Saving Seafood

New York Lawmakers Go To Bat Over Fisheries Cutbacks

April 5, 2018 — The federal government is proposing a 12 percent reduction for the recreational black sea bass fishery in 2018,  despite the fact that scientists say the black sea bass fishery has been rebuilt to two-and-a-half times what regulators consider to be sustainable, and New York State is fighting back.

State Senator Ken LaValle and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele agree with DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos that “non-compliance is a legitimate remedy” for this cutback, stating that “this action discriminates against the State of New York. It would have a significant adverse effect on the Long Island economy” in a joint statement issued Monday.

“This has not been an isolated case of discrimination against New York State,” they added. “Unfortunately, this is part of a long history of federal action that has strangled the fishing industry in New York to the benefit of other states. DEC advocacy for our fishing industry is long overdue.”

New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut filed an appeal with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission over the catch reduction on March 16, and Mr. Seggos expects an answer by late April or early May. He has told the press he plans to litigate the matter if the state does not win the appeal.

“The State of New York should utilize every legal and administrative tool at its disposal to overturn this ill-considered federal proposal,” said Mr. Thiele and Mr. LaValle. “New York should not be at a disadvantage with other states on the East Coast. Again and again, we have seen politics replace science to the detriment of New York State fishermen, whether they are recreational anglers, charter boat captains, or commercial fishermen. When the federal government is arbitrary and capricious, the state must say “no.”

In late March, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced they had filed an appeal over commercial summer flounder (fluke) quotas set by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and were also looking into taking action on New York’s quotas on black sea bass and bluefish.

For 2018, New York commercial fishing daily trip limits for fluke were set at 50 pounds. New York commercial fishermen are allowed to take just 7.6 percent of the fluke allocated among the mid-Atlantic states. These tight restrictions, compounded by monthly limits aimed at keeping the landings in check throughout the year, led to a closure of commercial fluke fishing here last fall.

Read the full story at the East End Beacon

 

SAFMC Request for Comments: Proposed Rule to Revise Annual Catch Limits for South Atlantic Red Grouper

April 4, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests your comments on a proposed rule for Abbreviated Framework Amendment 1 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region, which addresses red grouper in the South Atlantic. This proposed rule would reduce the annual catch limits for South Atlantic red grouper in response to the results of the latest population assessment.Comments are due by May 3, 2018.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES: 

  • The proposed rule would reduce the total and sector annual catch limits (ACLs) for red grouper.
  • New ACLs (in pounds whole weight) are as follows:
  Total ACL Commercial ACL Recreational ACL
current 780,000 343,200 436,800
2018 139,000 61,160 77,840
2019 150,000 66,000 84,000
2020 until modified 162,000 71,280 90,720

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED RULE:

The comment period is open now through May 3, 2018. You may submit comments by electronic submission or by postal mail. Comments sent by any other method (such as e-mail), to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA Fisheries.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 

83 FR 14234, published April 3, 2018

Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.

  1. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0162.
  2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
  3. Enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to Frank Helies, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

Abbreviated Framework Amendment 1 may be found online at the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office Web site at: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/s_atl/sg/2017/red_grouper_framework/index.html.

 

Canada issues safeguards to protect right whales

March 29, 2018 — OTTOWA, Canada — New restrictions on snow crab fishing, along with new restrictions on ship speeds and $1 million more each year to free marine mammals from fishing gear, have been put in place this year to protect North Atlantic right whales, Canadian government officials announced Wednesday.

“We’re confident that these measures will have a very significant impact in protecting right whales,” Fisheries and Oceans Canada Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.

But, LeBlanc said, he and Transport Minister Marc Garneau are prepared to modify the new restrictions or add more as the weeks and months unfold.

Canada was under pressure to act after the deaths of 12 right whales last summer in the Gulf of St. Lawrence from June to September, most either hit by ships or from gear entanglement.

“Our resolve is to avoid the kind of situation we had last year,” LeBlanc said.

That resolve in Canada is encouraging, said attorney Jane Davenport with the Defenders of Wildlife, a U.S.-based environmental group that with two other groups have sued the National Marine Fisheries Service and two other agencies for failing to protect right whales from lobster gear entanglements.

With the 12 dead in Canada last year and at least four identified dead off Cape Cod and the Islands, and with only five births, the North Atlantic right whale population is expected to dip below 451 from 2016.

“The government of Canada may be late to the table, not realizing the risk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but at least they’ve gotten off the stick and they’re moving forward,” said Davenport, who said she worries about what she says is a slower, less-well-funded pace in the U.S. “We need a moonshot, that kind of government investment,” she said.

Biologist Mark Baumgartner, head of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said he was encouraged by the proposed measures in Canada, which also include more airplane and boat surveys of right whales. That amount of surveillance means that any entangled or killed whales will have a good chance of being detected, Baumgartner said.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

‘Truly alarming’: No babies for endangered right whales

March 27, 2018 — SAVANNAH, Ga. — The winter calving season for critically endangered right whales has nearly ended with zero newborns spotted in the past four months — a reproductive drought that scientists who study the fragile species haven’t seen in three decades.

Survey flights to look for mother-and-calf pairs off the Atlantic coasts of Georgia and Florida are scheduled to wrap up when the month ends Saturday. Right whales typically give birth off the southeastern U.S. seacoast between December and late March. Researchers have recorded between one and 39 births each year since the flights began in 1989.

Now experts are looking at the possibility of a calving season without any confirmed births.

“It’s a pivotal moment for right whales,” said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service. “If we don’t get serious and figure this out, it very well could be the beginning of the end.”

Zoodsma said she doesn’t expect any last-minute calf sightings this week.

The timing could hardly be worse. Scientists estimate only about 450 North Atlantic right whales remain, and the species suffered terribly in 2017. A total of 17 right whales washed up dead in the U.S. and Canada last year, far outpacing five births.

With no rebound in births this past winter, the overall population could shrink further in 2018. One right whale was found dead off the coast of Virginia in January.

“It is truly alarming,” said Philip Hamilton, a scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston who has studied right whales for three decades. “Following a year of such high mortality, it’s clear the population can’t sustain that trajectory.”

Right whales have averaged about 17 births per year during the past three decades. Since 2012, all but two seasons have yielded below-average calf counts.

Scientists will be looking for newborn stragglers as the whales return to their feeding grounds off the northeastern U.S. this spring. That happened last year, when two previously unseen babies were spotted in Cape Cod Bay.

Right whale researcher Charles “Stormy” Mayo of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, said he was hopeful some calves were born this season off the Carolinas or Virginia, where scientists weren’t really looking.

It’s also possible right whales could rally with a baby boom next year. Females typically take three years or longer between pregnancies, so births can fluctuate from year to year. The previous rock-bottom year for births — just one calf spotted in 2000 — was followed by 31 newborns in 2001, the second-best calving season on record.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

Fight begins over fate of leatherback sea turtle

March 23, 2018 — Leatherback turtles are nature’s U-boats, 1,500-pound reptiles that can dive to depths of more than half a mile, snatch a jellyfish and stay submerged for more than an hour before resurfacing.

Protected as endangered species for nearly half a century, their Atlantic population soon may lose that status, in what is becoming a fight between commercial fishermen and conservationists.

The Blue Water Fishermen’s Association, which represents longline fishermen who catch swordfish, tuna and other big fish along the east coast, has petitioned the federal government to reclassify from endangered to threatened the northwest Atlantic population of leatherbacks, which crawl up on Florida beaches every spring and summer to lay eggs.

With the Pacific leatherback population crashing, they say the northwest Atlantic population should be classified separately so U.S. fishermen aren’t penalized for the failure of other countries to protect them.

“Right now the leatherback population of the Earth is considered to be one stock of turtles,” said Jack Devnew, president of the Blue Water Fishermen’s Association. “Things happen in a different part of the ocean, and our fishermen pay the price.”

European, Canadian and Pacific fishing fleets operate with fewer of the restrictions imposed by the U.S. government to prevent the accidental catch of sea turtles, he said. U.S. longline boats, for example, must use circle hooks, sharply curved hooks that are harder to swallow and have reduced their swordfish catch by 30 percent, he said.

Although leatherback populations in the Atlantic are generally increasing, with some fluctuations here and there, their outlook in the Pacific is far grimmer, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. In the western Pacific, they have declined more than 80 percent over the past three generations, and in the eastern Pacific, they have declined more than 97 percent. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico and other Pacific rim countries, people routinely dig up leatherback nests to eat their eggs.

Read the full story at the Sun Sentinel

 

NEFMC Groundfish UPDATE – March 26-27 meetings POSTPONED, news roundup

March 23, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has POSTPONED two groundfish meetings.

  • Groundfish Advisory Panel, Monday, March 26, 2018:  This meeting is being RESCHEDULED to a date in early May; and
  • Groundfish Committee, Tuesday, March 27, 2018:  This meeting also is being RESCHEDULED to a date in early May.

Both meetings were intended to focus on Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23, which currently is under development. However, the technical analyses related to this amendment are not ready for discussion at either meeting.  New meeting dates will be announced soon on the Council’s Northeast Multispecies Webpage.

WHAT HAPPENED:  Staff from both the New England Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS – NOAA Fisheries) have been working at full strength to complete two critical actions that need to be implemented in time for the May 1 start of the 2018 groundfish fishing year.

  • Framework Adjustment 57 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management contains catch limits and other fishery specifications and measures for 2018.  NMFS published the proposed rule for this action on March 22.  It’s available at comment now on Framework 57.
  • Fishing Year 2018 Recreational Management Measures for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock and Georges Bank cod also were published on March 22 in separate proposed rule.  It’s available at comment now on 2018 recreational cod/haddock measures.

Completion of these two actions took top priority, and now work will resume on Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23.

ADDITIONAL GROUNDFISH ACTIONS:  Here are several other important groundfish-related actions that stakeholders should be aware of.

  • Groundfish Sectors: On March 23, NMFS published a proposed rule containing: (a) 2018 annual catch entitlements (ACE) to groundfish sectors; and (b) a new sector exemption pertaining to day gillnet vessels fishing in the Gulf of Maine. Details are available at comment now on proposed sector ACE and day gillnet exemption.
  • Yellowtail Flounder: On March 21, NMFS transferred 30 metric tons of unused quota of Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic sea scallop fishery to the commercial groundfish fishery. Learn more at yellowtail flounder transfer.
  • Groundfish Charter/Party Control Date:  As a reminder, NMFS published a new control date for the Northeast multispecies charter/party fishery. The new control date is March 19, 2018. Specifics can be found at comment now on charter/party control date.
  • Juvenile cod: NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office has written a feature story on the Council’s Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) for inshore juvenile Atlantic cod. The HAPC went into effect January 3, 2018. Learn more at juvenile cod HAPC.

MORE INFORMATION:  Visit “Related News,” “Upcoming Meetings,” and “Past Meetings” on the Council’s groundfish webpage for press releases and documents associated with upcoming and past meetings. Go to stay in touch.

 

Alaska requests disaster relief for struggling Gulf cod fishery

March 22, 2018 — Alaska Governor Bill Walker and other state officials sent a letter earlier in the month to the federal government to request a disaster declaration for the Kodiak-based Pacific cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska.

The declaration would free up federal funds for people affected by low cod numbers in the gulf, where biologists turned up an 83 percent drop in the population from 2015, prompting the National Marine Fisheries Service to slash the fishery’s quota by 80 percent and making it eligible for disaster relief.

The letter, which was also signed by Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallet and U.S. senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, will go to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross for review.

“Due to poor fishery performance and low catch limits, value of the 2018 Pacific cod harvest is expected to be USD 7 to 8 million [EUR 5.7 million to 6.5 million], or an 81 to 83 percent decline in revenues from the most recent five-year average,” the letter read.  “Throughout the Gulf of Alaska, direct impacts will be felt by vessel owners and operators, crew, and fish processors, as well (as) support industries that sell fuel, supplies, and groceries. Local governments will feel the impact to their economic base and the State of Alaska will see a decline in fishery-related tax revenue.”

Biologists believe warmer waters associated with the marine heat wave in the Pacific Ocean have contributed to declining cod stocks. Studies show that warmer water temperatures boost the metabolism of the cod, making it hard for them to reach their energetic demands.

With the warm water mass known as The Blob moving on, some experts are cautiously hopeful that Pacific cod in the Gulf will make a comeback.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Feds say red hake stock is overfished

March 21, 2018 — BOSTON — Federal fishing regulators say a species of food fish caught by U.S. fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean has become overfished.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says red hake have become overfished in its southern Georges Bank and mid-Atlantic stocks. The service has informed the New England Fishery Management Council that it needs to craft a plan to end the overfishing and rebuild the stock.

Red hake is a species of whitefish that has been brought to land from Maine to North Carolina over the years. The catch has fallen from more than 3.6 million pounds in 2001 to about 1 million pounds in 2016.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Herald

Halibut Catch Limits for Alaska Made Official Today

March 21, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Alaska’s halibut fishermen can be forgiven if they’re confused about catch limits for the season starting this Saturday, March 24.

The final numbers are published today in the Federal Register and they are lower than last year, but — in Alaska — exactly at the levels recommended by the U.S. Commissioners of the International Pacific Halibut Commission last January.

The commercial catch limits, by regulatory area, are as follows.

Area 2C (Southeast Alaska) — the commercial IFQ is 3.57 million pounds, down 15.2% from last year’s commercial quota of 4.21 mlbs.  The charter sector received810,000 lbs. this year, down 12% from last year’s charter allocation of 920,000 in Area 2C.

Area 3A (Gulf of Alaska) — the commercial quota is 7.35 mlbs, down 5% from last year’s commercial quota of 7.74 mlbs. For the 3A charter sector, the quota dropped 5% to 1.79 mlbs. from last year’s 1.89 mlbs.

Area 3B (Kodiak, Western Gulf) — 2.62 mlbs. compared to 3.14 mlbs. last year. A drop of 16.6%.

Area 4A (Bering Sea) — 1.37 mlbs. compared to 1.39 mlbs last year. Down 1.4 %.

Area 4B (Aleutian Islands) — 1.05 mlbs. compared to 1.14 mlbs. last year, a 7.9% decline.

Area 4CDE (Bering Sea) — 1.58 mlbs. compared to 1.7 mbls. last year, a drop of 7.1%.

Total Alaskan commercial quota this year (not including sports charters) of 17,540 mlbs. is a 10% drop from last year’s 19.32 mbls.

The catch limits for Washington, Oregon, and California are not yet finalized. Washington State has asked for a readjustment of the .69 mlbs. recommended by the U.S. Commissioners in January to a higher number. The final catch limit is expected to be published on Monday March 26, but effective on the season opening date of March 24. Regulatory Area 2A, which encompasses waters off those three states, won’t open until later in the year.

The Alaska catch limits reflect the recommendations made by the U.S. Commissioners but those recommendations were not reflected in the initial NMFS Rule of March 9 or in the IPHC’s Rule Book that was mailed out to stakeholders last week.

Earlier versions of the catch limits also referred to catch share plan totals, which included sport catch, and some version reported Total Constant Exploitation Yield, which included wastage, bycatch, and subsistence removals.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

Shark bill could resolve debate over domestic fin market

March 20, 2018 — It’s fair to say that if the press release is coming from Oceana, it’s not going to have anything nice to say about the fishing industry. This is an outfit that seems to glory in perpetuating the misconception that reports on global fisheries apply equally to U.S. fishermen, fleets and practices as they do to foreign industry players.

That’s why when I saw Oceana had collaborated in the launch of Global Fishing Watch, I knew something outside of the worthy mission of combating IUU fishing was likely to come of it. We saw that in late February with the release of an article in Science that based its data on Global Fishing Watch.

Granted, if you look at the maps of aggregate data, you’ll see that U.S. coastal waters are not covered with the traffic Oceana deems damning. But not many average readers have time to dig that far or ask these kinds of questions about data sets. They see the headlines and condemn all fishing en masse.

The misconception that our fishing industry is just a small part of a globally mismanaged fishing industry is a perpetual grind against our highly regulated U.S. fleets.

Fishing is the seventh most regulated industry in the country, just barely outranking fishing is commercial air travel. And right behind it? Oil and gas extraction.

“I fish in North Carolina, and I’m regulated by the South Atlantic council, the Mid-Atlantic council, NMFS, the Atlantic States [Marine Fisheries Commission] and the state of North Carolina,” said Dewey Hemilright, a 2012 NF Highliner from Wanchese, N.C., and a supporter of a new bill that would preserve U.S. shark fishing.

The Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act of 2018 (H.R. 524) is a bipartisan bill that aims to create a formal and transparent certification program for countries seeking to import shark products into the United States. Foreign nations would apply for certification from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce confirming that they have an effective prohibition on shark finning and have shark management policies comparable to ours.

Read the full story at the National Fisherman