Saving Seafood

A unique educational experience, designed for fishermen, by fishermen

January 11, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) offers fishermen, and others with a stake in healthy fisheries, an opportunity to learn the basics of fisheries science and how the fishery management process works. It provides an inside look at the fisheries science and management processes, demystifies the acronyms and vocabulary, and equips fishermen with the tools to engage in shaping regulatory action and participating in collaborative science.

MREP is offering two upcoming workshops that are organized and moderated by members of the local fishing community:

The Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Workshop offers an in-depth discussion on data inputs, management strategies, and what Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management may mean for fishermen in the future. It will be held from February 26-28 in New Bedford, MA.

Questions? Contact Chris Roebuck (Commercial Fisherman) at (401) 741-1831 or Libby Etrie at (978) 491-1848.

The Recreational Fisheries Workshop covers the basics of fisheries science and management with a special focus on topics of interest to the recreational fishing community. It will be held from March 20-22 in Hanover, MD.

Questions? Contact moderators Dave Sikorski (Mid-Atlantic) at (443) 621-9186 or Rick Bellavance (New England) at (401) 741- 5648.

For both workshops, lodging, meals and travel expenses are covered for participants who complete the entire program, and who are not otherwise funded to attend. You can apply for these workshops with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Learn more about NOAA Fisheries by visiting their site here.

 

Atlantic Menhaden Board Meeting Added to ASMFC 2018 Winter Meeting Preliminary Agenda

January 11, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:

Please note there are two changes to the ASMFC Winter Meeting preliminary agenda: (1) an agenda item has been added to the ISFMP Policy Board (i.e., Consider the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Atlantic Menhaden Amendment 3 Appeal); and (2) the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board has been added to the agenda and will meet on Thursday, February 8 from 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. There has been shift in meeting times that day to accommodate the added meeting.  The agenda can also be found on the ASMFC website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2018-winter-meeting.

Revised Preliminary Agenda

The agenda is subject to change. Bulleted items represent the anticipated major issues to be discussed or acted upon at the meeting. The final agenda will include additional items and may revise the bulleted items provided below. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. Interested parties should anticipate Boards starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Tuesday, February 6

9:30 a.m. – Noon                    American Lobster Management Board

  • Consider American Lobster Addendum XXVI and Jonah Crab Addendum III for Final Approval
  • Subgroup Report on Goals and Objectives for Management of the Southern New England Stock
  • Consider 2020 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Terms of Reference
  • Elect Vice-chair

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.                        Atlantic Herring Section

  • Review Technical Committee Report on Effectiveness of Current Spawning Closure Procedure
  • Elect Chair and Vice-chair

2:15 – 4:15 p.m.                        Winter Flounder Management Board

  • Review Results of the 2017 Groundfish Operational Stock Assessment for Gulf of Maine and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Winter Flounder Stocks
  • Discuss Potential Management Response
  • Consider Specifications for 2018 Fishing Year
  • Consider Approval of Fishery Management Plan Review for 2016-2017 Fishing Year
  • Elect Chair and Vice-chair

4:30 – 6:00 p.m.                        American Eel Management Board

  • Consider Approval of Draft Addendum V for Public Comment
  • Consider Approval of 2016 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

Wednesday, February 7

8:00 – 9:30 a.m.                         Executive Committee

(A portion of this meeting may be a closed session for Committee members and Commissioners only)

  • ACCSP Program Update
  • Discuss ASMFC Leadership Nomination Process
  • Discuss Updating Appeals Process
  • Discuss Updating Conservation Equivalency Guidelines

9:45 – 11:15 a.m.                      Strategic Planning Workshop

  • Review Annual Commissioner Survey Results
  • Discuss Next Steps in Developing 2019-2023 Strategic Plan

11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.          Weakfish Management Board

  • Consider Approval of 2017 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports
  • Consider the Use of Fishery-independent Samples in Fulfilling Biological Sampling Requirements of the Fishery Management Plan

12:45 – 2:45 p.m.                      South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board

  • Review Technical Committee Report on State Implementation Plans for the Interstate Cobia Fishery Management Plan
  • Consider Approval of Draft Addendum I to the Black Drum Fishery Management Plan for Public Comment
  • Review Technical Committee/Plan Review Team Report on Recommended Updates to the Annual Traffic Light Analyses for Atlantic Croaker and Spot
  • Consider Approval of 2017 Fishery Management Plan Reviews and State Compliance Reports for Spanish Mackerel and Spot

3:00 – 4:30 p.m.                        Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board

  • Review and Consider Maryland Conservation Equivalency Proposal
  • Update on Process and Timeline Regarding Board Guidance on Benchmark Stock Assessment

Thursday, February 8

8:00 – 10:00 a.m.                      Risk and Uncertainty Policy Workshop

10:15 a.m. — 1:15 p.m. Interstate Management Program Policy Board

  • Consider the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Atlantic Menhaden Amendment 3 Appeal
  • Consider Approval of Climate Change and Fisheries Management Policy
  • Review Shad Benchmark Stock Assessment Timeline and Consider Terms of Reference
  • Habitat Committee Report
  • NOAA Fisheries Overview of Right Whale Issue

1:15 – 1:30 p.m.                        Business Session

  • Consider Noncompliance Recommendations (If Necessary)

1:45 — 2:45 p.m. Atlantic Menhaden Management Board

  • Consider ISFMP Policy Board Recommendation Regarding the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Atlantic Menhaden Amendment 3 Appeal (If Necessary)

3:00 — 5:00 p.m. Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board

  • Consider Black Sea Bass Addendum XXX for Final Approval
  • Finalize Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Recreational Measures

Learn more about the ASMFC by visiting their site here.

 

Lobstermen may have to give up their secrets

January 10, 2018 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The antiregulatory fervor sweeping the nation’s capital doesn’t seem to extend as far as the Gulf of Maine, at least not for lobster and Jonah crab fishermen.

This week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is holding two public hearings in Maine on a plan to impose new reporting requirements in the offshore lobster and crab fisheries. One hearing was scheduled for Scarborough on Tuesday evening. The other is scheduled for 6 p.m. today, Thursday, Jan. 11, at Ellsworth High School.

The ASMFC is concerned that it does not have enough data about the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries to make appropriate management decisions.

Ten percent of Maine lobstermen, chosen annually at random, are required to file monthly landing reports with the Department of Marine Resources about where and how they fish. The reports include detailed data about the geographic location of traps, how long they have been set and at what depths, how many traps are hauled on each trip, the total pounds landed and more.

Lobstermen licensed by other New England states already file detailed reports with their state resource management agencies.

Only about 20 percent of Maine’s roughly 5,000 commercial lobstermen also hold the federal permits required to fish outside the 3-mile limit of state waters, and even fewer fish in the really deep waters beyond 12 miles from shore. According to the ASMFC, some 98 percent of lobster landings from the Gulf of Maine come from inside that 12-mile zone, so reports of what’s happening in the offshore lobster fishery are generally scarce. What’s more, unlike most fishermen operating in federal waters, federal permit holders fishing only for lobster are not required to report their trips to the National Marine Fisheries Service via electronic reporting devices. No separate landing reports are currently required for Jonah crab.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

 

Maine senators: Trump’s drilling plan threatens lobsters

January 9, 2018 — Both of Maine’s senators are warning that the Trump administration’s plan to open offshore drilling along the coast of their state threatens the state’s huge lobster industry.

“We oppose any effort to open waters off the coast of Maine or any proximate area to offshore drilling, which could negatively affect the health of Maine’s fisheries and other coastal resources, threatening to harm not only the environment but the state’s economy as well,” wrote Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Independent Sen. Angus King wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday. “Maine’s economic stability — and countless Mainers’ livelihoods — has always depended on the health of the ocean.”

The lawmakers wrote that lobster alone is a $1.7 billion annual industry for the state.

“These critical industries are dependent on Maine’s pristine waters, and even a minor spill could damage irreparably the ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, including the lobster larvae and adult lobster populations therein,” the lawmakers wrote.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

 

NEFMC: NMFS Approves “Majority”of Council’s Habitat Amendment

January 8, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council: 

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has approved – with two exceptions – the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), paving the way for sweeping change to the existing network of closed and management areas in the Gulf of Maine, Southern New England, and Georges Bank. The changes will provide better protection for both fish and habitat while eliminating closures that no longer serve their intended purpose. The final rule implementing the new regulations will not be published until later this winter, but NMFS informed the Council on January 3 of its decision to approve “the majority” of the amendment, which sets the stage for what’s to come.

Two of the Council’s proposed habitat management areas (HMAs) were disapproved:

  • Cox Ledge in Southern New England; and
  • Eastern Georges Bank, which called for the removal of Closed Area II as currently configured, replacing it with new management areas that would have allowed fishermen to access the abundant scallop resource on the Northern Edge.

Council Executive Director Tom Nies said, “Naturally we’re disappointed that our proposed Closed Area II changes were not approved, but the fact that the vast majority of the amendment will be implemented is a solid endorsement of the work the Council and staff did to dramatically change the closure system off New England.”

As for the disapproved measures, Nies said, “We’ll be discussing NMFS’s comments at our late-January meeting, and the Council may decide it wants to revisit these issues going forward.”

The habitat amendment has five key purposes, which are to: (A) designate essential fish habitat (EFH) by lifestage for each species managed by the Council; (B) minimize the adverse effects of fishing on EFH to the extent practicable – a monumental undertaking that took years to carry out using the state-of-the-art Swept Area Seabed Impact model known as SASI; (C) identify other actions to encourage conservation and enhancement of habitat; (D) improve protection of habitats on which juvenile groundfish depend; and (E) improve protection of spawning groundfish.

The Council used six types of management approaches to achieve these purposes: (1) the EFH designations; (2) Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPCs); (3) Habitat Management Areas; (4) Spawning Management Areas; (5) Dedicated Habitat Research Areas; and (6) changes to approaches involving framework adjustments and monitoring.

NMFS approved:

  • All of the Council’s EFH designations;
  • All of the HAPC designations, including: (a) the two existing ones for Atlantic Salmon and Northern Edge Juvenile Cod, (b) four new ones called Inshore Juvenile Cod HAPC, Great South Channel Juvenile Cod HAPC, Cashes Ledge HAPC, and Jeffreys Ledge/Stellwagen Bank HAPC, (c) 11 deep-sea canyons, and (d) two offshore seamounts;
  • Most of the Habitat Management Area measures, including: (a) establishing new HMAs in Eastern Maine and on Fippennies Ledge where mobile bottom-tending gear is Hake and red crab along the slope between Heezen and Nygren Canyons. – 2013 Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition image. prohibited, (b) maintaining the Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area with current restrictions and exemptions, (c) modifying both the Cashes Ledge and Jeffreys Ledge Habitat Closure Areas, which are closed to mobile bottom-tending gear, (d) prohibiting all fishing gear except lobster pots in the Ammen Rock Area, (e) maintaining the Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) Habitat Closure Area, which is closed to mobile bottom-tending gear, (f) aligning the boundaries of the WGOM Groundfish Closure Area to match the WGOM Habitat Closure Area, (g) exempting shrimp trawling from the northwest corner of the WGOM areas, and (g) identifying the existing Gulf of Maine Roller Gear restriction as a habitat protection measure

Also related to Habitat Management Areas, NMFS approved the Council’s proposals to open up prime scallop fishing bottom in Closed Area I and the western portion of the Nantucket Lightship Area. In short, the current Closed Area I Habitat and Groundfish Closure Area designations will be removed, as will the Nantucket Lightship Habitat and Groundfish Closure designations.

Instead of keeping these less-effective habitat/groundfish areas in place, the Council established a Great South Channel HMA, which will be closed to: (1) mobile bottom-tending gear throughout the area; and (2) clam dredge gear in the northeast section (see map on page 1). NOTE: Clam dredge gear will be allowed throughout other parts of the area for one year while the Council considers refinements through a Clam Dredge Framework, which is under development. OHA2 also created a new research area for Georges.

Learn more about how the Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship actions will be impacting scallopers at: http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/NEFMC-Scallop-FW-29-Advances-Following-Habitat-Decision.pdf

Two new Dedicated Habitat Research Areas (DHRAs) will be established through this habitat amendment as well, each with a three-year sunset provision. One is on Stellwagen Bank within the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area, and the second is on Georges Bank in what is the current Closed Area I South Habitat Closure Area. These areas will be the focus of coordinated research to improve understanding of the ecological effects of fishing across a range of habitats and, ultimately improve model forecasts. The Council identified a set of priority research questions that the DHRAs should address. The questions are based on four broad focus areas: (1) gear impacts; (2) habitat recovery; (3) natural disturbance; and (4) productivity.

View the release in its entirety here.

 

Maine: Lobstermen alarmed at prospect of sharing their secrets with regulators

January 8, 2018 — For generations, Maine lobstermen have fiercely guarded their fishing secrets, telling almost no one how and where they fish or how much they haul up in their traps.

But under a new proposal, these independent operators would have to share all the nitty-gritty details with regulators, like where they fish, how long they let their traps soak, the kind of gear they use and how deep they set it, and how much lobster they land.

Fisheries managers want to use this data to assess the health of the Gulf of Maine lobster stock and understand the economic impact of other projects, such as deep-sea coral protections or wind farms, on the valuable lobster fishery.

The proposal is triggering alarm among lobstermen who don’t like the idea of sharing their fishing secrets with anyone. They consider them hard-earned trade secrets, like a businessman might consider the manufacturing technique for a new product or a chef would regard an award-winning recipe.

They are afraid the information will fall into a rival’s hands or, in this case, be used against them by regulators to implement a lobster fishing quota or gear restrictions in right whale habitats.

“Opposition towards increased mandatory reporting stems from a fear of further federal micromanagement of what is already one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world,” said 21-year-old Troy Plummer, who fishes the Odyssey out of Boothbay Harbor. “Why does the federal government need to know my every move on the water when they already know through dealer reporting what’s been caught?”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Fishing officials ease restrictions in waters off New England

January 8, 2018 — After 15 years of research and deliberation, federal fishing officials this week approved a landmark set of regulations that will open a large swath of the region’s waters to fishing while maintaining other closures to protect vulnerable species.

The opening of one area east of Nantucket, closed since the 1990s, could be extremely lucrative, allowing fishermen to catch as much as $160 million worth of additional scallops in the coming fishing season, regulators estimate.

“The scallop industry is thrilled to be able to access significant scallop beds,” said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney at the Fisheries Survival Fund in Washington D.C., which represents the scallop industry. “Allowing rotational scallop fishing on these areas will increase the scallop fishery revenue in the short term and in the long run.”

Yet many in the industry had hoped that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would go further.

Minkiewicz and others objected to the decision to maintain the ban on fishing on the northern edge of Georges Bank, where there are significant amounts of scallops but also vulnerable species such as juvenile cod.

Minkiewicz said the industry would continue to press NOAA to reconsider opening those fishing grounds.

“The scallop industry respectfully disagrees with [NOAA’s] conclusion that allowing limited scallop fishing [there] . . . was not consistent with the law,” he said.

NOAA officials said that opening such areas could be harmful to some fish.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Can you hear me? NOAA studies boat noise and fish

January 8, 2018 — NOAA scientists studying sounds made by Atlantic cod and haddock at spawning sites in the Gulf of Maine have found that vessel traffic noise is reducing the distance over which these animals can communicate with each other.

As a result, daily behavior, feeding, mating, and socializing during critical biological periods for these commercially and ecologically important fish may be altered, according to a study published in Nature Scientific Reports.

Three sites in Massachusetts Bay included two inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a region well known to whale-watchers from the Cape because whales feed in the plankton-rich bank, and one inshore south of Cape Ann. All were monitored for three months by researchers at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) laboratory in Woods Hole, and at the sanctuary offices in Scituate.

Vocalizations, such as Atlantic cod grunts and haddock knocks, were recorded by bottom-mounted instruments at each site during spawning in winter and spring.

“We looked at the hourly variation in ambient sound pressure levels and then estimated effective vocalization ranges at all three sites known to support spawning activity for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock stocks,” said Jenni Stanley, a marine research scientist in the passive acoustics group at the NEFSC and SBNMS and lead author of the study.

“Both fluctuated dramatically during the study. The sound levels appear to be largely driven by large vessel activity, and we found a signification positive correlation with the number of Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracked vessels at two of the three sites.”

AIS is an automatic tracking system, used on ships and by vessel traffic services. It provides information on a vessel, such as its unique identification number, position, course and speed, which can be displayed on a shipboard radar or electronic chart display.

Read the full story at the Wicked Local

 

NOAA to open New England scallop areas, invite record harvest

January 5, 2018 — New England sea scallop fishers can start planning now for what promises to be their best season in 14 years, thanks to a decision coming soon from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

John Bullard, the outgoing administrator of NOAA’s greater Atlantic region, informed the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), in a five-page letter sent late Wednesday, that the agency will follow most of its recommendations with regard to the “essential fish habitat” amendment – a long-discussed plan to reset fishing management and conservation practices in the area.

That includes opening up to scallop harvesters an expanded portion of Closed Area I and the western part of the Nantucket Lightship area, two sections of the Atlantic Ocean that have been closed for a decade and are now expected to be loaded with large scallops.

“NMFS determined that the removal of the Closed Area I designations and proposed new designations do not compromise the ability of the council’s fishery management plans to comply with the [essential fish habitat] requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” Bullard wrote in his letter, which was addressed to John Quinn, NEFMC’s chairman.

Based on surveys reported in September, Closed Area 1, including the previous off-limit “sliver” area and northern portion, contains 19.8 million pounds (9,016 metric tons) of exploitable scallop meat, referring to scallops found with shells that were at least 4 inches wide. Even better, as much as 45.6m lbs (20,670t) of exploitable scallop meat is projected to exist in the west Nantucket Lightship area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Scallops: Framework 29 “Highest Yield, Lowest Impact” Alternative Advances Following NMFS Habitat Decision

January 5, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

On Wednesday, January 3, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries, informed the New England Fishery Management Council that it had “approved the majority” of the Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2). The approved provisions include two actions that have a direct impact on Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which, among other measures, contains 2018 fishing year specifications and 2019 default specifications for the scallop fishery.

The Framework 29 preferred alternative that now will be advancing for NMFS review and implementation contains the following 2018 allocations for the fishing year that begins on April 1:

Full-time limited access scallop permit holders – 24 open-area days-at-sea and six 18,000-pound access area trips with:

  • Two trips in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
  • Two trips in the newly available Nantucket Lightship West Access Area
  • One trip in the Nantucket Lightship South Area
  • One trip in the new Closed Area I Access Area with the northern portion, including the “sliver,” available

Part-time limited access scallop permit holders – 9.6 open area days-at-sea and three 14,400- pound access area trips with:

  • One trip in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
  • One trip in the Nantucket Lightship West Area
  • One trip in the reconfigured Closed Area I Access Area

During its December meeting, not knowing whether NMFS would approve all of the proposed changes in the habitat amendment, the Council adopted four Framework 29 preferred alternatives for scallop allocations that covered the potential mix of access area possibilities – both with and without Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship West. The breakdown of these alternatives is available at: http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/NEFMC-Approves-Scallop-Framework-29-REVISED.pdf

Of the four scenarios, the one that now is moving forward for NMFS review and implementation provides the greatest benefits and is projected to result in close to 60.1 million pounds of landings in scallop meat weight over the next fishing year.

“By giving the fleet access to dense concentrations of scallops in the northern portion of Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship West, scallopers will be able to catch their trip limits faster and reduce the amount of time dredges are on bottom,” said Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn. “This scenario has another benefit in that it lets us shift effort away from Closed Area II, which means flatfish bycatch will be lower and the scallops in that area will have a chance to grow larger.”

The Council also included a provision in Framework 29 to allocate the existing 1.64 million pounds of Closed Area I carryover that are still on the books. These pounds are from trips allocated to Closed Area I in 2012 and 2013 through a lottery system but never were taken due to poor fishing.

The resulting Framework 29 allocations for the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery include: (1) a 3,086,050-pound quota, equivalent to 5.5% of annual projected landings for the fishery as a whole; and (2) a total of 3,426 access area trips at a maximum of 600 pounds each into the following areas:

  • 1,142 trips in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
  • 1,142 trips in the Nantucket Lightship West Access Area
  • 571 trips in the Nantucket Lightship South Access Area
  • 571 trips in the Closed Area I Access Area

Framework 29 also includes flatfish accountability measures and Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area catch limits and related provisions, which are described at the link above. The Council will provide a broader overview of the habitat amendment decision in a subsequent release.

To view the release from the NEFMC in its entirety click here.