Saving Seafood

Gorton’s giving 214K pounds of pollock to food banks in areas hit by Harvey

November 13, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — There’s just something about a guy in a Sou’wester that makes you know that you can trust him when things get a tad sticky. Which is the complete opposite of guys in visors. Them, we keep a eye on.

One of the Gloucester companies that helped make the sou’wester an iconic image of the fishing life is Gorton’s Seafood over at the east end of Rogers Street. And the company has done a very good thing.

Last week, the seafood company announced it is donating 214,000 pounds of its pollock tenders — which breaks down into about 858,000 separate servings (curiously, the exact daily amount called for in the Tom Brady diet) — to food banks in areas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.

Gorton’s donated the fish to SeaShare, a nonprofit that helps distribute seafood all over the country to folks in need of food assistance through the local organizations which help provide it.

SeaShare set a goal of delivering 2 million servings to the distressed areas damaged by the hurricane and Gorton’s single contribution sure gets the ball rolling in the right direction.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Headless 400-pound tuna found in Massachusetts woods

November 2, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — Spotting a 400-pound tuna in the Massachusetts seaport of Gloucester, known as America’s oldest seaport, is not unusual. But finding a headless tuna in the woods is a bit odd.

State Environmental Police and federal fisheries regulators are trying to figure out who dumped the headless fish, which had to be hauled out of the trees by a tow truck.

Authorities won’t say exactly when the tuna was found or who tipped them off.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Fox News

 

NOAA: Fewer fish landed in 2016 but higher value

November 1, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — Mirroring a national trend, the port of Gloucester in 2016 landed fewer fish than the previous year, even as the value of those fish rose by double digits, according to the annual state of the U.S. fisheries report released on Wednesday.

America’s oldest commercial seaport ranked 15th among the nation’s ports with 63 million pounds of fish landed, a decrease of 5 million pounds, or 7.3 percent, from 2015. But the city’s waterfront ranked 18th in the value of its landings, which increased 18 percent to $52 million in 2016 from $44 million in the previous year.

The Gloucester fishing experience in 2016 reflected a national trend. Throughout the United States, commercial landings of edible and industrial seafood was down 145.6 million pounds, or 1.5 percent, to 9.6 billion pounds. The value of those landings, however, rose 2.1 percent to $5.3 billion.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times 

 

US sea scallop surveys open door for big harvest in 2018

October 11, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts — Extensive surveys of Atlantic sea scallop beds on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic bode well for area fishermen counting on a good haul in 2018: The biomass is so high that it’s possible catch limits could even be increased.

Sea scallops have been a more solid source of seafood business in New England than other fish and shellfish in recent years. The 35.7 million pounds harvested in 2015, the most recent year available from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, were worth $437.9m in ex-vessel landings value, sixth most valuable among all seafood landings in the US and an almost 6% weight gain over the previous year. The average ex-vessel price per pound of meats in 2015 was $12.26.

No wonder scallops make up 80% of the total value of all landings in the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2

October 6, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we published a Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2.

We are seeking public comment on an action that would:

  • Revise the essential fish habitat designations for all New England Fishery Management Council-managed species and life stages;
  • Add Habitat Areas of Particular Concern to highlight especially important habitat areas;
  • Revise the spatial management system within the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the southern New England area;
  • Establish two Dedicated Habitat Research Areas;
  • Revise or implement seasonal spawning protection measures; and
  • Add system for reviewing and updating the proposed measures.

Read the Notice as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: John Bullard, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

The comment period is open through December 5, 2017.

Tuna lab leaving Gloucester, Mass.

Lutcavage, colleagues to work out of UMass Boston

October 6, 2017 — For the first time in almost seven years, the highly-regarded Large Pelagics Research Center affiliated with the University of Massachusetts no longer has a Gloucester address.

The center, which has performed groundbreaking and internationally acclaimed research on the spawning habits and habitats of Atlantic bluefin tuna, closed up shop Thursday at its most recent home — the Americold-owned building at 159 E. Main St. in East Gloucester.

Americold has been actively shopping the site for months and recently informed the center it would have to vacate its office space by the end of October. Molly Lutcavage, the founder and executive director of the center, and Tim Lam, an assistant research professor, didn’t bother waiting until the end of the month.

“It’s sad to think that we won’t have a Gloucester presence anymore,” Lutcavage said. “For now, I guess we’ll be working out of our houses and garages.”

The center has been forced to navigate some rough seas in the past few years, changing its affiliation within the University of Massachusetts system and being forced out of its original facility at Hodgkins Cove, where it had been housed since 2011.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NE Council Receives 2017 Scallop Survey Overview and Progress Report on 2018 Management Measures in Framework 29

October 2, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During its late-September meeting in Gloucester, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council received a comprehensive overview of the “very successful” 2017 scallop survey season. The Council then reviewed the range of measures under development for Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. These measures, once fully developed and approved, will apply to the 2018 scallop fishing year, which will begin on April 1 instead of March 1 as in previous years.

Five separate groups contributed to the 2017 scallop surveys:

  • The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducted dredge surveys in the Mid-Atlantic, Nantucket Lightship Area, and Closed Area II.
  • UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) conducted intensive surveys of Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Elephant Trunk Area, along with broadscale surveys of Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic and a drop camera survey of Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine.
  • The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in partnership with Lund’s Fisheries, conducted a Habitat Camera Mapping System (HabCam) version 5 (v5) survey of the Northern Edge on Georges Bank.
  • Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF) conducted a HabCam v3 survey of the Nantucket Lightship Area, as well as a HabCam v3 survey on Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge in the Gulf of Maine, along with six dredge tows on Stellwagen. And,
  • The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) conducted a dredge survey on Georges Bank and a HabCam v4 survey of the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

Fish council to NOAA: Punish Rafael’s sector

October 2, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council wrapped up its three days of meetings in Gloucester last week, but not without sending a message to NOAA Fisheries that it’s time to consider possible enforcement actions against the New Bedford fishing sector that allowed Carlos Rafael to operate illegally over a four-year period.

The council voted 13-1, with two abstentions, on Wednesday to request NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office immediately enforce sector regulations governing Northeast Fishing Sector IX’s operation plan. The sector, according to members supporting the motion, failed in its responsibility to ensure Rafael and other members played by the catch-share rules.

The question is how to get the sector to compensate the fishery for the more than 780,000 pounds of illegally landed or labeled fish that went misreported or unreported by Rafael. One suggestion was the sector be forced to buy additional quota commensurate with the overages, assuming enough quota exists for the species in question.

Read the full column at the Gloucester Times

Fishermen to New England Council: Trust in data needed

September 28, 2017 — One by one, the Gloucester fishermen settled in front of the microphone for those with something to say to the New England Fishery Management Council and, one by one, they delivered their thoughts.

Some of the remarks, such as those from Tom Orrell of Yankee Fleet and Paul Vitale, captain of the Angela & Rose, were short and to the point. Orell wanted to know why the for-hire boats faced so many restrictions in the Gulf of Maine and Vitale simply wants more fish quota. Now.

Joe Orlando of the Santo Pio talked science and cod, while longtime fishermen Al Cottone and Rick Beal adopted more philosophical tones, speaking to the council on the need for a two-lane channel of trust and truth.

“There is a unique opportunity here to bridge the gap,” Cottone, captain of the Sabrina Maria and executive director of the city’s Fisheries Commission, told the council. “You need to restore faith within the industry that you’re actually seeing what we see (on the water).”

It was a rare home game for the Gloucestermen, the first time in more than a decade that the council had pitched camp in America’s oldest seaport for a full meeting.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Skates: New England Council Approves 2018-2019 Fishery Specifications and Proportional Barndoor Skate Possession Limit for Wing Fishery

September 28, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

With one exception, the New England Fishery Management Council has approved Framework Adjustment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The framework contains specifications for the 2018 and 2019 fishing years, including total allowable landings (TALs) for both the skate wing and skate bait fisheries, as well as measures to allow the landing of barndoor skates.

Once approved and implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the framework will allow the landing of barndoor skates in the wing fishery. Barndoor skate landings will be capped at 25% of the total wing possession limit allowed per season.

The Council adopted a 31,327 metric ton (mt) acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the skate complex based on advice from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Under the skate plan, which covers seven species of skates, the annual catch limit (ACL) is equal to the ABC. Deductions from the ACL are made to account for: (1) management uncertainty; (2) projected dead discards; and (3) projected state landings, all to achieve the TAL for the overall federal fishery.

NAFO EXEMPTION

On September 27 during its meeting in Gloucester, MA, the Council voted to add measures into the framework to consider exempting vessels that fish exclusively within the NAFO Regulatory Area on a given trip from Skate FMP regulations that pertain to permit, mesh size, effort control, and possession limit restrictions, similar to exemptions that already exist within this area for Northeast multispecies and monkfish. NAFO is the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

The Skate Plan Development Team (PDT) now will develop a range of alternatives for this NAFO area exemption. The Council discussed an expedited process for selecting its preferred alternative with the goal of having Framework 5 implemented as close to May 1, 2018 as possible. This date marks the start of the new fishing year for skates.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council