Saving Seafood

Senators Cassidy, Jones Introduce Bill to Improve Red Snapper Numbers

November 25, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) introduced a bill earlier this week that aims to improve the health of reef fish (red snapper) populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

A common issue when catching red snapper is barotrauma, a condition that kills fish if they are caught and rapidly rough to the surface from deep water. Barotrauma kills fish because they cannot readjust to deep water upon release. Fishermen can venting tools and descending devices to reduce the impact and save fish harvested for both commercial and recreational uses.

NOAA and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are prepping an eight-year, $30 million project to further reduce barotrauma. However, current regulations prevent the Council from both requiring fishermen to use venting tools and other methods to return fish and providing federal dollars to study the issue, Senator Cassidy’s office said in a press release.

“I’ve been fishing all my life, so I know how important it is to protect Gulf species like red snapper,” Jones said. “The use of descending devices and venting tools is one way we can help maintain healthy populations of reef fish, which is crucial for the economy of Alabama and for ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy red snapper season.”

The Direct Enhancement of Snapper Conservation and the Economy through Novel Devices (DESCEND) Act would force commercial and recreational fishermen to keep descending devices onboard vessels. It would also allow the study to continue after new regulations are implemented to comply if the DESCEND Act were to become law.

“Louisiana loves to fish. We’re at risk of there not being enough red snapper for recreational and commercial fishing to continue,” Dr. Cassidy said. “This increases the number of red snapper for now and for future generations.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Louisiana fishing industry suffers USD 258 million in losses

November 20, 2019 — The Louisiana fishing industry suffered an estimated USD 258 million (EUR 233 million) in losses due to historic flooding this year and the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, a new analysis said.

The fisheries disaster economic impact analysis, conducted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, was submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help the state qualify for its portion of the USD 165 million (EUR 149 million) in fisheries disaster assistance available from the federal government.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Plan would protect 21 coral hot spots in Gulf of Mexico

November 15, 2019 — A plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico is close to becoming a law, drawing cheers from environmental groups who believe leaving the corals alone would help vulnerable ocean ecosystems to grow.

The plan would create 21 protected areas off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Thirteen of the areas would carry new commercial fishing restrictions, and that has attracted the attention of fishing groups, who want the government to take a cautious approach.

Pew Charitable Trusts has characterized the plan as a way to protect nearly 500 square miles of slow-growing coral “hot spots,” and is championing the protection plan as a way to spare vulnerable corals from fishing gear. The proposal would prohibit gear such as bottom trawls and dredges that can disrupt the corals.

Sandra Brooke, an oceanographer and coral ecology expert at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory, said it’s important to spare the corals because of their importance to the marine environment and because they can have value for the development of new medicines.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WRAL

Gulf Oysters Are Dying, Putting a Southern Tradition at Risk

November 14, 2019 — For the people who harvest, sell, shuck and serve the bivalves, that’s a worrisome prospect: Oysters, traditionally cheap and plentiful, are more central to the restaurant and cooking culture of the Gulf Coast than to that of any other region.

“Oysters are part of who we are,” said Mr. Sunseri, whose ancestors founded P & J in 1876. His family is hoping to rent part of its production house here to a restaurant in an effort to stay afloat. If not for his good health and lack of debt, Mr. Sunseri said, “We’d be closed.”

In September, the United States Department of Commerce determined that Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were suffering “a catastrophic regional fishery disaster,” making businesses in those states eligible for federal assistance.

Louisiana normally accounts for a third of the nation’s annual oyster harvest. The current season isn’t over, but losses reported so far are so severe “that we’re likely to not remain the largest oyster producer in the United States,” said Patrick Banks, an assistant secretary in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Heavy rain and snow in the Midwest caused the Army Corps of Engineers to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway, about 33 miles northwest of New Orleans, for a record 118 days last winter and spring. The spillway protects communities near the Mississippi’s mouth from flooding by releasing water from the river and reducing pressure on the flood-control system.

But it also reduces the salinity of surrounding waters, endangering oysters, which can tolerate brackish water but can die if the salt content is too low.

The river was so high that even areas unaffected by the openings were flushed with freshwater.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Economist says coastal restoration projects would pump billions into southeast Louisiana’s economy

October 17, 2019 — Two projects planned by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will have a multibillion-dollar economic impact on southeast Louisiana, according to a report presented to the CPRA board Wednesday.

The CPRA expects to spend $1.8 billion over seven years on two controversial diversion projects that would redirect land-building sediment from the Mississippi River to Barataria Bay and Breton Bay.

“That’s a non-trivial sum of money, obviously,” said Loren Scott, an economist who studied the potential economic impact for the Restore the Mississippi Delta Campaign and The Environmental Defense Fund.

In the four-parish region that includes Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Orleans and Jefferson parishes, sales at businesses would increase by more than $3.1 billion while household earnings would increase more than $809 million, according to Scott’s projections.

Read the full story at KPVI

Record low Gulf Coast supply could jolt oyster prices

October 10, 2019 — This spring’s record-shattering flooding from the Mississippi River has wreaked historic havoc on oyster production in the Gulf of Mexico, which could reverberate for years to come with scant supply and hard-to-digest prices.

Louisiana, which bore the worst of the damage from too-low salinity and smothering algae blooms and historically accounts for 75 percent of Gulf harvests and 34 percent of U.S. harvests, is all but out of commission for this fall’s oyster harvest season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US Commerce declares fishing disasters for 7 states

September 26, 2019 — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has declared fishing disasters for seven states on three coasts.

“Fishing is the cornerstone of countless coastal economies and has been a way of life for generations of Americans,” he said in a brief news release Wednesday. “This determination acknowledges the critical role fisheries play in our communities, and the risks they face from natural disasters and other causes beyond their control.”

Ross’ action makes people and businesses eligible for NOAA fisheries disaster assistance. Congress has appropriated $165 million for such help for fiscal 2019 and the Commerce Department decides allocations to eligible fisheries, the statement said.

The statement said a regional disaster occurred for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because of “extreme flooding events in the Gulf of Mexico.” Alaska and California each had multiple requests approved; one for both Georgia and South Carolina will help shrimpers and shrimp processors. An unusually cold spell in January 2018 killed the vast majority of shrimp overwintering in estuaries, Erin Weeks, spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said in an email.

Read the full story at The Star Tribune

LOUISIANA: New seafood bill leaves business owners with a fishy taste in their mouths

September 17, 2019 — A new seafood bill is causing local restaurants to tell customers just how local their seafood is.

Signed by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on June 19, House Bill 335 requires restaurants that sell imported crawfish and shrimp to disclose where the seafood is coming from. According to the Louisiana Restaurant Association, businesses will have to disclose this information either on the restaurant’s menu or main entrance. Failure to comply with the new bill will cause any restaurant to receive a violation of the state’s sanitary code.

Having taken effect on Sept. 1, many business owners will not have to comply with this bill due to only selling domestic seafood. One such restaurant is Drago’s Seafood Restaurant.

According to Drago’s owner Tommy Cvitanovich, all of the shrimp and crawfish served there is local. However, Cvitanovich admitted that knowing exactly how local the seafood is can be a struggle and leads to many questions.

Read the full story at The Maroon

Gulf fisheries suffer major losses; recovery underway

September 6, 2019 — After devastating commercial fishery losses in Louisiana and Mississippi following freshwater intrusion from the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening earlier this year, officials are working on recovery efforts.

On 6 September, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) and the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory released around 90,000 juvenile spotted seatrout (speckled trout) into Hancock County waters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Miss. Coast will pay steep price in new plan to save Louisiana wetlands, fishermen warn

August 26, 2019 — Fishermen in South Louisiana have a warning for the Mississippi Coast: If you think the Bonnet Carré Spillway has wreaked havoc in the Mississippi Sound, just wait until Louisiana gets permission for a new diversion of Mississippi River water.

The fishermen in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes say they have watched saltwater marshes, shrimp, oysters and fish disappear over the last decade because of Mississippi River diversions that flow continuously into the Breton Sound estuary.

They have been trying to fight the state of Louisiana’s plan for new river diversions that would flow into the Barataria Bay and Breton Sound estuaries south of New Orleans. The state is forging ahead with plans, claiming the diversions will build land along Louisiana’s coast, where wetlands the size of a football field sink into the water every 100 minutes.

Read the full story at The Sun Herald