Saving Seafood

Rules planned to save right whales loom over lobster fishers

February 22, 2021 — America’s lobster fishery is getting close to the date when it will have to contend with new rules designed to try to save a species of whale from extinction.

The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 360, and scientists have said the animal’s small population of breeding females could spell doom for the species. The National Marine Fisheries Service is developing new rules to reduce the possibility of entanglement in fishing gear, which can kill the whales.

A court decision required the fisheries service to finalize the rules by May 31. The agency is on track to produce the final rules on time, said Jennifer Goebel, a spokesperson.

The whale protection rules will focus on lobster and crab fisheries in the Northeast by reducing the number of vertical lines in the water, the federal government has said. It will also modify seasonal restricted areas and make other changes, the government has said.

The coming restrictions have sparked a rancorous debate between environmentalists and lobster fishermen over the proper way to save the whale. Lobster fishing groups have said overly restrictive rules could put them out of business.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said the industry has a “long history of conservation of lobster resource and large whale protections.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NJNN

BRENNAN STRONG: Maine lobstermen and fisheries regulators need more time to assess new whale rules

February 19, 2021 — I am a 22-year-old commercial lobsterman. I got my lobster license at 11 years old and I have poured my heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into building my business ever since. I am writing out of deep concern for the future of the lobster fishery because of the newly proposed right whale regulations.

For over 100 years, this industry has been the role model for a sustainable and honorable fishery. We throw back more lobsters than we keep every day, as well as remove litter consistently from the bays where we work. This industry has given thousands of people opportunities to work, dream, and contribute to coastal communities. Lobstering is a way of life and is vital for Maine and its people.

However, the Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross court ruling from Judge James Boasberg requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to have new right whale regulations and a new biological opinion by May 31, 2021 is dangerously premature. The problem is that May 31 is too soon to properly evaluate the scientific and real-life factors at play. The entanglement statistics contain many assumptions and more time is needed to make sure everything is fact-based.

The significant threats to right whales have been and continue to be vessel strikes and entanglement with Canadian fishing gear, not Maine lobster gear. Those threats are not discussed thoroughly in the draft biological opinion, which states:

“NMFS is conducting a review of our vessel strike reduction measures … as it pertains to right whale management. … This review is expected to be released soon.”

Read the full opinion piece at the Bangor Daily News

Proposal To Protect Pacific Corals Exempts Military Training Areas

February 18, 2021 — A National Marine Fisheries Service proposal to designate 230 square miles of critical habitat for seven threatened coral species in the Pacific Ocean is getting mixed reviews from environmental advocates due to an exemption for military training areas.

The unprecedented initiative would be a milestone for groups fighting to preserve the coral species, which are threatened by warming seas and ocean acidification fueled by climate change. But critics say the military should have to adhere to the same rules and called for more public hearings before a decision is made.

The designated critical habitats are located in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and other U.S. Pacific islands.

“The proposal does not accurately reflect the cumulative impacts of the proposed federal activities that will take place in the area that may affect the survival of these coral species,” Guam Sen. Sabina Flores Perez said in her public testimony on the proposal.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Ropeless gear bill introduced in California statehouse

February 17, 2021 — A bill to require the use of ropeless pop-up gear in Dungeness crab and other trap fisheries by November 2025 was introduced into the California State Assembly on Thursday, Feb. 11.

Dubbed the Whale Entanglement Prevention Act, fishermen say the passage of such a law would be a death knell for the iconic and recently embattled Dungeness crab fishery. But at this point, there isn’t much fear among the fleet, as the bill could be dead in the water.

“I think we’re going to kill it,” said Ben Platt, a Crescent City-based fisherman and president of the California Coast Crab Association. “It’s not going to make it out of committee.”

Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) introduced the bill, AB-534, with two environmental organizations as cosponsors, Social Compassion in Legislation and the Center for Biological Diversity. The latter group filed a federal suit against the state of California in October 2017, arguing an increase in whale entanglements in the Dungeness crab fishery violated the Endangered Species Act.

The spike in whale entanglements from 2015 to 2017 has been attributed to climate change and an extreme marine heatwave that caused ecosystem shifts and habitat compression.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Invasive Asian carp getting a new name, image makeover to draw more foodies, fishing fans

February 9, 2021 — Care for a plate of slimehead? How about some orange roughy?

It’s the same fish, but one sounds much more palatable than the other. The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service gave the slimehead a rebranding in the late 1970s in an effort to make the underused fish more marketable.

Now, Illinois officials and their partners want to give the invasive Asian carp threatening the Great Lakes a similar makeover. The goal: To grow the fish’s image as a healthy, delicious, organic, sustainable food source — which will, in turn, get more fishermen removing more tons of the fish from Illinois rivers just outside of Lake Michigan.

Markets such as pet food, bait and fertilizer have expanded the use of invasive Asian carp in recent years. But “it’s been hard to get the human consumption part of this because of the four-letter word: carp,” said Kevin Irons, assistant chief of fisheries for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

A full-on media blitz is coming later this year to change that. The proposed new name for the fish is being kept tightly under wraps for a big rollout in June, prior to the Boston Seafood Show in mid-July. But other aspects of the “The Perfect Catch” campaign will point out that the invasive Asian carp species — silver, bighead, grass and black carp — are flaky, tasty, organic, sustainable, low in mercury and rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

“To us in America, we think of carp as a bottom-feeding, muddy-tasting fish, which it is sometimes,” said Dirk Fucik, owner of Dirk’s Fish and Gourmet Shop in Chicago, who has had success with occasional serving of Asian carp to customers and is participating in the rebranding effort.

Read the full story at the Chicago Sun Times

CALIFORNIA: Fishful Future: A New Collaborative Community Project to Move San Diego Toward a Zero Waste Seafood Supply Chain

February 9, 2021 — The following was released by Fishful Future:

The Fishful Future project is a newly launched collaborative effort joining seafood processors, fishery scientists, local fishermen, and renowned chefs. Supported by an award from the competitive National Marine Fisheries Service’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program, the project explores opportunities for San Diego’s fishing, seafood processing, and culinary industries to move toward a zero-waste seafood supply chain by fully using each fish.

Around 50 percent of each fish by weight generally remains after processing for the fillet market. This half of the fish is often discarded, or sold for cents on the pound, despite the valuable proteins and nutrients contained for a wide range of applications.

To encourage the use of the entire fish, the team explores the value in each part. The Fishful Future project addresses local food security by empowering home chefs to prepare less familiar secondary cuts with culturally diverse recipes, partnering with community groups in food insecure areas, and working with project chefs to develop new restaurant presentations.

The project also brings together entrepreneurs from a broad range of businesses in a new collective approach to increase sustainability by using what is currently considered to be waste. Seafood processing byproducts find valuable applications in bait, fertilizer, pet foods, bio-pharmaceutical, bio-medical, and artistic fields.

“More complete use of the fish means greater economic value and opportunity for fishermen, processors, and everyone who enjoys seafood,” said Dave Rudie, Catalina Offshore Products founder and president. “We owe it to the fish and to our customers to make the most complete use of each fish that is taken out of the ocean.”

Leading the culinary approaches are four San Diego chefs: Davin Waite, Karen Barnett, Christina Ng, and Rob Ruiz. These chefs are not only vocal, active contributors in their community but also wildly creative, committed to respecting their ingredients, and embody the goals of the project in their cookery and daily lives.

The multidisciplinary team is led by Catalina Offshore Products and scientists at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, with partners including the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, the Port of San Diego, Iceland’s Ocean Cluster, and Oregon State University’s Seafood Research & Education Center.

“The only way we can succeed is by doing this together,” said Sarah Mesnick, from NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center, who is a scientific advisor in the effort. “All partners in the seafood and product supply chain bring their own expertise and experience to the project, so that together we look at these valuable species in a new, holistic, and more sustainable way.”

Inquiries are welcome from parties interested in joining this effort toward a Fishful Future. Learn more by visiting fishfulfuture.com and following along on Instagram @fishfulfuture.

Oceana, Earthjustice File Suit Again Over NMFS Anchovy Rules on West Coast

February 4, 2021 — Call it a vicious circle. Maybe a vortex from which it seems there is no escape. Maybe it’s quicksand.

Regardless, Earthjustice and Oceana are, for the third time, suing NMFS over the central subpopulation of northern anchovy on the West Coast. NMFS published new anchovy catch limit regulations on Dec. 31, 2020; the conservation groups said those regulations, again, were insufficient.

Read the full story at Seafood News

PFMC: Pre-Assessment Workshop for Lingcod and Vermilion/Sunset Rockfishes March 29, 2021

February 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) and the National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest and Southwest Fisheries Science Centers will hold an online workshop to review data and analyses proposed to inform new assessments for lingcod and vermilion/sunset rockfishes scheduled to be conducted this year.  The workshop is open to the public. The pre-assessment workshop will be held Monday, March 29, 2021 beginning at 1 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time and continuing until business for the day has been completed, no later than 4 p.m.

Please see the workshop notice on the Pacific Council’s website for additional details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer John DeVore at 503-820-2422; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

As Warming Oceans Bring Tough Times to California Crab Fishers, Scientists Say Diversifying is Key to Survival

February 1, 2021 — California’s Dungeness crab fishermen have had a rough year. Poor meat quality, endangered whales migrating too close to shore and price disputes with wholesalers kept crab pots on boats for nearly two months. The delays left families without their cherished holiday centerpiece and fisherman without the funds that normally pay their bills the rest of the year.

But as rising ocean temperatures threaten to make fishery closures routine, it will be even harder to count on crab for holiday meals—or livelihoods. Over the past decade, warming sea waters have produced harmful algal blooms that contaminate crab meat with domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can cause seizures, memory loss and other serious symptoms and has been blamed for poisoning and stranding scores of sea lions in California every year. State officials delayed three out of the last six crab seasons to protect public health after an unprecedented multiyear marine heat wave, dubbed “the blob,” hit the north Pacific Ocean in 2013.

The blob precipitated a series of extraordinary events: it caused a massive harmful algal bloom that led to record-breaking domoic acid concentrations, which in turn caused first-of-its-kind closures of the West Coast’s most valuable fishery, from southern California to Washington state. But in doing so, it also set up a natural experiment that researchers harnessed to reveal strategies that could help food-producing communities recover from climate-driven disturbances.

Read the full story at Inside Climate News

MASSACHUSETTS: Statewide Ban on Lobstering Approved, With Exemption for Vineyard

February 1, 2021 — State fishing regulators overwhelmingly approved a first-of-its-kind seasonal lobstering ban to protect the North Atlantic right whale on Thursday — but exempted Vineyard and south shore waters from the restrictions after local fishermen expressed concerns about the proposal.

The new regulations, which ban commercial lobstering from Feb. 1 through May 15 in all state waters north and east of Cape Cod — but not the Island — were approved in a 6-1 vote with one abstention by the state Marine Advisory Commission during a dramatic hearing Thursday morning. The new rules differ substantially from an initial Department of Marine Fisheries recommendation that would have banned lobstering statewide.

Regulators also rejected a measure that would have barred lobstering vessels over 29 feet from using single pot lines, partially at the urging of Vineyard representative on the commission Dr. Shelley Edmundson, who asked to form a committee on the proposal. Other approved regulations include weaker rope and a recreational ban in all state waters from Nov. 1 through May 15.

The new seasonal commercial ban comes as a flurry of lawsuits and right whale deaths from entanglement have forced federal and state regulators to act fast in an effort to preserve the species and fall in line with the Environmental Protection Act. State regulators hope to use the new conservation measures to obtain an Incidental Take Permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is required for the continued operation of the lobster fishery.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette