Saving Seafood

NMFS calls a covid-19 cancellation for Northeast research surveys

July 13, 2020 — On the heels of again delaying Northeast fisheries observer coverage, NMFS cancelled three planned research surveys as the covid-19 pandemic continues.

The cancelled surveys would help assess sea scallops, the Atlantic surf clam and ocean quahog stocks – and use advanced technology to investigate the deep ocean’s mesopelagic layer, the so-called “twilight zone” between 660 feet and 3,300 feet where the influence of sunlight drops off.

“These are difficult decisions for the agency as we strive to balance our need to maintain core mission responsibilities with the realities and impacts of the current health crisis,” officials at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.

“Since March, we have been rigorously analyzing various options for conducting cruises this year and are taking a survey-by-survey, risk-based approach. After much deliberation, we determined that there was no way to move forward with these surveys while effectively minimizing risk and meeting core survey objectives.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Call for data and information – EFH Review for Pacific Coast Highly Migratory Species

July 1, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center have initiated a review of essential fish habitat (EFH) provisions in the Pacific Coast Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP).  This call for data and information is intended to support the review.

The HMS FMP, its EFH provisions, and maps can be found on the Council’s HMS webpage, under “Key Documents”.  The HMS FMP includes the following species:

  • Sharks: common thresher, shortfin mako, blue
  • Tunas: albacore, bigeye, Pacific bluefin, skipjack, yellowfin
  • Striped marlin
  • Broadbill swordfish
  • Dorado

Fishery management plans are required to identify and describe EFH for each life stage and species, identify and minimize impacts from fishing and non-fishing activities, and identify research needs, among other requirements.  A complete description of EFH provisions to be included in FMPs can be found in the EFH regulatory guidance at 50 CFR§600.815(a).  Information and data should be relevant to:

  • The habitat needs, associations and distribution FMP species listed above
  • Major prey items of species listed above
  • Adverse impacts on EFH from fishing activities and potential minimization measures
  • Adverse impacts on EFH from non-fishing activities and potential minimization measures
  • Research and information needs

Information and data sources can include published scientific literature, unpublished scientific reports, information from interested parties, and previously unavailable or inaccessible data.

Information relevant to the HMS EFH review should be submitted to Nicole Nasby-Lucas (nicole.nasby-lucas@noaa.gov) no later than Monday July 13th, 2020.  For further information, please contact Kerry Griffin (kerry.griffin@noaa.gov).

NMFS relents on Northeast observers, extends moratorium through July

June 30, 2020 — Faced with dismay from fishermen and East Coast fishery management councils, NMFS announced it will delay its plan to resume at-sea observer deployments through July 31.

The agency backed away from its plan to restart the observer program July 1, after the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils sent NMFS Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony and other officials letters expressing alarm that the decision was made too soon.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center had been planning since May 28 to work toward a July resumption. But in recent weeks the covid-19 pandemic started a new upward arc across the nation.

“Although we had announced plans to resume observer deployments on July 1, we recognize the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and as such, has required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances,” the agency said in a public statement issued Tuesday afternoon. “In response, NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors through July 31, 2020.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Observer Letter to NOAA Administrators

June 30, 2020 — Recently, Fishing Partnership Support Services reached out to federal administrators in regards to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and federal at-sea observers. The following is an excerpt from a letter addressed to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator for NMFS,  and Dr. John Hare, Science and Research Director for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of commercial fishing families throughout the Northeast. Given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are gravely concerned by your decision to reintroduce observers to fishing vessels at this time. For the safety of our fishermen and observers, as well as their families, we ask you to change course and extend the waiver until you can work with the fishing community and public health officials: 1) to analyze the risk of the observer program to safety at sea, and 2) to develop effective protocols that minimize transmission of Covid-19.

The CDC has been clear that older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at highest risk of developing a severe illness from COVID-19. “Severe illness means that the person with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they may even die.”

Read the full letter here

Federal Agency Tells Employees ‘No Reference To Anything COVID Related’

June 26, 2020 — A federal fisheries management agency has barred some of its employees from making formal references to the COVID-19 pandemic without preapproval from leadership, according to an internal agency document.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the Commerce Department, manages federal fish stocks in partnership with appointed regional councils. Fishing crews and seafood businesses have been asking the agency to relax regulations as the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated their operations. There have also been outbreaks among industry workers.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s guidance document, dated June 22, says it applies to the agency’s formal rules and management announcements.

The four-page memo says the agency’s “preferred approach” is making “no reference to anything COVID related,” and it offers preapproved replacement phrases such as “in these extraordinary times.”

Read the full story at NPR

Federal Fishery Managers Say Measures for US Fisheries Should Reflect Their Low Impact on Protected Species Compared to Foreign Fisheries

June 26, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Councilconcluded its three-day virtual meeting today on the management of federal fisheries in waters offshore of the State of Hawai’i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the US Pacific Remote Islands Areas. Established in 1976 under purview of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the Council monitors federal fisheries operating in these waters and develops management plans and amendments for them. Discussions and recommendations at today’s Council meeting focused on protected species interactions and the international nature of the region’s pelagic fisheries.

While the MSA is the nation’s preeminent fisheries legislation, the region’s fisheries are often managed to meet other legislation, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Under the ESA, NMFS develops a biological opinion (BiOp) to evaluate whether a federally managed fishery jeopardizes the continued existence of species listed as threatened or endangered. If the fishery is likely to jeopardize species, NMFS must implement reasonable and prudent alternatives (RPAs) to avoid jeopardizing the species. If the fishery is not likely to jeopardize species, NMFS must implement reasonable and prudent measures (RPMs) to minimize impacts of any incidental take by the fishery. Currently, NMFS is developing BiOps and considering RPMs or RPAs for the Hawai’i deep-set longline fishery, which targets bigeye tuna, and for the American Samoa longline fishery, which targets South Pacific albacore tuna. Of particular concern is the Hawai’i fleet’s interaction with leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles. These RPMs in the past have required the shallow-set longline fishery to close after interacting with 16 leatherback turtles, even if they were released alive.

The Council also recommended that drafting of the RPMs place priority on improving handling and release methods to improve post-hooking survival rates and on creating industry-led incentives to report and reduce impacts.

During public comment, Eric Kingma, Hawaii Longline Association executive director, noted that the Hawaii fleet is only 4% of longline effort in the WCPO. “While we don’t have significant impact on the protected species populations, we can help by designing innovative measures and transferring them to the international fisheries,” he said.

Among other related recommendations, the Council will ask the Seafood Trade Task Force, created by Executive Order 13921, to evaluate all impacts of foreign-sourced fishery products on domestic fisheries and markets. The evaluation should focus on foreign-forced products into Hawai’i and Guam with known seafood safety concerns, such as carbon-monoxide gassed tuna including the potential suspension of such products during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Council also requested that the director of the NMFS Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection provide a status update on the certification of foreign fisheries that meet the MMPA equivalency provisions. Measures implemented under the MMPA have had an impact on the Hawai’i deep-set longline fishery, which has been unable to operate within a 132,000 square mile area (called the Southern Exclusion Zone) within the US exclusive economic zone around Hawai’i, after its interaction with two false killer whales that NMFS characterized as being at a level to create mortality and serious injury.

The Council recommended that the 2021 catch limits for longline bigeye be set at 2,000 mt each for American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI and that each Territory be allowed to allocate up to1,500 mt to US longline fisheries permitted under the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan, pursuant to Amendment 7 of that plan. However, the collective total allocation among the three Territories is not to exceed 3,000 mt.

The meeting agenda and briefing documents can be found at www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars.

Northeast observer coverage resumes July 1; councils express worry

June 24, 2020 — NMFS will resume its usual at-sea observe coverage in the Northeast July 1, after a three-month hiatus when the agency waived requirements because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Jon Hare, science and research director for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, confirmed Monday that the agency and its observer providers will move ahead with the resumption, in the planning stages since May 29.

“The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Sampling Branch has been working through internal protocols and processes to ensure shoreside components of the program can operate,” Hare wrote in a letter to fishermen and other stakeholders. “They are also coordinating with observer providers to develop deployment plans that support the health and safety of observers, fishermen, and others in the fishing industry, in light of the covid-19 virus.”

But the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils reacted with dismay, reflecting worries in the industry that the observer program is being set back in motion before it is safe to do so.

“The council believes that deploying observers on fishing vessels at this time poses an unnecessary risk to the health and safety of fishermen and observers,” Mid-Atlantic council chairman Michael Luisi wrote in a June 23 letter to Hare and NMFS Northeast regional director Michael Pentony.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NORTH CAROLINA: Input Sought on CARES Act Fisheries Plan

June 15, 2020 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is seeking input from the public on a draft spending plan for $5.4 million in federal coronavirus fisheries assistance.

The spending plan must be approved by National Marine Fisheries Service for the state to receive the funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.

The draft spending plan proposes an approach for disbursement of the funding through direct payments to eligible commercial fishermen, charter businesses, seafood dealers and processors, and qualified aquaculture operations who can document a greater than 35% revenue loss compared to the previous five-year average due to COVID-19.

The draft spending plan and other information pertaining to the draft can be found online on the CARES Act Fishery Assistance Information page. Written comments on the plan may be submitted through an online form that can be accessed via the website or by mail to: Draft CARES Act Fisheries Assistance Spending Plan Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online