Saving Seafood

Bullard, fish sector to talk punishment

December 6, 2017 — The New Bedford fishing sector, banned by NOAA from groundfishing for the remainder of this season and possibly beyond because of noncompliance with its own management plan, has issued its rebuttal. And an invitation.

Northeast Fishery Sector IX, accused by NOAA of negligence for allowing Carlos Rafael’s massive illegal misreporting of the scope and nature of his groundfish landings, sent a letter to NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard refuting much of NOAA’s reasoning for the groundfish ban and inviting Bullard to New Bedford to see the changes for himself.

“Sector IX strongly believes that your initial determination was based upon incomplete information and respectfully asks that you reconsider your positions,” Virginia Martins, Sector IX president, wrote Bullard. “This board is willing to reshape the sector for the good of the community and the industry.”

Martins stressed the sector has made “substantial changes in the past six months” by appointing new board members and establishing an enforcement committee.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Massachusetts: NOAA shuts down Rafael’s fishing sector

November 20, 2017 — NOAA Fisheries dropped the hammer on New Bedford’s Carlos Rafael-dominated Northeast Fishing Sector IX on Monday, withdrawing the sector’s operation plans for 2017 and 2018 and shuttering the groundfish elements of the sector for the remainder of this fishing season.

NOAA Fisheries, which announced the management action Monday morning, said the sector was derelict in its compliance of the previously approved plans and that noncompliance helped Rafael misreport the scope and nature of his catch in a scam that led to his conviction and 46-month jail sentence.

“The action follows the guilty plea of Mr. Carlos Rafael, a major participant in Sector IX, who admitted to falsely reporting catch information,” NOAA Fisheries said in its statement.

NOAA Fisheries said its review showed that Sector IX failed to uphold section plan requirements to the extent that it undermined “foundational principles” necessary for successful sector operations.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rulemaking for American Lobster Fishery

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

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on the American lobster control date, changes to lobster trap gear marking requirements, and allowing substitute vessels to fish lobster traps for federally permitted but inoperable vessels.

In accordance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Addenda XXI and XXII to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for American Lobster, NOAA Fisheries may select January 27, 2014, or another date, as a control date for the lobster fishery, depending on public comment and input from the Commission.

The control date may be applicable, but not limited, to restricting the number of traps or permits an individual or business entity may own, with emphasis on Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2 and 3.

Part of the reason for this action is the continued poor condition of the Southern New England lobster stock. The stock has been experiencing recruitment failure (not enough young lobsters) since the early 2000s, which may be caused by both environmental factors and fishing.

Read the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as published today in the Federal Register.

The comment period is open through December 15.

Provide comments through regulations.gov, or send comments by mail to John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Please mark the outside of the envelope: “Comments on Lobster ANPR.”

To learn more about NOAA visit their site here.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester group critical of NOAA quotas, methods

April 8, 2016 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. —  The city’s Fisheries Commission weighed in with public comments on proposed adjustments to the Northeast Fishery Management Plan, expressing concern about heavy cuts in 2016 catch quotas for some of the fishery’s most important species and frustration with the process for determining the size of fish stocks.

The commission’s comments, which significantly mirror comments generated by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition on Framework Adjustment 55, are contained in a letter to John K. Bullard, regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The commission is supportive of the Northeast Seafood Coalition comments,” Commission Chairman Mark Ring wrote to Bullard. “Notably, the concerns raised by the NSC over the catch reductions slated for the 2016 fishing season, which are based on the 2015 Operational Assessment Update.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Rule

March 16, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces that the proposed Amendment 17 to the Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Fishery Management Plan is available for public review and comment.  

Amendment 17:

  • Establishes a cost recovery program for the individual transferable quota (ITQ) fisheries;
  • Makes administrative changes to how biological reference points are incorporated into the management plan; and 
  • Removes the optimum yield range from the plan

For more details, read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and the supporting documents available on our website.

Comments are due April 15, and may be submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or by regular mail to:

John K. Bullard

Regional Administrator

NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA  01930. 

Please mark the outside of the envelope: “Comments on Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Amendment 17.”

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or email jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov.

Fishing Monitor Program Suspended and Will Start Again March 1, When Boats Must Pay Costs

February 25, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries exhausted its budgeted money for at-sea monitoring of Northeast fishing sector groundfish boats on Feb. 16 and has suspended all required monitoring until the fishing industry assumes monitoring costs on March 1.

The details of the suspension, which has not been publicly announced by NOAA, were contained in a Feb. 19 declaration filed by NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard in the federal lawsuit New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel of Hampton filed against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce and officials within those federal agencies.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, seeks to block NOAA from transferring to the fishing industry the responsibility of paying for contracted at-sea monitoring (ASM), charging it will economically destroy what is left of the Northeast groundfishing fleet.

Late last fall, NOAA said it anticipated retaining sufficient money to continue paying the ASM costs until March 1. That changed, according to Bullard’s declaration, on Feb. 16 when NOAA realized it had not sufficiently updated the weekly reports used to determine the number and cost of observed trips on sector groundfish boats.

“On or about Feb. 16, the (Northeast Fisheries) Science Center became aware for the first time that recent updates did not include information for all completed trips … and that committed government funds to pay for ASMs had been exhausted,” Bullard wrote in his declaration.

NOAA Fisheries, he said, then decided to cease until March 1 the requirement and deployment of monitors on sector trips selected for coverage.

“Due to a lack of funds, those trips have been issued waivers from the requirement to take on ASM,” Bullard wrote. “This decision is based on our commitment that sectors be provided adequate notice of the onset of industry funding so that necessary accommodations, planning and contracting can occur.”

Bullard stated the agency is confident the temporary suspension of observer coverage will not jeopardize NOAA Fisheries’ ability to estimate discards by sector vessels — one of the primary tasks of the ASM program.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

New Bedford Standard-Times: Catch accountability should take place at the dock

August 6, 2015 — NOAA’s denial of the New England Fishery Management Council’s June request to suspend at-sea monitoring has satisfied environmental groups, but it serves as the latest example of their inappropriate and misguided influence in management of the Northeast fisheries.

The Management Council had asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for emergency relief, as the cost of at-sea monitoring shifted from the government to the fishermen, a $700-$800 cost per trip. Fishermen and regulators alike anticipate that it will make a more trips unprofitable.

NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard responded July 30 by saying the criteria for suspending the program under emergency action was not met.

According to an Aug. 3 report in the Gloucester Daily Times by reporter Sean Horgan, the campaign manager for environmental organization Oceana, Gib Brogan, said, “Currently, only 24 percent of fishing trips in the fishery carry observers on board. This proposal would have dropped it even further, seriously jeopardizing any chances of recovery for this region.”

There is more than one problem with this approach.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times