Saving Seafood

ASMFC 79th Annual Meeting Webinar Final Agenda and Materials Now Available

October 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 79th Annual Meeting Webinar (October 19-22, 2020) are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2020-annual-meeting-webinar; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. For ease of access, all meeting documents, with the exception of the 2020 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report (which is available as a separate link under American Lobster Management Board), have been combined into one document: Main Meeting Materials.

Supplemental materials will be posted to the website on Wednesday, October 14th. For those Boards that have FMP Reviews and Compliance Reports on their agendas, the compliance reports are not posted due to their large file sizes. If you would like a copy of a specific state’s or jurisdiction’s compliance report, please contact the respective FMP Coordinator.

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. It is our intent to begin at the scheduled start time for each meeting, however, if meetings run late the next meeting may start later than originally planned.

Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 19 at 9 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 1:45 p.m.) on Thursday, October 22. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. Meeting participants and attendees can register for the webinar athttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1878402776294803471 (Webinar ID: 796-314-395).

Each day, the webinar will begin 30 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter.  If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio-related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.

If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at 562.247.8422 (a pin will be provided to you after joining the webinar); see webinar instructions  for details on how to receive the pin. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing 562.247.8422 (access code: 225-820-088).

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings. Please note these guidelines have been modified to adapt to meetings via webinar.

The following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

  1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of the webinar (September 28) will be included in the briefing materials.
  2. Comments received by 5 PM on the Tuesday, October 13 will be included in the supplemental materials.
  3. Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, October 16 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.

Comments should be submitted via email at comments@asmfc.org. All comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.

Getting back to fishing: Jerry Fraser of Wells, Maine

October 2, 2020 — As editor and publisher of National Fisherman, Jerry Fraser says, one principle always came to his mind amid the ceaseless debates over management, gear types, the ocean environment and the future of fisheries.

Equity.

“I don’t say you shouldn’t be careful, and I don’t say fishery management doesn’t work,” says Fraser, 67, who retired in 2019 after nearly a half-century career in fishing and journalism.

“Fishery management shouldn’t be preoccupied with making it easy. It should make it equitable,” says Fraser. “It’s a tough racket. There’s no argument that’s going to satisfy everyone.”

During a stormy new era of enforced consolidation, transferable quotas and catch share systems, Fraser says he looked for the balance of preserving fisheries and fishing communities.

“You can make a lot of economic arguments against keeping small farms,” he says. “If you make a priority of preserving this industry, we would come out in a different place.”

Fraser’s own life took different turns, from a New York City kid to beginner fisherman during summers in Maine, two threads that wound together to form his adult working life.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

EU Eyes Tariffs Against the U.S., Putting Economy at Risk

October 1, 2020 — The transatlantic trade conflict isn’t showing signs of winding down any time soon, and a ruling from the World Trade Organization means that a fresh round of retaliatory tariffs could jeopardize the nascent economic recoveries in both the U.S. and the European Union.

The WTO gave the EU authorization to impose tariffs on $4 billion of U.S. exports over illegal government aid provided to Boeing Co., according to two people familiar with the decision. The EU previously said it would act on the levies immediately to counteract $7.5 billion of tariffs Washington placed on European goods in a separate case involving Toulouse, France-based Airbus SE.

The judgment comes at a delicate moment, with the U.S. presidential election just over a month away and as the U.S. and the EU struggle to recover from coronavirus-induced recessions. The EU tariffs will target coal producers, farmers and fisheries, in addition to aircraft makers, all politically important industries for President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress.

Read the full story at Forbes

US Trade Commission hears testimony on CETA’s impact on US lobster exports

October 1, 2020 — The U.S. International Trade Commission heard testimony Thursday, 1 October, on the effect the trade agreement between Canada and the European Union has had on America’s lobster industry.

The Canada-E.U. pact, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), has had a detrimental effect on U.S. lobstermen and exporters since it took effect three years ago, according to Robert DeHaan, the vice president for government affairs for the National Fisheries Institute. DeHaan said the deal meant U.S. exporters faced 8 percent tariffs on live lobsters and up to 20 percent on value-added products while their Canadian counterparts paid no levies on the same products, providing them with a significant competitive advantage.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine lobster business salvaged its summer despite pandemic

September 28, 2020 — Maine’s lobster fishermen braced for a difficult summer this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but then the unexpected happened. They kept catching lobsters, and people kept buying them.

The pandemic has posed significant challenges for the state’s lobster fishery, which is the nation’s largest, but members of the industry reported a steady catch and reasonable prices at the docks. Prices for consumers and wholesalers were low in the early part of the summer but picked up in August to be about on par with a typical summer.

The Maine lobster industry is in the midst of a multiyear boom, and fishermen have caught more than 100 million pounds (45,360,000 kilograms) for a record nine years in a row.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Study: Maine’s lobster co-management system offers lessons for other fisheries

September 25, 2020 — In the 1990s, Maine’s lobster industry and state regulators developed a co-management system that established seven lobster fishing councils, comprised of local fishermen, to oversee fishing practices in seven zones along the coast.

The system was designed to integrate the knowledge of local fishermen to help manage certain aspects of the fishery, as an alternative to top-down management by government regulators.

That model has lessons for fisheries beyond Maine, according to a new study by University of Maine conservation scientists.

“The Maine lobster fishery is a great example of how individual harbors can have localized control over managing fishing areas and over deciding on fishing practices in their local area,” UMaine researcher Kara Pellowe told Mainebiz. “In the 1990s, that was formalized as Maine’s lobster zones. How Maine manages lobsters has, over time, reflected increasing alignment between formal and informal rules.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Potential for fisheries co-management shaped by interplay between formal, informal institutions

September 25, 2020 — The following was released by the National Science Foundation:

Integrating local norms and fishers’ knowledge into regulations helps increase trust in management institutions, and can make it easier for co-management to work.

Those were the findings of U.S. National Science Foundation-funded research by University of Maine researchers Kara Pellowe and Heather Leslie. The scientists looked at the interplay between formal and informal institutions and implications for the co-management potential of a small-scale Mexican fishery.

The journal Marine Policy published their results.

Pellowe and Leslie contend that conflicts between formal institutions, such as government agencies, and informal institutions, such as unwritten agreements among families and friends, can represent a significant barrier to effective fisheries management.

They examined the potential for co-management, where power and decision-making are shared by fisheries managers and fishers, in a fishery that is currently managed through top-down control. They concluded that integrating local norms and knowledge into formal regulations, along with broadened community participation, are necessary precursors to co-management. Doing so would result in more successful fisheries management.

Pellowe regularly traveled to Baja California Sur, Mexico, to work closely with fishers, managers and stakeholders in the Mexican chocolate clam (Megapitaria squalida) fishery in Loreto Bay National Park, on the Baja peninsula.

Like the Maine lobster, the Mexican chocolate clam is a culturally and economically important species, providing food, income and cultural value to many communities in Baja.

Read the full release here

‘Boat to Grave—Some Guys Know Nothing Else’: A Lobsterman Slogs On Through the Pandemic

September 24, 2020 — By the end of summer, the tourists leave, the breezes get cooler, and Maine lobstermen hunker down for the harder yet sometimes more fruitful months of fishing only for lobster.

During the summer, “catch landings are probably down. But we can gain quite a lot in October, November, and December,” says Mike Dawson, a lobsterman who fishes off the coast of Maine. “August was kind of slow. Not an overabundance of lobster.”

State lobstering rules are eased each year starting Nov. 1, at which time lobstermen can fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the summer months, when congestion on the seas is high, lobstermen can’t haul traps on Sundays and there are restrictions on the hours lobstermen can fish.

Dawson, who had been fishing for bait fish called pogeys during the summer to supplement his income said that has wound down for the year. The pogeys have disappeared from the area, migrating to new feeding grounds, he said. So now Dawson says he plans to concentrate on lobstering throughout the fall and winter.

Read the full story at Barron’s

Eric Trump tells Maine lobstermen: ‘We will never, ever let you down’

September 18, 2020 — When Seth Dube was growing up in Camp Ellis, Saco’s gritty seaside community boasted a robust ground fishing fleet, but the draggers are mostly gone now, replaced by lobster boats like his. The sixth-generation fisherman blames government overregulation for that industry’s demise, and used to worry lobstering could be next.

That was before President Trump became a friend of the Maine fisherman, Dube said – reopening marine monuments to fishing, delaying environmental rules that would have forced some lobstermen to install greener diesel engines, inking a trade deal allowing tariff-free lobster trade with Europe and giving lobstermen trade relief for lost China sales.

“The Trump administration has become a driving force to protect the fishery,” Dube said at a “Make America Great Again” rally at Camp Ellis on Thursday. “The ground fishermen were regulated out of business along with the Maine shrimp fishery, forcing families to find other jobs and other means to make a living. We can’t let the same thing happen to lobster.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Days Out Measures for Season 2 – Call Scheduled for October 16; Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Closure in Effect Starting September 23 through November 3, 2020; and CORRECTION to the Eastern Maine Spawning

September 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The following announcement includes information on (1) days out measures for the 2020 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) Atlantic herring fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31); (2) closure dates for the Western Maine and New Hampshire/Massachusetts spawning area; and (3) a correction to the closure dates for Eastern Maine spawning area.

Landings Day for the 2020 Area 1A Fishery for Season 2

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met September 17 via conference call to set effort control measures for the 2020 Area 1A fishery for Season 2. The Season 2 quota is 914 metric tons (mt), which is 27.2% of the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) after adjusting for the research set-aside, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, a slight underage from Season 1, and the fact that the Area 1A fishery closes at 92% of the sub-ACL.

  • Landings days will be set at zero (0) from October 1 until the start of the fishery on October 11 in Maine and October 12 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • The fishery will move to three (3) consecutive landings days per week starting October 11 in Maine and October 12 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • The fishery will move to two (2) consecutive landings days per week starting October 18 in Maine and October 19 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • Landings days in Maine begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m.; landing days in New Hampshire and Massachusetts begin on Monday of each week at 12:01 a.m.

Harvesters are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until October 11 or 12, depending on the state. Landings will be closely monitored and the fishery will close when 92% of Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be reached.

The Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts will reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort on:

  • Friday, October 16, at 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
  • You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone at the following link:https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/947666941. If you are new to GoToMeeting, you can download the app ahead of time (click here) and be ready before the meeting starts. The meeting will be using the computer audio (VoIP), but if you are joining the webinar from your phone only, you can dial in at +1 (571) 317-3112 and enter access code 947-666-941 when prompted. The webinar will start at 9:00 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.
Spawning Area Closures

The Atlantic herring Area 1A fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, closures will begin on predetermined dates if sufficient samples are not available.

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring caught in a spawning area during a closure 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 Western Maine or Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas.

Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Closure

There are currently insufficient samples from the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per Addendum II default closure dates, these spawning areas will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2020 extending through 11:59 p.m. on November 3, 2020. Western Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

43° 30’ N     Maine coast
43° 30’ N      68° 54.5’ W
43° 48’ N         68° 20’ W
North to Maine coast at 68° 20’ W

The Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area includes all waters bounded by the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine coasts, and 43° 30’ N and 70° 00’ W.

CORRECTION: Eastern Maine Spawning Area Closed through 11:59 p.m. October 8, 2020

The Eastern Maine Spawning Area closure extends through 11:59 p.m. on October 8, 2020. Directed herring vessels may begin fishing in the Eastern Maine spawning area starting at 12:01 a.m. on October 9, but may not land herring caught from this spawning area until the Season 2 fishery opens on October 11 or 12, depending on the state of landing. 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 Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or mappelman@asmfc.org.

The announcement including motions from the September 17th Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5f64fc77AtlHerringSeason2DaysOutMeasures_WM_MANH_Closures_Sept2020.pdf