Saving Seafood

New U.S. and Canadian IPHC Commissioners Named During Sensitive Negotiations

September 6, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Both the U.S. and Canada have changed their delegation to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, naming relative newcomers to each country’s team during extremely sensitive negotiations on policy issues. For the first time, a member of the recreational sector has been appointed to the U.S. delegation.

The changes to the panel, made up of three Canadians and three U.S. residents, comes after a rare impasse in determining catch limits for the 2018 season at the IPHC’s January meeting. In the end, all six commissioners agreed to lower limits below last year’s levels, but not as a commission. It was the second time in the IPHC’s 94-year history that an impasse could not be overcome.

The commissioners also agreed to negotiate a resolution to their disagreements, which center on distribution of halibut and bycatch accountability, before the next annual meeting. They have met twice so far and will meet again in mid-September.

Six weeks ago the Canadian government “temporarily” replaced commissioners Jake Vanderheide and Ted Assu, both halibut fishermen. Robert Day and Neil Davis of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were picked as replacements until later in the year, when both are expected to step down for permanent commissioners. Day is director of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ International Fisheries Management Headquarters in Ottawa. Davis is a resource management director for the DFO based in Vancouver.

Yesterday NOAA Fisheries announced the reappointment of Bob Alverson, director of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association and the first-time appointment of Richard Yamada, the president of the Alaska Charter Association. Yamada replaced Linda Behnken, director of Sitka-based Alaska Longline Fisherman’s Association and a commissioner for two years. Both men were appointed for five months, from September 1 to January 31, 2019.

The two men were told their terms as Alternate Commissioners ended January 31 or “whenever another Alternate or Presidentially-appointed Commissioner is appointed to fulfill the relevant duties, whichever comes first,” according to the letter each received from the State Department.

It’s unusual for appointments to be for less than 18 months — terms are for two years — but in this case, it could be that the President’s final action will define a longer term. The current timing for termination is problematic, though, as the next annual meeting of the IPHC is January 27-February 1, 2019.

A January 31 termination date cuts the five days meeting short by its last, important day. That’s when the week’s industry discussion and recommendations, scientific reporting, and U.S./Canada negotiations culminate in final catch limits and changes to Pacific halibut regulations.

Yesterday’s announcement preceded the President’s appointment, “To ensure the United States has representation on the IPHC at all times, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 provides for the Secretary of State to make alternate appointments,” the announcement read.

Dr. Jim Balsiger, the NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator who has represented the government for nearly two decades, was reappointed through September, but may be replaced after that, according to several people familiar with the process. Both Chris Oliver, current head of NOAA Fisheries, and Doug Mecum, deputy regional administrator at NMFS’s Juneau office, have been mentioned as possible replacements.

Neither, however, are members of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, a requirement for Commissioner according to the Halibut Act.

The process, starting from the nominations from last year and months-long vetting to a last minute back and forth that has included questioning nominees on social media use and campaign finance contributions, has been fraught with delays and unexpected outcomes (few expected Dr. Balsiger to be replaced). Behnken and Alverson were appointed only months before the last nomination-and-vetting cycle began. Their terms were extended last spring to August 31, 2018.

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

After year in DC, Oliver reflects on fisheries progress

September 6, 2018 — Chris Oliver has had a busy year since he made the leap from Anchorage to Washington, D.C. to take the lead job at the National Marine Fisheries Service.

As soon as he arrived, there was an annual priorities document to review, he said at a recent roundtable discussion event hosted by the Kenai River Sportfishing Association in Soldotna. The document is both internally-facing and public to help guide NMFS’ decisions.

There were three goals listed in that document, the first of which was to ensure the sustainability of fisheries and fishing communities. He changed it to read “maximize fishing opportunities while ensuring the sustainability of fisheries and fishing communities.”

“There are a number of fisheries around the country where we’re not fully utilizing the available harvest whether it’s choke species or bycatch constraints or outdated regulations,” he said. “We’ve been approaching that pretty aggressively in that form. There’s not a huge amount of headroom in our wild stock harvest fisheries, but there’s some.”

The second was to manage protected species, including those under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Under that, he added language to manage those species while supporting responsible fishing and resource development.

Read the full at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Alaska wary of federal push for marine aquaculture

September 6, 2018 — During a recent stop in Juneau, NOAA Fisheries chief Chris Oliver said that wild seafood harvests alone can’t keep up with rising global demand.

But there’s another way.

“Aquaculture is going to be where the major increases in seafood production occur whether it happens in foreign countries or in United States waters,” Oliver told a room of fishermen, seafood marketing executives and marine scientists.

Aquaculture is a broad term: it’s farming in the sea. That could be shellfish like oysters or seaweed which Alaska permits. But it also includes fish farms — which Alaska does not allow.

The nation’s federal waters are vast. They begin 3 miles offshore and extend 200 nautical miles. There isn’t any aquaculture in federal waters — yet.

Acting U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Timothy Gallaudet said during a Juneau visit that streamlining regulations and boosting aquaculture production – both part of the Commerce Department’s 2018-2022 strategic plan – could help change that.

Read the full story at KTOO

NOAA issues clarion call as dead seal numbers hit 599

September 5, 2018 — Seals, some sick and others already dead, continue to wash up on New England shores as fishery managers and marine researchers scramble to identify what is causing the largest unusual seal mortality in this region since 2011.

On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries updated its preliminary numbers to show that, in the period between July 1 and Aug. 29, 599 harbor and gray seals — 462 dead and 137 alive — were stranded on the coastlines of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Since the previous preliminary count was completed on Aug. 25, 55 newly counted dead seals were among the 67 seals that washed ashore in New England, according to the figures supplied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The strandings have occurred from Down East Maine to Massachusetts’ North Shore — including at least one in Rockport last week and four on Gloucester’s Coffin Beach two weeks ago — and prompted NOAA last Friday to issue an unusual mortality event for Northeast gray and harbor seals.

The issuance of the unusual mortality event, which NOAA Fisheries has used in the past in efforts to protect Gulf of Maine cod and northern right whale populations, is the regulatory equivalent of a clarion call.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Infected East Coast seals are washing ashore – and are a danger to people and pets, experts say

September 4, 2018 — Hundreds of East Coast seals are showing up, stranded on New England shores dead or sick.

Harbor and gray seals on the northern Atlantic Coast of the United States have tested positive for avian influenza, or bird flu, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries. Others have tested positive for phocine distemper virus, similar to the virus dogs can contract and which has caused epidemics among seals in other parts of the world, killing thousands, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Both gray and harbor seals can range as far south as the Carolinas, where they sometimes travel during the winter months and haul themselves onto beaches to rest and soak up some sun.

The seals that end up stranded but alive are “in poor body condition with clinical signs of lethargy, coughing, sneezing and seizing,” according to NOAA. As of last week, 532 seals had washed up on the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Of those, more than 400 were found dead.

Samples from those seals were sent to Tufts University and the University of California, Davis labs for testing, NOAA said. Samples tested “preliminarily positive” for either bird flu or the distemper virus. Four of the seals tested positive for both viruses.

Read the full story at The Charlotte Observer

Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms

September 4, 2018 — In a Centennial Hall listening session, Alaskans raised concerns about federal plans to boost open-ocean fish farms under a new strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

On Friday afternoon, Tim Gallaudet, acting undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, hosted a listening session at the end of a weeklong gathering of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts in Juneau.

NOAA is an agency of the Department of Commerce, and Gallaudet is among the figures hosting meetings across the country as part of the process that creates the strategic plan.

In a speech opening the listening session, Gallaudet said the strategic plan is an “initiative to grow the American ‘blue economy.’”

That phrase is used as an umbrella term that includes fisheries, oceanic tourism and other aspects of the national economy that relate to the oceans.

Gallaudet echoed the familiar refrains of the Trump Administration, saying the department is interested in deregulation and “reducing the seafood trade deficit.”

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has resulted in Chinese tariffs on Alaska seafood exported to that country, and American tariffs on processed Alaska seafood products imported from China.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

NOAA Funds Projects to Reduce Bycatch With Engineering

September 4, 2018 — A group of organizations is getting more than $2 million in grants to use engineering to try to reduce bycatch in fisheries.

Bycatch is the term for when fish and other animals are accidentally caught with gear that was seeking a different species. Bycatch poses problems for rare species of dolphins, turtles, sharks and other animals.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is awarding more than $2.3 million to 14 projects as part of its 2018 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

One of the recipients is Duke University, which will test the applicability of sensory-based bycatch reduction technology. Duke’s project seeks to reduce sea turtle bycatch in North Carolina.

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

California Moves to Ban Mile-Long Fishing Nets Blamed For Killing Whales, Sharks, Dolphins, and Other Sea Life

September 4, 2018 — Environmentalists scored a major victory in Sacramento Thursday after California lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to phase out the use of a controversial type of fishing gear known as drift gillnets: mile-long nets blamed for unintentionally killing thousands of sea creatures, including endangered animals.

Over the past 28 years, drift gillnets have entangled and killed an estimated 4,000 dolphins, 456 whales and 136 sea turtles, according to government data obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization. The federal agency, which regulates the fishing gear, randomly places observers on about 20 percent of all fishing trips that utilize the gear in an effort to document the environmental impact.

California fishermen view the ban as extreme and unnecessary, and believe their livelihood is being unfairly targeted. Without the fishing gear, they fear they won’t be able to continue making a living.

“I don’t know what I’d do,” said Mike Flynn, who has depended on drift gillnets to catch swordfish for the past 40 years. “There’s very few of us left, and we don’t seem to have a chance…we’re being villainized, unjustly.”

Only about 20 fisherman actively use the gear off the California coast; that’s down from 141 active permits at the peak back in 1990, according to NOAA.

Read the full story at NBC Bay Area

ASMFC Coastal Sharks Board Releases Draft Addendum V for Public Comment

August 31, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board releases Draft Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Coastal Sharks for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes options to allow the Board to streamline the process of state implementation of shark regulations so that complementary measures are seamlessly and concurrently implemented at the state and federal level whenever possible.

The FMP currently allows for commercial quotas, possession limits, and season dates to be set annually through Board approved specifications.  All other changes to commercial or recreational management can only be accomplished through an addendum or emergency action. While addenda can be completed in a relatively short period of time, the timing of addenda and state implementation can result in inconsistencies between state and federal shark regulations, particularly when NOAA Fisheries adopts changes through interim emergency rules. The only option for the Board to respond quicker than an addendum is through an emergency action, which has a set of criteria that are rigorous and often not met, making it rarely used to enact regulatory changes. The Draft Addendum seeks to provide the Board more flexibility in responding to changes in the fishery for shark species managed under the FMP.

A public hearing webinar will be held Tuesday, September 25th at 5:30 p.m. The details of the webinar follow:

Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2613822106816627203

Phone: 1.888.585.9008

Room Number: 853-657-937

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum V either by attending the public hearing webinar or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum is available at

http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/CoastalSharksDraftAddendumV_PublicComment_Aug2018.pdf and can also be accessed on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 1, 2018 and should be forwarded to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA, 22201; 703.842.07401 (fax); or comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum V).