Saving Seafood

NC Fisheries Woes Not Listed in NOAA Report

October 3, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service in August released its 2018 annual report on the status of U.S. fisheries to Congress, and the good news is that the total number of stocks on the overfishing list remained near all-time lows and one previously overfished stock was rebuilt.

In addition, new information became available last year for several stocks, which resulted in first-time status determinations with only one of the stocks subject to overfishing as well as being overfished.

The bad news, though, is that, “The total number of stocks listed as overfished increased, due to a number of factors, including those outside the control of domestic fisheries management.”

More recently, North Carolina’s fisheries director said neither of the federal lists includes two of the state’s most important species in need of rebuilding.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

NEFMC Approves 2020-2023 Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Specs

September 24, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today voted on new specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery that will increase total allowable landings (TAL) by 12.7% for the next four fishing years. The proposed TAL for 2020-2023 is 2,000 metric tons (mt), a 225-mt increase from the long-standing 1,775-mt landings cap that has guided this fishery for the past three specification cycles.

The Council supported the increase based on a recommendation from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), which used the best information available for this “data poor” stock. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) must review and approve the new specifications before the revised landing limit can be implemented. The red crab fishing year begins on March 1.

Read the full release here

Scientists blast Maine lobstermen’s whale safety stance

September 24, 2019 — Eighteen scientists who work in North Atlantic right whale research and rescue have said the Maine lobster industry is “significantly underestimating” the harm their equipment causes.

The scientists have called on the state of Maine to support the National Marine Fisheries Service in developing new rules to protect the whales from lobster gear injuries.

“Reducing entanglement in East Coast waters of the United States is a critical part of a comprehensive strategy for right whale survival and recovery,” Scott Kraus, chief scientist for marine mammals at New England Aquarium’s Anderson Center for Ocean Life, and Mark Baumgartner, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and chairman of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said in a letter Tuesday to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

In addition to Kraus and Baumgartner, other scientists at WHOI and the Anderson Center for Ocean Life in Boston signed the letter, as well as leaders from the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which has an operations center in Yarmouth Port.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Something killed 121 gray whales this summer. Scientists are scrambling to find out what

September 19, 2019 — Something killed 121 gray whales this spring and summer, and scientists are struggling to find out what it was.

The dead giants of the ocean washed up on West Coast beaches as they finished their annual epic migration to their winter feeding grounds between Alaska and Russia. Many were emaciated and appeared to be starving.

The near-final death count, tallied this week, makes this the second-worst year on record for gray whales, which were hunted almost to extinction in the late 1800s. It could represent as much as 10% of the species’ total population.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if our team comes across other carcasses,” said Megan Ferguson, a fisheries biologist with the Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story at USA Today

Dead right whale off New York raises toll — and pressure on NOAA

September 18, 2019 — A dead North Atlantic right whale found floating off New York’s Long Island Monday afternoon could raise the official death toll of the endangered species to 29 in the last two years, jacking up pressure on the U.S. and Canadian governments to slow those losses.

The latest find comes less than a week after Chris Oliver, NMFS administrator, said the agency will move ahead with rulemaking to reduce the risk of whale entanglements in fishing gear — despite a withdrawal of support for proposed measure by the Maine lobster industry.

“We intend to address the threats posed by gillnets and to humpback whales at future (Atlantic Large Whale) Take Reduction Team meetings,” Oliver said in a statement issued Sept. 11.

NMFS officials said the carcass was discovered 4 miles south of Fire Island Inlet, and was so decomposed that its age, sex and cause of death could not be determined immediately.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MAINE: Right whales and lobsters: what to do?

September 16, 2019 — When the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the National Marine Fisheries Service at the end of August that it was withdrawing its support for the agency’s proposed whale protection rules, it also offered a list of 10 “actions” NMFS should take.

The proposed rules could force lobstermen to remove half their vertical buoy lines from the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The Lobstermen’s Association in its letter offered 10 alternative suggestions “to develop an effective right whale protection program.”

The suggestions, most of which dealt with the way NMFS collected, interpreted or disseminated the data on which it based its proposals, ranged from the general to the extremely specific.

The association called on the fisheries service to “publish a thorough analysis of its own data regarding known sources of entanglement risk to right whales,” and to “conduct a new analysis of the risk reduction target” based on MLA-supplied data and to “reconsider” the risk reduction role in light of what the group described as NMFS’s “flawed assumptions and omission of consideration of risk posed by other U.S. fixed gear fisheries.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA moves ahead with whale-safety rules

September 16, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced it is reviewing claims by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association that a goal to reduce the industry’s risks of harming North Atlantic right whales by 60% is too high. But the federal agency said it will move ahead with crafting federal rules to reduce the risk to the whales of vertical fishing rope associated with trap and pot fishing.

“In the coming months, we will proceed with rule-making as planned,” Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator, said in the statement Wednesday.

The fisheries service is in the midst of preparing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed rule changes, based on a pact approved nearly unanimously in April by the 60 members of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, including the Maine association.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Whale entanglements along West Coast drop by nearly half

September 9, 2019 — A conservation group says the number of whales entangled in crab fishing gear along the West Coast dropped by nearly half this year after a lawsuit settlement ended California’s commercial Dungeness crab season early.

The Center for Biological Diversity says preliminary data released by the National Marine Fisheries Service shows 18 whale entanglements were reported in the first eight months of this year, down from 42 reports during that same period in 2018. The majority of entangled whales were spotted off California.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Comments Wanted: NMFS To Open Pacific Cod in BSAI After January Closure

September 4, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — After closing the fishery January 12, 2019, NMFS proposes a short opening to clean up the remaining 2,650 metric tons of Pacific cod remaining in the 2019 apportionment for less than 60 feet vessles using hook-and-line or pot gear.

The agency is asking for comments online or by mail. NMFS is terminating the previous closure and is opening directed fishing based on the current catch of Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI and the harvest capacity and stated intent on future harvesting patterns of vessels in participating in this fishery.

The change would be effective noon Alaska local time, September 1, 2019, through midnight December 31, 2019. Comments must be received at the following address no later than 4:30 p.m., A.l.t., September 18, 2019.

* Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0089, click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.

* Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region NMFS, Attn: Records Office. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668.

In today’s Federal Register notice, the agency said “The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA), finds good cause to waive the requirement to provide prior notice and opportunity for public comment pursuant to the authority set forth at 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) as such requirement is impracticable and contrary to the public interest. This requirement is impracticable and contrary to the public interest as it would prevent NMFS from responding to the most recent fisheries data in a timely fashion and would delay the opening of directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI. Immediate notification is necessary to allow for the orderly conduct and efficient operation of this fishery, to allow the industry to plan for the fishing season, and to avoid potential disruption to the fishing fleet and processors. NMFS was unable to publish a notice providing time for public comment because the most recent, relevant data only became available as of August 27, 2019.

The AA also finds good cause to waive the 30-day delay in the effective date of this action under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). This finding is based upon the reasons provided above for waiver of prior notice and opportunity for public comment.

Without this inseason adjustment, NMFS could not allow the fishery for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI to be harvested in an expedient manner and in accordance with the regulatory schedule. Under SEC 679.25(c)(2), interested persons are invited to submit written comments on this action to the above address until September 18, 2019.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

California Whale Entanglements Halved with Shorter Crab Season

September 4, 2019 — According to data from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the rate of whale entanglements in fishing gear along the U.S. West Coast has fallen by half this year, from about 40 incidents January-August last year to 18 incidents for the same period this year. The environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity connected the improvement to a legal settlement shortening the California crab fishing season.

A lawsuit filed by the center in 2017 ultimately led to a settlement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, and the terms included ending the California crab season on April 15 instead of June 30 as scheduled.

The settlement also includes additional measures to mitigate entanglement risks. It promotes the use of ropeless gear and creates a system for assessing risks to whales and triggering area closures when necessary.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive