Saving Seafood

NEWSDAY: New York fishers deserve fresh assessment of black sea bass

June 3, 2016 — Regulating fisheries isn’t easy. Commercial fishers need to make a living, but species must be protected from overfishing or everyone loses. Quotas and seasons are needed, but regulators must be flexible enough to adjust to unforeseen circumstances.

Those principles are in play now with black sea bass. Cold weather delayed their migration from Maine, so New York’s commercial fishers, most of them Long Islanders, caught only part of their quota in the period ending May 31. June is off-limits, part of a plan fishers helped craft to give equal access to those who fish in different seasons. The state Department of Environmental Conservation wisely agreed to reopen the season this month if final May data show unused quotas. The DEC also was smart to take the unusual step of letting pairs of fishers catch their daily allotment from the same boat, reducing costs of fuel.

Read the full editorial at Newsday

Congressmen complain that New England fishermen are being shortchanged

May 24, 2016 — Fishing quotas on black sea bass, summer flounder and scup are unfairly limiting the catch of New England fishermen, U.S. congressmen from the region said in a letter Monday to the U.S. Department of Commerce that complained about the current “out-of-date allocation formula.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, was joined by Connecticut’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, in the letter that was also signed by 13 other members of the Connecticut and Massachusetts congressional delegations. They noted that these fish species are heading north, looking for cooler water, yet New England states have been thwarted in cashing in on the bounty.

Read the full story at The Day

CONNECTICUT: Fishing limits are too onerous, fishermen tell Rep. Joe Courtney

April 25, 2016 — STONINGTON, Conn. — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, spoke with local fishermen Friday who shared their ongoing concerns about federal fishing regulations that limit the numbers of fish they can haul.

The regulations, which are intended to restore fish stocks, have forced local fishermen to throw back thousands of fish that are usually dead already, they said.

Mike Gambardella, owner of Gambardella Wholesale Seafood, who called the gathering of area fishermen, said if catch limits don’t change, he’ll be forced to close his business.

At the moment, Gambardella’s operation is only allowed to bring in 10 black sea bass per day, which he said is absurd. And since 2010, the state’s quota for summer flounder has gone down more than 100,000 pounds.

Gambardella showed Courtney photos of a local fisherman who brought in thousands of sea bass in one tow. The fisherman was then forced to pick 10 of them to keep and had to throw the rest back.

“These federal regulations are really in bad shape,” he said. “Something has got to change, or I’ll have to close my doors.”

Read the full story at The Westerly Sun

NEW JERSEY: Trap survey underway on two reefs

April 22, 2016 — Three recreational and commercially important species are the subject of a trap survey that is being conducted on the artificial reefs now through November.

The state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and researchers from Rutgers University have deployed a series of fish traps on two reefs to focus on characterizing the seasonal and spatial changes in reef community composition and relative abundance of structure-associated species.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Council Approves Changes to Scup Gear-Restricted Areas

April 21, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

During a meeting last week in Montauk, New York the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a framework action to modify the boundary of one of the region’s two Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs). The proposed change to the Southern Scup GRA boundary is expected to increase the availability of longfin squid to small-mesh fisheries.

The GRAs were implemented in 2000 and are intended to reduce discard mortality of juvenile scup. The current GRA regulations include a Northern GRA, which is effective from November 1 through December 31, and a Southern GRA, which is effective from January 1 through March 15. Trawl vessels which fish for or possess longfin squid, black sea bass, or silver hake (also known as whiting) are required to use mesh 5 inches or larger in the GRAs during those times of the year. The scup stock has expanded substantially since the GRAs were first implemented, and analysis conducted by scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center indicate that the GRAs were partially responsible for this rebuilding.

The GRAs have been modified several times in response to requests from commercial fishermen. In recent years, advisors have recommended further modification of the GRAs to restore access to certain areas for longfin squid fishing, arguing that modifications to the GRA boundaries would not harm the scup stock

In response to an industry request, the Council initiated a framework action in 2014 to address potential changes to the scup GRAs. The framework considered a range of alternatives, including modifications to the GRA boundaries and elimination of one or both GRAs.

After a lengthy discussion of the impacts of the proposed alternatives, the Council voted to modify the boundary of the Southern Scup GRA. The proposed change, shown in Figure 1, is based on a proposal developed by members of the Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel.

“By increasing access to important fishing grounds, the Council balanced the concerns of the squid industry with the possible impacts on the scup stock,” said the Council’s Executive Director, Chris Moore. “If the modification is approved by NMFS, the Council will be working closely with NMFS to monitor scup discards to make sure that mortality of juvenile scup does not increase as a result.”

Read the release and see the chart at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

Council Approves Changes to Scup Gear-Restricted Areas

The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

April 20, 2016 — During a meeting last week in Montauk, New York the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a framework action to modify the boundary of one of the region’s two Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs). The proposed change to the Southern Scup GRA boundary is expected to increase the availability of longfin squid to small-mesh fisheries.

The GRAs were implemented in 2000 and are intended to reduce discard mortality of juvenile scup. The current GRA regulations include a Northern GRA, which is effective from November 1 through December 31, and a Southern GRA, which is effective from January 1 through March 15. Trawl vessels which fish for or possess longfin squid, black sea bass, or silver hake (also known as whiting) are required to use mesh 5 inches or larger in the GRAs during those times of the year. The scup stock has expanded substantially since the GRAs were first implemented, and analysis conducted by scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center indicate that the GRAs were partially responsible for this rebuilding.

The GRAs have been modified several times in response to requests from commercial fishermen. In recent years, advisors have recommended further modification of the GRAs to restore access to certain areas for longfin squid fishing, arguing that modifications to the GRA boundaries would not harm the scup stock

In response to an industry request, the Council initiated a framework action in 2014 to address potential changes to the scup GRAs. The framework considered a range of alternatives, including modifications to the GRA boundaries and elimination of one or both GRAs.

After a lengthy discussion of the impacts of the proposed alternatives, the Council voted to modify the boundary of the Southern Scup GRA. The proposed change, shown in Figure 1, is based on a proposal developed by members of the Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel.

“By increasing access to important fishing grounds, the Council balanced the concerns of the squid industry with the possible impacts on the scup stock,” said the Council’s Executive Director, Chris Moore. “If the modification is approved by NMFS, the Council will be working closely with NMFS to monitor scup discards to make sure that mortality of juvenile scup does not increase as a result.”

Regulations call for fewer, bigger black bass on hook

April 12, 2016 — While the Massachusetts regulations for recreational fluke and scup remain unchanged for the upcoming 2016 fishing season, recreational anglers will have to adhere to smaller bag limits and minimum possession guidelines for black sea bass.

Massachusetts, which is part of a multi-state management plan for black sea bass administered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, must join Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey in the northern region in reducing its black sea bass harvest by 23 percent to adhere to the new management plan restrictions.

In Massachusetts, the 2016 black sea bass season will run May 21 to Aug. 31 and recreational fishermen will be limited to keeping five fish per day, with the minimum catch size set at 15 inches.

Those parameters are different from 2015, when the season ran May 23 to Aug. 27 and anglers were allowed to keep eight black sea bass per day as long as they met or exceeded the minimum possession size of 14 inches.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Mid-Atlantic Council Announces Funded Collaborative Research Projects

April 8, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council announces that four research projects have been selected to receive a total of approximately $610,000 in funding as part of the Council’s 2016-2017 Collaborative Fisheries Research Program. The four projects each address research priorities identified by the Mid-Atlantic Council in a Request for Proposals distributed in December 2015.

“Accurate information is the foundation of effective fisheries management,” said Council Chairman Rick Robins. “These research projects will help fill critical gaps in our understanding of Mid-Atlantic fisheries and ensure their continued sustainability.”

Below is an overview of the selected projects. Click here to view Executive Summaries for these projects.

Changes in Availability of Mid-Atlantic Fish Stocks To Fisheries-Independent Surveys 

Principal Investigators: Janet Nye, Michael Frisk, and Skyler Sagarese.  

This project will investigate how habitat modifies the availability of summer flounder, black sea bass, and spiny dogfish to the NEFSC trawl survey. The focus of this research is on the relationship between the NEFSC trawl survey index and actual abundance of these species.

Collaborative Development Of A Winter Habitat Model For Atlantic Mackerel, “Version 2.0”, For The Identification Of “Cryptic” Habitats And Estimation Of Population Availability To Assessment Surveys And The Fishery

Principal Investigator: Gregory DiDomenico; Co-Principal Investigators: William Bright; Peter Moore, Josh Kohut, Mitchell Roffer, and John Manderson. 

This project will synthesize existing information to develop and evaluate a quantitative model describing dynamic winter habitat distributions for Atlantic Mackerel. The goal of this study is to develop a model that can be used to accurately estimate the availability of the population to fishery independent surveys.

Estimating and Mitigating the Discard Mortality Rate of Black Sea Bass in Offshore Recreational Rod-And-Reel Fisheries 

Principal Investigator: Olaf Jensen; Co-Principal Investigators: Eleanor Bochenek and Jeffrey Kneebone. 

This objective of this project is to estimate the discard mortality rate of black sea bass captured by recreational anglers using rod-and-reel fishing gear in the deepwater offshore fishery during fall/winter in the Mid-Atlantic. In addition, this research will generate “best practice” capture and handling recommendations.

Determining Selectivity and Optimum Mesh Size to Harvest Three Commercially Important Mid-Atlantic Species 

Principal Investigator: Emerson Hasbrouck; Co-Principal Investigator: Jonathan Knight. 

This project will analyze the selectivity of multiple codend mesh sizes relative to summer flounder, black sea bass and scup retention in the commercial bottom trawl fishery in the Mid-Atlantic region.

MASSACHUSETTS: Will Sea Bass Quota Go Up or Down?

April 7, 2016 — Last year, sea bass literally put some commercial fishermen in the black.

The black fish with the delicious pure white meat abundantly filled local waters and made up some financial losses for fishermen curtailed by otherwise stringent regulations on striped bass, cod, flounder and other lucrative species.

But that might change soon.

In a memo dated March 18 from the Division of Marine Fisheries in Boston, while regulations for striped bass, bluefish, fluke and scup will likely remain unchanged this year in Massachusetts, “Regulations for black sea bass have been amended to achieve a mandatory 23 percent harvest reduction.”

The Massachusetts regulatory agency says these revisions are being implemented along the entire Atlantic seaboard via “emergency rulemaking” to take effect prior to the onset of the 2016 season. Public hearings will be held to discuss proposals before changes are finalized.

Read the full story at Newport This Week

NOAA Fisheries Announces the 2016-2017 Recreational Fishing Season for Black Sea Bass in the South Atlantic Region

March 29, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries announces the 2016-2017 recreational fishing season for black sea bass in the South Atlantic Region will start on April 1, 2016, and end on March 31, 2017. 

Landings in the past three fishing years have not come close to the 2016-2017 annual catch limit of 1,001,177 pounds whole weight; therefore, black sea bass will be open for the entire April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017 recreational fishing season. 

This announcement is in compliance with the final rule for Regulatory Amendment 14 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, which published on November 7, 2014 (79 FR 66316). Regulations were effective on December 8, 2014. 

For the black sea bass recreational sector, the final rule for Regulatory Amendment 14 revised:  The recreational fishing year for black sea bass from June 1 through May 31, to April 1 through March 31.

 The black sea bass recreational accountability measure to have NOAA Fisheries announce the length of the recreational season for black sea bass annually in the Federal Register prior to the April 1 recreational fishing year start date based on when NOAA Fisheries projects the recreational sector’s annual catch limit will be met.

For more information on the final rule for Regulatory Amendment 14, please follow this link to the Frequently Asked Questions:

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/s_atl/sg/2014/reg_am14/index.html