Saving Seafood

California wildlife agency denied in bid to delay lawsuit over whale, sea turtle entanglements

February 5, 2019 — A San Francisco judge has rejected the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s bid to delay a lawsuit that claims the agency has fallen short in preventing the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery from entangling whales and sea turtles.

U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney, on Jan. 25, denied the department’s motion to delay the case by 2 1/2 years while it secures a federal “incidental take permit” that would allow the agency to operate in a way that addresses and minimizes the threat to whales and sea turtles, while acknowledging some risk.

The Center for Biological Diversity sued Fish and Wildlife in October 2017 after the total number of whale entanglements from all fishing industries broke records for three straight years.

“The Dungeness crab fishery is the biggest entanglement culprit in California, by far,” said Steve Jones, a spokesman for the center. “Most entangling gear can’t be identified, but of the identified gear, it is mostly crab lines.”

Read the full story at The San Jose Mercury News

Court Denies California’s Attempt to Delay Whale Entanglement Case

February 1, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A federal court has rejected the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s bid to delay a lawsuit alleging it’s not doing enough to prevent its commercial Dungeness crab fishery from entangling whales and sea turtles in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the department in October 2017 after whale entanglement numbers broke records for three straight years.

“This is an important win in our fight to protect whales and sea turtles from suffering and dying in crabbing gear. It’s time for California regulators to stop delaying and take action,” Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center, said in a press release. “The court recognized that it can’t just sit on the sidelines while state officials have no plan to prevent entanglements. Talking and holding endless meetings isn’t enough.”

U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney denied the department’s motion to stay the case for two and a half years while it applies for an ESA Section 10 federal permit, which would require preventive measures. California sent a letter to NOAA last year, indicating the agency’s plans to formally file for the permit.

In the meantime, California has taken steps to avoid whale entanglements. The Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group published a best practices guide for fishermen It also established the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP) to support the state in working collaboratively with experts (fishermen, researchers, NGOs, etc.) to identify and assess elevated levels of entanglement risk and determine the need for management options to reduce risk of entanglement. Working with federal scientists, the group also solicits periodic flyovers to find concentrations of gear and concentrations of whales. With that information, fishermen can voluntarily get their gear and/or try to avoid whale interactions.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations filed as an intervenor in the lawsuit and continues to support the industry in its efforts to avoid whale entanglement.

“No commercial fisherman wants to entangle whales or sea turtles in their fishing gear – doing so is not only a public relations disaster, but will likely destroy that gear, can damage their boats and can even be life-threatening,” the PCFFA states in its Memorandum in Support of Motion for Intervention in March 2018. “Many commercial fishermen voluntarily participate in programs to identify and rescue marine animals (especially whales) from entanglements in commercial fishing gear, often at great personal peril.”

On Feb. 22 the court is scheduled to consider the Center’s motion for summary judgment, the Center said in a press release.

In 2016 federal officials confirmed that the California commercial Dungeness crab fishery entangled at least 23 animals. As of late November, at least 36 whale entanglements had been reported off California in 2018, including at least five humpback whales entangled in California commercial Dungeness crab gear, the Center said in the statement.

California’s attention to this issue a few years ago has resulted in several gear workshops that included researchers, developers and fishermen coming together to try to solve or mitigate whale entanglement issues on the entire West Coast. Both Oregon and Washington now have their own gear/entanglement groups, working on problems and proposing incremental steps to prevent entanglements. Washington also has notified NOAA it intends to apply for an ESA Section 10 permit for its Dungeness crab fishery.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Judge: NMFS must rewrite anchovy catch rule

January 22, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators have until April 16 to rewrite a rule that sets annual catch limits (ACL) for commercial fishing of anchovy in federal waters off the northern coast of California, a judge has ruled.

The Jan. 18 order from federal judge Lucy Koh enforces a judgment in a lawsuit brought in 2016 by the environmental activist group Oceana against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Oceana’s lawsuit questioned the science that NMFS relied on in reaching a 2016 decision to set the ACL for northern California anchovy at 25,000 metric tons. The agency set that limit — even though landings typically only total less than a third of that, 7,300t — judging the stock’s maximum sustainable yield to be 123,000t, and calculating an acceptable biological catch of 100,000t. The ACL was set, conservatively, the agency said, at a fourth of that level.

Speaking to Undercurrent in June 2018 about the ruling, Diane Pleschner-Steele, the executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, disagreed with the biomass estimates, but because the harvesters her group works with are seeing more anchovies, not fewer.

Pleschner-Steele said that her group worked in 2017 with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to perform an aerial survey of anchovy stocks.

“The department’s plane flew along the coast inside the area that the NOAA acoustic trawl survey was transecting at the same time, and our spotter pilot estimated tonnage of the schools he observed,” she wrote.   “We documented tens of thousands of tons of coastal pelagic species — both sardine and anchovy —  that the NOAA cruise did not see or factor into its assessment because they survey largely offshore and don’t come into nearshore waters.   This is now recognized as a problem, and we’re hopeful that we can improve stock assessments over time.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

CALIFORNIA: Can sustainably caught swordfish make waves on the Central Coast?

December 31, 2018 — Will sustainably-caught swordfish receive a wave of support from Central Coast fishermen, consumers and restaurateurs?

Clean-fishing advocates sure hope so as efforts continue to phase out the use of drift gillnets — the mile-long, 100-foot-wide nets currently used to catch swordfish — which  commonly collect and kill protected species like whales, dolphins, and sea turtles.

On Sept. 28,  Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1017, which requires the state Department of Fish and Wildlife get funding for and enact a transition program that would help fishermen switch to alternative fishing gear.

Under the program, up to $10,000 would be offered for fisheries to turn in their drift gillnet permits, and transition to “clean-fishing” gear.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has until March of 2020 to roll out the drift gillnet “buyout.” However, the department still needs to raise $1 million to trigger the revocation of all drift gillnet permits. The money would have to come from federal funding or private donor sources.

Read the full story at the Monterey Herald

California seeks plan to protect whales and Dungeness crab fishery

December 3, 2018 — Crabs are a big deal in California as one of our oldest and most valuable fisheries. They are often a treasured part of holiday feasts and they supply jobs to coastal communities. Whales are a big deal, literally, as the most majestic, largest animals swimming off our shore. What the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has done in the past several years with our partners to prevent whale entanglements in fishing gear is a big deal, too.

California’s ocean waters are home to one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world, hosting a diverse assemblage of migrating birds, marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish and invertebrate species. Protecting the ocean is a high priority for Californians.

That is why our department is taking actions to protect the whales and our prized crab fishery. The department is working to create a conservation plan that will analyze the effects of crab fishing on whales, identify steps to minimize the risk of whale entanglements in the crab fishing gear, secure funding to implement the plan, and submit it to the federal government for needed approval.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

Trade group takes fuel companies to court over Dungeness crab closures

November 27, 2018 — A trade group representing commercial fishermen on the West Coast of the United States has filed a lawsuit in a California court claiming petroleum companies have significantly harmed the Dungeness crab fishery in that state and neighboring Oregon.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association filed the suit in a San Francisco, California court last week against 30 fossil fuel makers. They claim actions by the defendants – which include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Dutch Shell, Citgo, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil – have led to algae blooms in the Pacific Ocean. Those blooms lead to a buildup of domoic acid, a harmful neurotoxin, in the crabs.

The lawsuit states fuel companies have known for a half-century that their products have led to climate change, with the waters for the crab fishery growing warmer. As a result, the Dungeness crab fishery has suffered through repeated closures since 2015.

“We are seeking to implement measures, at the fossil fuel industry’s expense, that will help crabbers adapt to a world in which domoic acid flare-ups will be increasingly common, and also help those crabbers who suffer financial losses as a result,” said Noah Oppenheim, the association’s executive director, in a news release.

Just days before the lawsuit, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials announced that the Dungeness crab fishery, originally scheduled to open on 15 November, would be suspended indefinitely along the Sonoma County coast, located roughly 70 miles north of San Francisco.

Crab fishing south of the county began on schedule. Crab fishing north of Sonoma County is not scheduled to start until next month. However, in the same statement, state officials did not rule out a delay for that portion of the fishery.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

CALIFORNIA: Domoic Acid Levels Delay Commercial Dungeness Crab Season Until At Least Dec. 1

November 12, 2018 — The opening of the commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed until at least Dec. 1 in the waters north of Bodega Head State Marine Reserve to the Sonoma/Mendocino county line because of elevated levels of domoic acid, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today.

The commercial fishery south of this area will open as scheduled Thursday, however.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

North Coast crabbers haul in above average catch in 2017-18 season worth $42 million

July 5, 2018 — The North Coast had a significantly improved Dungeness crab season this year, hauling in 14.3 million of the 19.4 million pounds of Dungeness crab landed in California so far this season, according to preliminary state data provided to the Times-Standard on Tuesday.

While there were a few obstacles, Trinidad crab fisherman Mike McBrayer said Tuesday that he had a much improved season thanks to a great crew and good weather that permitted him to get out on the water more days.

“And there were crabs, and that’s always a good thing,” McBrayer said.

Preliminary catch data provided by the state shows Trinidad hauled in more than 804,000 pounds of crab worth $2.5 million and Eureka hauled in 4.5 million pounds worth $13.4 million.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist Christy Juhasz said the North Coast region — which also includes Crescent City and Fort Bragg — had an above average year for catch with 14.3 million in landings reported worth about $42 million. Humboldt County ports brought in about $16 million, according to the data.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

California Wetfish Producers Association: Sardine Fishery Collapse Latest Fake News

Deeply Flawed Population Survey Fuels False Claims

April 5, 2018 — BUELLTON, Calif. — The following was released by the California Wetfish Producers Association:

This Sunday, April 8, the Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting in Portland to debate the fate of the West Coast sardine fishery, after the 2018 sardine stock assessment estimated the biomass has declined by 97 percent since 2006. The only problem with that finding is it belies reality.

“Fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less, especially in nearshore waters. And they’ve been seeing this population spike for several years now,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA). “This stock assessment was an update that was not allowed to include any new methods and was based primarily on a single acoustic survey that reached only as far south as Morro Bay and totally missed the nearshore coastwide.”

The 2018 update assessment of 52,000 tons, down from 86,586 tons in 2017 and 106,100 tons the year before, is based on a change in methods and assumptions in estimating population size developed during an independent stock assessment review in 2017. Scientists acknowledged that assuming the acoustic survey ‘sees’ all the fish leads to lower biomass estimates. But it’s obvious to fishermen that the survey missed a lot of fish. In fact, with different assumptions, the 2017 biomass estimate would have increased from 86,586 tons to 153,020 tons.

The thorny problem the Council faces in April is what to do with a flawed assessment that is perilously close to the 50,000-ton minimum stock size threshold that would trigger an “overfished” condition and curtail virtually all sardine fishing. (The directed fishery has been closed since 2015, but incidental harvest in other fisheries, as well as Tribal take and live bait fishing have been allowed under a precautionary annual catch limit of 8,000 tons for all uses.) The extremist group Oceana has already signaled its intent to lobby for the Council to declare sardines “overfished.”

“Despite ample evidence to the contrary – most scientists agree that environmental factors play the primary role in sardine populations swings – Oceana claims that overfishing is the cause of the sardine fishery decline,” said Pleschner-Steele. “But the absolute opposite is true: fishing is a non-issue and more importantly, the sardine stock is not declining.”

The NOAA acoustic survey was based mainly on the 2017 summer acoustic trawl cruise that ran from British Columbia to Morro Bay, CA, but did not include the area south to Pt. Conception and Southern California where fishermen have reported large schools of sardines for the past three years. What’s more, this stock assessment update was based on a model that the chair of the 2017 Stock Assessment Review panel termed the “least worst” option. In part, the problem is that acoustic trawl surveys conducted by large research vessels cannot gather data in nearshore waters inside about 50 meters depth – 27 fathoms. But 70 to 80 percent of California’s sardine catch comes from nearshore waters inside the 20-fathom curve.

Acoustic trawl survey methods also underwent review in January 2018, and independent scientists criticized current survey methods and assumptions, noting that the current ATM trawl procedure seems to focus on precision at the expense of accuracy, and the protocol is repeatable but not necessarily objective.

To document the missing fish, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and CWPA conducted a cooperative aerial survey in the Monterey / Half Moon Bay area last summer – at the same time the acoustic trawl cruise was surveying outside waters – and saw a significant body of both sardine and anchovy inside the acoustic survey nearshore limit.

Here is the map illustrating the thousands of tons of sardine that the NOAA acoustic survey missed, an estimated 18,118 mt of sardine and 67,684 mt of anchovy.And here is a video from fisherman Corbin Hanson who was out fishing for squid last November and saw large schools of sardines in Southern CA. He commented that, “…this is just one school. Last week we drove by the biggest school of sardines I have ever witnessed in my career driving boats. It was out in front of Ventura Harbor and we saw countless other schools along with it.”

The problem is this evidence has not yet been qualified for use in stock assessments. However, at the upcoming meeting, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will present the data from our nearshore aerial surveys in 2016-17. CWPA will also request that the Council approve our experimental fishery permit to help us qualify our aerial surveys as an index of nearshore abundance for future assessments.

“The bottom line is it’s vital for proper management of our fisheries that we use all available scientific data. That’s why the Council needs to take into consideration these nearshore findings when recommending sardine management measures in 2018,” said Pleschner-Steele. “CWPA along with sardine fishermen contest the 52,000-ton stock assessment and will request a new stock assessment review as soon as possible, including other indices of abundance in addition to acoustic trawl. If the Council closes the sardine fishery entirely, California’s historic wetfish industry – which until recent years produced 80 percent or more of the volume of seafood landed statewide – will suffer unnecessarily, along with the state’s entire fishing economy.”

About the California Wetfish Producers Association
The California Wetfish Producers Association is a nonprofit dedicated to research and to promote sustainable Wetfish resources. More info at www.californiawetfish.org.

 

California: Bill would allow crab season to close temporarily for whale entanglements

February 21, 2018 — North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire is looking to make changes to the state’s Fish and Game Code with the Fisheries Omnibus Bill, SB 1309, which he introduced Friday.

Several of the provisions in the bill would impact local fisherman and local practices. And, according to McGuire, several of the changes were introduced at the request of fishermen.

Specifically, one provision would update what McGuire called “antiquated regulations” for the Humboldt Bay anchovy fleet.

The bill would establish one 60-ton limit on anchovies taken from Humboldt Bay between May 1 and December 1 each year, rather than two 15-ton limits for specific time periods each year.

“Humboldt Bay has always been subject to its own anchovy fishery regulations,” he said. “The Fishing Omnibus Bill brings the Humboldt Bay regulation in line with the rest of the state.”

Several provisions of SB 1309 deal with the Dungeness crab fishing industry — one would allow the director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife to temporarily close a crabbing season in the event of a whale entanglement, another would create new regulations for lost crabbing gear.

“This bill would authorize the director, upon the unanimous recommendation of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, as defined, to, on an emergency basis, close Dungeness crab season in any waters due to whale entanglements, or reopen Dungeness crab season in those waters if the risk of whale entanglements has abated,” the proposed bill states.

The working group is made up of commercial and recreational fishermen, environmental organization representatives, members of the disentanglement network, and state and local agencies, according to the Ocean Protection Council website.

“Two seasons ago there was an entanglement in Monterey Bay,” McGuire said Monday. “The director of Fish and Wildlife didn’t have the authority to close crab season even though there was an entanglement. The crab fleet came to the committee and asked us to change this provision in law, which is why we are advancing this fix in the omnibus bill.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit alleging Fish and Wildlife violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing crab fishing, said McGuire’s bill does not go far enough.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard