Saving Seafood

Menhaden management up for debate

November 15th, 2016 — Interstate fishing managers are hosting public hearings about the future of the menhaden fishery, which they say is in good shape.

Atlantic menhaden, or or pogies, are small fish that swim in large schools and represent a key piece of the ocean’s food chain. They are also fished commercially all along the East Coast, in part because of their use as a dietary supplement and for use as bait. 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says menhaden are not being overfished and their reproduction is good. The commission is holding a series of hearings about the way it regulates the fishery.

Fishermen typically catch more than 500,000 tons of the fish every year. The fishery was worth more than $114 million in 2014. The largest fisheries are in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The hearings are set to take place between Nov. 30 and Dec. 20 in cities from Florida to Maine. Regulators are seeking input from fishermen and other stakeholders about how the fishery is managed.

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

Could Trump undo New England national monuments?

November 14, 2016 — Opponents of new national monuments in Maine’s North Woods and off coastal New England are asking whether Donald Trump could reverse those decisions as part of his campaign pledge to overturn President Obama’s executive orders.

Although preliminary, the discussions illustrate how Trump’s election is already affecting debate on conservation and environmental issues.

President-elect Trump vowed repeatedly during his campaign to repeal the Obama policies he viewed as executive overreach. Trump often made those comments in relation to issues such as immigration, foreign policy or environmental regulation.

Fishermen opposed to Obama’s designation of nearly 5,000 square miles of underwater ecosystem off the coast of southern New England – known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument – also are exploring their options, whether through Trump or the Republican-controlled Congress.

“In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s election, I would say there is a lot of talk about what can be done,” said Robert Vanasse, executive director of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities, which represents fishing organizations and businesses. Vanasse classified the discussions as “informal conversations,” but added: “Clearly the companies and fishermen that have been economically damaged by the actions of the Obama administration are thinking about what in this new (political) environment – president, House and Senate – might be possible.”

Obama designated Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument on Sept. 15, protecting an underwater mountain range that is home to many rare and endangered species.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Heritage Center Launches Exhibit Series

November 14, 2016 — The following was released by the Fishing Heritage Center:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of New England Fishermen: The Photography of Markham Starr, the first in a series of changing exhibits.  An opening reception will take place on Friday, November 18th at 8 p.m. The Center is wheelchair accessible and located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford. Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the Center.  This first exhibit will be on display through January 17th.

The commercial fishing industry in New England has long been an economic mainstay of the region, but has struggled for its very survival over the past two decades. Fearing the loss of yet another traditional working culture, Markham Starr began going to sea to photograph commercial fishermen from ports such as Point Judith, Rhode Island, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Corea, Maine. His black and white images attempt to place today’s fishermen within the context of the long history of commercial fishing in New England, and preserve something of this important working culture for future generations.

Starr’s work has been translated into a dozen books and has been featured in magazines such as LensWork, The Sun, Vermont Magazine, and Rhode Island Monthly, and won a 2013 national magazine award for the best photographic essay for Yankee Magazine. The photographs from his major projects have been selected for inclusion in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress.

For more information, please contact the Fishing Heritage Center at: info@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.

Season for Maine shrimp closed for fourth winter

November 14th, 2016 — As expected, the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission will close the Gulf of Maine to shrimping in 2017 for the fourth consecutive season.

The ASMFC’s shrimp section, the panel responsible for setting the northern shrimp regulations, voted to extend the closure throughout 2017 and to establish a 53-ton research set-aside that effectively will produce the only shrimp harvested in the next year from the Gulf of Maine.

The shrimp section decision to shutter the beleagured fishery for a fourth consecutive season because of the vastly imperiled state of the northern shrimp stock follows the earlier recommendation of its northern shrimp technical committee.

 The technical committee based its recommendation on its survey of the 2016 northern shrimp stock that showed northern shrimp remain in critical condition, with historic lows in biomass, spawning and recruitment.

“Abundance and biomass indices for 2012-2016 are the lowest on record of the 33-year time series,” according to the technical committee’s summary of the stock assessment. “Current harvestable biomass is almost entirely composed of the 2013 year class. Recruits from the 2015 and 2016 year classes are not expected to reach exploitable size until 2018 and 2019, respectively.”

Tina Berger, ASMFC spokeswoman, said representatives from Maine offered a motion for a directed, albeit limited, fishery rather than an extension of the moratorium into the fourth season, but that was struck down due to the continuing depleted state of the stock.

 The 53-ton research set-aside more than doubles the 2016 RSA of 22 metric tons.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

Maine Lobstermen to Join in Shrimp Research Project

November 11th, 2016 — As the commission that regulates Atlantic fisheries is due to vote on whether to keep the shrimp fishery open for another year because of population concerns, a research project at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute is looking to get some real numbers about those populations.

The institute is sending Maine lobstermen out with acoustic equipment that will help them learn where the shrimp are congregating over the winter, and where they lay their eggs.

Adam Baukus, a research associate at GMRI, says using sound allows researchers to cover a lot more ground. “The sampling is being done in areas that haven’t been surveyed in the past, but in the future fisheries managers may use the results to figure out whether it’s time to reopen the shrimp fishery.”

It’s been closed since a population collapse during the 2013 fishing season that’s thought to be related to warming ocean temperatures.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio 

Maine’s depleted shrimp fishery to remain closed for another season

November 11th, 2016 — The Maine shrimp fishery will remain closed in 2017, but the amount that shrimpers can take during scientific surveys and then sell has more than doubled.

Interstate fishery managers at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to keep the shrimping moratorium in effect for the 2017 season on the advice of its science advisers. The popular winter seafood had been a favorite throughout New England before the population collapsed in 2013 despite several years of increasingly stringent fishing restrictions, such as trip and trap limits, and smaller landings.

The increase in the amount of shrimp that can be hauled for research work will mean this hard-to-get regional delicacy will once again be available over the winter, albeit in very limited batches, which will probably delight restaurateurs who like to serve up this sweet, pink protein in a saute, a skillet or a salad. Buyers paid a record $4 a pound for Maine shrimp at a research set-aside auction at the Portland Fish Exchange in 2015.

Scientists say the status of the small crustacean “continues to be critically poor” with the stock’s overall numbers, including the shrimp that can be harvested and could spawn new generations, at unprecedented lows for five consecutive years, according to the latest shrimp stock assessment report.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald 

Moratorium on Northern Shrimp Commercial Fishing Maintained for 2017 Season

November 11th, 2016 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

In response to the depleted condition of the northern shrimp resource, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section extended the moratorium on commercial fishing for the 2017 fishing season. The Section also approved a 53 metric ton (mt) research set aside (RSA) to allow for the continued collection of much needed biological data.

The 2016 Stock Status Report for Gulf of Maine (GOM) Northern Shrimp indicates abundance and biomass indices for 2012–2016 are the lowest on record of the thirty-three year time series. Recruitment indices for the 2010–2015 year classes are also poor and include the three smallest year classes on record. As a result, the 2012–2016 indices of harvestable biomass are the lowest on record. Current harvestable biomass is almost entirely composed of the 2013 year class. 

“By increasing the 2017 RSA, which is above last year’s 22 mt quota and that recommended by the Technical Committee for 2017 (13.6 mt), the Section sought to strike a balance between providing limited fishing opportunities to the industry while collecting valuable data to allow for the continued monitoring of the northern shrimp resource,” stated Section Chair Dennis Abbott of New Hampshire. 

Recruitment of northern shrimp is related to both spawning biomass and ocean temperatures, with higher spawning biomass and colder temperatures producing stronger recruitment. Ocean temperatures in western GOM shrimp habitat have increased over the past decade and reached unprecedented highs within the past several years. This suggests an increasingly inhospitable environment for northern shrimp and the need for strong conservation efforts to help restore and maintain a fishable stock. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee considers the stock to be in poor condition with limited prospects for the near future. The 2016 Stock Status Report is available at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5823782c2016NorthernShrimpAssessment.pdf. 

To maintain the time series of data collected from northern shrimp commercial fishery catches, a cooperative winter sampling program was approved with a 53 mt RSA quota. This program allows for the continued collection of biological data (e.g. size composition, egg hatch timing) from GOM northern shrimp fishery catches in the absence of a directed fishery.  The RSA will include the participation of 10 trawlers (8 Maine trawlers, 1 Massachusetts trawler, and 1 New Hampshire trawler) and 5 trap fishermen, fishing for 8 weeks from mid-January to mid-March. The trawlers will have a maximum trip limit of 1,200 pounds per trip, with 1 trip per week, while the trappers will have a maximum possession limit of 500 pounds per week, with a 40 trap limit per vessel. Preference will be given to individuals in the lottery with double Nordmore grates and having history prior to the June 7, 2011 control date.

For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.             

###

———-

Tina Berger

Director of Communications

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N

Arlington, VA 22201

The shortest route between Maine and Japan: scallops

November 10th, 2016 — Last month, lobstermen Marsden Brewer and his son, Bobby, joined a delegation of Maine fishermen and aquaculturists on a visit to Aomori on the northern coast of Japan’s major island to learn about the latest techniques for cultivating scallops.

Among their hosts was Hiroaki Sugiyama, an inventor and manufacturer of high-tech machinery used in Japan’s enormous scallop aquaculture industry.

On Monday, the Brewers returned the favor. Sugiyama arrived in the U.S. Sunday night for a four-day visit to learn about what is happening in Maine’s nascent scallop aquaculture industry. After a stop at a newly-formed aquaculture cooperative in Spruce Head, and a boat ride to visit an experimental scallop growing operation, Sugiyama and his Maine hosts traveled to Stonington for more talk about scallop aquaculture, and a terrific lunch, hosted by Marsden and Donna Brewer at their Red Barn Farm.

Brewer first travelled to Aomori in 1999 as a member of a study mission organized by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center. Including fishermen, scientists and representatives of the University of Maine Sea Grant program, the group visited Mutsu Bay in Aomori Prefecture where the Japanese scallop is intensively cultivated both on longlines and on the seabed.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

Sound technology helping scientists assess health of Maine shrimp population

November 10th, 2016 — This winter, a small fleet of Maine fishermen will head out to hunt for northern shrimp, even though the fishery itself has been closed for three years.

 They won’t be landing the New England delicacy so it can be eaten. The fishermen will use acoustic transducers, and a few nets and traps, to help the Gulf of Maine Research Institute learn where these small pink crustaceans congregate in our near-shore waters over the winter, where they lay their eggs. Using sound waves to survey a species as small as shrimp is a new challenge for scientists.

“We have found low-frequency sound waves are good at detecting big fish, like cod, and high frequencies are good at detecting small organisms like shrimp,” said research associate Adam Baukus of GMRI. “The technology allows us to cover a lot more of the ocean than we can with trawls or traps alone. With sound, we can do 40 miles at a time. … Traditional (trawl) surveys are lucky to cover a quarter mile.”

To collect the data, GMRI has outfitted 10 lobster boats with echosounders, high-tech fish finders, to conduct monthly surveys of near-shore waters from Kittery to Cutler in January, February and March, which is the height of what used to be a $70 million fishing season. The lobstermen, who receive small stipends to cover fuel costs, will survey the same 40-mile-long stretch of water each time.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

Maine’s shrimp fishery to remain shut down in 2017

November 10, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — New England’s shuttered shrimp fishery will not be allowed to reopen this winter.

An arm of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided on Thursday that it will keep the fishery closed because of concerns about poor reproduction in a warming ocean.

The fishery has been shut down since 2013. It was mostly based in Maine when it was open, though some fishermen brought the shrimp ashore in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WLNE