Saving Seafood

SAFMC Seeks Advisors on Social and Economic Topics

April 8, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is soliciting social scientists andeconomists interested in serving on its Socio-Economic Panel. Membership is open to qualified social scientists and economists, regardless of affiliation or geographic location. The Council will review applications at its June 2020 meeting. Applications received by May 8, 2020 will be submitted to the Council for consideration.

The South Atlantic Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils in the country. Each council has a Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) responsible for reviewing the scientific basis of council management plans, actions, and developing fishing level recommendations in accordance with national fisheries management guidelines. The South Atlantic Council’s SSC has a specific sub-group, known as the Socio-Economic Panel (SEP), that is made up of social scientists and economists who advise the SSC and the Council on social and economic topics that relate to fisheries management measures and analysis. The SEP typically meets once a year over a two-day period. The SEP members serve 3-year terms and may be appointed to multiple terms.

Anyone with expertise and experience in the areas of social science, economics, political science, anthropology, social and economic research and monitoring, and/or social and economic analyses of natural resources, especially as applied to fish species in the South Atlantic Region, is encouraged to apply by submitting a CV, cover letter, and completing the NMFS Financial Disclosure Statement (available HERE) . The cover letter should highlight qualifications and experience.

Questions and completed applications should be submitted to John Hadley at john.hadley@safmc.net or (843) 302-8432.

A copy of this announcement is available from the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/council-news/.

NOAA seeks pandemic input to plan for future

April 7, 2020 — It might be difficult to fathom while we reside in the belly of the beast, but information being compiled by NOAA on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the U.S. commercial seafood industry could improve the agency’s response in future natural disasters and economic crises.

NOAA said it has assembled a team of experts from a variety of disciplines throughout the agency — including economists and social scientists — to collect and analyze data on how the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 are impacting the U.S. commercial seafood industry, from harvesters straight up through the supply chain.

The agency is looking for stakeholders — both wild harvest and aquaculture — to relate their personal experiences from within the grip of the pandemic. Those stories, the agency said, could help frame NOAA’s future responses to disasters.

“We are interested in learning about the virus’s impacts on their employees, their business, the businesses they support and the broader supply chain,” NOAA said in the statement accompanying the announcement of the team’s formation. “Stakeholders interested in sharing information on the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses can submit that information to NMFS.COVID-19@noaa.gov.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Senator Collins Calls for Swift Release of $300 Million to Support Fishermen During COVID-19 Pandemic

April 6, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME):

U.S. Senator Susan Collins wrote to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, urging him to quickly release the $300 million for assistance to fishermen and related businesses that was included in the Phase 3 coronavirus emergency package.  As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Collins worked to ensure that this critical relief provision was inserted in the final legislation.

“The seafood and aquaculture industries are experiencing severe financial harm from disruptions to supply, demand, and labor caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who make their livelihoods harvesting, transporting, processing, distributing, and preparing the bounty of our oceans have incredibly complex and inter-reliant business models,” said Senator Collins.  

“I am pleased that, as a result of my and other coastal state members’ advocacy, the Assistance to Fishery Participants provision was included in the CARES Act to provide relief that is targeted specifically for these iconic and essential engines of Maine’s economy,” Senator Collins continued.  “It is critical that the $300 million in fishery-related assistance reach those who need it expeditiously in order to manage this period of uncertainty and emerge as strong as before.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be responsible for releasing this funding.  Senator Collins requested that:

  • NOAA work with regional fisheries management commissions to distribute the funds to coastal states;
  • Each state is given reasonable flexibility to distribute money in the ways that will best benefit fishermen and their communities;
  • NMFS use comparative methods and averages that span multiple years—as is common with other fisheries disaster calculations—to allocate funding; and
  • NMFS continue to move quickly to get relief funds out to the states, and require states to submit a spending plan to achieve accountability.

Click HERE to read Senator Collins’ letter to Secretary Ross.

NMFS wants fishermen’s reports of coronavirus impacts

April 3, 2020 — With an initial $300 million aid package coming, the National Marine Fisheries Service has launched an effort to collect detailed information on how the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic lockdown is affecting the U.S. seafood industry.

The project includes online outreach, asking fishermen, aquaculture growers and other businesses through the supply chain to submit information by email to the task force at NMFS.COVID-19@noaa.gov

“We recently stood up a team of experts from across the agency to collect and analyze covid-19-related impacts on the U.S. commercial seafood industry, including wild harvest and aquaculture,” according to a statement by the agency Thursday. “We are interested in learning about the virus’ impacts on their employees, their business, the businesses they support, and the broader seafood supply chain.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NMFS Approves Final Measures for Atlantic Sea Scallop Management Plan for 2020 Season

April 1, 2020 — The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved Framework Adjustment 32 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan ahead of the season which is set to open on April 1, 2020.

The plan will help set scallop specifications and other measures for the 2020 and 2021 fishing seasons. The adjustments will help protect small scallops and reduce bycatch of flatfish, according to a notice on the Federal Register.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NMFS Says ‘No’ to West Coast Groundfish, Swordfish Vessels Seeking Waivers for Observers

March 30, 2020 — West Coast industry concerns about taking observers out on vessels or having catch monitors dockside at processing plants due to the risk of COVID-19 is not a concern, according to the NMFS West Coast Region. Unlike Alaska, where travel restrictions make obtaining observer coverage difficult, the West Coast has no such restrictions — yet.

The National Marine Fisheries Service issued an emergency action last week to provide the authority, on a case-by-case basis, to waive observer coverage, some training, and other program requirements while meeting conservation needs and providing an ongoing supply of fish to markets, the agency said in a public notice Friday. A NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator, Office Director, or Science Center Director has the ability to waive observer requirements in three specific circumstances, after consulting with observer providers.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Scientists Collecting Data on Commercial Fish Species in Wind-Energy Areas

March 16, 2020 — Scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, have started a three-year study of Atlantic cod and other commercial fish species in southern New England waters. The goal is to gather baseline data to address how offshore wind development in the region could impact fisheries.

An autonomous underwater glider is surveying areas in and around Cox’s Ledge. This area includes the South Fork wind-energy lease area south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The glider has a hydrophone to detect fish spawning sounds and an acoustic telemetry receiver to detect tagged fish. The receiver will identify location and seasonal occurrence of hot spots for key commercial and federally listed fish species.

There is little information on Atlantic cod spawning specific to southern New England, according to project lead Sofie Van Parijs. Cod elsewhere are known to form large, dense spawning aggregations in predictable locations relatively close to shore, where they can be vulnerable to disturbance that might impact spawning success.

“Biological sampling will determine the population’s onset of spawning and track growth, maturity, age structure, and other life history parameters,” said Van Parijs, who heads the Passive Acoustics Research Group at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. “This information will help inform the starting date for our glider surveys each year. We will tentatively conduct these surveys from December through March this year and for longer periods in the subsequent two years.”

Read the full release at EcoRI

NOAA fish study underway on New England offshore wind area

March 12, 2020 — A three-year study of cod and other commercial fish species is underway around New England offshore wind energy sites, part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration effort to better understand how proposed turbine arrays will affect the environment and fisheries.

With universities and other partners, the agency’s National Marine Fisheries Service in December deployed a Slocum electric glider, a type of autonomous underwater vehicle that has proven highly successful in long-term oceanographic studies.

The glider’s instrument payload includes a hydrophone to detect the sounds of whales and of fish spawning, and an acoustic telemetry receiver to pick up signals from fish that have been captured and released with acoustic tags to track their movements.

Now surveying the area around Cox’s Ledge, the glider is covering an area that includes wind developer Ørsted’s planned South Fork wind energy area south of Rhode Island and east of Montauk, N.Y.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Feds, Local Managers to Work with Fishermen on Bottomfish Issues in US Pacific Territories

March 12, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Recent stock assessments by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determined that the bottomfish stocks in the Territories of American Samoa and Guam are overfished and the bottomfish fishery in American Samoa is undergoing overfishing. In October 2019, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recommended that NMFS implement interim measures to address rebuilding of the stocks and overfishing in American Samoa. Today in Honolulu the Council additionally recommended that staff work with NMFS and the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources on consistent in-season monitoring and accountability measures; the training of bottomfish fishermen on electronic reporting; and the potential use of a temporal-spatial closure.

To develop the rebuilding plans for the overfished stock, select members of the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and Advisory Panel will work with NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) and Pacific Islands Regional Office to gather needed information. Public meetings will also be held in the two Territories to explore the range of potential management measures for the plans.

To address comments from fishermen that data used in the stock assessment were not accurate, the Council will work with the Territory agencies and NMFS on an outreach plan on the importance of accurate and robust data collection and the management efforts for the bottomfish fisheries in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Another comment made by fishermen regards the current federal management of bottomfish as a single stock complex in each of the Territories. In response, the Council requested that PIFSC develop a new bottomfish benchmark assessment on a species resolution that is deemed appropriate during a data preparation workshop at the soonest time practicable. PIFSC was asked to also explore other modeling approaches and data sets aside from the creel surveys and commercial receipt books currently used (e.g., electronic self-reporting) and to engage fishermen throughout the stock assessment process. The Council will work with NMFS and Territory agencies to review the bottomfish management list and discuss the available options and regulatory consequences of adding and removing species from the list.

The Council today also specified annual catch limits (ACLs) for the CNMI and Guam bottomfish fisheries for fishing years 2020-2023. For the CNMI, the Council recommended an ACL of 84,000 pounds (a 39 percent risk of overfishing) and an annual catch target (ACT) of 78,000 pounds (34 percent risk of overfishing). For Guam, the Council recommended an ACL of 27,000 pounds (31 percent risk of overfishing), which allows the catch to be maximized while preventing overfishing and allowing the stock to rebuild within five years. Because data collection systems in Guam and CNMI do not allow for near-real time tracking of catches, the Council recommended a post-season accountability measure where the ACL for the succeeding year will be reduced by the amount of the overage determined by the three-year average of recent catch.

The Council meeting continues tomorrow at the YWCA Fuller Hall, 1040 Richards St., Honolulu, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars, email info@wpcouncil.org or call (808) 522-8220.