March 16, 2016 — DOVER, Del. (AP) – The National Marine Fisheries Service says it is withdrawing a federal moratorium on fishing for American eel in the state waters of Delaware.
The agency withdrew the moratorium effective Tuesday after concluding that Delaware is in compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s eel management plan.
Regulators determined last year that Delaware was out of compliance because it had not implemented regulations to rebuild depleted eel stocks and to prevent over-harvest.
March 9, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting public input on a draft amendment to address management and conservation of blueline tilefish in the Mid-Atlantic. Four public hearings will be held between March 21 and March 29, 2016. Written comments will be accepted until Wednesday, March 30, 2016.
The draft amendment considers adding blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) as a managed species in the Golden Tilefish Fishery Management Plan, effectively turning that plan into the Golden and Blueline Tilefish Fishery Management Plan. The management measures proposed in the amendment are needed to constrain fishing mortality on the blueline tilefish stock and effectively manage the blueline tilefish fishery in waters off the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts.
Additional information and documents, including a public hearing document (to be posted by March 14), may be obtained from http://www.mafmc.org/actions/blueline-tilefish.
Members of the public are invited to comment on any aspect of the draft amendment. Following a review of comments received, the Council will choose preferred management measures and submit the Amendment to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and publication of proposed and final rules, both of which have additional comment periods.
For more information, contact Jason Didden at (302) 526-5254 or jdidden@mafmc.org.
Public Hearing Schedule
There will be four hearings with the following dates/times/locations:
Written Comments
Written comments will be accepted until Wednesday, March 30, 2016, 11:59 pm. Comments may be sent by any of the following methods:
These public hearings are accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to M. Jan Saunders, (302) 526-5251, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.
View this press release on our website or as a PDF
March 9, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today, we are announcing adjustments to the 2016 Atlantic herring catch limits for the different management areas. These adjusted catch limits account for overages and carryover of unharvested catch from 2014.
Catch information for fishing year 2014 shows that in three stock areas (Areas 1A, 2, and 3) Atlantic herring was under-harvested, while in one stock area (Area 1B) the catch limit was exceeded. The overall 2014 stock-wide catch limit was not exceeded. Therefore, we are adjusting the initial 2016 area catch limits to account for the overage and carryovers from the 2014 fishing year. The initial stock-wide catch limit is also adjusted to account for the overage incurred in Area 1B.
Final 2016 herring catch limits will publish later this spring.
Initial Adjusted Herring Catch Limits for 2016:
|
Area 1A |
30,397 metric tons |
|
Area 1B |
2,941 metric tons |
|
Area 2 |
32,100 metric tons |
|
Area 3 |
43,832 metric tons |
|
Stockwide |
103,045 metric tons |
For more information, read the proposed rule as published today in the Federal Register, and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.
Questions about this rule? Please contact Emily Gilbert, 978-281-9244, or Emily.Gilbert@noaa.gov.
March 9, 2016 — Fisheries on the West Coast of America have come under intense pressure after closures and a dramatic fall in stock levels. Adrian Tatum looks at the challenges over the last few years.
Sometimes when something is broken it seems almost impossible to fix. Commercial fishing on the West Coast of America is far from broken but parts of it do need fixing.
Nearly a year ago its commercial sardine fishery was closed after the population of Pacific sardines had fallen to alarming levels. In April last year, scientists made a recommendation for full closure after the population was estimated to be below 150,000 tonnes. It has been a dramatic decline, as in 2007 there were 1.4 million tonnes.
The sardine fishery has not only been a major revenue source for West Coast fishermen, but many other species of fish such as tuna also rely on a plentiful supply for food. Scientists believed that by closing it last year it would give the population a chance to recover. But just last month, it was revealed that the sardine population has not recovered, and is in fact still declining at a fast rate. Scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service say that by the summer, the population is likely to be 33% lower than in 2015.
Bycatch reduction
Like most fisheries around the world, West Coast fishermen are facing up to a bycatch reduction plan. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering a plan which would allocate individual bycatch caps to groundfish vessels in the Gulf of Alaska rather than targeting specific large species. Back in 2011, the council passed a series of salmon and halibut bycatch reductions which angered fleet owners and fishermen. Now many Gulf of Alaska fishermen feel the recent changes will have a ‘crippling’ affect on its groundfish fleet.
Approximately 85% of the North Pacific groundfish fisheries are rationalised. This means fish quotas are assigned to individual vessels or fishing cooperatives. It is widely believed by some experts that this is the best way to ensure minimal bycatch, meaning vessels can fish without a time limit and are therefore more likely to avoid some of the endangered species such as salmon and halibut. But this process can also have a negative effect on the industry. Recent years have seen rationalisation being applied to the Bering Sea crab fishery where the number of boats fishing for crab fell by two thirds in just one year, with the loss of over 1,000 jobs.
Read the full story at World Fishing & Aquaculture
March 2, 2016 — It’s too early to know what Maine’s 2015 lobster landings will look like, but there’s no doubt that the number will be huge.
In 2014, the last year for which the Department of Marine Resources has figures, Maine’s fishermen landed more than 123 million pounds of lobster — the third year in a row that landings topped 120 pounds — worth a record $457 million.
While last year’s numbers aren’t in, fishermen and dealers talk about a bonanza fishery, and mild weather saw the fishery stay active into December.
In a sense, the landings are unsurprising.
According to a 2015 Atlantic States Fisheries Management Commission stock assessment, the abundance of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank showed a meteoric rise starting in 2008 and is now at an all-time high. In southern New England, though, the story is completely different.
From a peak in 1997, the southern New England stock fell swiftly to a point where, by 2004, it was well below what scientists consider the threshold of sustainability. Things leveled off briefly; then the resource began an ongoing plunge again in 2010.
According to last year’s assessment, the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank stock is not depleted and is not being overfished. The estimated lobster population from 2011 to 2013 was 248 million lobsters, which is well above the abundance threshold — a red flag for fisheries managers — of 66 million lobsters.
In contrast, in the years 2011 to 2013, the southern New England stock was depleted at an estimated 10 million lobsters. The “red flag” abundance level is 24 million lobsters.
March 2, 2016 — The following was released by the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program has just released new and updated assessments on King and Snow crab from Alaska. Bristol Bay Red King (Paralithoides camtschaticus) crab from the Eastern Bering Sea has been elevated to a “Best Choice” by Seafood Watch. With this updated recommendation, all of the major crab fisheries in the Eastern Bering Sea, including two species of Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio and C. bairdi) and Blue King crab from St. Matthews Island (P. platypus) meet Seafood Watch’s “Best Choice” standard.
The updated Seafood Watch recommendations maintain the “Avoid” status for all crab fisheries in the Russian portion of the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Northern Sea of Japan. These “Avoid” listings reflect the fact that stocks are at critically low levels as a result of rampant illegal fishing and highly ineffective management.
“With these updated recommendations the Seafood Watch program is just confirming what we have known for years. King and Snow crab from Alaska is clearly the ‘Best Choice’ if you care about the health of the oceans and wish to support sustainable fisheries. We hope that consumers, retailers, and those in the food service industry will use these recommendations to make informed purchasing decisions and demand King and Snow crab from Alaska,” said Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Science & Policy Analyst Ruth Christiansen.
March 2, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is pleased to provide you with our 2015 Annual Report, http://www.asmfc.org/files/pub/ASMFC_AnnualReport_2015.pdf. It describes the Commission’s activities and progress in carrying out our public trust responsibilities for the valuable marine fisheries under Commission stewardship. Included in this report are figures displaying the historical trends in stock status or landings for each species managed by the Commission. Also provided is a summary of the significant management actions Commissioners took in 2015 to maintain and restore the abundance of Commission managed species.
This report reflects our Commissioners’ commitment to accountability and transparency in all they do to manage and rebuild stocks under their care. We hope that you will find the information contained within this report useful and interesting.
March 1, 2016 — Under federal fisheries management, red snapper populations in the Gulf of Mexico are recovering and the boating and fishing industries have grown. But on Thursday, a U.S. Senate committee will hear a proposal that could gut a decade of recovery and growth for both. The idea floated by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., would create a piecemeal system by extending the state waters of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi from 3 miles to 9. In addition, his plan would loosen some of the stronger tenets of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act — like science-based rebuilding timelines and annual catch limits.
The other gulf states’ gains would be Florida’s loss, particularly for anglers in the Tampa Bay area who must travel at least 30 miles offshore to find 60-foot waters where the red snapper population flourishes. In effect, those other three states’ extensions would create enough extra state-water fishing pressure that the stock’s rebound would be imperiled. To keep the fish populations from plunging, the government would have to severely limit the number of days for fishing in federal waters. As a practical matter, Florida fishermen would have far fewer days to catch snapper.
On Thursday, Vitter will argue before the Senate Small Business Administration Committee that the 3-mile limits hurt small coastal businesses across the gulf that rely on healthy fish populations and liberal access to them. He is wrong. And as a small boat dealership and marina owner, I know something about this.
March 1, 2016 — A new plan to save the ocean is coming from somewhere surprising: Wall Street. An investment firm thinks they can nurture sustainable fisheries in developing countries and make a buck at the same time. Some are calling it a big deal. Others think they’re naive.
The reality is, fish are in bad shape. The United Nations says about 30 percent of world fish stocks are being harvested at an unsustainable pace. Some researchers think that figure is as high as 45 percent.
Efforts to rebuild fish populations—mostly in the past half-century—have had some successes. But just as often, efforts to manage fish stocks sustainably fail because money and political will dry up, laws aren’t enforced, or fisheries managers are simply overwhelmed by the complexity of an ecosystem.
A firm called Encourage Capital thinks they have an approach that can succeed. The firm’s particular brand of investing is about trying to encourage positive social or environmental changes through targeted capital investments.
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization and the Rockefeller Foundation tapped Encourage to develop an investment strategy as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Vibrant Oceans initiative.
February 29, 2016 — A joint Federal and State 2015 Juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon Survey shows the highest number of Atlantic sturgeon in the Hudson River in the 10-year history of the survey and the trend of the results show an increasing juvenile sturgeon abundance (see chart below), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos has announced.
“Juvenile Atlantic sturgeon are at the highest level recorded in the Hudson River in the last 10 years. These survey results are an encouraging sign for the recovery of Atlantic sturgeon,” Acting Commissioner Seggos said. “We are cautiously optimistic that, with our continued vigilance and efforts to protect this species, Atlantic sturgeon will have a secure future.”
Commercial fishing rates for Atlantic sturgeon exceeded the ability of the fish to replenish themselves in the late 1980s and early 1990s. New York led the way in conservation through implementation of a harvest moratorium for Atlantic sturgeon in 1996. In 1998, an amendment of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic sturgeon resulted in a coast wide moratorium on Atlantic sturgeon harvest for 40 years and aimed to protect two generations of females in each spawning stock.