Saving Seafood

Pallone, New Jersey DEP push back against summer flounder cuts

December 16th, 2016 — This was one of the more consequential Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meetings in recent memory.

The council’s decisions that were made this week in Baltimore will have a major impact on fishermen, starting with recommendations for cuts to summer flounder, special management zones for artificial reefs, and final rules for a coral protection on the Continental Shelf.

SUMMER FLOUNDER

Anglers are facing the most restrictive fluke regulations yet as a 40-percent cut in the allowable coastwide harvest is being recommended.

It’s based on models that show summer flounder was overfished this year and its biomass is on the decline. Fishermen and legislatures refute that science.

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) is asking NOAA to postpone any cuts until a benchmark assessment is complete. He said there continues to be legitimate concerns that the random sampling heavily relied upon by NOAA and the estimates produced are inaccurate.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is also taking a strong position against the reductions, which it said will cripple recreational and commercial fishing in New Jersey and be felt sharply throughout the Shore economy.

On Wednesday the council approved a non-preferred coastwide measure for a 19–inch minimum size limit, a four-fish bag limit and a season from June 1 – Sept. 15.

Read the full story at The Ashbury Park Press

To protect coral, bottom fishing gear banned near Delaware’s coast

December 16th, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is banning commercial fishing gear that could drag along the seafloor in part of the Atlantic Ocean – including a portion 66 miles off the Delaware coast.

Deep-sea coral can live for hundreds to thousands of years, but once they are damaged, they can take decades or even centuries to re-grow.

To ensure these corals can live undisturbed, a section of the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Virginia – about the size of Virginia – has been designated as “protected”. The protected area is about 66 miles from Delaware’s shore and covers a portion of the Baltimore Canyon. Joseph Gordon, Pew Charitable Trust’s manager of U.S. northeast oceans, said that means fishing gear that reaches down to the depths that deep-sea coral inhabit would not be allowed to operate there.

“They’ve lived a long time but they live in an environment that is cold, with huge pressure, without light,” Gordon said, about the coral. “And so fishing technology could damage them in a way that could take centuries to recover from.”

Some bottom-fishing technologies include rockhoppers and canyon-busters. They are designed to roll over boulders and canyons, and according to Oceana, they can weigh at least several hundred pounds. NOAA authorizes the gear that fishermen can use for commercial fishing, and documented almost 1,000 bottom-fishing technologies in use in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2016. That is up from 630 documented in 2013.

Read the full story at Delaware Public Media 

NEW JERSEY: Fishermen can protest Summer flounder catch limits with letters

December 13th, 2016 — Before I get into any recent fishing catches, I want to cover some very distressing news concerning next year’s fluke regulations. To say that the reports I have gotten are negative is being kind.

NOAA Fisheries has announced that their flounder assessment from last summer shows the summer flounder population is declining, and anglers are catching too many fish.

To address this problem, the federal government is proposing a 30 percent reduction from catch limits already determined for 2017, and then the next year another 16 percent reduction from current 2018 allocations.

According to predictions from “The Fisherman” magazine, the result of this could very possibly be something like a two-fish per day daily catch limit, a 19-inch minimum keeper size, and a three month long season during the summer months. I told you that you would not like this news!

The only positive thing that I can tell you is that these cuts have not yet been made, but are in the works. According to “The Fisherman,” there are a couple of things that we as concerned anglers can do.

First, we can send a note to NOAA Fisheries expressing our opposition to these cuts. Try to keep your comments within the bounds of polite discourse, and be sure to include your contact information.

Read the full story at the Ashbury Park Press 

Fishing Report: Hearing on menhaden set for Dec. 19 at URI

December 9th, 2016 — Atlantic menhaden are an important forage fish for striped bass, bluefish, tuna and other species. Recreational anglers claim that fishing for these game fish is off when the quantity of forage fish is down. Additionally, Atlantic menhaden are filter feeders with each fish processing thousands of gallons of water filtering out plankton to help prevent algae blooms.

So if you want to impact regulations pertaining to this species, now is the time to become active. There will be an Atlantic menhaden public hearing to talk about important Fishery Management Plan issues on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Corless Auditorium at the URI Bay Campus, Narragansett. The hearing will address a new Public Information Document that is a predecessor to Amendment 3 to the Atlantic menhaden Fishery Management Plan that will be developed later this year.

NOAA’s website says Atlantic menhaden “play an important role in the ecosystem as both a forage fish for striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, and predatory birds such as osprey and eagles as well as serving as a filter feeder because they feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton at various life stages.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal 

Comment Federal judge tosses another fisheries management rule

December 9th, 2016 — Federal judges keep smacking down the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s decisions.

For the second time in the last three months, a federal court has overturned a management decision made by the North Pacific council and enacted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS. The United States District Court of Washington overturned a 2011 decision relating to halibut quota shares harvested by hired skippers on Nov. 16.

Federal courts have overturned several council decisions in recent years. In September, a the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the council’s 2011 decision to remove Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula salmon fisheries from federal oversight.

In this case, the North Pacific council made a decision in 2011 regarding which halibut quota holders can use a hired skipper instead of being required to be on board the vessel. Due to the court’s ruling, NOAA will have to open that group back up after limiting it in 2011.

Julie Speegle, the NMFS Alaska Region spokesperson, said the agency will change the impacted halibut fishermen’s quota shares to reflect the court’s ruling and that the council itself will review the issue.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire 

Commission seeking public input on menhaden management plan

December 8th, 2016 – The group charged with coordinating the management and conservation of more than two dozen nearshore fish species in the Atlantic coastal states is seeking input on its management plan for menhaden.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission released a “public information document” last month outlining a series of options for managing the fish and requesting feedback from the public.

Menhaden are small, silvery fish that play a critical role in the bay’s ecosystem, according to the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

They serve as a forage fish for striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, and predatory birds like eagles, and also a key role as a filter feeder, feeding on phytoplankton and zooplankton, the NOAA office’s website says.

The menhaden management plan will address catch quotas for the fish along the Atlantic Coast.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is calling for the commission to shift to an “ecosystem” management approach that “ensures there are enough menhaden in the water to fulfill their role in the food chain for the protection of all marine life.”

Public comments must be received by 5 p.m. on Jan. 4.

Comments may be mailed to Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1050 North Highland St., Suite 200A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201.

Read the full story at the Capitol Gazette

Can Atlantic Cod Return to Canada’s East Coast?

December 8th, 2016 — According to the New England Fishery Management Council, the 2016 quotas for George’s Banks Cod are 1200 metric tonnes for 2016 and 500 metric tonnes for Cod in the Gulf of Maine.

In an article posted by the NOAA last month, optomism for the health of these stocks are low due to warming waters and bycatch concerns.

Many East Coast processors, however, feel that the fishery is in remission and hope for increased total allowable catches before re-building infrastructure from the moratorium in the early 1990s.

For now, fillet production has been predominately labour intensive hand cutting, tightening profit margins considerably.

Pricing last month on Canadian Atlantic Cod was around $3.25 per pound for 12-32oz skinless fillets caught in Newfoundland, and $3.15 per pound for shatterpacked bones 4-8oz fillets in Boston.

The Fishery is faced with adverse weather conditions at the moment – full fishing efforts should resume in Spring 2017 at which point we will have a clearer outlook on pricing.

— Another interesting note on this fishery – Scientists are now pushing for increased commercial Atlantic Cod quotas because of Snow Crab stocks in the Maritimes.

Read the full story at The Fish Site 

WAYNE MERSHON: Don’t bite on risky lure of ‘catch shares’

December 6th, 2016 — A wolf in sheep’s clothing: something that seems to be good, but is actually not good at all.

I can’t think of a more appropriate saying to use than “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” to describe the reality of what the Seafood Harvesters of America want to do with our offshore fisheries.

The Post and Courier recently published an article and editorial that bought into the sheep’s clothing side. Year-round fishing and better fisheries data are touted.

Who could be against that?

But there’s a wolf: privatization of our fisheries through a scheme called “catch shares,” where fishermen and corporations are actually given ownership of our fisheries with shares that can be bought or sold like stock on Wall Street.

That’s the real reason for the Seafood Harvesters of America’s existence. They’re working hard to ensure commercial fishermen own our fisheries, and in this case it’s our snapper and grouper, starting with a pilot program that could be considered by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries next year.

The term “catch shares” does not appear in the article or editorial, but the innocuous sounding synonym “individual quotas” does. The Seafood Harvesters have been well coached by their public relations team to not use “catch shares” because it will draw intense fire from most commercial and recreational fishermen.

Last year, when the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council sought input on its long-range management plan for the snapper-grouper fishery, 97 percent of the responding stakeholders said they opposed catch shares.

Read the full op-ed at The Post and Courier 

 

While Bering Sea groundfish booms, Gulf of Alaska struggles

December 5th, 2016 — Bering Sea fish stocks are booming, but it’s a mixed bag for groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska.

Fishery managers will set 2017 catches this week for  pollock, cod and other fisheries that make up Alaska’s largest fish hauls, which are taken from 3 to 200 miles offshore. More than 80 percent of Alaska’s seafood comes from those federally managed waters, and by all accounts the Bering fish stocks are in great shape.

“For the Bering Sea, just about every catch is up,” said Diana Stram, Bering groundfish plan coordinator for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Twenty-two species are under the council’s purview, along with such nontargeted species as sharks, octopus and squid. For the nation’s largest food fishery — Bering pollock — the stock is so robust that catches could safely double to nearly 6 billion pounds, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists who presented their data to the council last week.

But the allowable catch will remain close to this year’s harvest, Stram said, due to a strict cap applied to all fish removals.

“The sum of all the catches in the Bering Sea cannot exceed 2 million metric tons,” she explained.

With all stocks so healthy, catch-setting becomes a trade-off among the varying species, Stram said. The council also sets bycatch levels for the fisheries, another constraint.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News 

New Bedford again tops nation for dollar value of fishing catch

October 31st, 2016 — The city’s port has again topped the country for dollar value of its fishing catch, NOAA Fisheries reported this week, citing 2015 landings worth $322 million.

That marks 16 years in a row that New Bedford has held the top-value title, which is thanks largely to scallops. Dutch Harbor, Alaska, again was tops for total volume of catch, landing 787 million pounds last year.

New Bedford’s catch was much smaller: 124 million pounds, good for only 11th in the country and far behind Dutch Harbor. But Dutch Harbor’s catch had a value of $218 million — second-highest in the country — reflecting the strong commercial value of New Bedford’s scallop industry.

“The scallop industry has put New Bedford at the top of the food chain, as it were, of fishing ports for the last 16 years — that’s a very impressive streak,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, port director for the city’s Harbor Development Commission. “It really shows the impact of scallops but also the impact of cooperative research.”

In the 1990s, SMAST scientists Brian Rothschild and Kevin Stokesbury pioneered innovations in counting scallops, with cameras tested and used on local scallopers. The resulting data affected stock assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ultimately leading to larger catch quotas and helping secure steady catches for waterfront businesses.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times