Saving Seafood

High Density of Right Whales in Massachusetts Waters

April 23, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Update from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is closely monitoring the presence of North Atlantic Right Whales in Massachusetts coastal waters. From the period of April 6, 2021 through April 20, 2021 aerial and acoustic surveillance conducted by the NOAA Fisheries and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) has detected moderate to high densities of right whales in Massachusetts coastal waters including; Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts Bay, Stellwagen Bank, state waters on the backside of Cape Cod, and the nearshore federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Trap fishermen in Lobster Management Area 1 and Outer Cape Cod are reminded that the  state waters portion of these areas are closed to lobster trap fishing until May 15, 2021. NOAA Fisheries and PCCS are conducting routine aerial surveillance throughout Massachusetts’ coastal waters and adjacent federal waters multiple times per week. DMF will continue to monitor surveillance information and could open portions or all of state waters as early as May 1, 2021 if less than 3 right whales are detected in an area.

Mariners are reminded that there is a 10-knot small vessel (less than 65’ overall) speed limit in Cape Cod Bay to protect endangered right whales from the threat of ship strikes that remains in effect until April 30, 2021. During the late winter and early-spring, right whales migrate into and aggregate in Cape Cod Bay where they feed on zooplankton. As we move into the spring, these whales begin to feed closer to the surface and become more susceptible to ship strikes. Ship strikes are a significant source of mortality to these endangered whales. However, the lethality of ship strikes is greatly reduced when vessels are operating at less than 10-knots speed.

This small vessel speed limit— established in 2019—applies from March 1 – April 30 within those waters of Cape Cod Bay south of 42° 08’ north latitude, as well as those waters north of Cape Cod that are west of 70°10’ west longitude. A complementary federal speed limit applies to all vessels 65’ overall length and greater. DMF may extend or rescind this seasonal small vessel speed limit based on the continued presence or absence of whales. This small vessel speed limit does not apply to emergency and enforcement personnel, including federal whale disentanglement teams. Additionally, small vessel traffic operating within the inshore waters of Plymouth, Duxbury, Kingston, Barnstable and Wellfleet Harbors are exempt.

Read the full release here

$23.6M in fish aid coming to Massachusetts

April 2, 2021 — Elements of the Massachusetts seafood industry are set to receive another $23.6 million as part of continuing federal and state efforts to mitigate the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Massachusetts allocation represents 9% of the total $255 million in new federal fisheries assistance funding and supplements the $28 million allocated to the Bay State fishing industry from the CARES Act in March 2020.

“It’s basically the same as the first round,” said Dan McKiernan, director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “We’re being urged to get the money out as quickly as possible.”

McKiernan expects the process for distributing the money to be almost identical that in 2020 when the state distributed the $28 million from the CARES Act appropriation.

As in 2020, the Massachusetts allocation is the third largest among all states. Only Alaska and Washington, at $40 million each, received more.

Elsewhere in New England, Maine was fifth among all states with a $17.14 million allocation. New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut each received $3 million.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Massachusetts sets rules for recreational catches

February 26, 2021 — Massachusetts has set fishing regulations for the upcoming 2021 recreational fishing season, retaining the status quo in state waters on seasons and limits for most species.

The exceptions are the striped bass circle hook requirements, as well as the Gulf of Maine haddock and cod seasons and a pending recommendation on gear restrictions for blue crabs.

The Division of Marine Fisheries expects to announce the new regulations on the three pending measures in late March. It has scheduled a virtual public hearing for March 2 at 6 p.m. Participation requires advanced registration at http://bit.ly/3pRGpBZ.

Here are the 2021 regulations on seasons and limits for a variety of recreational species:

Black sea bass — The season will run May 18 to Sept. 8. The minimum size is 15 inches and the trip possession limit is five fish per angler.

Bluefish — The season runs all year, with no size limits. Possession limits are three fish per day for anglers fishing from the shore or aboard private vessels. The trip possession limit for anglers aboard for-hire craft is five fish.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Task force: State needs shelllfish lab

February 19, 2021 — The Massachusetts Shellfish Initiative has developed a five-year strategic plan that could overhaul the management of the state’s shellfish resources, including a recommendation for a dedicated state shellfish laboratory.

The 2021-2025 strategic plan, developed by the 21-member MSI Task Force that includes Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, recommends increased public funding for additional staff and resources at the Division of Marine Fisheries. It also seeks more public funds to promote “the economic, environmental and social benefits” of the state’s shellfish resources.

“In many cases existing state and local government resources provide insufficient support to adequately manage the state’s shellfish resources and shellfish fisheries,” the draft of the plan stated.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Inshore lobstering ban to begin in March

February 17, 2021 — The seasonal closure of virtually all Massachusetts waters to commercial lobstering will not begin before March 5 and could be delayed another two weeks into March.

Daniel McKiernan, executive director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the recently enacted state rules to help protect North Atlantic right whales remain under review by federal regulators.

“If not March 5, then it will be two weeks later,” McKiernan said in a text message.

The Feb. 1 to May 15 closure, imposed in all state waters except those south and west of Cape Cod, is the centerpiece of a rules package approved Jan. 28 by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, based on recommendations from DMF.

“We think this is surgical and appropriate,” McKiernan told the commission. “We believe this is the most responsible way to manage the fishery.”

The closure is set for the period in the late winter and early spring when the North Atlantic right whales travel north through the waters off the Massachusetts coast on their feeding migration into the Gulf of Maine and on into Canadian waters.

The closure, which is two weeks longer than DMF’s initial recommendation, is designed to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water to help avert injuries and deaths from right whale entanglements in lobster and other commercial trap gear.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Fish panel bans inshore lobstering during whale migration

January 28, 2021 — The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission on Thursday approved additional protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whales, including a three-and-a-half month trap gear closure throughout state waters and mandated use of weaker buoy lines.

Meeting via webinar, the MFAC overwhelmingly approved five of the six recommendations presented by the state Division of Marine Fisheries, setting the stage for a hectic start to the state’s 2021 lobster fishing season.

“We think this is surgical and appropriate,” DMF Director Dan McKiernan told commission members. “We believe this is the most responsible way to manage this fishery.”

As the state faces challenges on two fronts — the federal take reduction team initiative to stem whale entanglements and deaths and ongoing federal litigation that names Massachusetts as a defendant in a lawsuit filed under the Endangered Species Act — the commission approved:

* A Feb. 1 to May 15 closure to commercial trap gear in all state waters — including off Cape Ann — to help mitigate whale entanglements, injuries and deaths during the period when the right whales are most prevalent in state waters. The closure is roughly two weeks longer than DMF’s initial recommendation, but the measure gives DMF the power to lift all or part of the closure between May 1 and 15 “based on the presence and absence of right whales.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Decision due next week on seasonal lobstering ban

January 25, 2021 — In China, 2021 is down as the Year of the Ox. In the cold waters off the coast of New England, it is shaping up as the Year of the Whale. The North Atlantic right whale.

Federal regulators, through the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction team, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries have proposed a series of overlapping new protections for the imperiled species that will have a significant impact on the region’s lobster industry.

In Massachusetts, lobstermen will find out next week whether the state will implement DMF’s recommendations for state waters that include a new seasonal closure on all lobstering from February to May — the time period of the annual migration and feeding along the Massachusetts coast by the whales whose numbers are estimated to have dropped below 400.

The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission is set to meet Thursday morning via zoom. DMF Director Dan McKiernan will present the agency’s recommendations — which also include the utilization of weaker, break-away vertical buoy lines to help mitigate gear entanglements — and the commission will vote.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Massachusetts launches ropeless gear study

January 22, 2021 — A year-long feasibility study to assess using ropeless trap gear in the New England lobster fishery has been launched by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Funded in part by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with NOAA, the “accelerated timeline” project “will interview dozens of fishermen, technologists, policy experts, and scientists to fully evaluate the challenges and opportunities of the new gear type,” the state agency said in a Jan. 21 statement.

Ropeless gear – sometimes known as pop-up gear, or as Massachusetts officials call it, on-call gear – are designs that seek to replace the traditional floating buoy line gear used in lobster, crab and fish trap fisheries.

There’s high interest in these alternatives as a potential solution to prevent marine mammal entanglements in gear – especially the highly endangered northern right whale, with an East Coast population now estimated to be less than 400 animals.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Massachusetts postponing lobster closures to protect right whales

January 12, 2021 — We here at FishOn have been absent from these pages for the past couple Mondays. Slight case of mistaken identity. Fear not, we’ve escaped. Here’s hoping you didn’t pay the ransom.

First column of the new year, so we’re still finding our footing, staying within ourselves and letting the game come to us. It’s early and it’s a long year.

There, that pretty much encapsulates the product of virtually every Opening Day interview we ever did.

One thing we know we’ll be writing about in 2021 is the plight of the North Atlantic right whales, so let’s start with them.

The end of 2020 brought a flurry of proposed protective actions from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA Fisheries that will be batted around until final rules can be enacted.

In the Bay State, DMF, among other recommendations, has proposed closing all state waters to lobstering from February to May to coincide with the right whales’ annual migration and feeding along the Massachusetts coast.

It is set to present those recommendations to the Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission on Jan. 28. That meeting initially was set for Jan. 7, but DMF was swamped with public comment to review, as seemingly every conservation group in the world except the Cross Street Irregulars weighed in.

Last Friday, DMF said the altered timeline means it won’t be able to “promulgate final regulations for Feb. 1, 2021.”

It now expects the new rules — including the closure — to go into effect between mid-February and early March.

“As a result only those waters within the Massachusetts restricted area will be closed to trap gear fishing on Feb. 1,” DMF said. “All other waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth will not be subject to a trap gear closure until a final rule is promulgated.”

Promulgate. Good word.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Seasonal Ban on Lobstering Aims to Protect Right Whales

December 21, 2020 — With the North Atlantic right whale population at a dangerously low ebb, the state Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing a statewide seasonal ban on lobstering in a last-chance effort to save the critically endangered species from extinction.

Floated by the DMF during public hearings on Dec. 8 and 9, the proposed regulations come in the wake of a report that estimated right whale populations at only 366 marine mammals — down from the 481 estimated in 2011 — and a continued “unusual mortality event” that has seen more than 30 right whale deaths in the past three years.

The dramatic rule changes propose extending the state’s existing Feb. 1 through April 30 lobster trap closure in Cape Cod Bay to all waters under the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, including the Vineyard and Nantucket Sound. Buoyed recreational lobster and crab trap fishing would also be closed. The recreational closure would run from the Tuesday after Columbus Day through the Friday preceding Memorial Day.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette