Saving Seafood

Feds look to create Jonah crab fishery

March 22, 2019 — Fifteen years ago, the Jonah crab was barely an afterthought to fishermen and fishery managers alike.

When the crabs were considered at all, it was chiefly as unregulated bycatch to the American lobster industry. Untargeted and largely unloved by fishermen and unknown by consumers, the crabs became the living embodiment of a niche fishery.

But then something happened: landings of Jonah crabs exploded, from nearly 3 million pounds in 1994 to more than 17 million pounds in 2017 — with more than 70 percent of the haul coming out of Massachusetts waters. They are used as food, sometimes to substitute for the popular and more expensive Dungeness crab.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Daily Times

MARYLAND: Larry Hogan presses Trump administration for visas for crab pickers

March 14, 2019 — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday pressed Trump administration officials to grant more work visas to immigrants, arguing seasonal laborers are a pillar of the Chesapeake Bay’s seafood industry.

Hogan, a moderate Republican weighing a 2020 primary challenge to President Trump, wrote to Cabinet secretaries that continuing to cap the seasonal visas that have been used by hundreds of migrant crab pickers for decades “could permanently damage Maryland’s seafood industry, causing . . . iconic family businesses to close and having a devastating impact on jobs in our state.”

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Hogan argued that each of the roughly 500 seasonal crab pickers who used to migrate to Maryland’s Eastern Shore generates 2.5 jobs for U.S. citizens. He cited a University of Maryland study and said the loss of those jobs, in turn, “threaten the livelihoods of commercial crabbers and waterman.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

ASMFC Schedules Peer Review for Horseshoe Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment for March 26-28, 2019

February 27, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment will be peer-reviewed on March 26 – 28, 2019 at the Commission’s office at 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA 22201. The assessment will evaluate the horseshoe crab population along the Atlantic coast and inform the management of this species. The peer review is open to the public, except for discussions of confidential data when the public will be asked to leave the room.

Confidential data (see NOTE below) are data such as commercial landings that can be identified down to an individual or single entity. Federal and state laws prohibit the disclosure of confidential data, and ASMFC abides by those laws. Each state and federal agency is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of its data and deciding who has access to its confidential data. In the case of this stock assessment and peer review, all analysts and reviewers have been granted permission by the appropriate agencies to use and view confidential data. When the assessment team needs to show and discuss these data, observers to the stock assessment process will be asked to leave the room to preserve confidentiality. For horseshoe crab, regional biomedical data and model runs that include these data are considered confidential, as well as any discussions around regional trends or stock status derived from these data. Additionally, the public and all other workshop participants will be asked to leave the room during the Peer Review Panel’s final deliberations.

A copy of the agenda for the peer review can be found here –http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/HSC_PeerReviewWorkshopAgenda_March2019.pdf. For more information, please contact Patrick Campfield, Science Director, at pcampfield@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

California wildlife agency denied in bid to delay lawsuit over whale, sea turtle entanglements

February 5, 2019 — A San Francisco judge has rejected the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s bid to delay a lawsuit that claims the agency has fallen short in preventing the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery from entangling whales and sea turtles.

U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney, on Jan. 25, denied the department’s motion to delay the case by 2 1/2 years while it secures a federal “incidental take permit” that would allow the agency to operate in a way that addresses and minimizes the threat to whales and sea turtles, while acknowledging some risk.

The Center for Biological Diversity sued Fish and Wildlife in October 2017 after the total number of whale entanglements from all fishing industries broke records for three straight years.

“The Dungeness crab fishery is the biggest entanglement culprit in California, by far,” said Steve Jones, a spokesman for the center. “Most entangling gear can’t be identified, but of the identified gear, it is mostly crab lines.”

Read the full story at The San Jose Mercury News

Coast Guard Assists 17 Crabbers off Pacific Northwest Coast in One Week

January 29, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Coast Guard crews along the Oregon and Washington coasts assisted 17 fisherman in five responses between Sunday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 25 — just as the weather was clearing up and more fishermen, especially smaller vessels, were headed to Dungeness crab grounds.

Response efforts included crews from Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay, Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment and Coast Guard Air Facility Newport, in coordination with members at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River and Coast Guard Sector North Bend.

The two-person crew aboard the F/V Zephyr was escorted across the Yaquina Bay Bar in Oregon by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Yaquina Bay, Sunday, Jan. 20. The crew of the 31-foot fishing vessel reported taking on water 17 miles south of the bay with less than 500 pounds of crab aboard. The onboard pump and auxiliary pumps were able to keep up with the flooding as the fishing crew were escorted in. An MH-65 Dolphin aircrew from Air Facility Newport launched as well, according to the press release.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Dream was escorted across the Columbia River Bar and safely moored in Ilwaco, Wash., by a Station Cape Disappointment boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Triumph, on Monday, Jan. 21. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported experiencing fuel injector issues while attempting to cross the bar with 1,000 pounds of crab aboard.

A three-person crew aboard the F/V Miss Jessie was towed into Ilwaco by a 47-foot motor life boat crew from Station Cape Disappointment on Monday as well. The crew of the 36-foot fishing vessel reported they lost propulsion almost 3 miles west of Ocean Park where they anchored with 1,500 pounds of crab aboard until the Coast Guard crew arrived.

A four-person crew aboard the F/V Redeemer was towed to Newport, Ore., by Station Yaquina Bay boat crew aboard the 52-foot motor life boat Victory, Monday, Jan. 21. The crew of the 51-foot fishing vessel reported they lost steering while on approach to the Yaquina Bay entrance with 5,000 pounds of crab aboard.

The motor life boat Victory was activated again on Thursday, Jan. 24, when a four-person crew aboard the F/V Triggerfish was towed into Newport. The 42-foot fishing vessel crew reported they lost steering almost 2 miles west of the Yaquina Bay entrance with no catch aboard.

Coast Guard stations along the coast maintain ready crews in the event of emergencies, which often involve the use of the 47-foot and 52-foot motor life boats. The 52-foot MLB is unique in that they are only located in the Pacific Northwest and that they are the only Coast Guard vessels under 65 feet with names. The four vessels are stationed at Grays Harbor and Cape Disappointment, Wash.; and Yaquina Bay and Coos Bay, Ore.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

VIRGINIA: Watermen get say on how to tackle ‘ghost pots’ in the Chesapeake Bay

January 29, 2019 — “Ghost pots” remain a menace in the Chesapeake Bay, but how big a menace and what to do about them is anybody’s guess.

That could change now that the 1,056 hard crab fishermen licensed in Virginia are getting a chance to have their say.

Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are mailing surveys to watermen asking for their ideas on the countless crab pots that, for any number of reasons, end up haunting the bay, trapping and killing crabs and other hapless creatures that crawl or swim inside.

“This is really to try to find out, what do the watermen want, what do they think,” said Jim DelBene, the VIMS graduate student who developed the Derelict Blue Crab Pot Survey.

In doing so, he researched what other states with blue crab fisheries, from Connecticut through Texas, are doing to reduce ghost pots. He sought out experts at VIMS and at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and held focus groups for commercial watermen to help choose and frame the survey questions.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

Oregon sets Feb. 1 as re-opening date for commercial crabbing

January 28, 2019 — The Department of Fish and Wildlife in the US state of Oregon (ODFW) on Thursday announced that it would allow the commercial Dungeness crab season to begin on the coast from Cape Arago to the California border on Feb. 1.

State officials closed the area in October due to concerns about a high level of the marine biotoxin domoic acid, which can cause minor to severe illness and even death in humans. ODFW said it took samples from the southern portion of the area and found levels of the toxin elevated in the viscera (guts) of the crab. As a result, all crab harvested from south of Cape Blanco along the west coast will be required to have their viscera removed by a licensed processor prior to sale.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Importance of Russian king crab grows as Alaska supplies tighten

January 25, 2019 — Quotas of Russian-landed red king crab from the Far East and Barents Sea fisheries are growing even as Alaskan landings shrink due to concerns about the health of the stock.

However, members of the Global Seafood Market Conference’s Shellfish Panel said last week that US supplies of red king crab are dropping due to the lower Alaska quotas and reduced Russian imports as more crab is sent live to China and South Korea.

The US supply situation could get worse before it gets better, John Sackton of Seafood Datasearch told the audience.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set the Bristol Bay King Crab quota at 4.3 million pounds for the 2018/19 season, which compares to 6.6m lbs in 2017/18. This year’s effective spawning biomass was 33.3m lbs, greater than the 14.5m lbs needed to open the fishery. But there is concern that the biomass could shrink further in future years, Sackton said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

California opens more coastline to crab fishing, but don’t count on a big haul yet

January 17, 2019 — Woe is the crab lover: More of California’s north coast opened to commercial crab fishing Tuesday, but stormy waters and a shellfish toxin still are limiting the haul and putting a further crimp on the season for the tasty crustaceans.

“It’s not easy to be a crab fisherman in California this year,” said Noah Oppenheim, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “But they’ll soldier on.”

Crab lovers had hoped for relief this season after several frustrating winters of on-again-off-again crab catching along the California coast. The crab fishery was valued at $67.5 million last season.

Crab fishers began hauling up the tasty crustaceans along the Central Coast south of Mendocino County when the commercial season began in mid-November.

But state authorities kept the fishery north of Sonoma County off limits until Tuesday — the latest date allowed by law — because crabs there were coming in lean and considered not ready for market.

Read the full story at The Mercury News

3 dead after fishing boat capsizes crossing Oregon bay

January 10, 2019 — The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Wednesday morning that three fishermen who were on boat when it capsized Tuesday night were killed.

The Dungeness crab fishing boat, the Mary B II, capsized while crossing the Yaquina Bay bar Tuesday night in 12- to 14-foot seas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard was able to recover one body, 48-year-old James Lacey, from South Toms River, New Jersey, with a helicopter. He was taken to Pacific Communities Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. A second body, Joshua Porter, 50, from Toledo, Oregon, washed ashore near Nye Beach.

The Mary B II eventually ran aground on the beach near the north side of the Yaquina Bay North Jetty. The boat skipper, Stephen Biernacki, 50, from Barnegat Township, New Jersey, was found deceased with the boat.

“We did everything we could. Unfortunately, it was just a tragic outcome and our hearts and thoughts are with the family and friends of the crew,” said Petty Officer Levi Reed with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Read the full story from KATU at WSET