Saving Seafood

Live Cam May Show True Status of Atlantic Cod Fishery

October 18, 2017 — Atlantic cod, New England’s most iconic fish, has been reported at historic lows for years, but fishermen hope a new video monitoring technique will prove there are more of the fish than federal surveyors believe.

Ronnie Borjeson, who has been fishing for more than 40 years, says the federal surveys don’t match up with what fishermen are seeing. “I don’t care if you’re a gillnetter, a hook and line guy, a trawl guy,” he said, “there’s codfish everywhere up there. Everywhere. You can’t get away from them.”

Borjeson helped test a video rig designed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth that allows them to record fish underwater and count them on the video later. With this rig, scientists can sample a larger area in the same amount of time and hopefully improve federal estimates of how many cod are left.

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, cod are overfished, and in 2014, the spawning population reached its lowest numbers ever recorded. The once-booming cod fishery has been subject to increasingly strict regulations since the 1990s, forcing commercial fishermen to target less-profitable species while they wait for the cod population to recover.

Read the full story at PBS

Restaurant demand fuels Maine, NH fish-to-table movement

October 17, 2017 — ELIOT, Maine — The vibrantly colorful Memorial Bridge passes overhead, briefly cutting through the early morning darkness, casting alternating hues of blues, reds, greens and yellows on the slack tide waters of Portsmouth Harbor.

It is 1:36 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8 and the crew of the small fishing boat F/V Finlander, a 36-foot Northern Bay, leaves the protection of the channel and ventures into the open Atlantic Ocean.

The pilot house of the Finlander is dark, illuminated only by a sole Global Positioning System (GPS) display screen showing navigational information and an eastward course plot. The boat begins to pitch as sea swells grow larger and cross winds increase.

“Today is going to be a rough one.” says Capt. Tim Rider, a Dover, New Hampshire, native and owner of the Finlander. “The wind is coming from a different direction than the swells, it’s going to bounce us all over. It’s going to get rougher the farther out we go, but I think we can handle it.”

The Finlander and her five-member crew are headed to fishing grounds approximately 60 miles due east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an ocean-going commute of four hours in five-foot seas. They will be fishing for Atlantic pollock, considered a successful and sustainable species of whitefish, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service FishWatch website, and whose popularity among Seacoast chefs is increasing.

Demand for locally caught fresh fish by Seacoast restaurants has created a viable market for the crew of the Finlander.

Read the full story from Foster’s Daily Democrat at the Bangor Daily News

Feds: Popular Species Of New England Flounder Is Overfished

October 17, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Federal ocean managers say a popular species of New England food fish is overfished, and conservation measures are needed to rebuild its population.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says the Northwestern Atlantic witch flounder stock is overfished, and the status of whether overfishing is still occurring is unknown.

Witch flounder are mostly brought to shore by fishermen in Maine and Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

Survey shows GOA cod biomass down 71 percent

October 16, 2017 — CORDOVA, Alaska — Surveys and preliminary modeling for the 2018 Pacific cod stock assessment show that Pacific cod biomass is down substantially in the Gulf of Alaska, a NOAA Fisheries research biologist told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during its fall meeting in Anchorage.

The data for the report by Steve Barbeaux of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle only became available several days before the council meeting and the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee expressed its appreciation of the rapid and extensive investigation that Barbeaux and others made, the SSC said.

The most salient survey result was a 71 percent reduction in the Gulf of Alaska bottom trawl survey Pacific cod biomass estimate from 2015 to 2017, a drop observed across the Gulf and particularly pronounced in the Central Gulf, Barbeaux told the SSC.

Barbeaux also presented additional data sets to the SSC that appeared to corroborate the trawl survey results, including a 53 percent drop in the National Martine Fisheries Service 2017 longline survey, and low estimates in recent years by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game large mesh trawl survey. Barbeaux said Pacific cod fishery data from 2017 indicated slower rates of catch accumulation and lower catch per unit effort over the season, at least in the central Gulf, compared to other recent years, and a change in depth distribution toward deeper waters.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times

Commerce extended red snapper season knowing it would lead to overfishing, memos reveal

October 16, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Internal memos show top Trump administration officials knew extending the recreational fishing season in the Gulf of Mexico from three to 42 days this summer would lead to significant overfishing.

But they did it anyway.

In memos released in response to a lawsuit, Commerce Department officials defended the move by saying that keeping the three-day season would be “devastating” to the recreational marine industry and the communities whose economies are tied to it.

And extending the time would also help solve a long-running dispute with states who have much longer seasons and want to wrest control of red snapper management from federal managers, they argued.

“It would result in overfishing of the stock by six million pounds (40%), which will draw criticism from environmental groups and commercial fishermen,” Earl Comstock, director of Policy and Strategic Planning for Commerce, conceded in a June 1 memo to his boss, Secretary Wilbur Ross. “However NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) agrees that this stock could handle this level on a temporary basis.”

Read the full story at USA Today

NMFS Puts Councils on Notice for Three Species Subject to Overfishing or are Considered Overfished

September 28, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The National Marine Fisheries Service has notified regional fishery management councils that three species are subject to overfishing, approaching an overfished condition or are overfished.

South Atlantic red grouper, Gulf of Mexico greater amberjack and Northwestern Atlantic witch flounder are on the list and regional councils must take steps to end overfishing and/or rebuild those stocks.

South Atlantic red grouper, under the South Atlantic Fishery management Council’s purview, is subject to overfishing and also overfished, according to the stock assessment finalized this year using data through 2015, NMFS said in a Federal Register notice. This assessment supports a finding of subject to overfishing because the current estimate of fishing mortality is above the maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT), and overfished because the spawning stock biomass estimate is less than the minimum stock size threshold (MSST).

Gulf of Mexico greater amberjack is subject to overfishing, NMFS said, based on a stock assessment update finalized in 2016. That assessment also used data through 2015. This assessment supports a finding of subject to overfishing because the current estimate of fishing mortality is above the MFMT. Furthermore, greater amberjack remains overfished because the spawning stock biomass estimate is less than the MSST.

Northwestern Atlantic witch flounder is still overfished and the overfishing status is unknown, NMFS said in the notice. The assessment peer review panel for this stock rejected the most recent benchmark assessment, finalized in 2017, using data through 2015.

“However, this stock is at historical low levels and other signs of poor stock condition support this stock remaining listed as overfished,” the NMFS notice said. “Lack of similar reliable indicators for overfishing status support changing the overfishing status of this stock to unknown.”

Witch flounder is under the New England Fishery Management Council’s jurisdiction. NMFS said the NEFMC must implement conservation and management measures to rebuild it.

Similarly, the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico fishery management councils must take action to end overfishing of red grouper and greater amberjack immediately and implement conservation and management measures to rebuild those stocks.

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

Skates: New England Council Approves 2018-2019 Fishery Specifications and Proportional Barndoor Skate Possession Limit for Wing Fishery

September 28, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

With one exception, the New England Fishery Management Council has approved Framework Adjustment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The framework contains specifications for the 2018 and 2019 fishing years, including total allowable landings (TALs) for both the skate wing and skate bait fisheries, as well as measures to allow the landing of barndoor skates.

Once approved and implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the framework will allow the landing of barndoor skates in the wing fishery. Barndoor skate landings will be capped at 25% of the total wing possession limit allowed per season.

The Council adopted a 31,327 metric ton (mt) acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the skate complex based on advice from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Under the skate plan, which covers seven species of skates, the annual catch limit (ACL) is equal to the ABC. Deductions from the ACL are made to account for: (1) management uncertainty; (2) projected dead discards; and (3) projected state landings, all to achieve the TAL for the overall federal fishery.

NAFO EXEMPTION

On September 27 during its meeting in Gloucester, MA, the Council voted to add measures into the framework to consider exempting vessels that fish exclusively within the NAFO Regulatory Area on a given trip from Skate FMP regulations that pertain to permit, mesh size, effort control, and possession limit restrictions, similar to exemptions that already exist within this area for Northeast multispecies and monkfish. NAFO is the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

The Skate Plan Development Team (PDT) now will develop a range of alternatives for this NAFO area exemption. The Council discussed an expedited process for selecting its preferred alternative with the goal of having Framework 5 implemented as close to May 1, 2018 as possible. This date marks the start of the new fishing year for skates.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

Mid-Atlantic For-Hire Vessel Permitting and Reporting

September 18, 2017 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has received questions about for-hire (party/charter) vessel permitting and reporting requirements. For-hire vessels need permits from the NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office if they fish for/retain the following Mid-Atlantic Council-managed species in these federal waters areas:

Species Area (federal waters, i.e. beyond 3 nautical miles)
Summer Flounder North Carolina/South Carolina Border and North
Scup* North of Cape Hatteras, NC
Black Sea Bass* North of Cape Hatteras, NC
Atlantic Mackerel Atlantic Coast
Longfin or Illex Squid Atlantic Coast
Atlantic Butterfish Atlantic Coast
Bluefish Atlantic Coast
Tilefish* Virginia/North Carolina Border and North
*Scup and black sea bass south of Cape Hatteras, NC and tilefish south of Virginia require a for-hire snapper grouper permit issued by the NMFS SE Regional Office

Once you have one or more of these permits, it doesn’t matter where you fish or what you’re fishing for – you must submit Vessel Trip Reports (VTRs) for ALL fishing-related trips on that vessel, including reporting ALL fish kept or discarded (not just fish you have permits for). VTRs can currently be submitted either with paper forms or by electronic VTR applications/software. However, beginning March 12, 2018, all for-hire VTRs (not commercial) for permits associated with the Mid-Atlantic Council will need to be submitted electronically within 48 hours of ending each trip (reporting all trips and all fish). For more information about VTR reporting call NMFS at 978-281-9246 or visit this page on the GARFO website.

Species encountered off the Mid-Atlantic that require other for-hire federal permits to fish for/retain include, but may not be limited to, New England groundfish, tunas, billfish, sharks, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, cobia, dolphin, wahoo, and snapper/groupers. Some of these species may have associated reporting requirements now or in the near future. It is the responsibility of the vessel owner or operator to know what permits and reporting are required based on the vessel’s location and species targeted.  Please consult your state agency and the following federal agencies about other necessary permits and reporting requirements:

Feds reviewing status of New England’s endangered salmon

September 18, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government is starting a five-year review of the Gulf of Maine’s population of Atlantic salmon, which are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Atlantic salmon were once plentiful off New England, but dams, loss of habitat, pollution and overfishing dramatically reduced the population. The National Marine Fisheries Service says it is reviewing the health of the stock to get more updated information on its current status.

The fisheries service says the review will be based on scientific and commercial data.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NH1

California Acting Governor Gavin Newsom Requests Disaster Relief for Sardine, Urchin Fisheries

September 13, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Sardine and sea urchin closures in California have prompted Acting Gov. Gavin Newsom to request fishery failure declarations for both.

Newsom noted in his Sept. 5 letters to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross that ocean conditions caused the closure for sardines and affected the kelp forest ecosystems on which red urchins depend.

The California Wetfish Producers Association lauded Newsom’s request to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to approve a declaration of a commercial fishery failure for California’s Pacific sardine fishery. His action was precipitated by La Niña’s cold-water oceanic conditions that are believed to have caused sharply reduced sardine recruitment and the closure of this commercial fishery since 2015.

“This declaration is very important as it will enable California’s historic sardine fishery and its participants to seek federal disaster relief to offset the economic harm fishermen and processors have suffered since the fishery closure,” California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner-Steele said in a statement Tuesday.

The Pacific sardine fishery has been managed under the federal Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan (CPS FMP) since 2000. The CPS FMP established a harvest cutoff, prohibiting directed fishing if the sardine population falls below an estimated 150,000 metric tons. Due to low stock assessments, the fishery was closed in 2015 and 2016, and will remain closed in 2017 and possibly even 2018, although sardines have returned to abundance in the nearshore area, where fishing normally takes place.

Certain thresholds have been established that help the National Marine Fisheries Service and Secretary of Commerce make a determination of whether a commercial fishery failure has occurred. One of these involves an analysis of the economic impact and states that revenue losses greater than 80 percent are presumed to be a commercial fishery failure. This is determined by comparing the loss of 12-month revenue to average annual revenue in the most recent five-year period.

“This fishery is historically one of the top 10 highest valued commercial fisheries in California,” Newsom said in his letter regarding the iconic sardine fishery. “Statewide, the commercial closure in 2015 resulted in a total value of $343,148, which is 90 percent less than the 2010-14 average of $3,504,098. That dropped to $95,657 in 2016, which was 96 percent less than the 2011-15 average of $2,711,679.”

The figures for the urchin fishery, particularly in northern California and Orange County, were dire as well.
“The impacts to the regions are evident in the fishery landings data,” Newsom wrote. “In 2016, the northern California fishery ex-vessel revenue fell by 77 percent compared to the 5-year average from $2,587,419 to $604,440, Orange County ports fell by 93 percent from $85,382 to $6,045, and San Diego County ports fell by 48 percent from $574,526 to $297,594.”

Newsom’s letter noted the initial estimates for both fisheries are based on the average ex-vessel value of commercial landings but do not account for additional impacts to seafood processors or related industry businesses that rely on the either or both fisheries.

The sardine fishery is the foundation of California’s wetfish industry, which for decades has produced 80 percent or more of annual statewide commercial fishery landings, until recent years, the CWPA statement said. While fishermen and markets may harvest and process other species in the coastal pelagic species complex, sardines have been the historic mainstay of this industry, and the loss of fishing opportunity has created severe economic impact to both fishermen and processors.

The urchin fishery has been a staple for small-boat fishermen throughout the state for a number of years — until recently.

“Persistent warm ocean conditions that began in 2014 in northern California and 2015 in southern California has affected the fishery in these two regions,” Newsom’s letter said. “In northern California, the warm water event devastated kelp production (93 percent loss of surface kelp canopies compared to 2008 levels), a primary food source for urchins that created persistent starvation conditions. Starvation has led to reductions in the food value of the urchins targeted by the fishery in northern California.

In addition, a population explosion of the less marketable purple sea urchin continues to overgraze the recovering kelp beds, adding further stress to the fishery. In southern California, urchin mortality increased in response to warm El Nino conditions and disease in 2015. This has reduced the numbers of healthy red sea urchins in southern California available to the fishery.”

The Governor’s request for federal declaration now opens the door for fishermen and processors in California’s fisheries to pursue a federal disaster declaration from the Secretary of Commerce and appeal to California’s congressional delegation to pursue legislation allocating funding for disaster relief. Such funds would help alleviate the economic and social harm suffered as a result of these disasters.

Funds could also be used for cooperative research projects, Pleschner-Steele said, such as the collaborative aerial survey of the nearshore area that CWPA participates in with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in efforts to improve the accuracy of stock assessments.

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