National Marine Fisheries Service Archives - Page 99 of 104

Sea turtles, shrimp fishermen tangled in government’s net proposal

December 29, 2016 — It’s hard to think of two species more beloved on the North Carolina coast than shrimp and sea turtles.

A generations-old low country diet had turned shrimp into a multi-million dollar industry for North Carolina fishermen. Sea turtles, on the other hand, have become the symbol of coastal conservation and a tourist draw at nest-hatchings and aquariums.But to a fishing net, all animals are the same. To protect endangered sea turtles, many shrimp boats in the Southeast are equipped with “turtle excluder devices” (TEDs), barred openings that let captured turtles shimmy out of nets.

TEDs are not required on some shrimp boats, but a rule proposed this month by the National Marine Fisheries Service would put them on more shrimp trawlers from North Carolina to Texas.

The proposal comes after a 2015 lawsuit from environmental group Oceana, which accused the federal government of violating the Endangered Species Act by not regulating shrimp fishing more stringently. Fishermen, for their part, say they are regulated enough and have gone out of their way to help turtle populations recover up and down the coast.

“North Carolina shrimp is our biggest-selling item in all markets, our most important product,” said Joe Romano, a commercial fisherman and co-owner of Wilmington-based Seaview Crab Company. “We have a system to do this and it’s already working.”

Read the full story at the Star News Online

Mid-Atlantic Council Initiates Action in Response to Overage of Black Sea Bass Catch Limit

December 21st, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

On December 15, 2016, at their meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council initiated a framework action to review and modify accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial black sea bass fishery. The Council initiated this action in response to new information from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicating that commercial catch in 2015 exceeded the annual catch limit due to higher than anticipated discards. On December 21, NMFS announced a rule which reduced the 2017 commercial quota by 34% in response to this overage, as required by the Council’s AMs.

AMs are measures that are implemented if annual catch targets are exceeded and are intended to mitigate the negative biological impacts of such overages. Commercial AMs for black sea bass currently require pound for pound paybacks through quota deductions in following years, regardless of the circumstances of the overages. The Council initiated a framework action to consider adding flexibility in the commercial AMs based on stock status. The Council intends to develop and implement this framework by mid-2017.

Black sea bass management measures for 2017 may also be modified as a result of a new benchmark stock assessment, which was peer-reviewed this month. According to this assessment, black sea bass are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet in January 2017 to review the assessment and determine if it can be used to inform the Council’s management decisions. If so, the SSC will recommend acceptable biological catch limits for black sea bass for 2017-2019. At their February 2017 meeting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Council plans to recommend commercial and recreational black sea bass catch and landings limits for 2017-2019 based on this new information. These recommendations are expected to result in a revised 2017 commercial quota that could reduce the magnitude of the reduction needed to address the overage of the 2015 annual catch target.

NMFS Chief Scientist Writes on Changing Climate, Oceans and America’s Fisheries

December 20th, 2016, Seafoodnews.com — Across America, changes in climate and oceans are having very real and profound effects on communities, businesses and the natural resources we depend on, according to Dr. Richard Merrick is the chief scientist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

Fishing communities face extra challenges, as droughts, floods, rising seas, ocean acidification, and warming oceans change the productivity of our waters and where wildlife live, spawn and feed. And there is much at risk – marine fisheries and seafood industries support over $200 billion in economic activity and 1.83 million jobs annually.

NOAA last year set out a national strategy to help scientists, fishermen, managers and coastal businesses better understand what’s changing, what’s at risk and what actions are needed to safeguard America’s valuable marine resources and the revenues, jobs and communities that depend on them. Today, NOAA released regional action plans with specific actions to better track changing conditions, provide better forecasts, and identify the best strategies to reduce impacts and sustain our marine resources for current and future generations. Implementing these actions will give decision-makers the information they need now to sustain our vital marine resources and the many people that depend on them every day.

We are seeing dramatic changes, particularly in cooler-ocean regions like New England and Alaska where warming waters over the last twenty years are pushing fish northward or deeper to stay in cooler waters. In New England, known for its cod and lobster fishing, ocean temperatures have risen faster than many other parts of the world. Changes in the distribution and abundance of these and other species have affected where, when and what fishermen catch, with economic impacts rippling into the coastal communities and seafood businesses that depend on them. With better information on current and future shifts in fish stocks, fisheries managers and fishing industries can better plan for and respond to changing ocean conditions.

But not all change is bad: As southern fish species like black sea bass spread northward along the East Coast, they may provide opportunities for additional commercial or recreational fisheries. Changing conditions may also stimulate more opportunities for other marine related businesses, such as fish and shellfish farming. Better information on when, where and how marine resources are changing is critical to taking advantage of future opportunities and increasing the resilience of our fisheries and fishing-communities.

Communities and economies in southern states are also being impacted by changing climate and ocean conditions. Louisiana loses a football field size area of coastal wetlands to the sea every hour due to rising seas and sinking lands. The loss of these essential nursery areas for shrimp, oysters, crabs and many other commercial or recreationally important seafood species has significant impacts on fisheries, seafood industries and coastal communities. Better information and on-the-ground action can reduce these impacts and help sustain these vital habitats and the many benefits they provide.

In the Pacific and Caribbean, we’re seeing bleaching and destruction of vitally-important coral reef environments associated with warming seas. Covering only one percent of the planet, coral reefs are the home to 25 percent of all marine species, and upwards of 40 billion people rely on coral reefs for the fish and shellfish they eat. The loss of coral reefs also makes coastal communities more vulnerable to storm events. Coral reefs in Puerto Rico, for instance, help prevent an estimated $94 million in flood damages every year. NOAA’s Coral Bleaching Early Warning System has already helped decision-makers take action to try and increase resilience of valuable reef ecosystems to warming seas and other threats.

While these challenges may seem daunting, with better information on what’s changing, what’s at risk and how to respond decision-makers can find ways to reduce impacts, increase resilience and sustain America’s vital marine resources and the millions of people who depend on them.

We are committed to sustaining the nation’s valuable marine resources and the many people, businesses and communities that depend on them for generations to come.

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

Overall US seafood exports down slightly from last year

December 19th, 2016 — Updated numbers from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicated that the United States is exporting slightly less seafood this year than in 2015, while imports have seen a small bump.

A dismal Alaska pink salmon season may have contributed to the decline in overall exports. NMFS figures said pink salmon exports plummeted from 102,010 metric tons (MT) from January to October 2015 to 34,065 MT in the first 10 months of 2016. The poor season prompted Alaskan lawmakers to seek federal disaster relief funding for fisherman who depend on pink salmon runs.

In the same 10-month period, sockeye exports held almost steady from 2015 to 2016, hovering around 39,000 MT, while Atlantic salmon exports nearly doubled to 10,342 MT. Exports of chinook salmon caught in the U.S. also shot up from just 572 MT to 3,775 MT this year. However, the U.S. saw salmon roe exports nearly halved from 13,097 MT in 2015 to 7,330 MT this year.

The top flatfish export, yellowfin sole, retained robust numbers with nearly 59,000 metric tons shipped internationally, up about 4,000 MT from last year. The country’s largest yellowfin sole fishery is in Alaska’s Bering Sea.

With some species shuffling, tuna exports enjoyed an overall bump in 2016. While skipjack and yellowfin exports saw a year-on-year decrease, albacore exports were up nearly 40 percent to 14,242 MT in 2016 with total tuna exports at 16,654 MT.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Comment Federal judge tosses another fisheries management rule

December 9th, 2016 — Federal judges keep smacking down the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s decisions.

For the second time in the last three months, a federal court has overturned a management decision made by the North Pacific council and enacted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS. The United States District Court of Washington overturned a 2011 decision relating to halibut quota shares harvested by hired skippers on Nov. 16.

Federal courts have overturned several council decisions in recent years. In September, a the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the council’s 2011 decision to remove Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula salmon fisheries from federal oversight.

In this case, the North Pacific council made a decision in 2011 regarding which halibut quota holders can use a hired skipper instead of being required to be on board the vessel. Due to the court’s ruling, NOAA will have to open that group back up after limiting it in 2011.

Julie Speegle, the NMFS Alaska Region spokesperson, said the agency will change the impacted halibut fishermen’s quota shares to reflect the court’s ruling and that the council itself will review the issue.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

D.B. PLESCHNER: Extremists manufacture anchovy ‘crisis’ where none exists

December 5th, 2016 — When the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently reapproved the 2017 annual catch limit for the central stock of anchovy at 25,000 metric tons (mt), environmental extremists immediately cried foul.

Press releases with doomsday headlines claimed that the anchovy catch limit is now higher than the total population of fish in the sea. Environmentalists claim the anchovy resource has “collapsed” and the current catch limit is dangerously high.

But is the anchovy population really decimated, or are these alarmists simply manufacturing another anti-fishing crisis?

Their claims are based on a paper by Alec MacCall, pegging the central anchovy stock at about 18,000 mt. However, the paper analyzed egg and larval data collected over time in California Cooperative Fishery Investigations (CalCOFI) surveys, conducted in the Southern California Bight — and the conclusion is fundamentally flawed. Other scientists now acknowledge that the CalCOFI cruises do not cover the full range of anchovy, missing both Mexico and areas north of the CalCOFI survey track, as well as the nearshore, where a super-abundance of anchovy now reside, say fishermen.

The CalCOFI survey was designed to track sardine, not anchovy. It misses the nearshore biomass where age 0-1 anchovy live and huge schools of anchovy have been observed since 2013. But the MacCall analysis deliberately omitted nearshore egg-larval data. In addition, peak spawning for anchovy is February-March, but CalCOFI surveys run in January and April, as did the MacCall analysis, thus both captured only the tails of spawning.

Read the full op-ed at The Monterey Herald

Pacific Northwest fishing industry took big hit in 2015

November 1, 2016 — ILWACO, Washington — Demonstrating links between ocean health and the economy, the definitive annual federal report on U.S. fisheries released last week showed a plunge in some West Coast catches in 2015.

Washington state’s total commercial catch in 2015 was 363 million pounds valued at $274.2 million, a decline of 35 percent by volume and 23.5 percent by value from 2014, according to “Fisheries of the United States 2015,” published last week by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

But all was not gloom and doom: For example, West Coast landings of shrimp and albacore tuna were up, despite the warmer and less-nutritious waters associated with the ocean heat wave dubbed the Blob. This patch of warm water off the Pacific Northwest began forming in 2013 and persisted for two years before temporarily dissipating.

Oregon’s commercial landings also were down, falling to about 195.5 million pounds last year, 33 percent less than in 2014. That catch was sold for $115.7 million, 26.6 percent less than 2014.

How ports compare

Ports on the U.S. Pacific mainland experienced downturns in 2015 compared to 2014.

The ports of Ilwaco and Chinook reported landings of 15 million pounds in 2015, down 44.5 percent from 2014 and less than half 2013’s total. Ilwaco/Chinook 2015 landings were the lowest since at least 2010 and dropped the ports out of the U.S. top-50 list.

Astoria was the mainland West Coast’s largest fishing port in 2015, with landings of 92 million pounds, down 24.6 percent from 2014. Westport was second, with 84 million pounds in 2015 landings, off 16 percent from 2014. Newport was in third place, with 65 million tons in 2015, 47.6 percent less than 2014.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

Court backs seal protections on climate change grounds

October 25th, 2016 — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Obama administration had the right to use climate change to justify federal protections for the bearded seal.

The ruling from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court ruling from 2014 and upheld the 2012 decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to designate the bearded seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The ruling is an important victory for the Obama administration and could help build a precedent of using climate change forecasts for decisions like species protections.

The case hinged on an argument from the oil industry and the state of Alaska that the NMFS relied on climate projections that were not reliable for the time period for which the agency used them.

“This case turns on one issue: When NMFS determines that a species that is not presently endangered will lose its habitat due to climate change by the end of the century, may NMFS list that species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act?” the appeals court asked in its ruling, answering in the affirmative.

Read the full story at The Hill

Climate Change Projections Can Be Used To List A Species As Threatened, US Court Rules

October 25th, 2016 — In a landmark ruling Monday, a U.S. appeals court said that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — a federal agency — had acted reasonably when it proposed to list certain populations of bearded seals in Alaska as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The decision, which reverses a 2014 ruling by a lower court, could pave the way for other species being accorded protections based on their vulnerability to projected changes in climate.

“This is a huge victory for bearded seals and shows the vital importance of the Endangered Species Act in protecting species threatened by climate change,” Kristen Monsell, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity — which had, in 2008, filed a petition to list the species as threatened, said in a statement. “This decision will give bearded seals a fighting chance while we work to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions melting their sea-ice habitat and keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground.”

The Pacific bearded seal is one of the two subspecies of bearded seals. Although it is currently listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Center for Biological Diversity and the NMFS estimate — based on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — that the seals’ winter sea-ice habitat in the Bering and Okhotsk seas off Alaska and Russia would decline by at least 40 percent by 2050, and that the subspecies would be endangered by 2095.

Read the full story at the IBT Times

Hawaii’s Longline Fishermen Pushing To Catch More Tuna

October 18th, 2016 — Hawaii’s longline fishermen will be able to go after similar amounts of bigeye tuna next year under a policy passed last week by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

But some have their sights set on doubling or even tripling their annual catch limits through new quota-sharing agreements with Pacific Island territories that don’t currently fish commercially for ahi.

Before that can happen though, the fishermen will need to demonstrate that the species is no longer subject to overfishing and convince federal officials that the pending arrangements with Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands do not violate international agreements to conserve fish stocks.

“We are right at the level of overfishing,” said Jarad Makaiau, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We are right on the razor thin line.”

Wespac manages 1.5 million square miles of ocean in the Central and Western Pacific Ocean and advises the National Marine Fisheries Service on catch limits, endangered species mitigation and stock assessments.