Saving Seafood

In a settlement over whale entanglement, California’s Dungeness crab fishermen lose the spring season

June 3, 2019 — The worst-case scenario has been averted — no multiyear closure of California’s Dungeness crab fishery. But fishermen will feel the sting for years to come after a settlement in a lawsuit over whale and sea turtle entanglements has closed spring crabbing in the state for the foreseeable future. And the fishermen are not happy.

“The settlement is going to be extremely painful and extremely difficult to deal with,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, noting that millions of dollars in product will be left in the water this year. “But this was the best possible deal that was acceptable to all parties.”

At issue is a 2017 lawsuit in federal court by the Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Biological Diversity that argued the state of California was in violation of the Endangered Species Act after a three-year spike in whale entanglements in Dungeness crab fishing gear from 2014 to 2017.

The lawsuit sought to force the state of California to obtain a federal incidental take permit for whales and turtles — a process that takes around three years to implement. It would have been possible for the fishery to remain closed during the intervening years, although the CBD says it never sought an indefinite closure through litigation.

In 2015, 50 whales, including humpback, gray and blue whales, were confirmed to have become entangled in fishing gear, up from an average of less than 10 annual entanglements in the 15 years prior. In 2016, the number of entanglements remained high at 48 confirmed whale entanglements. Numbers in 2017 were down, but still above historical norms, with 31 confirmed entanglements on the West Coast.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Hearing held on Oregon crab boat sinking that killed 3

May 14, 2019 — The captain of a crabbing vessel that sank in high waves, killing him and two other fishermen, had methamphetamine and alcohol in his system, according to testimony Monday at the opening of a five-day U.S. Coast Guard hearing.

Stephen Biernacki, 50, and crew members James Lacey, 48, of South Toms River, New Jersey, and Joshua Porter, 50, of Toledo, Oregon, all died Jan. 8 after their 42-foot crabbing boat was battered by waves up to 20 feet (6 meters) tall as it crossed the Yaquina Bar near Newport, Oregon, during the lucrative but fickle Dungeness crab season.

Toxicology tests found cannabis in Lacey’s system; Porter had no drugs or alcohol in his body when he died, according to results shared at the hearing, which was streamed live from Newport, Oregon.

The bar — where the Yaquina River meets the ocean current — can be so treacherous that the dangers of crossing it with a fully loaded crab boat were the premise of a spin-off of the “The Deadliest Catch,” a reality TV show about commercial fishermen that aired on the Discovery channel.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

‘Desperately needed’: Congress OKs more than $29 million in disaster relief for California fisheries

May 1, 2019 — It’s taken four years but fishermen along California’s North Coast who have seen crab and salmon seasons truncated and even closed altogether will finally see some relief after $29.65 million in federal disaster relief funding was approved by Congress.

It was in the 2015-16 year the Dungeness crab fishery and the Yurok Chinook salmon fishery both collapsed due to poor water quality. Despite $200 million in relief funding made available in 2018, the release of the money was delayed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and it took a letter from U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Jackie Speier to get the ball rolling again last year.

“We’ve been waiting almost two years since these funds were made available by appropriations from Congress,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association on Monday. “These funds have been desperately needed for a long time and the crab fishermen are already experiencing another severe hardship with whale entanglements and the funds are needed more now than they were before.”

Oppenheim said local crab fishermen will see anywhere from $22,000 to $45,000 depending on the size of their operation and it’s not as if someone has hit the lottery, this is money that will be used on the basics and the bare necessities.

Read the full story at the Santa Cruz Sentinel 

Explaining California’s sudden humpback entanglement surge

April 22, 2019 — Every year, humpback whales make their annual trek from tropical calving grounds to feed in the cold, nutrient-rich waters off the coast of California. Historically, they arrived to feast in June just as the Dungeness crab fishery was closing and gear was being pulled in for the season. But in 2012, they arrived a few weeks earlier than normal. In 2014, they were a month early. By 2015, the humpbacks arrived in April, a full two months earlier than the norm.

That shift has been dangerous for the whales. In March, it was the subject of a lawsuit settlement that prompted an early end to the Dungeness crab season. Some of our own research has determined the cause: climate change.

Humpback sightings from the Golden Gate Bridge are a hallmark of summer in San Francisco. The whales come to feed where the narrow straits of the Bay meet the ocean. Marine life abounds here, where nutrient-dense water feeds blooms of phytoplankton. They are then eaten by zooplankton, including krill, tiny reddish shrimp-like crustaceans which are a favored food for whales. Seasonal blooms of these tiny animals support the ecosystem bottom-up, producing a massive marine buffet for fish, birds and other marine mammals. Predators gorge themselves in the summer and fall when this area supports the most amount of food.

Where there are high concentrations of fish, there are people catching them, and the whales’ earlier arrival has driven more interactions with West Coast fisheries. Since 2014, the number of whales entangled in Dungeness crab pots has escalated dramatically, with 129 cases reported between 2015 and 2017, compared to around 10 each year in previous decades.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Examiner 

Many California Crabbers Switching to Chinook Trolling as Salmon Seasons Are Set

April 18, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — From San Francisco to Crescent City, Calif., crab pots were being loaded onto trailers and stacked in port lots for storage as Dungeness crabbers were forced to stop fishing Monday.

But there may be a little light at the end of the tunnel: Many crabbers also fish for salmon, and California salmon trollers will have more than 25 percent additional opportunity this year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council announced the final West Coast salmon seasons Monday at its meeting in Rohnert Part, Calif.

“Although some salmon stocks are returning in stronger numbers than last year, balancing fishing opportunities with conservation is always a challenge for the Council, its advisors, fishery stakeholders and the public,” Council Executive Director Chuck Tracy said in a press release. “The seasons this year continue to protect stocks of concern, including Puget Sound Chinook, Washington natural coho, and Sacramento River fall Chinook.”

In addition to recommending salmon regulations for 2019, the Council developed a plan to work collaboratively with NMFS on southern resident killer whales, which are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Conservation groups have sued to force NMFS to take action to provide more salmon to orcas.

“This year’s package was adopted after careful consideration and analysis in order to meet our conservation objectives, consider impacts on the prey base important to southern resident killer whales, and consider in-river and Puget Sound fisheries,” Council Chair Phil Anderson said in the statement. “The Council also established a workgroup that will be working closely with the National Marine Fisheries Service to assess on a longer term basis the ocean salmon fisheries’ effect to the prey base of southern resident killer whales.”

However, for now, many California crabbers will be taking the crab blocks off their vessels and putting on their salmon gear. This year’s seasons open in some areas in May.

“It’s the best season we’ve seen in a while, though it’s still not wide-open fishing,” Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Noah Oppenheim was quoted as saying in the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s important there are opportunities spread throughout the coast. They’re going to need to operate in this fishery after having lost crab fishing time in the spring.”

Between Horse Mountain and Point Arena (Fort Bragg), Calif., the area will be open June 4-30, July 11-31, and August 1-28. From Point Arena to Pigeon Point (San Francisco), the area will be open May 16-31, June 4-30, July 11-31, August 1-28, and September 1-30. From Pigeon Point to the Mexico border (Monterey), the area will be open all of May, June 4-30, and July 11-31. There will also be a season from Point Reyes to Point San Pedro, a subset of the San Francisco area, on October 1-4, 7-11, and 14-15.

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

CALIFORNIA: Fishermen Reeling After Lawsuit Brings Early Closure to Crab Season

April 11, 2019 — Bay Area crab fishermen were racing to haul in their crab traps following the settlement of a lawsuit that is shutting down the commercial dungeness crab season nearly two months early.

Crab season, which opens in November and normally runs until the end of June, is shutting down April 15th as part of a settlement aimed at reducing the number of whale entanglements in crab gear. The settlement follows a lawsuit filed by the environmental group Center For Biological Diversity targeting the State of California over an increase in entanglements.

“We’ve always believed there were common sense solutions to this problem,” said Steve Jones, spokesman for CBD, “and we feel by working with the state and the crabbers we’ve found one in this case.”

Fishermen said they were blind-sided by the settlement, getting notice of the early shutdown only two weeks before the deadline. Earlier this week in the fishing hamlet of Bodega Bay on the Sonoma Coast, boats filled with crab traps pulled in to the docks to unload their traps.

Read the full story at NBC Los Angeles

Could Prize-Based Competitions Help Pacific Northwest Shellfish Cope With Acidic Seawater?

April 1, 2019 — As human activities continue to add greenhouse gases to the planet’s atmosphere, the oceans absorb nearly one-third of all CO2 emissions. Through a series of chemical reactions, increasing CO2 levels in the ocean have caused seawater to become 30% more acidic over the past century. This process, termed “ocean acidification“,  can disrupt animals’ abilities to smell, regulate their metabolism, and build their shells.

The Pacific Northwest region of the United States, where many economically and culturally valuable fisheries and shellfish farms exist, is especially vulnerable to ocean acidification. The shoreline that stretches from northern California to Alaska is the final destination for globally circulating seawater that accumulates nearly 1,000 years worth of CO2 from the respiration and decomposition of flora and fauna. Seasonal “upwelling” of these millennium-aged deep sea waters and additional CO2 from human activities makes them particularly acidic. Thus, understanding how these acidic waters affect the $220 million Dungeness crab fishery and the $9.4 billion mussel, clam and oyster farming industries in Washington (among many other potentially susceptible operations) is becoming increasingly urgent.

Earlier this week, four United States Congressmembers from Washington, Oregon and Alaska reintroduced a bill called the “Ocean Acidification Innovation Act”. Just like its predecessor from 2017, this bill would allow federal agencies to run prize-based competitions that would increase capacity for studying ocean acidification and mitigating its impacts.

“Our coastal communities depend on a healthy shellfish and fishing industry,” says one of the bill’s co-sponsors Rep. Herrera Beutler (WA-3), while another co-sponsor, Rep. Derek Kilmer (WA-6) added, “There are generations of folks in our coastal communities who have worked in fishing and shellfish growing, but that’s endangered if we don’t maintain a healthy Pacific Ocean.”

Read the full story at Forbes

Dungeness drag: Fleet agrees to shutter early

March 29, 2019 — The California Dungeness crab season will come to an early end this year on April 15 — three months ahead of schedule — leaving millions of dollars of product in the water. The fleet opted for the early closure to settle a lawsuit over whale entanglement rather than risk the possibility of an indefinite closure.

“The settlement is going to be extremely painful and extremely difficult to deal with,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “But this was the best possible deal that was acceptable to all parties.”

At issue is a 2017 lawsuit in federal court by the Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Biological Diversity that argued the state of California and fishermen were in violation of the Endangered Species Act after a three-year spike in whale entanglements in Dungeness crab fishing gear from 2014 to 2017.

The lawsuit sought the closure of the state-managed fishery until a federal incidental take permit was established — a process that could take years to implement.

Commercial fishermen, state regulators and biologists had convened a California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group in 2015 to find ways to limit whale entanglements while avoiding the burdensome federal incidental take permits.

A preliminary count for 2018 showed 45 whale entanglements on the West Coast, compared with 31 confirmed entanglements in 2017. Between 2000 and 2014, the West Coast saw an average of 10 entanglements per year, according to NOAA data.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CDFW, Center for Biological Diversity, PCFFA Agree to Whale Entanglement Settlement

March 28, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In less than a month, California crabbers will have to pack in their crab pots and end their season, thanks to a settlement agreement filed in federal court Tuesday.

The legal settlement protects whales and sea turtles from entanglement in commercial Dungeness crab gear. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in October 2017 after a drastic increase in the number of whale entanglements off the West Coast.

In a joint statement between the Center, CDFW and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, who intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of the fishing industry, the entities said Californians will be pleased to know that Dungeness crab will be caught off the coast with greater care for endangered wildlife under the settlement. The early closure this year is just one of many stipulations in the settlement.

“As I’ve said many times, no one wants whale entanglements to happen,” CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham said in the press release. “This agreement represents hours of intense negotiation to help ensure they don’t happen while supporting the resiliency of the crab fishery in the long run. I am thankful for the leadership of the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations who realized something needed to be done together.”

“This is great news for whales and sea turtles fighting extinction off California’s coast,” Kristen Monsell, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney, said in the statement. “The settlement will reduce serious threats from crab gear to these beautiful and highly endangered animals. This agreement is a turning point that gets us closer to zero entanglements and a healthy ocean.”

The settlement, subject to court approval, creates a comprehensive approach to the problem of whale entanglements. It expedites state regulation, ensures stakeholder input from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group and formalizes a first-ever commitment by CDFW to pursue a federal permit for protecting endangered species. While these steps are executed, the settlement calls for this year’s crab season to end three months early and prescribes protective measures for future springtime fishing seasons, when the greatest number of whales are present off the California coast.

In November 2018, CDFW announced it would seek a federal permit under the Endangered Species Act to address protected species interactions with the crab fishery. Obtaining a permit and developing a conservation plan as part of that process can take years, so the settlement spells out interim protections.

“This settlement represents the path back to normality for California’s crab fishery with built-in protections for whales and crab fishing operations under the Endangered Species Act,” PCFFA Executive Director Noah Oppenheim said in the statement. “The past several years have been extraordinarily challenging for fishing families, and the actions we’re taking here are no exception. But in the end, we’re going to emerge together with a resilient, prosperous, and protective fishery that will continue to feed California and the nation.”

However, as word got out that crabbers would have to pull their gear soon, frustration and anger followed.

Bodega Bay crab fisherman Tony Anello was quoted in the Press-Democrat as saying, “It hurts. Guys like me, right now I want to fish to the end.”

Most of the crab season is over in the first few weeks after it opens. As the crab supply dwindles, ex-vessel prices frequently rise and some of the fishermen rely on the limited supply for small markets in the spring and summer.

Already many large processors have stopped buying crab and turned to other fisheries as the pink shrimp and salmon seasons are set to open soon.

Fishermen and processors in other states are still waiting to understand the full ramifications of the agreement. What it will mean for next year’s fishery, whether the Center may sue other states, how regulations will change are all in question right now.

For example, the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, started in 2015 in reaction to whale entanglements, has made progress, but apparently not enough to satisfy the Center. Kristin Monsell, the CBD attorney, was once a member of the Working Group at its inception, according to working group records, but CBD pulled out of the group later.

Like California’s working group, Oregon and Washington have developed similar entities to deal with entanglements. They too have representatives of sport and commercial fishermen, ENGOs, industry, marine mammal experts and state and federal managers.

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

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