Saving Seafood

Red Snapper Opening Offers Opportunity for Limited Harvest and Improved Data Collection

August 3, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Recreational fishermen gearing up for the upcoming red snapper mini-season are reminded that the weekend openings provide more than just an opportunity to land a nice red snapper for dinner. The season also provides an important window for data collection crucial to red snapper management and fishermen can help in a number of ways. The recreational fishery will open for two consecutive 3-day weekends: August 10-12, 2018 and August 17-19, 2018 with a 1 fish per person per day bag limit and no minimum size limit. The commercial fishery is currently open with a 75 pound (gutted weight) trip limit, no minimum size limit, and will close when the commercial annual catch limit of 124,815 pounds whole weight (12,854 fish) is met or by December 31, 2018. The recreational annual catch limit is 42,510 fish.

During the opening, state marine resource agencies along with NOAA Fisheries will have personnel stationed along the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and the east coast of Florida to gather information from fishermen as they return from their fishing trips. In addition to cooperating with these efforts, recreational fishermen can also take the initiative to report their fishing activities via a mobile app as they occur offshore and keep a personal log for future reference.

Recreational anglers now have the opportunity to report and log information about their recreational trips and catches through the MyFishCount electronic reporting mobile app. The app is available for free download at the Google Play and App Store, or through the MyFishCount website at www.myfishcount.com. In addition to providing information to fishery scientists and managers, anglers have the ability to access information about their previous trips and catches.

The MyFishCount app is easy to use and instructional videos are available via YouTube. To learn more, visit https://www.myfishcount.com or http://safmc.net/electronic-reporting-projects/myfishcount/.

The MyFishCount project was developed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council in conjunction with Angler Action (Snook and Gamefish Foundation) and Elemental Methods with funding from NOAA Fisheries. The project is designed to help provide information not previously captured in current monitoring programs. Once a personal MyFishCount account is established, fishermen may report information about their fishing activities, including species kept and released, the length and number of fish released, catch location, depth fished, gear used, release treatment, reason for release and more. Anglers can also report trips that had to be abandoned due to poor weather conditions, which was an important data point collected in the 2017 red snapper mini-season that contributed to the decision to allow for additional fishing days.

MyFishCount participants are able to record their fishing trips throughout the year, regardless of the species targeted or location fished, and will have access to their stored information. The 2018 red snapper mini-season offers an excellent opportunity for recreational fishermen to open an account and participate in the new pilot project.

Fishermen heading back to boat ramps and marinas during the red snapper mini-season are encouraged to assist state marine resource agency staff and NOAA Fisheries personnel with expanded efforts to collect information, even if the MyFishCount app has been used offshore. Pausing to provide answers to a few questions or allowing staff to quickly take biological samples such as otoliths (ear bones) from red snapper catches will provide valuable data that may be used in future stock assessments and management decisions. Carcass collection sites with freezers and catch cards for recording information about the fish will also be established by some states.

In addition, law enforcement personnel will have a higher presence on the water. Safety will be a primary focus for enforcement officers as fishermen head offshore, along with ensuring regulations are being followed.

It may seem simple, but good angler ethics and best practices will go a long way in making a good fishing trip a great one. Know the rules. For example, the use of non-stainless steel circle hooks is required when targeting snapper grouper species (including red snapper) when fishing with natural baits in waters North of 28 degrees latitude (a line just south of Melbourne, Florida). Dehooking devices are also required onboard.

Plan ahead and have the equipment needed to properly release a fish. Know how to properly handle a fish and if snapping a photo of your catch, be ready with your camera before the fish comes onboard. Catch and release is okay, but move off of an area to avoid releasing too many fish. To help you plan ahead and prepare for a successful trip, check out the list of Best Fishing Practices and other information now available from the Council’s website at: http://safmc.net/2018-red-snapper-season/. The website also includes additional details on data collection efforts by state marine resources agencies during the 2018 red snapper season, including carcass collection sites.

The Council is currently considering options for requiring best fishing practices to reduce the number of released fish and release mortality for species in the snapper grouper management complex. Public scoping webinars are scheduled for August 7th and 8th, and written public comment is being accepted until August 17, 2018. Learn more at: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/public-hearings-scoping-meetings/.

NOAA Fisheries Expand Observer Provider Options for Sea Scallop Boats

August 3, 2018 — Observer provider options for Atlantic Sea Scallop vessels have been expanded.

Sea scallop vessels that qualify for the industry-funded sea scallop observer program have a fourth provider to consider as NOAA Fisheries recently approved MRAG Americas, Inc. for the program.

Observers collect catch data, measure lengths, take biological samples, document information on interactions with other marine animals, along with operating costs, gear and fishing locations. The data is used to inform research and fishery management decisions.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Fishing Report: Not everyone’s is buying the “Blue Economy”

August 3, 2018 — Not all, including U.S. Senators from Rhode Island and Massachusetts, are buying into the administration’s “Blue Economy” strategy.

Last week, Timothy Gallaudet, NOAA chief and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere said before a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation panel that NOAA will promote its “Blue Economy” vision with more aquaculture and mineral extraction in federally controlled waters hoping to lessen seafood imports and increase energy production.

Earlier this year at the National Recreational Fishing Summit Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce who oversees NOAA, said one of his primary goals is to focus NOAA’s attention on the seafood trade deficit. Ross said, “Ninety percent of the seafood we eat in America comes from foreign sources… So we are going to try to fix this.” Ross and Assistant Secretary Gallaudet said the top priority at NOAA now is to improve the fisheries trade deficit by increasing wild harvest and aquaculture.

Moving forward putting short term economic gains first to improve the trade balance with enhanced wild harvest could lead to overfishing to the determent of the fish. Additionally, concerns have been expressed about the environmental hazards associated with large scale aquaculture as well as possible conflicts with wild harvest in our oceans so caution will be needed here too.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council: US Billfish is Sustainable, Provides Fresh Seafood and Local Revenue

August 2, 2018 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is disappointed that America’s seafood consumers may soon be deprived of sustainably harvested domestic marlin products should President Trump sign legislation to prohibit interstate commerce of billfish (not including swordfish) landed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto’s (D-Fla.), passed the House on June 26 and the Senate on July 30 and is now headed to the president.

“It is upsetting, in this era of tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the $12 billion US seafood trade deficit, that highly monitored US Pacific Island fishing and seafood communities may suffer hardship should this legislation become law,” notes Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

Under current law, billfish caught by U.S. vessels that are landed in Hawaii or other U.S. Pacific Islands may be sold to markets on the U.S. mainland. More than 550,000 pounds of American-caught billfish landed in the U.S. Pacific Islands are annually marketed in the continental United States. The billfish is worth approximately $830,000 in 2017 dockside value. When the dockside value is expanded through wholesale and retail markets, the estimated annual value is approximately $2.5 million.

The commercial harvest of Atlantic billfish has been prohibited in the United States since 1988 because several Atlantic billfish species are overfished and/or subject to overfishing (e.g., blue marlin, white marlin and East Atlantic sailfish). By contrast, Pacific and Western Pacific billfish populations are not overfished nor subject to overfishing, with the exception of striped marlin, due to international fishing. A Billfish Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is required to accompany billfish to any dealer or processor who subsequently receives or possesses the billfish. The COE documents the vessel, homeport, port of offloading and date of offloading and ensures the fish is not from the Atlantic or foreign fisheries.

Chris Oliver, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, in December 2017, said he has “full confidence in these existing management processes to sustainably manage billfish populations.”

Congresswomen Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam) and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa), in an Additional Views statement on H.R. 4528, said the legislation “will negatively impact the livelihoods of fishermen in Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific Insular Areas by closing off the only off-island market for U.S.-caught billfish.” Acknowledging that several Atlantic billfish species are subject to overfishing, the Congresswomen said, “We support needed-conservation efforts in the Atlantic, but do not believe that Pacific fisheries need to be targeted in order to achieve these goals.”

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, in a June 5, 2018, letter to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, said “we believe the legislation would not advance the conservation of billfish significantly, and would block a small amount of sustainably harvested domestic product from entering commerce on the U.S. mainland.”

NMFS estimates that the United States imports more than 80 percent of the seafood consumed in the nation (www.fishwatch.gov/sustainable-seafood/the-global-picture). According to NMFS data, the United States imported more than 6 billion pounds of seafood valued at more than $21.5 billion in 2017, which is more imported seafood than at any point in the nation’s history.

For more information, go to www.wpcouncil.org/billfish.

Serving Blue Martin Tempura at the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s booth during the 2003 NOAA Fish Fry are (i-r) Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher, and Honolulu Chef Russel Siu.

NOAA to (briefly) reopen recreational red snapper fishing next month

July 27, 2018 –Recreational and commercial fishers will be able to catch red snapper off the South Carolina coast in limited amounts next month.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will allow South Atlantic anglers to keep their catch during the second and third weekends of August. The agency’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published the new regulation in the Federal Register on Thursday. Commercial fishing will be allowed starting Thursday.

Harvesting red snapper from the South Atlantic was prohibited in 2010 as NOAA worked to restore a population it said was depleted by overfishing. The agency allowed limited catches from 2012-2014, but halted the harvest as the resulting catch exceeded what it considered “acceptable.”

“It’s obvious from looking out in the field, that the stock is rebuilding,” South Carolina Office of Fisheries Management director Mel Bell said. “The stock’s rebuilding, but it’s just taking time.”

Read the full story at the South Carolina Radio Network

NEW YORK: Governor Cuomo And Attorney General Underwood Demand Changes To Unfair Federal Fishing Quotas

July 27, 2018 –Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today submitted comments to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and demanded that the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council repeal and replace the unfair state-by-state allocation of the annual commercial quota for summer flounder, also known as fluke. The need for equitable distribution of fluke is critically important to New York’s fishing industry and the state’s overall ocean economy.

“New York’s commercial fishing industry has been constrained by unfair federal regulations, limiting the amount of fish commercial fishermen and women can catch and damaging our state’s economy,” Governor Cuomo said. “It’s far past time for these inequities to be addressed, and our petition is clear: New York must be put on equitable footing with other East Coast states in order for this valuable industry to reach its full potential.”

“Relying on decades-old data to allocate states’ fluke quota is unfair and unreasonable, and causes direct harm to New York’s commercial fishing industry,” said Attorney General Underwood. “Federal law requires the share of the commercial summer flounder fishery to be determined by the best available science. We will pursue all available legal options if the federal government does not address these inequities.”

In March, Governor Cuomo and the Attorney General jointly filed a petition with the federal government demanding that New York’s commercial fluke allocation be increased because the current allocations are unfair to New York, not based on current data, and violate the Magnuson-Stevens Act. In response, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service published notice of New York’s petition in the Federal Register on July 10, 2018 and invited public comment until July 25, 2018.

Today, Governor Cuomo directed DEC and AG Underwood to submit a letter to the federal agencies in support of the state’s petition, and to point out and clarify that none of the commercial allocation options currently being considered by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will provide New York with a fair allocation for summer flounder. Despite strong objections from New York’s representatives, the Council voted to proceed with a draft amendment that does not include options that are fair to New York fishermen and women, and is therefore not compliant with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

Study Shows Importance Of Puget Sound Chinook Production To Starving Orcas

July 26, 2018 –A new analysis is showing the importance of Puget Sound Chinook for the inland sea’s orcas.

Fall kings from the Nooksack to the Deschutes to the Elwha were ranked as the most important current feedstocks for the starving southern residents, followed by Lower Columbia and Strait of Georgia tribs.

For the analysis, NOAA and WDFW sampled orca doots to “assist in prioritizing actions to increase critical prey for the whales.”

Nutritional stress has been identified as among the chief causes of their declining numbers, and the news comes as officials report a newborn calf died off Victoria yesterday. Just half of the 28 reproductive-age “blackfish” have produced calves in the last 10 years, another report said.

“Ramp up the hatchery production. Do it now. It’s the only way,” says Tom Nelson, co-host of Seattle outdoors radio show The Outdoor Line on 710 ESPN.

He was reacting this morning while fishing for coho at Possession Bar to a Seattle Times scoop on the findings.

Read the full story at the Northwest Sportsman

NOAA issues rule protecting habitat for false killer whales

July 26, 2018 –A federal agency will designate waters around Hawaii as protected critical habitat for endangered false killer whales.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports about 17,500 square miles (45,300 square kilometers) of ocean habitat will be protected under a new rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

The rule was published Tuesday in the Federal Register and goes into effect Aug. 23.

The waters around the state host about 150 false killer whales, which are actually members of the dolphin family.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KFVE

Documents Released on Trump Administration Defense of National Monument Actions

July 25, 2018 — In today’s print edition, the Washington Post published an article by Juliet Eilperin on the Trump administration and national monuments. The article, based on internal documents from the Interior Department, was critical of senior officials for allegedly dismissing positive information on the benefits of national monuments.

The majority of the story focused on land-based monuments, but with regard to marine monuments, the Post reported that,“On Sept. 11, 2017, Randal Bowman, the lead staffer for the review, suggested deleting language that most fishing vessels near the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument ‘generated 5% or less of their annual landings from within the monument’ because it ‘undercuts the case for the ban being harmful.’”

Saving Seafood executive director Bob Vanasse was quoted in the article noting that “‘Trump administration officials have been more open to outside input than their predecessors.’ … ‘They had a lot of meetings with our folks but didn’t listen,’ he said of Obama officials, adding even some Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the New England marine monument’s fishing restrictions.”

The article suggested that Mr. Bowman, a career Interior Department employee and not a Trump administration appointee, purposefully excised information from logbook data indicating that, on the whole, most vessels fishing near the monument generate just 5 percent of their landings from within the monument.

However, there are valid reasons to be cautious about the logbook-data driven 5 percent statistic. There are more sources available to characterize fishing activity – in addition to just logbooks, formally known as “vessel trip reports”, which was the sole source cited in the email referenced in the Post story. While, as the material references states, the information comes from NOAA and the fishery management councils so it can be presumed accurate, the context is missing.

An Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) survey identified recent (2014-2015) fishing activity within the boundaries of the National Monument that, if the Obama executive order is not reversed, will be closed to the fishery in the future. The results indicate that 12-14 percent of the offshore lobster fishery effort and 13-14 percent of revenue ($2.4-2.8 million annually) for the lobster and Jonah crab fishery comes from the area of the National Monument. This revenue is significantly higher than that derived from the vessel trip report (logbook) analysis, which is only about $0.7 million annually.

The document cited in the Post story correctly cites the $2.4-$2.8 million annual revenue in those fisheries, but it does not make clear the significant percentage of offshore revenue that comes from the monument area. Similarly, when the document cites $1.8 million from the Monument region annually (2010-2015), that includes only the $0.7 million lobster trap revenues derived from vessel trip reports, not the total indicated by the ASMFC survey for more recent years.

While it is generally accurate, if one looks at the entire fishing industry in the region, to make the statement that only a small number of vessels derive more than 5 percent of their revenue from the Monument area, for those vessels and fisheries that conduct significant portions of their operations in the monument area, the economic harm is significant.

Also, in a document attached to the story, a margin comment erroneously states that NOAA advised the Interior Department that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for red crab was “revoked.” That is not the case. In 2009, the red crab fishery became the first MSC-certified fishery on the East Coast. The certification was never revoked. The certification expired because the participants in the fishery determined that the cost to pursue renewal of the certification exceeded the financial benefits they anticipated would arise from maintaining it, and they decided voluntarily to allow it to lapse.

Read the full Washington Post story

Read further coverage of this story from E&E News

CHARISE JOHNSON: The newly endangered species of the Trump era is the Endangered Species Act

July 24, 2018 — The Endangered Species Act itself is currently endangered, as a result of predation by lobbyists, conservatives in Congress and President Donald Trump.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced proposed revisions that would change the way the agencies implement the Endangered Species Act – actions that could lead to the destruction of essential habitat and otherwise preventable species extinctions. And President Trump’s allies in Congress are preparing their own additional attacks on the law, pushing bills in both the House and the Senate that would demolish the scientific foundations of the law.

Speaking to the New York Times, Richard Pombo – a former member of Congress notorious for his hostility to environmental laws who is now paid to lobby for mining interests – says that the Trump administration and Congress are offering “probably the best chance that we have had in 25 years to actually make any substantial changes” in the law.

Read the full opinion piece at NBC News