Saving Seafood

Federal officials take first steps to protect chub mackerel, other forage species in the Mid-Atlantic

September 6, 2017 — For the first time, the National Marine Fisheries Service has taken action to protect forage species in the Atlantic Ocean.

The new regulation, initially approved last year by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, covers such species as anchovies, herrings, mackerel, and sardines up to 200 miles off the coastline from New England to central North Carolina. The Fisheries Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, chose to protect the fish because of the important role they play in the ecosystem.

The fish, along with some crustaceans and mollusks, are considered prey for larger fish sought by commercial and recreational fishermen as well as marine mammals and birds.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

River herring, hurt by dams and climate, might be endangered

September 5, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government is reviewing the status of a pair of river herring species to see if the little fish should be listed under the Endangered Species Act because of factors including dams and climate change.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is looking at the health of the alewife and blueback herring populations. The fish live in rivers from Maine to Florida, and conservationists have long made the case that their declining populations pose a major problem for the health of ecosystems along the East Coast.

The herring species are estimated to be at about 3 percent of their historical abundance, fisheries service biologist Tara Lake said in August. The damming of rivers and the creation of other obstructions, she said, has reduced their access to habitat to 5 percent of its historic amount.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Westerly Sun

Mid-Atlantic Unmanaged Forage Omnibus Amendment Final Rule Published

August 25, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new rule to protect unmanaged forage fish. Forage fish are small schooling species that serve as prey for larger commercially and recreationally important fish, as well as for marine mammals and sea birds. Anchovies, herring, chub mackerel, and sardines are some common forage fish.

Commercial fisheries often catch forage fish, but we know little about the amount of forage species caught in Mid-Atlantic waters. Because of their importance to the food web, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council wants to protect the ecological role these species play in the Mid-Atlantic and to collect more information on catch. This new information will help inform future scientific assessments and management decisions.

This is the first rule in the Atlantic to list forage species as ecosystem component species. This action would set landing and possession limits for 17 species and species groups to prevent the expansion of directed commercial fisheries on these species in Mid-Atlantic federal waters (see map below).

Read the rule as filed in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletins for commercial fishermen and for dealers.  Mid-Atlantic fishermen will receive a copy of a forage fish identification guide, which is also available electronically on the Mid-Atlantic Council’s website.

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2017 through September 24, 2017

August 23, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There is currently only one sample for the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition; therefore, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:00 a.m. on August 28, 2017 extending through 11:59 p.m. on September 24, 2017. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area.

Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast   68° 20’ W

43° 48’ N       68° 20’ W

44° 25’ N       67° 03’ W

North along the US/Canada border

For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF version of the announcement can be obtained here –http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/AtlHerring_EasternMaineSpawningClosure_Aug2017.pdf.

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Days Out Call for August 23 Cancelled

August 18, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (Commission) Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A fishery via Days Out meetings/calls.

The previously scheduled Days Out call on August 23, 2017 at 10:00 AM has been cancelled. The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts will continue to monitor landings information and will schedule a call if necessary. If a call is scheduled, at least 48 hours’ notice will be provided.

Please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Traditional Foods Program nourishes families

August 18, 2017 — It’s a cloudy Tuesday in July. At 4 a.m., it’s already light out, and Jeff Feldpausch and Mike Smith are preparing for a trip up to Sitkoh Bay to harvest sockeye salmon and halibut. It’s just another day in the office for them: a boat trip to a remote area of Southeast Alaska to harvest food for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s (STA) Traditional Foods Program.

Every year, about 300 households receive food provided by their work, with food being distributed first to elders and then the rest of the community. In order to be eligible to receive food, one must be a resident of Sitka, Alaska, and a citizen of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.

The program

Feldpausch, the Resource Protection Department Director, and Smith, the Traditional Foods Specialist, work together throughout the year to ensure that tribal members who may not have the resources to gather, hunt, or fish themselves have freezers and pantries stocked. While it varies per year, Feldpausch said that, on average, STA distributes between 12,000 and 20,000 pounds of food per year to the community.

The season starts off with a big herring egg harvest and then moves to salmon, with sockeye being the primary goal. There are sockeye salmon runs in several places on Baranof and Chichagof islands and STA makes it a priority to harvest sockeye sustainably by harvesting in multiple locations.

“You name it, we go there,” Feldpausch said. “We go as far north as Klag [Bay] for sockeye, as far south as Redfish for sockeye…if we’re out and about, we always try to throw a skate into the water to make the program as efficient as possible. We try to harvest away from town. A lot of folks who are private citizens who have boats may not have as big of boats so they harvest closer to town, so we try to harvest away from town. We try to stay further away from town so that we don’t impact those subsistence users.”

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

Request for Information: NOAA Fisheries Announces River Herring Status Review

August 15, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is initiating a new status review of alewife and blueback herring. In a status review, we evaluate the best scientific and commercial data available on the current status of the species. We use these reviews to determine whether listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted.

Through this announcement, we are requesting submission of information on alewife and blueback herring rangewide, including any information on the status, threats, and recovery of the species that has become available since the previous listing determinations in 2013.

Please submit your information by October 16, 2017, either through the e-Rulemaking portal or by mail to:

Tara Trinko Lake

NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

New England Fishery Management Council says farewell to Tooley

August 14, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council is bidding farewell to Mary Beth Tooley of Maine.

“Your steadfast focus was remarkable, not just for scallops and herring — two species of high interest to you — but for all council actions,” Chairman John Quinn said of Tooley in a news release. “You had a gift for incrementally forging consensuses on extremely difficult issues. You remained gracious and measured in the face of controversy and routinely brought a needed dose of reality to the table with your in-depth understanding of the day-to-day operations of both the scallop and herring fisheries.”

Terry Stockwell of Maine was appointed to fill the seat being vacated by Tooley, who had served three consecutive terms.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Stock Assessment Update Indicates River Herring Remain Depleted on a Coastwide Basis Though Improvements Have Occurred in Several River Systems

August 4, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Shad and River Herring Management Board reviewed the results of the 2017 River Herring Assessment Update, which indicates river herring remain depleted and at near historic lows on a coastwide basis. The “depleted” determination was used instead of “overfished” and “overfishing” because many factors, not just directed and incidental fishing, are contributing to the low abundance of river herring.

Alewife and blueback herring (collectively referred to as river herring) are anadromous species, spending the majority of their life at sea and returning to their natal streams to spawn. While at sea, mixing is believed to occur among multiple river-specific stocks and the incidental catch of river herring in non-targeted ocean fisheries is known to include both immature and mature fish.

The stock assessment update applied the same approaches used in the previous benchmark stock assessment with the incorporation of additional years of data (2011-2015). Of the 54 river herring stocks for which data were available, 16 experienced increasing abundance trends, 2 experienced decreasing abundance trends, 8 experienced stable abundance, 10 experienced no discernible trends in abundance due to high variability, and 18 did not have enough data to assess recent abundance trends (see Table 1, below).

While status on a coastwide basis remains unchanged, there are some positive signs of improvement for some river systems, with increasing abundance trends for a number of rivers in the Mid-Atlantic throughout New England region. While abundance in these river systems are still at low levels, dam removals and improvements to fish passage have had a positive impact on run returns. Since the completion of the 2012 assessment, NOAA Fisheries in partnership with the Commission have worked to provide state and local agencies with restoration project funding, leading to dam removals and fish passage improvement projects.

River herring are managed through Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring, with the goal of conserving and protecting river herring along the coast. The Amendment prohibited state waters commercial and recreational fisheries beginning January 1, 2012, unless a state or jurisdiction had a Sustainable Fishery Management Plan (SFMP) approved by the Board. SFMPs must clearly demonstrate that the state’s or jurisdiction’s river herring fisheries meet sustainability targets which must be achieved and maintained. Amendment 2 also required states to implement fisheries-dependent and independent monitoring programs, and contains recommendations to member states and jurisdictions to conserve, restore, and protect critical river herring habitat. As of June 1, 2017, the Shad and River Herring Management Board approved sustainable fishery management plans for Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. Upon receiving the results of the Stock Assessment Update, the Board did not take any management action at this time.

For a more detailed overview of the River Herring Stock Assessment Update go here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/598371e1RiverHerringAssessmentUpdateOverview_Aug2017.pdf.  The Overview is intended to aid media and interested stakeholders in better understanding the Commission’s stock assessment results and process.  The River Herring Stock Assessment Update will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, on the Shad and River Herring webpage under stock assessment reports. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.        

Maine’s river herring making dramatic comeback, a godsend for the food chain

July 17, 2017 — Motorists crossing the bridge over the Kennebec this spring and early summer were afforded dramatic views of one of Maine’s mightiest rivers, a chain of islands and warships under construction at Bath Iron Works.

But one of the most awesome sights was hidden from view: millions of fish swimming under the bridge in a pilgrimage from the Atlantic Ocean to their spawning grounds in lakes, rivers and ponds scattered over hundreds of square miles of southern, central and western Maine.

River herring – in the midst of a dramatic comeback in Maine’s rivers with the recent removal of dams that blocked their spawning runs for decades – had a banner spring run this year, with millions of fish traveling up the Kennebec and Penobscot and the best run in decades recorded on the St. Croix. This was despite heavy rains this spring that created extra challenges for the fish.

The recovery of the small schooling fish is having dramatic secondary effects, as they represent a perfect food source for everything from bald eagles to Atlantic cod, and researchers anticipate future benefits as the herring’s numbers grow in the coming decade.

“You just don’t expect ecosystems to bounce back so quickly,” says Joshua Royte, a conservation scientist at The Nature Conservancy in Maine, which played a key role in a collaborative project to remove the Penobscot dams. “These rivers are coming back gangbusters and there will be children growing up now who will never know there was a time when you couldn’t run out to see fish running in these rivers.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald