Saving Seafood

All for one and one for all? Grant will see if fishermen should band together

November 3, 2015 — In recent years, the Pacific Ocean’s fish and crab have been divvied out through quotas and permits — making it hard for new fishermen to start business.

Al Malchow, a fisherman based out of Ilwaco, said the papers needed aren’t only hard to find, they’re expensive.

“There was a time that all we had to do was unrope the boat, catch fish, and come back and sell it,” Malchow said.

Small-time boats could build their business by catching as much as possible each season. But the race was dangerous. Boats were on the water no matter the conditions and areas were sometimes overfished.

Quotas and permits designating how much each boat could catch made fishing safer. But now, a fishing operation has to have equipment, a boat and — for roughly the same price — the right paperwork.

The Port of Ilwaco is investigating a way to help local fishermen access quotas and permits at lower costs.

In September, the port received roughly $50,000 from the Fisheries Innovation Fund to see if the Ilwaco community would benefit from a community fishing association. The association would buy fishing permits and quotas to lease to residential boats.

Malchow said if an association were to come to Ilwaco, it could put that stack of paperwork within reach of people looking to start a business or expand.

He said the absence of local permits can drive local fishermen to offload in Oregon. Some boats have quotas that are too small, which cut them off at the beginning of the season leaving people out of work. Some quotas are too large compared to the boat’s equipment, which cuts earnings down and reduces what was available in local markets.

“If I weren’t fourth generation with a boat in the port, I couldn’t afford this job,” he said.

Read the full story at Chinook Observer

 

Climate change fuels cod collapse

November 3, 2015 — The strongest link yet between climate change and the collapse of New England’s cod fish stunningly confirms how global emissions fuel regional calamities. The problems can no longer be contained by fishery council catch limits. They now demand worldwide greenhouse gas solutions.

A team of scientists, including those from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the University of Maine, and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, found that average surface water temperature in the Gulf of Maine rose four degrees between 2004 and 2013. Temperatures in the gulf have risen faster than in 99 percent of all sea waters, with record warmth recorded in 2012.

Four degrees is trivial to humans, who can shed sweaters or seek shade. But for a cold-blooded fish at the southern edge of its breeding range, unable to turn on the AC against the northward shift of the Gulf Stream, four degrees is a sauna. Less cod larvae survive in warmer water, possibly because their cold-water zooplankton food is also less available. Surviving cod then seek deeper, colder water, where more voracious predators await to compound their mortality.

The study, published last week in the journal Science, helps explain why cod stocks have not rebounded under draconian federal catch limits. Adding in the negative impact of warmer water, researchers found that fishing mortality was far too high to rebuild stocks even when fishermen did not exceed quotas.

Read the full story at Boston Globe

ASMFC American Lobster Board Initiates Addendum to Jonah Crab FMP

November 2, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board initiated Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to consider changes the incidental bycatch limit for non-trap gear. The FMP currently prescribes a 200 crabs per calendar day/500 crabs per trip incidental bycatch limit; however, concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of these limits. Data submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries illustrated while 97-99% of trips from 2010 through 2014 have been within the current limit, there were a number of trips above the limit. Furthermore, current bycatch landings are sufficiently low, accounting for approximately 1% of total landings.

Given a goal of the Jonah Crab FMP is to prevent expansion of the fishery while including all current participants, the Board has initiated an addendum to consider altering the incidental bycatch limit with options to increase the  limit to 1000 crabs per trip or eliminate the bycatch limit for non-trap gear. Draft Addendum I will be presented to the Board in February. If approved, the Board would release the Draft Addendum for public comment and will consider final approval of the addendum at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

2,000 lb Possession Limit in Effect October 22 for Midwater Trawl Vessels in the GB Haddock AM Area

October 19, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Herring Possession Limit Reduced to 2,000 lb in the Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Management Area in Effect October 22 for Midwater Trawl Vessels

The Atlantic Herring Georges Bank Incidental Haddock Catch Cap for the 2015 fishing year has been harvested. 

As a result, herring midwater trawl vessels will be prohibited from fishing for or landing more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or calendar day in or from the Herring Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Measure Area effective October 22. This limit will remain in place until the quota becomes available for the 2016 fishing year (expected on May 1, 2016). 

This action effectively limits the midwater trawl fishery in Herring Management Area 3 to 2,000 lb of herring per trip/day until May 1, 2016, because Area 3 falls within the Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Management Area. 

Herring vessels issued an All Areas or Areas 2/3 Limited Access Herring Permit may land haddock from the Herring Georges Bank Haddock Accountability Measure Area provided they have a Northeast Multispecies permit and are on a declared Northeast Multispecies day-at-sea.

For more information, please read the Federal Register notice and the permit holder bulletin.

Questions? Contact Shannah Jaburek, Regional Office, at 978-282-8456 or shannah.jaburek@noaa.gov.

Atlantic herring. Credit: NOAA

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2015 Annual Catch Limits for Bluefish

August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces the following annual catch limits for the 2015 bluefish fishery: 

2015 COMMERCIAL QUOTA: 5.241 MILLION LB. 

This is a 35 percent decrease from 2014 (7.46 million lb).

2015 RECREATIONAL HARVEST LIMIT: 12.951 MILLION LB. This is a 4.3 percent decrease from the 2014 recreational harvest limit (13.52 million lb).

Together, the total allowable landings for 2015 is 18.19 million lb. 

This is a 13.7 percent decrease from the 2014 total allowable landings (21.08 million lb).

Although the bluefish stock is not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring, the most recent stock assessment update indicates the size of the stock has declined, which is why we reduced the limits. In recent years, states’ landings of bluefish have been below their allocated quota, and the quota reductions may be partially mitigated by the states’ ability to transfer quota.

Read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register, and get more information from the permit holder bulletin.

The Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Florida each transferred 150,000 lb of commercial bluefish quota to the State of New York to ensure the New York quota is not exceeded. The transfers will become effective upon the filing of this final rule.