Saving Seafood

Industry Spoke and We Listened: Communications Effort Focuses on Groundfish Monitoring and Amendment 23 Development

May 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries collaboratively manages U.S. fisheries with fishery management councils, fisheries commissions, and state partners. The New England Fishery Management Council is developing Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Through this amendment, the Council is evaluating the current groundfish monitoring program and considering changes to improve the monitoring system. Early discussions during the development of Amendment 23 revealed that industry members wanted more information about our current monitoring system. The groundfish monitoring system is complex, and since the at-sea monitoring program is industry-funded, changes to this program have implications for the industry. Communication is key to our work and we always strive to do a better job communicating about our programs and systems. The development of this amendment presents an opportunity for us to improve understanding about our monitoring programs. We can also help industry and other stakeholders engage in the development of Amendment 23.

Creating a Plan to Improve Communication about Monitoring and Amendment 23

In 2018, we contracted with a team of public outreach specialists from Vision Planning and Consulting, LLC (VPC). They helped us develop a strategic communications plan to improve the way we communicate about groundfish monitoring and Amendment 23. We developed the plan to ensure that members of the industry, particularly those who may not always participate in Council meetings, have the information they need to engage meaningfully in the management process.

Read the full release here

Researchers Probe Orca Poop for Microplastics: Part 1

May 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

You might worry about your toddler chewing on a plastic toy with toxic chemicals. Some orca researchers are beginning to worry about whales ingesting a gut full of microplastics, and what that might mean for their health.

Microplastics are everywhere. Millions of tons of plastic enter our oceans annually, and much of it breaks into tiny pieces. Microplastics are plastic particles five millimeters (about two-tenths of an inch) or smaller. They represent 92 percent of plastic pieces polluting the oceans’ surface waters. Researchers have found microplastics in all major seas and oceans. They’ve also found them in the intestinal tracts of organisms at all levels of the ocean food chain, from zooplankton to fish to marine mammals.

Some scientists are concerned that microplastics and their toxic effects are bioaccumulating in killer whales, the oceans’ top predators. Endangered Southern Resident killer whales spend much of their summers in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. Chemical contamination from pollution, particularly in young whales, is one of three primary threats to their population. Could microplastics be part of the problem?

A team of scientists with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center (Center) and the University of Washington have started an investigation. They are looking at what microplastics the Southern Residents are ingesting, at what scale, and whether the whales are being exposed to toxic chemicals associated with microplastics.

Read the full release here

Conservation groups seek vertical line ban off Massachusetts coast

May 19, 2020 — The conservation groups that filed a federal lawsuit two years ago to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to do more to protect endangered right whales from entanglement with fishing gear have asked U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg to ban lobster fishing gear with vertical buoy lines off the coast of Massachusetts.

The affected area would be south of the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity and several other plaintiff conservation groups, the area “has increasingly become important right whale foraging and socializing habitat in recent years.”

The conservation groups filed their request last Friday, three weeks after the judge ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the federal Endangered Species Act when it continued to allow lobster fishing with gear that used fixed vertical buoy lines in which whales could become entangled.

As a practical matter, a ban on the vertical lines that connect traps on the sea floor to marker buoys on the surface would amount to a total prohibition against lobster fishing in the area south of the two Massachusetts islands.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA Extends Waiver for Monitors on Fishing Ships

May 19, 2020 — The federal government is continuing to waive the need for some fishing vessels to carry at-sea monitors.

At-sea monitors and fishery observers collect data on board fishing boats that help inform the management of U.S. fisheries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office has waived the requirement for vessels with Northeast fishing permits to carry the monitors through May 30.

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

NOAA hosts virtual meeting to discuss offshore mapping progress in Alaska

May 19, 2020 — Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) held a virtual meeting of the Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP) to discuss progress made in the offshore mapping of Alaska, among other topics.

The HSRP is a federal advisory committee comprised of stakeholders who assists in advising NOAA on navigation-related products, data, and services.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FB20-034: Request for Comments: Proposed Modifications to Atlantic King Mackerel Trip Limits in the Atlantic Southern Zone

May 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests comments on a proposed rule for Framework Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region (Framework Amendment 8), which if implemented, would increase the Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in federal waters off Florida.

Comments are due by June 18, 2020

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES:

The proposed rule for Framework Amendment 8 would increase the Season 2 (October-end of February) Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in Federal waters of the Atlantic Southern Zone.
For Season 2 between the Flagler/Volusia, Florida county line and the Miami-Dade/Monroe, Florida county line, the trip limit would be 100 fish.

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED RULE:

The comment period is open through June 18, 2020. 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: 85 FR 29916, published May 19, 2020.

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

  1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D= NOAA–NMFS–2020–0074.
  2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
  3. Enter or attach your comments.

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

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Publishes New Resources for Amendment 23

May 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We have several new guidance web pages to help stakeholders navigate the Amendment 23 process. Our Draft Environmental Statement (DEIS) participation guide explains the different ways to get involved in Amendment 23 and provide comments, and our DEIS economic analysis guide explains how businesses can read and use the economic analyses to understand how Amendment 23 may affect their operations.  For more information about these resources, read our web story explaining how industry helped us develop a plan to improve the way we communicate about Amendment 23 and the groundfish monitoring program.

Stay Up to Date

Visit our Amendment 23 web page, which is updated regularly as new resources and information about the amendment become available.

Eight Projects Selected for Saltonstall-Kennedy Program Funding in Greater Atlantic Region

May 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

For over 40 years, NOAA Fisheries has awarded grant funds under the Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) program to organizations nationwide working to address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.  Of the 30 projects selected nationally for 2020 funding, 8 projects were from the Greater Atlantic Region, requesting approximately $2.25 million in federal funding.

Read more in our webstory or review the list of all proposals recommended for funding.

Read the full release here

Trump pushing growth of US seafood markets

May 18, 2020 — As we sit to answer the clamor for yet another FishOn magnus opus, we see that the sun is shining, the winds have calmed and the boys, Foster and Willie, are saddled up and waiting imperiously at the door, threatening an indoor magnus opus of their own.

So, time’s a wastin’. Let’s not tempt the fates. To the items!

OK, but where does bleach fit in?

You may have heard that President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order promoting the competitiveness and economic growth of the U.S. seafood industry and you’re probably wondering what it all means.

We don’t have the foggiest notion. So we went directly to the primary source — NOAA Fisheries Assistant Director Chris Oliver —for an explanation.

Oliver, in a statement announcing the order, said it specifically calls for the expansion of sustainable U.S. seafood production through more efficient and predictable aquaculture permitting, cutting-edge research and development, regulatory reform to maximize commercial fishing and enforcement of “common-sense restrictions” on seafood imports that do not meet U.S. standards.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Great South Channel Habitat Management Area

May 18, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces three exemption areas within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area where dredge fishing for surfclams or mussels will be allowed.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) created the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area (HMA) as part of its Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, which prohibited the use of all mobile bottom-tending fishing gear in the area. The HMA contains complex benthic habitat that is important for juvenile cod and other groundfish species, but also susceptible to the impacts of fishing.

This action allows the surfclam fishery to operate hydraulic dredge gear year-round in two small areas (McBlair and Fishing Rip) and seasonally in a third area (Old South) within the HMA. Mussel dredge fishing is also allowed in these exemption areas. These exemption areas were chosen to allow relatively limited access to some historical surfclam fishing grounds, while protecting the majority of the HMA. The three exemption areas total only 6.9 percent of the total area of the HMA, and do not include areas most clearly identified as containing complex and vulnerable habitats.

You can read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register.