Saving Seafood

MAINE: Green Plate Special: Eat more lobster — this is the kind of ask we really like

June 22, 2020 — Maine’s iconic lobster industry has taken its share of lumps in the past year. Stricter 2019 quotas on the herring catch drove bait prices up. A cold 2019 spring meant the bugs molted later than usual, delaying when lobstermen could bring popular soft-shell lobsters (sometimes sold as “new-shell”) to market. On Sept. 1, China raised tariffs on live, American-caught lobster by 10 percent. And throughout the winter, scientists, environmentalists and the courts demanded the lobster fishery change to better protect endangered right whales  (the population hovers at just 400). The overall lobster haul dipped by 16% between 2018 and 2019, although harvesters were buoyed to some extent by higher than normal prices.

Yarmouth resident Rebecca Spear — wife, daughter-in-law and mother of lobster fishermen — explains that when the COVID-19 crisis first hit Maine in March, she didn’t immediately panic over how the pandemic might affect the 2020 income of the lobstermen and boys in her life (her 10-year-old son, Jack, holds a student lobster and crab license). “That’s always the slow season for us,” Spear said.

But as restaurant service in Maine and across the country remains truncated leading into prime lobster-eating season, she is worried now. Selling direct to customers was a good springtime stopgap solution. Spear is grateful that Maine eaters have sought out more locally sourced food as the national food supply has struggled in response to the pandemic. She urges Mainers to continue to buy lobster early and often this summer to help keep the fleet afloat. Here’s my suggestion: buy a few extra, cook them all for dinner, and serve the leftovers with eggs for breakfast.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Fishermen file lawsuit against herring at-sea monitoring rule

June 9, 2020 — The Cause of Action Institute has filed a motion for summary judgement on behalf of New Jersey, U.S.A., fisherman against a new set of regulations called the “Omnibus Amendment,” which requires some boats in the Atlantic herring fishery carry at-sea monitors at their own cost.

The new rule was designed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), and was recently finalized by NOAA and the Department of Commerce. The New Jersey fishermen, according to a release from the Cause of Action Institute, object to the at-sea monitor requirements, as it is expected to cost fishermen “upwards of USD 700 [EUR 619] a day.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Atlantic Herring Information Webinar

June 9, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In response to significant interest and questions from a broad range of stakeholders regarding Atlantic herring, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will hold an informational webinar regarding the current Atlantic herring stock assessment.

The webinar will be June 11, 2020, from 9:30 to 11:00. During this meeting, the lead assessment scientist for Atlantic herring, Dr. Jon Deroba, will give a short presentation on abundance and recruitment, and fisheries effort and catch, and answer questions about trends in the Atlantic herring data.

The full assessment will be presented and reviewed at a peer review meeting the week of June 22nd. The Atlantic herring stock assessment will be presented on Monday, June 22 starting at 10:00.  Several other assessments will be reviewed throughout the week.

Update on Implementing Industry-Funded Monitoring in the Atlantic Herring Fishery

June 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is delaying the start date to begin assigning industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage in the herring fishery until later this year.

The training class for new portside samplers in the herring fishery was delayed due to the health mandates and travel restrictions in place this spring. This training will be rescheduled for later this year. Until this training occurs, IFM portside sampling coverage will not be available for midwater trawl herring vessels that are enrolled in an electronic monitoring exempted fishing permit (EFP). We do not intend to select herring vessels for IFM at-sea monitoring coverage until IFM portside sampling coverage is also available for EFP vessels. For this reason, we will not be selecting any herring vessels for IFM coverage until after the portside sampling training has been completed. Vessels are still required to adhere to all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. However,  PTNS will continue to issue waivers for IFM coverage in the meantime, and herring vessels will not be responsible for paying sampling costs associated with IFM until later this year.

More Information

We will update industry participants as we know more about the timing of implementing IFM in the herring fishery. For more information on the herring IFM program, please see the following resources:

  • IFM in the herring fishery, see our January 29 bulletin.
  • Electronic monitoring EFP, see our March 30 email.
  • Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery, see our March 31 bulletin.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Closure of Directed Atlantic Herring Fishery in Management Area 3

June 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

At 00:01 hours on June 6, 2020, the directed herring fishery in Management Area 3 will close and a 2,000 lb herring possession limit per trip or calendar day will become effective for Management Area 3 (Figure 1) through December 31, 2020. Under the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, when 92 percent of the Herring Management Area 3 catch limit is projected to be harvested, the directed fishery is closed and no person may, or attempt to, fish for, possess, transfer, receive, land, or sell more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or per calendar day in or from Area 3 for the remainder of the fishing year from a vessel issued and holding a valid federal herring permit.

This action also prohibits federally permitted dealers from purchasing, possessing, receiving, selling, bartering, trading or transferring, or attempting to purchase, possess, receive, sell, barter, trade, or transfer more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or calendar day from Management Area 3 through 24:00 local time, December 31, 2020, unless it is from a vessel that enters port before 00:01 local time on June 6, 2020.

For more information read the rule as filed in the Federal Register or our bulletin.

Read the full release here

NEFMC Calendar: Here’s the June 2020 AP and Committee Meeting Lineup – Join Our Webinars

June 3, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has scheduled several advisory panel (AP) and committee meetings during the first three weeks of June to address actions related to Atlantic herring, Atlantic sea scallops, groundfish, whiting/red hake, research priorities, and ecosystem-based fishery management. All meetings will be conducted by webinar. The results will be discussed by the full Council when it convenes June 23-25, 2020, also by webinar. Here’s the June lineup.

WHITING/RED HAKE – Thursday, June 4: The Council’s Whiting Committee and Whiting AP will meet jointly to discuss proposed alternatives for rebuilding southern red hake, as well as other issues.

Read the full release here

Conservation Group, Ocean Gold Get S-K Funding for Nearshore Pelagics Study

May 22, 2020 — Casual conversation over coffee has turned into fully-funded collaborative sardine research project between the seafood industry and fishery scientists.

Ocean Gold Seafood, based in Westport, Wash., received word this week it received a $295,800 Saltonstall-Kennedy grant on behalf of the West Coast Pelagic Conservation Group. The collaborative study will help inform sardine stock assessments and improve the understanding of other pelagic species such as herring, anchovies and mackerel.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Herring fishermen challenge monitoring requirements, as study shows promise of Alaska’s fishery

May 13, 2020 — Although there was no commercial herring sac roe fishery this year in Sitka Sound due to small average fish size, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game report has provided encouraging data for the fishery to consider an eventual reopening.

Some 83 percent of this year’s guideline harvest level was forecast to be age-four herring, with an average weight of 92 grams. The size forecast for herring across all age classes was slightly larger, at 97 grams.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Atlantic Herring Area 1A 2020 Effort Controls

May 13, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set the effort control measures for the 2020 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery for Season 1 (June-September).

The Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) is 2,957 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for the research set-aside, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the fact that Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL. In October 2019, the Atlantic Herring Management Board implemented seasonal allocations for the 2020 fishery which allocates the Area 1A sub-ACL between June-September (72.8%) and October-December (27.2%).

Days Out of the Fishery

  • Landing days will be set at zero from June 1 until the start of the fishery on July 19 in Maine and July 20 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • Vessels with an Atlantic herring Limited Access Category A permit that have declared into the Area 1A fishery may land herring four (4) consecutive days a week. One landing per 24 hour period. Vessels are prohibited from landing or possessing herring caught from Area 1A during a day out of the fishery.
    • Landings days in Maine begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m. starting July 19.
    • Landing days in New Hampshire and Massachusetts begin on Monday of each week at 12:01 a.m. starting July 20.
  • Small mesh bottom trawl vessels with an Atlantic herring Limited Access Category C or Open Access D permit that have declared into the fishery may land herring five (5) consecutive days a week.

Weekly Landing Limit

  • Vessels with an Atlantic herring Category A permit may harvest up to 240,000 lbs. (6 trucks) per harvester vessel, per week starting July 19 in Maine and July 20 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts

At-Sea Transfer and Carrier Restrictions

The following applies to harvester vessels with an Atlantic herring Category A permit and carrier vessels landing herring caught in Area 1A to a Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts port.

  • A harvester vessel may transfer herring at-sea to another harvester vessel.
  • A harvester vessel may not make any at-sea transfers to a carrier vessel.
  • Carrier vessels may not receive at-sea transfers from a harvester vessel.

Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until July 19 or 20, 2020, depending on the state. Landings will be closely monitored and the fishery will be adjusted to zero landing days when the seasonal period quota is projected to be reached.

For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

The announcement, including motions from yesterday’s days out meeting, can be found here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5ebc0a0eAtlHerringDaysOutMeasures_May2020.pdf

NOAA Fisheries Approves Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan

May 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries approves Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action reduces Atlantic herring catch limits for 2020 and 2021, consistent with the New England Council’s harvest policy for herring and in response to estimates of herring biomass and recruitment, and maintains the 2019 catch caps for river herring and shad for 2020 and 2021.

This action updates the overfished and overfishing definition for the herring stock. The updated definitions are more consistent with the 2018 herring stock assessment, definitions used for other stocks in the region, and the ABC control rule developed in Amendment 8 to the Herring FMP.  This action suspends the carryover of unharvested herring catch for 2020 and 2021. Suspending carryover is needed because the amount of carryover from 2018 (just under 5,000 mt), and potentially 2019, is substantial relative to the reduced ACL for 2020 and 2021 (11,571 mt). If carryover is harvested in specific management areas early in the year, other areas that are typically fished later in the year may be constrained by the ACL such that the sub-ACLs in those areas cannot be fully harvested. Suspending carryover is consistent with the Council’s precautionary management given the approaching overfished condition of the herring stock and the uncertainty surrounding estimates of herring biomass and recruitment. This action also makes minor administrative clarifications and corrections to existing regulations.

Read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Read the full release here