Saving Seafood

Draft plan unveiled to curb Southern New England lobster declines

August 9, 2016 — The American Lobster Management Board has released a draft plan responding to declining stocks of lobsters in Southern New England waters that will be considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission at its annual meeting in late October.

The proposal presents a suite of management measures to increase egg production and lower harvesting mortality through a combination of management tools that include season closures, trap limits and reductions and changes in escape vent and lobster size regulations. The goal is to increase egg production for lobsters in Southern New England waters from zero to 60%.

The draft responds to the 2015 American lobster benchmark stock assessment that found the Southern New England “stock severely depleted and undergoing recruitment failure with poor prospects of recovery,” according to Friday’s statement from ASMFC.

“Declines in population abundance were most pronounced in the inshore portion of the stock where environmental conditions have remained unfavorable to lobsters since the late 1990s,” according to ASMFC. “Despite fleet attrition, stock declines have continued. These declines are largely in response to adverse environmental conditions including increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with continued fishing mortality.”

ASMFC reported that declines in in the offshore portion of the fishery were evident as well though not as severe. But it also noted the offshore portion of the Southern New England stock depends on a viable population of young lobsters in waters closer to the shore.

The lobster stock in Southern New England increased from the early 1980s, peaked during the late 1990s and then started declining steeply to a record low in 2013, according to ASFMC’s 2015 benchmark study. The study attributes the decline as being largely due to “increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with sustained fishing mortality.”

Read the full story at Maine Biz

Regulators to Vote on New Lobster Fishing Restrictions

August 5, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – New restrictions might be proposed for southern New England’s lobster fishery as it deals with a steep decline in population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to save the lobsters and might cast a vote on Thursday.

A report from the commission says that one way to slow the loss of lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size for the crustaceans.

Scientists say the population off of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut has declined during a time of warming oceans. Lobsters have remained plentiful to consumers because of heavy supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Connecticut Lawmakers, Proposed Atlantic Monument Met With Opposition From Commercial Fishermen

August 5, 2016 — The following is excerpted from a story published yesterday by the Hartford Courant:

A plan announced Thursday that would designate a unique undersea area 150 miles off the New England coast as the nation’s first Atlantic marine national monument was met with immediate opposition from commercial fishermen.

Connecticut’s congressional delegation, as well as environmental and educational groups, want President Barack Obama to preserve the “New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts” area, which lies along the continental shelf.

The proposal would dramatically restrict commercial fishing in that area and is drawing fierce opposition from commercial fisherman like Stonington’s Bobby Guzzo, who owns and operates two boats.

“That’s just the government trying to take all our water,” Guzzo said Thursday from aboard his fishing vessel. “I’m dead set against it.”

Joseph Gilbert’s Empire Fisheries operates four fishing boats out of Stonington, and he also has problems with the proposed undersea sanctuary. “Fishermen are conservationists, too,” Gilbert said, explaining that he believes the proposal “is well intentioned” but simply “goes too far” without considering the impact on commercial fishing operations and supplies of fish for consumers.

“A lot of these areas are protected already,” Gilbert said.

Commercial fishing groups such as the National Coalition for Fishing Communities argue that there already exist federal laws and regulatory commissions that are set up to protect valuable marine resources like those within the proposed marine sanctuary.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which is responsible for regulating fishing in the region, is also opposed to creation of a protected marine monument off New England’s continental shelf. Commercial fishing organizations warn that the plan would hamper fishing for red crab, swordfish, tuna, as well as off-shore lobster fisheries.

Jon Mitchell, mayor of New Bedford, Mass., New England’s most important fishing port, has also objected to the proposal, as has Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant

New England Fishing Groups Oppose Use of Antiquities Act for Atlantic Marine Monument as Requested by Connecticut Lawmakers

August 4, 2016 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

WASHINGTON (NCFC) – August 4, 2016 – Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Congressional Delegation today asked President Obama to use executive authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts as a Marine National Monument. The Connecticut Congressional Delegation is comprised of Sen. Blumenthal, Sen. Chris Murphy, Rep. John Larson, Rep. Joe Courtney, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Rep. Jim Himes, and Rep. Elizabeth Esty.

Members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) have previously expressed opposition to the misuse of the Antiquities Act to designate an Atlantic Marine Monument. A monument designation would subvert the open and transparent process for fisheries management currently in place under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and threatens the jobs and livelihoods of hardworking fishermen.

Below are statements from NCFC members on their opposition to an Atlantic Marine Monument designation.

David Frulla and Andrew Minkiewicz, Fisheries Survival Fund (Atlantic Scallops):

“A monument designation, with its unilateral implementation and opaque process, is the exact opposite of the fisheries management process in which we participate. Public areas and public resources should be managed in an open and transparent manner, not an imperial stroke of the pen.”

Jon Williams, New England Red Crab Harvesters’ Association:

“The red crab fishing business I’ve been operating for twenty years is active in some of the areas under the proposal. Not only has our fishery complied with every regulation, but we have expended significant resources and time to ensure the health of the resource we fish. These efforts to both understand and minimize our impact on the environment have been so successful that after forty years of red crab fishing, our fishing grounds are described as ‘pristine’ by the same environmental groups who seek the monument designation. If these habitats are still ‘pristine’ after forty years of fishing, how can a serious argument be made that the area is in imminent danger and in need of immediate, unilateral protection by presidential fiat?”

Greg DiDomenico, Garden State Seafood Association:

“The Antiquities Act was perhaps a necessary tool to protect sensitive areas in 1906, but with our increased technological capabilities, knowledge, and an all-encompassing regulatory system, it is an unnecessary and blunt tool for 2016. It is time that the years of on-the-water experience possessed by the commercial fishing industry be acknowledged, especially in the context of this issue.”

Richard P. Ruais, American Bluefin Tuna Association:

“Given that our fishing gear has no negative impact on deep sea coral, a proposed prohibition on the fishing methods we employ would be arbitrary, completely unnecessary and would result in significant negative economic consequences.”

Statements from more NCFC members on their opposition to an Atlantic Marine Monument are available here.

Regulators to vote on new lobster fishing restrictions

August 4, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — New restrictions might be proposed for southern New England’s lobster fishery as it deals with a steep decline in population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to save the lobsters and might cast a vote on Thursday.

A report from the commission says that one way to slow the loss of lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size for the crustaceans.

Scientists say the population off of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut has declined during a time of warming oceans. Lobsters have remained plentiful to consumers because of heavy supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

Minimum size for keeping caught lobster may change south of Cape Cod

August 1, 2016 — Southern New England lobster fishermen might have to start throwing back more small lobsters in an attempt to stem population losses.

New restrictions are on tap for the region’s historic lobster fishery, which is grappling with an unprecedented decline in some areas. Scientists have said lobsters off southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have declined as ocean waters warm.

The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to help preserve the species, and a report from the commission says one way to preserve lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size. The commission’s lobster board might take action on the issue Thursday.

“The biggest challenge I see is trying to establish an appropriate goal to manage the fishery in the face of what the scientists are telling us is the decline caused by ocean warming,” said Dan McKiernan, a member of the lobster board.

New England lobster fishing is one of America’s oldest industries, and it was worth more than a half-billion dollars last year. Lobsters have remained plentiful for consumers, and prices have been relatively stable because of abundant supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Vote coming on rules about removal of dogfish fins

July 28, 2016 — OLD LYME, Conn. — Interstate fishing regulators will vote on changes to rules that govern removal of fins from some coastal sharks by fishermen.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering an amendment that would allow fishermen to bring smooth dogfish to land with fins removed as long as their total retained catch is at least 25 percent smooth dogfish.

Current rules say fishermen can bring ashore as many dogfish with fins removed as they choose. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

Whales popping up in Long Island Sound for second year

July 26, 2016 — NORWALK, Conn. — For the second year in a row, whales have been spotted in the Long Island Sound, with sightings all the way in near Fairfield County. But why?

According to Joe Schnierlein, with the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, “They’re here for food. This is a smorgasbord for them.”

He’s referring to a fish called menhaden, also known as buffers.

“Right now, the entire western end of the Sound is loaded with them,” Schnierlein explained.

Read and watch the full story at FOX 61

Endangered Atlantic sturgeon find a new nursery in the Connecticut River

July 20, 2016 — OLD LYME, Conn. — Though facing extinction after 70 million years of existence, Atlantic sturgeon apparently aren’t done looking for new ways to adapt and survive.

“They’re really amazing fish,” Isaac Wirgin, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at New York University’s School of Medicine, said Monday. “This was really an unexpected result.”

The result he was referring to was the outcome of genetic tests he completed last fall on tissue samples from some 6-inch, 1-year-old Atlantic sturgeon caught in the lower Connecticut River in 2014.

Tom Savoy, a fisheries biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection who’s been researching Atlantic sturgeon in Long Island Sound for more than 20 years, caught the small fish while sampling with nets in the river for a related species — the short-nosed sturgeon — and knew right away he’d found something unique.

Based on their size, they had to have been born in the river.

“Prior to that, we assumed the breeding population had been extirpated in Connecticut,” said Savoy, who works out of DEEP’s Marine Headquarters on Ferry Road.

“But the great news is, evidently they are spawning in the Connecticut River,” he said. “Now, because they’re a federally protected species, the state is obligated to learn more. We need to know where they are, and how many there are.”

The ancient species, which supplied the caviar that became one of the first exports from the colonies, was declared a federally endangered species in 2012.

Living up to 70 years and growing up to 400 pounds, adult Atlantic sturgeon were popular fish for Native Americans and the European settlers who came after them.

“By the 1800s, about 75 percent of the stocks on the East Coast were wiped out,” Savoy said.

Since receiving endangered species status, more researchers have been looking for — and finding — Atlantic sturgeon in rivers and estuaries along the Atlantic coast, with the Hudson River population standing out as the most robust, Wirgin said.

Read the full story at The Day

Vessel rescues 19 fishermen from burning boat off Bermuda

June 30, 2016 — HARTFORD, Conn. — A plume of black smoke alerted the crew of a cargo vessel to possible distress. As they pulled closer in the Atlantic Ocean, they found a fishing boat engulfed in flames and the sailors in the water.

The ship, K. Coral, hoisted 17 fishermen aboard. Two others drifted away while clinging to a makeshift raft made from fishing buoys. Lookouts searched for several hours, through nightfall and heavy wind and rain, before the crew pulled them both to safety as well.

The ship arrived this week to unload steel in New Haven, Connecticut, where a delegation from the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday honored the captain and crew for carrying out the rescue last week 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged K. Coral, said in Wednesday an email to The Associated Press that the entire effort felt like something out of a movie.

“Until now I, and my crew, still can’t believe that we had rescued 19 people,” he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WRCB