Saving Seafood

Fisheries scientists to address flaws in past forage fish research

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – May 2, 2016 – Dr. Ray Hilborn, a marine biologist and fisheries scientist at the University of Washington, has launched a new initiative aimed at addressing key issues surrounding forage fish science and the impacts of forage fishing on predator species. Dr. Hilborn’s Forage Fish Project is one of several scientific efforts occurring in the next few months to expand the existing body of scientific research on forage fish.

Comprised of 14 renowned fisheries scientists from around the globe, the Forage Fish Project held its inaugural conference last month in Hobart, Australia, where it identified shortcomings in the existing forage fish research. Specifically, it found several issues with work produced by the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, whose April 2012 report, “Little Fish, Big Impact,” concluded forage fish are vulnerable to overfishing, among other findings.

The Forage Fish Project, which includes two members of the Lenfest Task Force, began work to address these flaws, with the goal of producing an accompanying study later this year.

In Hobart, Project members found that most of the models used in previous forage fish studies, like the Lenfest Task Force report, left out factors such as the natural variability of forage fish stocks, and the extent of size overlap between fisheries and predators. The group also found multiple indications that the Lenfest study greatly overstated the negative impact of forage fishing on predator species.

“Most [food web] models were not built with the explicit intention of evaluating forage fish fisheries, so unsurprisingly many models did not include features of forage fish population biology or food web structure that are relevant for evaluating all fishery impacts,” according to minutes from the Hobart meeting.

Two upcoming fishery management workshops will also evaluate forage species on the East and West Coasts of the U.S., the first organized by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the Pacific Fishery Management Council. The workshop, which will be held in La Jolla, Calif., from May 2-5, will focus on how to improve stock assessment methods for northern anchovy and other coastal pelagic species. Attendees will evaluate model-based assessment approaches based on routinely assessed pelagic species from around the world, consider non-assessment approaches to estimate fish stocks, and develop recommendations for how the SWFSC should evaluate coastal pelagic fish stocks in the future.

A similar forage fish workshop will be held May 16-17 in Portland, Maine. This workshop will focus on Atlantic herring, with the goal of establishing a rule to specify its acceptable biological catch (ABC), the recommended catch level for any given fish species. An effective ABC rule will consider the role of Atlantic herring in the ecosystem, stabilize the fishery at a level that will achieve optimum yield, and address localized depletion in inshore waters.

Ultimately, these various forage fish workshops and projects are striving to use the best available science to update previous research and determine sound management practices for forage species.

Read the full minutes from the Forage Fish Project conference in Hobart, Australia

Learn more about the upcoming coastal pelagic species workshop in La Jolla, Calif.

Learn more about the upcoming Atlantic herring workshop in Portland, Maine

New NOAA rules governing bycatch in Atlantic herring fishery start May 4

April 7, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved adjustments to its Atlantic herring fishery management plan that aim to minimize bycatch.

The new rules require vessels to report slippage – catch discarded prior to official sampling by an approved observer – to be reported in each ship’s daily herring catch report.

In addition, vessels must either return to port or move 15 nautical miles away from the location where the slippage occurred, depending on whether the event is deemed a precautionary measure performed for reasons of safety or whether it is considered an avoidable accident. If the latter is the case, the vessel at fault must return to port, and if the slippage is deemed accidental, the vessel still must move and may not fish in that area for the duration of its journey.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to 2016 Atlantic Herring Catch Limits

March 9, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

Today, we are announcing adjustments to the 2016 Atlantic herring catch limits for the different management areas. These adjusted catch limits account for overages and carryover of unharvested catch from 2014. 

Catch information for fishing year 2014 shows that in three stock areas (Areas 1A, 2, and 3) Atlantic herring was under-harvested, while in one stock area (Area 1B) the catch limit was exceeded. The overall 2014 stock-wide catch limit was not exceeded. Therefore, we are adjusting the initial 2016 area catch limits to account for the overage and carryovers from the 2014 fishing year. The initial stock-wide catch limit is also adjusted to account for the overage incurred in Area 1B.

Final 2016 herring catch limits will publish later this spring.

Initial Adjusted Herring Catch Limits for 2016: 

Area 1A

30,397 metric tons

Area 1B

2,941 metric tons

Area 2

32,100 metric tons

Area 3

43,832 metric tons

Stockwide

103,045 metric tons

For more information, read the proposed rule as published today in the Federal Register, and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Questions about this rule? Please contact Emily Gilbert, 978-281-9244, or Emily.Gilbert@noaa.gov.

Maine’s 2015 Commercial Marine Resources Top $600 Million for the First Time

March 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources: 

Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources topped $600 million in overall value in 2015, according to preliminary data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The total,$631,768,531,  reflects an all-time high and an increase of more than $33 million over the previous record set in 2014.

The largest single increase in value was in Maine’s lobster fishery. The fishery saw the overall landed value jump by more than $37 million and the average per pound value increase by more than 10 percent, going from $3.70 per pound in 2014 to $4.09 per pound in 2015.

The overall value of Maine’s lobster fishery was again by far the highest at $495,433,635. When factoring in bonuses paid to harvesters as reported by 11 of Maine’s 19 lobster co-ops, the overall landed value of Maine’s lobster fishery reached $510,680,048.

2015 marked the fourth year in a row and the fourth year ever in which Maine lobster harvesters landed over 120 million pounds, with landings totaling 121,083,418 pounds. “Maine’s lobster fishery continues to be a major engine for our coastal economy,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.

“This past year saw a continuation of steady and historic lobster landings throughout the season. The increase in value reflects growing demand for Maine lobster.

“While this year’s value and landings are great news for our coastal economy, we also recognize that lobster represents more than 81 percent of the overall value of our commercial fisheries,” said Commissioner Keliher.  “It shows that we all must be working hard to build and sustain our commercial fisheries and to create more diverse opportunity, be it with traditional commercial fisheries or an expanding the role of aquaculture. This work is critical to ensure we can adapt to changes in landings and value in future years.”  

Maine’s softshell clam industry retained its second place standing in overall value at $22,536,086, a record for the fishery.  The jump in value came on the strength of a 47 cent per pound increase over 2014. At $2.46 per pound, 2015 landings netted harvesters a 23 percent increase in per pound value over 2014 despite a drop in landings of one million pounds.

At $2,171 per pound, Maine’s elver fishery was by-far the most lucrative of Maine’s commercial fisheries on a per pound basis. Despite a season in which landings were well below the state quota due to a cold, dry spring that slowed elver migration and challenged harvesting, overall value increased by nearly $3 million. At $11,422,381, the elver fishery was Maine’s fourth most lucrative behind herring at $13 million.

DMR officials consider 2015 a continuation of the successful rebuilding effort for Maine’s scallop fishery despite a decline in value and meat pounds landed. “We expected 2015 to be lean in terms of landings,” said Commissioner Keliher. “But considering that Maine scallop harvesters landed more than ten times the amount harvested in 2005, this fishery is on the right track.” 

More landings data can be found at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/comfish.htm.

Atlantic herring fishing rules changed to reduce waste

February 9, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Interstate fishing regulators say the rules for fishing Atlantic herring have changed in an attempt to reduce waste.

An amendment to the herring rules says the holds of the fishing boats where the catch is stored must be empty before the ship departs. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says the change will encourage fishermen to harvest the fish in line with market demand.

 

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

ASMFC Approves Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring

February 8, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Herring. The Amendment refines the spawning closure system, modifies the fixed gear set-aside, and includes an empty fish hold provision contingent on federal adoption. The Amendment consolidates prior amendments (and associated addenda) and recent management decisions into a single document; it is now the comprehensive document for Atlantic herring management in state waters.

The Amendment allows for the use of a modified GSI-based spawning monitoring system to track reproductive maturity in an effort to better align the timing of spawning area closures with the onset of spawning. This new method will be tested and evaluated for effectiveness during the 2016 fishing season. If found to be ineffective the Section has the option to revert back to using the prior monitoring system. Default closure dates have been modified to late August or early October depending on the area. The spawning closure period remains four weeks.

Previously, the fixed gear set-aside was available to fixed gear fishermen through November 1, after this date the remaining set-aside became available to the rest of the Area 1A fishery. The November 1 date had been established because, typically, herring have migrated out of the Gulf of Maine by that time. Anecdotal evidence suggests herring are in the Gulf of Maine after November 1, therefore, fixed gear fishermen requested the set-aside be made available to them for the remainder of the calendar year. Under Amendment 3, fixed gear fishermen will now have access to the quota as long as the directed fishery is open.

Amendment 3 also requires fish holds to be empty of fish prior to trip departures. This measure, which is contingent on adoption in federal waters, seeks to minimize wasteful fishing practices and encourage harvest based on market demand. The New England Fishery Management Council has included a similar provision in its Framework Adjustment 4 to the Federal Atlantic Herring FMP. Framework Adjustment 4 is currently under review by NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, at aharp@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

NEFMC Releases Newsletter for January 2016 Meeting, Portsmouth, NH

February 5, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

At its Jan. 26-28 meeting in Portsmouth, NH, the Council approved actions related to the development of several fishery management plans. The issues involved:

  • A witch flounder ABC
  • At-Sea Monitoring
  • Small Mesh Multispecies
  • The Omnibus Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment
  • Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring FMP

View a PDF of the Newsletter

Herring vs. Haddock in Data Debate

February 3, 2016 — PORTLAND — Last October, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) drastically constrained the ability of midwater trawlers to fish for herring in offshore waters for a period of more than six months, because the herring fleet had bumped up against its quota for the incidental catch of Georges Bank haddock.

As a result, at its December meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) heard a request from herring fishery interests to reconsider the level of constraint for the upcoming fishing year of May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017, and for future years, since Georges Bank haddock appears to be plentiful and, they said, estimates of haddock catches by the herring fleet were inaccurate.

“A seven-month closure of a major fishery is very significant,” said NEFMC member Mary Beth Tooley, who is the government affairs representative for Rockland-based O’Hara Corp., which owns and operates two herring vessels. “We in the herring fishery don’t want to catch haddock. But that biomass is like locusts: They’re unbelievably abundant. It’s two-pronged: Let’s get groundfishermen catching haddock, and not close the herring fishery.”

Tooley said the herring industry agrees that there should be a limit on what the herring fishery takes from the haddock resource, and that accountability measures to enforce the limit are needed. But the methodology currently used to extrapolate estimates of how much haddock the herring fleet incidentally catches isn’t accurate, she said, and monitoring of harvesting operations, through observer or electronic programs, is inadequate for providing an accurate count of haddock catch.

“We need to have accountability,” Tooley said. “But with our current level of [observer] coverage…it’s become a real issue.”

In an action that became effective Oct. 22, 2015, herring midwater trawl vessels were prohibited from fishing for more than 2,000 pounds of herring per trip or day in the “Herring Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Measure Area,” a limit that will remain in place until the quota becomes available for the 2016 fishing year, on May 1.

The action effectively limited the midwater trawl fishery in Herring Management Area 3, because Area 3 falls within the Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Management Area.

Federally permitted herring vessels, all together, are allowed to catch 1 percent of the Georges Bank haddock resource. The overall allowable haddock catch on Georges Bank for 2015 was 53.7 million pounds (24.3 metric tons); 1 percent, which is further reduced a bit to account for management uncertainty, is 500,449 pounds (227 mt), according to NMFS.

According to data reported on Dec. 21, 2015, based on estimated haddock catches, the herring midwater fleet had reached 93.09 percent of its quota by September, and 104.49 percent by October.

The amount of haddock caught by the herring fleet is extrapolated from the amount of haddock caught on observer trips.

Read the full story at Fisherman’s Voice

An hour with: The Woods Hole Science Aquarium

February 1, 2016 — WOODS HOLE, Mass. — The cart of food wouldn’t look totally out of place at an upscale sushi restaurant: capelin and herring, both whole and neatly chopped, mysis shrimp and cubes of gelatin packed with ground fish, broccoli, carrots and spinach.

But these restaurant-grade meals aren’t for fine dining; they’re for the fish and other marine animals that call the Woods Hole Science Aquarium home.

The free aquarium is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service and is open five days a week. But fish need to eat even on weekends or federal holidays. So every morning, usually before the doors open at 11 a.m., one of the three staff members or five regular volunteers comes to dole out a specific mix of edibles to the critters in each tank, clean the tanks or perform other behind-the-scenes maintenance at the nation’s oldest public aquarium at 166 Water St.

Alison Brodet, a marine biologist who volunteers at the aquarium once a week, briefly conferred with senior biologist Kristy Owen about the morning’s feeding. Some usually ravenous fish were being slower to the food today, but Owen wasn’t worried. The bigger fish will eat more than once a day, but the smaller fish may eat only once a day or less, depending on their temperament.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Times