Saving Seafood

March/April 2017 Issue of ASMFC Fisheries Focus Now Available

May 2, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has released the 14th report in its Habitat Management Series entitled, Atlantic Sciaenid Habitats: A Review of Utilization, Threats and Recommendations for Conservation, Management and Research. Prepared by ASMFC staff, sciaenid experts, and a subset of the Commission’s Habitat Committee, the report is the most comprehensive compilation of habitat information to date on Commission-managed and other common sciaenid species found throughout the Western Atlantic. These species include Atlantic croaker, black drum, red drum, spot, spotted seatrout, weakfish, northern kingfish, southern kingfish and Gulf kingfish. The report provides a habitat description for all stages of each species’ life cycle, their associated Essential Fish Habitats and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (when applicable), threats and uncertainties to their habitats, and recommendations for habitat management and research. It was developed to serve as a resource for fisheries managers to use when amending existing fishery management plans.

Sciaenids are found throughout the Western Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Mexico, in shallow coastal waters and larger bays and estuaries, including their tributaries. They utilize a variety of habitats throughout their life stages, including estuaries, salt marshes, freshwater marshes, oyster reefs, sea grasses and mud banks/shores. Because of the way different species of sciaenids use various types of habitats throughout their life, several different habitats are key for maintaining healthy populations.

Read the full release here

BEN LANDRY: Assertions about menhaden population were a bit fishy

May 1, 2017 — In his recent Bay Journal op-ed, Don’t let menhaden become a case of could have, should have, would have, March 2017, Bill Bartlett claims that menhaden are both scarce and unregulated in the Chesapeake Bay.

Neither assertion is true according to the latest and best science on menhaden. This data instead indicate that this species is being managed sustainably and responsibly.

The late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously stated that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Because a column appears in the op-ed section does not excuse it from journalistic obligations of fact-checking and accuracy. Let’s look at the facts along with supporting citations.

Bartlett believes “the [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] lets people have their say about menhaden and then does nothing or very little” to properly manage the species. This could not be further from the case – the ASMFC bases its very precautionary management decisions on the most up-to-date scientific standards. The evidence points to that management being quite conservative: According to the most recent stock assessment report on Atlantic menhaden, menhaden are not overfished, nor are they experiencing overfishing. The commission deemed the species to be so healthy that the quota was actually increased 10 percent. Analysis from ASMFC experts indicated that the quota could have been increased by as much as 40 percent without the risk of overfishing the stock.

Read the full opinion piece at the Bay Journal

ASMFC 2017 Spring Meeting Final Agenda and Meeting

April 26, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2017 Spring Meeting can be obtained at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-spring-meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. Please note there are two links for the American Lobster Board meeting – the first link is for the main materials and the second link is to the NEFMC’s Deep-Sea Coral Amendment. For ease of access, all Board/Section meeting documents, with the exception of the American Lobster Board materials, have been combined into one document – Main Meeting Materials. 

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of meetings. Interested parties should anticipate meetings starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning May 8th at 1:00 p.m.  and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 3:00 p.m.) on Thursday May 11th. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go tohttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/936308200287732994 to register.

As a reminder, the guidelines for 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) are as follows: 

1.   Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included with the main meeting materials.

2.   Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday immediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be May 2, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3.   Following the Tuesday, May 2, 2017 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

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, fax, and email.

No shrimp today: Maine’s waters are warming and it’s costing fishermen money

April 20, 2017 — David Goethel wishes he could retire.

At 63, he’s been fishing off the Gulf of Maine for over 34 years. Shrimp used to be plentiful there. Back in 2000, Goethel remembers seeing 100 commercial boats out in the harbor. Now, he’s just one of a handful of local fisherman struggling to make a living.

“There was life on the docks, there were people working,” lifelong fisherman Arnold Gamage, 64, agrees. “Now, it looks like a ghost town.”

Maine’s fishing industry has been declining for years due to factors like overfishing and increased regulation, but there’s another culprit eating away at profits: Maine’s ocean waters are warming — and it’s killing northern shrimp.

Goethel, Gamage and other fishermen used to look forward to shrimping as a way to augment their income in the cold New England winters.

“Now, I see a lot of those same people, they’ve got 4-wheel trucks and they’re trying to plow snow to take in some kind of income,” Goethel says.

Regulators at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission banned commercial shrimping in 2014. The goal was to give northern shrimp a chance to repopulate. While the ban has helped, regulators are still worried about the species’ survival.

Read the full story at WGNO

NOAA Fisheries Proposes New Recreational Measures for Summer Flounder; No Changes to Scup

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking comment on proposed recreational fishery management measures for the 2017 summer flounder and scup fisheries. 

The 2017 summer flounder recreational harvest limit is 3.77 million lb (1,710 mt), a decrease from the 2016 harvest limit of 5.42 million lb (2,458 mt). Accordingly, more restrictive management measures are necessary in 2017 to reduce landings by approximately 41 percent compared to 2016 landings, to ensure that the landings do not exceed the recreational harvest limit.

We are not proposing any changes to the recreational measures for the 2017 recreational scup fishery. The current measures are expected to keep landings within the 2017 recreational harvest limit. 

We are proposing black sea bass recreational management measures in a separate rulemaking action. 

Summer Flounder Proposed Measures

For summer flounder, in order to prevent overfishing in 2017, we are proposing stricter management measures than those in place in 2016. These measures would apply to all federally permitted party/charter vessels with applicable summer flounder and scup permits, regardless of where they fish, unless the state in which they land implements measures that are more restrictive.

We propose the Council’s and Commission’s recommended coastwide management measures for summer flounder, which are:

  • 19-inch minimum fish size
  • Four fish per person possession limit
  • Open season from June 1-September 15

We propose to continue the “conservation equivalency” approach, in which states develop state or regional minimum sizes, possession limits, and fishing seasons that will achieve the necessary level of conservation. Both the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission recommended continuing conservation equivalency.

For state waters, the Commission has reviewed measures submitted by the regions and certified that they are, in combination, the conservation equivalent of the Federal coastwide measures that would prevent overfishing. 

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register today, and the Supplemental Information Report on our website.

The comment period is open through May 4.

Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal or by mailing:

John Bullard, Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

Joint Council Meeting with ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board in Alexandria, VA: May 10, 2017

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The public is invited to attend a joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board to be held on May 10, 2017 in Alexandria, Virginia. The meeting will be held at The Westin Alexandria, 400 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA, 22314, Telephone (703) 253-8600.

Meeting Materials: Briefing documents will be posted at http://ww.mafmc.org/briefing/may-2017 as they become available.

Public Comments: Written comments received byThursday, April 27, 2017 will be included in the Council meeting briefing book. Comments received after this deadline but before close of business on Thursday, May 4, 2017 will be posted as “supplemental materials” on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using an online comment form. Comments submitted via the online form will be automatically posted to the website and available for Council consideration. A link to this form will be available at http://www.mafmc.org/public-comment. Late comments will no longer be distributed to Council members via email.

Webinar: Webinar connection information will be posted at http://ww.mafmc.org/briefing/may-2017 prior to the meeting.

Agenda

Wednesday, May 10th

1:00 p.m. Welcome/Call to Order

1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Scup Quota Period Framework (Framework 10 to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass FMP)

  • Final action

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Comprehensive Summer Flounder Amendment

  • Review draft range of alternatives for commercial issues
  • Approve range of alternatives for further development and inclusion in a public hearing document

3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Review Implementation of 2017 Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Recreational Measures

4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Black Sea Bass Wave 1 Fishery

  • Review white paper on potential experimental recreational Wave 1 black sea bass fishery
  • Consider postponed motion to allow experimental wave 1 for-hire fishery: Motion to allow an experimental 2018 January/February (wave one), recreational, federally permitted for-hire fishery for black sea bass with a 15 fish per person possession limit, a suspended minimum size limit, and a zero discard policy to allow for barotrauma, and a mandatory trip reporting requirement.

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Review Board White Paper on Summer Flounder Recreational Specifications

5:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Other Business/Adjourn

Web Version / PDF Version

Elver landings rising slowly, but price stays low

April 18, 2017 — A little more than three weeks into the 10-week fishing season, Maine elver dealers have reported buying about 30 percent of the total annual 9,616-pound landings quota allocated to the state’s fishery.

As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to figures the Department of Marine Resources described as “extremely preliminary,” dealers had purchased a total of 2,828.908 pounds of elvers and reportedly paid harvesters a total of $4,057,115 — an average price of $1,434 per pound.

That price may be misleading, though. On Patriots Day morning, an elver dealer in Ellsworth was paying $1,150 per pound and advising the fishermen who sell to him to hold on to their eels for a few days in hopes the price would rise.

At this time last year, dealers in the Ellsworth area were offering harvesters $1,300 per pound, with the low price reportedly a reflection of a weak market in Asia.

For the past two seasons, Maine harvesters have landed fewer elvers than allowed under their quota: 5,259 pounds in 2015 and 9,400 pounds last year. In 2015, the average price of elvers was just under $2,172 per pound and, at times, the price has soared above $2,400 per pound.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

CANCELLED: April 20th ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Board Conference Call

April 18, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Board Conference Call, which had been tentatively scheduled for April 20th at 2 PM, has been cancelled. The primary purpose of the call was to consider final 2016 black sea bass recreational harvest estimates and determine whether changes to 2017 recreational management measures are warranted.  However, since the release of the final harvest estimates by the Marine Recreational Information Program is still pending, the conference call has been cancelled. Discussion of the issue will occur at the next Board meeting (contingent upon the release of the final harvest estimates), scheduled for May 10, 2017 at 1 p.m., as part of the Commission’s Spring Meeting (http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-spring-meeting). This meeting will be a joint meeting with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Flounder season uncertain as New Jersey continues to fight cuts

April 14, 2017 — New Jersey’s fight against approved summer flounder measures hangs in the balance, and a meeting next month could prove critical for flounder fishermen.

The state’s Marine Fisheries Council met Thursday evening at the Galloway Township branch of the Atlantic County Library in part to discuss its strategy in opposing a federal regulatory commission’s decision to cut this year’s summer flounder catch by 30 percent.

“I’m getting questions every day,” said Dick Herb, the council’s chairman. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen there.”

“There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes,” he added.

Earlier this year, the state council voted to go out of compliance with the federal measures, which could trigger a pivotal decision by new Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross following a federal regulatory meeting in May, Herb said.

Ross could decide to shut down recreational and commercial flounder fishing in New Jersey, or he could study the issue and allow fishing to continue, among other options, according to Herb.

“He can do what he wants to do,” Herb said. “I think we’re going to have to move awfully quickly when we get some movement on this.”

In February, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved the new reductions, which would limit New Jersey recreational fishermen to three fish at 19 inches in the Atlantic Ocean and three at 18 inches in the Delaware Bay.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Officials cracking down on poaching of a slippery, squiggly and valuable commodity — baby eels

April 10, 2017 — A massive, years-long undercover operation has led to arrests and guilty pleas up and down the East Coast of poachers and traffickers who dealt in a slippery, squiggly and valuable commodity: baby eels.

William Sheldon, who runs one of the biggest and oldest eel businesses in Maine, might be forced to give up his truck with the license plate “EELWGN.” In federal court in Virginia this month, a Brooklyn seafood dealer named Tommy Zhou became the eleventh person to plead guilty to eel trafficking as part of the sweeping federal investigation known as “Operation Broken Glass.” Zhou declined to comment.

“I’m kind of chuckling now as more and more faces show up in the paper,” said Tim Sheehan, who runs a seafood company so far north in Maine it’s nearly in Canada. “We could be the last dealer standing.”

Maine is home to the only major legal market in the United States for baby eels, known as glass eels or elvers. (There is also a small market in South Carolina.) But sky-high prices for the little wrigglers has led to widespread poaching, as elvers caught farther south are smuggled north. Tracking illegal eels is a challenge.

“Fishermen can sell eels to dealers who can then sell eel to anybody,” said Toni Kerns, director of the Interstate Fisheries Management Program, a part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission is a coastal-state compact that sets eel regulations.

Read the full story at The Washington Post