November 12, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
November 9, 2018 — HYANNIS, Mass. – NOAA Fisheries researchers are helping to inform federal managers and developers on the impacts that construction and operation of offshore wind facilities will have on ocean bottom habitats and fisheries.
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducted four years of research to build a database of information, including water temperatures, topography, sediments, currents and marine life in the eight Wind Energy Areas authorized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management along the East Coast.
The designated WEAs encompass just over 4,000 square nautical miles of seafloor from Massachusetts to North Carolina. About 40 percent of the area has actually been leased to date, including the Vineyard Wind project development south of Martha’s Vineyard.
November 9, 2018 — The first environmental impact assessment for a major offshore wind energy project in federal waters got underway this week.
The South Fork Wind Farm, Deepwater Wind’s plan for 15 turbines east of Montauk, N.Y., was the subject at a round of scoping meetings held in Long Island and southern New England by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
It is the first step in developing an environmental impact statement for what will be the second commercial East Coast wind project, following Deepwater’s Block Island Wind Farm, the five-turbine demonstration project that came in line in Rhode Island in late 2016.
November 9, 2018 — Gov. Roy Cooper is calling for federal help for North Carolina’s commercial and recreational fisheries impacted by Hurricane Florence in September.
In a letter to Secretary Wilbur Ross, Cooper asked the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare a federal fishery resources disaster, because of the damage caused by Hurricane Florence. Declaring a federal fishery resource disaster can assist with long-term relief for families that rely on recreational and commercial fisheries.
November 7, 2018 — The surf clam fishery — typically centered from the Mid-Atlantic states to northern New Jersey — continues to shift northward. Over time, the distribution shows increased landings in southern New England and Georges Bank. Southern New England and Long Island are productive for ocean quahogs.
Quota for both fisheries has been the same for 15 years, and set at levels higher than demand since the mid-2000s. Fishermen, for the past decade, have come shy of reaching quota, harvesting between 86 percent in 2008 down to 64 percent in 2017.
“The industry has asked the council to maintain the quotas at those levels due to anticipated market demand,” said José Montañez, fishery management specialist with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
The 2018 commercial quota for surf clams is 3.4 million bushels. For ocean quahog, Maine quota is set at 100,000 bushels and other states have a quota of 5.33 million bushels. As of late September, 44 percent of the surf clam quota and 36 percent of the quahog quota had been harvested, on pace with previous years.
Average ex-vessel price was $13.90 per bushel in 2017. The total ex-vessel value of 2017’s federal surf clam harvest hit about $31 million, the same as in 2016. In 2017, $23 million worth of ocean quahogs were recorded. It appears that 2018 values will look similar.
Bekah Angoff, of the boutique Boston-based Pangea Shellfish ships surf clams to consumers throughout U.S. and Canada. The wholesale cost is $2.50-$3 per pound, with seasonal variation, and one clam/pound including shell and meat.
November 7, 2018 — Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts, US, has urged the federal government to avoid high-priority fishing areas when assigning leases for future wind farms, according to an article originally reported in the New Bedford Standard-Times and sent to Undercurrent News by NGO Saving Seafood.
According to the article, governor Baker wrote to Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior on Nov. 1, requesting that areas such as the New York Bight, south of Long Island, be exempted from future wind farm leases on the grounds that development could disrupt a multi-million dollar fishery.
“Some of the areas under consideration for leasing represent very productive and high-value grounds for fishermen from Massachusetts and other states,” Baker wrote in the letter.
The areas being evaluated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for a future wind farm are believed to have generated $344 million for the region’s fishing sector from 2012 to 2016, according to statistics from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
According to the article, fishermen and officials from New Bedford, MA, met with BOEM in September, when they expressed their concerns at the new developments. According to one, 40-50% of the scalloping grounds fished by local scallopers would be within the proposed developmental areas.
November 6, 2018 — For years, Maine shellfish harvesters have been complaining that there are fewer softshell clams while arguing that the diggers who go out on the mud flats aren’t the cause of the problem.
A recent study by researchers from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources backs them up on both counts.
According to Clyde L. MacKenzie Jr. of NOAA and Mitchell Tarnowski from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, between 1980 and 2010, documented landings of the four most commercially important inshore bivalve mollusks along the Northeast coast — eastern oysters, northern quahogs, softshell clams and northern bay scallops — dropped by 85 percent.
The principal cause, they say, was warming ocean temperatures associated with a shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation which resulted in damaged shellfish habitat and increased predation from Maine to North Carolina.
“My first response is that the article confirms what I have been seeing with soft-shell clams over at least the last decade or so,” Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine Machias and director of research at the Downeast Institute on Great Wass Island, said last week.
The North Atlantic Oscillation is a fluctuation of atmospheric pressure over the North Atlantic that affects both the weather and the climate along the East Coast, especially in winter and early spring.
According to NOAA, shifts in the oscillation can affect the timing of a species’ reproduction and growth, the availability of microscopic organisms for food and predator-prey relationships.
Over a period of several years, MacKenzie and Tarnowski interviewed shellfish wardens and harvesters along the New England coast, as well as examining landings records and other research in an effort to determine the “true causes” of the precipitous drop in shellfish landings.
November 6, 2018 — The federal government is shutting down a chunk of the Atlantic Ocean fishery for a species of mackerel for several months.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says commercial harvest of the Atlantic’s migratory Spanish mackerel in federal waters is shut down until March 1. The closure went into effect on Nov. 4.
The closure applies from North Carolina to New York. Over the years, Spanish mackerel have been harvested from Florida to Maine, though the northern edge of the fishery is typically closer to Rhode Island. The biggest producer is Florida.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald
November 5, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
WHAT/WHEN:
The commercial harvest of Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel northern zone in federal waters will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on November 4, 2018, and will re-open on March 1, 2019. The northern zone for Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel includes federal waters from North Carolina through New York. During the commercial closure, harvest or possession of Spanish mackerel in or from the northern zone federal waters is limited to the recreational bag and possession limits while the recreational sector is open, but those fish may not be sold.
WHY THIS CLOSURE IS HAPPENING:
Commercial landings are projected to reach the commercial quota for Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel northern zone. According to the accountability measure, harvest must close to prevent the quota from being exceeded.
DURING THE CLOSURE:
This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations. Full regulations can be found in the Federal Register or at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=38b00fbc079181f330b3d8428a1d8fea&mc=true&n=pt50.12.622&r=PART&ty=HTML#sp50.12.622.q.
November 5, 2018 — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has called on the U.S. Department of Commerce for additional resources and funding to help mitigate the damages weathered by the state’s fisheries in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.
Cooper urged the Department of Commerce to declare a federal fishery resources disaster for North Carolina in a letter sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Such a declaration would provide aid and long-term relief to families relying on North Carolina’s recreational and commercial fisheries, according to Cooper.
“This was the storm of a lifetime for many coastal communities. The damaging economic impact to the state’s fisheries was, and continues to be, significant. While state appropriations will begin to afford some limited initial relief, much more is needed,” Cooper wrote in the letter.
North Carolina’s coastal communities are reliant on marine fisheries, Cooper said, in terms of both the local economy and employment. In 2017, commercial fishing was responsible for more than USD 96 million (EUR 84 million) in revenue and supported hundreds of jobs, according to findings from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.
These economy-fueling marine fisheries were left “devastated” by “Hurricane Florence’s historic rainfall, brutal winds, and powerful storm surge,” Cooper said. Fishing grounds were compromised, and boats and gear were damaged and destroyed as a result of the storm, he added. Additionally, shellfish harvests have been suspended in affected areas, “[costing] fishermen critical income.”