Saving Seafood

Preparing For The Future of Ocean Farming

January 11, 2019 — Chris Schillaci looked out at a sea of mostly plaid shirts, stuffed behind rows of cafeteria-style tables, who had come together after a day outside.

“You can make a living and stay on the Cape with an acre oyster grant,” the aquaculture specialist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries said.

The crowd of primarily oyster farmers looked back.

“Ok, maybe two acres,” he said with a smile.

Schillaci was speaking at an Ocean Farming Forum sponsored by SCORE of Cape Cod and the Islands, and the local office of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The idea? Bring farmers together to learn from one another and improve the industry. Much of the discussion revolved around the future of offshore shellfish and kelp farming, in deeper waters than most of the Cape’s traditional nearshore shellfish grants.

“Commercial fishing is a rapidly evolving business and Massachusetts has been a leader through old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity and an uncanny ability to adapt to a changing world,” said Melissa Sanderson of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which co-hosted the event. “To stay at the forefront and grow small businesses and protect the ecosystem we all rely on, it’s vital to support current and new growers with technical, business, education and networking opportunities.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

NEFMC votes against limiting access to whiting fishery

December 5, 2018 — New England Fishery Management Council members have shown little collective enthusiasm for limiting access to the Northeast small-mesh whiting fishery and the great majority followed through on that sentiment Tuesday.

Convening in Newport, Rhode Island, in the first of its three days of meetings, the council took final action on the measure known as Amendment 22 by voting 13-1 with one abstention to sustain the small-mesh fishery’s status quo as an open fishery.

The vote defeated a proposal to establish requirements for limiting the access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery that has grown in popularity among local groundfishermen as other stocks have become less abundant or been subject to stricter management policies.

The proposal targeted three stocks collectively considered whiting — northern silver hake, southern silver hake and offshore hake — as well as norther red hake and southern red hake.

The proponents of the measure to limit access cited the need for the measure to help combat bycatch issues, saying that limiting access to the fishery is necessary to “freeze the footprint of the fishery” until the council can get a firmer handle on the true scope of the bycatch problem.

“If you freeze the footprint of this fishery, you place these fishermen in blocks of ice,” said David Pierce, executive director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, in explaining his vote against limiting access to the fishery.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

As Lobsters Decline, Fishermen Switch to Jonah Crab

November 15, 2018 — The lobster industry in southern New England has been on the decline for decades. As waters warm, some lobster fishermen are adapting by switching their catch to Jonah crab, a crustacean once considered a trash species.

Mike Palombo is captain of a 72-foot lobster boat, but his main catch is crabs.

He leaves from the Sandwich Marina for three-day fishing trips, going out over 100 miles to haul traps in the Canyons. One day this fall, he and his crew returned with around 23,000 Jonah crab and 2,000 lobsters in big saltwater holding tanks. “It was a good trip, very productive,” he said.

Jonah crab are sturdy, hard-shelled creatures, with black-tipped claws. They’re about a pound apiece. You might not have heard of them, but Jonah crab are sustaining Southern New England fishermen left stranded by the decline of lobsters.

Tracy Pugh, a lobster biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said there’s been a drop in the lobster population south of the Cape, in part because the water temperature is rising. “The Southern New England lobsters are experiencing the bad aspects of climate change,” she said, “because they’re already in the southern extent of their range.”

Pugh says the warmer water is causing the lobsters to experience physiological stress. It’s also bringing in new diseases that affect lobster, and an uptick in predators like black seabass and tautog.

Read the full story at WCAI

American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop Scheduled for January 28-31, in New Bedford, MA

November 8, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold the American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, 836 South Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, MA. The stock assessment, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2020, will evaluate the health of the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank and Southern New England stocks and inform management of this species.  The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data*, when the public will be asked to leave the room.  

The Commission welcomes the submission of alternate assessment models. For alternate models to be considered, the model description, model input, final model estimates, and complete source code must be provided to Jeff Kipp, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at jkipp@asmfc.org by December 28, 2018. Any models submitted without complete, editable source code and input files will not be considered.

For more information about the assessment or attending the upcoming workshop (space will be limited), please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

* Each state and federal agency is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of its data and deciding who has access to its confidential data.  In the case of our stock assessments and peer reviews, all analysts and, if necessary, reviewers, have been granted permission by the appropriate agency to use and view confidential data. When the assessment team needs to show and discuss these data, observers to our stock assessment process are asked to leave the room to preserve confidentiality.

 

States Schedule Public Hearings on Draft Addenda XXXI and XXXII: Management Board Seeks Input on Options for Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management

October 25, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Atlantic states from Massachusetts through Virginia have scheduled hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addenda XXXI and XXXII to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The details of those hearings follow:

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

  • November 28, 2018 at 6 PM
  • Bourne Community Center, Room 2
  • 239 Main Street
  • Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
  • Contact: Nichola Meserve at 617.626.1531

Rhode Island Division of Fish & Wildlife

  • November 7, 2018 at 6 PM
  • University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus Corless Auditorium
  • South Ferry Road
  • Narragansett, Rhode Island
  • Contact: Robert Ballou at 401.222.4700 ext. 4420

Connecticut Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection

  • November 5, 2018 at 7 PM
  • DEEP Marine Headquarters
  • Boating Education Center, Building 3
  • 333 Ferry Road
  • Old Lyme, Connecticut
  • Contact: Justin Davis at 860.447.4322

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

  • November 27, 2018 at 6:30 PM
  • Division of Marine Resources
  • 205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1
  • East Setauket, New York
  • Contact: Maureen Davidson at 631.444.0483

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

  • November 26, 2018 at 6 PM
  • Stafford Township Administrative Office
  • 260 East Bay Avenue
  • Manahawkin, New Jersey
  • Contact: Joseph Cimino at 609.748.2020

Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources & Environmental Control

  • November 8, 2018 at 6 PM
  • DNREC Auditorium
  • 89 Kings Highway
  • Dover, Delaware
  • Contact: John Clark at 302.739.9914

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

  • November 15, 2018 at 6 PM
  • Ocean City Municipal Airport
  • 12724 Airport Road
  • Berlin, Maryland
  • Contact: Steve Doctor at 410.213.1531

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

  • November 14, 2018 at 6 PM
  • 2600 Washington Avenue
  • 4th Floor Conference Room
  • Newport News, Virginia
  • Contact: Rob O’Reilly at 757.247.2248

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved Draft Addendum XXXI for public comment at the Joint Commission/Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Virginia Beach, VA in August 2018, and approved Draft Addendum XXXII yesterday at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in New York City.

Draft Addendum XXXI

Draft Addendum XXXI and the Council’s complementary framework consider adding the following management options to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan.

  1. Conservation equivalency for the recreational black sea bass fishery
  2. Conservation equivalency rollover for summer flounder
  3. Transit provisions for Block Island Sound for recreational and/or commercial fisheries for all three species
  4. Slot limits (not currently a management option in the Council’s FMP)

The Draft Addendum aims to increase the suite of tools available for managing summer flounder, scup and black sea bass, as well as reduce inconsistencies between state and federal regulations. This action does not consider implementing black sea bass conservation equivalency or slot limits for any of the three species in 2019. Rather, the options would update the FMPs to allow these management tools to be used in future years.

Draft Addendum XXXII

Draft Addendum XXXII was initiated to establish new recreational management programs for summer flounder and black sea bass, as the current addenda under which the two fisheries are currently managed (Addenda XXVIII and XXX, respectively) expire at the end of 2018. The Draft Addendum proposes two options for each recreational fishery: (1) coastwide management (the default program for both species under the FMP), or conservation equivalency for summer flounder; and (2) setting measures through a specifications process.

The Draft Addendum seeks to address several challenges with the recreational management of summer flounder and black sea bass. Since the adoption of the FMP, shifts in abundance, distribution, and behavior of these two species have created challenges in constraining harvest to the coastwide recreational harvest limit (RHL) while providing fair and equitable access to fishermen throughout the species’ ranges. In addition, the use of highly variable and inherently delayed annual harvest estimates to establish management measures for the subsequent year has led to regulatory instability, regulatory disparities, and frustration on the part of stakeholders.

Setting measures through specifications would be a procedural change, allowing regional management to reflect the current condition and distribution of the stocks and fisheries, and enabling measures to be established based on more complete harvest data rather than preliminary projections. This process would eliminate the need for measures to be established through addenda; instead, the Board would approve measures in the late winter or early spring each year, based on technical committee analysis of harvest estimates and other information on resource availability. Public input on specifications would be gathered by states through their individual public comment processes. For each species, the Draft Addendum also includes proposed standards and guiding principles to structure how measures are set in order to provide fair and equitable access to the resource, and increase regulatory stability.

Interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addenda XXXI and XXXII either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Draft Addenda are is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/SF_Scup_BSB_DraftAddendumXXXI_PublicComment_Oct2018.pdf and http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/SF_BSB_DraftAddendumXXXII_PublicComment_Oct2018.pdf. They 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 November 28, 2018 and should be forwarded to Caitlin Starks, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum XXXI and XXXII Comment).

MASSACHUSETTS: Seafood industry lobbies state leaders to ‘buy local’

October 3, 2018 — The farm-to-table movement has renewed a focus on locally produced foods, from fresh milk and meat to fruits and vegetables.

So too the state’s seafood industry hopes to leverage a growing interest among consumers in buying local products to lift sales amid intense foreign competition.

To that aim, industry officials gathered at the Statehouse on Tuesday to celebrate the annual Seafood Day, highlighting the contributions of the multi-billion dollar industry.

“More than 98 percent of the fish in the United States comes from overseas,” said Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, a nonprofit group that supports the region’s commercial fishing industry.

“So the public needs to support us by demanding local seafood when they go out to eat,” she said. “When you buy fish, make sure its local.”

The Statehouse event, co-sponsored by the nonprofit Fishing Partnership Support Services and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, featured freshly prepared seafood, music, speeches by state officials and industry leaders, and general information about the size and scope of the industry.

“This is all about increasing awareness of the seafood industry and showing appreciation for our courageous, hard-working fishermen,” said John Hanley, a spokesman for the event.

Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando said the industry is constantly struggling to adapt to frequent closures and strict limits on how many fish can be caught.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Public Meeting Scheduled to Discuss Cape Cod Shark Issues

September 21, 2018 — A community meeting has been scheduled for next week on the Outer Cape to discuss the recent fatal shark attack in Wellfleet.

Officials will also address the larger issue of how to best manage the increasing numbers of great white sharks off local beaches.

Wellfleet Town Administrator Dan Hoort said the meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on September 27 at the Wellfleet Council on Aging.

Hoort said everything will be on the table in terms of discussion points as they want to see what we can do to protect beachgoers.

“We hope to bring in a couple of experts in shark activity to help facilitate the conversation,” Hoort said.

“We want to hear from them and we want to hear from the community.”

Representatives from the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and many local lawmakers and town officials are being invited.

Hoort is also hoping Dr. Greg Skomal, the state’s shark expert and senior fisheries scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, will be able to attend.

Arthur Medici, of Revere, was fatally wounded by a shark bite on Saturday while boogie boarding at Newcomb Hollow Beach.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Officials to Discuss Shark Safety Following Fatal Attack

September 18, 2018 — The Outer Cape continues to mourn the loss of Arthur Medici after Saturday’s fatal shark attack off Wellfleet and local and Cape Cod National Seashore officials are looking to see what should be done in the future to keep people safe.

They are also looking to see what, if anything, could have been done to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening.

Medici, the 26-year-old from Revere, was attacked by a shark while on a boogie board at Newcomb Hollow Beach around noon on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital.

The attack was the first fatality by shark in Massachusetts since 1936.

It was the second shark attack on Cape Cod as a man from Scarsdale, New York was bitten off Truro last month. He survived the attack and is recovering from the injuries suffered.

National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom said they will continue to consult with the White Shark Working Group which is a collaboration between several Cape Cod and Southcoast communities, and shark experts and researchers with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

“Anytime you have an incident like this you want to evaluate how you are doing things and see if there are areas where you can improve,” Carlstrom said. “Maybe some things with communications, maybe some applications with technologies – we are going to have to look at that very closely and see what we might be able to implement.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Massachusetts raises fines as it updates fishing rules

August 29, 2018 — It’s going to cost you more to run afoul of the law out on the waters of the commonwealth beginning this November.

The state has doubled the civil fines and simplified and modernized the criminal fine system to run between $400 to $10,000 and as much as 30 months of jail time for offenders.

“It was really a big cleanup, especially on the criminal side, where we got rid of a lot of sections of penalties because they really reflected past enforcement priorities that just didn’t match the priorities of today,” said Jared Silva of the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

The revisions emerged from a two-year effort by DMF staff, Massachusetts Environmental Police and others to bring the state’s marine fine and penalty system into the 21st century, eliminating outdated enforcement measures and consolidating wherever possible.

“We repealed several sections,” Silva said.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester hopes catch can claw its way to top

August 20, 2018 — Building on the success of its Gloucester Fresh seafood branding campaign, the city of Gloucester plans to apply the same formula to help brand and market Massachusetts lobsters to lobster lovers the world over.

Couldn’t happen in a better place.

If you go by the numbers, there is no better Bay State lobster port to take up the banner for distinguishing Massachusetts lobsters from those hauled from the waters of neighboring states.

Gloucester has dominated the lobster trade in Massachusetts and the industry’s high profile here has helped mitigate some of the misery foisted upon the community by the continuing groundfish crisis.

It is the state’s No. 1 port in both number of active lobstermen — an average of 136 annually during the past five years — and amount of lobster annually landed. Gloucester has averaged 2.94 million pounds per year over the past five years, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

During that period, no other Massachusetts lobster port ever claimed more than 60 active lobstermen in any given year, and none but Gloucester ever cracked double-digits in the percentage of statewide landings.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times