Saving Seafood

Introducing the Fish Stock Sustainability Index 3.0

February 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Fish Stock Sustainability Index is a quarterly index that measures the performance of certain fish stocks. To make sure the index continues to focus on the most important commercial and recreational stocks, we’ve revised the list of included stocks.

The index allows for a quick, clear snapshot of the performance of U.S. fishery management. When the status of a commercially or recreationally important stock improves (e.g., no longer subject to overfishing, not overfished, or rebuilt), the total index score increases.

The index tracks a total of 175 fish stocks, down from 199 stocks in the previous version. The stocks in the index—selected for their importance to domestic fisheries—represent more than 80 percent of total U.S. fishing catch.

NOAA Fisheries tracks the status of all international and domestic stocks contained in federal fishery management plans whether or not they meet criteria for inclusion in the FSSI.

When we developed the index in 2005, it included 230 fish stocks and the maximum index score was 920 points. In 2015, we trimmed it to 199 stocks and a maximum score of 1,000.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Southern Red Hake Commercial Possession Limit Reduction

February 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The southern red hake commercial per-trip possession is reduced to 400 lb per day for the remainder of the 2019 fishing year, through April 30, 2020.

This action affects federally permitted vessels fishing for southern red hake. This reduction is required by regulation because as of January 14, 2020, the southern red hake fishery was projected to reach or exceed 90 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) on or around February 2, 2020.

For more information read the bulletin or the notice filed in the Federal Register.

Updated Shark Tagging Atlas Provides More than 50 Years of Tagging and Recapture Data

February 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

A 52-year database of the distribution and movements of 35 Atlantic shark species revealed new information on some of the least known species. It also uncovered a few surprises about where sharks go and how long they live.

Scientists collected data for sharks tagged and/or recaptured between 1962 and 2013. The sharks were found in the Atlantic Ocean and associated areas, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Participants tagged a total of 229,810 sharks of 35 species and recaptured 13,419 sharks of 31 species in that time span. The scientific journal Marine Fisheries Review recently published the data.

This new atlas updates an earlier version covering 1962 to 1993 and adds information on 22 species. Detailed profiles are provided for 14 shark species, including bull and tiger sharks and smooth dogfish. The updated data significantly extended their known ranges and movements.

The Cooperative Shark Tagging Program is the largest and longest-running in the world. The program is a collaborative effort among recreational anglers, the commercial fishing industry, biologists, and NOAA Fisheries. Its goal is to study the life history of sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.

Initiated in 1962 by biologist and shark researcher John “Jack” Casey at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the original group of 74 volunteer anglers began participating in the project in 1963. Since then the program has expanded to include thousands of participants along the entire North American and European Atlantic coasts, including the Gulf of Mexico.

“The program’s long-term data has shown the importance of tagging large numbers of each species and recording information in a database to determine shark movements,” said Lisa Natanson, a shark researcher in the Apex Predators Program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island. For example, until the tagging program was 34 years old, no one knew that tiger sharks cross the Atlantic.

Read the full release here

NOAA Implements NEFMC’s Monitoring Amendment Alongside New Herring Fishery Requirements

January 31, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced the implementation of a New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) amendment to allow industry-funded monitoring in any fishery under its management.

The monitoring will better assess catch and reduce uncertainty around catch estimates. The amendment also establishes monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery, which is faced with a significant quota cutback.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Pacific Coast Plan Identifies Ways to Improve Regional Recreational Fishing Data Collection Efforts

January 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Pacific Coast Recreational Fisheries Information Network (Pacific RecFIN) has completed its Marine Recreational Information Program Regional Implementation Plan. These plans represent a significant shift for the program. They clearly establish that regional partners will have a direct role in determining which survey methods are most suitable for their science, stock assessment, and management needs.

The plan (PDF, 30 pages) was created in response to Pacific Coast regional needs to enhance data for regional fishery management and science.

Prioritized Activities

The Pacific RecFIN identified the following seven prioritized needs:

  1. Maintain and restore base level funding for sampling saltwater recreational anglers and for-hire operators.
  2. Implement and support enhanced electronic data collection.
  3. Expand on-board sampling of commercial passenger fishing vessels or recreational charter boats.
  4. Explore new, high tech hardware and software to improve current, round-the-clock monitoring of recreational fishing vessels as they exit harbors to fish the ocean.
  5. Stratify party charter sampling by trip type and sampling period for Southern California highly migratory fisheries.
  6. Provide improved access to the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey database.
  7. State calibration of historical catch.

Read the full release here

NOAA calls for monitors on all groundfish trips

January 31, 2020 — The draft amendment to set at-sea monitoring coverages aboard all Northeast groundfish vessels has led an adventurous existence in the three years the New England Fishery Management Council has dedicated to developing the contentious measure.

There was last year’s partial shutdown of the federal government that delayed the rule-setting process. The council, in March 2018, also chose to tap the brakes on the development of the measure — known as Amendment 23 — because it didn’t believe the technical analyses associated with the measure were complete.

As late as last week, fishing stakeholders charged the council was working with insufficient data as it rushed to finally enact the draft management rule setting groundfish monitoring coverages in the Northeast multispecies groundfishery.

So why should anything become simple now?

The council voted Wednesday to send the monitoring amendment — which includes the approved draft of the measure’s environmental impact statement and the council’s preferred alternative for coverage levels — out for public comment in the spring. Final action is expected at its June meeting.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

New Rules to Protect Endangered Right Whales Face Delays

January 30, 2020 — A federal government plan to protect an endangered species of whale is snarled in delays and won’t likely be available for public comment until the summer, court papers state.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with state governments on the plan to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which only numbers about 400. The plan is expected to restrict commercial fishing activities off New England to try to prevent the whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Jennifer Anderson, an assistant regional administration for protected resources in a NOAA regional office, wrote Tuesday that “unfortunately, the state measures have taken more time to be developed than we expected.” The agency expects to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register in July, she wrote.

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

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Measures for Private Recreational Tilefish Vessels

January 29, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on proposed measures for private recreational tilefish vessels that were approved in Amendment 6 to the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan. Proposed measures include requiring private recreational vessels that intend to target golden or blueline tilefish north of the Virginia/North Carolina border, to obtain a federal private recreational tilefish vessel permit through an online application on the Greater Atlantic Regional Office website. Proposed measures also include a requirement for private recreational tilefish vessels to fill out and submit an electronic vessel trip report within 24 hours of returning to port for trips where tilefish were targeted and/or retained.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

The comments due date is 02-28-2020.

The Pacific Ocean is so acidic that it’s dissolving Dungeness crabs’ shells

January 28, 2020 — The Pacific Ocean is becoming more acidic, and the cash-crabs that live in its coastal waters are some of its first inhabitants to feel its effects.

The Dungeness crab is vital to commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, but lower pH levels in its habitat are dissolving parts of its shell and damaging its sensory organs, a new study found.

Their injuries could impact coastal economies and forebode the obstacles in a changing sea. And while the results aren’t unexpected, the study’s authors said the damage to the crabs is premature: The acidity wasn’t predicted to damage the crabs this quickly.

“If the crabs are affected already, we really need to make sure we pay much more attention to various components of the food chain before it is too late,” said study lead author Nina Bednarsek, a senior scientist with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.

The findings were published this month in the journal Science of the Total Environment and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency studies ocean acidification and how changing pH levels are impacting coasts.

Read the full story at CNN

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2020 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Levels for Groundfish Sector Fishery

January 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces that for fishing year 2020, the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 40 percent of all groundfish sector trips subject to the at-sea monitoring program. For more information, please read our letter to the New England Fishery Management Council and the Summary of Analysis Conducted to Determine At-Sea Monitoring Requirements for Multispecies Sectors FY 2020.

Per direction in 2020 appropriations, we have funds allocated for reimbursing industry for its at-sea monitoring costs. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will continue to administer the reimbursement program for 2020 as in prior years.

Read the full release here