Saving Seafood

AP: Conservationists keep pressing for Atlantic Ocean monuments

July 11, 2016 — The following is excerpted from a story published today by the Associated Press. In it, representatives of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) call for President Obama to use executive authority under the Antiquities Act to designate multiple national marine monuments off the coast of New England.

Last month, eight members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) and the valuable fishing port of New Bedford, Mass., united in opposition to proposed Atlantic monuments. The groups agreed that fishing areas and resources should continue to be managed in the open and transparent manner stipulated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).

Previously, many of the environmental groups calling for Atlantic monuments expressed support for fisheries management under the MSA. In December, Pew called the MSA “the bedrock of one of the world’s best fishery management systems.” In April, the CLF wrote that the MSA is “the primary reason why the United States can say that it has the most sustainable fisheries in the world.” In February, the Environmental Defense Fund said that the MSA “has made the United States a global model for sustainable fisheries management.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Environmental conservationists aren’t giving up on trying to persuade the White House to designate an area in the Gulf of Maine as a national monument.

In the final months of President Barack Obama’s term, they’re hoping he’ll protect an underwater mountain and offshore ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine known as Cashes Ledge. They also want him to protect a chain of undersea formations about 150 miles off the coast of Massachusetts known as the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality said in March, and reiterated last week, that while the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts area is under consideration, Cashes Ledge currently is not. There are no marine national monuments in the Atlantic Ocean.

Robert Vanasse, executive director of the fishing advocacy group Saving Seafood, said environmental groups seemed to be “in denial and shock” after the White House first said it wasn’t considering Cashes Ledge in March.

“I think they overplayed their hand. They arrogantly seemed to think that they could dictate to the White House,” he said on Wednesday.

Vanasse said fishing interests are now taking the White House at its word that Cashes Ledge is off the table. The industry is already struggling with quota cuts and climate change.

Commercial fishing groups oppose creating any marine monument in the Atlantic under the American Antiquities Act because the decision is left entirely to the president, Vanasse said. There are existing procedures to protect areas where the public participates in the process under the top law regulating fishing in U.S. oceans, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, he added.

“We’re not the fringe nutcases here,” Vanasse said. “It’s pretty much every non-environmentally subsidized fishery organization that is opposed to the use of the Antiquities Act to create marine monuments. The Magnuson-Stevens process works. It could be better, but it’s working.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Scientists to meet with public about overfished flounder

July 11, 2016 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — Scientists will meet with fishermen and the public about the future of a flounder species that regulators say suffers from overfishing.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole will hold the meeting at 10 a.m. July 26 to talk about witch flounder, a popular food fish caught off New England. Federal regulators say the witch flounder is overfished.

The scientists will answer questions relating to an upcoming assessment of the witch flounder stock. They will also take comments from the public.

The catch of witch flounder has fallen from more than 6.4 million pounds in 2004 to a little more than 1.2 million pounds in 2014. Scientists say that’s still too much because the fish’s reproductive rates have been lower than expected.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Massachusetts to invest $1.1M on Jodrey fish pier renovations

July 8, 2016 — The Jodrey State Fish Pier is the best performing and most well-run of the state’s four fish piers, emerging as a model for potential changes to Massachusetts’ other three fish piers, according to an evaluation of the state fish pier system by the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker.

The evaluation, funded by the Seaport Economic Council and performed by a working group of representatives from a number of state agencies, has resulted in two positives for the 78-year-old fish pier named for Edward R. Jodrey, the Gloucester barber who championed its construction in 1930s:

The Baker administration announced this week it will fund $1.1 million in renovations at the pier that covers approximately 8 acres at the head of the harbor, part of what the administration says is its continued “commitment to deepening the economic impact of state maritime facilities.”

Those funds will be used to repair the deteriorating roof atop the 40,000-square-foot cold storage and freezing operation that is one of the array of businesses housed in the three buildings on the pier.

Perhaps more important in the long run, the evaluation showed the Jodrey State Fish Pier, which is operated at a profit by MassDevelopment, is at the top of the class among the state’s four fish piers, an operations model for those located in New Bedford, Fall River and Plymouth.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MAINE: Herring shortage may affect the price of lobster

July 7, 2016 — Usually a Maine lobsterman can choose to either fish or cut bait, but as the result of a herring shortage, neither may be an option for awhile. Local lobster co-op managers say fishermen may have to pay more for imported frozen bait from New Brunswick until the herring spawning season ends and stocks return to normal levels off the Georges Bank. In the meantime, new state harvest restrictions for herring fishermen also may be implemented.

Inside the lobstermen’s co-op in Corea, a small Down East fishing village, the phone is ringing off the hook. Some are lobster dealers contacting co-op manager Warren Polk about prices, but more want to know about the availability of bait. And in Corea, Polk is doing a little bit better than others in that department.

“I got a load of frozen bait in this morning out of Canada,” Polk said.

Maine lobstermen prefer the herring that is caught in the Gulf of Maine and from the Georges Bank off Massachusetts. But herring fishermen are not catching the small silver-colored fish in significant numbers. The herring fishery is limited to a little more than 19,000 metric tons through the harvest season that ends in September.

Maine fishermen who fish closer to shore are concerned that some of their larger out-of-state competitors may come here and deplete the local resource if they can’t find the herring they need off the Georges Bank.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public Broadcasting

Emergency rule amid bait shortage coming soon in Maine

July 7, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine regulators say they will issue an emergency rule in the coming days that will address a bait shortage that is affecting the fishing industry.

There is a shortage of herring, which is the most popular kind of bait used in the lobster fishery. Regulators and members of the fishing industry say the problem is that not enough herring are being caught on Georges Bank off Massachusetts.

State Department of Marine Resources deputy commissioner Meredith Mendelson says the agency will issue emergency rules on Saturday in response to the shortage.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

MAINE: Herring fishermen say fish quota concerns threaten lobster industry

July 6, 2016 — ROCKLAND, Maine — Maine’s huge lobster fishery could run into problems this year because fishermen might face a shortage of bait.

Herring are the primary bait for lobsters, but the people who catch the herring say they’re worried the quota for those fish could be used up too quickly. So the state is imposing new controls.

Herring fishermen say the problem is that herring are not being caught right now on Georges Bank off Massachusetts. That’s typically a prime spot for boats from Massachusetts and other states to pursue herring.

The fish were once the key to a significant Maine sardine canning industry. But the last cannery closed several years ago, and herring are now used for bait and for some animal feed.

Federal regulators have imposed a quota of 19,4 thousand metric tons of herring for the season that runs through September. However, because of the scarcity of fish on Georges Bank, the large out-of-state boats have started coming to Maine to fish.

Owners and operators of the smaller Maine boats that fish closer to shore say they’re worried the summer herring quota will be caught too quickly. Herring fishermen say if the quota is used up they won’t have bait to sell to lobstermen, at a time when the lobster fishing is heating up.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources met with herring fishermen Tuesday afternoon to outline a new plan to limit the number of days they can fish and how many fish they can catch. The state hopes that will stretch the fishery out until late August or September, and make sure there is a consistent supply of lobster bait.

Read the full story at NBC Portland

Upcoming Witch Flounder Outreach Meeting

July 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

NEFSC will be hosting a Witch Flounder outreach session prior to the SARC 62 meeting scheduled later this year.

Outreach topics will include a summary of the 2015 Update, the ABC, and the plan to transition from VPA to ASAP.  Witch Flounder assessment scientists will respond to questions, comments or feedback from interested parties.

Date/Time: Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.

Location: S.H. Clark Conference Room, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole, MA

Call-In Details: 877-653-6612 (toll-free) or 517-600-4840 (toll charges apply; for international callers)

Participant Code: 8116908

Webinar URL

More information is available here

ERIC REID: Work on marine monument not done yet

July 5, 2016 — In June, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, a Republican U.S. Rep. Utah, visited New Bedford and spoke to several members of the industry regarding their concerns about a potential marine monument off the coast of New England. Following the meeting, I remarked to The Standard-Times reporter that a monument could potentially cost the industry up to $500 million in economy activity, in addition to countless jobs.

This estimate has been criticized for being far too high. But it is based on two premises — a conservative estimate of the economic impact of fishing in New England, and the lack of clarity surrounding the marine monument discussion.

Currently, the commercial fishing industry from Maine to New Jersey brings in an estimated $1.4 billion per year in landings. These landings support hundreds of millions of dollars more in economic activity for related and shoreside businesses, and employ tens of thousands of people up and down the coast.

Because no one in the Obama administration’s Council on Environmental Quality has put forward an actual, concrete proposal of what an Atlantic monument might look like, the industry considers all of this to be potentially at risk.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New fish commissioners OK emergency sea bass rules

June 29, 2016 — WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — The newly recast state Marine Fisheries Commission convened its first business meeting Tuesday since Gov. Charlie Baker backed up the moving truck in late May and jettisoned seven members whose terms had expired.

The seven new members, along with holdovers Bill Adler and Ray Kane, met in a hushed conference room at the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s spiffy zero-net-energy field headquarters — think green as green can be — here in central Massachusetts, about 45 miles from the closest wave coming off the Atlantic Ocean.

Following opening comments by state Fish & Game Commissioner George Peterson and state Division of Marine Fisheries Director David Pierce, the new commissioners waded into a number of issues, including an escalating focus on the state of the black sea bass population and the possibility of changing the joint federal/interstate manner in which the stock is managed.

The commissioners unanimously voted to approve DMF’s recommended emergency regulations for the recreational black sea bass fishery for the 2016 season that began May 21, including a reduction in the available harvest for the second consecutive year.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

GLOUCESTER TIMES: A partial victory for fishermen

June 28, 2016 — New England fishermen got a piece of good news last week when the federal government agreed to pay for a large portion of the cost of its at-sea monitoring of the actions of the industry fleet.

But let us be clear — it is only a bit of good news. There is much more work to be done before the monitoring efforts can be considered fair to cash-strapped fishermen and successful from an information-gathering standpoint.

The at-sea monitoring program, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, places observers on fishing vessels to record details of their catch and make sure government regulations are being strictly followed.

The program is far from perfect. The regulations are at worst byzantine and contradictory, and at best merely confusing. The quality and experience of observers varies greatly, and extra people on the deck of a fishing vessel can add to safety concerns in what is already a dangerous profession. And then there’s the cost — about $710 a trip, by some estimates.

For months, NOAA was insisting fishermen pay the cost of monitoring, which surely would have bankrupted some of the vessel owners. It would be like paying to have a state trooper sit in the back of your car to make sure you weren’t speeding.

Fishermen and their elected officials lobbied for months to get the federal government to pick up the costs, and last week NOAA capitulated. The agency will reimburse fishermen for up to 85 percent of monitoring costs.

Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Times