Saving Seafood

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Days Out Measures for Season 2 – Call Scheduled for October 16; Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Closure in Effect Starting September 23 through November 3, 2020; and CORRECTION to the Eastern Maine Spawning

September 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The following announcement includes information on (1) days out measures for the 2020 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) Atlantic herring fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31); (2) closure dates for the Western Maine and New Hampshire/Massachusetts spawning area; and (3) a correction to the closure dates for Eastern Maine spawning area.

Landings Day for the 2020 Area 1A Fishery for Season 2

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met September 17 via conference call to set effort control measures for the 2020 Area 1A fishery for Season 2. The Season 2 quota is 914 metric tons (mt), which is 27.2% of the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) after adjusting for the research set-aside, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, a slight underage from Season 1, and the fact that the Area 1A fishery closes at 92% of the sub-ACL.

  • Landings days will be set at zero (0) from October 1 until the start of the fishery on October 11 in Maine and October 12 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • The fishery will move to three (3) consecutive landings days per week starting October 11 in Maine and October 12 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • The fishery will move to two (2) consecutive landings days per week starting October 18 in Maine and October 19 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
  • Landings days in Maine begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m.; landing days in New Hampshire and Massachusetts begin on Monday of each week at 12:01 a.m.

Harvesters are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until October 11 or 12, depending on the state. Landings will be closely monitored and the fishery will close when 92% of Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be reached.

The Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts will reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort on:

  • Friday, October 16, at 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
  • You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone at the following link:https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/947666941. If you are new to GoToMeeting, you can download the app ahead of time (click here) and be ready before the meeting starts. The meeting will be using the computer audio (VoIP), but if you are joining the webinar from your phone only, you can dial in at +1 (571) 317-3112 and enter access code 947-666-941 when prompted. The webinar will start at 9:00 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.
Spawning Area Closures

The Atlantic herring Area 1A fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, closures will begin on predetermined dates if sufficient samples are not available.

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring caught in a spawning area during a closure and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Western Maine or Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas.

Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Closure

There are currently insufficient samples from the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per Addendum II default closure dates, these spawning areas will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2020 extending through 11:59 p.m. on November 3, 2020. Western Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

43° 30’ N     Maine coast
43° 30’ N      68° 54.5’ W
43° 48’ N         68° 20’ W
North to Maine coast at 68° 20’ W

The Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area includes all waters bounded by the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine coasts, and 43° 30’ N and 70° 00’ W.

CORRECTION: Eastern Maine Spawning Area Closed through 11:59 p.m. October 8, 2020

The Eastern Maine Spawning Area closure extends through 11:59 p.m. on October 8, 2020. Directed herring vessels may begin fishing in the Eastern Maine spawning area starting at 12:01 a.m. on October 9, but may not land herring caught from this spawning area until the Season 2 fishery opens on October 11 or 12, depending on the state of landing. Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast     68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N          68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N         67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

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

The announcement including motions from the September 17th Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5f64fc77AtlHerringSeason2DaysOutMeasures_WM_MANH_Closures_Sept2020.pdf

Rep. Huffman Announces New England Session as part of Nationwide Congressional Fisheries Listening Tour

September 18, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

San Rafael, CA – Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, announced the next session on a nationwide fisheries listening tour will be Monday, September 28, 2020, at 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET. Rep. Huffman will be joined by Representatives Seth Moulton (MA-06), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and additional Members of Congress in a discussion on federal fisheries policy in the context of the New England fishery management region. Huffman has previously visited Hawaii, the Gulf Coast, Florida, Seattle, Maryland, San Francisco, and Eureka, California on the tour.

In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and public health guidance, this will be a virtual session livestreamed on Congressman Huffman’s Facebook page. The event is free and open to the public and press. Press interested in attending should submit their RSVP to Mary Hurrell at mary.hurrell@mail.house.gov.

  • WHO:
    • Congressman Jared Huffman, Congressman Seth Moulton, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, additional Members of Congress, fisheries and oceans experts
  • WHAT:
    • Discussion on federal fisheries management
  • WHEN:
    • Monday, September 28, 2020, at 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET
  • WHERE:

This panel discussion with experts and stakeholders will include a detailed, technical examination of current and future challenges in federal fisheries management and will explore potential solutions. Viewers are encouraged to ask questions and submit comments in the Facebook video comments section during the event for a chance to have these read aloud and answered live.

The ideas Huffman receives from this listening tour, and from other stakeholder outreach that is already underway, will inform his introduction of a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fisheries management in U.S. federal waters.

More detail on Huffman’s listening tour, which was first announced in July 2019, can be found here.

Extended: Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

September 17, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the previously triggered voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) south of Nantucket.

This DMA was triggered based on an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales. On September 14,  2020, our aerial survey team observed an aggregation of right whales, South of Nantucket, MA so the DMA is extended through September 29, 2020.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.

South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through September 29.

41 16 N
40 32 N
069 37 W
070 28 W

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Markey in New Bedford Dumps on Trump Offshore Drilling Move

September 14, 2020 — Fresh off a Democratic primary win, Sen. Ed Markey made a stop in New Bedford Saturday where he blasted a recent Trump move to enact a 10-year ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas – but only in three Republican-controlled southern coastal states.

“He’s fishing for votes in Florida, instead of protecting the fishing industry of Massachusetts,” said Markey to those gathered near the city’s hurricane barrier and harbor walk. “He knows he is not going to win up here in Massachusetts, and as a result is willing to endanger the fishing and the tourism industry.”

President Donald Trump last Tuesday announced a new moratorium on oil and gas extraction off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, but did not say why he chose those three states. An existing moratorium covering Florida’s gulf coast will stay in place, and Trump extended that ban to the Atlantic coast.

“This protects your beautiful gulf and your beautiful ocean, and it will for a long time to come,” the president said during a signing ceremony in Jupiter, Florida. “Who would have thought? Trump is the great environmentalist.”

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen can apply for COVID-19 relief

September 14, 2020 — Massachusetts commercial fishermen should soon be receiving their applications for the $11.8 million in federal fishery assistance funds to help offset economic damage to the industry from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries said it began sending out the applications on Wednesday to commercial fishermen at the addresses listed on their DMF-issued permits. Completed applications and appeals must be postmarked no later than Oct. 10.

The $11.8 million set aside for commercial harvesters is part of the $28 million Congress allocated to the Massachusetts seafood industry in March in the $300 million CARES Act to mitigate the financial woes caused by the unrelenting pandemic.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

New Bedford’s Mariner Seafood files Chapter 11, True North aims for stalking horse bid

September 14, 2020 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Mariner Seafood filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, 14 September, with Cooke Aquaculture’s True North Seafood lined up as the stalking horse bidder for its assets.

Court documents filed by Mariner Seafood acknowledge the company defaulted on its revolving USD 10 million (EUR 8.4 million) loan from Wells Fargo, and that the company had been exploring options such as selling assets or facilitating an equity investment to improve its cashflow and repay its debt.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape fishermen aid food banks with, what else – chowder

September 11, 2020 — Every New Year’s Eve, fisherman Bill Amaru makes clam chowder for about 200 people at Chatham’s Masonic Hall for First Night. He takes it very seriously, adds just the right spices – and a lot of butter.

But this year, on account of COVID-19, he won’t be making that chowder. He’s part of a more ambitious chowder undertaking — with the main ingredient haddock, in a project also born out of the pandemic.

Nearly 20,000 18-ounce containers began rolling out to food banks across the state a few weeks back, with a big goal accompanying those small containers: Feed America’s hungry and keep local fishermen at sea.

Amaru is among the Cape’s fishermen out catching the haddock.

“If in the first year we can deliver 100,000 pounds of chowder to food banks while guaranteeing fishermen a fair price and a steady buyer that would be an amazing win-win,” said Seth Rolbein, director of Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, a unit of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen Alliance, in Chatham.

The even bigger hope is that the initiative, launched with philanthropic support from Catch Together, could expand into federal food programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Vineyard Wind sets up Nantucket benefit fund

September 9, 2020 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind farm project moving ahead 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, has reached a “Good Neighbor Agreement” with the Town of Nantucket and leading nonprofits on the island to create the Offshore Wind Community Fund. The agreement “makes changes to the wind project to lessen its visual impacts” and establishes a fund “that will support projects that benefit the entire Nantucket community,” wrote legal counsel Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners in the announcement.

According to a joint press release from the two entities, the fund will “will support local initiatives to combat the effects of global climate change, enhance coastal resiliency, and protect, restore, and preserve Nantucket’s cultural and historic resources.” Vineyard Wind has agreed to provide an initial $4 million, when construction financing is obtained for its first project, to seed the fund, which will be administered by the Community Foundation for Nantucket, with additional funds to be added with “subsequent projects” and through accepting contributions from other wind developers and philanthropists. An advisory committee will be overseen by CFNan with representatives from the town, Maria Mitchell Association, Nantucket Preservation Trust, and Vineyard Wind.

Cities take council to task over monitoring recommendation

September 8, 2020 — You may have noticed that we’ve written a bit lately about the monitoring measure — Amendment 23 — being considered by the New England Fishery Management Council to set future monitoring levels for sector-based groundfish vessels.

It’s a hot item. Conservationists are all for it. Local fishermen say it could spell the death knell for the industry. The council is expected to take final action on the measure at its September meeting.

The cities of Gloucester and New Bedford — the state’s historic commercial fishing fiefdoms — weighed in. Not surprisingly, they are fervently against the council’s preferred option, which would put monitors on every trip by every sector-based groundfish vessel — at an average cost of about $700 per day per boat.

“Monitoring in any fishery is an important component to fisheries management,” the city of Gloucester stated in its comments to the council. “But the New England Fishery Management Council’s preferred alternative of 100% at-sea monitoring on the groundfish sector program is excessive and in complete disregard of the socio-economic disruptions and extreme hardships that will be imposed on fishermen, their groundfish sectors and their communities.”

And it goes on from there.

So there you go. The battle lines are drawn.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Massachusetts Fishermen, State Leaders Fighting At-Sea Monitoring Proposal

September 8, 2020 — Massachusetts fishermen are not sitting back quietly as the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) considers a policy shift that would require 100% at-sea monitoring of commercial groundfish vessels. Fishermen, along with some state leaders, are raising concerns and making their opposition to the measures known.

Amendment23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan would require groundfishing vessels to implement 100% at-sea monitoring or a combo of at-sea monitoring and electronic monitoring. And while the goal of the proposal is to improve catch accountability in the fishery, fishermen argue that it’s “overly burdensome and unnecessary.” In addition, with no vaccine available for COVID-19, there are also continued concerns about being able to properly social distance while at sea.

Read the full story at Seafood News