Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Improving the science is key

Gov. Baker pledges support for new studies, research on fishing industry

July 31, 2017 — Governor Charlie Baker says more and stronger data will help Gloucester fishermen push back against federal fisheries regulations they believe are unwarranted and which, they claim, are in some cases based on inaccurate government data.

Citing scientific data as key to reviving not only Gloucester’s, but also the state’s fishing industry, Baker told a roomful of fishermen and their supporters Thursday that he will continue to support their push for new studies and other research. He also hailed the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition for its focus on those needs.

“We’re very proud of you and all that you are doing to improve the science,” Baker told up to 300 people gathered for the coalition’s annual fundraiser at The Gloucester House. The benefit, which was expected to raise up to $50,000 for the fishing industry policy and advocacy organization, carried a theme of “Know fish, better science.”

“We look forward to working with you, and we are committed to advocating for you,” the governor added, noting that the coalition continues to push for a greater role for fishermen in government trawl studies and other research used to craft fishing quotas on cod and other groundfish. “We respect the work you do, and we look to working with you and for you long into the future.”

Baker, who has consistently sided with fishermen in their questioning of the accuracy of government catch data, made his latest visit to Gloucester two weeks after the announcement that John Bullard, NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic regional administrator for the past five years, is retiring in January.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

What’s next for Carlos Rafael?

July 31, 2017 — The “Codfather” quashed any hopes for high courtroom drama when he pleaded guilty in March to falsifying fish quotas, false labeling of fish species, conspiracy and tax evasion, 28 counts in all.

The real action is behind the scenes, as federal and defense attorneys wrestle over the fate of New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael’s fishing empire, said to be one of the largest groundfish fleets in the nation.

It’s something Cape fishermen, and fishermen all over New England, are debating and watching closely.

“I’ve said before, there is no place in fishing for Mr. Rafael. If that’s part of the global solution (the larger deal being worked out between NOAA and Rafael’s attorneys) every fisherman I’ve spoken to up and down the coast feels that’s a good outcome,” said John Pappalardo, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and a member and former chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council. Many fishermen want the courts and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make an example of Rafael and send a message that illegal fishing practices won’t be tolerated.

They are also interested in what happens to the money collected in fines and forfeitures and the fate of the many fishery permits and quota controlled by Rafael.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NOAA Fisheries Announces Common Pool Area Closure for Georges Bank Cod

July 28, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are closing the Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area for Georges Bank cod to common pool vessels fishing on a groundfish trip with trawl, sink gillnet, and longline/hook gear for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31, 2017.

The closure is effective today, July 28, 2017, at 0845 hours. The area will reopen at the beginning of Trimester 2, on September 1, 2017.

The closure applies to the following statistical areas: 521, 522, 525, and 561. See map below.

If you have crossed the vessel monitoring system demarcation line prior to 0845 hours on July 28, and are currently at sea on a groundfish trip, you may complete your trip in all or part of the closed area. If you have set gillnet gear prior to July 28, 2017, you may complete your trip to retrieve that gear.

We are required to close this area because the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of its Trimester 1 Total Allowable Catch for GB cod. This closure is intended to prevent an overage of the common pool’s quota for this stock.

For more details, read the notice (pdf) as filed in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

NOAA Reminds Boaters to Watch Out for Whales

July 28, 2017 — WASHINGTON — NOAA Fisheries is reminding boaters to keep a close eye out for feeding and traveling whales, along with following safe viewing guidelines.

During the summer whales are feeding on small schooling fish and zooplankton in coastal areas around New England.

Vessels should stay at least 100 feet away from humpback, fin, sei and minke whales and 500 feet away from critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

“Increased whale activity in areas off Northern New England are coinciding with summer boat traffic. We want to remind boaters of ways to prevent accidental interactions with whales, which can be fatal to the whales and cause damage to boats,” says Jeff Ray, the deputy special agent in charge for NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

This small, lowly sponge from Alaska may have special powers: curing cancer

July 28, 2017 — An obscure Alaska sea sponge, unknown to science until about a decade ago, shows promise as a tool to help patients fight pancreatic cancer, a notoriously deadly and hard-to-treat disease, researchers say.

The sponge, first spotted in 2005 on the floor of the eastern Gulf of Alaska off Baranof Island, holds unusual molecules that target and kill pancreatic cancer cells in the laboratory.

The Alaska sponge now shows more promise as pancreatic-cancer fighter than any of the other sea sponges or plants, marine creatures and bacteria that Mark Hamann of the Medical University of South Carolina and Fred Valeriote of the Henry Ford Cancer Institute in Detroit have examined over the past two decades.

“This is certainly, for us, the best and most exciting looking candidate for the control of pancreatic cancer that we’ve come across in that 20-year period,” Hamann said in a teleconference with reporters Wednesday hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which is collaborating in the research.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to control and spreads rapidly to nearby parts of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The pancreas is a part of the digestive system, secreting hormones that enable the body to process sugars.

The Alaska sponge was discovered by Bob Stone, a NOAA Fisheries biologist conducting an ocean-floor survey of coral habitat that fishery managers were interested in protecting.

It immediately stood out for its green color, contrasting with the browns common to Southeast Alaska sea sponges, said Stone, who was in the submersible vessel doing the survey. It looked like a sponge from the faraway Aleutians, he said.

“The second I saw it, I thought I should collect it,” he said.

Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2017 Recreational Measures for Gulf of Maine Cod and Haddock

July 27, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces recreational measures for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock for the remainder of the 2017 fishing year.

These measures are effective immediately.

Gulf of Maine Cod:

No Possession

Gulf of Maine Haddock:

Minimum size: 17 inches

Daily limit: 12 fish per angler per day

Open Seasons: May 1-September 16; November 1-February 28; April 15-30

Read the final rule as published in the Federal Register, and the permit holder letter posted on our website.

Final Rule for Hogfish Management in South Atlantic Federal Waters

July 27, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries announces a final rule for Amendment 37 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 37).  Hogfish in the South Atlantic will be managed as two populations: Georgia through North Carolina and Florida Keys/East Florida.  A population assessment determined that the Florida Keys/East Florida population is undergoing overfishing (rate of removal is too high) and is overfished (population abundance is too low) and, therefore, in need of a rebuilding plan.  The overfishing and overfished status of the Georgia/North Carolina population is unknown.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

  • Regulations will be effective August 24, 2017.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

The final rule for Amendment 37 will implement the following management measures in addition to specifying commercial and recreational annual catch limits and accountability measures:

Management Measures Georgia-North Carolina Florida Keys/East Florida
Minimum size limit

(for both commercial and recreational sectors)

 17 inches fork length 16 inches fork length
Commercial trip limit 500 pounds whole weight 25 pounds whole weight
Recreational bag limit 2 fish per person per day 1 fish per person per day
Recreational fishing season Open year-round Open – May through October

Closed- January through April; November through December

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER:

82 FR 34584, published July 25, 2017.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

NH fishermen ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear monitoring case

July 25, 2017 — New Hampshire fishermen fighting for their livelihood are now trying to take their case to the nation’s highest court.

Commercial fishermen said they must pay $700 a day for fishing monitors, people who go out with fishermen and collect data.

The government mandate began seven years ago, but the cost was only recently put on the fishermen.

That prompted legal action against the government.

“Basically, we had a ruling that said we were time barred, which means we didn’t appeal within a certain period of time,” said Hampton-based fisherman David Goethel.

Goethel said he believes they did appeal in time, and now wants the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize that.

“What we’re asking for is the court to rule that we deserve a review of the merits of the case,” he said.

The lawsuit is against the U.S. Department of Commerce, which includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“NOAA Fisheries doesn’t have taxing authority,” Goethel said. “Only the United States Congress does. That’s the essential merits of the case.”

Goethel said that back in 2010, before the fishing monitors, there were about 100 groundfishermen in New Hampshire. Today, he said, there are only about six.

Read the full story at WMUR

Trump administration steps in on fishing limits, and the implications could ripple

July 25, 2017 — [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross earlier this month dismissed the findings of the 75-year-old Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which concluded that New Jersey was violating a conservation plan for summer flounder that all the other states in the compact approved. Many conservationists thought that New Jersey, while following protocols, was bowing to the fishing industry.

The decision, which effectively allows New Jersey to harvest more summer flounder, marked the first time the federal government had disregarded such a recommendation by the commission, and it drew a swift rebuke from state officials along the East Coast.

Officials in New Jersey, which has one of the region’s largest fluke populations, had drafted an alternative plan that they said would do more to protect the fishery, but it was rejected by the commission, whose scientists concluded the plan would result in nearly 94,000 additional fish being caught. Ross, who oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, overruled the commission, allowing New Jersey to proceed.

“New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year, despite increasing catch above the harvest target, will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator of fisheries at NOAA, wrote the commission in a letter on behalf of Ross.

“This is the first time that no one asked me for a formal recommendation,” said John Bullard, NOAA’s Greater Atlantic regional administrator. “The secretary’s decision goes against long-standing protocol, and there’s a cost to that.”  He added: “There’s a reason to have regional administrators, because their experience and knowledge is valuable in making decisions like this one. This is an unfortunate precedent.”

“Ross was brilliant in his decision,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in New Jersey, which represents thousands of recreational fishermen across the country. “The Trump administration has challenged a broken fishery management system in this country, and I applaud them for doing it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Louisiana Lt. Governor Nungesser Tours Maine Aquaculture With Gulf Seafood Leaders

July 26, 2017 — Southern drawls and Cajun accents mixed with New England Down East tones as 20 members of the Gulf seafood community toured Maine’s innovative aquaculture facilities to identify potential opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.

One voice on the tour was that Billy Nungesser, Lt. Governor of Louisiana, who sees a huge need and opportunity for his state to become an aquaculture leader in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the world.

Nungesser thinks that environmentally sound and sustainable aquaculture is needed in all the states that ring the Gulf to meet the ever-growing need for fresh fish worldwide. He admits that Gulf States, including his, are behind the curve in investing in the growing worldwide trend toward farm-raised fish.

Nungesser joined other state officials, fisherman, processors and seafood stakeholders in the tour organized by the Gulf Seafood Institute and hosted by the Maine Aquaculture Association. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided funding for learning experience.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Foundation