haddock Archives - Page 11 of 20

Don Cuddy: Proposed Magnuson Stevens changes are reasonable

April 2, 2018 — I am wondering how much commercial fishermen know about acting? At a guess I’d say probably as much, or as little, as most actors know about commercial fishing, even award-winning ones. This thought arose following the recent appearance in these pages of an opinion piece on fishery management by a member of the acting profession in an attempt to wield political influence.

The thespian in question is also an Oceana board member, a well-funded environmental group antithetical to America’s oldest industry. This group has been known to advance claims which fail to resonate with real scientists. One particularly misleading report ‘Wasted Catch,’ launched by Oceana on a credulous public in 2014, drew a letter of censure from all eight of our nation’s regional Fishery Management Councils. Among other things the letter stated:

“While we acknowledge that there are no laws requiring Oceana reports to accurately represent the best available scientific information or to undergo peer review, to do so would be in the best interest of all involved parties. This is why we suggest that you retract the report until it is reviewed and corrected.” http://www.mafmc.org/newsfeed/wasted-catch

The Magnuson Stevens Act which governs fisheries in federal waters requires reauthorization and it is currently under review. Changes proposed in a bill now before Congress were denounced by this Oceana advocate as “counter factual, anti-science, anti-conservation.”

The frothy plea to our congressman is for maintenance of the status quo in fishery management. And the argument carries weight because it comes from a well-known actor? Well sir, Nature isn’t listening. And the modest proposals in H.R 200, intended to remove some of the onerous provisions burdening our fishermen, have generated a predictable response from environmentalists who dismiss realities which do not fit their agenda. Change is needed.

The act as written, for example, calls for rebuilding all stocks to maximum sustainable yield simultaneously and imposes timeline to achieve that. I called my friend Dave Goethel for his take on that. “That ignores Nature. It’s a biological impossibility,” he said. “Something will always be overfished. The reason haddock are up and cod are down now is because they occupy the same ecological niche.”

Dave is a working commercial fisherman with a degree in marine biology who served two terms on the New England Fishery Management Council. He doesn’t act but he has been fishing for 50 years. Fishermen, he said, are simply hoping to introduce a little flexibility on these rigid rebuilding timelines which were imposed more or less arbitrarily when the act was written.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Feds seek comments on plan for more cod, haddock catch

March 26, 2018 — U.S. fishing regulators are soliciting feedback from the public about a plan to increase catch quota for a slew of key fish stocks, some of which are jointly managed with Canada.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to increase quota for Georges Bank cod by 139 percent, Gulf of Maine cod by 41 percent and Gulf of Maine haddock by 190 percent. The agency also wants to increase eight other stocks and decrease nine others.

The agency says increased cod and haddock quota would provide “economic revenue and flexibility” to Northeastern fishermen. The haddock stock has been strong, but the cod stock has plummeted this decade and has been the subject of intensive rebuilding efforts by regulators.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

One Square Mile in Massachusetts: While Scallops Soar, Groundfishing Struggles In New Bedford

February 9, 2018 — The Port of New Bedford is often touted as the most lucrative in North America. That’s thanks mainly to the popularity, and apparent abundance, of scallops. But the success of scallops may be masking hard times for other parts of the fishing industry.

Pat Kavanagh owns three fishing boats in New Bedford. Two for catching groundfish like cod, haddock and flounder. The other is a scallop boat. Right now, that’s his moneymaker.

“As far as groundfishing, groundfishing’s been tough for the last twenty years,” said Kavanagh.

He’s tight lipped about how much he actually makes from the three boats each year.

“But I can say it’s a damn good thing we’ve got a scalloper,” said Kavanagh.

Like many fishermen, Kavanagh got into this business through family, working on his father’s boat. But since the 1980s regulations have tamped down on fisheries, and it’s become harder to get a start in the business. Groundfish prices have fallen, and Kavanagh says buyers are looking elsewhere for product.

“The world has gotten smaller with airplanes and flying fish around,” said Kavanagh. “So we’re competing with the world and there’s some pretty cheap fish out there and there’s actually some pretty good fish.”

The fleet has dwindled, and in the last year, New Bedford suffered another major blow. Carlos Rafael, the owner of a local groundfishing fleer pleaded guilty to falsifying his catch. He’s now serving a four-year prison sentence. His fleet sits impounded at the docks. Federal regulators have suspended his boats from fishing.

Whether you worked with Rafael or not, the shrinking fleet has put strain on other businesses, including Levin Marine across the harbor in Fairhaven, which makes netting for groundfishing.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

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

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.

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

Boat noise silencing cod, haddock love songs

December 19, 2017 — Communication among cod comes in the form of vocalized grunts. And for haddock, it’s knocks.

Now it appears that increasing traffic noise from large vessels in the Gulf of Maine may be reducing the range of communication for the two species of Atlantic groundfish, according to research by NOAA Fisheries scientists.

The study, undertaken by scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center and published in Scientific Reports, said the decline in the ability to communicate may generate widespread changes in the species’ “daily behavior, feeding, mating, and socializing during critical biological periods for these commercially and ecologically important fish.”

Cod, for instance, vocalize to attract mates and listen for predators and “not hearing those signals could potentially reduce reproductive success and survival,” according to the study.

Using bottom-mounted instruments to record the cod grunts and haddock knocks, scientists spent three months monitoring the sounds made by the two species at three separate spawning sites within the Gulf of Maine — two inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and one inshore south of Cape Ann.

“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 in the Gulf of Maine cod and haddock stocks,” said Jenni Stanley, a marine research scientist and lead author of the study. “Both fluctuated dramatically during the study.”

The variations of the sound levels, she said, appear to be driven by the activities of large vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Boston Globe: What’s fair in breaking up Carlos Rafael’s empire?

December 18, 2017 — Randy Cushman, a fourth generation fisherman in Maine, knows what the crimes of Carlos Rafael cost him.

Cushman fishes out of the bucolic village of Port Clyde, population 307, the sort of place many New Englanders might still associate with the region’s storied, struggling fishing industry. Last season, he had to pay $49,000 for fishing quota, most of it for American plaice, a species of groundfish commonly known as dabs. Cushman’s own allowance on the fish ran out after only four days on the water, forcing him to bargain with other fishermen for more.

Up the coast, Rafael had been catching dabs in the Gulf of Maine too. But in an elaborate criminal scheme, the New Bedford fishing tycoon, owner of about 40 vessels, was directing his captains to report dabs as other kinds of fish, often haddock, which is subject to much higher limits. Breaking the rules let Rafael evade the kind of payments that Cushman made. It also depressed prices by flooding the market with black-market fish. Worst of all, the scheme also meant fishing regulators were getting inaccurate information about how many fish Rafael’s empire was scooping out of the Atlantic, bad data that fishermen suspect distorted how scientists analyzed ocean trends, and Cushman believes skewed the way regulators set the amount each fishermen can catch before having to start paying.

“He definitely hurt my business,” Cushman said. Bottom line: “I should have ended up with more allocation on dabs,” he said.

Rafael, whose downfall came after he boasted of his scheme to undercover IRS agents posing as Russian mobsters, is now serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison. The made-for-TV story, complete with an illicit cash buyer in New York, bank accounts in Portugal, allegations of corrupt sheriff deputies, and broad hints that other players on the waterfront must have been in the know, has transfixed New England’s close-knit fishery. Rafael’s arrest has thrust arcane fisheries policies into the spotlight, touched off a political battle between Massachusetts and Maine about the future of his businesses, and raised questions about how fishing regulators can provide justice for his victims and prevent a scheme like his from infecting the fishery again. The feds have already seized some of his permits and four of his boats, but more punishments are widely expected. A spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jennifer Goebel, said the regulatory agency was considering further sanctions against Rafael but that “it’s longstanding NOAA policy not to discuss pending enforcement matters.”

Read the full editorial at the Boston Globe

Fisheries council boosts Gulf of Maine quotas for cod, haddock, pollock

December 11, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council voted to increase cod and pollock quotas for 2018, a move that is expected to benefit New England’s fishing industry.

The council passed a rule Thursday that sets new quotas and has a number of other groundfish adjustments.

The species with substantial quota increases are Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and pollock.

The biggest percentage increases all were in the Gulf of Maine, where haddock has been nearly tripled to 8,738 tons, and pollock doubled to 37,400 tons.

Cod was increased 156 percent on Georges Bank and 39 percent in the Gulf of Maine, both signs of improving health of the cod stock.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

New rules on New England’s ocean habitats expected early January

December 5, 2017 — The federal government is expected to issue new rules on how it manages the ocean habitats off of New England in early January.

The habitats are critical for commercial fishing and marine animals like whales and dolphins. The new rules are likely to have a big impact on the way fishermen harvest important species like clams, scallops, haddock and flounder. They would affect many fishermen along the Connecticut shoreline.

Read the full story at WTNH