Saving Seafood

Trawler to be hired for study of imperiled shrimp

December 14th, 2016 — Government fishing managers will hire a shrimp fisherman from Massachusetts to help perform research about the future of the New England shrimp fishery.

The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries say they want to hire a shrimp trawling vessel to collect samples of Northern shrimp. The fishermen will also be allowed to bring 1,200 pounds of shrimp per week to shore and sell them.

The project will begin on Jan. 15, 2017 and last eight weeks.

Regulators are also hiring shrimp trawlers and trappers from Maine and New Hampshire to collect samples.

Scientists say warming oceans have hurt the shrimp’s ability to reproduce. Regulators shut the fishery down in 2013.

They were previously a popular winter seafood item in New England and elsewhere.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Portsmouth Herald 

Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries seeks fisherman to catch shrimp off Massachusetts coast as part of study

December 13th, 2016 — Government officials are looking for a shrimp trawler to take part in a study of the future of the New England northern shrimp fishery.

The study is a joint effort by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries alongside the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

A release by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries details the study, which is intended “to collect northern shrimp samples during the winter period when the shrimp are in inshore waters, to collect data on the timing of the egg hatch, and the size, gender, and developmental stage of the shrimp.”

The chosen vessel will not have to go anywhere new beyond Massachusetts waters; they are expected to fish where they normally would when searching for shrimp. They must provide two random 4.5 pound samples each week but can otherwise sell up to 1,200 pounds of shrimp per trip. No other compensation is offered.

The northern shrimp’s population is considered “depleted” and scientists have pointed to warming oceans as a key factor in their decline. According to an ASMFC release about the ongoing moratorium on northern shrimp fishing, warming ocean temperatures suggest “an increasingly inhospitable environment for northern shrimp and the need for strong conservation efforts to help restore and maintain a fishable stock.”

The New England shrimp fishery was shut down in 2013.

Read the full story at Massachusetts Live

Jersey Shore Fishing: Menhaden Public Hearing on Thursday

December 8th, 2016 — Anglers concerned about an increase in quota for menhaden reduction boats should be sure to attend Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. ASMFC public hearing at the DEP Nacote Creek Law Enforcement Office, 360 North New York Road.

Yesterday’s northeast wind created a rough sea, and the surf was basically unfishable. Strong northwest winds could solve that problem the next couple of days.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc has decided to conclude his season on the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands. He posted the following:

Looking at the long range forecast I decided to just pack it in for the winter. I want to thank everyone who fished with us. I hope you enjoyed the season. The spring striper run was disappointing this year. The summer fluke season was pretty normal. We caught many and threw lots back. I was happy with the fall Striper fishing. We caught lots of fish! Have a great Holiday Season and a safe winter. We will start up again in the spring for the stripers, either late March or early April. If you would like to buy a gift Certificate for someone you can give me a call 732-291-4468 and I can get one out to you. Thanks again from Capt Rob and the crew of the Sea Hunter.

Read the full story from NewJersey.com 

Commission seeking public input on menhaden management plan

December 8th, 2016 – The group charged with coordinating the management and conservation of more than two dozen nearshore fish species in the Atlantic coastal states is seeking input on its management plan for menhaden.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission released a “public information document” last month outlining a series of options for managing the fish and requesting feedback from the public.

Menhaden are small, silvery fish that play a critical role in the bay’s ecosystem, according to the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

They serve as a forage fish for striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, and predatory birds like eagles, and also a key role as a filter feeder, feeding on phytoplankton and zooplankton, the NOAA office’s website says.

The menhaden management plan will address catch quotas for the fish along the Atlantic Coast.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is calling for the commission to shift to an “ecosystem” management approach that “ensures there are enough menhaden in the water to fulfill their role in the food chain for the protection of all marine life.”

Public comments must be received by 5 p.m. on Jan. 4.

Comments may be mailed to Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1050 North Highland St., Suite 200A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201.

Read the full story at the Capitol Gazette

New Hampshire trawler to collect samples of dwindling shrimp

December 7th, 2016 — A New Hampshire shrimp trawler will be selected to help study New England’s dwindling Northern shrimp fishery.

The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department say they intend to hire one shrimp trawling vessel to collect samples of the species. The fishermen will also be allowed to bring 1,200 pounds of shrimp per week to shore and sell them.

The project will begin on Jan. 15, 2017 and last for eight weeks.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has also announced plans to hire eight shrimp trawlers and five shrimp trappers to collect samples.

Scientists say warming oceans have hurt the shrimp’s ability to thrive off of the New England coast, and regulators shut the fishery down in 2013.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times 

Winter 2017 Northern Shrimp Cooperative Sampling Program

December 6th, 2016 — The following was released by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department: 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the NH Fish and Game Department are seeking one shrimp trawling vessel and captain to collect northern shrimp samples in the MA/NH area (Northern Massachusetts to Boon Island), beginning in mid- January, 2017, fishing once a week for eight weeks until mid- March.  The participant will be required to have an observer, and will be allowed to land and sell up to 1,200 pounds of northern shrimp per trip.  There will be no further compensation.  Selection preference will be given to applicants using a size-sorting grate (designed to release small shrimp).  Highest selection preference will go to applicants who will participate in a compound grate study.

The purpose of the project is to collect northern shrimp samples during the winter period when the shrimp are in inshore waters, to collect data on the timing of the egg hatch, and the size, gender, and developmental stage of the shrimp.  We also hope to collect data on the performance of the compound size-sorting grate.

Please see the attached announcements for details on the project, how to apply, the application deadline (Dec. 19, 2016), and the selection process. 

Robert Eckert

Marine Fisheries Division

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

225 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824

603-868-1095, Robert.Eckert@wildlife.nh.gov

MAINE: Winter 2017 shrimp cooperative sampling program

December 5th, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Maine Resources: 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the DMR are seeking eight shrimp trawling vessels and captains to collect northern shrimp samples in three regions of the Maine coast (three vessels in Western ME, three in Mid-coast ME, and two in Eastern ME), beginning in mid- to late January, 2017, fishing once a week for eight weeks until mid- to late March.  Each participant will be required to collect samples each week in one region, and will be allowed to land and sell up to 1,200 pounds of northern shrimp per trip.  There will be no further compensation.  Selection preference will be given to applicants using a size-sorting grate (designed to release small shrimp).  Highest selection preference will go to applicants who will participate in a compound grate study.

In addition, we are seeking five shrimp trapping vessels and captains to collect northern shrimp samples in two regions of the Maine coast (four vessels in Mid-coast ME, and one in Eastern ME), beginning January 30, 2017, once a week, for eight weeks until March 26.  Each trapper will be allowed to fish up to 40 traps each, hauled as often as necessary during the project.  Participants will be allowed to land and sell up to 500 pounds of shrimp per week.  There will be no further compensation.  

The purpose of the project is to collect northern shrimp samples during the winter period when the shrimp are in inshore waters, to collect data on the timing of the egg hatch, and the size, gender, and developmental stage of the shrimp.  We also hope to collect data on the performance of the compound size-sorting grate.

Please see the attached announcement for details on the project, how to apply, the application deadline (Dec. 19, 2016), and the selection process.  Please contact me if you have trouble opening the attachments.  This information is also available on our web site at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/science-research/species/shrimp/winter2017.html . 

Maggie Hunter

Margaret Hunter, Webmaster and Marine Resource Scientist,  Sea Urchin and Northern Shrimp programs

Margaret.Hunter@maine.gov

http://www.maine.gov/dmr/index.htm

Tel: (207) 633-9541

Fax: (207) 633-9579

Maine Dept. of Marine Resources (DMR)

PO Box 8

West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575

Big changes in the air over little menhaden

December 5th, 2016 — Big changes are being weighed for Atlantic menhaden, the little, oily fish that no one eats but that stirs such passion. At least one of the possible shifts could reverse recent increases in the allowable commercial catch.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates near-shore fishing from Maine to Florida — including the Chesapeake Bay — has invited public comment on several questions about future management of the menhaden fishery at hearings all along the coast. Sessions in the Bay watershed begin Monday, Dec. 5.

The most important issue under consideration involves setting new “reference points” regulating the catch of menhaden that would account for their value to other fish and predators — not just their commercial importance. But the commission also is weighing whether to shake up how the total catch is distributed along the coast.

Though generally not caught to be eaten, menhaden are netted in great numbers for processing into animal feed and health supplements, and for use as bait to catch crabs, striped bass and other fish. They are the largest catch, by weight, in the Bay. The small waterfront village of Reedville, VA — home to the menhaden fleet of Omega Protein Corp. — ranks sixth nationwide in fish landings, by weight, after a handful of ports in Alaska and Louisiana.

But menhaden are also an important food source for other fish, including striped bass, and for predators such as osprey, bald eagles, whales and dolphins. Conservationists, recreational anglers and many biologists have long expressed concerns about the impact of the commercial menhaden catch — especially Omega’s — on the availability of forage for other species, leading to intense debates over fishery management.

In 2012, the Atlantic States commission imposed a first-ever coastwide catch reduction of 20 percent for menhaden after a scientific assessment concluded they were overfished. A followup study using new models and information concluded last year that the earlier assessment was wrong. The commission has responded by twice ratcheting up annual catch limits, with a 6.5 percent increase approved in October, allowing for 200,000 metric tons to be caught coastwide in 2017.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal 

The real reason why you’re suddenly seeing whales in N.J. and N.Y. waters

November 28, 2016 — If you’ve spent any time walking the beaches or boating the ocean waters of New Jersey or New York in recent weeks, you’ve likely been treated to spectacle that has been a rarity in these parts for most of the past century or so: whales.

They’ve been seemingly everywhere.

Breaching just past the sandbars in Asbury Park.

Swimming past groups of surfers in Rockaway Beach.

Bumping into boats off Belmar.

And this week’s ultimate cetacean sensation: a humpback whale swam up the Hudson River for a photo op in front of the George Washington Bridge.

Besides inspiring a chorus of oohs and aahs, the increase in sightings is adding a blubbery new wrinkle to a raging debate over a far smaller fish: the Atlantic menhaden. It’s the menhaden, also known as “bunker” — clumsy, multidinous, slow swimming virtual floating hamburgers — that those whales are chasing.

Even as the whales were gulping down bunker along the coast of New Jersey, the ASMFC has been pushing the commercial quotas back up closer to pre 2012 catch levels. Last year, the catch limit was raised 10 percent, with the ASMFC citing data that showed bunker were not being overfished.

And, then, three weeks ago, the council voted to raise the commercial catch limits another 6.5 percent.

That move has been cheered by commercial fishing operations who argue the limits were never necessary and simply jeopardized an industry that employs hundreds of people from New Jersey to Virginia, where the largest menhaden processing operation, Omega Protein Corp, is located.

“The fact that there’s a lot of fish around has nothing do with reducing these quotas,” said Jeff Kaelin, spokesman for Lund’s Fisheries, a Cape May commercial fishing company that sells bunker as lobster bait. The increased number of whale sightings is simply the result of smaller fish growing to a larger size due to “environmental conditions.”

“The stock was not overfished,” he said. “It’s never been.”

Kaelin said the 20 percent coast-wide reduction translated into a roughly 50 percent cut for New Jersey companies that harvest bunker, because it shut down the fishery early in the year and put the state’s crucial fall harvest off limits.

“If the science says we need to cut back we will, but in this case we feel very strongly that we’re underfishing the stock,” he said.

Read the full story at NJ.com

South Atlantic States Schedule Public Hearings on Cobia Public Information Document

November 21, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Arlington, VA – The South Atlantic states of Virginia through Florida have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on the Public Information Document (PID) for the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Cobia. The details of the scheduled hearings follow.

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

December 6, 2016; 6 PM

2600 Washington Ave, 4th Floor

Newport News, Virginia 23607

Contact: Joe Cimino at 757.247.2236

 

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

December 8, 2016; 6 PM

Doubletree by Hilton Atlantic Beach

2717 West Fort Macon Road

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina

Contact:  Michelle Duval at 252.808.8011

December 15, 2016; 5 PM

Dare County Government Administration Building

Room 168

954 Marshall C. Collins Drive

Manteo, North Carolina

Contact: Michelle Duval at 252.808.8011

 

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

December 12, 2016; 6 PM

Port Royal Sound Maritime Center (adjacent to Edgar C Glenn boat ramp on the Chechessee River)

310 Okatie Highway

Okatie, South Carolina

Contact: Mel Bell at 843.953.9007

 

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

December 14, 2016; 6 PM 

New Smyrna City Hall

City Commission Chambers (accessible via the South entrance from Julia Street)

210 Sams Avenue

New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Contact: Jim Estes at 850.617.9622

As the first step in the FMP development process, the PID provides stakeholders with an opportunity to inform the Commission about changes observed in the fishery and provide feedback on potential management measures as well as any additional issues that should be included in the Draft FMP. Specifically, the PID seeks comment on the management unit; goals and objectives of the plan; commercial and recreational measures; coastwide, regional or state-by-state measures; and other issues.

This action responds to a request by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) for the Commission to consider joint or complementary management of the resource in light of the significant overage of the 2015 recreational annual catch limit (ACL) and the impact of those overages to state management. Further, during most recent years, a majority of recreational landings of cobia along the Atlantic coast occurs in state waters. The Commission considered this request in August and agreed to move forward with the development of a complementary FMP.

Widely distributed throughout the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, cobia are managed as two distinct groups – the Gulf Migratory Group and the Atlantic Migratory Group. The Atlantic Migratory Group, which range from New York to Georgia, is managed by the SAFMC. The east coast of Florida falls under the Gulf Migratory Group. The SAFMC manages the east coast of Florida sub-ACL which is set by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. Recreational landings of the Atlantic Migratory Group in 2015 were approximately 1.5 million pounds, 145% over the ACL, resulting in a June 20, 2016 closure of the fishery by NOAA Fisheries. Commercial cobia landings in 2015 were 83,148 pounds, 38% over the ACL. Late landings reports in 2015 precluded a timely closure of the commercial fishery.

Concerns were expressed by some states whose recreational seasons would have been significantly reduced by federal waters closure due to the 2015 quota overage. Instead of following the federal closure, several states developed alternate management strategies to reduce economic impacts to their state fisheries which resulted in differing regulations for federal and state water fishing. An intent of the complementary Cobia FMP is to provide the states the flexibility to respond to changes in the fishery and stock that meet their state fisheries needs without impacting federal fishermen while meeting the goals and objectives of the FMP.

Stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on the PID either by attendingg state public hearings or providing written comment. The PID can be obtained at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/CobiaPID_PublicComment.pdf or via the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 6, 2017 and should be forwarded to Dr. Louis Daniel, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at ldaniel@asmfc.org (Subject line: Cobia PID).