Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces Increase in Common Pool Gulf of Maine Cod Possession and Trip Limits

September 15, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries announces an increase to the trip and possession limit for Gulf of Maine cod for common pool vessels.

We had reduced possession and trip limits to zero on June 15, 2015, to prevent the common pool from exceeding its Trimester 1 quota. To date, the common pool fishery has harvested approximately 31% of its annual quota for Gulf of Maine cod.

Through this action, we are increasing the possession and trip limit from zero to 25 pounds per trip for the remainder of the fishing year, though April 30, 2016.

This new limit goes into effect with publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday, September 16.

Read the rule as filed in the Federal Register today, and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

 

NORWAY: Oil spill dispersants do not increase cod exposure to toxins

September 9, 2015 — NORWAY — A recent study found that using dispersants moderately decreased the number of cod eggs and larvae affected by spills off the Norwegian coast.

Oil spills at sea can be catastrophic events, with oil and discharged toxins, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, threatening marine wildlife and coastlines, damaging healthy ecosystems and harming livelihoods, reports Science for Environment Policy.

Efforts to stop widespread damage from oil spills typically involve burning or collecting surface spills, or using dispersants. Dispersants are chemicals that help to break up the oil into smaller droplets, reducing or preventing the ascent of oil droplets from seabed spills, enhancing the mixing of the oil into the water column and making it easier for naturally occurring bacteria to break it down.

The use of dispersants has been controversial, particularly as earlier types were sometimes more environmentally damaging than the oil itself. Newer types of dispersants though are considered less toxic to the environment and are useful in preventing oil slicks travelling to sensitive areas, such as fish spawning grounds or places where there are stationary organisms, like mussels, which cannot escape.

Fish eggs and larvae are highly sensitive to oil toxins, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Using dispersants to break up surface slicks increases the concentration of total PAHs (TPAHs) in the water column where the cod eggs and larvae are found, which may increase the toxic effects of an oil spill.

Read the full story at FIS

Cod bones from Mary Rose reveal globalised fish trade in Tudor England

September 9, 2015 — New stable isotope and ancient DNA analysis of the bones of stored cod provisions recovered from the wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank off the coast of southern England in 1545, has revealed that the fish in the ship’s stores had been caught in surprisingly distant waters: the northern North Sea and the fishing grounds of Iceland – despite England having well developed local fisheries by the 16th century.

Test results from one of the sample bones has led archaeologists to suspect that some of the stored cod came from as far away as Newfoundland in eastern Canada.

The research team say that the findings show how naval provisioning played an important role in the early expansion of the fish trade overseas, and how that expansion helped fuel the growth of the English navy. Commercial exploitation of fish and the growth of naval sea power were “mutually reinforcing aspects of globalisation” in Renaissance Europe, they say.

“The findings contribute to the idea that the demand for preserved fish was exceeding the supply that local English and Irish fisheries were able to provide in order to feed growing – and increasingly urban – populations. We know from these bones that one of the sources of demand was naval provisions,” said Dr James Barrett, from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge.

“The existence and development of globalised fisheries was one of the things that made the growth of the navy possible. The navy was a key mechanism of maritime expansion, while at the same time being sustained by that expansion. The story of the cod trade is a microcosm of globalisation during this pivotal period that marked the beginning of an organised English navy, which would go on to become the Royal Navy,” he said.

Read the full story from the University of Cambridge

 

Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod

September 7, 2015 — UK fisheries survey logbooks from the 1930s to 1950s have been digitised for the first time, revealing how cod responded to changing temperatures in the last century.

Scientists at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the University of Exeter found that at the time, the warm seas experienced around Norway benefitted the cod, similar to the conditions there today.

Most cod eaten by the UK comes from northern seas including the Barents Sea around Norway, because the stocks there at the moment are at record highs. Cod stocks were also big in the middle of the last century, and this new research, published in PLOS ONE, reveals that the environmental conditions at the time contributed to the change. Cod diet data reveals that their food preferences each year, between capelin, herring, crustaceans and cod cannibalism, were also affected by their environment.

Cefas holds many records from historical survey cruises, many of them in the form of paper log books. A recent programme of work concentrated on cataloguing and digitising these documents, where possible, to ensure that they are not lost and can be made freely available. More of Cefas’ data, with the exception of data owned by industry, will continue to be made available over this year.

Read the full story here

 

Local lawmakers fear Cape fishermen will lose out on disaster funds

September 2, 2015 — Many Cape Cod fishermen, operating under shrunken quotas for cod, have shifted their focus to catching other fish species such as dogfish, skate and monkfish.

But that business decision, some lawmakers worry, could be jeopardizing the fishermen’s ability to qualify for the last pot of federal disaster relief funding being dispersed by the Baker administration to help offset the hit to their livelihoods from declining fish populations.

The Division of Marine Fisheries, after issuing draft criteria for the dispersal of roughly $6.5 million in remaining federal fishery disaster aid, held public hearings this summer soliciting feedback on their proposal. Lawmakers from Cape Cod and the Islands are now urging the administration to reconsider the criteria that they say will exclude over 100 fishing boats that could soon be hit with the added cost of paying for at-sea monitors to police their catches.

“We on the Cape represent a group of fisherman who belong to a groundfish sector down here that the draft proposal as written, I’m not sure any of them would qualify for relief,” said Rep. Sarah Peake, a Provincetown Democrat.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Today

Norway, Russia find peace in cod

August 27, 2015 — Some Norwegian research institutes are experiencing problems in cross-border research activities with Russia, among them the Norwegian Polar Institute’s polar bear count this year. However, fishing cooperation between the two countries is proceeding this year.

The two countries have together managed the rich fish stocks in the Barents Sea for almost half a century. Now, they again engage in their annual joint marine research expedition.

Political tensions between Moscow and Oslo appear not to affect the decades-long fisheries management cooperation between the countries. The Norwegian-Russian cooperation proceeds as planned, the Norwegian Marine Research Institute underlines to BarentsObserver.

Earlier in August, the Norwegian research vessel “Johan Hjort” set off from the port of Tromsø to start the collection of marine data in the Barents Sea. It was set to be joined by another three vessels, two Norwegian and one Russian.

“The difficult political situation does not much affect us”, Knut Sunnanå says to BarentsObserver. “We continue our research as before and our cooperation with [Russian partner] Pinro is not disturbed by the situation,” he adds.

As previously reported, other research institutes are currently experiencing problems in cross-border research activities with Russia, among them the Norwegian Polar Institute’spolar bear count this year.

The four ships will over the next weeks crosscross the Barents Sea to get a status update of stocks and the marine ecosystem. The data collected will be of key importance for the two countries’ setting of regional fisheries quotas.

Read the full story at the Arctic Newswire

New restrictions set for recreational fishing for cod, haddock in Maine

August 15, 2015 — Maine fishing regulators are enacting new restrictions on recreational fishermen who fish for cod and haddock.

Maine’s new rules went into effect on Aug. 8 and apply to charter, party and recreational fishing vessels in state waters. Cod fishing in the state is now closed, and it is unlawful for recreational fishermen to take or possess cod in state waters. The minimum size for haddock caught by recreational fishermen is being reduced to 17 inches.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Technology buoys fishermen devastated by cod’s collapse

August 11, 2015 — Late last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service released an unexpected, midseason stock assessment estimating that the number of spawning cod is 3 to 4 percent of a sustainable population. Within months, cod fishermen — already operating under shrunken quotas — had to find a new species to target and build a business around.

And then another blow: By the end of this year, NMFS wants groundfish fishermen to pay for their own “at-sea monitors,” the independent observers who collect data on bycatch and ensure fishermen follow the rules. Such monitors can cost $800 for each day on a boat, and NMFS requires one to be on 20 percent of trips, in addition to the observers NMFS pays to put on board.

Ford and other fishermen say they can’t afford it. Without cod, they say, their profit margins are slim.

Here’s Ford’s budget: On a good day of fishing flounder, he might make $1,500. His two-man crew gets 25 percent. Fuel costs about $250. And then there’s insurance, maintenance and other recurring expenses. Spending up to $800 on an at-sea monitor, he said, would make the trip not worth it.

“That’s the thing I can’t get past — is the cost of it,” Ford said. “I’ll tie the boat up before I pay for an observer.”

Is there another option?

Read the full story here

 

There’s no cod from Cape Cod in local markets

August 1, 2015 — EASTHAM, MA —  Step out of the hot, sunny day into the cool, fresh-smelling interior of Mac’s Seafood in Eastham and you’ll find a showcase full of glistening fish and shellfish nestled in a thick bed of ice chips.

Bluefish, summer flounder, cod and striped bass fillets, bluefin tuna, halibut and swordfish steaks, monkfish tails, bright pink slabs of salmon, shucked Atlantic sea scallops and whole squid, plus clams, oysters and mussels in their shells. There are plenty of choices.

But company co-owner Alex Hay doesn’t hesitate to say that his customers won’t find Cape Cod codfish in his fish market – or in any other fish market in the area.

Cod has slipped almost entirely out of reach for local fishermen over the last decade as stocks have contracted due to overfishing and environmental changes and quotas have been reduced to near nothing.

Read the full story at The Washington Times