Saving Seafood

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 9/7/15

September 9, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

NCFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MONDAY SEPT. 14

The NC Fisheries Association Board of Directors will meet Monday, Sept. 14 at the Washington Civic Center located at 110 Gladden St., Washington, N.C.  Meetings are open to all members.

ASMFC 74TH ANNUAL MEETING PRELIMINARY AGENDA

MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION SEA TURTLE COMMITTEE TO MEET

The Sea Turtle Advisory Committee to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington.  The committee is scheduled to review information from the division’s At-Sea Observer Program, including the number of large-mesh gill net fishing days in each management unit, and to give feedback on potential amendments to the state’s Sea Turtle and Atlantic Sturgeon incidental take permits.

For more information contact Chris Batsavage, Protected Resources Section chief, at 252-808-8009 or Chris.Batsavage@ncdenr.gov.

NMFS CUTS VERMILION SNAPPER COMMERCIAL DAILY TRIP LIMIT 

The daily trip limit for the commercial harvest of vermilion snapper in the South Atlantic is reduced from 1,000 pounds gutted weight to 500 pounds gutted weight, effective 12:01 a.m. (local time) Sept. 10, 2015. NOAA Fisheries has determined 75 percent of the July-December quota of 438,260 pounds whole weight will be landed by Sept. 10, 2015.  For more information see the news release.

PUBLIC INFORMATION DOCUMENT FOR AMENDMENT 1 TO THE INTERSTATE FMP FOR TAUTOG

REGULATION AND RULE CHANGES:

-South Atlantic Vermilion Snapper Commercial Trip Limits Change Effective Sept. 10

-South Atlantic Gag and Wreckfish Catch Limits Change Effective Sept. 11

-Atlantic Mackerel Slippage Consequences Measures Effective Sept. 11

-USCG Mandatory Dockside Inspections Required Effective Oct. 15

DEADLINES:

Sept. 10 – NMFS Updated Draft Acoustic Guidelines Comments

Sept. 14 – NMFS Generic Amendment to Snapper-Grouper, Golden Crab and Dolphin-Wahoo FMPs Comments

Sept. 17 – 2016 Commercial Atlantic Shark Season Comments

Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. – 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Research Set Aside Applications

Sept. 25 – MAFMC Cooperative Research Proposals

Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. – MFC Kingfish and Interjusdiction FMP Update Comments

Oct. 2 – MFC Proposed Rules Comments

Oct. 2 – MAFMC Unmanaged Forage Species Scoping Comments

MEETINGS:

If you are aware of ANY meetings that should be of interest to commercial fishing that is not on this list, please contact us so we can include it here.

 

Sept. 9-10 – Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel Meeting, Sheraton Silver Spring Hotel, 8777 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD and via webinar

Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. – NCFA Board of Directors Meeting, Washington Civic Center, 110 Gladden St., Washington

Sept. 14 at 6 p.m – Oyster and Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee Meeting, DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. – MAFMC Scoping Hearing for Unmanaged Forage Species,

DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. – MFC Sea Turtle Advisory Committee Meeting, DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

PROCLAMATIONS: 

SNAPPER-GROUPER COMPLEX – COMMERCIAL PURPOSES (GRAY TRIGGERFISH, VERMILION SNAPPER)

View a PDF of the release here

 

How Giant Oarfish Work

September 1, 2015 — Ah, Regalecus glesne — king of the herrings! Mistaken for sea monsters by centuries of sailors. Feared in legend and myth. What regal creature would have such a majestic history? R. glesne is what we call the giant oarfish, and it mostly resembles a colossal snake with a startlingly ugly mug. Stately this king is not.

To be fair, we haven’t seen giant oarfish in their prime in the past few years. In October 2013 alone, two specimens washed up separately on the California coast, dead and bloated. They made the news in part because of their enormous size: Giant oarfish have been known to grow up to 36 feet (11 meters) and weigh 600 pounds (272 kilograms) [source:Bester] Unconfirmed reports have claimed a length of 56 feet (17 meters) [source:Howard]. The ones that washed up were mere trifles at 14 and 18 feet (4 and 5 meters), but with their bulging eyes and the red rays sprouting off their dorsal fin, you can see how “monster” might spring to mind. (And why Palauans refer to it as a “rooster fish.”)

There are a few things to know about oarfish in general before we dive in to the nitty-gritty of our giant friend. One is that there are actually two different genuses of oarfish: Regalecus and Agrostichthys.Agrostichthys grows much smaller than Regalecus, and even the smaller Russelli species of Regalecus are reported to grow about 16 feet (5 meters) [source: Yamamoto]. But we’re sticking mainly to our giant friends, since they’re the most likely to haunt your dreams.

Read the full story at How Stuff Works

 

NEFMC Asking for Additional Comments on Herring Amendment 8

August 24, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council is in the process of preparing an environmental impact statement for Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. Amendment 8 would specify a long-term acceptable biological catch control rule for the herring fishery and consider alternatives for this control rule that explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem. The Council recently decided to expand the scope of Amendment 8 to include consideration of localized depletion in inshore waters. During this comment period, the Council is only seeking comments on the expanded scope of Amendment 8.
 
DATES: Written scoping comments must be received on or before 5 p.m., local time, September 30, 2015.
 
ADDRESSES: Written scoping comments may be sent by any of the following methods:
• Email to the following address: comments@nefmc.org;
• Mail to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; or
• Fax to (978) 465–3116.
• Please indicate ‘‘Herring Amendment 8 Re-Scoping Comment’’ on your correspondence.
Requests for copies of the Amendment 8 scoping document and other information should be directed to Sherie Goutier, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950, telephone (978) 465–0492, ext. 102. The scoping document is accessible electronically via the Internet at www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-8-2.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

2016-2018 Atlantic Herring RSA Program Funding Opportunity – Proposals Due September 21, 2015

July 31, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

NMFS, with assistance from the New England Fishery Management Council (Council), is soliciting proposals for 2016 – 2018 that address Atlantic Herring RSA research priorities. No Federal funds are provided for research under this notification. Rather, proceeds generated from the sale of RSA quota will be used to fund research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.

Projects funded under the Atlantic Herring RSA Program must enhance the knowledge of Atlantic herring fishery resources or contribute to the body of information on which Council management decisions are made. Priority shall be given to funding research proposals in the following areas identified as research priorities by the Council for the 2016-2018 fishing years.

2016-2018 Atlantic Herring RSA Program Research Priorities – priorities are not listed in order of importance.

1. Atlantic herring portside sampling – Develop and/or demonstrate a portside sampling program.

2. River herring bycatch avoidance – Develop and/or demonstrate methods that will enable river herring bycatch avoidance in the Atlantic herring fishery.

3. Electronic monitoring – Investigate the feasibility of electronic video monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery as a means to document vessel fishing and catch processing operations.

4. Stock Structure / Spatial Management

a. Investigate mixing of the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank Atlantic herring resource with the Scotian shelf Atlantic herring resource.

b. Investigate whether Atlantic herring form contingents, and if schools segregate based on size, age, and spawning location.

c. Evaluate assumptions for developing spatial allocations (sub-ACLs) based on different stock structure models.

5. Availability and Detectability of Atlantic herring in Surveys and the Fishery

a. Investigate whether predation potential (e.g., cod) or school size affects the location of Atlantic herring in the water column.

b. Investigate whether the distribution of thermal habitat affects the availability of Atlantic herring to the survey or to the fishery.

6. Fishery acoustic indices – Develop and/or conduct a fishery-independent abundance survey using commercial vessels and fishery acoustics.

7. Volume to Weight Conversion

a. Investigate sources and magnitude of variability of herring catch volume to weight conversions made by vessel captains and dealers.

b. Investigate density-dependent growth /trade-off with reproduction and the potential effect on volume to weight conversions.

For instructions on submitting proposals, please see the attached Federal Funding Opportunity, or search www.grants.gov for funding opportunity NOAA-NMFS-NEFSC-2016-2004537.  Complete proposals/applications must be received on or before 5 p.m. EDT on 9/21/2015.

Please forward to any interested parties. For questions, please contact Cheryl Corbett at cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov or 508-495-2070.

 

Atlantic Herring Research Set-Aside Proposals Due September 21st

July 29, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries, with assistance from the New England Fishery Management Council, is seeking proposals for the 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. No Federal funds are provided for research under this notification. Rather, proceeds generated from the sale of RSA quota will be used to fund research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.

Projects funded under the Atlantic Herring RSA Program must enhance the knowledge of Atlantic herring fishery resources or contribute to the body of information on which Council management decisions are made. Priority will be given to proposals that investigate research priorities identified by the Council. The priorities are listed in the Federal Funding Opportunity Announcement, along with application instructions.

Questions? Please contact Cheryl Corbett at cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov or 508-495-2070.

 

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Section July 30 Days Out Conference Call Cancelled

July 29, 2015 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section will not meet via conference call on July 30th to discuss Area 1A landings and days out measures. As of July 24th, preliminary landings for Area 1A are estimated to be 6,062  mt, consistent with projected landings. The Section will meet via conference call in August to review Trimester 2 landings and set Area 1A days out specifications for Trimester 3 (October 1 – December 31); the details of this call will be released once they are finalized.  Landings will continue to be closely monitored and the directed fishery will be closed when the trimester’s quota is projected to be reached.
 
For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at aharp@asmfc.org.

Big herring catch off New England comes with worries

July 12, 2015 — A little fish that New Englanders have sought since the Colonial era is at the center of a battle over how to manage massive boats that trawl swaths of ocean off the East Coast.

The catch for the Atlantic herring, which travels in groups sometimes numbering in the billions, is in the midst of a massive boom. Last year fishermen caught more than 95,000 metric tons of the fish for the first time since 2009, federal statistics show.

Now rival fishermen are raising concerns about the high catches, and regulators are starting to consider whether the big haul is adversely affecting the environment, marine mammals or other fisheries.

Herring trawlers have the ability to deplete localized areas of other fish, in part because the hulking boats leave pieces of ocean bereft of the herring that other species rely on for food, say some fishermen of species such as cod and tuna.

Steve Weiner, a tuna fisherman based in Ogunquit, said the high herring catches need a hard look because of the fish’s status as a linchpin of the Atlantic Ocean’s food web. Everything from seabirds to whale-watching boats rely on a steady supply of herring for stability, he said.

The issue is particularly concerning for Cape Cod fishermen, many of whom are struggling to make a living in a time of strict cod quotas, Weiner said.

“You have to worry about all the other people who depend on healthy herring resources,” he said. “When you get down to the Cape, it’s raw, real.”

But some herring fishermen dismiss those complaints as nonsense and reference federal studies that describe the species as “not overfished.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

 

ASMFC: June 29 Atlantic Herring Conference Call Cancelled

June 22, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section will not meet via conference call on June 29 at 10 AM to discuss Area 1A landings and days out measures. As of June 19th, preliminary landings for Area 1A are estimated to be 1,200 mt, 1,100 mt less than was projected to have been harvested at this time. The next Section Days Out meeting is scheduled for July 30th.  Information on that meeting will be released in mid-July.