Saving Seafood

Commercial Hook-and-Line Harvest of King Mackerel in Federal Waters of the Gulf of Mexico Southern Zone Will Reopen on April 4, 2021 and Close on April 9, 2021

April 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

WHAT/WHEN:

  • Commercial hook-and-line harvest of king mackerel in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico Southern Zone (depicted in map below) will reopen for five days in April 2021. Commercial harvest will reopen at 12:01 a.m., local time, on April 4, 2021, and close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on April 9, 2021.
  • Commercial hook-and-line harvest will reopen at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 1, 2021.

WHY THIS REOPENING IS HAPPENING:

  • The 2020/2021 commercial hook-and-line quota for the Gulf of Mexico Southern Zone is 575,400 pounds.
  • Updated landings data indicate approximately 50,562 pounds of the quota remain.
  • Landings projections indicate that the remaining quota will be caught within five days of reopening the fishery.

DURING THE CLOSURE:

  • After 12:01 a.m., local time, on April 9, 2021, no commercial hook-and-line fisherman may keep for sale king mackerel in or from the closed Southern Zone.
  • The Southern Zone gillnet component closed on January 28, 2021.
  • Therefore, no king mackerel caught in this zone may be purchased, bartered, traded, or sold after 12:01 a.m., local time, on April 9, 2021.
  • The prohibition on sale or purchase does not apply to trade in hook-and-line king mackerel that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold between 12:01 a.m., local time, April 4, 2021 and 12:01 a.m., local time, April 9, 2021, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • Persons aboard commercial vessels with a federal king mackerel permit may fish for and retain the recreational bag and possession limit of king mackerel during the open recreational season, even if commercial fishing for this species is closed in this zone or others.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why was the fishery closed on February 22, 2021?

  • Original projections indicated that commercial harvest of king mackerel for the hook-and-line component in the Southern Zone would reach their quota by February 22, 2021.
  • In accordance with regulations, NOAA Fisheries closed the fishery when the quota was projected to be met, in order to prevent overfishing.  Overfishing is when the annual catch rate is too high.
Read the full release here

April Edition of NOAA Navigator Now Available!

April 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The NOAA Navigator is a bi-monthly informational insert that we publish in Commercial Fisheries News.

The April issue of the Navigator is now available. Articles in this edition include:

  • Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Season Reminder
  • Coonamessett River Restoration
  • Study on Ocean Acidification
  • Fisheries Stock Assessments Underway
  • Reporting and Permitting Updates

Questions?

Contact Kate Swails, Regional Office, 978-282-8481

SENATOR MARKEY RESPONDS TO $23 MILLION IN FISHERIES ASSISTANCE FUNDING FOR MASSACHUSETTS

April 1, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Ed Markey (D-MA):

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its plan to distribute $255 million in fisheries disaster funds appropriated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, supporting previously authorized activities in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Massachusetts received $23 million, the third-highest award out of the 28 fishing states and territories that were listed. In 2020, Massachusetts received $28 million from the initial CARES Act fisheries disaster funding appropriations. For 20 consecutive years, New Bedford has remained the highest grossing port in the country, bringing in more than $430 million annually.

“Our fishing industries are at the core of our culture and economy in Massachusetts. Given the unrelenting challenges associated with the pandemic, the $23 million in aid for the Commonwealth is another down-payment on the help these industries deserve,” said Senator Markey. “We are home to the highest grossing port in the nation, and additional support will be needed to match our vital contribution to the fishing economy.”

Massachusetts lawmakers, led by Senators Markey and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have championed the allocation of financial aid to fishery participants. In March 2020, Senators Markey and Warren, and Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan called on Senate leadership to include support for the fishing industry in coronavirus economic relief packages and secured a $20 million USDA procurement of Atlantic seafood.

In April 2020, Senators Markey and Warren led a letter urging the Department of Commerce and NOAA to act swiftly, equitably, and transparently in allocating fisheries disaster assistance funding. Also in April of last year, Senators Markey and Warren led a letter to the Commerce Department demanding immediate release of federal guidance on how fishery participants could access the $300 million in CARES Act funds, and identified the bureaucratic inefficiencies that were behind the failure to issue this guidance in a timely manner. In June 2020, Senators Markey and Warren called on Senate leadership to include additional fisheries assistance in the next coronavirus relief package.

Wyden, Merkley Announce Oregon Fisheries to receive $13 Million in Disaster Assistance

April 1, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR):

U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced today that Oregon fisheries will receive more than $13 million in fisheries assistance from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“Oregon’s fishing industry up and down the coast has been cast adrift by the pandemic’s economic riptide, ”Wyden said. “West Coast seafood is prized internationally, and Oregonians in this signature state industry must be able to earn a family wage. These resources will provide a much-needed lifeline so that Oregon’s job-creating fishing and seafood processors can weather this economic storm.”

“Oregon’s fisheries are the lifeblood of our coastal economies—supporting jobs that countless families rely on, and supplying communities across our state and around the world with exceptional products,” said Merkley, who led an April 2020 letter to Senate leadership advocating for $3.5 billion in support for the seafood and fishing industries. “As we set out to recover from the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis, we must ensure that this crucial industry receives the support it needs to survive and bounce back stronger than before. I’m gratified that this fishery assistance funding is coming to our state, and will continue to do all that I can to support our fishermen and seafood processors during, and beyond, this difficult time.”

The allocation of an additional $255 million in fisheries assistance from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 will support activities previously authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The resources will be allocated to states and territories with coastal and marine fishery hurt by COVID-19.

The funding will address direct and indirect COVID-19 impacts to eligible fishery participants, including commercial fishermen, charter businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, subsistence, cultural, and ceremonial users, food processors, and other fishery-related businesses. Congress also designated $30 million for all federally recognized Tribes in coastal states. Eligible fishery participants should work with their state or territory’s marine fisheries management agencies to understand the process for applying for these funds.

Maine seafood industry set to receive new $17 million federal bailout

April 1, 2021 — Maine’s seafood industry will get another multimillion-dollar bailout from the federal government almost a year after the first round of pandemic-related federal aid was issued to the battered industry.

The state will receive about $17.1 million of $255 million in federal funding included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, designed to help the U.S. fishing industry survive, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week.

Maine’s award was fifth-highest of 28 states and territories, trailing only Alaska, Washington, Massachusetts and Florida.

It’s still unclear how the funds will be split among the 18,000 licensed fishermen, seafood dealers, processors, aquaculture operators and charter fishing operators that make up Maine’s seafood industry, which, despite the pandemic, last year earned $516.7 million, the ninth-highest total on record.

The state is anticipating additional guidance from NOAA and couldn’t comment further, said Maine Department of Marine Resources spokesperson Jeff Nichols.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

A Rising Tide Lifts All Fishers

April 1, 2021 — In the summer of 2013, a male captain was accused of raping and assaulting a female fisher multiple times during their week-long isolation in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

This horrific encounter points to a sobering problem for female fishers: the specter of sexual assault. Harassment and abuse aren’t necessarily more common in the fishing industry, but several factors make the situation on boats unique. For one thing, fishing involves spending weeks in a confined workplace, often in remote regions with no cellphone service. For another, many fishing vessels constitute their own small businesses, with no human resources department or codified policy that workers can turn to. And as with workers in other rural industries such as forestry and agriculture, who have fewer support systems to access than employees in urban areas, fishers tend to experience and grapple with abuse on their own.

That’s why Bristol Bay, Alaska, fisher Elma Burnham is asking her colleagues to sign a safety pledge that she created in 2017. To date, more than 500 captains, deckhands, processors, and tenders have signed the pledge, promising to uphold an understanding of consent and to work toward abolishing abuse in the industry; to intervene against harassment; to provide a safe place to work; and to pay, teach, and actively promote fishers who aren’t cisgender men.

Burnham grew up in an oystering family off Long Island Sound in Connecticut and now works as a Bristol Bay set-netter, fishing for sockeye salmon during the summer. She started developing her pledge after the 2016 US presidential election, which for her felt like a symbol of entrenched misogyny. She wanted to see what she could do on a local level, so she started Strength of the Tides, a group that brings female, transgender, and nonbinary fishers together to network, support one another, and ask for boat owners to sign the pledge. Although organizations like this are more common in commercial fishing, shipping, and other maritime sectors, says Burnham, they are rare to nonexistent in the world of small-scale fisheries.

Although Burnham says that she’s never faced harassment or abuse on the job, she knows “that’s not the case for everyone.”

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine

Additional $255 million aid from CARES Act; NMFS extends observer waivers

April 1, 2021 — An additional $255 million in fisheries assistance funding is coming from Congressional CARES Act authorization of last year to help fishermen and related businesses hit by covid-19 income losses, NMFS announced Thursday.

Provided through the Congress’ Consolidated Appropriations Act of 202, the funding will be allocated to states and territories with coastal and marine fishery participants affected by the pandemic.

“Our priority is to award these funds as quickly as possible using existing processes established under the CARES Act,” said Paul Doremus, the acting assistant administrator for NMFS. “As a next step, we will use these allocations to provide additional funds to our partners – the interstate marine fisheries commissions, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands –to disburse funds to address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial impacts related to covid-19.”

The commissions then will work with each state and territory to revise their prior spend plans to be consistent with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the CARES Act, and NOAA’s guidance. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will submit spend plans to the agency directly.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Extended and New Slow Zones South of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to Protect Right Whales

April 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces the extension of Slow Zones set to expire south of Nantucket and south of Martha’s Vineyard and establishes another Slow Zone south of Nantucket. On March 31, 2021 several aggregations of right whales were detected south of Nantucket, MA and south of Martha’s Vineyard, MA by the NOAA North Atlantic Right Whale Sighting Survey. These three right whale Slow Zones are in effect immediately through April 14, 2021.

Mariners are requested to route around these areas or transit through them at 10 knots or less.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

South of Nantucket, MA, March 30 – April 14, 2021 *NEW*

41 01 N
40 19  N
069 50 W
070 46 W

South of Nantucket, MA, February 26 – April 14, 2021 *Extended*

41 23 N
40 40 N
069 39 W
070 35W

South of Martha’s Vineyard, MA, March 7 – April 14, 2021 *Extended*

41 21 N
40 41 N
070 15 W
071 06 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here

NOAA allocates more CARES Act funding, but some states want more

March 31, 2021 — An additional USD 255 million (EUR 217.3 million) in CARES Act fisheries relief funding has been released to states, territories, and tribal entities to help fisheries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, once again, questions have been raised about the allocation process.

The move comes nearly a year after USD 300 million (EUR 255.6 million) was allocated to U.S. fisheries in the first round of funding.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Rules to Protect Turtles From Shrimp Nets Postponed

March 31, 2021 — New rules designed to keep endangered and threatened sea turtles from drowning in some inshore shrimp nets are being postponed, and federal regulators are considering whether to expand the rules, officials said Tuesday.

Coronavirus pandemic restrictions over the past year have limited in-person workshops and training opportunities for fishermen to install escape hatches called turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Therefore, the new rules announced in 2019 will take effect Aug. 1 instead of on Thursday.

“The delay … is to allow NOAA Fisheries additional time for training fishermen, ensuring TEDs are built and installed properly, and for responding to installation and maintenance problems when the regulations go in effect,” the statement said.

Six species of sea turtles, all of them endangered or threatened, are found in U.S. waters.

The rule requires the devices on skimmer trawls pulled by boats at least 40 feet (12 meters) long.

NOAA Fisheries is reconsidering whether to require the devices on boats shorter than 40 feet long, “and whether additional rulemaking is currently warranted,” the statement said.

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