March 21, 2017 — NOAA fisheries has increased the possession and trip limits for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock for non-sector vessels.
Limits for cod are 100 pounds per trip with no daily possession limit.
The limits for haddock are 500 pounds per day-at-sea and 1,000 pounds per trip.
The new limits were implemented to increase opportunities for limited access permit vessels.
March 20, 2017 — UK-based environmental charity the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has downgraded three haddock fisheries on its “Good Fish Guide”, citing “a change in scientific advice”.
Two North Sea haddock fisheries are now rated 4 (amber), and the other has dropped from being a good choice (rated 2) to one to eat only occasionally (rated 3). This means all three drop off the MCS’ recommended green list of fish to eat.
“These ratings changes have come about because scientfic perception of the stock has changed. Compared to 2015, the stock numbers in 2016 were below the recommended level and at the point where action is now needed to increase the number of fish of breeding age,” said Bernadette Clarke, Good Fish Guide manager.
However, Scottish fishermen’s representatives told the Guardian the move as “dressing advocacy up as science”.
January 23, 2017 — Exactly how many of the haddock that hatched in 2013 are still swimming off the coast of southern Nova Scotia is not certain, but researchers agree the numbers are potentially massive.
Biologist Monica Finley recently completed a population assessment for the southern Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy.
She estimates 264 million haddock were hatched there in 2013 and survived their first year, making it an “extraordinary” year-class.
“This 2013 year-class is five times higher than the next highest on record since 1985,” said Finley, who works at a Department of Fisheries and Oceans research facility in St. Andrews, N.B.
Her report predicts 100,000 metric tonnes of haddock will reach adulthood in 2017 and 2018.
Bring on the boom
On Georges Bank, the population is predicted to be even bigger, with Canadian and American scientists estimating the 2013 hatch at 1.3 billion fish.
This month, fish plants in southern Nova Scotia are starting to process their first catches of 2013 haddock, forerunners of what industry members hope is a boom for years to come.
“We’re seeing signs of it now, but we would expect to see the fish at the larger, more commercially harvestable sizes in a couple of years,” said Alain d’Entremont, chief operating officer at O’Neil Fisheries in Digby.
“We are taking a cautious path to that harvest.”
December 20th, 2016 — The New England Fishery Management Council has set its management priorities for 2017, including potential revisions to the management of Atlantic halibut and an examination of the implications of groundfish catches in non-groundfish fisheries.
The list of priorities, which largely charts the council’s expected — perhaps more accurately, hopeful — course in the upcoming year, was approved by the full council after about three hours of discussion at its November meeting.
The prioritization of issues, according to NEFMC Executive Director Tom Nies, is a valuable tool for providing the council with the structure to address pressing issues while also retaining the flexibility to delve into other issues as they present themselves to the council.
“The process is very helpful in focusing the efforts of the council on major tasks and still give it the flexibility through the rest of the year to change course as we have to,” Nies said.
The list of priorities would see the council:
Consider of possible regulatory changes to the northern Gulf of Maine scallop management area;
Improve the Gulf of Maine cod and haddock recreational management process;
Initiate actions to resume landings of the rebuilt barndoor skate stock;
Coordinate long-term wind power issues with other regulatory agencies, and;
Conduct a comprehensive review of council operations.
December 19, 2016 — NANTUCKET, Mass. — Fisheries officials in Massachusetts are seeking a head count of the booming seal population that’s drawn great white sharks to Cape Cod waters in greater numbers.
The Cape Cod Times reported earlier this month that state Division of Marine Fisheries Director David Pierce said determining the size of the gray seal population size is “extremely important” for ecosystem management in New England at the recent Nantucket Seal Symposium.
But National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials warned the count could cost as much as $500,000.
New England fishermen have been calling for a seal population count for years to gauge its impact on cod, haddock, flounder, striped bass and other important species.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times
December 16, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Managment Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council recently approved its 2017 management priorities, which will guide the Council’s committees and working groups in the year ahead. The Council annually takes this step for two reasons: to focus its time on mutually agreed-upon issues of importance; and to give the public a snapshot of what to expect in the foreseeable future.
“Our priority-setting exercise helps us determine how to best allocate available resources,” said Council Executive Director Tom Nies. “We always have more proposals on the table than we’re able to handle each year, so by collectively deciding upfront which actions rank the highest, we’re able to work much more efficiently on the Council’s most pressing issues without getting sidetracked.”
Setting annual catch limits and other fishery specifications – a requirement under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act – remains the Council’s highest cross-cutting priority.
But for 2017, the Council also supported many high-priority items that fishermen and other stakeholders said were especially important. Here are a few of the highlights that were approved during the Council’s mid-November meeting in Newport, Rhode Island:
A table identifying all of the Council’s 2017 management priorities is available at: http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/161201_Approved_Priorities.pdf
November 17, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council today discussed two actions related to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan.
The herring/haddock issue is being addressed through two channels – one groundfish action and one herring action.
The Council voted yesterday to increase the herring midwater trawl fishery’s Georges Bank haddock sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) from 1% to 1.5% through Framework 56 to the groundfish plan.
Herring Framework 5, on the other hand, is the vehicle being used to potentially modify the AMs to help keep the midwater trawl herring fishery from exceeding the haddock sub-ACL. The range of alternatives includes two options for implementing a “proactive” AM closure in addition to maintaining the existing “reactive” AM closure.
The reactive AM requires a shutdown of all green and red areas in the charts below to directed herring midwater trawl fishing – for the remainder of the groundfish fishing year – once the haddock sub-ACL is caught. Framework 5 proposes a proactive approach that would prevent midwater trawl fishing in Closed Areas I and II – either with or without a 15-nautical-mile buffer around the red areas – under three possible seasons: (a) a year-round proactive closure; (b) a May-October proactive closure; or (c) a June-August proactive closure.
The premise is that a seasonal proactive closure of Closed Areas I and II would help keep the midwater trawl fishery within its Georges Bank haddock sub-ACL and prevent a closure of the entire green/red area, which defines the reactive Georges Bank Haddock AM Area. In 2015, the reactive AM was triggered, and the whole AM area was closed to herring midwater trawling from Oct. 22, 2015 through April 30, 2016.
Framework 5 contains other alternatives, including one to seasonally split the Georges Bank haddock sub- ACL so that 80% of the quota is released on May 1 and then 20% is released on Nov. 1 to support a winter herring/mackerel fishery. Copies of the draft alternatives and other herring materials can be found at: http://www.nefmc.org/library/atlantic-herring-committee-november-2016.
November 4, 2016 — Starting in October, the federal government began a pilot project to test electronic monitoring on midwater herring trawlers fishing in “groundfish closed” areas off the coast of New England, two of which are in the rich spawning grounds on the continental shelf known as Georges Bank. The yearlong project will help regulators decide whether cameras can replace people as observers to regulate herring trawlers’ catch of haddock.
But before the study is finished, the New England Fishery Management Council will be working to loosen the rules on how much haddock herring trawlers can catch.
Since 2011, government observers have been required on any trips trawlers make to those areas, as part of a program to limit incidental catch, often called “bycatch,” of untargeted fish species. In the case of herring fishing, the biggest bycatch concern on Georges Bank has been haddock, a species on the rebound after the groundfish collapses of the mid-1990s.
But the monitoring program has been expensive. A recent amendment to all Northeast fisheries plans required the industry to assist in funding its overseers, increasing pressure to bring down costs.
Federal regulators believe electronic monitoring could be the answer.
“This year we’ll get really good (human) observer coverage — 440 sea days — so we’re going to compare what the observer sees and what the camera sees,” said Daniel Luers, a monitoring expert at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries office of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “The contractors will watch all the videos, and then NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) will watch to confirm that what the contractors have seen correlates with the observers.”
What they’re looking for are “discard” events, where fishermen dump unwanted fish back into the sea — rather than reporting the bycatch and facing fishing closures.
October 6th, 2016 — A new study of Britain’s seas is attempting to determine whether man-made aquatic noise is affecting the communication and breeding of cod.
Led by Steve Simpson, associate professor in marine biology and global change at the University of Exeter, the study will look at how unnatural noise — from shipping, wind farm construction, and oil and gas drilling — has affected the reproductive behavior of fish.
Cod and haddock, for instance, are known to use certain sounds to attract mates.
“We’re interested in whether the human noise we’re making is drowning this out,” Simpson said.
Additionally, the two-year study will seek to determine whether fish — not unlike killer whales and songbirds — have “regional accents,” or mating calls particular to certain areas. Climate change has sent some fish migrating north in search of cooler waters, and the result could be a sort of underwater language barrier, according to the British scientists. (On this side of the Atlantic, warming waters have coincided with a dramatic drop in cod stocks.)
August 19, 2016 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:
GLOUCESTER, Mass. — To prove that their Acadian redfish, haddock and pollock fisheries meet rigorous sustainability requirements, Gloucester-based Sustainable Groundfish Association, Inc. (SGA) has achieved certification to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard. This science-based standard is the world’s most credible and recognized standard for environmentally sustainable wild-caught seafood.
Kristian Kristensen of Cape Ann Seafood Exchange, a member of SGA, said: “MSC certification allows consumers to buy New England redfish, haddock and pollock with the confidence that the fisheries will continue to be operated and managed in a sustainable manner. We are committed to preserving a way of life for commercial fishermen and their families while minimizing ecosystem impact to insure these fisheries are sustainable for generations to come.”
Acadian redfish, haddock and pollock are all lesser known fish species that New England fishermen have turned to as economically viable and sustainable alternatives. The total combined commercial harvest for these fish, which are caught in the waters of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, was valued at more than $21 million in 2013. The redfish and pollock fisheries currently harvest less than half of their annual quotas.
Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas, said: “The MSC’s vision is for oceans to be teeming with life for future generations. We are extremely pleased to see the US Acadian redfish, haddock and pollock fishery succeed in the MSC process and we hope to be their partner in creating and maintaining new markets.”
New England benefits from a concentration of certified sustainable fisheries. However, consumer awareness of the abundant sustainable seafood offerings from area sellers remains low. To address this, the MSC recently launched a campaign to educate New England consumers about identifying sustainable seafood products. MSC will take its “Good Catch!” campaign and promo video directly to consumers this month with events at Whole Foods and Big Y grocery stores, which feature MSC at their fresh fish counters, in greater Boston, Springfield and Great Barrington, as well as at Green Fest and the Quincy Farmers Market.
The independent assessment of the Acadian redfish, haddock and pollock fisheries was conducted by SAI Global Assurance Services, an accredited third-party conformity assessment body. SAI Global Assurance Services assembled a team of fishery science and policy experts to evaluate the fishery according to the three principles of the MSC Fisheries Standard: the health of the stock; the impact of fishing on the marine environment; and the management of the fishery. The MSC process is open to stakeholders and all results are peer reviewed.