Saving Seafood

NEFMC deep-sea coral amendment provides sweeping habitat protections

June 19, 2020 — A new amendment from the New England Fishery Management Council, which has been approved by NOAA Fisheries, will provide “sweeping protections” for deep-sea corals in areas off the New England coast, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

The new amendment, the Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment, is expected to take effect this summer and applies to two regions in the Gulf of Maine and the Continental Slope area south of Georges Bank. The area protecting the Continental Slope area includes 82 percent of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, begins at a depth of 600 meters, and extends to the 200-mile exclusive economic zone limit.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Atlantic Herring: NEFMC Receives Progress Report on Two Framework Adjustments

April 28, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council received a progress report during its April 14-15, 2020 webinar meeting on two framework adjustments to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. Here’s what’s in the works.

Framework Adjustment 7 – This framework is being developed to protect Atlantic herring spawning on Georges Bank. Here’s the discussion document. During this meeting, the Council voted to clarify that:

  • The goal of this action is to “develop measures to protect spawning adults of Atlantic herring and/or Atlantic herring egg mats to increase overall herring biomass”; and
  • The objective is to “consider similar measures as in Area 1A – the inshore Gulf of Maine – for other spawning components of this resource,” namely on Georges Bank and Nantucket Shoals.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Council collaboratively manage the Area 1A fishery. The Council is discussing the role of state versus federal herring management with the Commission.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Allocates Annual Catch Entitlements for Fishing Year 2020

April 27, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is allocating annual catch entitlements (ACE) to sectors for fishing year 2020, based on catch limits set by Framework 57 and 58, which will allow previously approved sectors to operate in fishing year 2020. These allocations will be updated once Framework 59 is finalized. We are also announcing default allocations for Eastern Georges Bank cod and haddock to prevent impacts to industry resulting from delays in finalizing Framework 59, which will also update these allocations. We are also changing the Redfish Exemption Area and gear stowage requirements for vessels fishing under the redfish exemption.

Read the interim final rule as published in the Federal Register.  You may also submit comments through the online portal.  Copies of each sector’s operations plan and contract are available online.

The comment period is open through May 27, 2020.

Read the full release here

New State of the Ecosystem Reports Document “Big Picture” Around Fishing

April 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Two newly issued reports provide a snapshot of the Northeast U.S. Shelf Ecosystem. They look at everything from phytoplankton production at the bottom of the food web to the fishery harvests at the top. One report focuses on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine the other on the waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. These are the three major regions within the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem.

These annual reports are part of a larger, ongoing NOAA-wide initiative. It provides a consistent national approach to managing ecosystems that is flexible enough to accommodate regional needs. This Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach is intended to help resource managers integrate physical, biological, economic, and social components of ecosystems into their decision-making. This will help them to balance trade-offs and determine which approaches are more likely to achieve their desired goals. The 2020 State of the Ecosystem Reports inform the New England and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils.

“This approach has helped give the council structure with specific steps to define what our management goals and objectives are, figure out how we can address them, and understand what that means for areas such as economics,” said Brandon Muffley, a fishery management specialist at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

The State of the Ecosystem reports were produced by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, with additional collaborators from academic research institutions, non-profit organizations, and state agencies.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Transfer of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Quota from Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery to Groundfish Fishery

April 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are transferring unused quota of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic sea scallop fishery to the commercial groundfish fishery.

If we expect the scallop fishery to catch less than 90 percent of its Georges Bank or Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, we are authorized to reduce the scallop fishery quota for these yellowtail flounder stocks to the amount projected to be caught, and increase the groundfish fishery quota by the same amount. This adjustment helps achieve optimum yield for both fisheries, while still protecting from an overage of the annual catch limits.

Based on the current projections, the scallop fishery is expected to catch 13 percent of its allocation of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, and 11 percent of its Georges Bank yellowtail allocation.

Effective today, we are transferring 13.1 mt of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery, and 15.2 mt of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder through the end of the 2019 fishing year (April 30, 2020).

For more information, read the rule as filed today in the Federal Register.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Final Management Measures for the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery for the 2020 Fishing Year

March 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Framework 32 sets specifications for the scallop fishery for fishing year 2020, including days-at-sea, individual fishing quotas, sea scallop access area trips, and Northern Gulf of Maine management measures.

In addition, Framework 32:

  • Sets precautionary default 2021 specifications, in case we implement the next framework after the April 1, 2021 start of the 2021 fishing year.
  • Allocates effort into five rotational access areas (Mid-Atlantic, Nantucket Lightship-South-Deep, Nantucket Lightship-North, Closed Area I, and Closed Area II).
  • Allows allocation in Closed Area I to be landed from either Closed Area I or the Mid-Atlantic Access Area.
  • Extends the existing seasonal closure in Closed Area II by two additional weeks to reduce bycatch of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder and northern windowpane flounder.
  • Closes areas to fishing to protect small scallops and reduce bycatch of flatfish.
  • Modifies the one-for-one access area trip exchange requirements to accommodate different access area allocations.
  • Reduces the limited access general category portion of the Northern Gulf of Maine total allowable catch by 3,718 lb to account for an overage in fishing year 2018.

For more information, read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register, and the permit holder bulletins (Limited Access and Limited Access General Category) posted on our website.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the Inseason Possession and Trip Limit Increases for the Common Pool Groundfish Fishery

March 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective today, the common pool possession and trip limits for Georges Bank (GB) cod, Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod, GOM haddock, Cape Cod(CC)/GOM yellowtail flounder, American plaice, and witch flounder are increased, as summarized in the table below. These increases are in effect through the end of the fishing year on April 30, 2020.

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

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Approves New Gear Under Small-Mesh Fisheries Accountability Measures

March 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today we filed the final rule approving a new selective gear, the large mesh belly panel. This rule adds the large-mesh belly panel to the list of selective gears approved for use in the Georges Bank yellowtail accountability measure area. Gears currently approved for use in this area are the haddock separator trawl, Ruhle trawl, and rope separator trawl.

Use of the large-mesh belly panel is already allowed during normal fishing operations.

Approval of the large mesh belly panel, for the Georges Bank yellowtail area, as an additional selective trawl gear will provide the fishing industry with more flexibility in the use of trawl gear under the accountability measure, while minimizing bycatch of stocks of concern.

We denied the request to approve this gear for use in the southern windowpane accountability measure area because it did not meet the required standards for this area, and fisheries. To be approved selective gear must reduce bycatch of all species of concern, compared to the standard gear, by at least 50 percent. In the large-mesh fishery, within the windowpane accountability measure areas, the gear did not sufficiently reduce bycatch of two species of concern.

For more details please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, and the bulletin.

Higher catch limits proposed for haddock

February 20, 2020 — Northeast groundfishermen could have significantly more access to two haddock stocks, American plaice and pollock in the coming fishing season after the New England Fishery Management Council posted revised catch limits to the key stocks.

The council on Wednesday green-lighted triple-digit increases in 2020 catch limits for Georges Bank haddock (129%) and American plaice (100%), as well as a 45% increase in the catch limit for Gulf of Maine haddock as compared to 2019.

It also approved a revised catch limit for pollock that brings the stock’s catch limits closer to 2019 levels. Instead of the 63% reduction initially recommended by the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, the council approved a 36% reduction.

Those catch limits must be approved by NOAA Fisheries to go into effect for the new fishing season that begins May 1.

“All four stocks are healthy and well above their spawning stock biomass targets based on the latest assessments,” the council said in its statement on the revised catch limits.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Conservation Law Foundation petitions to halt Northeast cod fishing

February 14, 2020 — Charging that New England fishery regulators are dominated by “deference to short-term economic interests,” the Conservation Law Foundation on Thursday filed a petition with the Department of Commerce seeking a halt to all directed fishing for Atlantic cod.

No fishing should be allowed until the New England Fishery Management Council and NMFS meet their legal obligation to end overfishing and rebuild the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod stocks, the Boston-based environmental group says. Those steps should include 100 percent at-sea monitoring, area closures to protect spawning locations and habitat, and requiring selective groundfish gear, such as haddock separator trawls, the petition says.

The foundation wants a prohibition on directed commercial and recreational fishing using large area closures “once a stock’s incidental catch limit is caught.” The petition also calls for reducing “the incidental catch rate annually consistent with the current acceptable biological catch control rule until overfishing at sea is ended.”

 “Our regional managers have lost control of and abandoned the cod fishery,” said Peter Shelley, the foundation’s senior counsel, in announcing the petition.

“After decades of reckless decision-making, Atlantic cod populations are now in crisis,” said Shelley. “To give this iconic species a chance at survival and recovery, the federal government must take the strongest possible action today and temporarily prohibit further cod fishing.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman