Saving Seafood

Fishermen forced to share pounds in herring fishery

February 1, 2017 — New restrictions are being put into place for the upcoming spawn-on-kelp herring fishery in Southeast Alaska to address a declining population. For the first time, fishermen are required to share spawning structures with several others. KFSK’s Angela Denning reports:

The spawn-on-kelp fishery allows fishermen to catch herring near Craig and Klawock and put them into floating net pens called pounds. Blades of kelp are also put in there for the herring to spawn on. The eggs are then sold to Asian markets.

Scott Walker is the Area Management Biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Ketchikan. He’s been helping manage the spawn-on-kelp fishery since it began in 1992.

“We have been seeing throughout Southeast Alaska right now a downturn of herring stocks,” Walker said.

Read the full story at KFSK Community Radio

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Section Approves Draft Addendum I for Public Comment

February 1, 2017 —  Alexandria, VA — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Section approved Draft Addendum I to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring for public comment. Draft Addendum I includes management options to ensure the seasonal quota is distributed throughout Trimester 2, are applied consistently by the states adjacent to Area 1A, and address excessive capacity.

The Draft Addendum was initiated in response to the accelerated rate of Area 1A Trimester 2 (June through September) landings in recent years and the increasingly dynamic nature of days out measures to control effort that have varied across states. The Section utilizes days out of the fishery to slow the rate of Area 1A catch by restricting the number of available landing days. Landing reports indicate vessels are harvesting herring on days out of the fishery and transferring fish at‐sea to carrier or larger vessels until landing is permitted. The practice of fishing outside of landing days has limited the effectiveness of the days out program in controlling the rate of harvest.

The Draft Addendum presents six management options to improve the performance of the Area 1A fishery, ranging from restricting a vessel from landing fish caught on days out of the fishery to limiting transfers at sea as well as the amount a vessel can land per week. The document also seeks input on a tiered weekly landing limit for future management consideration.

The Draft Addendum will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org (under Public Input) by February 10, 2017. It is anticipated Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey will be conducting public hearings in March/April. The details of those hearings will be released in a subsequent press release. The Section will review submitted public comment and consider final approval of Addendum I at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May 2017.

For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at aharp@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Canada’s largest herring fishery achieves MSC certification

November 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

TORONTO — The Canada 4VWX purse seine herring fishery in the Bay of Fundy area is the third and largest Canadian herring fishery to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as sustainable and well managed.  Herring products from the purse seine vessels and processing companies based in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick can now carry the blue MSC label to inform customers the fishery meets a global standard for sustainability.

Meeting the world’s most recognized standard for sustainability

To achieve MSC certification the 4VWX purse seine herring fishery demonstrated that it meets a high bar of sustainability set by the MSC Fishery Standard.  Widely recognized as the world’s most credible and robust standard for sustainable fishing, the MSC Standard is founded on three principles: a healthy fish stock, protection of the surrounding marine ecosystem, and effective fishery management.

“We are proud of the work our fishery has undertaken together with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to maintain the health of this important Canadian resource” says Roger Stirling, President of the Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia, the client representative for the 4VWX herring fishery. “As one of the longest-running commercial fisheries in Canada the herring fishery and associated processing companies have demonstrated the ability to sustain the resource.  The MSC certification now allows us to clearly signal the fishery’s sustainability to global markets.

A ‘clean’ fishery with local and global markets

Purse seining produces very low bycatch levels when harvesting the dense schools of herring that form during specific seasons.  The fishing vessels harvest at night and return to shore for immediate processing.  Annual catch for this fishery is 50,000 metric tonnes.

In addition to providing employment for fishers, herring plants in the local area employ hundreds of people in coastal communities and significantly contribute to the rural and coastal economy in the area.

A versatile fish, 4VWX herring is destined for primary markets around the world where it is sold in various forms like frozen fillets (Europe and North America), marinated and sauced canned products (Europe), smoked (kippers, in North America), canned (global), roe (Japan) and bait (Canada, for MSC certified lobster fisheries).

Jay Lugar, Program Director for MSC in Canada adds: “We congratulate the Bay of Fundy purse seine herring industry on achieving MSC certification.  The fishery consistently generates employment in the local community while working diligently to protect herring stocks that also play an important role in the ecosystem as food for other fish and mammals.  MSC is very pleased to see this long-standing industry take the sustainability message to global markets.” 

Continued improvement

As part of the MSC Theory of Change, MSC certification requires annual audits by an independent certifier to ensure that each fishery retains its status while also implementing improvements, allowing it to progress toward an even higher level of sustainability. To help the 4VWX herring stock sustain its role in the ecosystem, the fishery has committed to meet improvement goals with respect to biomass levels.

Assessment process

The assessment against the MSC Fisheries Standard was conducted by Acoura Marine, an accredited, third-party certification body, in a robust, scientific, transparent process that considered all available information presented by all fishery participants and stakeholders with an interest in the fishery.

What’s on a real roll? Demand for the Maine lobster

November 25, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The demand for lobster is on a roll — often literally. And that is helping to keep the price that Maine lobstermen are getting for their catch near historic highs.

The annual per-pound price first rose above $4 in 2004 and stayed there through 2007, then fell sharply during the recession. In 2015, annual price paid to Maine lobstermen reached $4.09 a pound, the first time it had topped the $4 mark since 2007.

This year, dockside prices for lobster have been close to or above the $4 level throughout the summer and fall, when most lobster is caught and prices usually dip to reflect the ample supply.

The demand for lobster has been buoyed, in part, by the number of casual restaurants that now include it on their menus and by the growing popularity of lobster rolls sold from roadside food trucks, according lobster industry officials.

“No question, more people are offering lobster up and down the [restaurant] hierarchy,” Matt Jacobson, head of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, said. “More awareness and more vendors is great, and drives demand.”

Among the eateries boosting demand for lobster rolls are the Luke’s Lobster chain of restaurants, franchised food trucks, such as Cousins Maine Lobster, and even McDonald’s, which has served lobster rolls at its New England locations the past two summers.

Jim Dow of Bar Harbor, vice president of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said that, despite the mild weather last winter and warmer-than-usual water in the Gulf of Maine this past spring, there was not a repeat of the glut of new-shell lobster that in 2012 sent prices plummeting to their lowest point in decades.

“We did not get a big burst when the shedders first started” in early summer, Dow said. “They came in, but it was short-lived.”

Dow, who fishes out of Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island, said that while fisherman in that area have been getting around $4 to $4.50 per pound this fall, the price of bait has been much higher than last year. This year he is paying $45 to $50 per bushel of herring, compared with $25 a year ago.

“Our bait price doubled,” Dow said, adding that fuel prices have stayed relatively low.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said recently that the increase in bait costs could mean that many lobsterman earn less money this year even if their gross revenues rise.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Atlantic Herring Framework 5 and Amendment 8 Take Shape

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.

  • Amendment 8: The Council looked over the draft goals and agenda for its second Atlantic Herring Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) Workshop (see blue box). MSE incorporates more public input and technical analyses upfront before alternatives are selected. The approach is being used to establish an acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule for the Atlantic herring fishery under Amendment 8 that: (1) may explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem; and (2) deals with biological and ecological requirements of the herring resource itself. The amendment also contains a set of still- evolving alternatives to address potential localized depletion and user conflicts in the herring fishery.
  • Framework Adjustment 5: The Council received an overview of the range of alternatives under consideration to modify the Georges Bank haddock accountability measures (AMs) that apply to the herring midwater trawl fishery. The Herring Plan Development Team will conduct additional analyses on the alternatives, and the Council is scheduled to take final action during its January meeting

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.

Regulators to Discuss Localized Depletion of Herring

November 16, 2016 — CHATHAM, Mass. – The New England Fishery Management Council will meet in Newport, Rhode Island tomorrow and an organization that supports local fishermen will push for a buffer zone to move midwater trawlers further off shore.

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance is looking to move the large herring trawlers at least 50 miles from the Cape and Islands to protect the ecosystem and small-boat coastal fisheries.

The management council will discuss ways to address “localized depletion” in the herring fishery, which is a key source of food for whales and larger fish.

“Our concern is that they are depleting the forage species that we need for tuna, stripers, cod, haddock, dogfish, the whales – all of that stuff is the food chain and they are sucking up the lower end of it,” said Bruce Peters, an Orleans fisherman from the vessel Marilyn S.

Current regulations allow for the midwater trawlers to fish beyond three miles from shore from Provincetown past the Islands.

A vessel tracking program showed about a half dozen trawlers about three or four miles off the Coast of Orleans and Eastham along the back side of the Cape earlier this week.

“They have huge boats. They can go to Georges Bank. They can go offshore. They can fish herring pretty much anywhere,” Peters said. “Our small-boat fleets are 30 to 40-foot boats. We don’t have the luxury of being to go way, way offshore like that.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Herring trawlers just offshore anger Cape fishermen

November 16, 2016 — ORLEANS, Mass. — They were visible from shore for most of Tuesday, seven vessels of between 140 to 170 feet in length, four miles off Nauset Beach.

Some worked in tandem, towing a huge net between them, scooping up mackerel or herring right on the Cape’s doorstep and making local fishermen like Bruce Peters angry.

“They suck up all the herring and mackerel, the forage fish we need for the cod, tuna, stripers, the whales, what we need for the food chain,” said Peters, a longtime commercial cod and groundfish fisherman, who now runs a charter boat business and fishes commercially for tuna. “We need a 50-mile buffer zone to keep these guys offshore.”

Buffer zones that prohibit the herring fleet from fishing within anywhere from 6 to 50 miles from shore are part of a new amendment to the herring fishery management plan that will be outlined at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting Thursday in Newport, Rhode Island, and voted on at the January meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The council — a representative body of fishermen, industry representatives, environmental organizations and state and federal fishery officials — draws up plans to sustainably manage fish and shellfish stocks in federal waters. They received 238 pages of comment, much of it in support of requiring the herring fleet to fish farther from shore.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

The Bycatch That Gives You a Haddock

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.

Read the full story at Eco RI News

ALASKA: Budget cuts take bite out of herring harvest

October 25, 2016 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is buckling under deep budget cuts, and now the state’s largest herring fishery is feeling the squeeze.

ADFG has canceled vital abundance studies and surveys for several fisheries, meaning fishermen won’t get to prosecute the full amount of otherwise healthy stocks.

Last year, based on 17,337 tons harvested in all Togiak herring fisheries and an average price of $100 per ton, the total ex-vessel value for the Togiak herring fishery was $1.52 million. The season allowed for a harvest of over 32,000 tons.

This year’s harvest will be less.

ADFG will allow for a harvest of 26,170 tons, or 57.6 million pounds, of a forecasted biomass of 287.9 million pounds.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

Herring shortage over, price of fish still vexes lobstermen

October 21, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – Herring fishermen have begun catching herring in the waters far off New England, ending a shortage of the fish that has vexed the region’s lobster industry for months.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/2esLoXg ) reports the price of the bait fish has remained high through the end of the peak lobster season, anyway. Lobstermen say the shortage has hurt their bottom line this year.

The shortage has not trickled down to affect consumer prices, although lobster prices have been higher than average at times this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC 6