Saving Seafood

JACKIE ODELL: Controversy over region’s cod population

April 11, 2017 — RE “DWINDLING cod population no fluke in Mass.” (Editorial, April 5): Small family-owned fishing businesses operating in New England rely upon sound science. In recent years, reports for stocks like Gulf of Maine cod have gone from being overly optimistic to overly pessimistic, seemingly overnight. This flip-flop has justifiably created doubt and suspicion among those who participate in the fishery.

Further contributing to this skepticism has been the remarkable abundance of codfish observed by both commercial and recreational fishermen on the water over the past three years, as environmental conditions and oceanographic cycles have shifted. Today, fishermen spend more time avoiding these fish than catching them.

The Gulf of Maine cod stock, assessed to be reportedly near collapse, is instead becoming more and more difficult to avoid across a wide region. This is the case for many fish stocks in New England, not just cod. Many in the fishery today are left with questions about the limitations of the data sets, models, and processes that are used to assess stocks today.

Read the full opinion piece at the Boston Globe

What’s Happening To Cod In New England?

April 4, 2017 — Cod stocks in New England are at an historic low, down 80 percent from a decade ago, according to new data from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Those findings are contested by some in the fishing community.

Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition in Gloucester, said, “Everyone that fishes the Gulf of Maine, amateur fishermen that go out for the first time — no one can believe that someone can actually say that this cod stock is not in good shape.”

Listen to the interview at WBUR

“Sacred Cod” Tells of Fishery and Way of Life in Peril

April 3, 2017 — New England’s iconic cod fishery has hit an all-time low. Scientists point the finger at a combination of fishing and climate change. Many fishermen reject that assessment and blame their woes on regulators. A new documentary film, Sacred Cod, tells the story of two populations in crisis – the cod, and the fishermen who’ve built a way of life around them.

Cod fishing is what brought the first Europeans to New England, and the commercial fishery is the oldest in the nation. Hundreds of years of fishing pressure has brought cod populations in southern New England and the Gulf of Maine to record low levels. Federal fishery biologists have estimated that the reproductively active population is just 3-4 percent of what would be needed for a healthy, sustainable fishery.

That hasn’t improved in the past few years, despite fishing restrictions that amount to a virtual closure of the fishery. Scientists say climate change is a likely culprit. Rising water temperatures affect reproductive success, reducing the number of eggs a female produces and also reducing survival of young codfish. Scientists are also seeing changes in the base of the food chain that may be linked to climate change.

Many fishermen reject this assessment, though, and say fishing restrictions are unnecessary. They contend that there are plenty of cod to be caught, if you just know where to look.

Read the full story at WCAI

Cod Fishing Catches Plummet in Waters off New England

March 24, 2017 — ROCKPORT, Maine — The cod isn’t so sacred in New England anymore.

The fish-and-chips staple was once a critical piece of New England’s fishing industry, but catch is plummeting to all-time lows in the region. The decline of the fishery has made the U.S. reliant on foreign cod, and cod fish fillets and steaks purchased in American supermarkets and restaurants are now typically caught by Norway, Russia or Iceland in the north Atlantic.

In Maine, which is home to the country’s second-largest Atlantic cod fishery, the dwindling catch has many wondering if cod fishing is a thing of the past.

“It’s going to be more and more difficult for people to make this work,” said Maggie Raymond, executive director of the Associated Fisheries of Maine.

State records say 2016 was historically bad for cod fishing in Maine. Fishermen brought less than 170,000 pounds (77,110 kilograms) of the fish to land in the state last year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News & World Report

New Trawl Net is Cod Friendly

March 13, 2017 — The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine, has developed an ultra low opening trawl (ULOT) net designed to prevent cod from being caught while allowing the targeting of more plentiful groundfish.

Commercial fishers in New England’s Gulf of Maine are assigned catch quotas, in pounds or metric tons, for Atlantic cod. Violating current cod restrictions results in fishers being shut down for the rest of the season. Because of this, fishers pursuing other groundfish (such as grey sole, flounder, monkfish, whiting, and pollock) need to be vigilant about how many cod make it into their nets—an impossible task until now. The net was designed, built, and tested by a collaboration of New England fishers, scientists, and Rhode Island-based net maker, Superior Trawl.

Traditional trawl nets feature a 6-foot (1.83-meter) opening into which groundfish get trapped. The new ULOT trawl has a 2-foot (0.61-meter) opening which allows cod to swim up and over the net while trapping species that swim lower to the ocean floor. It was initially tested at the Marine Institute in Newfoundland in a simulated ocean environment and was later tested on a commercial trawling vessel. On the commercial trawler, the net reduced cod catch by 45 percent with no impact on the catch levels of other species. Additionally, the ULOT net also created a nearly seven percent reduction in the vessel’s fuel use because it has less drag than traditional nets.

Read the full story at Foodtank

Lawsuit over fishing monitors to reach Court of Appeals soon

February 11, 2017 — A New England fishermen’s group suing the federal government over the cost of at-sea monitoring is scheduled to present oral arguments before the federal Court of Appeals in March.

The monitors are workers who collect data that help the government craft fishing regulations. The government shifted the cost of paying for monitors to fishermen last year.

A group led by New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel sued the government over the rule change. The fishermen lost in federal district court and appealed. Attorneys say the arguments are set to take place March 7.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

New video system may hold promise for cod surveys

February 1, 2017 — Researchers at UMass-Dartmouth continue to refine a new video survey system they believe holds promise for providing more accurate assessments of the beleaguered Gulf of Maine cod stock.

The developers of the system, which employs high-resolution video cameras in an open-ended commercial trawl net to count the number of fish and identify their species as they enter the net, put it through another rigorous test last week and came away pleased with the results.

“This was definitely the best trip yet,” said Travis Lowery, chief scientist and technician on the project along with UMass-Dartmouth professor Kevin Stokesbury and graduate student Nick Calabrese. “We’ve been moving more toward using Go-Pro cameras and the images were crystal clear. It all worked really, really well.”

For six days, the researchers performed 31 survey tows on Stellwagen Bank, about 15 miles southeast of Gloucester, and said they found Atlantic cod aggregating over much of the open fishing grounds.

The test also included a number of closed tows so researchers could collect biological samples to measure the length and weight of the captured fish. In the biggest closed-trawl haul, researchers collected 345 cod in a half-hour, with the largest measuring up to about 33 inches.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

UMass’s award-winning dining halls serving up tasty dogfish as chefs reject ‘trash fish’ moniker

January 27, 2017 — AMHERST, Mass. — It may not have the tastiest name, but a University of Massachusetts chef says dogfish is becoming a popular fish on campus.

All the dining commons serve the fish — 400 to 500 pounds of it — as part of a fish fry every Friday night.

Bob Bankert, chef de cuisine for UMass Dining, said UMass began seeking alternatives to cod several years ago, and began serving dogfish in the fall.

“Cod is way over fished,” Bankert said.

Before arriving at dogfish, the dining halls also began serving other so-called “trash fish” such as pollock and redfish.

But Bankert rejects the “trash fish” moniker — born from the practice of fisherman tossing such species out instead of bringing them to market — and instead calls fish like dogfish “under loved.”

Bankert said people don’t have problems with the idea of eating catfish — but some balk at the name “dogfish.”

A spiny dogfish swims along a stretch of sandy seafloor. UMass-Amherst serves the fish during a weekly fish fry. Matthew Lawrence, NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Dogfish — a shark species also known as “cape shark” — is native to New England waters. But, about 90 percent of the harvest has been sent to England for that country’s fish and chips, Bankert said.

He’s hoping that through word of mouth and focus on the fish, more people will try it and be able to find it at markets.

Read the full story at MassLive

New camera can help assess cod stocks in Gulf of Maine

January 26, 2017 — Researchers from UMass Dartmouth say they have successfully tested an underwater video-survey system that they hope will provide an accurate method to assess Atlantic cod stocks.

In collaboration with fishermen, the research team recently placed high-resolution cameras in an open-ended commercial trawl net on Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine, known as one of the world’s most active marine sanctuaries.

The cameras captured images of cod and other groundfish as they passed through the net. Periodically, researchers from UMD’s School for Marine Science & Technology closed the net for short periods to collect length, weight, and take other biological samples from some of the fish. The fish are unharmed and are returned to the sea.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe