Saving Seafood

Navy’s new Zumwalt destroyer rescues ailing fishing boat captain off Portland

December 12, 2015 — The Navy’s new stealth destroyer endured a real life-and-death test Saturday when crew members aboard the future USS Zumwalt helped rescue a Maine fisherman suffering a medical emergency at sea.

The Zumwalt, a 600-foot-long guided missile destroyer built at Bath Iron Works, was conducting sea trials early Saturday morning when the U.S. Coast Guard requested assistance from any boats in the vicinity of the fishing vessel Danny Boy, located about 40 nautical miles southeast of Portland at 3 a.m. The captain of the Portland-based Danny Boy, 46-year-old Dale Sparrow, was experiencing chest pains, but a Coast Guard helicopter crew determined it was too dangerous to try to hoist the captain because of the 45-foot boat’s deck configuration.

The Zumwalt responded to the scene and launched an 11-meter “rigid hull inflatable boat” – the type used by Navy SEALs and other special forces – to bring Sparrow on board the destroyer.

“After medical evaluation, the patient was transferred from Zumwalt to a Coast Guard helicopter and then to an area hospital,” a Navy spokeswoman, Capt. Thurraya Kent, said in a statement Saturday night. The Coast Guard said Sparrow was flown to Portland International Jetport and then taken to Maine Medical Center.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

 

AUDIO: Cause of Action & Plaintiffs Discuss At-Sea Monitoring Lawsuit

December 10, 2015 (Saving Seafood) — This afternoon, Cause of Action, a government accountability organization “committed to ensuring that decisions made by federal agencies are open, honest, and fair,” held a media call with David Goethel and John Haran, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Commerce to overturn the Department’s decision to have the commercial fishing industry pay for the cost of at-sea monitoring.

According to Cause of Action, “a large majority” of the commercial fishing operations in New England “will be forced to shut down if the government forces those who fish for cod, flounder and other ‘ground fish’ to pay out of pocket for at-sea monitoring, a program the government has traditionally funded.” The industry is expected to begin paying for the cost of at-sea monitors sometime in 2016.

According to Cause of Action, NOAA estimates that up to 60 percent of the groundfish fleet will be unable to afford the cost of at-sea monitoring. Among other reasons for the challenge, Cause of Action noted that “Congress has directed NOAA to use its appropriated funding to cover the cost of these at-sea monitors,” and “NOAA is specifically required by statute to implement regulations that allow fishing communities sustainable prosperity and ‘minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.'”

Listen to the call here

 

MAINE: Legislature to consider fisheries bills on “emergency” basis

December 9, 2015 — The Legislature will take up bills dealing with the lobster and elver fisheries when it returns to work next month, but new licensing rules for the scallop industry will likely have to wait.

Last month, the Legislative Council approved two bills proposed by Rep. Walter Kumiega (D-Deer Isle) for consideration by the full Legislature when it returns to work in January. The council has to green-light any new bills that lawmakers want to introduce during the Legislature’s second session.

Kumiega, House chairman of the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee, will offer a bill that would, he said, “provide increased flexibility and promote maximum utilization of the elver quota by Maine’s elver harvesters,” if enacted.

Current law calls for a 48-hour fishing closure each week to provide an opportunity for juvenile eels to pass upstream on their seasonal journey from the sea to their spawning areas in Maine’s streams, lakes and ponds. The closed period is now set by statute and runs from Friday at noon to Sunday at noon. Kumiega’s bill would give DMR flexibility to set the 48-hour weekly closed period by rule prior to the start of the season based on the timing of the tidal cycle.

DMR would consult with industry members to determine which weekly 48-hour period would have the least impact on harvesting opportunity by setting the closed period when the tides are the least advantageous to harvesting.

The high price of elvers in recent years has made the fishery second only to lobster in terms of the value of the fishery in Maine.

Read the full story from The Ellsworth American

Warmer waters affecting the New England fishing industry

December 9, 2015 — A new study has found the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost every other ocean in the world. For the first time, it links warming sea temperatures to the collapse of cod stocks in the region.

For Portland’s fishing community, the first hours of daylight are the most important. At the town’s fish exchange, boats rush to unload their catch, ready to be sorted, and sold.

They are not just working against time.

Today’s landing at the Portland fish exchange was about 40,000 pounds worth. That’s not considered very much. Out of that, just seven boxes worth of cod; that’s about 500 pounds.”

Cod stocks have been declining here for decades. Federal quotas were slashed by 75 percent back in May, to help the species recover.

Now a new study suggests that intervention may have been too late.

Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute says, “You assume that if you pull back on the fishing, the stock will have the same productivity that it had in the past.  But our work really shows that the productivity in Gulf of Maine cod was declining pretty rapidly as the waters were getting warm and so by not factoring that in they weren’t able to rein in the quotas fast enough.”

Read the full story from CNN at WWLP

 

Regulators to decide whether to keep Maine shrimp ban

December 7, 2015 — PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire – Fishing regulators are ready to decide if a moratorium on fishing for Maine shrimp will be extended into next year.

Fishermen haven’t been able to catch the shrimp since 2013. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section is scheduled to meet on Monday in Portsmouth to decide if that will continue.

The commission’s Northern Shrimp Technical Committee says prospects for shrimp recovery are poor for the near future. It is asking the Northern Shrimp Section to extend the moratorium.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Fishermen say lack of moorings could disrupt Maine scallops

December 5, 2015 — Fishermen in Maine’s lucrative scallop fishery say this year’s season could be disrupted somewhat by a lack of mooring space in one of the state’s most important fishing grounds.

Maine scallops were worth nearly $7.5 million in 2014 – the most in more than 20 years and by far the most since the industry recovered from a near-collapse in the mid-2000s. The richest scallop fishing grounds in the state are in Cobscook Bay on the northeastern coast, an area that fishermen said suffers from a lack of places to tie boats this year.

The collapse of the Eastport breakwater, which also damaged docked scalloping boats, contributed to the lack of space, scallop fisherman Alex Todd said. The loss of space in Eastport led to residual lack of moorings in nearby communities, he said.

However, Todd said he still expects a productive season, as Maine scallops have sold for high prices in recent years. The scallops, which are prized in the culinary world, sold for nearly $13 per pound at the dock last year, slightly edging the much larger Massachusetts fleet for the highest price per pound among states with a significant scallop fishery.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

New England States Schedule Hearings on the Public Hearing Document for Draft Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Herring FMP

December 4, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

New England states of Maine through Massachusetts have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on the Public Hearing Document for Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled hearings follow. 

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Wednesday, January 6th at 1 p.m.

Marquardt Building

Conference Room 118

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, ME

Contact: Terry Stockwell at 207.624.6553

New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game

Tuesday, January 5th at 7 p.m.

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, NH

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

Tuesday, January 5th at 2 p.m.

Annisquam River Station

30 Emerson Avenue

Gloucester, MA

Contact: David Pierce at 617.626.1532

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Monday, January 4th from 6 – 9 PM

University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corless Auditorium

South Ferry Road

Narragansett, RI

Contact: John Lake at 401.423.1942

 

Draft Amendment 3 was initiated to propose management measures in Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) which reflect changes in the stock structure, integrate recent data into management decisions, and respond to changes in the fishery. The Public Hearing Document proposes (1) alternatives to the spawning monitoring program (protocol, default start dates, area boundaries, and length of the closure period); (2) removing the fixed gear set‐aside rollover provision, and (3) requiring a vessel’s fish hold to be emptied before leaving on a fishing trip.

Today’s rebuilt herring population is comprised of a broader range of age classes with older and larger fish compared to the population during overfished conditions. Analysis of more than a decade’s worth of data suggests larger herring spawn first and the timing of the start of spawning varies from year-to-year. Proposed alternatives to the current spawning monitoring program address inter-annual differences and provide additional measures to more adequately protect spawning fish in the areas where they spawn.

At the request of the fishing industry, the Public Hearing Document includes an option to adjust the fixed gear set-aside rollover provision. Currently, the set-aside of 295 mt is available to fixed gear fishermen through November 1, after which the remaining set-aside becomes available to the rest of the Area 1A fishery. The November 1 date was set because, typically, herring have migrated out of the Gulf of Maine by that time. Anecdotal evidence suggests herring are in the Gulf of Maine after November 1, therefore, fixed gear fishermen requested the set-aside be made available to them for the remainder of the calendar year.

Members of industry also suggested a requirement for fish holds to be empty of fish prior to trip departures. This provision would allow for full accountability and encourage less wasteful fishing practices by creating an incentive to catch herring which meet market demands. The New England Fishery Management Council included a complementary provision in its Framework Adjustment 4 to the Federal Atlantic Herring FMP.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Public Hearing Document either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The document is available here and can also be accessed on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on January 20, 2015 and should be forwarded to Ashton Harp, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at aharp@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Amendment 3). For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, at aharp@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

New England fleet could see haddock quota double

December 4, 2015 — The annual catch limits for Gulf of Maine cod will increase slightly in 2016, while the quota for haddock will more than double if recommendations passed this week by the New England Fishery Management Council are approved by NOAA Fisheries.

One year after slashing total cod quotas by more than 75 percent to 386 metric tons, the council voted at its three-day meeting in Portland, Maine, to raise the total cod annual catch limit (ACL) to about 440 metric tons, with 280 metric tons designated for the commercial fishing industry in each of the next three fishing seasons.

The commercial industry’s Gulf of Maine cod ACL this year is 207 metric tons.

“It’s a slight increase and of course that’s always good,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “But it doesn’t come close to reflecting what fishermen — commercial and recreational — are seeing on the water and it’s certainly nothing that’s going to sustain the fishery.”

The council voted to increase the commercial quota for Gulf of Maine haddock in 2016 to 2,416 metric tons from the current 958 metric tons, or an increase of 152 percent.

“Haddock is going up substantially, like through the roof,” Odell said.

The news was not good on Cape Cod and Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder, with the commercial ACL falling 26 percent in 2016 to 341 metric tons, and witch flounder, which will have a 50 percent decrease in its 2016 ACL to 302 metric tons from the current 620 metric tons.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

Fishing managers to revisit collapsed cod stock, quotas

December 2, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fishing managers are recommending a shift in the amount of fish New England’s beleaguered cod fishermen can catch for the next few years.

The New England Fishery Management Council is meeting on Wednesday to consider quotas for several species of important food fish. One of the species is the Gulf of Maine cod, which was once the backbone of the New England fishing industry.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Beaumont Enterprise

 

MAINE: Industry confronts access issues as scallop season opens

December 1, 2015 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Maine scallop fishery opened Tuesday morning, with predictions that the boat price will be high, the season short and the pressure to let more people into the fishery intense.

Last week, Trisha Cheney, the Department of Marine Resources’ scallop resource coordinator, hosted an outreach meeting in Ellsworth to give industry members a heads-up about what to expect for the coming season and to hear their concerns about the fishery and the way it is managed by DMR.

The department is in the midst of developing a formal fishery management plan for scallops, but no draft will be available for industry review any time soon. In the near term, and of more immediate interest, Cheney said Downeast harvesters are likely facing “a lean season,” especially in Zone 2, which covers the waters from roughly the middle of Penobscot Bay eastward to Lubec.

This season, harvesters will have access to seven areas in Zone 2 that have closed to scalloping under the state’s 10-year rotational management program. Encompassing locations in and around Machias Bay, Wohoa Bay and Western bays, Gouldsboro and Dyer bays, upper Blue Hill Bay and the Union River, eastern Eggemoggin Reach and Southeast Harbor on Deer Isle, lower Jericho Bay and, finally, lower Penobscot Bay and the outer islands seaward of North Haven, the newly opened areas were closed for just one season. As a result, these areas have had less time during which the scallop resource would be undisturbed and allowed to rebuild.In 2014, scallop landings totaled 584,172 meat pounds (without the shell) compared to just 33,141 pounds in 2005. Value jumped from a low of $272,703 in 2005 to $7,464,690 in 2014. Because each scallop season extends over parts of two calendar years, the 2014 numbers reflect landings for the period January through April and the month of December. In recent years, DMR has frequently closed the fishery by the end of March.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American