Saving Seafood

Climate cycle could determine the reproductive success of menhaden

February 19, 2016 — Scientists have long puzzled over what drives the reproductive success of Atlantic menhaden, a tiny but critical East Coast fish.

A new study, published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science and supported by the Lenfest Ocean Program, provides a partial answer: An oceanic climate cycle known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, or AMO.

The finding is likely to be useful in improving the way scientists assess the species and the way managers set catch limits.

Menhaden is a small, oily fish that provides food for striped bass, bluefish, and several other species, as well as bait for fishermen.

It also is the target of the largest fishery on the East Coast, which is centred in Virginia and catches menhaden for use in nutritional supplements, animal feed, and fertilizer.

Setting catch limits has proved challenging, in part because no one has been able to say what drives recruitment—a technical term for how many young fish are produced. Recruitment largely determines how much fishing a population can sustain.

Tom Miller of the University of Maryland, and one of the authors of the study, explained that it is very difficult to understand and manage this stock.

To address this, the researchers used a statistical model designed for disorderly data like those on the abundance of young menhaden. They considered 16 factors that might be driving that abundance, including climatic cycles, intensity of fishing, temperature, salinity, and predator abundance.

Read the full story at FIS

SMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board Approves Regional Management for 2016 Recreational Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Fisheries

February 4, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries  Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved Addendum XXVII to the Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. The Addendum continues the use of regional management for the 2016 summer flounder and black sea bass recreational fisheries, with a modification to the summer flounder regions. The modified summer flounder regions are intended to provide more equity in recreational harvest opportunities along the coast, especially between New Jersey and Delaware in the Delaware Bay. The approved summer flounder regions are Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut through New York; New Jersey; Delaware through Virginia; and North Carolina. For black sea bass, the Board approved the continuation of management measures by northern (Massachusetts – New Jersey) and southern regions (Delaware – North Carolina). 

Addendum XXVII was initiated to address the discrepancy in management measures between New Jersey and Delaware in the Delaware Bay. In recent years, the difference in size limit, which has been as great as 2-inches, has been cited as having an economic impact on southern New Jersey anglers. The approval of the New Jersey Delaware Bay region will allow New Jersey to pursue, through its regulatory process, the following management measures for New Jersey waters west of the COLREGS line in the Delaware Bay: a 17-inch minimum size, 4 fish possession limit, and a 128 day season. For New Jersey anglers east of the COLREGS line and north along the New Jersey coast, the state will seek to maintain 2015 management measures in 2016, namely, a 18-inch minimum size, 5 fish possession limit, and a 128 day season. The latter measures are consistent with those of New York and Connecticut. Management measures for the remaining states remain unchanged from 2015. The adaptive regional management approach for summer flounder has been approved for the 2016 fishing year only.

For black sea bass, the Board approved the continuation of ad hoc regional management measures for the northern (Massachusetts – New Jersey) and southern regions (Delaware – North Carolina). This approach has been used since 2011 and offers some advantages over coastwide regulations, which can disproportionately impact states within the management unit.  States in the northern region, which are responsible for approximately 97% of the total recreational harvest, will reduce their harvest by 23% to achieve the 2016 recreational harvest limit. Based on the recommendations of the Technical Committee, the Board approved management proposals and methodologies submitted by the northern states. The northern states will finalize their black sea bass management measures by the spring of 2016.

States in the southern region will implement measures consistent with federal regulations (current recommended federal measures are a 12.5 inch TL minimum fish size, 15 fish possession limit, and open season from May 15 – September 21 and October 22 – December 31). Combined, the regulations of the two regions are expected to achieve the required coastwide harvest reduction in order to not exceed the 2016 recreational harvest limit. The Board approved the ad hoc regional measures approach for the 2016 fishing year with the option of extending it through 2017 by Board action.

The Board also approved the maintenance of 2015 scup recreational measures for the 2016 fishing season. Addendum XXVII will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, by the end of February 2016. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

                   

Fishermen await trial on NOAA monitors mandate

February 2, 2016 — HAMPTON — Local fisherman David Goethel said he hopes a court ruling comes soon to determine the legality of a new federal mandate, as he and other fishermen are fearful they will go under before the trial begins.

Goethel said he may sell his fishing boat after this summer if the trial isn’t resolved by then. He filed the lawsuit causing the trial, challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s plan to make fishermen pay for their own policing. He filed it in conjunction with a fishing sector based in Massachusetts.

Industry members estimate the observers would cost a given fisherman $700 for each day the observer joined them at sea. Observers are mandated to go with fishermen on 24 percent of their fishing days. Fishermen say their industry was already being devastated by strict restrictions on catch limits.

“I will not be able to pay for this,” Goethel said. “I keep saying over and over: This is the straw that will break the camel’s back.”

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

ALASKA: Halibut commission boosts catch limits for most of the coast

February 1, 2016 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission on Friday approved an increase in halibut catch limits for most of the coast.

The joint U.S. and Canadian body oversees management of the prized bottom fish from California to Alaska. The commission held its annual meeting in Juneau last week.

Commissioners approved a coastwide catch of 29,890,000 pounds for 2016. That’s an increase of 2.2 percent from last year’s limits.

Commission chair Jim Balsiger of Juneau said the decisions were not easy.

“The discussions focused quite a bit, both in the public and in our executive sessions about the trade-offs we have to make between rebuilding the stocks and capturing some revenue in the fisheries now when things look a little bit better,” Balsiger said. “I’m happy where we ended up so I think it was a good meeting.”

Read the full story at KTOO Public Media

NOAA scientist says federal fish counts suffer from ‘perception issue’

January 22, 2016 — WASHINGTON — It’s not easy counting fish. Just ask the people who have to do it.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division is responsible for estimating the health and size of dozens of fish stocks in U.S. waters, measurements that help eight regional councils determine which fish commercial and recreational anglers are allowed to catch.

The accuracy of NOAA’s counts is at the heart of a national debate over whether to loosen current catch limits.

NOAA defends the data, obtained through a combination of sampling methods and statistical models. But recreational fishermen and their backers on Capitol Hill, who want to loosen the catch limits, claim they’re based on “flawed science.”

The debate comes as Congress considers reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the law that governs management of federal fisheries.

Richard Merrick, NOAA’s chief fisheries scientist, believes the fish counts are “statistically robust” but acknowledges NOAA could do a better job explaining how it conducts the counts and building trust among stakeholders.

Merrick recently talked with USA TODAY about why NOAA’s counts are under attack and options for improving them.

Read the full story at USA Today

MASSACHUSETTS: Sale of shell-on lobster claws bound for Senate floor

January 14, 2016 — BOSTON — Massachusetts lobstermen could get a leg-up if a Senate bill set for consideration next Thursday becomes law.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican who sponsored the bill (S 469), said it would allow for shell-on lobster claws to be processed and sold in Massachusetts.

In contrast to the groundfishery, hampered by lowered federal catch limits on cod and other stock, the Bay State’s lobster fishery is “doing fairly well,” according to Tarr, who said there are concerns about the prices lobsters fetch at the market and competition from Canada.

Read the full story at Saugus Advertiser

Fish food for thought: New research affects catch limits

December 21, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — What happens when a fisherman tosses a fish back overboard?

It’s not a frivolous question. The government bases catch quotas and other rules in part on the mortality of tossed fish, and there isn’t always accurate data available about how many fish survive the fling. Now, a group of New England scientists says it’s finding that a surprisingly high percentage of the lucky fish might live to swim another day.

Scientists with the New England Aquarium and other institutions want to help the fishing managers get a better handle on what happens when cod, haddock and cusk get thrown from a fisherman’s line back into the sea. The first round of their research, on the imperiled Gulf of Maine cod, found that 9 to 21 percent of the fish died, better than the 30 percent estimate regulators had been using.

That data could help change quotas for recreational fishermen, who like their commercial counterparts must abide by strict limits on some species.

“We found that mortality rates are pretty low,” Dr. John Mandelman, the New England Aquarium’s director of research and a co-leader of the study. “Generally, in the past, they’ve used really conservative estimates.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The News Tribune

 

Officials calling for more accurate fish counts

December 14, 2015 — WASHINGTON – The federal agency in charge of the nation’s fisheries should do a better job counting fish so it can develop proper catch limits for recreational anglers, a report by Congress’ investigative arm concludes.

The analysis by the Government Accountability Office was requested nearly three years ago by several Republican senators from the Gulf Coast who believe the Obama administration may have been overly restrictive in imposing catch limits on several popular fish, including red snapper.

The GAO report says the National Marine Fisheries Service has taken “many steps” in recent years to improve data collection but needs to adopt a master plan for counting fish in a more accurate, timely and transparent manner.

For example, the agency doesn’t have a complete registry of recreational anglers, often misses some groups of fishermen while conducting surveys, lacks catch-and-discard data in areas where access to the coastal communities is limited, and needs more “shoreside observers” to improve data collection.

“Without a comprehensive strategy, NMFS may have difficulty ensuring that the variety of steps it is taking to improve data collection are prioritized so that the most important steps are undertaken first,” the report says. “Further, without communicating the strategy and NMFS’ progress in implementing it, NMFS may have difficulty building trust among its stakeholders, and these stakeholders may have difficulty tracking the agency’s efforts.”

Read the full story from USA Today at Pensacola News Journal

 

Hawaii-based longline fishermen allowed to keep catching ahi

November 28, 2015 — HONOLULU (AP) ” Hawaii-based longline fishermen have exhausted multiple catch limits for ahi this year, but federal regulators said Friday a new agreement will ensure the fish will be available in the state through the holidays.

Regulators have approved a deal allowing Hawaii fishermen to attribute up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye tuna catch to Guam, said Mike Tosatto, National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator for the Pacific Islands.

The agreement will enable Hawaii fishermen to keep catching ahi as usual and deliver their haul to Honolulu. In exchange, Hawaii fishermen will pay $200,000 toward the development of the fishing industry on Guam.

“We want to inform the public that fish will continue to be available through the holidays,” Tosatto said.

Environmentalists say the arrangement contributes to the overfishing of bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific.

“There’s just absolutely no way to reconcile that behavior with what the science says, which is that all fishing nations ” including the United States ” need to show some restraint. And need to reduce catch, not increase catch, which is what the fisheries service is allowing to happen here,” said David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard – Times

 

NORTH CAROLINA: MFC to take action on southern flounder supplement

November 11, 2015 — NAGS HEAD, N.C. — State fishery managers are scheduled to take action on a controversial southern flounder management supplement next week.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, the state’s marine fisheries rulemaking body, will hold its regular meeting Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 18-20, at Jennette’s Pier. According to a release from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the state agency that enforces marine fisheries rules and conducts fisheries research, the MFC is scheduled to select and approve management measures for supplement A to the southern flounder fishery management plan (FMP) Amendment 1.

The proposed supplement, and the MFC’s use of the supplement process, has drawn both support and opposition. A recent release from the N.C. Fisheries Association, a nonprofit supporting the seafood industry, criticizes the proposed supplement.

The current supplement draft includes management options to reduce southern flounder catch (both harvested flounder and dead discards) by 25-60 percent. The supplement has six management options, which include measures such as trip limits, size limits, closures and prohibiting large mesh gill nets from internal state waters.

These proposals, particularly the net ban, have been part of the reason for debate among fisheries managers, fishermen, environmentalists and legislators.

According to the NCFA release, the General Assembly has stated in law that the MFC has the duty to provide fair regulation of fishing groups in the interest of the public.

The association said the DMF is the state agency that is charged to offer scientific support to the commission and carry out the regulations adopted by the commission. The total economic impact of the southern flounder fishery averages $17 million per year to North Carolina, just for those fish caught commercially.

According to the NCFA, since the commission started the process of debating the issue of southern flounder management over nine months ago, the DMF has not offered any recommended actions to reduce the catch of southern flounder.

“Currently, only one of the nine MFC members has a scientific background in fisheries, and even that experience is not based on saltwater fisheries,” the association said. “Yet, the DMF, who has the expertise on staff that could assist the commissioners, has not made any formal recommendations on the options being considered by the commission or offered any options of their own.”

Brent Fulcher, NCFA chairman and owner of Beaufort Inlet Seafood, said the association wonders “why the division exists, if not to offer assistance and make recommendations to the members of the Marine Fisheries Commission in carrying out their conservation responsibilities.”

Read the full story at Carteret County News-Times