Saving Seafood

NOAA Report: Approximately 85% Of West Coast Estuary Habitat Lost

August 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A report published in PLOS ONE reveals that “more than a century of development” has erased approximately 85% of historical tidal wetlands in California, Oregon and Washington. However, there is good news. Scientists with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center have found potential restoration opportunities.

Estuaries are important as they serve as “critical nurseries” for juvenile salmon and steelhead while they transition from freshwater to the ocean.

“Given how valuable estuaries are to so many different species, it’s important to understand how much they have changed and what that means for fish and wildlife that depend on them,” explained Correigh Greene, a research biologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and co-author of the new study.

According to the researchers, estuaries were lost over the years because they were diked and drained for agriculture. Forested wetlands were also not widely recognized as estuary acreage. But there is a chance to restore these estuary habitats.

“By folding in these areas that may not have been recognized as part of estuaries, we have a better idea of just how important and extensive these estuaries were,” added lead author Laura Brophy, who also serves as director of the Estuary Technical Group at the Institute for Applied Ecology. “Now we can see new restoration opportunities that people didn’t realize existed.”

More restoration can come from low-elevation areas that are at great risk of flooding due to rising sea levels and climate change. NOAA researchers say that tidal restoration in these areas can “re-establish natural processes like sediment delivery.”

Find the full story on estuary habitat loss on the west coast here.

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

California Wetfish Group Files to Intervene in Oceana Anchovy Lawsuit

August 12, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The California Wetfish Producers Association has filed to intervene in a lawsuit filed by environmental group Oceana over California’s northern anchovy fishery. The filing will allow the association to participate in the lawsuit to protect the interests of California fishermen and processors who would face significant economic harm if the lawsuit were successful, CWPA said in a press release.

The lawsuit alleges the National Marine Fisheries Service must set stricter limits on the northern anchovy catch. As the result of a recent Oceana lawsuit, where the Court required NMFS to revise its catch rule, the catch limit is currently set at 23,573 metric tons, which, according to NMFS estimates, is only 25 percent of the stock’s overfishing level.

Additional restrictions on the anchovy harvest are unnecessary, the CWPA said.

“If [Oceana] prevails in this case, there could be a drastic reduction from current harvest levels,” CWPA said in its filing. “Such a reduction in harvest opportunity will seriously and irreparably harm CWPA members and the wetfish industry.”

This would affect not just California wetfish fishermen, who rely on anchovy when other species like squid or mackerel are unavailable, but also the processors, distributors and seaside businesses who rely on a consistent catch. If lower catch limits are approved, the jobs of at least 400 CWPA members alone will be at risk, as well as many thousands more in related industries.

“Fishermen up and down the California coast are facing threats to their livelihoods from this frivolous and unnecessary lawsuit,” CWPA Executive Director Diane Pleschner-Steele said. “We are asking to be involved in this lawsuit to ensure that the Court also considers the needs and concerns of our members and California’s coastal communities. Our fishery management policy mandates balance between protecting the ocean and sustaining fishing communities ”

The sharply reduced catch limits that Oceana seeks are not scientifically justified. The basis for Oceana’s case is a single, flawed study that significantly underestimated the size of the anchovy population in 2015, leading to the first Court decision, the statement said. That study excluded the abundance of anchovy in inshore areas, for example.

Since then, the CWPA has participated in cooperative surveys with the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Those surveys documented tens of thousands of tons of anchovies in the inshore areas that have simply not been counted in stock assessments. This finding contradicts the argument that the anchovy population was dangerously low, and that the already precautionary catch levels must be reduced further, CWPA said.

“The best available science does not support Oceana’s position,” Pleschner-Steele said in the statement. “The Court needs to allow NMFS to set appropriate catch limits based on sound science.”

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

Trade group, California processor seek to intervene in Oceana anchovy lawsuit

August 12, 2019 — A trade group and a California-based processing company filed a motion in a U.S. federal court last week seeking to intervene in a lawsuit brought on by Oceana against NOAA Fisheries.

The Oceana suit, filed in June, claims the government agency is not following the best available science to set the catch limit on the anchovy stock in Northern California. That suit was in response to the catch limit NOAA Fisheries set in May after an order from a federal judge stemming from an earlier lawsuit by Oceana.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

California Wetfish Producers Association Files to Intervene in Oceana Anchovy Lawsuit

August 8, 2019 — The following was released by the California Wetfish Producers Association:

The California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) has filed to intervene in a lawsuit filed by environmental group Oceana over California’s northern anchovy fishery. The filing will allow CWPA to participate in the lawsuit to protect the interests of California fishermen and processors who would face significant economic harm if the lawsuit were successful.

The lawsuit alleges that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must set stricter limits on the northern anchovy catch. As the result of a recent Oceana lawsuit, where the Court required NMFS to revise its catch rule, the catch limit is currently set at 23,573 metric tons, which, according to NMFS estimates, is only 25 percent of the stock’s overfishing level.

Not only are additional restrictions on the anchovy harvest unnecessary, but greater cuts would result in significant job loss and economic hardship for California’s wetfish industry and coastal communities.

“If [Oceana] prevails in this case, there could be a drastic reduction from current harvest levels,” said CWPA in its filing. “Such a reduction in harvest opportunity will seriously and irreparably harm CWPA members and the wetfish industry.”

This would affect not just California wetfish fishermen, who rely on anchovy when other species, like squid or mackerel, are unavailable, but also the processors, distributors, and seaside businesses who rely on a consistent catch. If lower catch limits are approved, the jobs of at least 400 CWPA members alone will be at risk, as well as many thousands more in related industries.

“Fishermen up and down the California coast are facing threats to their livelihoods from this frivolous and unnecessary lawsuit,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of CWPA. “We are asking to be involved in this lawsuit to ensure that the Court also considers the needs and concerns of our members and California’s coastal communities. Our fishery management policy mandates balance between protecting the ocean and sustaining fishing communities ”

The sharply reduced catch limits that Oceana seeks are not scientifically justified. The basis for Oceana’s case is a single, flawed study that significantly underestimated the size of the anchovy population, in 2015, leading to the first Court decision, That study excluded  the abundance of anchovy in inshore areas, for example. Cooperative surveys that CWPA has conducted with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife  have documented tens of thousands of tons of anchovies in these areas that have simply not been counted in stock assessments. . This finding contradicts the argument that the anchovy population was dangerously low, and that the already precautionary catch levels must be reduced further.

“The best available science does not support Oceana’s position,” said Ms. Pleschner-Steele. “ The Court needs to allow NMFS to set appropriate catch limits based on sound science.”

Read the full filing here

Regular review of California current finds reduced biological productivity

August 8, 2019 — Researchers with a joint venture of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CalCOF) are finding it a slow summer for biological productivity in US west coast waters, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

CalCOF, which expanded from a program organized in 1949 to better understand the collapse of the California sardine industry, cruises the coast quarterly to check fisheries, marine ecosystems and water chemistry. This time the scientists spent 16 days reviewing the Southern California Bight and California Current.

Read the full story at the Undercurrent News

Bloomberg: Bankruptcy a possibility for Bumble Bee

August 7, 2019 — Bumble Bee Foods is considering filing for bankruptcy to alleviate it of increasingly dire financial situation.

The San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based firm, which claims it is the largest seller of packaged seafood in North America, exceeded the leverage ratio it is allowed under the terms of its senior debt, according to Bloomberg. That sent the firm into technical default on its principal operating loan, a USD 650 million (EUR 550 million) facility with Brookfield Principal Credit as the administrative agent. However, its lenders have agreed to a forbearance period, allowing the company to continue its efforts to restructure itself to regain its profitability, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Latest surveys show vaquita porpoise population at less than 19 individuals

August 6, 2019 — A new survey published in Royal Society Open Science has dire news for the survival of the vaquita porpoise – a small porpoise that lives in an area of the Mexican coast in the Gulf of California.

Using passive acoustic survey devices – which detect the vaquita due to the species’ use of echolocating “clicks” – the report determined that fewer than 19 individual vaquitas remained as of autumn 2018. The acoustic surveys, which started in 2011, have shown a 99 percent decline in the detection rate of the animals.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Research cruise off California finds it’s a slow summer for biological productivity

August 6, 2019 — In parts of the California Current this summer, the ocean was clear, azure, and almost empty.

The high water clarity, and low biological productivity, were some of the defining features that struck scientists returning from a cruise with the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI) program, a 70-year study of West Coast waters.

Although the lack of life sounds ominous, scientists said it’s neither good, nor bad, but an interesting observation that will add to their knowledge of the California Current.

“I have never seen the water so blue in my life,” said Dave Griffith, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It was beautiful. It looked like Lake Tahoe out there. You don’t have upwelling, which is what brings the nutrients up to the surface.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

With 14.4 Million lbs. Caught, Halibut Fleet Reaches Half-Way Mark on Landings, Season

August 5, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) announced catches of 14.4 million pounds as of August 1, out of a total quota of 29.43 mlbs. That catch limit is distributed across the North American west coast from California to the Bering Sea.

In three areas — IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, 2B, and 2C, the annual limit is subject to various catch sharing plans between commercial, tribal, and sports sectors.

Area 2A’s commercial catch reached 494,583 lbs on July 1 and, with an allowable limit of 497,000 lbs., was closed for the rest of 2019. Fishermen in Washington, Oregon and California caught more than its overall quota during three 10-hour openers, one each on June 26, July 10 and July 24.

The 2A allocation for the commercial fishery south of Pt. Chehalis was 115.41 tons, or 254,426 pounds; fishermen caught 119.75 tons, or 264,000 pounds of halibut. Preliminary reports show the average ex-vessel price to Oregon fishermen this year was $4.57 a pound. The average ex-vessel price in July last year across all three states was $5.10 per pound, but that figure may include halibut caught in other fisheries as well.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council and IPHC are in the process of transferring management responsibility from IPHC to U.S. management – Council, NMFS and the states. Initial discussions about 2020 halibut management will be discussed at the September and November Council meetings in Boise, Idaho, and Costa Mesa, Calif., respectively.

While commercial fishing in Area 2A is closed, recreational fishing in all three states is still open. IPHC reported no landings for the sports sector in Area 2A  (WA, OR, CA) as of August 1, 2019.

Area 4CDE has no catch sharing plan, but they are directly impacted by the incidental catch of halibut caught in bottom trawls that target flatfish. That catch, which has decreased over the years due to declining populations and efforts by the flatfish fleet to avoid halibut, is taken off the top in quota calculations at the beginning of the year.

Bycatch is included in the “total removals” metric, which is used for historical comparisons and includes subsistence, recreational, and research takes as well as bycatch.

In a recent broadcast, Laine Welch of Fish Radio reported that halibut fisherman turned broadcaster Jeff Lockwood is now tracking bycatch numbers into weekly reports on KBBI in Homer, the nation’s top halibut port.

“I thought this is kind of interesting. After years of being a halibut fisherman, everybody talks about and knows about halibut bycatch but none of us really knew what was going on,” Lockwood told Fish Radio.

The NOAA spreadsheets through July 13 noted that total halibut bycatch in other Alaska fisheries this year was about 4.8 million pounds of which 92 percent came from Bering Sea bottom trawlers.

So far the bycatch pace is ahead of last year. According to the weekly landings report for flatfish trawlers, 2019 trawl halibut mortality is 1,608 mt  or 3.54 mlbs. compared to 1,385 mt or 3.05 mlbs for the same time period in 2018. In 2019, the catcher-processors account for 1,089 mt or 2.4 mlbs and catcher vessels for 519 mt or 1.14 mlbs, about the same ratio as 2018.

Overall, commercial fisheries took 61 percent of the halibut catch in 2018, recreational users took 19 percent, subsistence users took three percent, and bycatch by fisheries targeting other species accounted for 16 percent of the total catch limit.

The record low point on total removals was in 1977 with 34 mlbs. This year total removals are 38.61 mlbs, slightly lower than last year’s 38.78 mlbs and significantly lower than 2017’s 42.58 mlbs.   The 100-year average for this fishery is 63 mlbs.

While all areas are around the halfway mark in catches of annual allocation, two fleets — those fishing off the coast of British Columbia and those fishing the Western Aleutians, are outpacing other areas by a slight margin. Each of those areas have landed 55% of their 2019 quota.

The season is two weeks past the half way mark. Halibut and sablefish season opened in most areas March 15 and will close in all areas, if not closed earlier, on November 14, 2019.

Individual areas, their quotas and actual catches are below.

Area 2A: landings to date .75 mlbs out of 1.5 mlbs 2019 quota

Area 2B: landings to date 3.27 mlbs out of 5.95 mlbs quota

Area 2C: landings to date 2.38 mlbs out of 4.49 mlbs quota

Area 3A: landings to date 5.03 mlbs out of 10.26 mlbs quota

Area 3B: landings to date 1.14 mlbs out of 2.33 mlbs quota

Area 4A: landings to date .5 mlbs out of 1.65 mlbs quota

Area 4B: landings to date .66 mlbs out 1.21 mlbs quota

Area 4CDE: landings to date .62 out of 2.04 mbls quota

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

CALIFORNIA: A Deep Dive into the San Diego Fishing Industry

August 1, 2019 — “The beginning was tough—they didn’t trust us,” says Yehudi “Gaf” Gaffen, CEO of Protea Waterfront Development, referring to San Diego’s fishermen and women. “For decades they’ve been discriminated against and business has been taken away from them. People take advantage of them.”

Gaffen and his company have won the bid to redevelop the San Diego harbor. Their $2 billion “Seaport San Diego” plan will historically alter the future of the city’s waterfront—70 acres, to be almost exact. The fate of local fishers lies largely in his hands.

And a little fish market on a little dock may be the reason both Gaffen and the fishers themselves are so keenly aware of their vital importance.

Read the full story at San Diego Magazine