Saving Seafood

Maine: Benchmark study of lobsters begins

February 13, 2018 — In 2015, data collected in a benchmark assessment of New England lobster stocks showed record-high abundance for the combined stocks of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank and record lows for the lobster stock of southern New England.

Now, about three years later, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is beginning preparations for the next American lobster benchmark assessment that is expected to be completed around March 2020.

“We’re in the very early stages right now,” said Jeff Kipp, senior stock assessment scientist at the Arlington, Virginia-based ASMFC that regulates the Northeast lobster fishery. “The process will be mostly data-driven.”

Nothing is certain in the periodic assessments of various seafood species. But if some recent projections hold, the 2020 assessment could sketch a different picture from the 2015 assessment, possibly reflecting the declining abundance predicted by a recent Gulf of Maine Research Institute study.

The study, compiled with the University of Maine and NOAA Fisheries, forecast a 30-year decline in the Gulf of Maine lobster boom that began around 2010. The culprit? Increasingly warmer temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, which scientists have said is warming faster than 99.9 percent of the rest of the world’s ocean waters.

“In the Gulf of Maine, the lobster fishery is vulnerable to future temperature increases,” the authors of the study wrote. “The researchers’ population projections suggest that lobster productivity will decrease as temperatures continue to warm, but continued conservation efforts can mitigate the impacts of future warming.”

The findings of the GMRI study were strongly disputed by some Maine lobster dealers and the state’s Department of Marine Resources. The Maine DMR criticized the GMRI computer model used to arrive at the study’s conclusions, calling it “an unreliable tool on which to base management decisions.”

The benchmark assessment of the region’s lobster populations — which will include data on lobster landings, lobster growth and prevalent diseases among the population — could go a long way toward determining exactly what is happening to the region’s American lobster stocks.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NOAA to monitor 15 percent of fish trips

January 29, 2018 — Groundfishermen can expect to have at-sea monitors aboard 15 percent of all sector trips in 2018, representing a very slight decline from the groundfish sector coverage rates in place for the current fishing season.

The question now is whether NOAA Fisheries will find money to reimburse groundfishermen for their at-sea monitoring costs as the agency has in the past two seasons.

In 2017, NOAA reimbursed groundfishermen for 60 percent of their at-sea monitoring expenses — estimated at about $710 per day per vessel — which was down significantly from the 85 percent reimbursement provided fishermen in 2016, the first year the industry was responsible for funding at-sea monitoring.

“We await the enactment of a final Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bill to determine what funding may be available for the upcoming fishing season,” NOAA Fisheries said in the statement announcing the 2018 at-sea monitoring targets.

The 2018 at-sea monitoring target, established by using at-sea monitoring data from the past three full groundfishing seasons, represents a 1 percent decline from 2017 levels of 16 percent of all groundfish sector trips and a 1 percent increase over the percentage of 2016 sector trips.

“The total monitoring coverage, ultimately, should provide confidence that the overall catch estimate is accurate enough to ensure that sector fishing activities are consistent (with federal national standards) to prevent overfishing while achieving on a continuing basis optimum yield from the fishery,” according to NOAA Fisheries’ summary of the analysis used to set the coverage rate.

Some sector trips are excluded from the new coverage target rate.

“Those using gillnets with 10-inch or greater mesh in Southern New England and Inshore Georges Bank are excluded from the ASM requirement due to their low catch of groundfish species,” NOAA Fisheries said. “This further reduces the portion of sector trips subject to industry-funded monitoring and better focuses monitoring resources.”

The New England Fishery Management Council is scheduled to discuss industry-funded, at-sea monitoring on Tuesday, the first day of its two-day meetings next week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Protection of Atlantic corals up for debate, approval

January 29, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — A federal panel is revisiting a proposal to offer new protections to deep-sea corals in the Atlantic Ocean.

The New England Fishery Management Council has been working on coral protections in the waters off New England for several years. The council approved protections in the Gulf of Maine in June, but held off on voting on protections for an area south of Georges Bank so it could get more information.

The council is meeting to again consider southern protections on Tuesday. If approved, the council could send the complete plan on to the federal Department of Commerce for implementation.

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

 

US cod catch could soon make a comeback, NOAA says

January 19, 2018 — Atlantic cod catch in the United States was recorded at an all-time historical low in 2016, but a rebound for the fishery may be on the horizon, according to officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Once a hallmark of New England’s commercial fishing sector, the Atlantic cod fishery has suffered plummeting catch volumes due to overfishing and environmental changes over recent years, The Associated Press reported, via The Bangor Daily News. However, cod stocks are showing some promising signs for the upcoming season, NOAA officials said, and quotas are on track to increase slightly in spring of 2018.

Cod fishermen in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank can expect a bump in their quotas come 1 May. That’s a step in the right direction, Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said.

“The quotas are so constraining that there’s not a lot of opportunity and interest in targeting cod,” Martens told the Associated Press. “But we’re headed in the right direction.”

Considered a “choke species” by fishermen, once cod quotas are reached, fishing must cease outright. As such, many fishermen have been avoiding cod altogether, the AP reported.

Recent marine analysis has indicated more abundance of cod in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, Jamie Cournane, groundfish plan coordinator with the New England Fishery Management Council, an arm of NOAA, told the AP. Such figures have prompted the council to propose doubling the commercial cod quota for both New England areas to nearly 3.9 million pounds, a move that’s still awaiting U.S. Department of Commerce approval, Cournane said.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Scallop Group Praises NMFS Decisions on Openings, But Still Wants Georges Bank Area as Well

January 18, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In a step towards balancing sustainable scallop fishing and environment protection, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has approved the majority of Omnibus Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2).

The New England Fishery Management Council initiated OHA2 in 2004, and it was implemented in 2017 to update essential fish habitat designations, as well as designate new Habitat Areas of Particular Concern for Atlantic salmon and Atlantic cod. Now the council has received approval for habitat closures in the Great South Channel and western Georges Bank. According to a press release from the Fisheries Survival Fund, a group established to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, the closures will “provide critical protections for species like Georges Bank cod, and will provide dramatically more protection for critical habitat than the nearly 20-year closures that they replace.”

The Fund is praising NMFS’ decision, saying that it creates “new opportunities for the successful scallop rotational management system.” However, they also have some concerns.

While NMFS approved habitat closures in the Great South Channel and western Georges Bank, they rejected habitat management in eastern Georges Bank. The Fund says that the area contains “some of the most historically rich scallop fishing areas in the world.”

“According to its decision memo, NMFS appears to have been seeking more information on how habitat-friendly rotational scallop fishing can be implemented to benefit both fishermen and habitat,” the Fund wrote in a press release. “In the meantime, the outmoded 20-year-old closures remain in place, despite zero evidence that these closures have done anything to promote groundfish productivity. In fact, the evidence suggests they have stymied economic growth and prevented optimization of scallop management.”

The Fisheries Survival Fund says that they hope NMFS is “willing to work on refining a solution to restore Northern Edge access.”

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

Fisheries Survival Fund: Approval of OHA2 ‘Significant Step Forward’

January 17, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) decision to accept the majority of Omnibus Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2) is a significant step forward in balancing sustainable scallop fishing and environmental protection.

NMFS approved the New England Fishery Management Council’s well-documented recommendations for habitat closures in the Great South Channel and western Georges Bank. These closures will provide critical protections for species like Georges Bank cod, and will provide dramatically more protection for critical habitat than the nearly 20-year closures that they replace.

OHA2’s rebalancing of habitat management both allows for greater habitat protection and restores access to historically productive scallop grounds. It creates new opportunities for the successful scallop rotational management system, which has made the scallop fishery one of the most successful and sustainable fisheries over the last 20 years. Allowing new access to abundant areas such as these has also proven to be the best way to limit adverse environmental impacts from scallop fishing.

NMFS estimates these measures could contribute well over $100 million in scallop landings in the short-term for coastal fishing communities – news that FSF welcomes.

But the Council’s work is not done. NMFS rejected innovations in habitat management in the eastern portion of Georges Bank that would have allowed access to a portion of what is known as the “Northern Edge,” an area that contains some of the most historically rich scallop fishing areas in the world. Several generations of scallops have been born, lived, and died of old age since the last time fishing was permitted there.

According to its decision memo, NMFS appears to have been seeking more information on how habitat-friendly rotational scallop fishing can be implemented to benefit both fishermen and habitat. In the meantime, the outmoded 20-year-old closures remain in place, despite zero evidence that these closures have done anything to promote groundfish productivity. In fact, the evidence suggests they have stymied economic growth and prevented optimization of scallop management.

We are disappointed in the decision regarding eastern Georges Bank, but are hopeful we can take NMFS at its word that it is willing to work on refining a solution to restore Northern Edge access.

 

Gloucester Times: United against offshore drilling

January 12, 2018 — If President Trump truly wants to open the nation’s coastline to drilling for oil and gas, he’ll have a battle on his hands. And in a rare moment of political unity, he’ll have to fight both Democrats and Republicans.

The administration’s plan, announced last week by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, would open 90 percent of the nation’s coastal waters to development by private companies.

Such a free-for-all could prove disastrous for the marine environment and the industries that rely on it, such as tourism and fishing. Those economies on the Gulf Coast are still struggling to recover after the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010, the largest in American history.

Locally, the president’s proposal has once again made a target of Gloucester’s fishing industry.

America’s oldest fishing port has spent the better part of four decades fighting off attempts to turn Georges Bank into a de facto oil field, and for good reason: It’s a spectacularly bad idea.

Located about 100 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, Georges Bank, home to species ranging from cod and haddock to lobster and scallops, has long been one of the world’s richest fishing grounds. Generations of Gloucestermen have worked the waters, a tradition that continues even today in the face of heavy regulation. Georges is as much a part of Gloucester as Main Street.

Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Times

 

NMFS Approves New England Council Habitat Amendments; Will Provide Boost to Scallops up to 60 Million lbs

January 10, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — NMFS has given formal approval to the New England Council’s Fish habitat amendment that makes major changes in rules regarding closed areas in New England.

The most immediate impact is on scallops, where NMFS approved the opening of closed area 1 and the Nantucket Lightship area.  The concept here was that an abundance of scallops in these areas would lead to rapid harvesting, and a lower swept area by scallop dredges than if vessels were trying to gain their allocations outside the closed areas.

Also research has shown that these were not significant areas for fish spawning.  The approval means that the options for scallop harvest will be at the maximum level considered by the council, which projects about 60 million pounds of scallop landings for the 2018-19 season.

NMFS rejected the opening of closed area II on Georges Bank, which is also a major scallop producer.

Overall, full time license holders will get a total of 6 closed area trips of 18,000 lbs each, along with 24 days at sea in the open areas.

The habitat framework is the most far reaching adjustments of closed areas in 20 years, and it will provide better protection for both fish and habitat while eliminating closures that no longer serve their intended purpose.

The major change that was not allowed by NMFS was the opening of Eastern Georges Bank, called closed area II.  This is the so called Northern Edge, which historically was one of the most abundant scallop producing areas.  NMFS is keeping it closed to protect habitat.

Council Executive Director Tom Nies said, “Naturally we’re disappointed that our proposed Closed Area II changes were not approved, but the fact that the vast majority of the amendment will be implemented is a solid endorsement of the work the Council and staff did to dramatically change the closure system off New England.”

The habitat framework also establishes a series of seasonal cod spawning closures to all gear, both recreational and commercial; and it also sets a number of areas where bottom trawl gear is prohibited, but the council makes distinctions in many areas that will allow use of gillnets and lobster gear, as well as scallop and clam dredging.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

2018 will be good year for clam chowder, Bumble Bee, thanks to NOAA moves

January 9, 2018 — The makers and fans of New England clam chowder, including Bumble Bee Seafood, can feel confident that the kind of mollusk most often used to make the soup — ocean quahogs — will be in ample supply in 2018 thanks to two moves made recently by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Ocean conservationists, however, are not breaking out their party hats and noisemakers.

When John Bullard, NOAA’s northeast regional administrator, informed the New England Fishery Management Council last week that the agency will authorize the majority of NEFMC’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OA2), many focused on the positive ramifications for scallop harvesters.

But NOAA’s approval of the council’s new plan for balancing the conservation of different sea life with the concerns of local fishermen also came with good news for harvesters of ocean quahogs and surf clams. Bullard informed NEFMC that his agency also agrees with its suggestion to provide a one-year exemption for clam harvesters to prohibitions against the controversial use of hydraulic dredging gear in the Great South Channel habitat management area (HMA), a deep-water passage that cuts between Nantucket and Georges Bank.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Ed Markey: Plan will spur ‘huge fight’ over offshore energy drilling

January 9, 2018 — BOSTON — The state’s environment, tourism and fishing industry could be threatened by President Donald Trump’s plan to open up more coastal areas to offshore drilling, according to U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who said the proposal puts “nearly every single mile of coastline in the United States in the crosshairs of an oil spill.”

“Nothing is sacred,” Markey told reporters from the Kennedy Federal Building. “All of the United States is going to be open for the oil industry to be able to drill. That is something that the American people will want to have resolved on the floor of the House and Senate, and that is something that I am going to guarantee him that he will see. This is going to be a huge fight across our country.”

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday announced a proposal that would make more than 90 percent of the national outer continental shelf available for oil and gas exploration. Currently, 94 percent of federal offshore acreage is off-limits, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

The 380-page draft plan includes a note that Gov. Charlie Baker does not “support inclusion of areas adjacent to Massachusetts,” and Attorney General Maura Healey “strongly opposes opening up any of the Atlantic or any other new areas to oil and gas leasing.”

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates there are 89.9 billion barrels of oil and 327.5 trillion cubic feet of gas that have yet to be discovered on the outer continental shelf, including 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 38.2 cubic feet in the Atlantic portion of the shelf.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, Atlantic oil and natural gas development could deliver $51 billion in new government revenue, nearly 280,000 jobs and 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day for domestic energy production by 2035.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times