Saving Seafood

Big changes likely for national monument just outside Gulf of Maine

December 14, 2017 — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke may have decided Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument in northern Maine should be left as it is, but he’s proposing major changes to another monument established just last year in the Atlantic ocean, on the far side of the Gulf of Maine.

Zinke has recommended that commercial fishing activity resume in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and two other marine monuments in the Pacific.

The marine monument, which encompasses nearly 5,000 square miles, lies outside the Gulf of Maine, roughly 100 to 200 nautical miles southeast of Cape Cod along the edge of the continental shelf. It was created by then-President Barack Obama in September 2016.

Since President Donald Trump ordered a review this past spring, Zinke has been reviewing the status of 27 monuments, five of them marine monuments, that were created by prior presidents.

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument in northern Maine, also created last year by Obama, was among those under review. Last week, Zinke recommended that no changes be made to the northern Maine monument.

As part of the same report, which was released Dec. 5, Zinke recommended that fisheries in the three marine monuments should be subject to the same federal laws that apply to fisheries nationwide.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

NOAA decision could trigger largest scallop harvest in 14 years

December 12, 2017 — What the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decides next to do about areas off the coast of New England that’ve been closed to scallop fishing for a decade or more could be the difference between another good season and a 14-year record in terms of harvest volumes.

Based on earlier surveys and estimates made by staff at the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), the 2018-19 scallop season, which starts April 1, will generate at least 51.5 million pounds worth of landings – a little better than the roughly 47.5m lbs expected this season.

But it could also generate as much as 60m lbs, which would be the biggest harvest since the 2004-05 season when 64.6m lbs of scallops were landed.

One of the most important factors will be whether NOAA follows NEFMC’s recommendations and opens the Closed Area 1 “sliver” of the Georges Bank and also an area described as Nantucket Lightship West.

Based on surveys reported in September, Closed Area 1 contains 19.8m lbs (9,016 metric tons) of exploitable scallop meat, meaning a lot of scallops were found with shells at the minimum 4 inch-wide diameter needed to be caught in dredging nets. Even better, as much as 45.6m lbs (20,670t) of exploitable scallop meat is projected to exist in the western portion of the Nantucket Lightship area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fisheries council boosts Gulf of Maine quotas for cod, haddock, pollock

December 11, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council voted to increase cod and pollock quotas for 2018, a move that is expected to benefit New England’s fishing industry.

The council passed a rule Thursday that sets new quotas and has a number of other groundfish adjustments.

The species with substantial quota increases are Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and pollock.

The redfish quota will rise by 5 percent.

The biggest percentage increases all were in the Gulf of Maine, where haddock has been nearly tripled to 8,738 tons, and pollock doubled to 37,400 tons.

Cod was increased 156 percent on Georges Bank and 39 percent in the Gulf of Maine, both signs of improving health of the cod stock.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Cod quotas rise, flounder sinks

December 8, 2017 — Northeast commercial groundfishermen will face a mixed sampler of annual catch limits when the 2018 fishing season opens, with significant increases to some Gulf of Maine stocks but continued declines in many of the flounder quotas.

The New England Fishery Management Council, at its meeting Wednesday in Newport, Rhode Island, approved its groundfish Framework 57, which sets the annual catch limits for 2018-2020 fishing years.

Groundfishing stakeholders applauded the 2018 increases for such stocks as Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and pollock in 2018, but said the gains still don’t come close to closing the credibility gap they believe exists between NOAA Fisheries’ science and what fishermen are seeing on the water.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NMFS finalizing new rules for New England fisheries

December 5, 2017 — Tuesday, 5 December is the final day for the public to submit comments on a series of proposed changes to essential fish habitats and areas within the New England Fishery Management Council’s jurisdiction.

The new regulations were designed to keep the council in compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which calls on the councils to review designated habitat areas and protect those areas as much as possible to allow fish to mature and spawn.

The proposed changes include opening the northern portion of Georges Bank, a shallow plateau located between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, to scallop fishermen.

The council said the potential economic benefits outweigh the benefits of keeping the area closed. The scallop fishery have averaged nearly USD 500 million (EUR 421.2 million) in revenue over the past five years. By allowing fishermen in Georges Bank, it could increase their revenue by almost USD 190 million (EUR 160 million).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Feds taking final comments on new ocean habitat plan

December 4, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government is closing the public comment period on a plan to change the way it manages ocean habitat off of New England.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is looking to change the way it manages the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England waters. The three areas are critical for commercial fishing operations and marine animals such as whales and dolphins.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Haven Register

 

US fishing rules coming to impact New England scallops, cod harvests

November 29, 2017 — The US’s National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) has released a proposal that could mean dramatic changes for the way fishing is managed off the coasts of the New England states, the Associated Press reports.

The proposed “Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment” from NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, would address the way such species as scallops and haddock are harvested in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and other areas, and how rare whales are protected.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News 

 

Plan to change New England ocean stewardship up for debate

November 24, 2017 — The federal government is close to enacting new rules about New England ocean habitat that could mean dramatic changes for the way it manages the marine environment and fisheries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has been working on the rules for some 13 years and recently made them public. They would change the way the government manages the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England waters, which are critical pieces of ocean for rare whales, unique underwater canyons and commercial fishermen.

The new rules would affect the way highly valuable species such as scallops and haddock are harvested, in part because it would alter protections that prohibit fishing for species in parts of the ocean. The proposal states that its goal is to minimize “adverse effects of fishing on essential fish habitat.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

Doreen Leggett: Open up scallopers’ fishing grounds

November 10, 2017 — There is $300 million worth of mature scallops in waters off the Cape that virtually everyone agrees should be harvested. But that potential economic boon to local fishermen may never materialize.

“Before long, they are just going to die,” said Beau Gribbin, a Provincetown scalloper, explaining that the shellfish only live for about 10 years.

Gribbin was in Washington, D.C. last month working to make sure that doesn’t happen. He joined fellow scalloper Tom Reilly from Chatham, and staff from the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, advocating for approval of the so-called Omnibus Habitat Amendment.

The amendment would open up several areas that have been closed to scallopers, including Area 1, part of George’s Bank, and the nearby Nantucket Lighship area, while also creating stronger protections for other crucial areas where groundfish spawn. (These areas were closed in 1994 to protect essential fish habitat.)

He said his arguments were well received on Capitol Hill, but it is still unclear what will happen. Gribbin is already worrying about the unpalatable alternative of having to travel down South next season to make sure his business remains solvent.

In years past, he and many of the two dozen or so scallop captains across the Cape have worked out of Delaware and Maryland to make their quotas. Scallopers have invested greatly in the fishery; they own quota and not using it would mean payments lost and increasing debt.

Read the full story at the Harwich Wicked Local 

 

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment

November 6, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are seeking public comment on an action that would:

  • Revise the essential fish habitat designations for all New England Fishery Management Council-managed species and life stages;
  • Add Habitat Areas of Particular Concern to highlight especially important habitat areas, including 16 canyons and two seamounts;
  • Revise the spatial management system within the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the southern New England area to better align with scientific advice on how and where to protect essential fish habitat while balancing the economic needs of the fishing industry;
  • Establish two Dedicated Habitat Research Areas;
  • Revise or implement seasonal spawning protection measures; and
  • Add a system for reviewing and updating the proposed measures.

Read the proposed rule and supplemental documents as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: John Bullard, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

The comment period is open through December 5.

To learn more about NOAA visit their site here.