Saving Seafood

Warmer waters might prevent baby lobsters from surviving

September 26th, 2016 — Baby lobsters might not be able to survive in the ocean’s waters if the ocean continues to warm at the expected rate.

That is the key finding of a study performed by scientists in Maine, the state most closely associated with lobster, followed by Massachusetts. The scientists, who are affiliated with the University of Maine Darling Marine Center and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, said the discovery could mean bad news for the future of one of America’s most beloved seafood treats, as well as the industry lobsters support.

The scientists found that lobster larvae struggled to survive when they were reared in water 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the temperatures that are currently typical of the western Gulf of Maine, a key lobster fishing area off of New England. Five degrees is how much the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects the Gulf of Maine’s temperature to warm by the year 2100.

The paper appears this month in the scientific journal ICES Journal of Marine Science. It could serve as a wake-up call that the lobster fishery faces a looming climate crisis that is already visible in southern New England, said Jesica Waller, one of the study’s authors.

“There has been a near total collapse in Rhode Island, the southern end of the fishery, and we know our waters are getting warmer,” Waller said. “We are hoping this research can be a jumping off point for more research into how lobsters might do over the next century.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Gloucester Times 

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Ann Museum to re-imagine its fishing exhibits

September 26, 2016 — Still basking in the sparkle of its 2-year-old renovation, the Cape Ann Museum is turning its eyes to re-imagining its permanent exhibition of the region’s offshore fishing industry during the halcyon days of sail that bridged the previous two centuries.

The new quest for the museum on Pleasant Street is to re-interpret and re-install the fishing and marine exhibits on its second floor, with a focus on a trio of central themes: the fishing industry as a portal to new lives and opportunities for immigrants; the overarching influence of innovations that sprung from the industry; and man’s struggles against nature as an element of the collective national identity.

“One of our goals is to bring the fishing exhibition up to the same caliber as the other parts of the museum that were transformed in the renovation,” said Martha Oaks, the museum’s curator. “To do that, we want to re-think everything, from physical improvements in the galleries to lighting and attention to the walls.”

It is a heady task, made even more challenging by the elemental nature of fishing to Gloucester’s history and the industry’s seminal role at the core of the Gloucester story and, ultimately, in the development the city’s very identity.

“The challenge will be to take our story and make it relevant to everybody else,” Oaks said.

The good news is Cape Ann Museum will have no shortage of resources available to tell Gloucester’s fishing story from the period of roughly 1840 to 1930.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen press pols to ease access to restricted areas

September 23, 2016 — Bay State lobstermen want federal fishing regulators to work with them to ease restrictions on lobstering in Massachusetts Bay and two areas east of the South Shore, proposing new safety measures that would allow boats to continue to operate while also protecting endangered whales.

Local lobstermen and leaders of the South Shore Lobster Fisherman’s Association met Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the State House with legislators and representatives for members of the state’s Congressional delegation to discuss their pitch for preventing whale entanglements without having to remove all traps from February through April.

John Haviland, president of the association who lobsters out of Green Harbor, said lobstermen are proposing to open three sections – representing a fraction of the larger 2,965 square nautical mile restricted area – for parts of the three-month ban as long as traps are retrofitted with sleeves for their vertical lines that would break every 40 feet under 1,575 pounds of pressure.

Haviland said the line-safety improvement proposal is based on research done by the New England Aquarium and Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute showing that right whales would be as much as 85 percent less likely to become entangled in lines engineered to break at those specifications.

“The point is not to repeal the closure. It’s to reach a compromise,” said State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.

Read the full story at the Marshfield Mariner

Bay State lobstermen press pols to ease access to restricted areas

September 22, 2016 — BOSTON — Bay State lobstermen want federal fishing regulators to work with them to ease restrictions on lobstering in Massachusetts Bay and two areas east of the South Shore, proposing new safety measures that would allow boats to continue to operate while also protecting endangered whales.

Local lobstermen and leaders of the South Shore Lobster Fisherman’s Association met Wednesday at the State House with legislators and representatives for members of the state’s Congressional delegation to discuss their pitch for preventing whale entanglements without having to remove all traps from February through April.

“The point is not to repeal the closure. It’s to reach a compromise,” said Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.

John Haviland, president of the association who lobsters out of Green Harbor, said lobstermen are proposing to open three sections — representing a fraction of the larger 2,965 square nautical mile restricted area — for parts of the three-month ban as long as traps are retrofitted with sleeves for their vertical lines that would break every 40 feet under 1,575 pounds of pressure.

Haviland said the line-safety improvement proposal is based on research done by the New England Aquarium and Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute showing that right whales would be as much as 85 percent less likely to become entangled in lines engineered to break at those specifications.

Beginning in 2015, the National Marine Fisheries Service implemented a rule designed to protect right and humpback whales that prohibits lobster traps in an area stretching from Cape Cod Bay to Boston between Feb. 1 and April 30.

Read the full story from State House News Service at the Gloucester Times

NOAA hosting hearings on funding fish monitors

September 21, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries has scheduled a number of public hearings in October and November, including one in Gloucester, to elicit public comment on the proposals for industry-funded monitoring programs for a variety of fisheries.

The schedule includes a public hearing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office at 55 Great Republic Drive in Gloucester on Oct. 4 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The other locations for the public hearings are Portland, Maine, on Oct. 20; Cape May, New Jersey, on Oct. 27; and Narragansett, Rhode Island, on Nov. 1. There also will be an online webinar Oct. 17.

The period for written public comments on the amendments being considered by the New England Fishery Management Council and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will stretch from Sept. 23 until Nov. 7.

“The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils are developing an omnibus amendment to allow for industry-funded monitoring,” said the notice published Tuesday in the Federal Registry. “This amendment includes omnibus alternatives that would modify all of the fishery management plans managed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils to allow for standardized and streamlined development of future industry-funded monitoring programs.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Atlantic Herring Landing Days Set for Area 1A Trimester 3

September 21, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

This release revises the September 16th release by modifying the end time of Maine’s landing period and clarifying that vessels may only land once every 24-hour period.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section (Section) members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met via conference call on Friday, September 16, 2016 to discuss Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) days out measures for Trimester 3 (October 1 – December 31). Section members, with input from industry, agreed to four consecutive landing days until 92% of the Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be harvested or until further notice. Vessels may only land once every 24-hour period.

Beginning on October 2, 2016: Vessels in the State of Maine may land herring starting at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays up to 5:59 p.m. on Thursdays.

Beginning on October 3, 2016: Vessels in the State of New Hampshire and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may land herring starting at 12:00 a.m. on Mondays up to 11:59 p.m. on Thursdays.

Trimester 3 landings will be closely monitored and the directed fishery will close when 92% of the Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be reached. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until the start of Trimester 3. For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or aharp@asmfc.org.

Dartmouth attorney, former legislator voted chair of New England Fishery Management Council

September 21, 2016 — A member for four years, John F. Quinn of Dartmouth has been elected chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, a quasi-government group that develops rules for fisheries operating in federal waters.

Attorney Quinn, 53, ran his first council meeting as chairman in Danvers on Tuesday after the vote. He had been vice chairman for the last three years and switched positions with former chairman E.F. “Terry” Stockwell III of Maine. The two have led the council since 2014, according to a news release.

“I am honored that my colleagues from across New England elevated me to this position,” Quinn said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

The director of public interest law programs at the UMass Dartmouth law school, Quinn said he signed up for the council because of his experience as a lawyer and litigator on SouthCoast. Having worked with fishing issues in the region, it seemed fitting to be on the regulation side, he said.

“I understand the waterfront and some of the challenges the industry is facing,” said Quinn, who married into a fishing family.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

NEFMC Receives Atlantic Herring Amendment 8 Update

September 20, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During the first day of its Sept. 20-22 meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, the New England Fishery Management Council received a progress report on Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The amendment contains two key components that involve:

  • Development of a long-term acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule for the Atlantic herring fishery; and
  • Measures to address potential localized depletion of Atlantic herring.

The ABC control rule may: (1) explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem as a forage species; and (2) address the biological and ecological requirements of the resource itself. It is being developed through a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach.

MSE incorporates more public input and technical analyses upfront before alternatives are selected.

The Council held its first MSE public workshop in mid-May to begin gathering recommendations on a potential range of objectives for an ABC control rule, as well as feedback on how the objectives should be evaluated. A second workshop likely will be held Dec. 7-8 in Massachusetts.

The Council also received a briefing on the Atlantic Herring Committee’s late-August discussion about potential alternatives to address localized depletion. Most of the committee’s early proposals focus on variations of “inshore buffer zones” where midwater trawl gear – or in one case all herring gear types – would be restricted or prohibited year-round or seasonally. The Council made two motions to modify the Committee’s initial range of buffer zones, which now span from a discrete six-mile closure in an area off the backside of Cape Cod, up to a 50-mile buffer zone throughout the range of the fishery south of Herring Management Area 1A, covering the inshore portions of Areas 1B, 2, and 3 (see map). The committee will meet again on Oct. 20 and Nov. 9 to further debate and reevaluate the alternatives.

To recap how this all began:

  • The Council went through a public scoping process for Amendment 8 from Feb. 26 to April 30, 2015 to consider long-term harvest strategies for herring through an ABC control rule.
  • After reviewing the scoping comments, the Council in June 2015 expanded the reach of Amendment 8 to “include consideration of the spatial and temporal availability of Atlantic herring” in order to address public concern about localized depletion.
  • The Council is aiming to approve the range of alternatives on localized depletion and ABC control rule measures in January.

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Seamounts didn’t need protection from fishermen

September 20, 2016 — President Barack Obama is certainly sensitive enough to know the difference between, say, Republican Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts.

So we assume partisan politics had nothing to do with the declaration last week of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which leaves us scratching our heads.

Gov. Baker sees the monument designation of nearly 5,000 square miles of ocean as undermining commercial fishermen. We imagine that he, like many of us, wonders why the action came while federal regulators and regional ocean planners were developing a plan that balances environmentalism with impacts on the fisheries.

Commercial fishermen have contributed a remarkably miniscule amount to climate change, yet they understand remarkably clearly “the changes that are taking place that will affect their livelihood.”

The president’s statement seems incongruous according to the actual fishing activity taking place in the canyons and seamounts area, where it takes place relatively high in the water column, not the “pristine underseas.”

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New England Fishery Management Council Elects 2016-2017 Officers, Welcomes New Members

September 20, 2016 — The following was released by the NEFMC: 

The New England Fishery Management Council today by acclimation elected Dr. John F. Quinn of Massachusetts and E. F. “Terry” Stockwell III of Maine to serve respectively as chairman and vice chairman in the year ahead. The two have led the Council since 2014 but reversed roles this year. Stockwell said he wanted to participate more freely in discussions and vote on motions, especially on issues important to his home state. The Council chair serves as a neutral leader and does not vote except to break a tie.

Quinn said he was ready to take on the top position and thanked the Council for its support.

“I’m honored that the Council has put its trust in me,” Quinn said. “We have some significant challenges ahead. I’m glad Terry will be by my side as vice chair to help guide us along. We’re both committed to working closely with industry and all of our stakeholders to ensure that our actions are transparent and carried out as collaboratively as possible.”

Stockwell added, “I really appreciate John’s willingness to step up as chair. We’re wrestling with many issues right now that are critically important to the state of Maine. I need the ability to fully air the state’s position and serve as a voting member. I’m pleased to be vice chair. This way I can continue to help John and the Executive Committee carry out Council business.”

Quinn directs the Public Interest Law Program and External Partnerships at the University of Massachusetts School of Law – Dartmouth. In July, he was bestowed with the school’s 2016 “Chancellor’s Award Recognizing Excellence in Service.” Stockwell is Director of External Affairs at the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and serves on the Council as DMR Commissioner Pat Keliher’s designee.

Quinn and Stockwell will serve on the Council’s Executive Committee in their ex officio capacities as chair and vice chair. The Council also elected Doug Grout of New Hampshire, Peter Kendall of New Hampshire, and Terry Alexander of Maine to round out the team. The five-member Executive Committee develops policy for Council consideration and provides guidance on administrative, financial, and personnel matters.

The Council held this annual election of officers on the first day of its Sept. 20-22 meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, where it also welcomed two new members.

Mark Godfroy of New Hampshire is the owner and captain of two party boats — the Lady Tracey Ann II and the Lady Courtney Alexa — that operate out of Seabrook, New Hampshire as part of the fleet at Eastman’s Docks. He was appointed to the state’s obligatory seat, replacing Ellen Goethel.

Richard Bellavance Jr. of Rhode Island, the owner/operator of Priority Charters, LLC, a charter fishing business located in Point Judith, was appointed to the at-large seat previously held by Frank Blount of Rhode Island.

Dr. Michael Sissenwine was reappointed to serve a second, three-year term on the Council. New appointments took effect Aug. 11.

See the full release at the NEFMC