Saving Seafood

Mark Your Calendars – Upcoming Meetings and Public Hearing/Scoping

April 4, 2019 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold several meetings and public hearing/scoping meetings in the coming weeks on topics affecting federal fisheries management off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the east coast of Florida. Fishermen and others interested in offshore fisheries are encouraged to attend the meetings and provide their viewpoints and comments on a variety of fisheries including snapper grouper, dolphin wahoo, and mackerel.

All meetings are open to the public and available via webinar. Meeting materials, including agendas/overviews, public comment forms, briefing book materials, and presentations, are available from the Council’s website at: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/ as noted below. The Council encourages the public to use public comment forms available from the website. Use of the public comment forms allows Council members access to comments as they are provided, as well as access to members of the public.

Scientific and Statistical Committee and Socio-Economic Panel Meeting

April 8-11, 2019

Town and Country Inn

Charleston, SC

The Council’s SSC and SEP will meet next week to discuss fisheries issues and provide recommendations for Council consideration. The SSC and its Socio-Economic Panel assists the Council in the development, collection, evaluation, and peer review of information relevant to fishery management plans and amendments. The meeting week begins with a meeting of the SEP on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning and continues with the SSC. Agenda highlights:

* Risk Tolerance and the ABC Control Rule Amendment

* Recent revisions to recreational harvest estimates and calibrations

* Ecopath Modeling, tools, and evaluation

* South Atlantic Research and Monitoring Prioritization

Access meeting materials, webinar registration, comment forms and more: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/scientific-and-statistical-committee-meetings/.

NOAA maintains East Coast bluefish catch rules for this year

April 4, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators say catch quotas and regulations for Atlantic bluefish will be about the same this year as they were in 2018.

Bluefish is an oily fish that is popular with some seafood fans on the East Coast, where it is fished commercially. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says rules for this year are only experiencing minor adjustments, in part because no states exceeded their quota allocations last year.

Fishermen will be able to harvest more than 7.7 million pounds of bluefish from Maine to Florida this year. The states with the most quota are North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, Florida and Massachusetts.

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

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Seeks Scientific Advisors

April 2, 2019 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting scientists interested in serving on its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Membership is open to any qualified scientist, regardless of affiliation or geographic location. The Council will review applications during its June 10-14, 2019 meeting in Hutchinson Island, Florida. Applications received by April 29, 2019 will be submitted to the Council for consideration in June.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils in the country. Each council has an SSC responsible for reviewing the scientific basis of council management plans and actions, and developing fishing level recommendations in accordance with national fisheries management guidelines. The South Atlantic Council’s SSC meets at least twice a year to address a broad range of topics, including stock assessments, management action evaluations, social and economic analyses, habitat evaluations, and ecosystem management issues. SSC members also play a key role in developing and reviewing stock assessments through participation in SEDAR, the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review program. South Atlantic Council SSC members serve 3-year terms and may be appointed to multiple terms.

Anyone with expertise and experience in the areas of fisheries biology, population dynamics, fisheries research and monitoring, and social and economic analyses of natural resources, especially as applied to fish species in the South Atlantic, is encouraged to apply by submitting a CV, NOAA Fisheries Financial Disclosure Statement, and a cover letter. The cover letter should highlight qualifications and experience, and indicate receipt and acceptance of the Council’s SSC job description.

Application materials, including the required financial disclosure form and SSC job description, and details on the application process, are available from the Council’s website or by contacting Dr. Mike Errigo at mike.errigo@safmc.net or (843) 302-8441.

Florida Targets ‘Criminal Conspiracy’ In Spiny Lobster Fishery

March 21, 2019 — State wildlife investigators announced Tuesday that they’ve wrapped up a two-year investigation targeting what they say is a criminal conspiracy in the spiny lobster fishing industry.

Lobster is Florida’s most valuable commercial fishery, with landings usually worth more than $40 million a year.

Investigators went undercover and conducted surveillance in what they called “Operation Thimblerig.” Thimblerig is another term for shell game.

Three people face felony charges including racketeering, fraud and identity theft.

Investigators say the primary suspect is Elena Reyes, 67, owner and operator of Florida Marine Fisheries Consultant, a business with an address in Palmetto Bay.

She’s accused of cheating the state out of about $200,000 by underreporting the sale price of trap tag transfers. Every commercial lobster trap in Florida is required to have a tag from the state and the number of those tags is limited, making them valuable.

When the tags are sold, the state gets a surcharge, so by underreporting the sale price, Reyes created a “considerable deficit” in the amount the state was owed, according to the FWC.

Investigators say she also stole personal information from about 60 people who hold commercial fishing licenses. That information was used to get a restricted species endorsement for people who would not otherwise have qualified. A restricted species endorsement is special permission from the state required to fish for certain kinds of fish, including spiny lobster.

Read the full story at WLRN

Announcing the 2019 Marine Resource Education (MREP) Program Southeast

March 12, 2019 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is pleased to announce the Marine Resources Education Program (MREP) in the Southeast fishery region.

MREP provides fishermen and others with an interest in federal fisheries with an opportunity to gain insight into how fisheries data are collected and how those data lead to regulations.

MREP brings together commercial, charter, and recreational fishermen with scientists, managers, and other marine resource professionals from the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to learn, share insights, and network in a neutral and professional setting. Participants leave the program empowered and better prepared to be a voice in federal fisheries management.

The two-part workshop series is free to selected participants and includes meals, travel, and accommodation. Seats are limited.

MREP Southeast Fishery Science Workshop
May 7-9, 2019
Hollander Hotel
St. Petersburg, FL

MREP Southeast Fishery Management Workshop
November 19-21, 2019
Westin Tampa Bay
Tampa, FL

Applications to participate can be found at: gmri.org/mrepsoutheast
The program principals are available to respond to inquiries about the workshop:

* Bob Gill, Commercial Fisherman and Seafood Retailer, at (888) 833-1844
* Dave Webb, Recreational Angler, at (901) 606-1886

General questions about the program should be directed to Alexa Dayton, MREP Senior Program Manager, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, (207) 228-1645 or adayton@gmri.org.

National Fish, Tampa Bay resolve trade secrets case

March 11, 2019 –A federal judge dismissed National Fish & Seafood’s (NFS) trade secrets case against Tampa Bay Fisheries, its parent company Red Chamber, and former employee Kathleen Scanlon after the companies agreed to resolve the lawsuit.

Pacific Andes-owned NFS and Tampa Bay “jointly announce that they have satisfactorily resolved the lawsuit brought by NFS against Tampa Bay, Kathleen Scanlon, Red Chamber Co., and certain individuals affiliated with Tampa Bay,” the companies said in a statement provided to SeafoodSource.

As a result of the confidential settlement, all claims will be dismissed, NFS and Tampa Bay said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2019 Bluefish Specifications

March 11, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today we filed a final rule approving and implementing the 2019 specifications for the Atlantic bluefish fishery recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in cooperation with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The final 2019 specifications are fundamentally the same as 2018, with only minor adjustments to the final commercial quota and recreational harvest limit to account for most recent full year of recreational catch data (2017), and a 4.0 million lb of quota transferred from the recreational to the commercial sector rather than 3.5 million lb in 2018.

Table 1 (below) provides the commercial fishery state allocations for 2019 based on the final 2019 coast-wide commercial quota, and the allocated percentages defined in the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. No states exceeded their state-allocated quota in 2018; therefore, no accountability measures need to be implemented for the 2019 fishing year.

Table 1. 2019 Bluefish State Commercial Quota Allocations.

State Percent Share Quota Allocation (lb)
Maine 0.67 51,538
New Hampshire 0.41 31,956
Massachusetts 6.72 517,828
Rhode Island 6.81 524,874
Connecticut 1.27 97,626
New York 10.39 800,645
New Jersey 14.82 1,142,264
Delaware 1.88 144,801
Maryland 3.00 231,426
Virginia 11.88 915,857
North Carolina 32.06 2,471,746
South Carolina 0.04 2,714
Georgia 0.01 732
Florida 10.06 775,558
Total 100 7,709,565

For more details please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?
Fishermen: Contact Cynthia Ferrio, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9180
Media: Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, 978-281-9175

FLORIDA: FWC meeting addressed sharks, snapper and nonnative species

February 22, 2019 — It was a busy two days at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Gainesville.

By day’s end Thursday, the commission had approved changes to shark fishing regulations, no-take rules at a popular walk-in West Palm Beach dive site, hunting regulations, fishing regulations for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and spotted seatrout in southwest Florida’s most heavily affected red tide zone, and had instructed staff to develop plans on how to better control aquatic plants in Florida’s numerous lakes.

The FWC also took steps to stop illegal trapping of Florida’s native songbirds and took steps to further protect the state from high-risk invasive species.

Read the full story at Treasure Coast Newspapers

Whale-saving efforts target oil and gas companies

February 21, 2019 — In an effort to protect endangered whales, conservation groups today filed a motion to stop oil and gas companies from conducting seismic airgun exploration from Delaware to Florida.

“In my expert opinion, the introduction of seismic airgun surveys off the U.S. East Coast represents an existential threat to the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that is already in a dangerous state of decline,” Scott Kraus, vice-president and senior science adviser for the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in an expert declaration filed with the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is poised to issue permits to five oil and gas exploration companies, and seismic surveys could begin as early as March 30, according to the motion.

The plaintiffs want to halt “seismic airgun blasting” in the Atlantic until the merits of their claims are resolved in court, according to the motion.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Suppliers Challenge Texas Law Targeting Shark Sales

February 20, 2019 — Sharks caught in U.S. waters are dressed in short order, fins are removed and carcasses are packed in trucks bound for Mexico. But an unconstitutional Texas law mandating sharks remain intact has cut off the Mexican market, shark-meat purveyors claim in a federal lawsuit.

Texas-based Ochoa Seafood Enterprises Inc. says in the complaint filed Tuesday in Houston federal court that its business depends on shark meat.

It gets 60 percent of its income from buying the meat from dealers in Louisiana, Florida and North Carolina and shipping all of it in refrigerated trucks through Texas to clients in Mexico City, where it’s filleted and put on grocery store shelves and restaurant menus.

But the company hit a snag last July when a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department agent contacted its owner and said an inspection of its refrigerated truck at the Mexico border had revealed it was shipping shark carcasses with the fins and tails removed in violation of Texas law.

Joined by its shark-meat supplier, Louisiana-based Venice Seafood LLC, and the trade group Sustainable Shark Alliance, Ochoa Seafood sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Executive Director Carter Smith.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service