Saving Seafood

Massachusetts: Rep. Keating optimistic after meeting with NOAA on groundfishing ban

February 9, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — William Keating left a meeting with NOAA’s new regional administrator feeling optimistic regarding the agency’s stance on Sector IX.

The U.S. House member representing New Bedford met Tuesday night with Michael Pentony, who replaced John Bullard at NOAA and began his new role two weeks ago. Keating wanted to discuss the groundfishing ban that’s holding about 80 New Bedford fishermen off the water.

“What can I do to get people back fishing as quickly as possible?” Keating said. “That is creating my strong feelings of urgency around resolving the operations plan. That has to be done to go forward. NOAA is very clear about that.”

Neither NOAA nor Pentony would comment on the groundfishing ban placed on Sector IX.

However, Pentony also left the introduction with Keating with a feeling of optimism.

″(It was) very positive,” Pentony said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Congressman and his staff.”

Keating said his office remains in contact with NOAA on a weekly basis. The dialogue first began last spring.

The urgency, from Keating’s perspective results from the belief that the groundfishing ban established last November affects more than New Bedford.

As the most valuable fishing port in the country 17 years running, any splash in New Bedford ripples throughout Massachusetts, Keating said.

“It’s not only for our city, not only for our region, but for Massachusetts as a whole,” Keating said. “Having this cohesive industry situated the way that it is and the growth that can come from that … that is important in terms of the economic side that should be factored in.”

Because of its widespread effect on the state, Keating said he’s working with U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey on urging an immediate solution.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

New England Council waits on Massachusetts for new cod, haddock limits

February 8, 2018 — It’s always good to have a plan. Sometimes it’s even better to have a backup plan.

The New England Fishery Management Council has one of each for its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries on recreational Gulf of Maine cod and haddock bag limits for the 2018 fishing season.

Now the council is waiting on the Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Fisheries before it decides which recommendation to forward to federal fishery regulators.

In late January, the council voted to recommend NOAA Fisheries implement a “status quo” management policy for 2018 Gulf of Maine cod and haddock that would prohibit possession of any cod by recreational fishermen.

The recommendation, which was supported by the council’s recreational advisory panel and its groundfish committee, also set a 12-fish bag limit and 17-inch minimum size for haddock in federal waters and two seasonal closures — March 1 to April 14 and Sept. 17 to Oct. 31.

But here is the rub:

Last year, the state DMF implemented a policy that allowed private recreational anglers to keep one cod from each fishing trip in state waters and those recreational landings must be accounted for in determining whether federal regulators are able to hit their overall mortality targets and catch limits.

Too many cod grabbed in out of state waters could push the fishery past those targets.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Recreational cod fishing to stay shut down in Gulf of Maine

February 2, 2018 — Fishing managers are recommending that cod remain off limits to recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Maine.

Cod were once harvested in colossal numbers from New England waters, but the population has collapsed in the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere. The New England Fishery Management Council is calling on the federal government to maintain a year-round ban on possession of Gulf of Maine cod by recreational fishermen.

Commercial fishermen are still allowed to catch cod in the Gulf of Maine, though quotas for the fish are so low that many try to avoid the fish altogether. Cod are widely used to make fish and chips.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Greenwich Time

 

NEFMC Recommends 2018 Recreational Measures for Cod/Haddock and Revised Charter/Party Control Date

February 1, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council yesterday asked the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take three actions related to the recreational groundfish fishery, covering both the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.

First, the Council voted to recommend that NMFS – also called NOAA Fisheries – implement “status quo” management measures for Gulf of Maine cod and Gulf of Maine haddock for fishing year 2018, unless the Commonwealth of Massachusetts continues to allow private recreational anglers to retain one Gulf of Maine cod per trip in fishing year 2018. The status quo measures, which were supported by the Council’s Recreational Advisory Panel and Groundfish Committee, are:

  • Gulf of Maine cod – zero possession year-round; and
  • Gulf of Maine haddock – a 12-fish bag limit, 17 inch minimum size, a March 1 through April 14 haddock closed season, and a September 17 through October 31 haddock closed season.

If Massachusetts does not prohibit possession of Gulf of Maine cod by private anglers, then the Council recommends that NMFS implement split measures for the recreational fishery as follows.

  • Gulf of Maine cod:
    • o zero possession year round;
  • Gulf of Maine haddock:
    • o For Hire Fleet – a 10-fish bag limit, 17 inch minimum size, and two haddock closed seasons: (a) March 1-April 14, and (b) September 17-October 31. o Private Anglers – a 12-fish bag limit, 17 inch minimum size, and three haddock closed seasons: (a) March 1-April 14; (b) May 1-31; and (c) September 17- October 31.

Second, for Georges Bank cod, the Council voted to recommend that NMFS implement a 10-fish bag limit for private, charter, and party boat anglers with an increase in the minimum size from 22 inches up to 24 inches.

In addition, at its December 2017 meeting, the Council finalized Framework Adjustment 57 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which contains a temporary administrative measure to allow NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator to adjust the recreational measures for Georges Bank cod for fishing years 2018 and 2019.

Framework 57 includes annual catch limits (ACLs) for the 2018 groundfish fishing year, which begins May 1. If approved by NMFS, the sub-ACLs for the recreational fishery will be:

  • Gulf of Maine cod – 220 metric tons (mt); and
  • Gulf of Maine haddock – 3,358 mt.

The limiting factor in the recreational fishery is the cod sub-ACL. Analyses indicate that recreational fishermen will not come near harvesting the full Gulf of Maine haddock sub-ACL. The overwhelming challenge in this fishery is catching haddock while avoiding cod.

The Council makes recommendations to NMFS about recreational measures, but NMFS makes the final determination.

Charter/Party Fishery Control Date

Third, the Council requested that NMFS publish a revised control date for the charter/party groundfish fishery. The current control date is March 30, 2006. The new control date will be the actual day NMFS publishes a notice in the Federal Register, which may not occur for several weeks.

The Council agreed that it was important to “refresh” the control date, which will make it a more useful marker in determining activity in the fishery.

During its December meeting, the Council agreed to investigate whether limited entry should be adopted for the charter/party fishery. This item is one of the Council’s multi-year groundfish priorities. Given this intent, the Council supported asking NMFS to publish a new control date.

Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23 – Fishery Dependent Data Working Group

The Council received a quick progress report on Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23. The Groundfish Committee is expected to present a range of potential alternatives at the April Council meeting. The amendment is aimed at improving monitoring of both landings and discards in the commercial fishery.

The Council also received a brief update on the Executive Committee’s recommendations for convening a Fishery Dependent Data Working Group. The group’s charge is to discuss how fishery dependent data can be used to inform stock abundance. The Council agreed in December that establishing a working group would be a 2018 groundfish priority.

During its January 26 meeting, the Executive Committee determined that the group would consist of six scientists, two industry members, and two Council or NMFS staff members. Of the six scientists:

  • Two will come from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center;
  • Two others will be nominated by the science center; and
  • Two will be nominated by the New England Council.

To view the release in its entirety click here.

 

Scallops seized from Rafael vessel

January 31, 2018 — Carlos Rafael may be in prison and his groundfishing fleet grounded, but his scallop fishing vessels are still running into trouble with the authorities.

The Massachusetts Environmental Police boarded the Dinah Jane, one of Rafael’s vessels, on Sunday and, after conducting an inspection, confiscated 120 pounds of scallops that they say was beyond the boat’s permitted limit of 800 lbs, South Coast Today reports, based on information obtained from the police.

Police asked if any more scallops were left on the boat after watching it be offloaded. They were told there weren’t before they found the shellfish buried under ice, according to the newspaper that serves the New Bedford, Massachusetts, community where Rafael’s boats make their landings.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fishing Managers: Oil Drilling in Atlantic is a Bad Idea

January 31, 2018 — Northeast fishing managers say offshore drilling for oil and gas off of New England and the mid-Atlantic states could jeopardize marine life and industries.

The New England Fishery Management Council agreed to send a letter to the federal Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management on Tuesday calling for the exclusion of East Coast waters from oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf region. The council reports to the federal government and its recommendation applies from Maine to North Carolina.

Read the full story at Maine Public 

 

Another New Bedford Scallop Boat Affiliated with Carlos Rafael Caught Cheating on Scallop Landings

January 30, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — According to information posted by the Massachusetts environmental police, on Sunday January 28, they conducted a marine fisheries inspection aboard a federally permitted scallop vessel in New Bedford.  After observing the offload of the permitted limit of scallops, the police confirmed with the captain and crew that all sea scallops had been offloaded from the vessel.

During a subsequent inspection, police located five additional bags of shucked sea scallops hidden below a foot of ice and food stores.  The violation was documented and forwarded to NMFS.  The illegal sea scallops were held for disposition by NMFS.

Subsequent reporting was that the vessel in question was the FV Dinah Jane, permit #320244, owned by Leeanne & Noah Fishing LLC.  This permit was ordered revoked by NOAA on January 10th, with a 30 day deadline for the owners to appeal the notice of violation.

The owners of the F/V Dinah Jane also owned the F/V Hercules together with Carlos Rafael, and were cited for filing false landing reports.

The vessel Dinah Jane and its permit was cited in count 15 of the NOVA sent by NMFS to Carlos Rafael, for filing false records with Sector IX, which was cited in count 20.  Sector IX is currently under suspension by NOAA for failing to properly account for catch overages and false reporting.  However, scallop fishing is not subject to the sector allocations under the New England multi-species groundfish management plan, so the vessel was able to continue to fish.

The proposed permit revocation would take effect on February 10th at the earliest.  The vessel was still legally able to harvest scallops until then.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

NOAA to monitor 15 percent of fish trips

January 29, 2018 — Groundfishermen can expect to have at-sea monitors aboard 15 percent of all sector trips in 2018, representing a very slight decline from the groundfish sector coverage rates in place for the current fishing season.

The question now is whether NOAA Fisheries will find money to reimburse groundfishermen for their at-sea monitoring costs as the agency has in the past two seasons.

In 2017, NOAA reimbursed groundfishermen for 60 percent of their at-sea monitoring expenses — estimated at about $710 per day per vessel — which was down significantly from the 85 percent reimbursement provided fishermen in 2016, the first year the industry was responsible for funding at-sea monitoring.

“We await the enactment of a final Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bill to determine what funding may be available for the upcoming fishing season,” NOAA Fisheries said in the statement announcing the 2018 at-sea monitoring targets.

The 2018 at-sea monitoring target, established by using at-sea monitoring data from the past three full groundfishing seasons, represents a 1 percent decline from 2017 levels of 16 percent of all groundfish sector trips and a 1 percent increase over the percentage of 2016 sector trips.

“The total monitoring coverage, ultimately, should provide confidence that the overall catch estimate is accurate enough to ensure that sector fishing activities are consistent (with federal national standards) to prevent overfishing while achieving on a continuing basis optimum yield from the fishery,” according to NOAA Fisheries’ summary of the analysis used to set the coverage rate.

Some sector trips are excluded from the new coverage target rate.

“Those using gillnets with 10-inch or greater mesh in Southern New England and Inshore Georges Bank are excluded from the ASM requirement due to their low catch of groundfish species,” NOAA Fisheries said. “This further reduces the portion of sector trips subject to industry-funded monitoring and better focuses monitoring resources.”

The New England Fishery Management Council is scheduled to discuss industry-funded, at-sea monitoring on Tuesday, the first day of its two-day meetings next week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: A day at sea: Cod, skate, discards and an observer

January 29, 2018 — It’s cold, dark and slippery at 2 a.m. at the Gloucester pier, and as most people are in bed or just going home from a late night out, Capt. Al Cottone is trying to start his engine and prepare his fishing vessel, the Sabrina Maria, for a day out at sea.

The Sabrina Maria is a member of Gloucester’s day fishing fleet, now hovering around 12 boats of what used to be a much larger contingent. This morning Cottone is taking the 42-foot trawler out around Stellwagen Bank, about 15 miles southeast of Gloucester, to trawl for cod, haddock and other groundfish as he skims the coast.

It’s a calm Friday in week of days of snow and freezing rain. Cottone and other fishermen have few good weather days in winter to fish, so they take advantage of whatever clear and calm days they can.

“In the wintertime you sometimes go two-week stretches without going out with the weather,” Cottone said. “Small boats have limitations.” An icy deck, big waves, a false step or slip and Cottone would be in the water with no one to pull him back on deck. He cannot afford a first mate or deckhand, and usually fishes alone.

“The days you fish, you save your money,” said Cottone. No fish means no money. “The winters are usually tough. Once the weather breaks, usually in the spring, you work harder and you make up for it.”

The weather is not all Cottone has to deal with. He also has to deal with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It controls what he and other fishermen can catch, how they must catch it, and how much they can bring back. It’s called the quota.

On this trip Cottone catches well over a thousand pounds of skate fish, but because of quota limitations is only allowed to bring in 500 pounds. The rest is thrown back overboard, mostly dead from being out of the water and in the frigid air for so long.

Cottone also has to deal with and pay for NOAA observers on his boat.

“Once federal at-sea observers became a reality, they added further insult to injury when they forced fishermen to pay for it,” Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken said. “If they created the mandate for these observers, they should pay for them to go out with their own money instead of shifting the costs to those that are most vulnerable.”

Last week, NOAA announced groundfishermen such as Cottone can expect to have at-sea monitors aboard 15 percent of all trips boats in their sectors take in 2018. Still in the air is whether NOAA Fisheries will find money to reimburse the groundfishermen for any of their at-sea monitoring costs as the agency has in the past two seasons. In 2017, NOAA reimbursed groundfishermen for 60 percent of their at-sea monitoring expenses — estimated at about $710 per day per vessel — which was down significantly from the 85 percent reimbursement provided fishermen in 2016, the first year the industry was responsible for funding at-sea monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces At-Sea Monitoring 2018 Coverage Levels for Groundfish Sector Fishery

January 25, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

NOAA Fisheries announces that for fishing year 2018 the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 15 percent of all groundfish sector trips.

This target coverage level is a one percentage point decrease from the 2016 coverage level, which was 16 percent. As the target coverage level is set based on an average of at-sea monitoring data from the past three full groundfish fishing years, this level is set based on data from the 2014-2016 fishing years.

Federally funded observer coverage provided by the Northeast Fishery Observer Program to meet the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology (SBRM) requirements will partially satisfy the 15 percent coverage requirement. Sectors will therefore actually pay for at-sea monitoring coverage on less than 15 percent of their groundfish trips; however, the total will depend on the SBRM coverage rates, which are not yet out.

We were able to reimburse 85 percent of at-sea monitoring costs in 2016, and 60 percent in 2017. We await the enactment of a final Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bill to determine what funding may be available for the upcoming fishing season.

Certain sector groundfish trips–those using gillnets with 10-inch or greater mesh in Southern New England and Inshore Georges Bank–are also excluded from the ASM requirement due to their low catch of groundfish species. This further reduces the portion of sector trips subject to industry-funded monitoring and better focuses monitoring resources.

For more information, please read the Summary of Analysis Conducted to Determine At-Sea Monitoring Requirements for Multispecies Sectors 2018 that is available on our website.