Saving Seafood

Ocean perch stock rebuilt, could lead to more commercial fishing opportunities in 2019

December 21, 2017 — Federal restrictions designed to protect Pacific ocean perch from overfishing have worked well enough for the Pacific Fishery Management Council to consider the fishery “rebuilt,” meaning it will relax restrictions. Once the new rules take effect in 2019 it should have significant economic value to the coast, experts say.

“It’s a big deal for fisheries along the coast,” said Phil Anderson, who works with Ocean Gold Seafood in Westport and serves as chairman of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. “It’s another one in the line of species that were determined to be overfished here about a decade ago that has since been rebuilt.”

Pacific ocean perch have been overfished since the mid-1960s when foreign fleets targeted groundfish stocks, in particular Pacific ocean perch, off the U.S. West Coast. The mandates of the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing U.S. fisheries management, eventually ended foreign fishing within 200 miles of the coast. The first Federal trip limits to discourage targeting and to conserve a U.S. West Coast groundfish stock were implemented for Pacific ocean perch in 1979. Rebuilding plans for Pacific ocean perch were adopted in 2000 and 2003.

Pacific ocean perch is one of many species of groundfish, managed and regulated by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. The fish, which live near the bottom of the ocean, mingle and protection of the perch has constrained the West Coast trawl fishery for decades.

Read the full story at The Daily World 

 

Opinion: Conservation and training vital to keep Alaska fisheries strong

December 20, 2017 — I wasn’t ready to have kids until my husband and I started hand trolling together. Watching the other families on deck running gear or anchored in the evening and playing on a beach broke something loose inside of me. This is what I wanted. I wanted a boat, kids, a life out on the water. So that winter we bought a fixer-upper steel boat and a power troll permit. We jumped.

We jumped knowing the basics of trolling and seamanship. There was so much to learn, especially as someone who didn’t grow up fishing — supervising crew, keeping up with technological updates, and running the business end of things. Putting hooks in the water was the easy part.

Fishing has always required knowledge that’s tough to get as a newcomer, but getting started now is a lot more complicated than it was even a few decades ago. Fishing permits are tens of thousands of dollars at the least, and enough fishing quota to get started now costs more than a college education. Fishing regulations are increasingly complicated, and keeping up with policy decisions can be daunting.

But help is on the way. This fall, Alaska’s congressional delegation introduced the Young Fishermen’s Development Act to the House and the Senate. This act would establish a Young Fishermen’s Development Fund to support education and training opportunities for young fishermen throughout the country. The program is modeled after the Department of Agriculture’s successful Beginning Farmer and Rancher program, which has helped hundreds of young people start their own businesses. Currently no comparable program exists for young fishermen. If passed, funding will come from NOAA’s asset forfeiture fund: Fines paid for breaking fishing regulations will assist new operations with getting started on the right foot. I applaud our delegation for providing this essential support to our young fishermen’s future.

Of course, the most important ingredient to a healthy fishing business is access to productive fish stocks. We depend on those managing our fisheries to commit to conservation first. The Magnuson-Stevens Act, which is the primary law governing fisheries around the country, is currently undergoing reauthorization by Congress. Unfortunately, a very vocal segment of the recreational fishing sector is pushing for exemptions to conservation requirements.

Read the full editorial at the Anchorage Daily News

 

Trump team may have broken law to score red snapper win

December 19, 2017 — The Trump administration scored last week when a House panel voted to give Gulf of Mexico states more power in managing the popular red snapper, but court records suggest it may be a tainted victory.

Internal memos show that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and a top adviser may have knowingly violated federal fisheries law in June when they extended the Gulf red snapper season, hoping the move would pressure Congress to act.

In a June 1 memo, Earl Comstock, the Commerce Department’s director of policy and strategic planning, told Ross that a longer season “would result in overfishing” of the stock by as much as 40 percent and possibly prompt a lawsuit.

But Comstock urged Ross to extend the season anyway, saying it could lead to “a significant achievement” by forcing Congress to liberalize the federal law and transfer more authority to Gulf states.

“It would allow a reset in the acrimonious relationship and set the stage for Congress to adopt a long-term fix,” Comstock told Ross.

Comstock followed up with a second memo on June 7, reminding his boss that both the White House and a dozen congressmen from Gulf states had asked Ross to explore the possibility of a longer fishing season.

The next week, Ross decided to extend the season from three to 42 days, much to the joy of recreational anglers in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (Greenwire, Sept. 20).

Critics say the memos offer proof that Commerce and NOAA Fisheries plotted to bypass the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 1976 law that sets quotas as a way to rebuild overfished stocks, including the red snapper.

“I appreciate it when people are transparent about their intentions,” said Janis Searles Jones, the CEO of Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental group.

Commerce made the memos public as part of its response to a lawsuit filed in July in U.S. District Court in Washington by Ocean Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund. The complaint accuses Ross, NOAA and NOAA Fisheries of mismanagement by allowing overfishing.

Read the full story at E&E News

 

US seafood industry, ocean groups in unison against red snapper bill

December 19, 2017 — The National Fisheries Institute and ocean conservation groups don’t always see eye to eye on legislation, but they do with regard to HR 3588, the Red Snapper Act, which has been advanced by the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources.

They are both against it.

The bill, which the panel approved by a 22-16 vote following a brief markup hearing on Wednesday, along with two amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, would transfer management of the red snapper recreational fishery in the Gulf of Mexico from a federal fisheries management council to several gulf states, including Louisiana. Representative Garrett Graves, who introduced the bill, represents the Republican districts of northern Terrebonne and Lafourche, in Louisiana.

Graves’ bill must still get to the House floor for a vote. And its companion bill, S. 1686, introduced in August by Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, also a Republican, in the upper chamber’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has just two co-sponsors (Republicans John Kennedy, also from Louisiana, and Luther Strange, from Alabama).

But the recreational fishing industry is excited.

“The need to update our nation’s fisheries management system to ensure the conservation of our public marine resources and reasonable public access to those resources is abundantly clear. We look forward to the full House consideration of the bill,” said Patrick Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association, one of the nation’s largest sport fishing groups, in a written statement following the vote.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Sean Horgan: House bill gives fishermen glimmer of hope

December 18, 2017 — From a literary standpoint, there really isn’t much to say about the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The plot is murky, the characters non-existent and the writing so dense and boring that you’d swear it was written by some Beltway wonks.

Oh wait, it was. Perhaps the movie will be better. Or even the re-authorized version.

Following five years of stultifying futility, Congress finally seems on the threshold of formally re-authorizing the law that governs the management of our nation’s federal fisheries.

Last Wednesday, the House Natural Resources Committee voted H.R. 200 (or if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act) out of committee, setting the stage for a vote by the full House and, somewhere down the road, a clash with the Senate over whatever bill comes from the upper chamber.

But for now, the House bill has given commercial fishermen at least a glimmer of hope that their cries have carried from the wilderness and now are resonating in the halls of Congress.

The key word in all of this is flexibility.

Read the full column at the Gloucester Times

Red snapper measures advance in Congress

December 14, 2017 — Measures that will impact how much red snapper recreational fishermen will be able to catch in the Gulf of Mexico advanced today in Congress.

Proponents, including recreational fishing groups and Louisiana lawmakers, say the two bills approved by the House Natural Resources Committee would eliminate overly restrictive catch limits and unnecessarily short seasons for red snapper. The measures would give Gulf states more authority to regulate the popular species off their coasts.

Environmental and conservation groups counter that the measures will hamper efforts to help red snapper rebound from years of severe overfishing.

U.S. Rep. Garrett Graves, R-Baton Rouge, whose district includes northern Terrebonne and Lafourche, sponsored one of the bills and helped craft the other.

“As the stock has rebuilt, recreational anglers have unfairly seen fewer and fewer fishing days,” Graves said in introducing the Red Snapper Act of 2017 this summer. “Something has to change. It is time to replace the status quo with a management system that more accurately reflects today’s red snapper private recreational fishery.”

Read the full story at the Daily Comet

 

Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill advances in US House

December 14, 2017 — By a 22-16 vote on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources advanced HR 200, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, legislation introduced by representative Donald Young, an Alaska Republican.

The bill was one of 15 scheduled for markup Tuesday and Wednesday by the panel.

With just days to go before Congress breaks for the holidays, the bill to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act so far has not received much attention in the Senate. Chances are strong that the debate over the measure will continue well into 2018.

However, that didn’t stop the ocean conservation group Oceana from responding, issuing a statement that warned HR 200 “would weaken science-based conservation of U.S. fish populations and increase the risk of overfishing by removing annual catch limits for many species”.

Oceana campaign director Lora Snyder called the vote “a slap in the face to anyone who cares about ensuring the health of our nation’s fisheries, instead jeopardizing decades of progress in ocean conservation. … [It]  would roll back decades of progress, leading us back down the path to oceans empty of fish and fishermen losing their livelihoods.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

House Natural Resources Committee Passes Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization

December 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed H.R. 200, the “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.” Introduced by Chairman Emeritus Don Young (R-AK), the bill reauthorizes and modernizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act by implementing regional flexibility, tailored management practices and improved data collection for America’s federal fisheries.

“It has been 11 years since the Magnuson-Stevens Act was reauthorized and when we first passed this law, we saw tremendous success for the fisheries nationwide. Alaska is considered the gold standard of fisheries management and this industry is crucial to our local economy. I am proud to see my bill pass out of Committee today. This legislation will improve the management process by allowing regional fisheries to develop plans that match the needs of their area. Ultimately, this bill updates the Magnuson-Stevens Act to ensure a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen and coastal communities,” Rep. Young stated. 

“America’s fisheries are governed by an outdated regulatory scheme and inflexible decrees imposed by distant bureaucrats. Fishermen and biologists on the ground should be partners in the formation of management plans, not powerless onlookers,” Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) said. “This bill provides flexibility so we can better meet local needs, expand economic activity and conserve ecosystems. Rep. Young has delivered a win for local management and I look forward to moving this bill through the chambers in the coming year.” 

Click here to learn more about the bill.

The following was released by the Democrats of the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the broad-based economic and environmental opposition to H.R. 200, today’s highly partisan rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fisheries and fishing quotas across U.S. waters. The GOP bill is opposed by the Seafood Harvesters of America and a wide swathe of restaurants and individual commercial fisherman and by dozens of environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Audubon Society, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Ocean Conservancy and the Wilderness Society.

Opponents of the Republican bill have written a barrage of letters to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and other Republican leaders, including Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who chairs the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, urging them to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act and abandon today’s bill, which was written by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on highly partisan lines. The letters are available at http://bit.ly/2nYuEin.

“Republicans’ plan is to deregulate our oceans and fish everywhere until there’s nothing left, and we’re not going to let that happen,” Grijalva said today. “Ocean management is about sustainable use and enjoyment, not just making environmentalists unhappy. Like most of the bills advanced by the leadership of this Committee, this bill is extreme and has no future in the Senate. Until my counterparts decide to take the issues in our jurisdiction more seriously, we’re going to keep wasting time on unpopular bills that have no chance of becoming law.”

Grijalva also underscored the deep opposition to H.R. 3588, Rep. Garret Graves’ (R-La.) bill deregulating red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Many letter-writers who oppose H.R. 200 also oppose Graves’ effort, which an alliance of chefs and restaurateurs noted in a Nov. 7 letter “could inadvertently result in significant overfishing and deprive our customers of one of their favorite fish.”

 

Future Of Northeast Marine National Monument Protections Still Uncertain

December 7, 2017 — Protections of a marine national monument made up of underwater mountains and canyons 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod could be at risk after President Donald Trump significantly scaled back the boundaries of two national monuments in Utah Monday – the biggest reduction of monument protections in U.S. history.

On Tuesday, U.S. Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke officially released his review of the designations of 27 national monuments, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean.

The three-million-acre monument was designated in September 2016 by former-president Barrack Obama under authority granted by the 1906 Antiquities Act. Since then, commercial fishing, with the exception of lobster and red crab fishing, has been banned within the monuments boundaries.

Read the full story at RI NPR

 

Zinke urges commercial fishing in 3 protected areas

December 7, 2017 — Much of the attention to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s review of national monuments has focused on sites across the West, but recommendations he made to President Trump show that a trio of marine monuments could also see significant changes.

In a report Interior released yesterday, Zinke advised that commercial fishing be introduced to three ocean sites: Rose Atoll, Pacific Remote Islands, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts marine national monuments.

Advocates for fishermen cheered the recommendations, asserting the restrictions had created an “economic burden” for their industry.

“The marine monument designation process may have been well intended, but it has simply lacked a comparable level of industry input, scientific rigor, and deliberation,” said New Bedford, Mass., Mayor Jon Mitchell in a statement released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities.

He added: “That is why I think hitting the reset button ought to be welcomed no matter where one stands in the current fisheries debates, because the end result will be better policy and better outcomes.”

In the report, Zinke criticized restrictions on commercial fishing in the three monuments, discounting the industry’s impact on areas such as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts near the Massachusetts coast.

Read the full story at E&E News