Saving Seafood

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Declares Commercial Fishery Disasters for West Coast Salmon and Sardines

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that commercial fishery failures occurred between 2015 and 2017 for salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and California, in addition to the sardine fishery in California.

“The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “After years of hardship, the Department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

Between July 2016 and March 2018, multiple tribes and governors from Washington, Oregon, and California requested fishery disaster determinations. The Secretary, working with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), evaluated each request based on the available data, and found that all but one (the California red sea urchin fishery) met the requirements for a fishery disaster determination.

The determinations for West Coast salmon and sardines now make these fisheries eligible for NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance.  The 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act provided $20 million in NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance. The Department of Commerce is determining the appropriate allocations of these funds to eligible fisheries.

Read the full release here

Commerce Department Makes Several Fishery Failure Determinations for West Coast Fisheries

September 27, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Salmon and sardine fisheries off the West Coast have been closed or severely curtailed in the years since The Blob — an unusual mass of warm water — stuck around for most of 2014 and 2015. While not the only odd ocean change, it was blamed for many fisheries problems.

Now, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has determined those salmon and sardine fisheries are indeed fishery failures due to natural resource conditions, the department said in a press release and letters released Tuesday. Those fisheries will now be eligible for $20 million in fishery disaster aid in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

““The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” Ross said in a statement. “After years of hardship, the department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

About a dozen fisheries are included in the determinations, a mix of several tribes and state fisheries from all three West Coast states. Only one, the California red sea urchin fishery, was not included.

“The recent five-year average revenue (2011-2015) from the California red sea urchin fishery was $8,538,815,” Ross’ letter to California Gov. Edmund G. Brown said. “In 2016, California red sea urchin fishery revenues were $7,255,593, which is a 15 percent revenue loss as compared with the previous five-year average. Compared to the previous five-year average, this percentage loss in revenue is substantially lower than the 35 percent revenue loss minimum called for in the NMFS Policy Guidance to justify a determination of a commercial fishery failure, serious disruption, or harm.”

However, the 2015 and 2016 Pacific sardine fishery did meet the requirements for a fishery failure. A large biomass decline in sardines, resulting from unfavorable ocean conditions, was beyond the control of fishery managers, the letter to Gov. Brown stated.

“We are deeply grateful to Secretary Ross and Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Chris Oliver, as well as to West Coast NMFS officials and Governor Brown, for acknowledging that our sardine fishery closure met the legal requirements for designation as a fishery resource disaster,” California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner said in an email. “This determination now makes our sardine fishery eligible for NMFS fishery disaster assistance. We look forward to learning the level of disaster assistance that the Department of Commerce will determine. The fact that relief is coming is very good news.”

NMFS has not determined the allocations for the $20 million in disaster assistance yet, but the final divisions will be pretty small for each entity compared to similar disasters in years past.

For example, the 2016 and 2017 California and Oregon ocean troll Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fisheries were included in the determinations. A similar scenario in 2005 and 2006, in which commercial troll seasons were partially or fully closed due to poor returns of Klamath River fall Chinook, $60.4 million in disaster aid was made available to fishermen, processors and related businesses. Now, those fisheries will have to share part of the $20 million — barring additional funding appropriated by Congress.

Other determinations include the 2017 Yurok and 2016-2017 Hoopa Valley tribes’ Klamath River fall Chinook fisheries; the 2016 Makah ocean coho and Chinook salmon troll fishery in Washington; the 2015 Hoh, Suquamish, Nooksack and Stillaguamish tribes’ coho fisheries in Washington; the 2015 Muckleshoot and Upper Skagit tribes’ coho and pink salmon fisheries in Washington; and the 2015 and 2016 Quileute Tribe coho salmon fisheries in Washington.

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

NEFMC Endorses 2019 U.S./Canada TACs; Receives Groundfish Progress Report

September 27, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has accepted 2019 total allowable catches (TACs) for three groundfish stocks on Georges Bank (GB) that the U.S. shares with Canada–Eastern GB cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder. The TACs were recommended by the U.S./Canada Transboundary  Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) based on advice from the U.S./Canada Transboundary
Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC). The U.S. has members on both the TMGC and the TRAC.

The TACs will be included in Framework Adjustment 58 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which is still under development. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) must approve the TACs before they are implemented.

Read the full release here

Feds say few commercial fishing trips are monitored

September 27, 2018 — Federal officials revealed Wednesday that most of the New England fishing cooperatives that catch cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish failed to meet the minimum standards for having observers on their boats.

Known as sectors, these cooperatives are groups of fishermen who come up with their own fishing plan and enforcement measures to manage their shares of the overall quota.

National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator Michael Pentony sent letters to 14 of 19 sectors informing them that they were below the required 15 percent of their trips accompanied by fishery monitors and federal observers. Ten sectors were below 10 percent. Observers count and identify the fish caught and discarded, which helps scientists estimate impacts on fish populations.

“We are not trying to point fingers or lay blame,” Pentony told the New England Fishery Management Council at their meeting Wednesday, calling it a systemic problem.

“This report illustrates in bold type the core failure that has left the New England groundfish fishery in crisis: it is essentially unmonitored,” Johanna Thomas, director of the Environmental Defense Fund, wrote in an email. “This is not fair to fishermen, who need to have trust that decisions on their fishing activity is based on good information, and who need to know that there is a level playing field, that everyone is playing by the rules.”

Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Erica Fuller said her organization has advocated for 100 percent observed trips either by humans or onboard cameras.

“Understanding budget constraints, NMFS should do everything in its power to get effective coverage that can provide accurate data and rebuild overfished stocks,” Fuller said.

The outcry for better observer coverage was especially intense following the arrest and conviction of New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael, known as “The Codfather,” who was able to illegally catch, process and sell fish, escaping detection for many years.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

New England Fishery Regulators Approve More-Conservative Management Of Atlantic Herring

September 27, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council approved Tuesday a more conservative formula used to set catch limits for Atlantic herring.

The formula, known as the acceptable biological catch, will more explicitly take into account herring’s ecological role as a fish eaten by bigger fish and marine birds and mammals.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit based in Philadelphia, estimates the new rule will keep an additional 31 million pounds of herring in the water over the next three years.

Council members also banned commercial fishermen from using large fishing nets called mid-water trawls within 12 miles of New England’s coastline.

Atlantic herring are a small, schooling fish primarily caught to be used as bait for tuna and lobster. A recent stock assessment shows the population has reached historic lows over the past five years.

The changes to the management plan have been submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service for final approval.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

Alaska crab report: King and tanner crab stocks drop as snow crab rebounds

September 27, 2018 — It was a mix of good but mostly bad news for Bering Sea crabbers at this month’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting. The results from the summer trawl surveys showed “substantial” drops in numbers of king and tanner crab. Conversely, the snow crab stock appears to be on a big rebound.

The news was presented last week in the annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for the North Pacific council.

For red king crab in Bristol Bay, numbers of mature males dropped more than 40 percent from last year, and mature females were down 54 percent. Even worse, the survey continued to show no sign of younger red king crab coming into the fishery.

“We haven’t seen recruitment in years,” said Bob Foy, director of the NMFS lab at Kodiak and leader of the council’s crab plan team.

In the report, the team noted that “it feels that the rather unusual environmental conditions in the eastern Bering Sea this year (e.g., elevated bottom temperatures, lack of a cold pool) and the model’s poor fit to the 2018 survey data increase the uncertainty associated with this stock and warrant additional precaution.”

The red king crab catch last year at Bristol Bay was 6.6 million pounds, a 20 percent drop from 2017.

For tanner crab, the number of mature females dictates the fate of a fishery and those numbers declined 70 percent in the eastern fishing district, continuing a trend over several years.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Washington Governor’s task force releases draft plan to save local orcas

September 26, 2018 — A state organization dedicated to protecting the area’s endangered orcas is one step closer to fulfilling its mission.

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force released a draft plan on Sept. 24. The public can comment on the report until midnight, Oct. 7 at governor.wa.gov/orcareport. Members will review comments at their Oct. 17-18 meetings and their final plan is due by Nov. 16.

The draft plan states that the organization’s “goal is to ensure the ecosystem is healthy and resilient enough to support a thriving Southern resident orca population.” Members are coordinating with an orca recovery plan created by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2008, which strives to create an average population growth rate of 2.3 percent per year for 28 years.

Read the full story at The San Juan Journal

 

Cauliflower Coral Could Be Listed as Endangered

September 25, 2018 — Officials say endangered or threatened species protection may be warranted for cauliflower coral across its entire range — not just Hawaii.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports the National Marine Fisheries Service issued last week its 90-day finding on a March petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the coral.

The coral, Pocillpora meandrina, is found in Hawaii and on most shallow reefs in the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific. It has been devastated by habitat changes, disease and predation, lack of protection and other natural man-made factors.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which raised the petition, says in Hawaii alone, there was a 36.1 percent drop in coverage from 1999-2012.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Fishing insider embraces new role as Vineyard Wind liaison

September 24, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — In 12 years, research biologist Crista Bank spent a lot of hours at sea aboard local fishing vessels, but never once heard wheelhouse chatter about the industrial-sized wind farms planned a dozen miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

“It wasn’t really a topic of discussion,” said Bank, the new fisheries liaison for offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind. “You would think it would be, something this huge on the horizon.”

Even for her, deep in research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology, the magnitude of what will be Vineyard Wind’s $2 billion, 106-turbine offshore construction project didn’t sink in until she happened to pass five turbines off Block Island two years ago.

“I saw them, and I was like, really?” Bank said of her reaction.

It may be that head-down, focused attitude of a researcher that allows Bank to empathize with what she says is a similar attitude of many fishermen — scallopers, lobstermen, pot fishermen, gill-netters, squid fishermen, small-mesh draggers, large draggers, inshore and offshore boat captains, charter boat captains, recreational and pelagic anglers — she knows and hopes to meet.

“I sort of see the fishermen’s perspective a lot more,” Bank said “I believe in offshore energy. I believe we need to do it. I have solar panels on my house. I’m totally for renewable energy.” But, Bank said, those turbines will be placed squarely where people make a living.

Bank might be best known now in the region for her fisheries research. But before that, she crewed aboard the tall ship Ernestina and was an onboard fishing vessel observer for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Bank considers New Bedford her home.

“Crista has an excellent track record in cooperative research with the fishing industry,” said Steven Lohrenz, dean of the UMass Dartmouth marine science school. Bank is knowledgeable about fisheries science and about the challenges being faced by fishermen, said Lohrenz, who first mentioned the Vineyard Wind job to Bank. Bank is also personable and a good communicator, he said.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Moving NOAA research center to New Bedford is a good idea

September 24, 2018 — Most SouthCoast residents are well aware that relationships between local commercial fishermen and government regulators are frequently tense.

This newspaper alone regularly documents disagreements between them on issues as diverse as how endangered specific fish species are, how effective groundfish catch-share systems are, and who is financially responsible for at-sea monitoring.

Whatever the concern, it’s not surprising when the two groups approach an issue from opposing points of view.

So the city’s proposal to improve dialogue between fishermen and government scientists by bringing them together to coexist on the New Bedford waterfront is a welcome one and one that has the potential to build trust where very little has existed in recent years.

The idea to relocate NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center from Woods Hole to New Bedford was first proposed two years ago, when NOAA announced it would review its aging and increasingly out-of-date Woods Hole facilities and consider new sites. In response, Mayor Jon Mitchell, the Economic Development Council, harbor officials and others sent a detailed letter to then NOAA administrator Kathryn Sullivan to consider the many benefits of moving its research center to the nation’s highest grossing commercial fishing port.

The city’s argument was that by placing both groups in close proximity, NOAA “could at last begin to break down barriers to communication, and repair the distrust that has plagued the relationship between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the fishing industry in the Northeast for decades,” according to the city’s proposal.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times