Saving Seafood

Whale entanglements on the West Coast rise again in 2018, is this the new normal?

January 2, 2019 — News this month that the number of whales found entangled off the West Coast had decreased in 2017 prompted optimism among some. But, already preliminary numbers for 2018 are headed back toward the record highs of just a few years ago.

While whale entanglements in U.S. waters were slightly above the 10-year average in 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Dec. 6 that West Coast numbers were nearly half the 2015 and 2016 stats. Of the 31 entangles whales reported in 2017, 25 were in the waters off California – humpbacks who like to feed on anchovies in the central coast areas fished for crab and prawn led the way, but gray whales were not far behind.

NOAA’s preliminary 2018 numbers report 45 entangled whales confirmed in the waters off Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California; 35 of which were found off California. Many of the struggling whales have been sighted off Orange County and Monterey – two areas that federal officials say are bustling with boaters, fishing and whales. Final numbers are expected in March.

Read the full story at The San Jose Mercury 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

Scripps scientists to study effects of climate change on California coastline

December 27, 2018 — Four researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have earned state grants to study how climate change is shifting conditions on the Pacific Coast, including cliffs and tide pools.

Together they were awarded $1 million from the California Ocean Protection Council to create maps, models and other data sources that will help chart the changes to California’s coastline, and guide strategies to deal with them.

The council was created in 2004 as part of the California Ocean Protection Act, and works to maintain “healthy, resilient and productive ocean and coastal ecosystems.” The grants of $250,000 to each scientist are part of a larger project to fund research on topics such as sea-level rise and coastal resilience, marine pollution and renewable energy.

Marine biology professor Ronald Burton will use “DNA metabarcoding,” a method of high volume genetic analysis, to identify fish eggs and determine which species are spawning from La Jolla to Santa Cruz. Jennifer Smith, an associate professor of marine biology, is building 3-D images of rocky intertidal zones to study how sea-level rise will affect the wealth of marine life in tide pools.

Scientist Adam Young will map the stability of coastal cliffs and detect “erosion hot spots.” And associate professor Brice Semmens will develop a time series of bass species abundance dating back to the late 1940s in order to guide management of the popular recreational fishery.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

West Coast trawlers on pace to hit annual Petrale sole quota

December 19, 2018 — West Coast trawlers were on pace to land their respectful IFQ shares of Petrale sole for the 2018 season in early November. Trawlers had landed 4.32 million pounds — about 75 percent — of a 5.79 million-pound quota.

Though the stocks have been declared rebuilt, the fleet saw a slight reduction in the quota for 2018. Last year’s 2017 harvest came in at 6.07 million pounds, which exceeded the 6.05 million-pound quota.

“These guys are still catching a little, as they’re still in shallow since summer,” said Scott Adams, with Hallmark Fisheries in Charleston, Ore.

As the season progresses toward winter, the fish congregate into tighter schools, which means more plentiful hauls for the trawlers.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Rockfish make a remarkable recovery off California coast, prompting federal officials to raise catch limits

December 14, 2018 –Locally caught red snapper was once a staple on Southern California menus and a vital part of the state’s fishing industry. But overfishing took its toll, resulting in federal restrictions nearly two decades ago to prevent their extinction.

But with stocks rebuilding faster than anticipated, federal officials on Tuesday boosted catch limits by more than 100% for some species of rockfish in a move they said would help revive West Coast bottom trawlers and sportfishing fleets.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s action is expected to result in anglers taking about 218,000 additional annual trips in coastal waters — about 148,000 of them between Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Officials say the move could generate an estimated 900 jobs and up to $54 million in annual revenue in West Coast states in 2019, including about 630 jobs and $44 million in Southern California. It may also put fresh, locally caught varieties of rockfish commonly sold as red snapper back on dinner plates in Southern California restaurants, which currently rely almost entirely on frozen seafood imported from Mexico and around the world.

“The rebuilding of these stocks also means the rebuilding of West Coast communities and economies that sacrificed for years waiting for the rockfish populations to come back,” said Barry Thom, regional administrator of fisheries for NOAA’s West Coast region. “Now, fleets can catch even more fish because they will be less constrained overall by limits on these stocks.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

 

Dungeness crab season delayed until year-end

December 12, 2018 — The commercial Dungeness crab fishery along the US West Coast has been delayed until at least Dec. 30 due to low meat yields, Washington state officials said in a press release.

According to the rules of a tri-state process that governs commercial Dungeness fishing in Washington, Oregon and northern California, harvesting for the species will be delayed as portions of the fishery in each state do not meet the minimum meat yield requirements to make harvesting commercially viable.

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the tri-state rules require that a delay is required if, after two rounds of testing, crabs don’t yield enough meat — the standard is 23% yields for crabs caught north of Cascade Head, Oregon, and 25% for crabs caught south of it — then a delay is required.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Catch limits increase for key West Coast groundfish species

December 12, 2018 — Federal officials said Tuesday they are increasing catch limits for several species of West Coast groundfish that were severely depleted more than a dozen years ago in a crisis that posed a threat to the commercial and sports fishing industries.

Limits for yelloweye rockfish will more than double, while substantial increases will be allowed for California scorpionfish, bocaccio and Pacific Ocean perch, the National Marine Fisheries Service said.

Those species have recovered enough to allow for the greatest expansion of a West Coast fishery in years. The formal announcement of the revised catch limits will be published Wednesday and the changes go into effect on Jan. 1, the first day of the new fishing season.

Fishing income in California, Oregon and Washington could increase $60 million because of the changes, with the potential for 900 new jobs and at least 200,000 more angler trips a year, according to a preliminary report.

“It’ll actually allow us to fish,” said Tom Marking, a recreational fisherman from Eureka, California.

“Right now, there are a lot of places you just avoid because they’re known as yelloweye hot spots. You just stay away from them. If they allow us to go to 30 fathoms or 40 fathoms or all depths, it’ll allow the fleet to spread out.”

Between 1999 and 2002, nine West Coast groundfish stocks were declared overfished as surveys documented declining numbers.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

US fishing vessels now have permanent waiver from incidental discharge rule

December 10, 2018 — When U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act into law last week, it finally – and permanently – relieved the fishing industry from Environmental Protection Agency regulations regarding incidental discharge on their boats.

The regulation required vessel operators to get EPA permits to perform routine actions, such as using pumped ocean water to clean off the deck after harvesting. It stemmed from a 2005 federal court ruling, and the Southern Shrimp Alliance said the system was a hindrance to more than 80,000 commercial fishing boats.

“This permit requirement should never have existed,” said John Williams, SSA’s executive director. “It was lawsuit driven by environmental groups in a California court a long time ago. SSA has been working ever since with Congress and other fishing groups across the nation to put a temporary stop to it. I have to say, after working to prevent this disaster for more than a decade, it feels pretty good to finally put this one to bed, permanently.”

Read the full article at Seafood Source

Commercial crab season likely delayed until January

December 7, 2018 — The opening of commercial Dungeness crab season will likely be delayed until Jan. 1, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A decision won’t be official until after a conference call Friday at noon by tri-state managers. The mainland West Coast crab fishery is managed by a consortium of Washington state, Oregon and California officials.

The most recent round of testing found crab in Pacific and Clatsop counties either at or very near the minimum 23 percent meat requirement. However, crab in southern Oregon were still significantly under weight.

Read the full story at The Daily Astorian

West Coast fishermen are suing oil companies for climate change damages

December 5, 2018 — Fishermen are still waiting for permission to catch Dungeness crabs off California’s northernmost coast this season — and they want oil companies to pay for the delay.

State officials have postponed the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season because of high levels of a neurotoxin called domoic acid. Similar closures have wreaked economic havoc on the industry in recent years.

he neurotoxin’s presence in the prized crabs has been linked to warming ocean waters, one of the many effects of human-caused climate change. That’s why the West Coast’s largest organization of commercial fishermen is suing more than a dozen oil companies, arguing they have knowingly peddled a product that threatens ocean life and the people whose economic fortunes depend on it.

The oil companies “engaged in a coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge of those threats, discredit the growing body of publicly available scientific evidence, and persistently create doubt,” the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns. said in its lawsuit, filed last month.

“Families and businesses that depend on the health and productivity of the Dungeness crab fishery to earn their livings suffer the consequences,” the federation said.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times