Saving Seafood

US sea scallop surveys open door for big harvest in 2018

October 11, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts — Extensive surveys of Atlantic sea scallop beds on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic bode well for area fishermen counting on a good haul in 2018: The biomass is so high that it’s possible catch limits could even be increased.

Sea scallops have been a more solid source of seafood business in New England than other fish and shellfish in recent years. The 35.7 million pounds harvested in 2015, the most recent year available from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, were worth $437.9m in ex-vessel landings value, sixth most valuable among all seafood landings in the US and an almost 6% weight gain over the previous year. The average ex-vessel price per pound of meats in 2015 was $12.26.

No wonder scallops make up 80% of the total value of all landings in the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2

October 6, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we published a Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2.

We are seeking public comment on an action that would:

  • Revise the essential fish habitat designations for all New England Fishery Management Council-managed species and life stages;
  • Add Habitat Areas of Particular Concern to highlight especially important habitat areas;
  • Revise the spatial management system within the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the southern New England area;
  • Establish two Dedicated Habitat Research Areas;
  • Revise or implement seasonal spawning protection measures; and
  • Add system for reviewing and updating the proposed measures.

Read the Notice as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: John Bullard, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

The comment period is open through December 5, 2017.

NE Council Receives 2017 Scallop Survey Overview and Progress Report on 2018 Management Measures in Framework 29

October 2, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During its late-September meeting in Gloucester, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council received a comprehensive overview of the “very successful” 2017 scallop survey season. The Council then reviewed the range of measures under development for Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. These measures, once fully developed and approved, will apply to the 2018 scallop fishing year, which will begin on April 1 instead of March 1 as in previous years.

Five separate groups contributed to the 2017 scallop surveys:

  • The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducted dredge surveys in the Mid-Atlantic, Nantucket Lightship Area, and Closed Area II.
  • UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) conducted intensive surveys of Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Elephant Trunk Area, along with broadscale surveys of Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic and a drop camera survey of Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine.
  • The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in partnership with Lund’s Fisheries, conducted a Habitat Camera Mapping System (HabCam) version 5 (v5) survey of the Northern Edge on Georges Bank.
  • Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF) conducted a HabCam v3 survey of the Nantucket Lightship Area, as well as a HabCam v3 survey on Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge in the Gulf of Maine, along with six dredge tows on Stellwagen. And,
  • The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) conducted a dredge survey on Georges Bank and a HabCam v4 survey of the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

Retiring NOAA exec has impossible to-do list: whale deaths, Rafael decision, more

September 29, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — John Bullard knows he has a daunting list of tasks to complete before he walks away, in about three months, from his position as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) top decision maker for the northeastern part of the US.

It’s urgent for NOAA to determine why so many right whales have recently died, take action to protect scallop populations in the northern Gulf of Maine and advance the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, a six-volume document that’s been in the works for 10 years and would address essential fish habitat as well as permanent and seasonal closed areas, he believes. But that’s just a few of the jobs he told Undercurrent News he wants to see to completion before leaving.

The announcement, made in July, that Bullard will retire as the administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic Region on Jan. 5 puts a cap on a recent five-year stint at the agency, which he told Undercurrent during a break at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting, is three years longer than he said he told his wife he would stay in the job. He said he has not yet decided what he will spend his time on after that.

“I’m retiring,” he reiterated when pressed. “I’m retiring.”

Neither will NOAA, which advertised Bullard’s job for a month starting on Aug. 7, say how many candidates it’s now considering to fill his post or suggest when a successor might be named. It’s the agency’s policy to “not comment on ongoing hiring actions,” a spokesperson said.

Whoever is awarded the position – one of five regional leadership positions for NOAA — will have the daunting job of working with the fishery councils to manage 44 fish stocks, including two in New England (scallops and lobster) that are worth more than $500 million per year each, according to the agency.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishermen to New England Council: Trust in data needed

September 28, 2017 — One by one, the Gloucester fishermen settled in front of the microphone for those with something to say to the New England Fishery Management Council and, one by one, they delivered their thoughts.

Some of the remarks, such as those from Tom Orrell of Yankee Fleet and Paul Vitale, captain of the Angela & Rose, were short and to the point. Orell wanted to know why the for-hire boats faced so many restrictions in the Gulf of Maine and Vitale simply wants more fish quota. Now.

Joe Orlando of the Santo Pio talked science and cod, while longtime fishermen Al Cottone and Rick Beal adopted more philosophical tones, speaking to the council on the need for a two-lane channel of trust and truth.

“There is a unique opportunity here to bridge the gap,” Cottone, captain of the Sabrina Maria and executive director of the city’s Fisheries Commission, told the council. “You need to restore faith within the industry that you’re actually seeing what we see (on the water).”

It was a rare home game for the Gloucestermen, the first time in more than a decade that the council had pitched camp in America’s oldest seaport for a full meeting.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

New England fishing council frozen until NOAA, judge done with Rafael

September 27, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — There is no shortage of changes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could make to the way catch limits are regulated and enforced in the Gulf of Maine in the wake of the Carlos Rafael’s sentencing on Monday. But first it will take recommendations from the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), and the 17-member panel this week put off staking out a position.

There is not yet a consensus in the group, which will wait to see how US District Court Judge William Young handles an argument over how much of Rafael’s fishing fleet will be seized by the federal government and what, if any, civil money penalties come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before addressing the issue, said  John Quinn, NEFMC’s chairman.

“We’ve got a regulation in place and we’ve first got to see what and how that regulation is applied,” Quinn told Undercurrent News on Tuesday, during a break in the first day of the group’s three-day regular meeting at a hotel on the water here.

Young gave Rafael a 46-month prison sentence and ordered him to pay more than $300,000 in fines and penalties in a Boston federal court for misreporting nearly 783,000 pounds of fish between 2012 and early 2016, but he said he needed more time to consider the arguments made by prosecutors and Rafael’s defense team regarding an effort to seize his assets.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Atlantic Herring Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Closure in Effect Starting October 1 through October 28, 2017

September 27, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure.

Fifteen samples of female herring were collected to evaluate spawning condition. Based on the analysis of the samples, the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area will be closed starting at 12:00 a.m. on October 1, 2017 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 28, 2017. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/ calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area.

The Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area includes all waters bounded by the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine coasts, and 43° 30’ N and 70° 00’ W.   For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at 703.842.0740 or tkerns@asmfc.org.

A PDF version of the announcement can be found here –http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/MA_NH_SpawningClosureSept2017.pdf

Scallop auction owners, friends of Carlos Rafael, tipped as likely fleet buyers

September 25, 2017 — Could old friends of Carlos Rafael’s wind up with his massive New England fishing fleet?

Speculation is building that the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), an electronic seafood auction firm in New Bedford, Massachusetts, could be the company mentioned in court documents as having signed a memorandum of agreement to buy the 30-something vessels, an unknown number of skiffs, and some 50 state and federal permits to catch scallops, cod, haddock and many other fish found in the Gulf of Maine.

Richard and Raymond Canastra, BASE’s co-owners, were not in their offices on Friday, a company employee told Undercurrent News. But many see it as a likely match.

Raymond Canastra is reported to be a long-time friend of Rafael’s. The two mens’ daughters co-own a seafood brokerage firm in New Bedford.

The Canastra brothers don’t have fishing boats, but if they were able to acquire the Rafael operation, “it would not be a surprise to anyone”, Jim Kendall, a longtime member of the area fishing community and the executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, told Undercurrent.

The Canastras know the fishing industry well, and probably wouldn’t have too much trouble making Rafael’s business work with theirs, he said. There is little money to be made in groundfish, but Rafael’s scallops permits could be quite valuable. Also, it would satisfy the goal of keeping nearly 300 jobs in the area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Shipyard Update: NEFSC Fall Research Cruises Will Continue

September 22, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The annual NEFSC Fall Bottom Trawl Survey will be conducted on the NOAA Ship Pisces, which is a fishery survey research vessel similar to the Bigelow. Only Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine will be surveyed. The two most southerly areas, the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England have been dropped.

If all goes smoothly in preparing the Pisces to support the survey, October 16 is the target start date carrying on through November 20.

Fishing gear will be moved from the Bigelow onto the Pisces, and some devices will be installed for monitoring trawl performance while the gear is fishing. Supplies and equipment needed for the survey are already aboard the Bigelow, and will be transferred to the Pisces. The modifications to Pisces are underway.

In a typical year, the Fall Bottom Trawl Survey occupies an average of 377 stations across the Northeast Continental Shelf from the Cape Hatteras to the northern Gulf of Maine in four segments, or legs. Each leg covers a different area beginning in the south and ending in the north.

The number of stations in the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine survey areas will be similar to past years. Fewer data will be collected at each station because Pisces has less fish handling capacity than the Bigelow. However, samples critical for stock assessments will be collected, including lengths, weights, and hard parts used for aging fish (usually scales and ear bones). Two other NEFSC research cruises planned for this fall were also delayed by the Bigelow repair, and will be conducted on other ships.

The first leg of the Fall Ecosystem Monitoring cruise has been moved to the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter, an oceanographic research vessel. This cruise collects oceanographic data and plankton samples and has been conducted from the Gunter in the past. There is no firm plan for Leg 2 of this cruise, but the Bigelow is an option if it is ready as scheduled. A beaked whale sighting survey was moved onto a chartered vessel, the R/V Sharp, operated by the University of Delaware, and has been completed with fewer objectives than originally planned.

Meanwhile, repairs continue on schedule for the NOAA Ship Henry Bigelow. The ship is expected back in service in early November 2017.

Read this update on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center website.

Maine fishermen: adapting in a sea of change

September 21, 2017 — ORONO, Maine — Increasing environmental uncertainty coupled with rapidly changing market conditions in the Gulf of Maine raise important questions about the ability of Maine’s commercial fishermen to adapt. How resilient is the industry to these shifting waters? Who is best positioned to adapt and who is most vulnerable?

“We have started to explore these questions by studying the relationships fishermen have to marine resources in Maine,” says Joshua Stoll, assistant research professor at the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences and lead author of the paper “Uneven adaptive capacity among fishers in a sea of change” published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.

“Most assessments of adaptability are conducted at the community scale, but our focus is on individual-level adaptive capacity because we think community-level analyses often obscure critical differences among fishermen and make the most at-risk groups invisible,” says Stoll, whose research was funded in part by a grant from the UMaine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, where he is a Faculty Fellow.

In their analysis, Stoll and co-authors Beatrice Crona and Emma Fuller identified over 600 types of fishing strategies in Maine based on the combinations of marine resources that fishermen target to support their livelihoods.

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Pilot