Saving Seafood

NOAA Releases Interactive Atlantic Scallop Fishery Areas Map

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — August 7, 2015 — A new “story map” created by NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) overviews the 2015 Atlantic sea scallop fishery regulations based on Framework 26 from as far north as Georges Bank in New England down to the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Implemented as of May 2015, these scallop fishery areas include open access areas, rotational closed areas, seasonal areas reserved for turtle conservation, transit declarations for ports, and gear modifications.

The story map gives viewers, “a quick tour of the regulations for the Scallop fishery as of May 2015,” and interactive features allow users to zoom in on areas of the map for more details on specific area closures. The map and accompanying website also provide information about gear restrictions, information for vessels operating Days-at-Sea trips, and the protocol fishermen need to follow after crossing Vessel Monitoring System Demarcation Lines. The map is color-coded and includes downloadable GIS shapefiles from all Greater Atlantic Region regulated areas, as well as links to specific management measures through an Electronic Code of Federal Regulations website.

View the interactive story map from NOAA Fisheries

Learn more about Atlantic Sea Scallops on NOAA Fisheries’ webpage

 

 

UMASS’ SMAST SHARES A $335,000 GRANT FROM SCIENTIFIC CONSORTIUM

July 10, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Fishermen will be directly involved in a research project announced by the Northeast Consortium, a University of New Hampshire-based organization that fosters collaborative research.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology will share a $335,000 contract to support research into the spawning habits of cod on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine.

The work is under contract from the New England Fishery Management Council, which in recent years has driven the decisions to virtually shut down the cod fishing in those areas.

The research at SMAST will include data from interviews with current or retired fishermen who fish for cod on Georges Bank.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Georges Bank vote sparks more debate between fishermen, environmentalists

June 21, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The world of Northeast American fisheries may have felt a seismic shift in the wake of the three-day meeting last week of the New England Fisheries Management Council. But it is much too soon for either side in the endless fishery management debate to claim a victory.

Major non-profit environmental organizations are lamenting the decision by the council to recommend reopening 5,000 square miles of Georges Bank, an area known as the Northern Edge, to fishing after a closure of two decades.

Peter Shelley, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, charged that the council ignored years of scientific data and analysis and “caved to industry pressures” regarding Georges Bank. (The council did approve four other areas of habitat protection.)

“The council hammered the final nail into the coffin of what could have been a landmark victory for ocean habitats protection in New England,” Shelley wrote on his organization’s web site.

Dr. Sarah Smith, a member of the Fisheries Solutions Center at the Environmental Defense Fund, wrote The Standard-Times in an e-mail, “We are disappointed that the council chose short-term economic gains for a few over the long-term health of the fishery, particularly struggling stocks such as Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder.

“The Council’s preferred alternative overlooks our best scientific information, and perhaps most troubling, would virtually eliminate protection for sensitive areas that serve as critical habitats for juvenile cod and other groundfish.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times