Saving Seafood

Red Grouper Reallocation by NOAA Fisheries Punishes Commercial Fishermen and Seafood Consumers, Jeopardizes Red Grouper Sustainability

May 2, 2022 — The following  was released by A.P. Bell Fish Company, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders’ Alliance, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association:

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries formally published their decision to take fish from commercial fishing families, the seafood supply chain, and the seafood consumers they serve. The publication of the Final Rule implementing Amendment 53 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan comes despite NOAA Fisheries admitting that doing so will increase recreational discards, put more strain on the recovery of this species, and reduce the amount of red grouper that all fishermen can enjoy in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Red grouper is the foundation of my family’s business that has existed in Florida for more than 80 years,” said Karen Bell, third-generation owner and President of A.P. Bell Fish Company located in Cortez, Florida. “We pride ourselves on catching and serving our customers fresh, wild, sustainably-caught red grouper from the Gulf of Mexico. Now NOAA Fisheries is making it difficult for us to serve our customers and stay in business.”

The ostensible purpose of Amendment 53 is to account for new data from NOAA Fisheries based on the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) Fishing Effort Survey (FES), which indicated the recreational sector catches more red grouper than previously estimated. But instead of using these new data to spark a discussion about better management and more accountability to ensure all fishermen stay within their catch limits, NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) chose to use these new data to literally “rewrite history” to justify taking 32% of the commercial sector’s quota and giving it to the recreational sector.

“Somehow NOAA Fisheries took this new recreational FES survey, magically revised 35 years of data about what recreational anglers caught in the past, and told us that commercial fishermen need to give up some of our quota so these anglers get more fish to catch in the future,” said Ed Maccini, president of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association (SOFA), based in Madeira Beach, Florida. “But unlike commercial fishermen who report and weigh every pound of fish we land, recreational anglers don’t have to report what they catch or even be accurate in what they choose to report. It’s all basically guesswork by NOAA Fisheries. And now they’re taking our quota away based on these highly uncertain and wildly changing estimates.”

Commercial fishermen remain baffled as to why NOAA Fisheries would make such an anti-conservation decision when the red grouper stock recently reached some of the lowest levels on record. Furthermore, according to the Gulf Council’s own analysis, rewarding the recreational sector with more allocation “is more likely to result in an overfishing or eventual overfished status of red grouper.”

“This is a lose-lose-lose situation: our businesses are taking a hit, seafood consumers are taking a hit, and the health of the red grouper stock is taking a hit,” said Jason DeLaCruz, owner of Wild Seafood Co. in John’s Pass, Florida. “The commercial sector is stuck with getting a smaller slice of a smaller pie, yet the recreational sector is allowed to throw back more than 3.7 million red grouper every year, and a few years back they threw back more than 6 million red grouper – that’s more fish than commercial fishermen are allowed to land. Amendment 53 reduces everyone’s quotas so that the recreational sector can discard more fish. It’s such a waste.”

The public opposition to Amendment 53 has been overwhelming – all told, more than 99.3% of all testimony recently submitted to NOAA Fisheries opposed Amendment 53. This opposition came from a wide range of industries and sectors including:

  • Commercial fishermen
  • Commercial fishing organizations (in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the country)
  • Federal commercial fishing coalitions (representing commercial fishermen from Alaska to California to Maine to the Gulf of Mexico)
  • The restaurant industry
  • The seafood supply chain
  • Charter/for-hire fishermen and fishing organizations
  • Scientists
  • Economists
  • Environmental organizations
  • Lawyers/legal advisors, and
  • Seafood consumers (literally thousands of them)

“Amendment 53 is illegal. Period,” said Buddy Guindon, Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, based in Galveston, Texas. “It maximizes discards, unfairly penalizes commercial fishermen by taking away their quota to cover dead discards by recreational anglers, and increases the risk of overfishing. This is opposite of what Congress intended when it adopted the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.”

New study links red tides and dead zones off west coast of Florida

April 26, 2022 — A new study found that when red tides began in early summer and continued into the fall, low oxygen areas—or dead zones— were more likely to also occur. This study by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and NOAA collaborators is the first study to link low oxygen—or hypoxia—to red tides across the west coast of Florida and offers new information to better understand the conditions favorable for combined events as they are expected to increase as Earth continues to warm.

Red tides are becoming a near annual occurrence off the west coast of Florida, which are caused by massive blooms of the algae Karenia brevis fueled in part by excess nutrients in the ocean. These  turn the  red and produce toxins that are harmful to marine mammals, sharks, seabirds and humans causing a range of issues from respiratory irritation, localized fish kills to large-scale massive mortalities to . Hypoxic areas are typically referred to as ‘dead zones’.

Read the full story at Phys.org

 

Recruitment Announcement: Citizen Science Project Coordinator

March 28, 2022 — The following was released by The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) is seeking a Citizen Science Project Coordinator that will support the Council’s Citizen Science Program and help coordinate individual citizen science projects. The Council, headquartered in North Charleston, SC, is responsible for the conservation and management of fish stocks within the federal 200-mile limit of the Atlantic off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and east Florida to Key West. The Council’s Citizen Science Program aims to work with fishermen and scientists to facilitate and support the development of projects to address Council-specific research needs.

The Citizen Science Project Coordinator is a full-time, time-limited contract position that will work closely with the Citizen Science Program Manager. The position will primarily focus on coordinating the SAFMC Release project and the continued development of the SciFish customizable citizen science mobile application. The SAFMC Release project works with commercial, recreational, and for-hire fishermen to collect information on released fish via a mobile app. SciFish is being developed to serve as an umbrella mobile application that would support data collection for different fishery-related citizen science projects developed by partners along the Atlantic coast.

See the complete recruitment announcement available from the Council’s website for additional information and application instructions. Applications must be received by April 20, 2022.

Access to red snapper in South Carolina waters could improve with new legislation

February 23, 2022 — Nearly 13 years ago, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determined the South Atlantic red snapper stock was overfished and undergoing overfishing. The fishery was closed in 2010 with a 35-year rebuilding plan put in place.

Ever since, red snapper have been virtually inaccessible for recreational anglers in South Atlantic waters which stretch from North Carolina southward through the east coast of Florida.

Save for occasional mini-seasons ranging from three to nine days in some, but not all, of those years, anglers have been forced to release red snapper.

As the numbers and size of red snapper have increased over the past dozen years, so has frustration among recreational anglers not only in South Carolina but throughout the South Atlantic Region.

Red snapper are almost exclusively caught in federal waters (3-200 miles offshore), typically in depths of about 60-120 feet off South Carolina. The reef species is very susceptible to barotrauma, which occurs when the rapid change in pressure as fish are reeled in causes the gases in the fish’s body to expand.

Read the full story at The State

Gulf of Mexico Swordfish: Lingering covid effects, cheap imports depress market

December 22, 2021 — Low production, the ongoing covid-19 health and economic crisis, and a flood of product from Canada are depressing the U.S. commercial swordfish market in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic, according to some industry members.

“Production levels are the lowest they’ve been since the beginning of time,” lamented Scott Taylor, operator of Day Boat Seafood in Fort Pierce, Fla. “There have been no positive developments whatsoever. I have more boats sitting at the dock than I have fishing.”

Taylor cited a litany of hits to the fishery: Covid’s impacts on the restaurant industry which drives U.S. demand for swords; new U.S. government regulations, including gear restrictions and the possible closure by the Biden administration of New England’s fish-rich Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument; a deluge of cheaper product from Canada dumped in U.S. markets recently; rising fuel prices; and a lack of new blood entering the U.S. commercial fishing industry.

Taylor said the average boat price is about $4, which he calls “unsustainable.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Recruitment Announcement Communication and Digital Media Specialist

December 17, 2021 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, is responsible for the conservation and management of fish stocks within the federal 200-mile limit of the Atlantic off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and east Florida to Key West. The Council is responsible for Coastal Migratory Pelagics from New York to Florida and for Dolphin/Wahoo, from Maine to Florida.

The Communication and Digital Media Specialist (CDM) position is responsible for developing a wide range of communication products in support of Council activities. The CDM serves as the Council’s webmaster and administrator for outreach and communication software products and assists other staff in developing documents and graphics to support the Council’s communication needs. Duties include developing digital and print media outreach materials, working closely with other staff to develop graphics and visual aids for Council documents and presentations, and managing the Council’s website and application platforms. The CDM is expected to work effectively in a team-oriented environment with minimal direct supervision while managing multiple tasks simultaneously and meeting deadlines.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

•Manage website structure and framework

•Manage and post website content

•Serve as the POC for website design and hosting contractors

•Monitor website use and analytics to inform decision making relevant to updates

•Coordinate third party software vendors and software applications

•Stay current with digital media developments and assist with design or selection of future applications

•Create user-friendly digital and print media in support of Council activities

•Develop documents and graphics to effectively convey technical information to general audiences

•Foster cohesively branded content across multiple communication products and tools

•Manage end-to-end digital projects and coordinate workflow both internally and with outside collaborators

•Serve as a liaison with federal, state, and NGO partners for digital media management

•Participate in outreach activities and events

•Other duties as assigned

See the complete recruitment announcement available from the Council’s website for additional information and application instructions.

 

20 endangered sea turtles flown from New England to Florida to avoid freezing

December 13, 2021 — Twenty critically endangered juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were flown from New England to the subtropical Florida Keys to convalesce at the Marathon Turtle Hospital after being rescued from Cape Cod Bay’s frigid coastal waters.

Each of the turtles suffers from “cold stunning,” a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged time, according to hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach. They arrived Friday by private plane.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

ASMFC Seeks Proposals for Regional Pilot Projects in Support of Sustainable Aquaculture – Proposals Due February 1, 2022

November 8, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission), in partnership with the NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture, is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP), seeking marine aquaculture pilot projects focused on sustainable aquatic farming techniques and regional business practices to grow U.S. domestic seafood. The geographic scope of the proposed projects is the U.S. East Coast states from Maine to Florida. The primary location of the proposed projects must be in the marine/estuarine environment.  Examples of the types of pilot projects being sought through the RFP follow:

• Research and development related to the production and distribution of shellfish seed stock. 

• Finfish, shellfish (other than oyster*), and seaweed farming systems, especially for those species new to aquaculture in the region or that use novel production systems.

• Identification and development of Aquaculture Development Zones with pre-planning and pre-permitting for a range of aquaculture activities.

• Resolution of issues (e.g., enforcement, water quality, public trust concerns or impacts) related to open water finfish farming in state waters.  

• Business incubators

• Regional market and economic impact studies

*Note: Proposals for oyster projects were already requested in a separate RFP (2019 Regional Oyster Aquaculture Research Consortia) 

NOAA Fisheries, through the Commission, is planning on issuing approximately $600,000 for the funding period of July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. Individual proposals should not exceed $200,000 or be less than $75,000. It is anticipated that approximately 3-5 projects will be funded. Eligible applicants include researchers at U.S. academic institutions, research laboratories, for-profit companies/firms, nonprofits, and state agencies.  Proposals from foreign entities are not eligible. Proposals involving multiple investigators are welcome. U.S. federal government agencies, including Regional Fishery Management Councils, are not eligible to receive funding through this solicitation. Federal staff may be collaborators on proposed projects, as long as they are not compensated for their contribution to the project.

Applicants seeking to apply to the RFP must submit, as a single file, an electronic proposal by email no later than midnight on February 1, 2022. Please see the RFP for complete proposal details, qualifying requirements, and submission instructions. The RFP is available at.http://www.asmfc.org/files/RFPs/2022PilotAquacultureRFP_Nov2021.pdf.

For more information, please contact Pat Campfield and Lindsey Aubart at Aquaculture@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

 

 

On the Water: A Look at Life as an Observer October 13, 2021

October 18, 2021 — Keenan Carpenter has always loved being on the water. Growing up in Florida, he dreamed of a pro fishing career. Today, you can often find him casting his rod from the beach or on a kayak in his spare time. But as he moved through his studies in marine sciences at Jacksonville University, he found another way to channel his affinity for fishing and his background in sciences—as an observer for NOAA Fisheries.

“I watch what gets taken out of the ocean to ensure there’s more to get taken out later,” Carpenter says of his work. As one of about 850 observers contracted by NOAA Fisheries, Carpenter acts as the agency’s eyes and ears on the water. Observers collect data from commercial fishing vessels on what’s caught and what’s discarded, and track interactions with seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals. The data are critical “puzzle pieces of the whole picture,” as Carpenter says, underpinning the decisions made for sustainable fisheries management.

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries