Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces Transfer of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Quota

March 21, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is 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 the scallop fishery is expected 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 80 percent of its allocation of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, and 44 percent of its Georges Bank yellowtail allocation.

We are transferring 0.78 mt of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery, and 18.53 mt of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder through the end of the 2018 fishing year (April 30, 2019).

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

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Steering Committee Meeting SMAST Thursday March 14 at 2 pm

March 7, 2019 — The following was released by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth:

We would like to remind everyone of our Fishermen’s Steering Committee meeting on Thursday, March 14that 2:00 pm. The meeting will be held at SMAST East (836 South Rodney French Blvd, New Bedford, MA 02744) in Room 101/102, on the first floor.

The agenda for this meeting is:

(1) Funded 2019 RSA proposals

(2) Update on open codend work and the potential for a Georges Bank spring flatfish survey

(3) Recent developments in the planned windfarm areas

Please pass this announcement along to anyone that is not on the e-mail list that may be interested in attending. We welcome any additional suggestions for discussion, and as always, feel free to contact us with any questions.

Clearwater changes lobster fishing practices, asks for early MSC audit

February 25, 2019 –Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-based Clearwater Seafoods has changed its controversial lobster fishing practices, which resulted in a fine from the Canadian government and a downgrade in the Ocean Wise recommendation for its lobster fishery.

Clearwater, via CS ManPar, was convicted of repeatedly storing 3,800 lobster traps on the ocean floor more than the limit of 72 hours. The offenses took place in Lobster Fishing Area 41, which is a unique territory exclusively licensed to Clearwater. Area 41 runs 80 kilometers from the shore out to the 200-mile limit from Georges Bank to the Laurentian Channel.  Clearwater paid a CAD 30,000 (USD 22,770, EUR 20,075) fine in relation to its guilty plea.

On 15 February, the CBC reported the fishery was downgraded in the recommendations made by Ocean Wise for sustainable fisheries.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES: Unity in opposition to Georges Bank drilling

January 31, 2019 — The methods vary, but the message should be clear: Keep oil rigs off of Georges Bank.

For decades, the fossil fuel industry has been looking to set up drilling operations in the waters off the Massachusetts coast. And for years, a coalition of local interests — primarily fishermen, lawmakers and the environmental lobby —have worked long and hard to keep them out.

If fishermen and environmentalists are standing side-by-side on the issue, you know it’s important. While the latest effort to stave off exploration — in the form of proposed legislation filed on Beacon Hill last week — may not pan out officially, it sends a strong signal that the state is united in opposition to the expansion of drilling into its historic local waters.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times

Film Notes: ‘Lobster War,’ Screening in Woodstock, Documents a Changing Fishery

January 4, 2019 — Before deciding whether to see Lobster War: The Fight Over the World’s Richest Fishing Grounds at Woodstock Town Hall Theatre next week, Upper Valley cinephiles need to distinguish David Abel’s new documentary from Lobster Wars, plural.

While Lobster Wars, a six-part reality TV series that ran on the Discovery Channel in 2007, followed fishermen from the United Kingdom pursuing crustaceans over Georges Bank, the feature Lobster War (singular) focuses on American and Canadian lobstermen pursuing the creatures around an island off Maine’s Down East that both countries claim.

Abel is screening Lobster War, which does not yet have a distributor, at venues around New England. The veteran print journalist’s current tour, which follows a round of film-festival appearances, is scheduled to begin in the fishing town of Gloucester, Mass., tonight and to make its Vermont premiere in Woodstock on Wednesday.

“My first two docs were on cable, on network distribution deals that hemmed us in except for the odd festival,” Abel, who writes about environmental issues for the Boston Globe, said during a telephone interview on Wednesday. “This is the first time I’ve decided to go the theater route.

“It’s really gratifying to show your work, to meet folks who are really interested in these issues.”

Climate change is the issue at the center of Lobster War, which documents a dispute between fishermen from Maine and Atlantic Canada. Over the last decade, with ocean waters warming off the New England coast, lobsters have been migrating north and east in search of colder waters for breeding, many of them are now clustering in a 277-square-mile patch of ocean described in the movie as a “Gray Zone” around Machias Seal Island.

Read the full story at Valley News

Fishing quotas for cod, haddock to get a boost next year

December 10, 2018 — Commercial fishermen will be able to catch a little bit more cod and haddock off New England next year.

Fishermen seek the valuable groundfish species and others off the East Coast, with most coming to land in New England states. The New England Fishery Management Council has approved new catch limits for several species for the fishing year that begins May 1.

The largest catch limit will be for Georges Bank haddock. It’ll increase by almost 20 percent to more than 117 million pounds (53 million kilograms).

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WTNH

NEFMC Approves Groundfish Framework 58

December 7, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has approved Framework Adjustment 58 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The framework will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) for review and implementation. The target implementation date is May 1, which is the start of the 2019 groundfish fishing year. In short, the framework includes the following components:

  • Revised and/or new rebuilding programs for several groundfish stocks, including: (a) Georges Bank winter flounder; (b) Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder; (c) witch flounder; (d) Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Northern windowpane flounder; and (e) ocean pout;
  • Revised annual catch limit specifications (see tables at right and next page);
  • 2019 U.S./Canada total allowable catches (TACs) for three shared groundfish stocks on Georges Bank;
  • An exemption for vessels fishing in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) waters from U.S. commercial minimum sizes in the Council’s Northeast Multispecies FMP; and
  • An extension of the temporary change that’s currently in place for the scallop fishery’s trigger for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder accountability measures (AMs). Under this extension, the scallop fishery’s AM would be triggered only if scallopers exceed both their own sub-ACL for yellowtail flounder and if the total ACL for this stock is exceeded.

Read the full release here

American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop Scheduled for January 28-31, in New Bedford, MA

November 8, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold the American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, 836 South Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, MA. The stock assessment, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2020, will evaluate the health of the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank and Southern New England stocks and inform management of this species.  The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data*, when the public will be asked to leave the room.  

The Commission welcomes the submission of alternate assessment models. For alternate models to be considered, the model description, model input, final model estimates, and complete source code must be provided to Jeff Kipp, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at jkipp@asmfc.org by December 28, 2018. Any models submitted without complete, editable source code and input files will not be considered.

For more information about the assessment or attending the upcoming workshop (space will be limited), please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

* Each state and federal agency is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of its data and deciding who has access to its confidential data.  In the case of our stock assessments and peer reviews, all analysts and, if necessary, reviewers, have been granted permission by the appropriate agency to use and view confidential data. When the assessment team needs to show and discuss these data, observers to our stock assessment process are asked to leave the room to preserve confidentiality.

 

Atlantic surf clam stocks continue to shift up the coast

November 7, 2018 — The surf clam fishery — typically centered from the Mid-Atlantic states to northern New Jersey — continues to shift northward. Over time, the distribution shows increased landings in southern New England and Georges Bank. Southern New England and Long Island are productive for ocean quahogs.

Quota for both fisheries has been the same for 15 years, and set at levels higher than demand since the mid-2000s. Fishermen, for the past decade, have come shy of reaching quota, harvesting between 86 percent in 2008 down to 64 percent in 2017.

“The industry has asked the council to maintain the quotas at those levels due to anticipated market demand,” said José Montañez, fishery management specialist with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

The 2018 commercial quota for surf clams is 3.4 million bushels. For ocean quahog, Maine quota is set at 100,000 bushels and other states have a quota of 5.33 million bushels. As of late September, 44 percent of the surf clam quota and 36 percent of the quahog quota had been harvested, on pace with previous years.

Average ex-vessel price was $13.90 per bushel in 2017. The total ex-vessel value of 2017’s federal surf clam harvest hit about $31 million, the same as in 2016. In 2017, $23 million worth of ocean quahogs were recorded. It appears that 2018 values will look similar.

Bekah Angoff, of the boutique Boston-based Pangea Shellfish ships surf clams to consumers throughout U.S. and Canada. The wholesale cost is $2.50-$3 per pound, with seasonal variation, and one clam/pound including shell and meat.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

US Fishermen Lose Quota in New Fishing Pact With Canada

October 4, 2018 — American fishermen are losing thousands of pounds of valuable fishing quota under a new catch share agreement with Canada.

Fishermen from the U.S. and Canada seek haddock, cod and flounder on Georges Bank, which is a critical fishing ground east of New England, The two countries craft a catch share agreement every year. Under the latest agreement, the U.S.’s eastern Georges Bank cod quota is falling by more than 25 percent to about 415,000 pounds and the eastern Georges Bank haddock quota is falling by about 4 percent to about 33 million pounds.

Yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank is also falling by about half, to about 230,000 pounds. The U.S. gets 76 percent of the flounder quota while Canada gets 71 percent of the cod quota and the haddock is divided evenly.

The loss in quota will present a hardship for New England fishermen, who are already coping with low cod quotas and the collapse of the cod stock, said Terry Alexander, a longtime Maine fisherman and member of the regulatory New England Fishery Management Council that approved the catch share agreement last week.

“It’s going to be tough to get by with for sure,” Alexander said. “Cod seems to be in the cellar and yellowtail is even deeper in the cellar.”

The proposed quotas are based on historical catches and trawl surveys. Canada’s quotas are also proposed to decline. The quotas were recommended by U.S./Canada Transboundary Management Guidance Committee, which is a panel made up of government and industry members that includes representatives from both countries.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times