Saving Seafood

Fresh mesh: Technology gives the ancient fishing technique of seining a total overhaul

February 5, 2021 — While the earliest incarnations of trawling can be traced back to the 1700s, the earliest versions of seine fishing are depicted on Egyptian tombs from 5,000 years ago. With advances in net technology, sensors and haulers, there is nothing primitive in the way seiners operate today.

Barry Matthews comes from a purse seining family on Canada’s Campobello Island, just across the international bridge from Lubec, Maine.

“Ivan (Matthews) practically invented it,” says Matthews, who launched his boat, the Ocean Venture, six years ago and bought a powerful seine skiff built in Seattle.

Things have changed since Ivan’s day. “I buy twine in bales from another country,” says Matthews. “They come in 50-fathom sections, and we put them together. The biggest we use is 400 fathom, 200 meshes deep, about 60 fathom. They’re a lot bigger than what we used to use. Used to be 6 pounds per fathom, now it’s 20-25 per fathom. We’re using 3/4-inch cable.”

Matthews talks about the greater weight of the nylon seines he hauls aboard, but Menon “Gopa” Gopakumar, of the India-based fiber producer Garware Technical Fibres, is excited about new fibers for nets.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition Urging ASMFC to Consider Fair and Equitable Reallocation Process

February 3, 2021 — On Monday several organizations who are part of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition submitted a letter to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Menhaden Board Chair A.G. “Spud” Woodward. The letter called for the Commission to consider, as part of its decision-making, the “importance of historic landings records and the impacts to the fishing industry of the recently implemented ecosystem-based management.”

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is asking that the review process be guided by three principles:

1.The Management Board should ensure that the full amount of sustainable yield set for this year and next is able to be harvested.

2. Understanding that the total allowable catch for 2021 and 2022 is lower than total landings for 2019 (and, likely 2020), any  reallocation scheme should recnogie states that have already contributed to menhaden conservation since the TAC was first established in 2012.

3. The conservation burden of the TAC reduction must be fairly and equitably distributed among states.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ASMFC could reallocate menhaden quota, industry pushes for equity

February 3, 2021 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will likely look into how the U.S. Atlantic menhaden fishery allocates its quota in 2021.

The commission is considering reallocating the menhaden fishery this year based on Amendment 3. Implemented in 2018, the rule requires the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to revisit its quota allocations every three years. A letter written by the MFC, which represents some of the largest players in the menhaden fishing industry, is asking the commission to take into account historic catch levels in its deliberations.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition Members Call on ASMFC for a Fair and Equitable Reallocation Process

February 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

As the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) undertakes a performance review of the Atlantic menhaden fishery, members of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) are urging the Commission to consider, as part of its decision-making, the importance of historic landings records and the impacts to the fishing industry of the recently implemented ecosystem-based management.

The call came in a letter to ASMFC Menhaden Board Chair A.G. “Spud” Woodward, signed by several organizations in the menhaden bait and marine ingredient industries, representing several states including New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.  The signatories of the letter include New Jersey’s Lund’s Fisheries, Virginia’s Omega Protein, Reedville Bait, and Kellum Maritime, and Delmarva Fisheries Association based in Maryland.

While it is currently unclear whether the ASMFC will initiate an action to revisit current menhaden quota allocations, the letter asks the Commission to recognize in any possible decision factors such as changing patterns in landings, strong demand for menhaden products, and the need to ensure that the fishing industry has a fair opportunity to harvest their quota.

Specifically, the letter highlights the disparity between how the quota is currently distributed among states and where the harvest is occurring, impeding efforts to fully harvest the quota. The letter asks that if the Commission pursues quota reallocation, that it recognizes the few states that have already sacrificed some of their historical quota share, and that it ensures that the burden of any new cuts is fairly distributed throughout the stock’s range. Traditionally, both current use and a state’s fishing history are key determinants in resource allocations made by the Commission.

“Since the menhaden quota was established in 2012, cuts have come almost entirely at the expense of New Jersey and Virginia fishermen,” said Wayne Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries. “Now that the Commission has decided to reduce the quota for ecological reasons, the conservation burden needs to be fairly shared throughout the fishery, not by taking allocation from the two states with the largest historical fisheries.”

The menhaden fishery has changed significantly since the ASMFC passed Amendment 3 to its menhaden Fishery Management Plan in 2017. The Commission has adopted Ecological Reference Points (ERPs) to better account for the role that menhaden play in the ecosystem and has instituted a 10 percent cut in the coastwide quota. Also, a significant new bait fishery has developed in Gulf of Maine states, which join Virginia and New Jersey as a top harvesting region.

According to the letter, these changes have resulted in “a significant mismatch between the total menhaden catch allocation (TAC) and its actual use.” For this reason, the Coalition urges the Commission to focus any possible reallocation decisions to ensure the fishery can reach its optimum yield. It argues that “provid[ing] a reasonable opportunity for the bait and marine ingredients fisheries to fully harvest the amount of menhaden [the Commission] has determined to be sustainable” is particularly important as fishing communities have suffered economic harm by pandemic-related reductions in demand for other seafood products.

The ASMFC’s Menhaden Board takes up its review of this fishery tomorrow afternoon.

New York to study why dead bunker fish have been washing up on beaches

December 29, 2020 — Numerous reports of dead and dying bunker fish washing up on Long Island beaches in recent weeks have prompted state officials to collect samples for study.

Distressed fish — possibly sickened by low water oxygen levels or rapid changes in temperature — have been spotted from the lower Hudson River near Peekskill to Staten Island and beaches on Long Island’s North Shore and the East End, officials said.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has sent fish samples and water quality data to Stony Brook University’s Marine Animal Disease Laboratory and Cornell University for examination, officials said.

Bunker, or Atlantic menhaden, are a popular bait fish that number in the billions from Nova Scotia to Florida. Hundreds of millions of the fish are harvested annually for fish oil, fertilizer and fishmeal, authorities have said.

Read the full story at Newsday

Virginia Adopts 10% Menhaden Harvest Cut

December 16, 2020 — Virginia’s menhaden harvest, now under the control of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), has officially been reduced by 10 percent to comply with the Atlantic coast-wide fishery quota.

It’s the first state reduction since VMRC took over management of the fishery from the General Assembly. In recent years, Virginia legislators had failed to adopt limits set by coastal fishery managers, and ultimately the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) found Virginia out of compliance. That lack of compliance put Virginia at risk of a menhaden fishing moratorium, but VMRC’s taking over management of the fishery in April 2020 avoided the looming moratorium.

In August, ASMFC committed to using Ecological Reference Points in its fishery decision-making, which take into account menhaden’s role in the food chain, not just its abundance. As Bay Bulletin reported, ASMFC voted in October to reduce the entire Atlantic catch by 10 percent.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Virginia Marine Resources Commission approves menhaden harvest limit

December 9, 2020 — On Tuesday, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) reduced Virginia’s menhaden harvest by 10 percent to comply with the newly adopted menhaden fishery quota from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

Virginia’s harvest was cut from 168,213 metric tons to 151,392 metric tons. The Chesapeake Bay harvest cap remains unchanged.

In August, the ASMFC committed to using Ecological Reference Points, which consider menhaden’s important role in the food chain when setting menhaden harvest limits.

Read the full story at WAVY

Panel rejects proposal to restrict menhaden fishing along Louisiana coast

November 9, 2020 — A growing conflict over Louisiana’s but largest but perhaps least-known commercial fishery came to a head this week when state leaders rejected a plan to restrict large-scale menhaden fishing near the state’s coastline.

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on Thursday voted down a proposal backed by recreational fishing and conservation groups that would have established a menhaden fishing “exclusion zone” to protect fragile coastal habitat and marine species from the long nets and large vessels operated by the menhaden fishing industry. The zone, which would have extended one mile out along the entire Louisiana coastline, mirrored restrictions enacted in other states, including Mississippi and Alabama.

Also called pogies, menhaden are tiny silver fish that play an outsized role in the Gulf of Mexico’s fishing industry. By volume, the menhaden fishery is the largest in Louisiana and the Gulf, and the second in the U.S. Often boasting annual harvests of more than 550,000 tons, the menhaden fishery far outweighs the Gulf’s famed commercial catches, including crab and shrimp.

Read the full story at Houma Today

Cooke-owned Omega Protein calls 10% cut in menhaden fishing quota ‘not unreasonable’

October 22, 2020 — Cooke-owned Omega Protein in Virginia said the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) decision on Tuesday to cut the US Atlantic coast menhaden quota by 10 percent “is not an unreasonable step.”

ASMFC voted 13 to 5 to cut the quota to 194,400 metric tons for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

In response to the reduced catch limit, Omega released a statement saying the company “recognizes the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s decision to reduce the coastwide [harvest] by 10 percent, while not preferred, is not an unreasonable step toward moving to ecological management of this species,” reported the Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Atlantic coast’s menhaden fishing haul cut by 10% for 2021 and 2022

October 21, 2020 — A new way of thinking about fishing quotas will bring a 10% cut in the coastwide cap for menhaden, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided Tuesday.

The commission’s menhaden board voted to cut the quota for 2021 and 2022 to 194,400 metric tons from the current 216,000, a 10% reduction.

What drives the cut is a new approach to managing fisheries — an ecosystem-based one pioneered for menhaden, the small fish that is harvested for fish oil and bait and is an important source of food for other fish, birds and whales.

The older technique considers how many young fish join the population of a species in a year, how many die from natural causes and how many are caught. The idea with this traditional approach is to calculate how many can be caught without causing a species’ numbers to fall too far.

Read the full story at The Daily Press