Saving Seafood

US fishing councils stay open, but hamstrung by shutdown

January 11, 2019 — As the partial shutdown of the US federal government threatens to enter its fourth week, the eight advisory fishery management councils remain open but their activities have been curtailed.

That’s because, as staff for several of the councils explained to Undercurrent News, the grants the councils receive from the federal government have already been allocated, whereas federal agencies, such as the US Agriculture, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development departments remain shuttered because they still require their funding for 2019 to be authorized.

Outrage continues to build as President Donald Trump refuses to sign any fiscal 2019 appropriations bills that don’t include $5.6 billion for the building of a wall on the US’ southern border. In addition to reports of trash not being picked up in national parks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) isn’t doing the required inspections of scales for weighing fish on boats or monitoring equipment. Special permits that some boats need are not being issued.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Shutdown hooks fisheries

January 10, 2018 — The real-world implications from the partial shutdown of the federal government, which entered its 19th day on Wednesday, are starting to be felt by the fishing industry and other stakeholders.

In Gloucester, the shutdown effectively has shuttered the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on Great Republic Drive, impeding fishermen from dropping off documentation in person, contacting NOAA Fisheries personnel by telephone or email, and leaving other regulatory groups scrambling without essential input and participation from many NOAA Fisheries staffers.

So, while the New England Fishery Management Council remains at work, it is being hampered by lack of access to its federal management partners at GARFO and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

“Since many GARFO and NEFSC scientists and fishery management specialists are key contributors to the council’s plan development teams and provide critical input and analyses during committee meetings, the council is rescheduling or modifying the agendas of several meetings where NOAA Fisheries representatives were expected to provide pivotal presentations, reports and/or analyses,” the council said in a release detailing the impact of the shutdown.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

By Land And Sea, The Shutdown Takes Its Toll On Hawaii

January 8, 2019 — On New Year’s Eve, a deadly fire broke out aboard the cargo ship Sincerity Ace in remote waters about halfway between Japan and Hawaii, killing at least four of the vessel’s crew members.

The Hawaii-based U.S. Coast Guard personnel who helped rescue the survivors by dropping life rafts, rations and other supplies from two HC-130 Hercules planes did so having no idea when they’d receive their next paycheck.

They still don’t know.

“If there’s a threat to the safety of life and the environment, we’ll be there,” Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir said Friday. “But the government shutdown does cause limitations to the service, and the longer it goes on the more impacts we’ll begin to see.”

As that partial government shutdown stretches into its third week, an analysis by the website Wallet Hub found Hawaii — and its large per-capita share of federal employees — among the states most heavily hit.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Trump took shot at fishery management councils in signing of Modern Fish Act

January 7, 2019 — Despite earlier resistance from commercial fishing and ocean conservation groups, little uproar was registered after US president Donald Trump signed the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018 (S. 1520), also known as “the Modern Fish Act”, last week. The parts of the bill most objected to were removed.

However, the president’s brief comments – in a statement released after his signing of the bill – are raising a few eyebrows as well as questions about what actions might be taken next at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Trump suggested his administration has concerns about both the increasing authority and makeup of the country’s eight fishery management councils (FMCs).

“The power of these councils,” he said, “has steadily increased over time, raising constitutional concerns related to the manner of the appointment and removal of their members and of members of certain scientific and statistical committees that assist them.

“Keeping with past practice of the executive branch, my administration will treat the plans promulgated by the council as advisory only; the adoption of the plans will be subject to the discretion of the secretary of Commerce as part of the regulatory process described in section 304 of the Magnuson‑Stevens Act [MSA],” he said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Will Modern Fish Act do anything for New Jersey fishermen?

January 4, 2019 — One of the last actions taken by Pres. Donald Trump in 2018 was to sign the Modern Fish Act into law.

The act amended some of the recreational fishing management rules in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA, the principal body of fisheries’ laws. The MSA however, didn’t receive a full reauthorization, which is something the fishing industry will try to accomplish this year with the new Congress.

As its full name the “Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act,” may imply, the act was geared for the recreational fishing industry.

Except for where commercial fisheries relate to recreational access in mixed-used fisheries in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, such as red snapper, commercial fishing was basically left out.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

West Coast fisheries science halted by government shutdown

January 3, 2019 — The federal government shutdown has scientists nationwide locked out of their labs, and many of them study fish. It’s work that is central to fishing seasons along the west coast.

“I love my U.S. federal job at @NOAAFish_NWFSC but it’s immensely frustrating to have #shutdown be such a common disturbance,” tweeted NOAA Stock Assessment Scientist Ian Taylor. “Last time it was short, science got done, and U.S. #pacifichake catch was ~300,000 tons in 2018. Now 2019 assessment needs to happen yet here we go again.”

Taylor works at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility with a now-closed entrance gate and a sign blaming the closure on the government shutdown. It’s filled with offices of scientists working on research that ranges from toxic algae to whales to analysis that sets fishing seasons, like Taylor’s work.

Read the full story at KING

New England Deep Sea Red Crab Quota Continues at 3.9 Million Pounds on 3 Year Management Cycle

January 3, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England deep sea red crab fishery will continue unchanged in 2019 as the quota remains at 3.9 million pounds. The quota has been unchanged since 2011. Catches over the latest five years as reported by NOAA averaged around 2.87 million pounds.

The New England deep sea red crab is fished by a specialty operation that uses a large vessel to set and retrieve pots. This fishery was one of the ones most affected with the designation of the Northeast Canyons National monument. Catches do fluctuate, although they have been well below the quota, which is also the Allowable Biological Catch, since 2011.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Bluefish harvest to stay steady in 2019

January 2, 2019 — Federal fishing managers are looking to keep the quotas for bluefish about the same next year.

Bluefish are a popular sport fish that are also harvested commercially as food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s looking to implement proposed catch limits for the fish that are mostly status quo with the current year.

Bluefish have been harvested commercially from Maine to Florida over the years.

Locally, the oldest fishing tournament in the country’s oldest seaport, the Lanes Cove Bluefish Tournament, featured the fish.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Whale entanglements on the West Coast rise again in 2018, is this the new normal?

January 2, 2019 — News this month that the number of whales found entangled off the West Coast had decreased in 2017 prompted optimism among some. But, already preliminary numbers for 2018 are headed back toward the record highs of just a few years ago.

While whale entanglements in U.S. waters were slightly above the 10-year average in 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Dec. 6 that West Coast numbers were nearly half the 2015 and 2016 stats. Of the 31 entangles whales reported in 2017, 25 were in the waters off California – humpbacks who like to feed on anchovies in the central coast areas fished for crab and prawn led the way, but gray whales were not far behind.

NOAA’s preliminary 2018 numbers report 45 entangled whales confirmed in the waters off Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California; 35 of which were found off California. Many of the struggling whales have been sighted off Orange County and Monterey – two areas that federal officials say are bustling with boaters, fishing and whales. Final numbers are expected in March.

Read the full story at The San Jose Mercury News

NJ Continues to Be One of the Biggest Producers of Bluefish

January 2, 2019 — Bluefish harvest is set to stay steady on the East Coast in 2019

Federal fishing managers are looking to keep the quotas for bluefish about the same next year.

Bluefish are a popular sport fish that are also harvested commercially as food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s looking to implement proposed catch limits for the fish that are mostly status quo with the current year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at SNJ Today