems would be dealt with by targeting the specific area or company, not with a blanket ban.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Seattle’s Fishermen’s terminal. Fully 40% of fish landed in the US is handled by boats that call the terminal their home port. Sen. Maria Cantwell issued a statement today, and there have been ongoing anniversary events. The Terminal was originally requested by the Puget Sound Purse Seine Fishermen’s Association in 1912, and opened in 1914.

Our video today also addresses the issues raised by the Silver Bay sales and operational model for Alaska.

View the video here

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com. It is reprinted with permission.

CONCORD, N.H. — May 28, 2014 — Fifty Maine groundfishermen will each receive $32,500 under an agreement for distributing $32.8 million in federal disaster funds in New England and New York.

The region’s groundfishing season last year was declared a disaster by the U.S. Commerce Department after research in 2012 showed that cod, haddock and flounder stocks were not rebuilding despite catch limits. Regulators then imposed more stringent catch limits.

In addition to the $1.6 million in total direct payments to Maine fishermen, the state will receive $636,000 to help the groundfish industry, according to the agreement announced Wednesday between six states and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Maine Department of Marine Resources will hold a public meeting on June 18 in Portland to discuss how to spend that money.

Permit holders qualify for relief if they have caught at least 5,000 pounds of fish in one of the past four years. In all, 336 permit holders in New England and New York qualify.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald

May 29, 2014 — As we approach the summer boating and tourism season, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is asking boaters to help our environment by using caution in ecologically sensitive areas while having fun boating on Barnegat Bay and other important ecological areas throughout the state.

One key facet of Gov. Chris Christie’s Comprehensive Barnegat Bay Restoration Plan calls for reducing impacts of boats and personal watercraft on the bay’s ecosystems including wetlands, aquatic vegetation, shellfish beds and fish habitat.

“The DEP identified these unique areas so that users of the estuary can minimize their impact on the plants and animals that reside there,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. “Barnegat Bay is an environmental treasure that offers great recreational opportunities, but also is a sensitive estuarine system that contains important natural resources. We ask for your help in protecting these resources.”

An online interactive map for boaters is available, which can be accessed on mobile devices and computers, so boaters can easily learn the locations of 16 areas designated ecologically sensitive. Users also can find helpful services such as the locations of marinas, sewage pump-out facilities, bait-and-tackle shops, launches and ramps, restrooms, and places to dispose trash.

Read the full story at TheSandPaper.net

May 28, 2014 — The State of Alaska, the University of Alaska and representatives from the Alaskan fisheries, seafood and marine industries created a plan to increase the number of in state residents working in maritime careers. The Alaska Maritime Workforce Development Plan aims to create and educate a substantially Alaskan workforce in the maritime sector.

The director of the Alaska Sea Grant at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Paula Cullenberg said two years ago the university created the Fishery Seafood Maritime Initiative, or F-S-M-I, to find out what the maritime industry needed.

“The industry came back and said ‘well, you know we would like some kind of a comprehensive plan that looks at not just what the university does but what training centers like Aztec or SAVEC could do, what the industry itself could do, what state agencies like the Department of Labor, we would just like to look at this a little more collectively.’ And so about a year and a half ago there was a request for a state wide plan.”

The F-S-M-I conducted surveys among commercial fishermen, seafood processors, researchers and maritime business and trade workers. The surveys showed that of the almost 31 thousand permit holding commercial fishermen, only 56% are residents of Alaska. The resulting data led to the Maritime Workforce Development Plan that is calling for Alaskans to become educated and trained in these fields. This is director of government affairs at Icicle Seafoods, Inc., Kris Norosz.

“We have lots of employment opportunities throughout Alaska, the problem is finding Alaskans with the training and experience to fill those positions.”

Read the full story and listen to the audio at KDLG