Saving Seafood

ACFHP Study Finds Benthic Habitats Play an Important Role in Contributing to the Health of Coastal Fish and Invertebrates

March 30, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership:

According to the findings in the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership’s (ACFHP) recent article in the journal BioScience, benthic habitats play a critical role in the life cycles of most coastal fishes and invertebrates along the Atlantic coast of the United States. The article, titled ‘The Importance of Benthic Habitats for Coastal Fisheries’ presents the findings of the ACFHP Species-Habitat Matrix, which evaluates the relative importance of coastal, estuarine, and freshwater habitat types as living space during the major life stages of over 100 fish species. The study evaluated the importance of benthic habitats as a space for shelter, feeding, and breeding by coastal fishes and invertebrates in four biogeographic regions of the eastern United States: the North Atlantic (Canadian border to Cape Cod), the Mid-Atlantic (Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras), the South Atlantic (Cape Hatteras to Cape Canaveral), and South Florida (Cape Canaveral to Florida Keys).

Key findings and recommendations include:

  • The importance of different habitats changed with latitude: soft sediments and riverine systems scored higher in northern regions (North and Mid-Atlantic), and marshes and coral reefs scored higher in the south (South Atlantic and South Florida).
  • The ecological importance of soft sediments to fish and invertebrates have been widely undervalued. Increased recognition of the importance of this habitat in environmental assessments is essential because these areas, found in both estuarine and marine waters, are typically used for offshore energy and other development activities.
  • Submerged aquatic vegetation was a key nursery habitat coast-wide.
  • Anthropogenic impacts have altered habitat availability and use, and climate change is causing disturbance.
  • When assessing the value of habitats in a particular site, distinct habitats (e.g., submerged aquatic vegetation) should be evaluated and managed as an interconnected ecosystem rather than in isolation.

These results can be used to evaluate trade-offs and develop habitat-management strategies.  ACFHP is currently working to create a web-based tool that will allow fishery and habitat managers, scientists, and grassroots organizations to query data in the Species-Habitat Matrix to help determine the impacts of proposed coastal development or habitat restoration activities. The web-based tool should be available in the upcoming months.

The Species-Habitat Matrix was based on the expertise of many scientists along the Atlantic coast, and was spearheaded by a team of authors: Jake Kritzer (Environmental Defense Fund), Mari-Beth DeLucia (The Nature Conservancy), Emily Greene (Earth Resources Technology, Inc.), Caroly Shumway (Merrimack River Watershed Council), Marek Topolski (Maryland Department of Natural Resources), Jessie Thomas-Blate (American Rivers), Lou Chiarella (National Marine Fisheries Service), Kay Davy (National Marine Fisheries Service), and Kent Smith (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).

Read the release at ACFHP

Aggregated Large Coastal Shark and Hammerhead Shark Management Groups Reduced to 3 Sharks per Trip

March 30, 2016 — The following was released by the National Marine Fisheries Service:

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is reducing the retention limit for the commercial aggregated large coastal shark (LCS) and hammerhead shark management groups for directed shark limited access permit holders in the Atlantic region from 36 to 3 large coastal sharks (other than sandbar sharks) per vessel per trip as of 11:30 p.m. on April 2, 2016. As agreed upon by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board (in December 2015), the Commission will follow NMFS for in-season changes to the retention limit.

NMFS takes this action because 24% or 6.6 mt dressed weight (dw) of the available quota for the hammerhead shark fishery has been harvested. If the average catch rate continues, it is projected that landings would reach 80% of the quota by mid-May. The LCS management group is affected because the quotas for the LCS and hammerhead shark management groups are linked.

The retention limit for the LCS and hammerhead shark management groups will remain at 3 large coastal sharks (other than sandbar sharks) per vessel per trip in the Atlantic region (federal and state waters) through the remainder of the 2016 fishing season or until NMFS announces via the Federal Register that another adjustment to the retention limit or a fishery closure is warranted. As previously stated, NMFS intends to increase the commercial retention limit around July 15, 2016, as this was the date used for recent prior season opening dates. However, any future change in the retention limit will not be made unless deemed appropriate.

Read the ASFMC release

Gloucester boat captain in ill-fated Coast Guard rescue drowned

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (March 25, 2016) — The state medical examiner has determined that a Gloucester eel boat captain who died during an ill-fated rescue off Cape Ann late last year had drowned, a finding that brings new scrutiny to the equipment aboard the Coast Guard’s vessels.

David “Heavy D” Sutherland died moments after his 51-foot wooden boat, the Orin C, sank while under tow by the Coast Guard about 12 miles off Cape Ann on Dec. 3. The Coast Guard is investigating why the tow went awry and whether rescue vessels should be outfitted with more medical equipment.

Drowning victims can sometimes be saved if they’re underwater for only a few minutes and receive oxygen immediately, according to emergency medicine experts. But Sutherland didn’t receive oxygen because, unlike ambulances and airplanes, most Coast Guard vessels don’t carry it and crews aren’t trained to administer it, a Coast Guard official said.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

NEW JERSEY: Sandy Hook Bay Sanctuary sparks strong opposition

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (March 25, 2016) —  Anglers are up in arms about the proposal by the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association to seek a Sandy Hook Bay National Marine Sanctuary designation that would encompass not only that Bay but also the rivers flowing into it plus a portion of Raritan Bay.

There was overwhelming opposition to that proposal at last week’s meeting in the Red Bank Library, which wasn’t large enough to hold the crowd that arrived. Rik Van Hammen seemed to be sincere as he spoke about his vision, but never presented any problem that would justify turning over control of the area to the federal government.

On the other hand, anglers in Florida and California can testify why this is the last thing we would want to do. The April issue of Salt Water Sportsman states that proposals there would eliminate fishing in up to 30 percent of the reefs covered, and may be followed up by making the entire southeast Florida reef track a National Marine Sanctuary. The magazine notes that “While anglers have supported a number of spawning-season area closures throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, most consider MPAs a last resort only imperative for the survival or restoration of a fishery. The Coastal Conservation Association calls the proposed creation of a marine sanctuary an unnecessary delegation o a federal agency of a state’s authority over its waters. Florida has an excellent record of managing its fisheries.”

Read the full story at NJ.com

Monitor Costs Shift to Fishermen March 1

February 29, 2016 — Cape Ann lawmakers Bruce Tarr and Ann-Margaret Ferrante walked a thin line last week when they sat down and penned a letter to state Attorney General Maura Healey on the issue of at-sea monitoring.

The state Senate minority leader and state representative, respectively, wanted to enlist Healey’s support in the legal campaign to block NOAA Fisheries’ plan to shift the cost of mandated at-sea monitoring (ASM) to groundfish permit holders on March 1 and they knew they were racing the clock.

They also didn’t want to overplay their hand by pressuring Healey to follow a specific course of remedy, such as having Massachusetts become an intervening plaintiff in the ongoing federal lawsuit filed by New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel seeking to block NOAA Fisheries’ plan to transfer the responsibility of funding ASM to the fishermen as of Tuesday.

“We didn’t want to pre-suppose any method of support,” Tarr said. “We just believe that this plan represents such an injustice that it would be a serious mistake not to look at every option and we wanted to make sure the commercial fishing industry is represented.”

So, Tarr and Ferrante carefully worded their letter, asking the state’s senior law enforcement official to explore any available legal avenue for supporting the industry effort that Goethel’s lawsuit has emerged to most poignantly represent.

“We request that your office explore all appropriate legal means to support our fishing families and ports through vehicles such as the current pending case,” they wrote, referring to the Goethel lawsuit that was filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire. “We are interested in Mr. Goethel’s plight because his situation is comparable to that of fishermen in Gloucester and the statewide fishing industry.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Charter Boat Captains Seek Leniency on Sea Bass Limits

February 27, 2016 — HYANNIS — To fishermen, black sea bass appear to be everywhere.

“There are more sea bass around than forever,” said Bob DeCosta, owner of Albacore Charters and chairman of the Nantucket Board of Selectmen, during a public hearing Friday on quotas for the species. “We didn’t catch any sea bass when my father was fishing.”

In part the increased numbers are because black sea bass, a staple in Mid-Atlantic states, are now moving north as the rapidly warming ocean becomes more hospitable to the species. At the same time, the population has recovered from historic low population levels in 1999 to historic high amounts of spawning fish by 2004, the date of the last comprehensive stock assessment.

But fishermen are being penalized with a 23 percent cut this year because they exceeded their quota last year by 33 percent, or 762,000 pounds. The state Division of Marine Fisheries aired 14 different options on how to accomplish that at Friday’s hearing at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel. Combinations of a shortened season with higher daily trip limits or longer seasons with a smaller daily limit, and other permutations were intended to address the concerns of various ports, fishing operations and the individual recreational fisherman.

State regulators said they are constrained by what the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission will allow.

Because the majority of the fish were caught in the early portion of the season, in May and June, state officials want to apply the brakes from the start with measures that allow between two and eight fish per person per trip. Still, no one in the room of about 70 fishermen was happy with a reduction far below the eight to 20 fish allowed in 2014 and as many as 20 per trip in 2013.

“We’re trying to stay in business,” said Gov Allen, captain of the Hyannis-based charter boat Lori-Ann. “Right now, we are on the precipice. We are losing everything.”

Allen has seen 50 percent of his business eroded this year as charter boat customers — who would normally spend thousands apiece to travel from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and as far away as South Carolina and Florida to board his boat and catch and freeze dozens of sea bass a day — informed him it wasn’t worth the trip if they could only keep a handful.

“The stocks are in a healthy condition,” said Jimmy Koutalakis of the charter boat On Time.
He held up a sheaf of letters from clients who were canceling, reading one from a Canadian client who said it was too far to travel and too much money to spend for a handful of fish a day.

Coral Reef Die-Off Reaches Record Duration, Says New Research

February 26, 2016 — Rising global temperatures combined with an especially powerful El Niño are causing one of the biggest coral reef die-off events ever recorded.

The researchers, who are monitoring and forecasting offsite link the loss of corals from disease and heat stress due to record ocean temperatures, report that the global coral bleaching event that started in 2014 could extend well into 2017.

Approximately 500 million people worldwide depend upon reefs for food and to protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Coral reefs provide habitat, spawning and nursery grounds for economically important fish species; provide fishing, recreation, and tourism jobs and income to local economies; are a source of new medicines, and are hotspots of marine biodiversity. Reefs contribute approximately $29.8 billion to world economies each year. In the United States, NOAA Fisheries estimates the commercial value of U.S. fisheries from coral reefs is more than $100 million.

“We are currently experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever observed,” said Mark Eakin, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch coordinator. “We may be looking at a 2- to 2½-year-long event. Some areas have already seen bleaching two years in a row.”

According to Eakin, the length of the event means corals in some parts of the world have no time to recover before they are hit by more bleaching. The current global bleaching event is hammering some reefs repeatedly.

Scientists first observed the current global coral bleaching event beginning in mid-2014, when bleaching began in the western Pacific Ocean. In October 2015, as the current El Niño was still strengthening, NOAA scientists declared the third global bleaching event on record was underway.

The NOAA coral scientists point out that reefs that bleached in 2015 in the Caribbean and Florida Keys have just started to recover, but may start bleaching all over again as early as July. Eakin also notes that in the Pacific, corals in Fiji’s nearshore waters are bleaching with lots of dead coral for the second consecutive year, and could be worse than last year.

Read the full story at Canada Journal

Alaska Senator Sullivan Examines Magnuson-Stevens Act

Anchorage, AK — February 25, 2016 — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan chaired a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard hearing, coined, “Magnuson-Stevens Act at 40,” that examined the law’s effect on directing the country’s fisheries.

Senator Sullivan stated, “As I have mentioned at this Committee many times before, Alaska’s fisheries are by far the largest in the nation…Through the MSA’s guiding principles—the ten national standards, as applied by the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils who manage the fisheries off America’s coasts in a science-based and open and transparent stakeholder-driven process —the MSA has resulted in the world’s best managed fisheries, particularly in Alaska.”

The legislation is named after Alaskan U.S Senator Ted Stevens.  Senator Sullivan also examined issues that may improve the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), which was previously reauthorized in 2006.

Read the full story at Alaska Link

Maine Operation Game Thief Offers $11,000 Reward for Information on Major Lobster Trap Molesting Case

February 26, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Maine Operation Game Thief is offering a reward of $11,000 for information that helps authorities bring the person or people responsible for a major lobster trap molesting case near Jeffrey’s Ledge to justice.

A Maine Marine Patrol investigation, which began Monday, February 22, 2016, revealed that 200 lobster traps had been hauled by someone other than the license holders, the lobsters stolen, and the traps lowered to the bottom, some of which were not retrievable.
 
Jeffrey’s Ledge is located in the western Gulf of Maine located approximately 30 miles off the New Hampshire coast.
 
Maine Operation Game Thief (Maine OGT) is a private, non-profit organization that works with the Department of Marine Resources, Maine Marine Patrol, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Maine Warden Service, and Wildlife Crime Stoppers to pay rewards to citizens who provide information that helps bring violators of Maine’s game and commercial fishing laws to justice.
 
“The OGT program is committed to helping maintain our state’s valuable game and commercial fishing resources,” said OGT Chairman Greg Sirpis. “Maine’s lobster industry works hard to protect and sustain this important resource and to have people undermine our state’s proud heritage of hard work and conservation is unacceptable and we will support efforts to bring whoever did this to justice,”
 
“This is an extremely serious violation involving multiple victims, and we would appreciate any help from the public,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish.  “The money for this reward comes both from the Operation Game Thief program and from lobstermen committed to bringing this person or people to justice. I’m grateful for the support of OGT and these lobstermen and for their dedication to the work of the Maine Marine Patrol.”
 
People with information on this case are encouraged to contact Marine Patrol Sergeant Rob Beal by phone at 207-479-3931 or to call the Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-ALERT-US (1-800-253-7887).

Coast Guard Vessel Capsizes on Way to Rescue Fishing Boat

February 25, 2016 — Five Coast Guard officers sent to rescue the crew of a fishing boat faced their own emergency early Thursday when their vessel capsized in treacherous conditions off the Rockaways, officials said.

The tables were turned on the Guardsmen as they tried to save a 76-foot scallop trawler from Virginia that was being hammered by 10-to-12-foot waves and taking on water near the East Rockaway Inlet, according to officials.

The commercial fishing vessel — dubbed the Carolina Queen III — had been searching for sea scallops in the mid-Atlantic region just south of Long Island, which would have been on the plates of New Yorkers if it wasn’t for the bad weather.

Fighting gale-force winds and heavy rain, the Coast Guard’s 25-foot, twin-engine response boat was dispatched from Station Jones Beach to rescue the seven man crew after receiving an urgent distress call at about 2 a.m. saying they were having mechanical issues and had lost power.

But as the Coast Guard members tried to save the fishing vessel, which eventually ran aground, the powerful surf proved to be too much for them — and their boat overturned at about 4:45 a.m. near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, officials said.

Read the full story at the New York Post