May 12, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Department of Marine Resources announced an emergency rule change for the recreational cod and haddock fisheries effective May 7.
In accordance with the New England Fisheries Management Council and for consistency with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) federal regulations effective May 1, the department is enacting emergency rulemaking for charter, party and recreational fishing vessels operating in state waters regarding cod and haddock.
May 11, 2016 — To ask the question “what boat landed this fish?” may be one of the most important environmental, social and political acts of 2016.
These are some names of Gloucester day boats, boats that make short trips to Jeffreys Ledge, Ipswich Bay and Middle Bank: the Maria GS, the Santo Pio, the Angela & Rose, the Janaya & Joseph, and Cat Eyes. And there are more. These boats land a mix of species that call the Gulf of Maine home, but they are primarily landing codfish, dab flounder, blackback flounder, yellowtail flounder, gray sole and some whiting.
These are some of the offshore Gloucester boats currently fishing the northern edge of George’s Bank: The Miss Trish, The Midnight Sun, the Teresa Marie III, the Harmony, the Teresa Marie IV and the Lady Jane. Again, there are more boats than this. Right now, they are landing haddock, redfish, pollock, codfish, dab flounder, gray sole and some hake.
In port, these boats, and others, can be seen tied up at Felicia Oil, Rose Marine, Gloucester Marine Railways and the State Fish Pier, wharfs along the Inner Harbor, many in clear sight of some Gloucester restaurants.
In an effort to celebrate and promote the quality seafood that these boats land, Gloucester Seafood Processing in Blackburn Circle stamps every issue of fish with the name of the fishing vessel that landed it. They are hoping other processors will, too. Restaurants — particularly in Gloucester — should proudly be announcing to their guests, “This pollock was landed yesterday on the Angela & Rose!” — or the Janaya & Joseph, or the Santo Pio.
May 9, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — It might not be time yet to rechristen Cape Cod as Cape Pollock, but the humble fish is staking its claim.
The Atlantic pollock has long played a role in New England’s fishing industry as a cheaper alternative to cod and haddock, but the fish’s place in America’s oldest fishing industry is expanding as stocks like cod fade.
But the fish has an image problem.
While considered a whitefish, its uncooked gray-pinkish color looks drab compared to the snow-white cod fillets consumers are used to seeing on seafood counters. And many confuse it with the very different Alaska pollock, which is the subject of a much larger industrial fishery that provides fish for processed food products such as the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish.
A loose consortium of fishermen, processors, restaurateurs and sustainable seafood advocates wants to change all that. They’re trying to rebrand Atlantic pollock as New England’s fish, and the push is catching on in places like food-crazy Portland, where food trucks offer pollock tacos to eager crowds.
May 4, 2016 — At-sea monitoring requirements for Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels have been lowered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), bringing relief to fishermen who have been forced to absorb its cost due to a recent policy change.
In the same ruling, NOAA also set quotas for 2016 to 2018 covering 20 groundfish stocks, including decreasing the quota for Georges Bank cod to a level that will be “devastating” to the Northeast groundfishing fleet, according to one fisherman.
NOAA’s final rules, known as Framework 55, were filed Monday, 2 May and went into immediate effect to coincide with the beginning of the 2016 fishing season. Commercial groundfish operators will only be required to pay for monitors on 10 percent of their trips, whereas previously they had been expected to pay for them on 20 percent of their trips. The Northeast Fisheries Observer Program will pay for an additional four percent of the monitoring, pushing monitoring requirements to 14 percent of groundfish fishing trips taken by commercial vessels.
NOAA cited standards that required it to minimize costs and adverse economic impacts, while maintaining sound scientific practices to ensure sustainable fishing levels, as a reason for the lowering of the requirements.
May 2, 2016 — The following was released by the office of Congressman Seth Moulton:
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) commended the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for incorporating significant reforms to the At Sea Monitoring Program in advance of the start of the fishing season this Sunday. Moulton led a New England delegation letter to NOAA in January to put pressure on NOAA to incorporate these reforms to the ASM program.
“With the start of the 2016 fishing season beginning on Sunday, these reforms are essential to the effective and efficient implementation of the At Sea Monitoring program and the viability of the New England fishing industry,” said Moulton. “NOAA’s reforms to the At Sea Monitoring program make it more cost-effective while still reliably monitoring the groundfish catch. I am grateful to NOAA for listening to the concerns of the New England Fishery Management Council, and I am committed to continuing to work with all involved to ensure that fishing communities throughout New England are equipped to thrive.”
Today, NOAA announced its Framework 55 New England Groundfish Rulemakings, which sets catch limits for the 2016-2018 fishing years, adjust the groundfish At-Sea Monitoring (ASM) program, implement sector administrative measures for 2016; and establish recreational measures for cod and haddock. Notably, Framework 55 also reduces ASM Council Requirements in certain New England Groundfish Sectors/Fisheries.
“NSC deeply appreciates that many Members of Congress in the northeast region recognized the crucial need to evolve the at-sea monitoring program and, under Congressman Moulton’s leadership, co-signed a letter of support for these reforms to NOAA fisheries that have now been approved by the Secretary of Commerce,” said Jackie Odell, Executive Director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition. “Although NSC opposes industry funded at-sea monitoring requirements, the issue of who is funding the program is independent of the collective responsibility to improve the program and seek efficiencies. Changes that have been approved to the program under Framework 55 take advantage of the incremental benefits of additional years of data and knowledge gained since the inception of the program, while meeting the same statistical standards required. Approval of these modifications reflects sound and responsible fisheries management.”
May 2, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:
We are announcing the commercial groundfish annual catch limits for the 2016 fishing year (May 1, 2016-April 30, 2017).
2016 catch limits will increase for 10 stocks, but will decrease substantially for some stocks. The catch limits are available in the rule filed with the Federal Register today.
We are adjusting the sector at-sea monitoring program to make it more cost-efficient while ensuring sector catch is still reliably monitored. The target sector at-sea monitoring coverage level is 14% for 2016, as compared to 24% for 2015.
We are increasing recreational fishing opportunities for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and haddock.
Recreational GOM 2016 Cod Measures:
Season: Open Aug 1-Sep 30
Per Day Possession: 1 fish
Minimum Size: 24 inches
Recreational GOM 2016 Haddock Measures:
Season: Open Apr 15-Feb 28
Per Day Possession: 15 fish
Minimum Size: 17 inches
Read the final rule for Framework 55 and the final rule for recreational measures as filed in the Federal Register for further details. The fishery bulletins for the commercial and recreational rules (scroll to page 11) are available as pdfs on our website.
April 29, 2016 — Next year’s state budget, passed by the House on Wednesday, includes increased funding for city public schools; money to expand fisheries research; and money for community programs.
“This is a big victory, I was able to secure most of what we asked for,” Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, said Thursday. The budget awaits approval by the state Senate.
Notable funds set to come the city’s way include $450,000 for fisheries research conducted by UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST).
“This is critically important,” said SMAST Dean Steven Lohrenz. “Funds have been tight lately so this will allow us to continue to do the kind of pioneering work we’ve been doing with our collaborative fisheries research.”
The research conducted by SMAST looks at ways to improve accuracy in fisheries data collection. Lohrenz said that the new funds will allow researchers to conduct new projects including video survey techniques of cod and other groundfish.
“Their progress with data collection is very important for our fisheries industry especially with federal regulations that could cut quotas for the next fishing cycle,” Cabral said. “We’re hoping down the road that they can do for ground fish what they did for the scallop industry.”
April 28, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:
Scientists with NOAA Fisheries discover deep-sea coral gardens close to shore (25 miles) and shallow (700 feet). Unknown until 2014, these Gulf of Maine spots abound with corals, cod, and a snapping goosefish. Look out!
April 27, 2016 –PORTLAND, Maine — Federal regulators will soon release new rules for New England’s beleaguered cod fishery, including the role at-sea monitors will play.
At-sea monitoring is a controversial subject in the fishery because the government has shifted the cost of paying for monitors to fishermen. The monitors collect data that informs fishing regulations.
The new cod fishing season starts May 1, and the rules governing it are expected this week.
April 26, 2016 — A study by a group of researchers led by Dr. Andrew J. Pershing from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute appeared in Science last November (“Slow adaptation in the face of rapid warming leads to collapse of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery”). The Pershing study concluded that fisheries managers overseeing Gulf of Maine cod failed to consider ocean temperature in their management strategies, leading to overfishing of the stock. This week’s issue of Science published comments from two groups of scientists critiquing the Pershing study and its conclusions. In the same issue, the Pershing team responded with a defense of their work. Summaries of the comments and response are provided below:
A group of researchers at the Population Dynamics Branch of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, led by Dr. Michael C. Palmer, argues that the Pershing study’s claim that rising temperatures led to “extra mortality” is unsubstantiated by the overall mortality data. While Palmer’s group agrees that environmental factors affect fish stocks, they argue that the Pershing study failed to attribute additional mortality to temperature alone. Consequently, they conclude, “The analyses of Pershing et al. provide no evidence to support the hypothesis that failure to account for increases in temperature led to overfishing of the Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod stock.”
Read the full comment at Science
A group of Canadian fishery scientists led by Dr. Douglas P. Swain from Fisheries and Oceans Canada argues that the Pershing study is based on a flawed analysis of the population dynamics of Gulf of Maine cod. They write that the Pershing model made inappropriate assumptions, and that the model should undergo simulation before being used to make management decisions. They also argue that the Pershing study failed to take into account other factors that may have affected the mortality rates of Gulf of Maine cod. They conclude, “It is necessary to reserve judgment on the role of climate change…until more defensible analyses are conducted to address this issue.”
Read the full comment at Science
The Pershing group published a response to these comments. They argue that including temperature-dependent mortality improves abundance estimates. Further, using this metric shows that warming waters reduces growth rates of Gulf of Maine cod. They conclude, “Our report did not claim to have a definite answer to what is causing cod mortality to increase. Rather, we claimed that this increase is real, that it is likely related to temperature, and that failing to account for it led to catch advice that allowed for overfishing.”