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NEFMC: Atlantic Herring, NGOM Scallops, Electronic Monitoring Seminars at Maine Fishermen’s Forum

February 23, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is participating in three seminars at the March 1-3, 2018 Maine Fishermen’s Forum at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, ME. Come join us!

Meet some of our staff members.
Ask us questions.
Learn more about the Council’s work.

The forum provides a casual setting where stakeholders – fishermen, scientists, fishery managers, environmentalists, and legislators alike – can engage in meaningful conversation.

On Friday, March 2, we’ll be talking about Atlantic herring, electronic monitoring, and the Northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery. Here are the details.

Atlantic Herring Amendment 8 Informational Update

WHEN: 9 a.m. in the Rockland Room

WHAT’S THIS ABOUT: The New England Council is developing Amendment 8 to the federal Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to consider:

(1) Potential changes to how target catches are set in the herring fishery, starting with a new acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule; and

(2) Alternatives to address potential localized depletion and user conflicts in the fishery.

The amendment will be going out to public hearing in April or May. This forum session provides an ideal opportunity for fishermen and other stakeholders to ask questions and become more familiar with the alternatives in advance of the formal hearings.

FORMAT: The session will open with a short overview of the Council process, followed by the Amendment 8 discussion, and conclude with a presentation by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the federal Omnibus Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment, which includes proposed measures for the Atlantic herring fishery.

WHO’S ON THE PANEL: Mary Beth Tooley of the O’Hara Corporation is the forum board member who is hosting this session. She also is the moderator. The panel members are:

Deirdre Boelke, New England Fishery Management Council, Atlantic Herring Plan Coordinator
Carrie Nordeen, National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO)

Electronic Monitoring (EM) on the Water

WHEN: 1 p.m. in the Rockland Room

WHAT’S THIS ABOUT: The New England Council and NMFS are taking steps to improve monitoring in the groundfish fishery. These ongoing efforts have prompted increased interest in using camera systems as an alternative to human at-sea monitors. The question is: Can cameras, coupled with dockside monitoring, provide the necessary level of coverage to meet catch monitoring requirements? In an effort to find out, fishermen are participating in several groundfish pilot programs to explore the feasibility of using this electronic monitoring (EM) technology on their boats. The seminar will spotlight the pilot programs, and groundfish captains who are experimenting with EM will share their perspectives on how EM actually works on the water.

FORMAT: Following a brief overview of the ongoing projects, panelists will give quick synopses of the EM projects they’re involved with and explain why they were willing to participate. Then, EM footage from several of their boats will be shown, and the affiliated captains on the panel will help guide the audience through what’s going on. They also will discuss fishing operations and catch handling while using EM. Plenty of time will be available for questions. Exchanges between fishermen in the audience and panel members are encouraged.

WHO’S ON THE PANEL: Gerry Cushman of the F/V Bug Catcha is the forum board member who is hosting this session. Janice Plante of the New England Fishery Management Council is the moderator. The panel members are:

Randy Cushman, F/V Ella Christine, Port Clyde, ME, trawl fishery
Mike Russo, F/V Gulf Venture, Provincetown, MA, gillnet fishery
Tyler Bond, F/V Safe Haven (crew), F/V Savage Joe (owner), Harpswell, ME, jig fishery
Mike Monteforte, F/V Second Wind, Point Judith, RI, trawl fishery
Bob Dooley, owner/operator of West Coast and Alaska-based vessels for over 40 years, Half Moon Bay, CA, trawl/crab fisheries
Claire Fitz-Gerald, NMFS/GARFO Fishery Management Specialist, introductory/overview speaker

Northern Gulf of Maine Federal Scallop Fishery

WHEN: 2:45 p.m. in the Rockport Room

WHAT’S THIS ABOUT: The New England Council recently completed Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The framework contains specifications and measures for the 2018 federal scallop fishing year, which begins on April 1. The National Marine Fisheries Service has published a proposed rule containing just the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Management Area provisions within the framework and is collecting public comment through March 7. The agency broke out the NGOM measures from the rest of the scallop actions to ensure they are in place by April 1. The intent is to prevent excessive fishing in the Northern Gulf of Maine area. This seminar will provide an overview of the Northern Gulf of Maine management measures and cover how and why they were developed. Information about scallop surveys and research priorities also will be discussed.

FORMAT: The session will begin with an explanation of federal scallop fishery management in the Northern Gulf of Maine. Panelists then will provide information about 2018 scallop work priorities, changes to the Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program, scallop surveys, and research initiatives for the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area. Fishermen are encouraged to ask questions about any of these scallop-related activities.

WHO’S ON THE PANEL: Kristan Porter of the F/V Whitney & Ashley is a member of the New England Council’s Scallop Advisory Panel. He is the forum board member who is hosting this session, and he also is the moderator. The panel members are:

Jonathon Peros, New England Fishery Management Council, Scallop Plan Coordinator
Travis Ford, NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office
Vincent Balzano, New England Fishery Management Council, Scallop Committee Chairman; commercial fisherman

MAINE FISHERMEN’S FORUM INFORMATION: Many other seminars are lined up. General information about the 2018 forum, including hotel details, directions, and background, is available at Maine Fishermen’s Forum. The seminar descriptions and schedule can be downloaded at forum lineup.

View the event in more detail at the NEFMC site here.

Massachusetts: Post-Rafael, New Bedford fishing industry looks to move forward

February 22, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For perhaps the first time, at least publicly, fishermen on Carlos Rafael vessels sat in the same room Wednesday as John Bullard, the former regional administrator for NOAA, who implemented a groundfishing ban for those vessels.

Bullard, wearing a blue NOAA jacket, sat in front of a four-person panel brought together by Rhode Island Public Radio. The fishermen, wearing baseball caps and New Bedford Ship Supply sweatshirts, sat to the left of the panel, which discussed fishing in New Bedford after Carlos Rafael at Star Store.

“It’s an issue that’s near and dear to my heart, not just because I was the regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries to close the sector, but I care about this,” Bullard said. “This is my hometown.”

Bullard, now retired from NOAA, declined to comment specifically on the groundfishing ban, which went into effect in November.

However, Cassie Canastra, marketing director of BASE seafood, and Dan Georgianna, economist and professor emeritus at SMAST, are each on the board of the fishing division that’s affected by the ban. They said Sector IX plans to meet with Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office to propose a new operational plan. If approved, it would end the ban, however, Canastra said no date for a meeting has been determined.

Neither offered more insight into negotiations to end the ban.

Canastra and Georgianna were joined by Laura Ramsden, co-owner of Foley Fish, and John Quinn, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, offered a smorgasbord of insight regarding fishing in New Bedford.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Don Cuddy: SMAST codfish counting innovation looks promising

February 20, 2018 — Last December the New England Fishery Management Council voted to increase the amount of cod available to commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Maine by 39 percent for the 2018 fishing year.

This is welcome news. New England fishermen have endured some lean years since 2013 when the cod quota was slashed by 78 percent after new data incorporated into the 2011 assessment indicated that the stock was lower than previously estimated — obviously a great deal lower.

Estimating how many codfish might be out there at any given time is the greatest challenge facing fishery managers and the numbers have been the subject of much controversy, with fishermen continually decrying the “best available science” as inadequate.

The quest for better fisheries data has been receiving invaluable assistance from SMAST here in New Bedford.

UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology has developed a groundfish sampling survey using video technology. A deep sea camera, with lights, is mounted inside the net on a commercial fishing vessel and provides a live feed to the wheelhouse while towing. At the same time, four GoPro cameras in the net capture and record images of every fish passing through. The cod end of the net is left open, allowing the fish to swim away unscathed — a huge bonus — and without the necessity to haul the net back, a much larger area can be swept on each tow. During the survey, a small number of tows were also made with the net closed to verify the video data.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fish stakeholders to protest drilling plan

February 20, 2018 — Well, the boys of spring are heaving the ol’ horsehide around in the warmer climes of Florida and Arizona and that’s always a good thing, knowing that the calendar is about to flip over to baseball any minute.

Quick thought: What if baseball had been invented in, well, Norway or Iceland? Well, then the ball probably would be covered with fish skin rather than horsehide or the cowhide baseball switched to in 1974.

Be way better with fish skin. That way, any wild pitch truly would be the one that got away.

Meeting and greetin’

As we mentioned in last week’s column, things should be hopping in Boston on Feb. 27 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosts a public hearing on the Trump administration’s proposal to open the ocean floor off New England to potential drilling and exploration for gas, oil and whatever else is down there that can make a buck for somebody.

The meeting is expected to be packed with fishing stakeholders, conservationists and public officials — all of whom seem to be against any systematic mechanical intrusion into the marine ecosystem off the coast of New England.

One programming note: The venue for the event has been changed to the Omni Parker House hotel from the Hyatt Regency Boston. The time remains the same — 3 to 7 p.m.

We also were remiss last week in our discussion of the issue not to mention that the New England Fishery Management Council has submitted comments setting out its concerns about the possibility of gas and oil drilling off the Eastern Seaboard.

The council has recommended BOEM exclude the North and Mid-Atlantic areas because “oil and gas exploration and extraction activities in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf involve inappropriate risks that may harm living marine resources and communities that depend on them.”

Last summer, the council listed five general concerns: direct displacement of fishing activities due to survey or extraction activities; harm to sensitive deepwater habitats, such as corals; negative impacts on living marine resources from the high-decibel sounds produced during surveys and drilling; negative impacts to near-shore fish habitats from infrastructure necessary to support oil and gas industries; and risks associated with leaks and spills resulting from extraction and transport.

That’s a lot of concerns.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

One Square Mile: New Bedford’s Scallop Industry Is Thriving, But Is It Sustainable?

February 14, 2018 — Is the scallop fishery well-managed? Most people, including scallop fishermen, scientists, and environmentalists, had the same answer: yes.

“I think the harvest is being managed, compared to any other fishery in New England, fabulously,” Peter Shelley, senior counsel at Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, said.

The majority agree that the New England Fishery Management Council is doing a good job at keeping the scallop population sustainable and allowing fishermen to make a good living.

Last year, commercial fishermen landed more than $300 million worth of fish at the Port of New Bedford, and 85 percent of that value came from scallops.

Michael Quinn, whose family has been in the scallop fishing industry for 30 years, said he believes the industry is well-managed partly because of the collaboration between fishermen and researchers.

“We get to take scientists directly on our vessels,” Quinn said. “We go out to sea with them. We’re living with these people for a week at a time doing all the data together.”

Data on the scallop population is collected through drop camera surveys. That’s when scientists attach cameras to a big, metal, square frame and drop it to the bottom of the ocean. They take pictures of the scallops and then scientists on the management council’s Plan Development Team use that data to help figure out how much fishermen can catch and which areas should be opened or closed for fishing.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

Massachusetts: Local fishing stakeholders marshal opposition to drilling proposal

February 12, 2018 — So the Winter Olympics are rolling on the Korean peninsula and everybody seems to be on their best behavior and we’re all still alive to tell the tale. So that’s a good thing.

Here’s another good thing. You might have noticed we have coverage in today’s Gloucester Daily Times and on gloucestertimes.com of the double-showing Saturday of the fishing documentary “Dead in the Water” at the Cape Ann Museum.

Both screenings were sold out. But what was really interesting was the composition of the crowds. These weren’t the usual faces when it comes to Gloucester fishing. These weren’t the folks you see at the New England Fishery Management Council meetings or at other public forums. These weren’t permit holders and guys who work on boats.

The audiences for both screenings featured a cross-sampling of the Cape Ann community concerned enough about one of the region’s iconic-if-imperiled industries to give up a chunk of their Saturday to watch the film and begin to understand the withering complexities of the fishing crisis.

So, good for them. And good for the Cape Ann Museum for stepping up to host the screenings and subsequent panel discussions.

As an aside, we must concede we’re really not much for the Winter Games here at FishOn.

We like the skiing and love the hockey when the best players in the world are playing. But ixnay on the curling and skating and luge (Look, either sit down like a normal person or at least lay down so you know where you’re going.)

And don’t get us started on the biathalon. Ski for a while and then stop and shoot. Why? It all seems rather arbitrary. Why not have them ski for a while and then change a tire or grout some tile?

Willin’ to be drilling?

Things should get nice and toasty at the Hyatt Regency in Boston on the afternoon of Feb. 27 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosts a public hearing on the Trump administration’s proposal to open the ocean floor off New England to potential drilling and exploration for gas, oil and, for all we know, wolfram.

It’s a sweeping proposal, potentially opening up more than 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf to drilling and other invasive exploration.

More to the point, the plan is extraordinary iffy for only two reasons:

Most people — you know, everybody not scurrying around to scoop up mineral rights and leases — hate it and it has the superhero power of uniting the commercial fishing industry, environmentalists, the management councils and the recreational fishing industry in the same fight. On the same side.

Local fishing stakeholders, including the omnipresent Angela Sanfilippo of the Fishing Partnership and Support Services (as well as the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association) are calling out the hordes to attend the hearing and marshal opposition.

So go, make thy own self heard.

Ornery down below the border line

Heading to Myrtle Beach soon for a little break in the action? Nice. Believe it or not there’s one restaurant named Mrs. Fish and another named Mr. Fish. They’re unaffiliated and they’re both really good.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

All Maine lobstermen will have to report fishing details, including secrets of success

February 9, 2018 — All Maine lobstermen will have to start giving up their most treasured fishing secrets, including where they set their traps and how much they catch, in five years.

Starting in 2023, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will require all lobster fishermen to submit detailed reports on their fishing activities, including those in Maine, the nation’s lobster capital, where current regulations only require 10 percent of licensed lobstermen to share their fishing data. In other states, lobster fishermen have been submitting reports on every trip for years.

The commission was considering a plan to require Maine lobstermen to begin filling out these reports immediately, but Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher argued against it. He said it would require state government to hire five employees and raise industry fees by $500,000 to review that many paper records. Keliher said he would rather wait a couple of years for the development of a cheap and easy electronic monitoring system before requiring 100 percent reporting in Maine.

“I’d rather spend my money on things that are more important at this time while we focus on electronic reporting development,” Keliher told the commission.

Fisheries managers say the data is necessary to assess the health of the Gulf of Maine lobster stock and understand the economic impact of other ocean projects, such as deep-sea coral protections or wind farms, on the valuable lobster fishery. In Maine, which lands 83 percent of the nation’s lobsters, the industry caught more than 130 million pounds of lobster valued at $533.1 million in 2016.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

New England Council waits on Massachusetts for new cod, haddock limits

February 8, 2018 — It’s always good to have a plan. Sometimes it’s even better to have a backup plan.

The New England Fishery Management Council has one of each for its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries on recreational Gulf of Maine cod and haddock bag limits for the 2018 fishing season.

Now the council is waiting on the Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Fisheries before it decides which recommendation to forward to federal fishery regulators.

In late January, the council voted to recommend NOAA Fisheries implement a “status quo” management policy for 2018 Gulf of Maine cod and haddock that would prohibit possession of any cod by recreational fishermen.

The recommendation, which was supported by the council’s recreational advisory panel and its groundfish committee, also set a 12-fish bag limit and 17-inch minimum size for haddock in federal waters and two seasonal closures — March 1 to April 14 and Sept. 17 to Oct. 31.

But here is the rub:

Last year, the state DMF implemented a policy that allowed private recreational anglers to keep one cod from each fishing trip in state waters and those recreational landings must be accounted for in determining whether federal regulators are able to hit their overall mortality targets and catch limits.

Too many cod grabbed in out of state waters could push the fishery past those targets.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Northeast Fishery Managers Want East Coast To Remain Closed To Drilling

February 8, 2018 — Governor Chris Sununu says it looks unlikely new offshore drilling would affect New Hampshire, but regional fishery managers are still worried.

The U.S. Department of the Interior says it wants to open most of the nation’s coastline to new oil and gas leases. Sununu opposes drilling off New Hampshire’s Seacoast, and says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke assured him the North Atlantic won’t be high priority.

“They have to go through the public process and everything, so they couldn’t officially cut us off the list,” Sununu told reporters on a press call last week. “But it was clear that we were a low-target area for them and that our feelings on the matter would be strongly considered.”

Still, New England’s federal fishery management council says even surveying for oil and gas – let alone drilling and transporting it – could hurt the East Coast’s fishing industry.

The council got an update on offshore energy issues at their first meeting of 2018, last week in Portsmouth, and voted to urge federal regulators to take the whole Atlantic coast out of consideration.

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio

Deep-sea coral habitat south of Cape slated for protection

February 6, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council voted last week to protect deep-sea coral from the effects of fishing across a large stretch of ocean located about 100 miles south of Nantucket.

“The main reason why the council wanted to take this action and protect them from fishing is they are long-lived and very sensitive to disturbance. They can easily be broken and take a long time to recover,” said Michelle Bachman, who works for the council and is the group’s habitat plan development committee chairwoman. “We know they have a special ecological connection to other species like invertebrates and fish.”

Once approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 25,153 square miles of ocean will join a 38,000-square-mile coral protection area off the Mid-Atlantic, and another protected area off the Southeastern U.S. covering, in total, nearly 100,000 square miles of the Atlantic continental shelf ecosystem.

Deep sea corals are found all over the world at depths of between around 130 to 10,000 feet. Most occur at between 1,000 and 2,600 feet, according to what Florida State University researcher Sandra Brooke told The Pew Charitable Trusts. They exist in a twilight – sometimes pitch black – world where photosynthesis isn’t possible. Northern coral don’t form reef structures, but include individual “plants,” fans, trees, that can be brightly colored, 10 feet across and live hundreds to thousands of years, growing slowly.

“Although the council could have chosen stronger protections, the measure marks a major expansion of coral habitat shielded from dredging and dragging,” said Peter Baker, who directs ocean conservation efforts in the Northeast for The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Few fishermen set pots or tow nets or dredges where coral live on the steep canyon walls that descend from the table top of Georges Bank, but even an accidental jostling by a lobster or crab pot or line or a misplaced tow could cause irrevocable damage. Fishermen told the council they didn’t tow gear below 1,600 feet; the measure protected coral below the 2,000-foot contour established by the New England council last week. The lone exemption was for the red crab fishery, which has relatively few participants, said Bachman.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times