Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan

January 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. This action would set specifications for the herring fishery for 2020-2021. The proposed specifications would reduce catch limits for 2020 and 2021 in response to estimates of herring biomass and recruitment.

This action would use status quo methods to set all other specifications, including catch caps for river herring and shad.

This action would update the overfished and overfishing definition for the herring stock. Updating these definitions is largely an administrative change that is not expected to impact commercial fisheries. Additionally, this action would suspend the carryover of unharvested catch for 2021. Suspending carryover is proposed 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 the sub-ACLs in those areas cannot be fully harvested.  It is also consistent with the Council’s conservative management due to the current status of the herring stock and the uncertainty surrounding estimates of biomass and recruitment.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to:

Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

The comments due date is 02-12-2020.

Read the full release here

Forbes pins sales of Russia’s top 10 seafood firms at almost $4bn

December 18, 2019 — The combined turnover of Russia’ top 10 seafood companies is RUB 238 billion ($3.80bn), according to a ranking of the top owners and firms in the sector from Forbes.

Forbes last ranked the top companies in the sector in 2017, but focused on volume then. However, for the 2019 edition, turnover is the metric used, with Norebo Holding coming out on top, with almost $1bn in turnover. Forbes also estimates 2 million metric tons of quota has been allocated to the top 10 companies in 2019.

According to Forbes, Vitaly Orlov and his Norebo are the largest player in the sector, with turnover of RUB 58.2bn ($929.45m). Norebo, which is the subject of a bitter legal dispute in the UK’s High Court of Justice, spent about $600m to buy competitors in the North-West and Far East in 2011-2013, according to Forbes.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries Proposes Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Quotas for the 2020 Fishing Year

December 17, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The proposed action would:

  • Rollover the 2019 Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) level (29,184 mt) to 2020 for Atlantic mackerel;
  • Update the Atlantic mackerel recreational deduction to include updated catch accounting methodology from 1,209 mt to 1,270 mt for 2020 to help avoid an ABC overage;
  • Maintain the 129 mt river herring and shad catch cap and eliminate the initial 89-mt trigger provision that would close the fishery if 89 mt of river herring and shad were observed to be caught before 10,000 lb of mackerel has been caught; and
  • Maintain the previously approved 2020 specifications for Illex squid (26,000 mt ABC), longfin squid (23,400 mt ABC) and butterfish (32,063 mt ABC), including the 3,884 mt butterfish catch cap in the longfin squid fishery.

Read the proposed rule as published today in the Federal Register. Supporting documents for this rule are available on the MAFMC website.

To submit comments, please use the Federal e-rulemaking portal, or send comments by regular mail to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA, 01930. Please mark the outside of the envelope, “Comments on the Proposed Rule for 2020 Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Specifications.”

Comments are due by 5 pm January 16, 2020.

ALASKA: There are plenty of herring to catch in Bristol Bay, but there’s nowhere to sell them

December 16, 2019 — There are plenty of herring around in the fishery in Togiak, on the northwest side of Bristol Bay. This year’s quota is roughly 80 million pounds.

But herring fishermen, who come to Togiak from all over the state, still have a problem. They target herring for their tiny eggs, which once commanded steep prices in Japan. But not any more.

“I’m a recovering herring fisherman,” joked Bruce Schactler.

Schactler, who lives in Kodiak, has been fishing in Togiak off and on since 1985. But he won’t be returning this summer.

“The market is so bad that Trident will not be buying fish this year, so we’re not going. Every ton that is frozen and shipped off to Japan is a loser. There’s no money being made,” he said.

Trident is one of four companies that buy herring roe and sell it to Japan, the only customer. In the 1990s, that roe could sell for $1,000 a ton. But in 2019, that price was at $75. Fishermen’s total earnings last year were about $1.5 million, down from a high of more than $20 million in 1995. Fishermen like Schactler say that even at that low price, processors are still losing money on herring.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Herring fishing to be limited for months

December 11, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators are limiting the amount of herring that fishermen can catch off New England until the end of the year. The fish is used for food and bait.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s implementing a 2,000-pound herring possession limit per trip in the inshore Gulf of Maine until Dec. 31. The inshore Gulf of Maine’s an area that touches coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

The agency says it’s taking the step because 92% of the catch limit in the area has been harvested.

NOAA says no herring fishing is allowed in the area from Jan. 1 to May 31, so the fishery won’t be able to fully resume in the inshore gulf until June.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

US places further limitations on midwater trawlers catch of herring in New England

December 5, 2019 — As New England lobster harvesters struggle to keep up with the high cost of bait, due in large part to the short supply of Atlantic herring, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued further restrictions to protect the forage fish’s dwindling stocks.

As part of an amendment developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and approved Nov. 19 by NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, midwater trawling has been prohibited within 12 nautical miles of the coastline that runs from the US state of Maine to Rhode Island 20 miles off Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, reports The Vineyard Gazette, a Massachusetts newspaper.

The change will give the herring a “buffer zone” to migrate without being pressured by commercial vessels but also allowing them to be eaten by other fish, aiding the health of the overall ecosystem, Janice Plante, the NEFMC’s public affairs officer, is quoted as saying.

Local fishermen, boards of selectmen, state legislators and environmental groups have been pushing for stronger management of the midwater trawl herring fishery for more than 20 years, according to the newspaper.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NEFMC Receives Skate, Herring, Dogfish, and EBFM Updates

December 5, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council began its December 3-5, 2019 meeting in Newport, RI by receiving numerous reports and updates from its own committees, as well as partner agencies. Here are a few highlights.

SKATES: The Council’s Skate Committee, Plan Development Team (PDT), and Advisory Panel (AP) continue to work on Amendment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The amendment is being developed to consider creating limited access permits for the skate wing and/or skate bait fisheries. The PDT is working to provide data to help the the Skate Committee and AP better understand the fisheries and fishermen using the skate resource. In other skate news, the Council was informed that:

  • The 2019 Skate Annual Monitoring Report, which covers fishing year 2018, had been finalized; and
  • Framework Adjustment 8 to the FMP, which contains 2020-2021 specifications for the skate wing and bait fisheries, appeared to be on schedule for approval and implementation by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) in time for the May 1 start of the 2020 fishing year.

Read the full release here

Herring Fishing To Be Limited Off New England For Months

December 4, 2019 — The inshore waters of the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod to the Canadian border have been closed to herring fishing through the end of the year to prevent overharvesting.

Federal regulators cut this year’s catch limit for Atlantic herring based on last year’s stock assessment. Kirby Rootes-Murdy, with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, says regulations mandate that the fishery must be closed when 92% of the area catch limit has been harvested.

“There is a by-catch allowance, which is the non-directed fishery,” says Rootes-Murdy. “Two thousand pounds can be taken incidentally, but the directed fishery is closed.”

Read the full story at Maine Public

NMFS closes herring Area 1A, catch limit nearly harvested

December 4, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced a temporary closure of herring Management Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) due the area reaching its catch threshold.

Starting last week, fishermen in the area can no longer attempt to fish for, possess, transfer, receive, land or sell more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip. In addition, all permitted dealers cannot acquire more than 2,000 pounds of herring that was acquired in a trip from Management Area 1A.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NMFS approves 20-mile herring trawl buffer zone off Cape Cod

December 3, 2019 — NMFS approved the New England Fishery Management Council’s plan for a 12-mile offshore boundary for New England herring trawlers a few days before Thanksgiving, with a bump out to 20 miles off Cape Cod.

The decision culminates a two-decade battle over midwater trawling in the Gulf of Maine, and complaints that it causes localized depletion of herring and other fish that disrupts ecosystems and fishermen’s access to cod, haddock and other species.

“The council recommended the midwater trawl restricted area to mitigate potential negative socioeconomic impacts on other user groups resulting from short duration, high volume herring removals by midwater trawl vessels,” NMFS Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony wrote in a decision letter approving the New England council’s proposal.

“Because midwater trawl vessels are able to fish offshore, the council recommended prohibiting them from inshore waters to help ensure herring are available inshore for other users groups and predators of herring,” Pentony wrote.

The decision sets a 12-nautical mile exclusion zone for the trawlers from the Maine-Canada border south to territorial waters off Connecticut. The line jogs out 20 miles off Cape Cod.

Read the full story at National Fisherman