Saving Seafood

SCOTLAND: Media’s Fish Tales and Codology

July 22, 2015 — Back in 2012, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times famously screamed that there were, “just 100 cod left in the North Sea”. Even at the time, it ranked as one of the greatest howlers ever published – as the BBC pointed out a fortnight later, they were only about half a billion wrong. It would have been funny but for the impact it had on the Scottish fishing industry. Having slimmed down dramatically over the preceding decade, and after the voluntary adoption of serious practical measures to aid recovery of a depleted stock, the last thing it needed or deserved was a bunch of irresponsible journalists destroying the market for locally caught fish.

It’s a shame that you can’t catch cod in London, Edinburgh or the grim, grey streets where environmental activists come from. Unfortunately for the fishing industry, a very large proportion of the UK’s fish comes from the northern part of the North Sea, and particularly the waters around Shetland. From a part of the world that doesn’t even appear on some newspapers’ weather maps, in other words. More fish are landed in Shetland than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined, and to journalists in London it barely exists. Out of sight, out of mind … and from where tales of plentiful cod, not to mention a couple of dozen other commercial fish species, can be safely ignored.

And such tales! Cod everywhere, cod impossible to get away from, cod recovering too fast for vastly shrunken quotas to cope, cod of a size not seen for decades. Grinning anglers mooring up in Scalloway claiming that after a great day out the 100 cod were down to 90 or whatever.

It certainly made for a contrast with annual quota talks in Brussels, where UK and Scottish ministers had to fight year after year just to prevent already inadequate cod quotas being cut further. Whatever the scientists were doing, it didn’t tally with what fishermen were seeing every day, haul after haul, and needless to say the anti-fishing brigade were delighted with the whole process. Good news on wildlife is very bad news for environmental groups; doom, gloom and ecological catastrophe are what they need to suck in donations. From that point of view, the disappearing cod story was extremely opportune.

Read the full story at The Scotsman

 

Last Groundfish Permit Stays on Martha’s Vineyard, Though Days Are Numbered

July 23, 2015 — The Nature Conservancy, working with the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, has purchased the Island’s last historic groundfish permit, marking a major milestone in the trust’s efforts to develop a permit bank to support Island fishermen.

The federal New England multi-species permit, also known as a groundfish permit, was held by Greg Mayhew, owner of the Unicorn, a legendary 75-foot dragger out of Menemsha.

“We wanted our fishing permit to stay on Martha’s Vineyard and not go to some corporation or conglomerate,” Mr. Mayhew said in a statement issued Thursday by the conservancy.

Among other challenges facing local fishermen, the decline in groundfish populations in recent years has led to smaller quotas, leaving many businesses unable to compete. Since regrouping last year, the fishermen’s preservation trust has concentrated on developing a permit bank that would allow Vineyard fishermen to lease quota at an affordable rate.

Christopher McGuire, marine program director for The Nature Conservancy, said the Unicorn permit might only support one or two Island fishermen, since the quota is limited.

“There is only so much fish to lease out,” he said. But he added that there are relatively few groundfishermen on the Island, so competition for the quota might be light.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

 

Fishing group meets to discuss New England catch limits

July 23, 2015 — It’s simple: If fishermen can’t catch it, we can’t eat it. On Wednesday, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center met with fishermen across New England to discuss the state of groundfish like cod.

The federal government had to close down all commercial and recreational cod fishing late last year because the population was at an all-time low. This restriction allows them to repopulate off the coast of Maine and Massachusetts.

22News spoke with Schermerhorn’s Seafood Owner Michael Fitzgerald as he was getting updated from his suppliers. Cod is still largely off limits, but there is a popular alternative you can buy.

Read the full story and watch the video at WWLP

 

NEW TIMES AND LOCATIONS: JULY 22 MEETINGS FOR FISHERMEN ON GROUNDFISH OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENTS

July 20, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

Northeast Fisheries Science Center Hosting Outreach Meetings on July 22 on Groundfish Operational Assessments. The NEFSC is holding outreach meetings on July 22 in Portland, Gloucester, Woods Hole, New Bedford, and Hampton, NH for fishermen interested in the upcoming operational assessments for 20 stocks of Northeast groundfish.

Information on meeting times and locations has been updated, with New Bedford and Woods Hole meetings from 10am-12noon, Gloucester and Portland meetings from 2-4pm, and a meeting added in Hampton, NH from 6-8pm.

Assessment analysts will be on hand to meet with interested fishermen, and to learn more about recent observations from the fleet that might help focus future research to improve assessments. 

There will also be a short webinar on the timeline for the assessments, what new information will be considered, and how the results will be reviewed before they are sent into the fishery management process.

Questions? Contact Teri Frady at 508-495-2239 or email teri.frady@noaa.gov.

New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries Seek Comments on Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

July 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

The New England Fishery Management Council has been developing  Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan for several years.

The notice of availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Amendment 18 published today in the Federal Register. The DEIS is open for comments through August 31. More information, including dates and times of public meetings, is available on our website and on the Council’s website.

Amendment 18 provides a range of alternatives that could address the following issues:

  • Accumulation limits for Northeast multispecies permit holders;
  • A sub-allocation and other management measures for Handgear A permit holders;
  • Data confidentiality with regards to leasing of groundfish allocations;
  • An inshore/offshore boundary within the Gulf of Maine and potential associated management measures for Gulf of Maine cod; and,
  • Establishing a Redfish Exemption Area for vessels to target redfish.

The Council is expected to take final action on Amendment 18 at its September 2015 meeting.

Send your comments to:

Email: nmfs.gar.amendment18@noaa.gov

Mail:       John K. Bullard

Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

Fax: 978-281-9315

Please include “Amendment 18” in the subject line or on the outside of the envelope.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

Haddock

Public Comment Sought on EIS for New Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Bycatch Management Program

SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker — July 15, 2015 — In yesterday’s Federal Register, the National Marine Fisheries Service, in consultation with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, announced their intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a new bycatch management program for trawl groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska.

The proposed action would create a new management program that would allocate allowable harvest to individuals, cooperatives, and other entities that participate in GOA trawl groundfish fisheries.

The program is intended to improve stock conservation by imposing accountability measures for taking target, incidental, and prohibited species catch, creating incentives to eliminate wasteful fishing practices, providing mechanisms for participants to control and reduce bycatch in the trawl groundfish fisheries, and to improve safety of life at sea and operational efficiencies.

The EIS will analyze the impacts to the human environment resulting from the proposed trawl bycatch management program.

NOAA Fisheries and the Council say an EIS may be required for this bycatch management program because some important aspects of the proposed action on species and their users may be uncertain or unknown. Thus, the agency and the Council are initiating scoping for an EIS in the event one is needed.

NOAA Fisheries and the Council want public comments to identify the issues of concern and help determine the appropriate range of management alternatives for the EIS. Comments should also focus on the environmental, social, and economic issues to be considered in the analysis.

NMFS will accept written comments through August 28, 2015.

You may submit comments electronically at www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2014-0150 [2].

Or send written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802–1668.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

MASSACHUSETTS: 151 Cape Ann crew, dockhands to share in $3M relief

July 13, 2015 — The state will distribute about $3 million in federal fishery disaster aid to 525 eligible Massachusetts-based crew members, dock workers and owner-operators, including 136 from Gloucester and 15 from other towns on Cape Ann, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

Peter Lorenz, DMF spokesman, said letters went out June 30 to 601 Massachusetts-based crew members who applied for the funds, informing them of their status.

Lorenz said 76 applicants were not qualified for any payments.

The payments for eligible years range from $1,209 per year to $10,080 per year, with 68 successful applicants to receive $8,064 per eligible year while 120 successful applicants maxed out at $10,080 per eligible year.

Lorenz said the qualified recipients, including the 151 from Cape Ann, must fill out state-vendor forms. Once the forms are approved, the agency will begin scheduling payments — which will go out weekly on Fridays.

The $3 million earmarked for crew members, dock workers and some owner-operators is part of the $8.3 million initially contained in the second phase of the $75 million in federal fishing disaster funding approved by Congress in January 2014.

The four coastal New England states, as well as New York and New Jersey, received about $33 million of the total $75 million, with Massachusetts’ share amounting to about $14.8 million.

The first phase of funding funneled $6.5 million to more than 200 eligible federal limited permit holders in the form of checks of $32,500 per eligible permit.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

Northeast Consortium and NEFMC Announce Funding for New Collaborative Research Projects

NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — July 8, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Northeast Consortium, a University of New Hampshire-based institution established in 1999 to foster collaborative research, under contract to the New England Fishery Management Council, announces funding for three new research projects that will focus on spawning groundfish in waters off the New England coast.

Awards totaling over $335,000 will support a mapping study examining the distribution of spawning cod on Georges Bank, an acoustic and trawl survey of winter-spawning cod in Ipswich Bay, an inshore area off the coast of MA, and work on winter flounder spawning activities offshore in the Gulf of Maine.

The result of a supplemental request for proposals issued last February, projects were required to articulate collaborations between commercial fishermen and scientists, and could include, among other approaches, research that enables the Council to improve groundfish spawning protection by increasing the understanding of groundfish spawning activity or aggregations of spawning groundfish.

Here are more project details.

Project Title: Mapping the distribution of Atlantic cod spawning on Georges Bank using fishermen’s ecological knowledge and scientific data
Lead Institution: University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology; Co-Principal Investigators: Steven X. Cadrin, Gregory DeCelles, and Douglas Zemeckis

Purpose: To map the spatial and temporal distribution of cod spawning on Georges Bank using existing scientific information and data acquired from interviews with current and retired fishermen who fish for cod on Georges Bank. The information is needed to better understand cod population structure and essential fish habitat in this region.

Project Title: Synoptic acoustic and trawl survey of winter-spawning cod in Ipswich Bay, western Gulf of Maine Lead Institution: Gulf of Maine Research Institute; Project Leader: Graham Sherwood
Purpose: To expand our knowledge of the winter-spawning component of Atlantic cod by conducting a synoptic acoustic and trawl survey of Ipswich Bay. Improved knowledge of spawning dynamics in this area will lead to more fine-scale (in both time and space) management options.

Project Title: Identifying offshore spawning grounds of Gulf of Maine winter flounder
Lead Institution: University of New Hampshire; Project Leader: Elizabeth A. Fairchild
Purpose: To determine where winter flounder in the Gulf of Maine are spawning offshore and when, by studying their populations during the spawning season at offshore sites identified by commercial fishermen as locations where large numbers of adult winter flounder are seen during the spawning season.

 NEC/NEFMC – Cooperative Research Projects Funded 

These awards represent a continuation of the 2014 partnership established between the Consortium (NEC) and the Council. The NEC has representation from four research institutions: the University of New Hampshire, University of Maine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with Dr. Chris Glass at the University of New Hampshire, in the lead as its Director.

The Council is a group of 18 fishery officials that includes representatives from each New England coastal state, the federal government, and appointees from the region, all of whom are charged with managing the groundfish complex (cod, haddock, pollock and several species of flounder), in addition to other regional fish stocks. Funding collaborative research is fully consistent with its interest in understanding and improving this resource.

Read the release here

 

GIB BROGAN: A Knockout Blow for American Fish Stocks

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — July 7, 2015 — Today the New York Times published an op-ed written by Oceana fisheries campaign manager Gib Brogan that is critical of both the recent Omnibus Habitat Amendment proposals approved by the New England Fishery Management Council and the members of the fishing industry who advocated for them. The op-ed is the latest attack by an environmental organization against the Council-approved version of the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, and is aimed at convincing the National Marine Fisheries Service to reject the Amendment.

Calling the measures a “knockout blow” to the region’s groundfish stocks, Mr. Brogan accuses the Council of “gutting” habitat protections. He is similarly critical of the Fisheries Survival Fund, which he describes as a “well-funded industry group” that “spends more than a quarter of a million dollars a year advocating for their interests, often at the expense of other fisheries.”

An excerpt of the op-ed is reproduced below: 

First, the council is preparing to drastically reduce the amount of protected habitat in New England waters, including by nearly 80 percent around the Georges Bank. The plan would allow for expansion of bottom trawling and dredging, two of the most destructive fishing methods, into protected habitats.

In addition to gutting habitat protections, the council wants to suspend a program that places observers on fishing vessels to monitor compliance. But without monitoring the numbers of fish being taken out of the ocean, there is no way to accurately determine the health of their populations or ensure that quotas are respected.

The fishing industry had agreed to eventually pay for the monitoring. But as federal funds near expiration, later this year, the industry is trying to renege on its responsibilities by pressuring the council to eliminate the program. When the bank balance is low, it isn’t time to fire the accountant.

Pressure for even more change looms. Atlantic scallops are one of the most lucrative parts of the American fishing industry, responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shellfish every year. Scallop companies have a well-funded industry group, paradoxically named the Fisheries Survival Fund, which spends more than a quarter of a million dollars a year advocating for their interests, often at the expense of other fisheries. Dissatisfied with its current profits, the scallop industry is pushing the council to reopen portions of the most important New England cod habitat on Georges Bank, where the bottom-scraping scallop dredges would destroy any hope of rebuilding cod populations.

Similar pressure is coming from the cod, haddock and flounder industries, which are in a perpetual state of crisis as fishermen work with small catch limits that were set by managers trying to rebuild the populations. In the last two years, the New England fishery was declared a disaster and received more than $30 million in relief funding from the federal government to help with the losses. To stay viable for another year, the industries claim that they need additional access to closed areas.

Read the full opinion piece at the New York Times

DON CUDDY: If it’s the same, it will never be different

June 23, 2015 — DON CUDDY — We are having a serious problem in New England with the performance of the models used in fishery management. To remedy a situation that, along with some other factors, has led to the current crisis in the groundfish industry, we need new data … and maybe we need new models.

All the researchers will tell you that the existing models have trouble performing well when fish stocks, such as Gulf of Maine cod, Georges Bank cod and Georges Bank yellowtail are low. With healthy stocks, a certain amount of scientific uncertainty can be factored in as a buffer. But with low abundance, the margin for error is very thin, and fishermen and their families pay the price. When catch limits are cut, a small variation can mean the difference between an independent fisherman remaining on the water or being forced out of business.

I had a call last Monday from a producer of the “Today” show in New York. They were looking to profile a day in the life of a New England fisherman. I contacted veteran fisherman Frank Mirarchi, whose opinion pieces will be familiar to readers of The Standard-Times. In fact, his latest one, advocating electronic monitoring of the catch, ran that same day. But Frank told me he just sold his boat and is an ex-fisherman. This is what is happening to the single-boat owner around New England.

Getting better data is a theme familiar to anyone with connections to the fishing industry in New England. It is central to the mission at the Center for Sustainable Fisheries and was the focus of the forum CSF sponsored at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in May.

Read the full opinion piece from The New Bedford Standard-Times