Saving Seafood

NEMFC Undertakes Independent Review to Assess Past Performance and Solicit Suggestions for Improvement

November 2, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is launching an independent “program review” and is asking stakeholders who interact with the Council to participate in the undertaking.

“Like every organization, the Council can benefit from periodically reviewing how it does business,” said Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn, Director of Public Interest Law Programs at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. “That’s why we initiated an external review of our operations. We want to know three things: what we’re doing right; what we’re doing wrong; and how we can improve the way we serve the people who are involved in our fisheries and the public overall.”

Stakeholder input is being solicited through two primary avenues: (1) a short online survey; and (2) 14 port meetings from Maine to New Jersey, coupled with a webinar option for anyone who can’t attend an in person meeting or who wants to contribute additional comments. For a list of meeting times and locations click here.

The online survey, which shouldn’t take more than 15-to-20 minutes to complete, is designed to obtain feedback about Council communications and the ability to participate in the Council process. The survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NEFMC_Review_Stakeholder_Survey.

Council Chairman Quinn said, “I encourage everyone to take advantage of the two available options. Fill out the online survey and attend a port meeting. We need both forms of stakeholder input.”

Stakeholder input will be confidential. Specific statements, ideas, and perspectives will not be attributed to individuals. Comments and suggestions will be summarized based on themes, fishery, and/or geography as appropriate, and a report will be prepared for the review panel. The final report will be available to the public and posted on the Council’s program review webpage at https://www.nefmc.org/library/council-program-review.

WHO’S IN CHARGE OF THE EXTERNAL REVIEW

The Council Program Review will be conducted by an external panel of managers and scientists from other regions and/or international fisheries entities who have a strong understanding of U.S. federal fisheries management but no recent involvement or affiliation with the New England Council. The review panel will meet for one week in early 2018 to discuss Council operations and carry out the Terms of Reference for the review. The meeting will be open to the public. The Council has enlisted the help of two contractors to support this review process as follows:

Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum – The Fisheries Forum (http://www.fisheriesforum.org) will gather input from all stakeholders through the port meetings, webinar, and online survey and provide a summary to the review panel. Tidal Bay Consulting – Tidal Bay (https://www.tidalbayconsulting.com) will compile background documents for the review panel, provide support for the review meeting itself, and prepare the panel’s final report. Additional materials related to this external review, including a Stakeholder Frequently Asked Questions document and the Terms of Reference for the external review panel, are available at: https://www.nefmc.org/library/council-program-review

The New England Fishery Management Council’s members come from the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Council manages 29 species under nine Fishery Management Plans and addresses habitat/coral protection across all plans. The Council also is working on ecosystem-based fishery management.

For more information visit their site here.

 

NOAA: Fewer fish landed in 2016 but higher value

November 1, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — Mirroring a national trend, the port of Gloucester in 2016 landed fewer fish than the previous year, even as the value of those fish rose by double digits, according to the annual state of the U.S. fisheries report released on Wednesday.

America’s oldest commercial seaport ranked 15th among the nation’s ports with 63 million pounds of fish landed, a decrease of 5 million pounds, or 7.3 percent, from 2015. But the city’s waterfront ranked 18th in the value of its landings, which increased 18 percent to $52 million in 2016 from $44 million in the previous year.

The Gloucester fishing experience in 2016 reflected a national trend. Throughout the United States, commercial landings of edible and industrial seafood was down 145.6 million pounds, or 1.5 percent, to 9.6 billion pounds. The value of those landings, however, rose 2.1 percent to $5.3 billion.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times 

 

Under threat of lawsuit, Maine lobstermen say Canada is failing to protect right whales

November 1, 2017 — A record number of right whale killings this summer has put environmental groups on the offensive, potentially leading to stricter regulations for Maine lobstermen, even as most of the animals turn up dead in Canadian waters.

A group of environmental organizations has notified federal officials they intend to sue if regulatory agencies fail to better protect the endangered species, following what’s believed to be one of the deadliest summers for North Atlantic right whales in centuries.

Maine lobstermen fear that a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service could result in more costly restrictions on how they fish, even though none of the 16 right whale deaths have been directly linked to the American lobster fishery. Twelve of the whale deaths occurred in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where that country’s snow crab fishery has been cited by experts as a likely factor in several of the deaths.

The remaining four were found off Cape Cod.

With this year’s deaths, the total population of North Atlantic right whales is estimated at fewer than 450.

Early this month, the four environmental organizations sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chris Oliver, head of the federal fisheries service, saying that federal regulators are violating the Endangered Species Act by not doing more to protect North Atlantic right whales. The groups specifically called on regulators to determine whether additional restrictions should be placed on the American lobster fishery in order to prevent whales from getting entangled in lobster gear.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

New England’s herring fishery to shut for 2 weeks

The closure will allow the fish to spawn.

October 30, 2017 — Part of the New England herring fishery will be shut down for two weeks to allow the fish to spawn.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says samples from Massachusetts and New Hampshire show a high number of spawning herring in the area. That means a stretch of coast and ocean from Cape Cod to southern Maine will close from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

No salmon return to Canada river, bringing New England fears

October 30, 2017 — A conservation group’s discovery that no wild Atlantic salmon have returned to a key river in New Brunswick is prompting concern for the fish’s population health in the U.S. and eastern Canada.

The New Brunswick-based Atlantic Salmon Federation has been monitoring the Magaguadavic River for the Canadian government since 1992. The group says this year is the first time since then that no wild salmon have returned to the river to spawn.

Atlantic salmon were once abundant in rivers of New England and eastern Canada, but they’re now endangered or have disappeared in parts of both areas. The U.S.’s National Marine Fisheries Service is in the midst of reviewing the Gulf of Maine’s population, which is listed endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

About 900 wild salmon entered the river to spawn in 1983, and the fact that none returned this year is bad news for the fish’s population in Maine and Canada, said Neville Crabbe, spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

“It means for the Magaguadavic River, whatever wild salmon that existed there are now extinct,” Crabbe said. “It affects the good work being done on all the rivers.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

How many horseshoe crabs? Regulators want to find out

October 27, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishery regulators will soon begin work on a new effort to get a handle on the population health of horseshoe crabs on the East Coast.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says its assessment of the horseshoe crab stock will begin this month.

Horseshoe crabs are economically important in part because of their role in medicine. They are harvested for their blue blood, which is used to make sure medical products aren’t contaminated. Horseshoe crab blood contains a chemical that is used to detect bacteria.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Post

 

Sturgeon not surging, but population slowly improves

October 29, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The Atlantic sturgeon’s population remains depleted along the East Coast, but appears to be slowly recovering.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says a stock assessment indicates the population is still very low compared to its historical abundance. But the commission also says the population has made some strides since the implementation of a complete fishing moratorium in 1998.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot 

 

Seafood fans hope for return of Maine shrimp in 2018

October 28, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Seafood lovers might see the return of Maine shrimp to fish market counters and restaurants next year if interstate regulators decide the critter’s population is strong enough.

The Maine shrimp fishery has been shut down since 2013, and a moratorium has been extended every year since. The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has said the shrimp are “considered at record low levels,” suffering from poor reproduction and warming oceans.

An arm of the commission is set to vote on Nov. 29 on whether the shrimp have recovered enough to withstand the return of commercial fishing. They were a popular winter seafood item in New England and beyond before the shutdown.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe 

 

Maine man gets 2 years in federal prison for trafficking in baby eels

October 26, 2017 — A Waldoboro man has been sentenced in federal court to serve two years in prison for his role in an East Coast scheme that trafficked in millions of dollars in poached baby eels.

Richard D. Austin, 40, pleaded guilty in April to violating the federal Lacey Act by trafficking in baby eels, or elvers. He was accused of illegally harvesting roughly $190,000 worth of elvers in Massachusetts and Virginia from 2013 to 2015 and of selling the poached elvers to dealers in Illinois and New York.

Austin is the first to be sentenced to prison time of 18 men charged as a result of the so-called “Operation Broken Glass” federal investigation. All 18 men have pleaded guilty in the scheme but only five have been sentenced so far.

Appearing Wednesday in a federal courtroom in Norfolk, Virginia, Austin was ordered to report to federal officials to begin serving his sentence on Dec. 11 at a prison not yet selected. He also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term. He was ordered to pay a special assessment off $100 but was not ordered to pay any fines or restitution.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

The Atlantic Herring Area fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in parts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire

October 26, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire.

Samples from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area indicate a significant number of spawning herring, defined as 25% or more mature herring by number in a sample that have yet to spawn. As a result, the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area will re-close for two additional weeks, starting at 12:00 a.m. on October 29, 2017 and extending through 11:59 p.m. on November 11, 2017. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area during this time 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 Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area.

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.

For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

To learn more visit their website at asmfc.org.