Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Sets 2019 Management Measures for Northeast Groundfish

July 18, 2019 — We are approving Framework 58 and implementing new catch limits for seven groundfish stocks for the 2019 fishing year (May 1, 2019 – April 30, 2020), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2018.

In 2019, commercial groundfish quotas increase for four stocks from 2018: Georges Bank cod (+15%), Georges Bank haddock (+20%), Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder (+31%), and Acadian redfish (+2%); and decrease for three stocks: Gulf of Maine haddock (-5%), Georges Bank yellowtail flounder (-50%), and American plaice (-7%).

Framework 58 also:

  • Exempts vessels fishing exclusively in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area (i.e., in international waters) from the domestic groundfish fishery minimum fish sizes to allow them to better compete in the international frozen fish market.
  • Extends the temporary change to the scallop accountability measure implementation policy for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder to provide the scallop fishery with flexibility to adjust to current catch conditions while still providing an incentive to avoid yellowtail flounder.
  • Revises or creates rebuilding plans for five stocks: Georges Bank winter flounder, Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, witch flounder, northern windowpane flounder, and ocean pout.

In this rule, we are also announcing:

  • Reductions to the 2019 commercial quota for Gulf of Maine cod by 29.2 mt because the quota was exceeded in 2017.
  • A permanent extension of the annual deadline to submit applications to lease groundfish days-at-sea between vessels from March 1 to April 30 (the end of the fishing year); and
  • Changes to the regulations to clarify that vessels must report catch by statistical area when submitting catch reports through their vessel monitoring system.

Read the final rule  as filed today in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Read the full release here

Still Time to Take the NOAA Survey

July 12, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting a survey of stakeholders to gain a better understanding of communication preferences and needs among fisherman.

The New England Fishery Management Council is currently developing Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan and through this, the Council will evaluate the current groundfish monitoring program and consider changes to improve said system.

The survey focuses on two areas: What aspects of the current monitoring program, analyses, or processes do industry members want more information on, and how would industry members like the NOAA to communicate with them; workshops, websites, printed materials, question and answer sessions, or another method?

Recent discussions about the development of Amendment 23 have revealed that industry members want more information about the current monitoring system.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

European markets importing, exporting more seafood products

July 11, 2019 — The E.U. is the number one consumer of fishery and aquaculture products in the world, but with demand far exceeding supply and only limited room for growth in domestic production, the bloc is increasingly sourcing products from around the world in order to meet market requirements, confirms new analysis from the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).

In its latest review of seafood trade trends, EUMOFA finds that in 2018, E.U. imports from third-countries increased by 4 percent in volume and 2 percent in value over the previous year, reaching 6 million metric tons (MT) with a value of EUR 25.9 billion (USD 29.2 billion). However, it also established that the average unit value of these imports fell by 2 percent to EUR 4.17 (USD 4.70) per kilogram, which, it said, caused the slow growth in overall import value.

Salmonids (USD 6.5 billion, EUR 5.8 billion), crustaceans (USD 5.4 billion, EUR 4.8 billion) and groundfish (USD 5.1 billion, EUR 4.5 billion) were the most imported commodity groups, representing 58 percent of total extra-E.U. import value.

The groundfish category, which increased by 5 percent or EUR 203 million (USD 228.6 million); fish for non-food use, which was 27 percent or EUR 189 million (USD 212.9 million) more; and cephalopods, up by 6 percent or EUR 151 million (USD 170.1 million); were the main contributors to the overall increase in the extra-E.U. import value compared to 2017.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Groundfish managers to review catch share system

July 5, 2019 — In 2010, the New England groundfish fleet began fishing under a new catch share system when federal fishing regulators established the sector system that remains in place today in the Northeast Multispecies groundfish fishery.

Now, nine years after implementation, the New England Fishery Management Council is embarking on a review of the first six years of the commercial groundfish catch share system and is using a series of nine meetings in fishing ports from Maine to New York to elicit public comment.

One of those meetings is scheduled for Gloucester on July 25 at the Sawyer Free Library on Dale Avenue. The meeting is set to run from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

“Most of our fishermen in this fishery now fish in a sector, so we thought it would be a good time to review the program after having it in effect for a while,” said Janice Plante, spokeswoman for the council.

The review actually is mandated by NOAA Fisheries, though in a rather oblique manner. The agency said management councils should periodically review — “no less frequently than once every seven years” — catch share programs to evaluate whether they meet the objectives of the fishery management plan.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Groundfish Catch Share Program Review: Public Meetings Scheduled for July/August in Ports From Maine to New York

July 2, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is conducting a review of the groundfish sector system, which is a catch share program under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The public is encouraged to provide comments during an upcoming series of port meetings or in writing until August 19, 2019.

The review focuses on the first six years of the catch share program under Amendment 16 to the FMP, covering fishing years 2010 to 2015, which span from May 1, 2010 through April 30, 2016. Information prior to the program’s implementation also will be included for fishing years 2007 to 2009. This period covers May 1, 2007 through April 30, 2010.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries publishes final rule to allow electronic monitoring on some Pacific groundfish vessels

June 27, 2019 — Starting in 2021, fishermen in segments of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery will have the ability to use electronic monitoring devices to record what they catch for reporting purposes.

The measure, published in a final rule last week by NOAA Fisheries, gives the option to midwater trawl vessels in the Pacific whiting fishery and for fixed gear boats in the individual fishing quota fishery. Vessel owners will be able to receive an exemption from the 100-percent observer requirement as long as they use an allowed monitoring system.

“This action is necessary to increase operational flexibility and reduce monitoring costs for vessels in the trawl fishery by providing an alternative to observers,” NOAA Fisheries said in its final rule statement. “Data from the (electronic monitoring) program will be used to debit discards of (individual fishing quota) species from IFQs and mothership cooperative allocations.

It comes after some vessels participated in a pilot program testing the monitoring equipment. That pilot was pushed by some environmental organizations, including the Environment Defense Fund.

Shems Jud, the West Coast director of EDF’s Oceans program, said the rule will help improve conservation efforts.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA to groundfishermen: Take our survey

June 25, 2019 — As fishing regulators continue to consider changes to current groundfish monitoring programs, NOAA Fisheries is developing a new strategic communications plan to help stakeholders more fully participate in the rule-making process.

Toward that end, NOAA Fisheries is asking groundfish stakeholders to participate in an online survey that focuses on two areas — what information do fishermen need about current groundfish monitoring programs and the best manner for delivering that information.

The survey, which opened Friday and will be available online until July 21, can be found on the website surveymonkey.com/r/GARFO23. It is designed to take five to 10 minutes and can be completed anonymously.

“Our effort is focused on communicating information about monitoring programs, not developing alternatives or making policy decisions,” NOAA Fisheries said in announcing the survey. “We also expect this effort to provide tools and resources that can be applied across programs to improve the clarity and effectiveness of our communications with industry members.”

NOAA Fisheries has contracted with Vision Planning and Consulting to help it develop the new communications strategy and improve its communication about its various groundfish monitoring programs.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Camera Systems Offer New Option for Tracking West Coast Groundfish Catches

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

Two types of fishing vessels in the West Coast groundfish fleet will have the option of installing cameras beginning in 2021 to monitor their catch as a less costly alternative to human observers who have long filled that role, under a new rule adopted by NOAA Fisheries this week.

The final rule establishes standards for the video camera systems, which are typically activated automatically whenever fishing crews use equipment such as winches to haul in their gear.

The option to switch to electronic monitoring applies to vessels in the Pacific whiting fishery and fixed-gear vessels in the groundfish catch-share fishery, two sectors where analyses showed that it would save fishermen money.

West Coast fishermen pay about $500 per day for a fisheries observer stationed aboard their vessel. Camera systems cost about $10,000 to install, but can save vessels money in the longer term. NOAA Fisheries estimates that electronic monitoring would save fishermen anywhere from about $100 to more than $300 a day, and from $3,000 to $24,000 per year, depending on the fishery and type of vessel.

“Electronic monitoring is not suitable for all fisheries, but there are fisheries where we think it can work and give the fleet another option,” said Melissa Hooper, Permits and Monitoring Branch Chief for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. The cameras work well for vessels that catch large numbers of a few kinds of fish, for example.

Read the full release here

Groundfishermen not hooked by monitoring alternatives

June 12, 2019 — For more than two years, the New England Fishery Management Council has worked on an intricate groundfish monitoring amendment that could have wide-scale economic and regulatory consequences for groundfishermen.

It has been a thorny, winding path that involves a host of groundfish committees, plan development teams and assorted staff within the far-flung fisheries regulatory landscape. Now a group of groundfishermen are weighing in. And they are not pleased.

Today, the council, meeting for the second of its three days in Portland, Maine, is expected to finalize the range of alternatives for revising monitoring programs when the amendment — named Amendment 23 — goes out for public comment, probably late in the fall.

In a letter to the council, groundfishermen from across New England criticized the process for developing the amendment by framing the issue within a simple cost/benefit analysis.

They claim the process for fashioning the amendment still has not identified what the revised monitoring programs will cost the groundfish industry that ultimately will be responsible for paying for it.

“That’s an extremely important issue, since they’re the ones paying for it,” said Jackie Odell, the executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “These are industry-funded programs.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

West Coast Rockfish Rebound Faster Than Expected

June 10, 2019 — Thirty miles off the coast of Newport, Oregon, Mikey Retherford Jr. is watching rockfish in the ocean below him on a screen in the wheelhouse of the Winona J fishing trawler.

“See that right there?” he says, pointing at a yellow blob on the screen. “Boom! We don’t want to miss that. That’s there is widow rockfish. That’s what we’re targeting right there. That’s a very large school of fish.”

About 30 minutes later, his crew reels in a massive tube of netting stuffed with widow rockfish – one of dozens of groundfish species that live at the bottom of the ocean. The fish pour out of the net in a steady stream, and as they pile up, deckhands hose and shovel the giant pool of fish into hold under the deck.

Altogether, they land 60,000 pounds of widow rockfish. Retherford, 37, says for most of his career, a haul like this was unthinkable.

“When I started working for my dad as an adult full-time, it was like oh, we can’t catch rockfish,” he said.

Read the full story at JPR