Saving Seafood

Over-regulation threatens fishing industry

December 30, 2015 — HAMPTON, N.H. — New Hampshire fishermen locked horns with a federal agency this year over fishing regulations and mandatory costs they said would put them out of business for good.

The fight ultimately led to a federal lawsuit filed in December against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the nation’s fisheries. The suit challenged the legality of NOAA’s intent to make fishermen pay for observers to monitor their compliance with federal regulations. Fishermen said it was unfair they would be forced to pay for their own policing.

Fishermen were already struggling with regulations in the start of 2015. In August 2014, NOAA’s scientific arm reported that Gulf of Maine cod was down 97 percent from historic sustainable levels. That led NOAA to cut fishing allocations for commercial fishermen in 2015 by roughly 70 percent from last year. NOAA also prohibited recreational fishermen from catching any cod and limited haddock this year.

Half of the commercial groundfishing fleet went inactive this year as a result, leaving only nine. Many recreational fishermen have picked up land jobs for supplemental income and anticipate leaving the fishing business eventually for good.

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

 

 

New England States Schedule Hearings on the Public Hearing Document for Draft Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Herring FMP

New England states of Maine through Massachusetts have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on the Public Hearing Document for Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled hearings follow.

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Wednesday, January 6th at 1 p.m.

Marquardt Building

Conference Room 118

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, ME

Contact: Terry Stockwell at 207.624.6553

New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game

Tuesday, January 5th at 7 p.m.

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, NH

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

Tuesday, January 5th at 2 p.m.

Annisquam River Station

30 Emerson Avenue

Gloucester, MA

Contact: David Pierce at 617.626.1532 

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Monday, January 4th from 6 – 9 PM

University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corless Auditorium

South Ferry Road

Narragansett, RI

Contact: John Lake at 401.423.1942

Draft Amendment 3 was initiated to propose management measures in Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) which reflect changes in the stock structure, integrate recent data into management decisions, and respond to changes in the fishery. The Public Hearing Document proposes (1) alternatives to the spawning monitoring program (protocol, default start dates, area boundaries, and length of the closure period); (2) removing the fixed gear set‐aside rollover provision, and (3) requiring a vessel’s fish hold to be emptied before leaving on a fishing trip.

Today’s rebuilt herring population is comprised of a broader range of age classes with older and larger fish compared to the population during overfished conditions. Analysis of more than a decade’s worth of data suggests larger herring spawn first and the timing of the start of spawning varies from year-to-year. Proposed alternatives to the current spawning monitoring program address inter-annual differences and provide additional measures to more adequately protect spawning fish in the areas where they spawn.

At the request of the fishing industry, the Public Hearing Document includes an option to adjust the fixed gear set-aside rollover provision. Currently, the set-aside of 295 mt is available to fixed gear fishermen through November 1, after which the remaining set-aside becomes available to the rest of the Area 1A fishery. The November 1 date was set because, typically, herring have migrated out of the Gulf of Maine by that time. Anecdotal evidence suggests herring are in the Gulf of Maine after November 1, therefore, fixed gear fishermen requested the set-aside be made available to them for the remainder of the calendar year.

Members of industry also suggested a requirement for fish holds to be empty of fish prior to trip departures. This provision would allow for full accountability and encourage less wasteful fishing practices by creating an incentive to catch herring which meet market demands. The New England Fishery Management Council included a complementary provision in its Framework Adjustment 4 to the Federal Atlantic Herring FMP.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Public Hearing Document either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The document is available here and can also be accessed on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on January 20, 2015 and should be forwarded to Ashton Harp, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at aharp@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Amendment 3). For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, at aharp@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

States prepare to review new rules for herring fishery

ELLSWORTH, Maine — December 28, 2015 — The new year will soon be here, and with it comes a new round of significant changes to the rules governing the herring fishery.

Next week, the Department of Marine Resources will hold a public hearing on what is known as “Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Management Plan for Atlantic Herring.”

Hearings are also scheduled in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The new rules proposed by the interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will bring big changes to the fishery that is the primary supplier of bait to Maine’s lobster industry. In 2014, the last year for which DMR has data, still preliminary figures show that fishermen landed just over 104 million pounds of herring, worth some $16.3 million, in Maine. Scientists from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute have determined that about 70 percent of that herring (some 70 million pounds) is used by Maine lobstermen as bait.

According to the ASMFC, the new rules would affect the inshore Gulf of Maine — called Area 1A — herring fishery to reflect changes in both the herring resource and the fishery itself. The key changes deal with the closure of the fishery during spawning season and would impose a requirement that herring boats completely empty their fish holds before starting each fishing trip.

Regulators generally consider the herring stock to be abundant, especially compared with just a few years ago when overfishing had seriously depleted the fish population.

The herring stock in Area 1A now includes more fish that are larger and older compared with the time when overfishing was a problem. The evidence suggests that the larger fish spawn earlier than smaller herring, and that the start of the spawning season varies from year to year.

Read the full story from the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Costs, fish, property values are factors in the future of 3 Mousam River dams

December 29, 2015 — KENNEBUNK, Maine — A Kennebunk electric utility is weighing whether to remove the three lowest dams on the Mousam River or face potentially costly upgrades to restore fish passage to a river that once hosted large runs of spawning fish.

Trustees at Kennebunk Light & Power District have until March 2017 to decide whether to seek federal relicensing of three dams that the nonprofit utility owns on the Mousam River or propose several alternatives for the facilities. One option under serious consideration – and being pursued by local conservationists and sportsmen – is the removal of some or all three of the dams, including the large Kesslen Dam located in the heart of downtown Kennebunk.

The Mousam River is the only major river system in Maine emptying into the Gulf of Maine that lacks any methods for fish such as American shad, alewives or Atlantic salmon to bypass the dams, effectively blocking them from accessing more than 300 miles of watershed. Removing the three dams would allow the lower 9 miles of the Mousam River to flow freely – although an additional 12 dams remain on the upper stretch of river – and is part of an intense river restoration push in Maine.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Ocean acidification poses threat to lobsters

December 18, 2015 — PROVIDENCE — Lobsters are already slowly moving out of southern New England as waters warm, but the iconic crustacean faces another future threat as the climate changes.

As oceans absorb more carbon and become increasingly acidic, juvenile lobsters likely will have a harder time growing and forming strong shells to protect them from predators, according to a recent University of Rhode Island study.

“I’m not sure yet what the mechanism is that is affecting their growth,” URI doctoral student Erin McLean, who led the research, said. “But it takes energy for them to regulate the increased acidity, which is energy they cannot then put toward growth.”

And it’s not just lobsters that could be harmed by the oceans’ changing pH levels. Shellfish populations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in general are among the most vulnerable in the United States to ocean acidification, according to a recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study identified the two states among 15 at-risk areas in the nation because colder, northern waters, such as Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound, are absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and acidifying faster than warmer waters.

Other more localized factors are also playing a part, including nutrient pollution from fertilizers and sewage systems that can add more carbon to the water and the flow of fresh water from poorly buffered rivers, such as the Blackstone in Rhode Island or the many waterways that drain into the Gulf of Maine, which lack minerals to mitigate the effects of acid. Shallow coastal waters also are more susceptible to changes in the ocean’s chemistry.

About a quarter of all carbon emissions from power plants, cars and other sources are absorbed by the oceans, making them more acidic and reducing carbonate levels. Shellfish use carbonates to make their shells, and when fewer of the compounds are available, organisms must expend more energy to build shells and less on eating and survival, researchers say.

Read the full story at Providence Journal

Does fishing have a future in New England?

December 22, 2015 — Cod have been disappearing from the waters between Massachusetts and Maine, and shrimp populations are so depleted that the commercial shrimp season in the Gulf of Maine has been cancelled for the last three years.

At the same time, lobster are flourishing — alongside a host of species that have never before thrived in New England waters.

Why the wild ups and downs? One reason is that nearby waters are warming much faster than the rest of the ocean, making the environment newly unbearable for some longtime residents — and newly appealing for others. But overfishing has played a role as well, disrupting the balance of the watery ecosystem in unexpected ways.

It’s hard to predict where all this is headed, whether for individual species or local fishing communities. But it needn’t be a story of doom and gloom. These undersea changes may well dampen the prospects of the cod industry, but they will also bring new opportunities.

What’s happening in nearby waters?

Rapid and unusual warming.

Temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have been increasing faster than just about every other blue spot on the planet. According to a recent report in Science, Maine’s waters are in the top 0.1 percent when it comes to rapid warming.

While that team focused on the waters to the east and north of Massachusetts, that superwarm area they reported on actually extends significantly south, surrounding the Bay State.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Fish food for thought: New research affects catch limits

December 21, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — What happens when a fisherman tosses a fish back overboard?

It’s not a frivolous question. The government bases catch quotas and other rules in part on the mortality of tossed fish, and there isn’t always accurate data available about how many fish survive the fling. Now, a group of New England scientists says it’s finding that a surprisingly high percentage of the lucky fish might live to swim another day.

Scientists with the New England Aquarium and other institutions want to help the fishing managers get a better handle on what happens when cod, haddock and cusk get thrown from a fisherman’s line back into the sea. The first round of their research, on the imperiled Gulf of Maine cod, found that 9 to 21 percent of the fish died, better than the 30 percent estimate regulators had been using.

That data could help change quotas for recreational fishermen, who like their commercial counterparts must abide by strict limits on some species.

“We found that mortality rates are pretty low,” Dr. John Mandelman, the New England Aquarium’s director of research and a co-leader of the study. “Generally, in the past, they’ve used really conservative estimates.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The News Tribune

 

Off the hook – Researchers find mortality of cod caught and released off Gloucester is half of original estimate

December 21, 2015 — With cod at historically low population levels and commercial fishermen limited to landings that are just a fraction of what they once were, the recreational catch is now believed to account for as much as one-third of total landings of Gulf of Maine cod.

But recreational landings data was considerably poorer than the commercial data, which made it hard to estimate their true impact on the population or know the effectiveness of regulatory measures.

Solving the cod crisis will take a lot of research. Now, scientists are no longer restricted to their lab. As a recent study shows, creative thinking and technology can turn the ocean into a lab, and the results can be more precise and minimize the regulatory impact on fishermen.

A key missing piece in the puzzle was information on how many fish died after they were released by anglers. Lacking key data such as length and weight of released cod resulted in the assumption that 100 percent of those fish died. Missing data can lead to underestimating the population size, with overly strict regulations, said Michael Palmer, National Marine Fisheries Service research fishery biologist.

Researchers started collecting length and weight data in 2005 after regulators tightened reporting requirements for recreational fishermen. In 2011, a panel arrived at a consensus that 30 percent of cod released by anglers died. But Palmer was concerned that there were no directed studies, in the U.S. or internationally, to truth-test the estimate.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Times

 

Shrimpers wanted for research program

December 19, 2015 —  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is closer to embarking on its planned sampling program for the endangered Gulf of Maine northern shrimp stock and is looking for trawl and trap vessels to help collect shrimp and data.

The commission, which hopes to begin the test-tow portion of the the program in mid-January and the trap portion about a month after that, is looking for a total of four trawl vessels and two trap vessels from New Hampshire, Maine or Massachusetts, according to Tina Berger, spokeswoman for the ASMFC.

Anyone interested in participating in the project should contact Maggie Hunter at the Maine Department of Marine Resources by Jan. 4.

The $10,000 program is designed to catch the northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis, while they are in inshore waters to collect data on the timing of the egg hatch, as well as the size, gender and development stages of the shrimp.

The vessels will be expected to fish approximately once every two weeks until the shrimp no longer carry eggs, which Berger estimated will be some time near the end of March.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

NEMFC Newsletter, December 2015

December 17, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Framework Adjustment 27

At its early December meeting, the New England Council finalized its recommendations for Framework 27 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP. The action contains catch specifications for the 2016 and 2017 (default) fishing years.

Fishermen will receive allocations that are projected to result in landings of about 47 million pounds of scallops in 2016. Forty million pounds are allocated to the scallop limited access fleet. Of the remainder, about 4.5 million pounds are allocated to the limited access general category (LAGC) fishery which numbers about 100 active vessels, and about 800,000 pounds are reserved for the observer set-aside program.

Several other specifications are the same as fishing year 2015 — 1.25 million pounds for the research set-aside program, 70,000 pounds for vessels with Northern Gulf of Maine LAGC permits, and 50,000 pounds for vessels with incidental LAGC permits.

Compared to 2015, the approximately 340 active limited access vessels will be allocated slightly more days-at-sea (DAS) in open areas this year and the same level of effort in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area (Delmarva, Hudson Canyon and Elephant Trunk Areas are combined in this action).

The proposed allocations for limited access vessels, as approved by the Council, will be 34.55 open area days-at-sea (as opposed to 31 DAS in 2015) for full-time vessels and 51,000 pounds in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area. Part-time vessels will receive 13.82 days-at-sea and 20,400 pounds in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area.

After much discussion, the New England Council also would allow a portion of the total LAGC allocation to be taken from the northern part of the Nantucket Lightship Access Area. The maximum removal from this relatively small area is proposed at 300,000 pounds, or about 7% of the LAGC total allocation. The proposed action also prohibits any scallop vessel from undertaking research set-aside compensation trips in the Lightship Area. The LAGC fleet’s total allocation from the Mid-Atlantic Access Area is 1.2 million pounds. Both areas would be closed to these vessels once the fleetwide LAGC quota is reached.

View a PDF of the Newsletter