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NYSDEC Jonah Crab Public Hearing Date Changed from March 23 to April 6

March 1, 2016 – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The states of Maine through Maryland have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The details of those hearings follow.

Maine Dept. of Marine Resources

March 17, 2016; 6-8 PM

Casco Bay Lines Conference Room

56 Commercial Street

Portland, Maine

Contact: Terry Stockwell at 207.624.6553

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

March 14, 2016; 5:30 PM

New Bedford Fairfield Inn and Suites

185 McArthur Drive

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Contact: Dan McKiernan at 617.626.1536

March 15, 2016; 6:00 PM

MA DMF Annisquam River Field Station

30 Emerson Avenue

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Contact: Dan McKiernan at 617.626.1536

Rhode Island Dept. of Environmental Management

March 16, 2016; 6-9 PM

University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corliss Auditorium

South Ferry Road

Narragansett, Rhode Island

Contact: Scott Olszewski at 401.423.1934

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

April 6, 2016; 6:30 PM

205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1

East Setauket, New York

Contact: Rachel Sysak at 631.444.0469

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

April 4, 2016; 2-4 PM

Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce

12320 Ocean Gateway

Ocean City, Maryland

Contact: Craig Weedon at 410.643.4601 ext. 2113

The Draft Addendum proposes changes to the incidental bycatch limits for non-trap gear (e.g., otter trawls, gillnets) and non-lobster trap gear (e.g., fish, crab, and whelk pots). For non-trap gear, the Draft Addendum includes options to maintain, increase, or eliminate the bycatch limit, while options for non-lobster traps include establishing bycatch limits of varying size or maintaining no limit on these gears. The intent of the Draft Addendum is to cap incidental landings of Jonah crab while ensuring the inclusion of current participants in the Jonah crab fishery. The FMP currently prescribes a 200 crab per calendar day/500 crab per trip incidental bycatch limit for non-trap gear; however, concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of these limits. Data submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries illustrate while 97-99% of trips from 2010 through 2014 were within the current limit, there were several trips above the limit. Furthermore, current bycatch landings were sufficiently low, accounting for approximately 0.1% of total landings.

Bycatch limits for non-lobster trap gear were added as a second issue for consideration in the Draft Addendum to address concerns regarding the lack of effort controls on non-lobster traps and the potential for trap proliferation. Data submitted by NOAA Fisheries show between May 1, 2013 and August 31, 2015, 194 trips landed Jonah crab with whelk pots, crab pots, and fish pots. Of these, 80 trips landed 100 crab or fewer and 115 trips landed 200 crab or fewer. Approximately 45 trips landed between 200 and 500 crab and 40 trips landed more than 450 crab. Landings from Maryland show between 2012 and 2015, 33 trips landed Jonah crab with fish pots. All of these trips were under 200 pounds. Reports also indicated from 2014-2015, 36 trips landed Jonah crab with whelk pots. Average landings per trip with whelk pots were under 500 pounds; however, there is concern that these whelk pot landings may in fact be rock crab, a closely related species which is often misreported as Jonah crab.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum can be obtained at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/JonahCrabDraftAddendumI_PublicComment_Feb2016.pdf or via the Commission’s website,www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on April 18, 2016 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at mware@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum I).

Maine Operation Game Thief Offers $11,000 Reward for Information on Major Lobster Trap Molesting Case

February 26, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Maine Operation Game Thief is offering a reward of $11,000 for information that helps authorities bring the person or people responsible for a major lobster trap molesting case near Jeffrey’s Ledge to justice.

A Maine Marine Patrol investigation, which began Monday, February 22, 2016, revealed that 200 lobster traps had been hauled by someone other than the license holders, the lobsters stolen, and the traps lowered to the bottom, some of which were not retrievable.

Jeffrey’s Ledge is located in the western Gulf of Maine located approximately 30 miles off the New Hampshire coast.

Maine Operation Game Thief (Maine OGT) is a private, non-profit organization that works with the Department of Marine Resources, Maine Marine Patrol, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Maine Warden Service, and Wildlife Crime Stoppers to pay rewards to citizens who provide information that helps bring violators of Maine’s game and commercial fishing laws to justice.

“The OGT program is committed to helping maintain our state’s valuable game and commercial fishing resources,” said OGT Chairman Greg Sirpis. “Maine’s lobster industry works hard to protect and sustain this important resource and to have people undermine our state’s proud heritage of hard work and conservation is unacceptable and we will support efforts to bring whoever did this to justice,”

“This is an extremely serious violation involving multiple victims, and we would appreciate any help from the public,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish. “The money for this reward comes both from the Operation Game Thief program and from lobstermen committed to bringing this person or people to justice. I’m grateful for the support of OGT and these lobstermen and for their dedication to the work of the Maine Marine Patrol.”

People with information on this case are encouraged to contact Marine Patrol Sergeant Rob Beal by phone at 207-479-3931 or to call the Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-ALERT-US (1-800-253-7887).

MAINE: Lawmakers endorse stripped-down version of lobster license changes

AUGUSTA, Maine — February 25, 2016 — Lawmakers on the committee that handles marine resources issues voted Wednesday to make modest changes in the rules that control lobster fishing licenses in Maine, side-stepping a more controversial proposal for access to Maine’s most lucrative fishery.

Members of the Marine Resources Committee voted 11-1 to increase the age for young people to finish a required apprenticeship program, and to take steps to verify the validity of hundreds of names on a license waiting list. The action was a compromise between attempts by the Department of Marine Resources to trim the waiting list without hurting the resource and resistance from established lobstermen, who were opposed to what they saw as a loss of control and the potential for overfishing.

“It’s not a giant change,” said Patrick Keliher, the marine resources commissioner, “but it will redefine the list and make it smaller.”

A spokesman for many fishermen, however, said he would have been happier if nothing was changed.

“It could have been worse,” said David Cousins, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Interest by the state in reforming the licensing process has been building for years, but has repeatedly failed under pressure from the industry. The department’s initial proposal was crafted after four bills that dealt with license changes were killed in the last legislative session.

Read the full story from Portland Press Herald

Panel Approves Changes to Maine’s Lobstering License System

February 25, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A panel of the Maine Legislature has signed off on a series of changes to the way the state hands out valuable lobster fishing licenses.

The bill would raise the age for young lobstermen to automatically get a license when they finish an apprenticeship. It would also change the way old licenses are retired.

The Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources unanimously approved the changes on Wednesday. The proposal will likely go before the full Legislature next month.

Some of the changes are aimed at speeding up the process of getting fishermen off a waiting list that’s nearly 300 names long. The proposal has divided members of the industry.

The proposal comes as Maine is experiencing record catches. Maine lobsters were worth nearly $457 million at the docks in 2014.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

Warming Oceans Are Turning Sea Stars to Goo and Killing Lobsters, Scientists Say

February 17, 2016 — Warming waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have increased the prevalence of diseases that are turning sea stars to mush and killing lobsters by burrowing under their shells and causing lesions, two new studies say. The outbreaks are so lethal, according to a biologist involved in both studies, that at least one species of sea star has vanished off the coasts of Washington and British Columbia and the lobster fishery, already decimated in southern New England, will likely be threatened in Maine.

In the Pacific, a wasting disease is blamed for the disappearance of the technicolor sunflower sea star. It’s also laying waste to the ochre sea star that scientists at Cornell University, the University of Puget Sound and Northeastern University, as well as other institutions, examined for the latest research. Their reports were published this week.

Numerous climate studies have shown that the oceans are warming. In addition, 30 percent of the carbon released into the atmosphere ends up there, leading to acidification that’s further destroying coral, shell life and other organisms.

The sea-star study was led by Morgan E. Eisenlord, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell, and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Both in a laboratory and at 16 sites on the San Juan Islands off Washington’s coast, researchers determined that ochre sea stars gradually became sicker as water temperatures rose slightly. Conditions simulated in the lab confirmed what the scientists observed in the field. As temperatures rose, the disease became more prevalent, and adult ochres died within days. The disease, plus death, was more prominent in temperatures between 54 degrees and 66 degrees Fahrenheit. For the adults, the risk of death was 18 percent higher at 66 degrees.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

NOAA Cuts Monitor Days for Massachusetts Lobstermen

February 16, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries has recalibrated its method for determining the requisite sea days of observer coverage for lobster boats, resulting in decreased coverage for Massachusetts-based lobstermen and increased coverage for those based in Maine in the final quarter of this fishing season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, responding to criticisms from Bay State lobstermen, re-allotted the number of sea-days after expanding the pool of vessels eligible for observer coverage to include all federally permitted lobster boats rather than just those holding limited-use, multi-species permits that require the filing of vessel trip reports (VTRs).

The result is that for the final quarter of the 2015 fishing season (Jan. 1 to March 31), Massachusetts lobstermen will have six sea-days of mandated observer coverage, down from the previously scheduled 18. Maine lobstermen, however, will see their mandated sea-days of observer coverage rise to 33 from the originally scheduled 14 in the same period.

The modified methodology also means that New Hampshire and Rhode Island lobstermen will have one day of mandated observer coverage respectively in the final quarter of the 2015, down from the previously scheduled five for New Hampshire and four for Rhode Island.

Amy Martins, manager of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) that provides the observer coverage for lobster boats, said the new method for determining observer coverage will continue into the 2016 fishing season that begins May 1.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Amid boom in catch, debate rages over lobster license rules

February 10, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Members of the next generation of Maine lobster fishermen say they fear they will never get a license to fish for the valuable critters, but some longstanding lobstermen fear changing the rules could result in overfishing.

A key Maine legislative panel held a public hearing on Wednesday on changes designed to streamline the process of obtaining one of about 5,800 lobstering licenses in the state. The call for changes comes as Maine lobsters have grown in value in recent years, and prices have held steady for consumers as lobstermen’s catches have boomed, resulting in heavy supply.

A vote could come as early as Feb. 17.

There are nearly 300 people on the waiting list for a license, and some have been on the list for more than a decade. Ethan DeBery, a Phippsburg lobsterman who completed an apprenticeship and has been on the list for seven years, said the current system isn’t fair.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

Maine lobster industry wary as warm waters suggest repeat of disastrous 2012 season

February 4, 2016 — For those in the lobster industry, any sign of a return to the conditions of 2012 is cause for high anxiety.

Researchers say the industry needs to be prepared for that possibility because warming trends are laying the groundwork for a potential repeat of the disastrous season of four years ago.

“We learned a hard lesson in 2012,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Because of warm waters in the Gulf of Maine, peak harvesting started in May that year, weeks ahead of schedule. The catch jumped more than 20 percent, from 104 million pounds in 2011 to 127 million pounds in 2012. The shedding season, when lobsters lose their hard shells and grow new ones, typically happens in June and results in soft-shelled lobsters that are difficult to transport. In 2012, shedding began almost as soon as the lobstermen started pulling in traps, and extended into the fall.

As a result, prices paid to lobstermen fell to as low as $2 a pound.

Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, said Thursday that the stage is set for a possible repeat of 2012, at least weather-wise.

Pershing said five buoys that measure water temperatures around the gulf are all running above average, and three are at record highs.

“The average surface temperature across the entire Gulf of Maine is now slightly warmer than during the 2012 ocean heat wave,” Pershing said.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

Fish Farming In Gulf Poses Questions And Opportunities

February 3, 2016 — Most of the fish we eat in the U.S. comes from other countries. Fishermen in Louisiana have long sought to displace some of those imports but the industry has faced challenges like hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill.

Now, a new source of fish in the gulf offers promise — but also raises questions.

For the first time, the Gulf of Mexico is open for fish farming.

Companies can apply for permits through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. Then they can install floating fish cages — like those already in place in state waters off the coasts of Maine, Washington and Hawaii.

Harlon Pearce owns Harlon’s LA Fish, which sells local fish to restaurants and grocery stores across the south. On a recent afternoon his refrigerated warehouse in Kenner was full of them. He pointed to yellowfin tuna, snapper, black drum and sheep’s head. It doesn’t always look this way.

Pearce, who is on the board of the Gulf Seafood Institute, says he freezes a lot of his fish in order to meet continuous demand, but ultimately always runs out. He wants to sell nationwide and contract with big chains, like Red Lobster, but he says, “We never have enough fish to supply the markets. Never.”

That’s true for a couple of reasons – the seafood industry in the Gulf still hasn’t bounced back from the 2010 BP oil spill, but it’s always fluctuated due to hurricanes and pollution.

Read the full story at New Orleans Public Radio

ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Jonah Crab Draft Addendum I for Public Comment

February 4, 2016— The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Draft Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes changes to the incidental bycatch limits for non-trap gear (e.g., otter trawls, gillnets) and non-lobster trap gear (e.g., fish, crab, and whelk pots). For non-trap gear, the Draft Addendum includes options to maintain, increase, or eliminate the bycatch limit, while options for non-lobster traps include establishing bycatch limits of varying size or maintaining no limit on these gears. The intent of the Draft Addendum is to cap incidental landings of Jonah crab while ensuring the inclusion of current participants in the Jonah crab fishery.

The FMP currently prescribes a 200 crab per calendar day/500 crab per trip incidental bycatch limit for non-trap gear; however, concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of these limits. Data submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries illustrate while 97-99% of trips from 2010 through 2014 were within the current limit, there were several trips above the limit. Furthermore, current bycatch landings were sufficiently low, accounting for approximately 0.1% of total landings.

It is anticipated the states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Maryland will be conducting public hearings on the Draft Addendum. The details of those hearings will be released in a subsequent press release. The Draft Addendum will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org(under Public Input) by February 10^th. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on April 1, 2016 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at mware@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum I).