Saving Seafood

Elver trafficking sting yields more jail sentences, another guilty plea

December 15, 2017 — Operation Broken Glass, an interagency sting of a national elver trafficking ring based in Maine, has yielded two more jail sentences and a guilty plea this week.

Yarann Im, a 35-year-old Portland seafood dealer, was sentenced to six months in jail for illegally trafficking 480 pounds of elvers, which are also known as glass eels or juvenile American eels, following a hearing Thursday in federal district court in Portland. Im pleaded guilty in 2016 to buying more than $500,000 worth of eels, or almost a million individual elvers that had been illegally harvested in Virginia, North Carolina and Massachusetts, and selling them abroad.

Thomas Choi, a 76-year-old seafood dealer from Maryland, was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison with a $25,000 fine for trafficking in $1.26 million of elvers.

On Tuesday, Maine fisherman Albert Cray pleaded guilty to trafficking elvers, admitting to harvesting them illegally in New Jersey and selling them to a Maryland dealer, who then exported them from the United States to buyers in Asia. In 2013, Cray admitted to trafficking more than $250,000 worth of illegally harvested elvers, according to a statement of facts filed with Cray’s plea agreement.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Mid-Atlantic residents see ocean health as major economic issue

December 7, 2017 — Eight in 10 residents of Mid-Atlantic states believe the ocean and beaches are important to their economies, including 95 percent of those living in coastal communities. Eighty-three percent of residents living in coastal communities believe that climate change is real—13 percentage points higher than a national survey taken by Monmouth University in 2015. Support for offshore oil and gas drilling plummeted from 46 percent in 2009 to 22 percent now among residents living closest to the coast.

These are some of the findings from a pair of survey reports released today by the Monmouth University Polling Institute (MUPI) and Urban Coast Institute (UCI). The surveys present the first region-wide snapshot of public opinion on ocean issues since the 2016 elections and offer a glimpse at how views have changed since major storms like Sandy and Irene impacted the Mid-Atlantic coast.

A regionwide survey was conducted with residents from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to gauge opinion of a wide range of coastal issues and elements of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Action Plan, which was adopted in December of 2016 by the six states, federal agencies, tribal entities and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. A second survey was conducted specifically with year-round residents of Mid-Atlantic coastal communities that asked the same questions regarding ocean issues as a 2009 MUPI-UCI poll in order to track how opinions have changed over time among those living closest to the coast.

Read the full story at PHYS

 

Trump Administration Dives Into Fish Fight

November 21, 2017 — WASHINGTON — An unprecedented Trump administration decision over the summer that overruled an interstate fishing commission has drawn the ire of critics who worry that keeping a healthy and viable supply of flounder in the Atlantic Ocean is being sacrificed to commercial profits.

While the fight over fish largely has been out of the public eye, it has implications for Maryland and other coastal states. Critics charge the controversy further underscores environmental backsliding by a White House beholden to business interests seeking fewer restrictions on the potentially harmful exploitation of natural resources.

In July, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross overruled a recommendation by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission finding New Jersey out of compliance with proposed 2017 harvest limits of summer flounder along the Atlantic coast.

The reversal marked the first time since passage of the Atlantic Coastal Act in 1993 that the Department of Commerce overruled the commission’s finding of noncompliance, said commission spokeswoman Tina Berger.

“It was a big surprise that the commission’s authority would essentially be disregarded by the Commerce Department,” said Maryland Del. Dana Stein, D-Baltimore, one of the fisheries commissioners. “I was very disappointed upon hearing about this.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News and World Report

Menhaden catch limit raised along Atlantic coast, slashed in Bay

November 20, 2017 — East Coast fishery managers plan to increase the coastwide menhaden catch by 8 percent next year, while slashing the amount that can be harvested from the Chesapeake Bay.

But despite heavy pressure from environmental groups, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission balked at a proposal that would have required fishery managers to take into account the ecological role of the small, oily fish when setting future harvest levels.

By the end of their two-day meeting in mid-November, commissioners had succeeded in disappointing and pleasing environmentalists and industry officials alike — typically not at the same time — while setting up another big debate two years from now over how to account for the role menhaden play as a food source for other species.

In a statement after the meeting, Robert Ballou, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and chair of the ASMFC Menhaden Board, acknowledged that many people were left disappointed by the decisions that will guide harvests for the next two years. But he said the commission’s actions demonstrated a “commitment to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role with the needs of its stakeholders.”

It was the latest round in a decades-long struggle over how to manage the catch of Atlantic menhaden, a fish almost never eaten by humans that is an important food for a host of marine species. By weight, menhaden make up the largest catch in both the Chesapeake and along the East Coast, but by nearly all accounts their abundance is increasing, especially in New England. In fact, the ASMFC’s science advisers indicated that the current coastal catch limit of 200,000 metric tons could be increased by more than 50 percent with little chance of overfishing the species.

But conservation groups have long argued that such assessments do not fully account for the importance of menhaden as a food source for marine mammals, many birds, and a host of other fish, such as striped bass.

It is part of a larger, long-running debate between conservation groups and the fishing industry over how to treat forage fish, which include menhaden, anchovies and other small species that provide a critical link in the aquatic food chain by converting plankton into nourishment for larger predators.

Historically, conservationists contend that forage species have received less attention — and protection from overfishing — than the larger predators, such as striped bass. Prior to the meeting near Baltimore, conservationists had gathered a record-setting 157,599 comments urging the ASMFC to adopt new harvest guidelines, or reference points, that would take the ecological role of the fish into account when setting catch limits. If adopted, the guidelines would almost certainly have required a reduction in the current coastwide menhaden catch.

But critics — which included ASMFC’s own scientific advisers, as well as the commercial menhaden industry — said the reference points under consideration were based on studies of other species in other places and may not be applicable to menhaden.

Ultimately, the commission — a panel of state fishery managers that regulates catches of migratory fish along the coast — voted 13–5 to delay the adoption of ecological reference points until a panel of scientists it has assembled can make its own ecological recommendations, tailored specifically to menhaden. Those recommendations are not expected to be ready until 2019.

Dozens of activists attended the meeting, many holding bright yellow signs that said, “Little Fish Big Deal,” “Keep it Forage” or “Conserve Menhaden.” Many were surprised not only to be defeated after the huge volume of comments — more than 99 percent in favor of ecological reference points — but also by the lopsided vote.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

 

Watermen Happy for Small Win over Menhaden Regulation

November 17, 2017 — CAMBRIDGE, Md. — It’s a small fish that’s making a big splash. It’s called menhaden.

In a two day meeting, the Atlantic Marine Fisheries Committee voted to keep menhaden regulations the same for commercial fishers.

With a vote to keep the status quo of how much they’ll be fished, watermen say it’s a win.

“Any time they dont take, it’s a win. We’ll take a small win instead of a big loss any time,” said Burl Lewis from Hooper’s Island.

Lewis says he’s one of the few remaining watermen who still fish for menhaden.

Over the years, he says he’s struggled to follow federal menhaden fishing regulations. He say they’re regulations that really hurt.

“It hurts us in the long run because now our market is really cut back because some of the bigger holders ended up icith our customers,” Lewis said.

Read the full story at WBOC

 

ASMFC Approves Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden

November 15, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

Linthicum, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden.  The Amendment maintains the management program’s current single-species biological reference points until the review and adoption of menhaden-specific ecological reference points as part of the 2019 benchmark stock assessment process. It also addresses a suite of commercial management measures including allocation, quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program, and the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap.

In addition to its Amendment 3 deliberations, the Board set the total allowable catch for the 2018 and 2019 fishing seasons at 216,000 metric tons (mt) with the expectation that the setting of the TAC for subsequent years will be guided by menhaden-specific ecological reference points.

“Through adoption of Amendment 3 and the setting of the 2018 and 2019 TAC at a risk-averse level, the Board has demonstrated its continued commitment to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role with the needs of its stakeholders,” stated Board Chair Robert Ballou of Rhode Island. “While the Amendment maintains the current reference points, the Board placed the development of menhaden-specific ecological reference points as its highest priority.  While the Board’s action was not supported by the majority of public comment received, it is still a conservative management action relative to our understanding of stock status and many of the positive signals we see in the current stock conditions. Specifically, the 2017 Stock Assessment Update indicated the resource remains healthy, with increases in abundance particularly in the norther states. Risks to the resource under our current reference points are well understood, while changes to the TAC under the general forage fish guidelines are not as well understood. Further, the approved TAC, which represents a modest 8% increase in the coastwide quota, has zero percent chance of subjecting the resource to overfishing or causing it to be overfished.”

Amendment 3 also changes fishery allocations in order to strike an improved balance between gear types and jurisdictions. The Amendment allocates a baseline quota of 0.5% to each jurisdiction, and then allocates the rest of the TAC based on historic landings between 2009 and 2011 (see table below). This measure provides fishing opportunities to states which currently have little quota while still recognizing historic landings in the fishery. The Board also agreed to maintain the quota transfer process, prohibit the rollover of unused quota, maintain the 6,000 lb trip limit for non-directed and small-scale gears following the closure of a directed fishery, and set aside 1% of the TAC for episodic events in the states of New York through Maine. “The Board worked collaboratively and effectively to forge an outcome that is fair and responsive to the needs and interest of all East Coast states” said Chair Ballou.

Table 1. Amendment 3 allocation percentages based on a 0.5% fixed minimum during the 2009-2011 timeframe.

State Allocations (%)
Maine 0.52%
New Hampshire 0.50%
Massachusetts 1.27%
Rhode Island 0.52%
Connecticut 0.52%
New York 0.69%
New Jersey 10.87%
Pennsylvania 0.50%
Delaware 0.51%
Maryland 1.89%
Potomac River Fisheries Commission 1.07%
Virginia 78.66%
North Carolina 0.96%
South Carolina 0.50%
Georgia 0.50%
Florida 0.52%
Total 100%

Finally, the Amendment reduces the Chesapeake Bay cap, which was first implemented in 2006 to limit the amount of reduction harvest within the Bay, to 51,000 mt from 87,216 mt. This recognizes the importance of the Chesapeake Bay as nursery grounds for many species by capping recent reduction landings from the Bay to current levels.

States must submit implementation plans to the Commission by January 1, 2018 for final implementation by April 15, 2018. The Amendment will be available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, by the end of November. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

To learn more about the ASMFC visit their site here.

 

US regulators boost Atlantic menhaden catch limits by 8%

November 14, 2017 — BALTIMORE — Omega Protein, Daybrook Fisheries, Lund’s Fisheries and several other US big fishing companies that rely heavily on menhaden caught in the Atlantic Ocean got the outcome they hoped for in a hotel meeting room here this week.

By a 15-3 tally, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), meeting as the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board on Tuesday morning, approved a 216,000 metric ton total allowable catch (TAC) on the Atlantic coast of the United States in 2018 and 2019 — an 8% increase. The panel gave itself the flexibility to lower the threshold should its staff come up with new ecological reference points (ERPs) that suggest a reduction is needed.

The day before ASFMC voted down, 13-5, a change favored by environmental advocates that would’ve required the establishment of interim goals aimed at restoring menhaden to 75% of their original biomass and prompted action, possibly even a moratorium, should the biomass ever fell below 40% of that amount. It approved a substitute proposal that requires ASMFC’s staff to develop species-specific ERPS, something that is predicted to get done by the end of 2019.

“We’re in a pretty good place right now where the fishery is concerned. As has been referenced, we’ve got an expanding stock and a stable harvest over the last couple of years and we’re still leaving about 40% of the unfished spawning potential in the water right now,” said Dave Blazer, Maryland’s representative on the panel, in explaining why he was voting for the substitute proposal on Monday.

Read the full story at UndercurrentNews

 

Big change for a little fish? Menhaden board says: Not so fast

November 13, 2017 — A proposal to boldly reshape how one of the East Coast’s largest fisheries is managed barely left the dock Monday before it was sunk by a flotilla of opposition.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board, named for a small but important fish caught by the hundreds of millions of pounds each year along the coast, opted to stick with the status quo rather than adopt a new plan that might have ushered in cuts in harvests.

The board is an arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the larger commission is expected to ratify the decision at its meeting in Linthicum, Md., today.

Monday’s decision was cheered by representatives of Omega Protein Corp., whose fleet of vessels based in the Northern Neck town of Reedville catches most of the menhaden netted along the Atlantic. “It’s a good day for Omega,” said Ben Landry, a spokesman for the Houston-based company.

Environmental groups and recreational fishermen said they were disappointed. They’d been pushing for a regulatory framework that they say takes into account the needs of other species, from whales to striped bass to ospreys, that prey on menhaden.

But when the proposal to put that plan into motion, called Option E, was offered, it was quickly trumped by another, Option B, that basically keeps the management approach as is. Virginia’s delegation and all but a handful of the 17 others voted to kick Option E to the side.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

 

Striped bass reproduction in Bay a bit above average, surveys show

November 12, 2017 — Striped bass reproduction in the Chesapeake Bay slightly exceeded the long-term average this year, annual surveys show, offering hope that the population is rebounding from low levels that led to coastwide fishing restrictions three years ago.

In Maryland — where reproduction has historically been an accurate predictor of future coastwide populations — the annual juvenile index has been above average for two of the past three years.

That’s an improvement from the previous seven-year span when the index had been below average in all but one year. That reproductive drought spurred the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates the harvest of migratory fish, to impose a coastwide catch reduction in 2014, including a 20 percent cut in the Chesapeake.

Striped bass start reaching legally fishable sizes after three to four years, so the recent improvements in reproduction seen by surveys in Maryland and Virginia should be reflected in the numbers of catchable-size fish in the next few years.

Dave Blazer, director of fishing and boating services with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, called the recent uptick “an encouraging sign for the coastal population and future fishing opportunities.”

In Maryland, this year’s young-of-year index was 13.2, which was above the 64-year average of 11.7. It follows an index of 24.2 in 2015, which was more than twice the long-term average.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

 

Decision over a tiny baitfish could sway the largest East Coast fishery

November 13, 2017 — KENT ISLAND, Md. — Tony Friedrich sped toward Tilghman Point in the Chesapeake Bay in his 25-foot fishing boat. He was searching for striped bass, a prized catch for recreational anglers. Scanning the horizon, he noted the dark oil patches, swooping gulls and the smell of “death and watermelon” — the telltale signs of menhaden, an oily fish that striped bass “eat like Snickers bars.” Where there is menhaden, Friedrich will find striped bass.

Friedrich turned toward East Bay, seeking protection from the southeast winds. Menhaden swim to the surface in large schools to feed on phytoplankton if there aren’t any whitecaps — foamy surface waves caused by the winds, he said. Friedrich has always been amazed by the scene. The hundreds of menhaden that slap the water’s surface. The birds that dive bomb, snatching the small fish in their beaks. The predators — striped bass, weakfish and bluefish — that lurk in the depths to ambush the school from below.

Sometimes called bunker, pogy, or baitfish, fishermen like Friedrich know menhaden well. Although he doesn’t angle for menhaden, they are critical for the food web and support the largest East Coast commercial fishery. That is why the debate over their survival has reached a fever pitch.

Hundreds are expected to gather in Baltimore Monday as interstate regulators make a landmark decision for menhaden, and possibly, all Atlantic fisheries. Menhaden went largely unmanaged for decades, and the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission will potentially move to reinforce protections for the species and the ecosystem they support.

The commission accepted public comments from August to October and received 158,106. Commercial bait and reduction fishers, conservation organizations and recreational anglers are all weighing in on the decision.

The deliberation comes as some marine species that rely on menhaden like striped bass, and weakfish are in steep decline. Menhaden populations saw sharp drops in the late 1960s and again in the late 1990s. But their numbers leveled off 15 years ago, and began to rebound after the ASMFC set the first coastwide catch limit in 2013. Now, the commission is taking a new, and possibly historic, perspective on fish management by considering how the health of one species — menhaden — influences the numbers of others, in this case predators like striped bass and weakfish.

“When [menhaden] are not abundant, everything collapses,” Friedrich said. “We have to do what’s right.”

But there are many opinions on what is right. On Monday, the ASMFC will choose between five options, ranging from dramatic reductions in the allocation and catch limit to no change at all.

Read the full story at PBS News Hour