Saving Seafood

National Science Foundation grant to continue work on key fishery management issues

January 24, 2019 — A cooperative research center that brings together seafood industry leaders and academic experts has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to continue its work on a number of issues that impact sustainable fisheries.

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) will use the federal money to study four issues, including how climate change affects fisheries and how to settle differences between offshore energy producers and the fishing community.

Other research the center will perform as part of the grant will focus on management practices that keep catch limits below levels that reduce jobs and inhibit economic growth. According to a press release from the center, the key focus will be to reduce uncertainty for the commercial industry.

According to the NSF, the grant is worth USD 100,000 (EUR 88,021). Work is expected to start on 1 March and last for five years.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Continues Work with New National Science Foundation Grant

January 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

Following the completion of its initial 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) has been awarded a new Phase 2 grant by the NSF to continue its work. SCeMFiS will use the new grant to further its track record of quality, collaborative research with its fishing industry and academic partners.

The grant is part of NSF’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program, which was developed to initiate long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government. SCeMFiS is the only Phase 2 IUCRC program dedicated exclusively to fisheries and marine science research.

“Our new Phase 2 grant will allow SCeMFiS researchers to continue our collaborative work with the fishing industry,” said Center Director Dr. Eric Powell, of the University of Southern Mississippi, one of the academic members of SCeMFiS. “The Phase 2 grant will enable SCeMFiS to continue to fund the groundbreaking research necessary to maintain healthy fish stocks and healthy fisheries at a time when reliance on the best available science is increasingly critical.”

As it moves into Phase 2, SCeMFiS will focus on reducing scientific uncertainty; the effects of climate change on fish stocks and fishing communities; resolving issues between fishing and offshore energy interests; and developing sound ecosystem-based fisheries management.

“Our priorities for Phase 2 reflect the biggest challenges in the future of the fishing industry,” said Center Site Director Dr. Roger Mann, of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, another SCeMFiS academic institution. “To meet these challenges, the industry and fisheries managers will need the kind of innovative research that SCeMFiS has regularly produced over the last 5 years.”

In its first 5 years, SCeMFiS has done groundbreaking research on finfish and shellfish. Among other projects, the Center produced the first age-frequency distributions for ocean quahog, one of the longest-lived species in the ocean. SCeMFiS scientists conducted the first benthic survey on important ocean habitat east of Nantucket, and mapped the shifting range of surfclams, documenting how climate change is beginning to affect the species.

SCeMFiS has also designed a pelagic survey for Atlantic menhaden and provided recommendations to improve port sampling for the species, carried out the only scientific work to date on Atlantic chub mackerel, and carried out an economic analysis for longfin squid.

All of these projects were reviewed, approved, and funded by the industry members on our Industry Advisory Board, who rely on sound science for the health of their fisheries and businesses.

“Fisheries management is only as good as the science it’s based on,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association and a member of SCeMFiS’ Industry Advisory Board. “That’s why it’s so important for the fishing industry to maintain its partnership with SCeMFiS. We need to promote the best available science.”

Modern Fish Act passes House: Industry wonders what happened to Magnuson?

December 21, 2018 — The U.S. House voted to pass the Modern Fish Act on Wednesday, just two days after the Senate approved it unanimously, swiftly sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

The “Modernizing Recreational Fishing Management Act,” or S.1520, has been the subject of debate and compromise among lawmakers, commercial and recreational fishing interests, and environmentalists for months.

The National Coalition for Fishing Communities released a statement on Thursday denouncing the quick passage of the bill and cementing their earlier support for Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, H.R. 200, that was passed over earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the Senate failed to take up the House bill, and instead took up S.1520, the “Modernizing Recreational Fishing Management Act,” read the statement. “In its original form, S.1520 faced widespread opposition from both commercial fishing and environmental groups. After its most controversial components were either totally removed or substantially weakened, it moved forward in the Senate and passed the House yesterday.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Senate unanimously passes “compromise” recreational fishing bill

December 18, 2018 — The U.S. Senate on Monday, 17 December, unanimously passed a bill that would urge regional management councils to revise policies and take into account the needs of anglers in mixed-use fisheries.

The Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act, proposed by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), would require the Government Accountability Office to review how the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic management councils allocate catch limits in fisheries shared by commercial and recreational fishermen. It also would encourage the two councils to find alternative methods for managing recreational fisheries.

“I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this bill passed, but there is still more work to be done,” Wicker said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to modernize federal fishing policies on the Gulf Coast and to support our fishermen.”

Monday’s vote comes after Wicker and members of the sportfishing industry stepped up their efforts to get the bill passed before the 115th Congress’ term ends. Wicker filed the bill in July 2017, and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee advanced the bill in June.

However, the bill coming out of the committee met with serious resistance from commercial interest groups, who feared the bill would be detrimental to their industry. The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance as recently as last month said it opposed the bill as written.

Greg DiDomenico, executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, lamented that the time and energy directed toward Wicker’s bill in the Senate could have been better used for discussing a Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization. If Wicker’s bill becomes law, the best outcome might be that the pubic gets a truer sense of the impact the recreational industry has on Southeastern fisheries.

“This does not get us the real reform that both industries need,” DiDomenico told SeafoodSource.

The push to revise recreational management policies comes on the heels of the federal government relaxing some regulations in the Gulf. Earlier this year, Gulf states started a two-year pilot to manage the red snapper recreational fishery in federal waters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Wind “Stakeholder” Group Meets In NJ

November 30, 2018 — While it appears that actual invitations weren’t sent to many stakeholders in the fishing community – certainly not by way of public email blast or general notification – the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is expected to meet with local “stakeholders” starting December 4 regarding wind farm development off the Jersey Shore.

Despite a noticeable lack of outreach and often restrictive holiday season planning, BPU will hold three Public Stakeholder Meetings in early December focused on Governor Murphy’s offshore wind goals and the BPU’s solicitation for 1,100 MW of offshore wind capacity.

A tip by Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA) executive director Greg DiDomenico (who said he “stumbled across the announcement by accident”) reveals how BPU staff, members of the NJ Offshore Wind Interagency Taskforce, offshore wind developers, and environmental non-government organizations (NGO’s) are expected to meet three times in December to review the State’s process for developing offshore wind.

Read the full story at The Fisherman

Garden State Seafood Association Supports New Vessel Discharge Rules

November 16, 2018 — This week, after more than a decade of activism from the fishing industry, Congress has moved to alleviate a major regulatory burden on commercial fishermen. Part of this year’s Coast Guard reauthorization bill once again exempts fishing vessels from requiring a permit for incidental discharge from boats, in a return to a long-standing EPA practice.

“The reauthorization is a common-sense step by Congress that provides necessary relief to fishermen without compromising the environment or water quality,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association. “Now commercial fishermen can focus on core environmental issues without having to deal with unnecessary, court-imposed restrictions.”

The issue dates to a 2006 court case, where the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned EPA vessel discharge rules that had been in force since the passage of the Clean Water Act. Under the ruling, fishing vessels and other boats, regardless of size, were required to get vessel discharge permits from the EPA for routine, incidental discharges. This goes so far as to potentially include water from the fish hold, rainwater washing off the boat deck, and other minor discharges.

Notably, an incidental discharge does not include any discharges related to sewage, fuel, or ballast water. Fishing vessels are still, and have always been, required to adhere to all laws that regulate these types of discharges. The court ruling simply added a new, costly, and unnecessary layer of regulations for vessels to follow.

After years of temporary exemptions as a short-term way to address the ruling, the Coast Guard reauthorization, the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018,” finally creates a permanent solution. Fishing vessels will return to being exempt from incidental discharge requirements, and fishermen will no longer need to deal with the added expense and bureaucratic red tape that goes along with them.

“We have worked to fix this issue for our clients since 2006,” said Rick Marks, a Principal at Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh in Reston, VA. “Despite a challenging and sustained effort it is rewarding to finally see a victory for common sense delivered by the 115th Congress. Our thanks go to those coastal Members of Congress and their staff from around the country whose persistence finally paid off for commercial fishermen everywhere.”

Learn more about the GSSA by visiting their site here

National Coalition for Fishing Communities: An Open Letter to America’s Chefs

October 31, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities have long believed that the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) is one of the great success stories in fisheries management. Originally co-sponsored in the House over 40 years ago by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Gerry Studds (D-Massachusetts), the MSA has become a worldwide model, and is one of the reasons the U.S. has some of the best-managed and most sustainable fish stocks in the world. The bill is named for its Senate champions, Warren Magnuson (D-Washington) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

But we are concerned by a new “nationwide #ChefsForFish campaign targeted at the new 2019 Congress, to launch after the elections in early November,” being organized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which the Aquarium calls the “next phase” of its “defense” of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Monterey Bay Aquarium described this campaign in an October 25 email sent to its “Blue Ribbon Task Force chefs.” The email asked this network of chefs to support the “Portland Pact for Sustainable Seafood” (attached).

On the surface, the Portland Pact matter-of-factly states sound principles:

  • “Requiring management decisions be science-based;
  • Avoiding overfishing with catch limits and tools that hold everyone accountable for the fish that they remove from the ocean; and
  • Ensuring the timely recovery of depleted fish stocks.”

However, in the last Congress, the Monterey Bay Aquarium used similar language to falsely characterize legitimate attempts to pass needed improvements to the MSA as betraying these principles. In fact, these changes would have made the landmark law even better.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has repeatedly called on Congress to reject efforts, such as H.R. 200, which passed the U.S. House in July, and was sponsored by the now Dean of the House Don Young, that would amend the Act to introduce needed updates for U.S. fisheries management. If the chefs being asked to sign onto the Portland Pact were to talk to our fishermen, they would know how important these reforms are for the health of our nation’s fishing communities.

Any suggestion that the original co-sponsor of the bill would, 40 years later, act to undermine America’s fisheries, is inappropriate. In fact, most of the “fishing groups” that opposed Congressman Young’s bill, are financially supported by environmental activists and their funders.

No legislation, no matter how well designed is perfect or timeless. In fact, Congress has twice made significant revisions to the MSA, first in 1996 with the passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act and in 2007 with the MSA Reauthorization Act. Like many other valued and successful laws, the Magnuson-Stevens Act is both working well, and in need of updates.

We agree that “management decisions be science-based.” One of the most significant issues with the current MSA is that it requires that fish stocks be rebuilt according to rigid, arbitrary timeframes that have no scientific or biological basis. Bills like H.R. 200, officially the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, would instead require that stocks be rebuilt according to an appropriate biological timeframe determined by the regional councils that manage the stocks.

H.R. 200 would also introduce other important measures that would better allow the councils to adapt their management plans to fit changing ecological conditions and the needs of fishing communities, which will become increasingly important as our coastal areas experience the effects of climate change.

American fishermen, like many American chefs, are committed to sustainable fishing and healthy oceans. Our businesses need sustainable, abundant fish stocks for us to make a living, and we all want a thriving resource that we can pass down to the next generation. We would never endorse a law that would threaten the long-term survival of our environment or our industry. That is why we endorse changes to the MSA that would ensure both.

We ask that any chef who is considering signing onto the Monterey Bay Aquarium letter to Congress first consult the local fishermen who supply them with fresh, quality products to learn how this law affects their communities.

NCFC members are available to connect chefs with seafood industry leaders, who would be happy to discuss how the MSA can be updated to help both fish and fishermen.

Sincerely,

Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries
Kathy Fosmark, Co-Chair
CA

Atlantic Red Crab Company
Jon Williams, President
MA

California Wetfish Producers Association
Diane Pleschner-Steele
CA

Delmarva Fisheries Association
Capt. Rob Newberry, Chairman
MD, VA

Fishermen’s Dock Co-Op
Jim Lovgren, Board Member
NJ

Garden State Seafood Association
Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director
NJ

Hawaii Longline Association
Sean Martin, Executive Director
HI

Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association
Bonnie Brady, Executive Director
NY

Lunds Fisheries, Inc.
Wayne Reichle, President
CA, NJ

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance
Rich Fuka, Executive Director
RI

Seafreeze, Ltd.
Meghan Lapp, Fisheries Liaison
RI

Southeastern Fisheries Association
Bob Jones, Executive Director
FL

Viking Village
Jim Gutowski, Owner
NJ

West Coast Seafood Processors Association
Lori Steele, Executive Director
CA, WA, OR

Western Fishboat Owners Association
Wayne Heikkila, Executive Director
AK, CA, OR, WA

PRESS CONTACT

Bob Vanasse
bob@savingseafood.org 
202-333-2628

View the letter here

 

Have bluefish changed their habits?

September 4, 2018 — A fisherman dragging a burlap sack full of 10-pound bluefish off a party boat following a night of fishing used to be a familiar sight at the Shore.

And it may be again, but the habits of the once-dependable fish seem to have changed, at least in the present.

What is causing them to change their behavior is puzzling fishermen and federal fishery managers who appear to have hit a wall trying to figure out the best way to utilize the fish.

By all indications the numbers of bluefish up and down the East Coast are not scarce, they’re just not where they’re expected to be.

“There’s an abundance of them. They’re just 80 to 100 miles offshore where the longliners can’t keep them off the hook,” said Captain Lenny Elich, who runs the Miss Barnegat Light party boat.

But they’re not the on the Barnegat Ridge, and because of that the Miss Barnegat Light, which used to fish night and day for blues, has resorted to fluke fishing.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Greg DiDomenico & Diane Pleschner-Steele: Senate MSA reauthorization a step back for fishing communities

August 21, 2018 — The following op-ed was originally published in The Hill and was written by Greg DiDomenico, the Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association, and Diane Pleschner-Steele, the Executive Director of the California Wetfish Producers Association:

In July, the House passed H.R. 200 the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act,” a much needed update of federal fisheries law that allows for both sustainable fisheries management and the long-term preservation of our nation’s fishing communities. Unfortunately, its counterpart bill making its way through the Senate would likely have the opposite effect.

The Senate bill, S.1520, or the “Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018,” introduces changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA)—the main law governing U.S. fisheries—that would impose increasingly burdensome regulations on American fishermen and undermine H.R. 200’s goal of increasing flexibility in fisheries management.

Of particular concern are provisions contained in Section 104 of the bill, “Rebuilding Overfished Fisheries.“ Rather than giving fisheries managers more flexibility in how they manage and rebuild fish stocks, these new requirements added to S.1520 make rebuilding requirements more stringent and onerous.

For example, one of the most disturbing changes is the requirement that Regional Fishery Management Councils achieve a 75 percent chance of rebuilding a stock if that stock has not rebuilt in as short a timeframe as possible. What that means in practice is that regulators will be forced to set quotas according to a rigid, predetermined timeframe, rather than one based around scientific evidence or biological necessity. This will lead to quotas that are much lower than they need to be to sustainably manage the species, and fishing communities being unnecessarily hurt in the process.

Read the full opinion piece at The Hill

 

Trump’s plan for the oceans? More business, less protection

June 26, 2018 — Sea levels are rising, fish are chasing warmer waters north, $300 billion worth of goods are coming into or departing from American ports every year. It’s a dynamic time for coastal communities.

But with the stroke of a pen last week, President Donald Trump put the brakes on a comprehensive plan — years in the making — to balance the environmental, recreational and economic interests competing for the future of the oceans surrounding the U.S.

The Trump Administration is presenting a new executive order as a fundamental adjustment away from unnecessary levels of bureaucracy and toward an ocean policy that puts national security, job creation and corporate aspirations above all else.

The shift has been warmly received by fishermen and other business groups. Conservationists, however, are anxious that attitudes about ocean use will regress.

It’s quite a change of direction from the two terms under President Barack Obama.

Commercial fishermen have been strong critics of the previous policy and were happy to see it sink.

John Connelly, president of the seafood industry’s National Fisheries Institute, said in a statement that the Obama plan “excluded the perspective of the men and women who work the water.”

The National Ocean Policy created “additional levels of bureaucracy and uncertainty that threatened to reduce the overall productivity of our industry by forcing small business owners to divert limited resources away from their operations in order to deal with this unnecessary and ambiguous regulatory maze,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, which is based in Bass River.

Garden State Seafood Association executive director Greg DiDomenico told the Press that “it’s safe to say we are encouraged” by Trump’s attitude toward ocean policy.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press