Saving Seafood

NOAA Publishes Proposal for Forage Species Limits

April 26, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries has published a proposed rule for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Unmanaged Forage Fish Omnibus Amendment. This amendment would implement an annual landing limit, possession limits, and permitting and reporting requirements for certain previously unmanaged forage species and species groups within Mid-Atlantic Federal waters. The purpose of this action is to prevent the development of new, and the expansion of existing, commercial fisheries on certain forage species until the Council has adequate opportunity and information to evaluate the potential impacts of forage fish harvest on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem.

Comments will be accepted through May 30, 2017. Please see the Proposed Rule for details and instructions for submitting comments.

Additional background information about the amendment may be found on the Council’s website at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/unmanaged-forage.

For further information, contact Douglas Christel, NMFS Fishery Policy Analyst, 978-281-9141, douglas.christel@noaa.gov, fax 978-281-9135.

BREN SMITH, SEAN BARRETT, AND PAUL GREENBERG: What Trump’s Budget Means for the Filet-O-Fish

April 25, 2017 — Consider the pollock.

It is the most voluminously caught fish in the United States, accounting for a quarter of everything Americans catch. As such it is the major bulwark against the United States’ multibillion-dollar seafood trade deficit — the second-largest deficit in our trade portfolio, after crude oil. And it is, today, the main component in the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish, or the “fish delight,” as Donald Trump likes to call it.

Now consider the president’s budget for the people who make his preferred sandwich possible.

If Congress seriously entertains the White House’s suggestions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — a popular target for conservatives, who see it primarily as a source of pesky climate-change research — and the National Marine Fisheries Service it oversees will lose 17 percent of its funding. This despite Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’s desire to “try to figure how we can become much more self-sufficient in fishing and perhaps even a net exporter.”

As the three of us consider this statement, a common wry fisherman’s response comes to our lips: Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.

Because of repeated sacrifices made by American fishermen working with NOAA over the past 40 years, the United States now has the most robust and well-managed wild fisheries in the world. Federal observers oversee 80 percent of the large trawlers fishing for pollock, ensuring that this largest of fisheries maintains an impeccable set of management tools.

But in spite of all of our success, only around 9 percent of the seafood available in American markets comes from American fishermen. In fact, the last traditional fishing communities in the United States are fighting for their very existence. Fair-trade local fishermen remain unable to compete in our domestic marketplace, which is overwhelmed and flooded with cheap, untraceable imported seafood.

Read the full opinion piece at the New York Times

NOAA Fisheries Publishes Proposed Rule for Unmanaged Forage Omnibus Amendment

April 24, 2017 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries has published a proposed rule for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Unmanaged Forage Fish Omnibus Amendment. This amendment would implement an annual landing limit, possession limits, and permitting and reporting requirements for certain previously unmanaged forage species and species groups within Mid-Atlantic Federal waters. The purpose of this action is to prevent the development of new, and the expansion of existing, commercial fisheries on certain forage species until the Council has adequate opportunity and information to evaluate the potential impacts of forage fish harvest on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem.

Comments will be accepted through May 30, 2017. Please see the Proposed Rule for details and instructions for submitting comments.

Additional background information about the amendment may be found on the Council’s website at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/unmanaged-forage.

For further information, contact Douglas Christel, NMFS Fishery Policy Analyst, 978-281-9141, douglas.christel@noaa.gov, fax 978-281-9135.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule for Unmanaged Forage Fish in the Mid-Atlantic

April 24, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries announces a proposed rule to protect unmanaged forage fish. Forage fish are small schooling species that serve as prey for larger commercially and recreationally important fish, as well as for marine mammals and sea birds. Anchovies, herring, chub mackerel, and sardines are some common forage fish.

Commercial fisheries occasionally catch forage species, and we know little about the amount of forage species caught in Mid-Atlantic waters. Because of their importance to the food web, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council wants to keep current levels of forage species catch stable while it collects more information on these species. This new information will help inform future scientific assessments and management decisions.

This action would be the first action in the Atlantic to list 14 forage species and species groups as ecosystem component species. This action would set landing and possession limits to prevent the further expansion of commercial fisheries on forage species by federally permitted fishing vessels within Mid-Atlantic federal waters (see map below).

This action is part of an effort to integrate ecosystem-based management components into fishery management plans. 

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, as well as the supplemental documents on our website.

The comment period is open through May 30.

Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal or by mailing:

John Bullard, Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

MASSACHUSETTS: Loss of Rafael’s permits could hurt New Bedford

April 24, 2017 — By late morning just before Easter weekend, three fishing vessels lined up at the docks to unload their catch, and they all belonged to one man — the local mogul known as the “Codfather,” Carlos Rafael.

“It’s a good haul,” a passing auction worker at the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction said under her breath, as crew members, some still in their orange waterproof bibs, unloaded the ice-packed fish.

For decades, Rafael’s fleet of some 40 vessels has been a staple of this city’s fishing industry, a sight as common as the seal that patrols the docks.

But now, Rafael’s recent conviction on federal charges that he cheated fishing regulations to boost his profits is putting his many vessels and permits up for grabs — potentially distributing them to ports along the New England coast. That would deliver an economic blow to New Bedford and the people who depend on the business created by Rafael’s fleet.

Rafael, 65, whose nickname given by locals derives from his brash business style, is expected to be sentenced in June to about four years in prison. Local officials are urging the federal government to keep the permits in New Bedford, home to the country’s most valuable fishing port and one of the last true ports on the East Coast.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

NOAA Fisheries Announces Funding Opportunity for Atlantic Salmon and Their Ecosystems

April 21, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries announces a federal funding opportunity  to promote recovery actions and support engagement activities for critically endangered Atlantic salmon and their ecosystems.The typical funding awards will range from $50,000 to $300,000.

The application deadline is Friday, May 19, 2017.

We are seeking project proposals that will support:

  • International Year of the Salmon, including the development and implementation of new education/outreach and engagement tools such as interactive displays, exhibits, kiosks, etc., or activities highlighting the biology, status, and threats faced by Atlantic salmon and their ecosystems.

We anticipate that the funding would not exceed $600,000 and is contingent on FY 2017 Federal appropriations. There is no match requirement.

Questions? Contact Julie Crocker at julie.crocker@noaa.gov or 978-282-8480.

NOAA limits permits fisherman can own

April 21, 2017 — NOAA has approved a new rule to limit the number of permits and the amount of groundfish allocation any individual or entity can own in the Northeast multispecies fishery.

The rule is an attempt to create more diversity in the fishery by stemming the tide of consolidation. It prohibits any single ownership entity from acquiring an “excessive share of fishing privileges” or an unfair economic advantage over the groundfish market.

The rule precludes any ownership entity from possessing more than 5 percent of the total of limited access permits in the groundfishery. As of Feb. 21, there were 1,335 active permits in the fishery, which means no individual or entity can own more than 67 permits.

“The most permits held by any entity was 50,” the rule states. “Based on this information, this permit cap is unlikely to immediately restrict any entity.”

The rule, also known as Amendment 18 to the Northeast multispecies fishery management plan, also caps potential sector contributions (PSC). However, it removes several fishing restrictions “to increase operational flexibility for fishermen on limited access handgear vessels.”

“The combination of the PSC limit and 5 percent permit cap raises the difficulty and cost of acquiring enough permits and PSC for any one entity in the groundfish fishery to exert market power over the fishery,” the rule stated.

The rule, published Thursday in the Federal Register and principally effective May 20,  has been long in the making.

The New England Fishery Management Council first started work on it in 2011. It approved the measure last August and submitted it to NOAA for public comment and final approval.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

FFAW Says Hundreds of Crab Vessels Iced in Will Need Compensation Due to Late Start, As in Past

April 21, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Fish, Food and Allied Workers union said that hundreds of snow crab fishing boats are being kept ashore by the ice that has built up around Newfoundland and Labrador. President Keith Sullivan called on the federal government to pay compensation to fish harvesters who are kept away from the fishery. “For many, E.I. benefits run out next week, which will leave families without any income for the foreseeable future, since ice is expected to be a problem until at least mid-May,” the FFAW wrote in a statement.

New England regulators will allow lobster fishing in proposed deep-sea coral protection zones on the Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridges. The New England Fishery Management Council voted 14-1 Tuesday to ban most fishing in the canyons and plateaus where slow-growing, cold-water coral gardens flourish in the dark waters of the Gulf of Maine. But pleas from Maine lobster fishermen who say a trap ban in fertile gulf fishing grounds would cost them millions of dollars helped sway an initially resistant council to grant a lobstering exemption. The Council will vote on the exemption at its meeting in June.

In other news, Greenpeace released its annual sustainability rankings of canned tuna products sold in the US market. John Sackton writes how these rankings have almost nothing to do with tuna sustainability. “Instead, like other supermarket rankings undertaken by Greenpeace, the ranking system is used to reward banners that conform to Greenpeace’s ideology and punish banners that don’t,” Sackton writes.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Seafood Institute and six other Gulf of Mexico seafood industry organizations endorsed North Pacific Fishery Management Council Executive Director Chris Oliver for the open position of Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “It is imperative that NOAA Fisheries be guided by an experienced Administrator with a solid track record of uniting these varying interests with a spirit of positivity and mutual respect,” the groups said in a letter sent to Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Jr.

Finally, biologists at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center cracked the code on how to spawn Pacific sardines in the laboratory, opening a new window on the life cycle of the commercially important species. Some in the industry hope it will better inform industry and managers as to what environmental factors would augment wild reproduction and recruitment.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

Judge shoots down New England fishermen’s at-sea monitoring cost challenge

April 20, 2017 — A US federal appeals court judge has ruled against New England groundfish fishermen’s third legal attempt to do away with a law requiring them to bear the cost of at-sea monitors.

New Hampshire groundfish fisherman David Goethel as well as the non-profit XIII Northeast Fisheries Sector believe the law violates existing federal law.

Although Joseph Laplante, chief US district court judge, recommended further consideration of the fishermen’s plea — their second appeal attempt — he ultimately ruled the initial law suit was not filed in time to be legal.

Laplante ruled, on April 14, against fishermen “because we find that Goethel’s suit was not filed within the [Magnuson Stevens Act’s] thirty-day statute of limitations…” This upholds the reasoning of the previous appeal decision, also against the fishermen, dated July 29, 2016.

Goethel had argued that the 30-day salute of limitations embodied in the MSA does not apply to pre-enforcement review, whereas Laplante said it does, and that Goethel cited no authority permitting a waiver of that rule.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries Proposes New Recreational Measures for Summer Flounder; No Changes to Scup

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking comment on proposed recreational fishery management measures for the 2017 summer flounder and scup fisheries. 

The 2017 summer flounder recreational harvest limit is 3.77 million lb (1,710 mt), a decrease from the 2016 harvest limit of 5.42 million lb (2,458 mt). Accordingly, more restrictive management measures are necessary in 2017 to reduce landings by approximately 41 percent compared to 2016 landings, to ensure that the landings do not exceed the recreational harvest limit.

We are not proposing any changes to the recreational measures for the 2017 recreational scup fishery. The current measures are expected to keep landings within the 2017 recreational harvest limit. 

We are proposing black sea bass recreational management measures in a separate rulemaking action. 

Summer Flounder Proposed Measures

For summer flounder, in order to prevent overfishing in 2017, we are proposing stricter management measures than those in place in 2016. These measures would apply to all federally permitted party/charter vessels with applicable summer flounder and scup permits, regardless of where they fish, unless the state in which they land implements measures that are more restrictive.

We propose the Council’s and Commission’s recommended coastwide management measures for summer flounder, which are:

  • 19-inch minimum fish size
  • Four fish per person possession limit
  • Open season from June 1-September 15

We propose to continue the “conservation equivalency” approach, in which states develop state or regional minimum sizes, possession limits, and fishing seasons that will achieve the necessary level of conservation. Both the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission recommended continuing conservation equivalency.

For state waters, the Commission has reviewed measures submitted by the regions and certified that they are, in combination, the conservation equivalent of the Federal coastwide measures that would prevent overfishing. 

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register today, and the Supplemental Information Report on our website.

The comment period is open through May 4.

Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal or by mailing:

John Bullard, Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930