Saving Seafood

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

Fishermen consider next move after court upholds Atlantic national monument

January 14, 2020 — A federal appeals court has upheld the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, affirming that the federal Antiquities Act can be applied at sea as well as on land.

The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and other fishing advocates challenged former President Barack Obama’s designation of the 5,000-square-mile area at the edge of the continental shelf south of Georges Bank in 2016. A lower federal court ruled against their lawsuit in 2018.

Conservation groups and environmental advocates joined the arguments in both the lower and appeals courts, portraying the monument protections as critical to protect deep-sea corals, whales and other marine life from future offshore oil exploration and “industrial fishing.”

In an opinion for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Circuit Court Judge David Tatel explained why the three-judge panel dismissed all of the fishermen’s arguments against the monument – starting with their contention that the Antiquities Act cannot apply to the sea floor.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule to Implement the Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment

January 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries published a proposed rule to designate coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. This action would:

  • Establish a deep-sea coral protection area in deep waters on the continental slope and rise in New England waters. It would complement the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area established by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in Amendment 16 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. The area would run along the outer continental shelf in waters no shallower than 600 m and extend to the outer limit of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone boundary to the east and north, and south to the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep Sea Coral Protection Area.
  • Restrict the use of all bottom-tending commercial fishing gear within the designated deep-sea coral area. The prohibition on these gears would protect deep-sea corals from interaction with and damage from bottom-tending fishing gear. Red crab pot gear would be exempt from the prohibition.
  • Designate a coral protection area in an area southwest of Mount Desert Rock off the eastern Maine. Vessels would be prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in this area.
  • Designate a coral protection area in an area on the Outer Schoodic Ridge, southeast of Mt. Desert Island. Vessels would be prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in this area.
  • Establish provisions for vessels transiting through the coral protection areas.
  • Designate the area around Jordan Basin in the Gulf of Maine as a dedicated habitat research area.
  • Expand framework adjustment provisions in the FMP for future modifications to the deep-sea coral protection measures.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register. We will be accepting public comment on this proposed rule through February 18, 2020.  You may submit comments via the online portal or submit written comments to NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope “Comments on Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.”

Read the full release here