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NEFMC Nov. 15-17 Meeting, Live Streaming Information

November 9th, 2016 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day meeting that begins Tuesday, Nov. 15 and runs through Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. The public is invited to listen-in via webinar or telephone. Here are the details.

MEETING LOCATION: Hotel Viking, 1 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI 02840

START TIME: The webinar will be activated at 8 a.m. each day. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. The webinar will end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST or shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION: Online access to the meeting is available at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5076443364503342594

CALL-IN OPTION: To listen by telephone, dial +1 (631) 992-3221.

The access code is 752-565-833.

Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA: The agenda and all meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at:

http://www.nefmc.org/calendar/november-2016-council-meeting.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK: A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available here.

QUESTIONS: If you have questions prior to or during the meeting, call or email Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

Janice M. Plante

Public Affairs Officer

New England Fishery Management Council

(607) 592-4817

Email: jplante@nefmc.org

Web: www.nefmc.org

The Bycatch That Gives You a Haddock

November 4, 2016 — Starting in October, the federal government began a pilot project to test electronic monitoring on midwater herring trawlers fishing in “groundfish closed” areas off the coast of New England, two of which are in the rich spawning grounds on the continental shelf known as Georges Bank. The yearlong project will help regulators decide whether cameras can replace people as observers to regulate herring trawlers’ catch of haddock.

But before the study is finished, the New England Fishery Management Council will be working to loosen the rules on how much haddock herring trawlers can catch.

Since 2011, government observers have been required on any trips trawlers make to those areas, as part of a program to limit incidental catch, often called “bycatch,” of untargeted fish species. In the case of herring fishing, the biggest bycatch concern on Georges Bank has been haddock, a species on the rebound after the groundfish collapses of the mid-1990s.

But the monitoring program has been expensive. A recent amendment to all Northeast fisheries plans required the industry to assist in funding its overseers, increasing pressure to bring down costs.

Federal regulators believe electronic monitoring could be the answer.

“This year we’ll get really good (human) observer coverage — 440 sea days — so we’re going to compare what the observer sees and what the camera sees,” said Daniel Luers, a monitoring expert at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries office of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “The contractors will watch all the videos, and then NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) will watch to confirm that what the contractors have seen correlates with the observers.”

What they’re looking for are “discard” events, where fishermen dump unwanted fish back into the sea — rather than reporting the bycatch and facing fishing closures.

Read the full story at Eco RI News

MAINE: Regional Ocean Plan Likely to Be Approved by Thanksgiving

November 4, 2016 — The Northeast Ocean Plan will be the first coordinated ocean strategy of its kind in the country when it is adopted by the National Ocean Council. That is likely to happen before Thanksgiving.

The Ocean Plan will not create new laws, regulations or penalties, but it will increase oversight of the area between the high-tide zone to 200 miles out to sea while coordinating 140 federal laws that regulate ocean activities in the Northeast.

That sounds overwhelming. It isn’t. The heart of the new plan is an easy-to-use data mapping tool that shows which laws apply to an activity or location and which agencies oversee them. Different uses, habitats, shipping lanes, infrastructure and more can be layered on one map to identify jurisdiction and potential conflicts.

The regional plan was developed in response to the 2010 Executive Order on Ocean Policy which requires better coastal and ocean management. Members from six Northeastern states, ten federal agencies, ten tribes and the New England Fisheries Management Council formed the Northeast Regional Planning Body (RPB) to help craft it.

The goal is to coordinate planning based on regional information, even as the ocean environment and marine uses change. Improving and understanding marine life and habitats and ecosystem-based management are important guiding principles.

The Northeast states, which already have a history of working together on fisheries issues, started work on the ocean plan in 2012. The final draft was released for review October 19, making the Northeast Region the first in the country to complete a regional plan.

The Northeast RPB sought public and scientific input through hundreds of informal gatherings and public meetings over the past four years while drafting the plan. Part of their research included going to fishing wharves and small towns to get input. Planners incorporated the public comments and their responses into the final plan.

If the Northeast Ocean Plan is approved later this month as expected, implementation will soon follow. The Northeast Ocean Data Portal, which allows instant mapping of different ocean values and uses based on peer-reviewed data, makes it easy to identify where interests overlap and which agency has jurisdiction.

Read the full story at The Free Press Online

Information Demanded on U.S. Fishery Council

November 3, 2016 — WASHINGTON — A nonprofit backed by Koch brothers money sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday for information on how it selects members of the New England Fishery Management Council, which regulates fishing off the coasts of five states.

“There is danger for politicization in how members are actually chosen,” the Cause of Action Institute says in its federal complaint against the NOAA, a branch of the Department of Commerce.

The Cause of Action Institute describes itself in the lawsuit as “a nonprofit strategic oversight group committed to ensuring that government decision-making is open, honest, and fair.” It generally opposes government regulation, particularly in the energy industry.

The Los Angeles Times described it last year as “a small group of lawyers funded by the Koch network.” Its then-director Daniel Epstein formerly worked as an attorney for the Charles Koch Foundation, and by 2013 most of Cause of Action’s funding came from the Donors Trust, “a nonprofit group through which the Kochs and their allies distribute tens of millions of dollars without needing to disclose the source of the funds,” the Times reported in its Feb. 7, 2015 article.

In its July 13 FOIA request, Cause of Action sought information on how the Secretary of Commerce and NOAA select members in the New England Fishery Management Council, which regulates fishing off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

“The records at issue in this case, which include records of communication between high-ranking agency officials, will permit the public to understand how the most recent round of membership selection for the NEFMC was handled, and whether that process was at all tinged by political considerations or other untoward government action,” the complaint states.

Cause of Action claims that NOAA has never disclosed information about how it selects members of the eight regional regulatory councils operating under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and that the membership might not accurately represent the fishing industry.

The complaint cites environmental studies professor Thomas A. Okey of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, who suggested in a 2003 paper that representation in the industry is “generally skewed towards the larger corporate interests that support larger sized vessels, whereas the small-scale vessel fleets that are the traditional core of coastal communities (and more likely to have conservation interests) are often less represented.”

Cause of Action says the secretary of commerce and National Marine Fisheries Service-supervised councils wield “significant independent power.”

“They propose Fishery Management Plans, amendments, and framework adjustments; they conduct hearings; and they determine annual catch limits. The FMCs even have the ability to constrain the Secretary of Commerce,” the complaint states, abbreviating Fishery Management Council.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Regional Ocean Plan Likely to Be Approved by Thanksgiving — Maine to Benefit

November 3, 2016 — The Northeast Ocean Plan will be the first coordinated ocean strategy of its kind in the country when it is adopted by the National Ocean Council. That is likely to happen before Thanksgiving.

Read the full story at The Free Press

New England Fishery Management Council Seeks Scientific and Statistical Committee Candidates

November 1, 2016 — The following was released by the NEFMC:

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is seeking qualified candidates to serve on its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). The three-year appointments begin Jan. 1, 2017 and run through Dec. 31, 2020. Individuals may nominate themselves or be nominated by others. All application materials must be received by 5 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2016.

The purpose of the SSC is to assist the Council in the development, collection, and evaluation of statistical, biological, economic, social, and other scientific information relevant to the development of fishery management plans.

SSC nominees should have expertise in statistics, fisheries biology, marine ecology, economics, sociology, anthropology, or other social sciences as they apply to fisheries management. SSC members are expected to provide independent, scientific advice to the Council.

Additional information about SSC responsibilities and details about how to submit nominations is available on the Council website at candidates or announcement.

Information about previous SSC meetings and related business is available at SSC activities.

Northeast Ocean Plan emerges as development tool

October 19, 2016 — When, as expected, the Northeast Ocean Plan is approved later this year, New England will lead the nation in developing guidelines and an online database to provide framework for all future development and decision-making regarding the sea.

Originating from a 2010 presidential executive order, the national ocean policy instructs nine regions bordering the ocean or Great Lakes to form regional planning bodies consisting of representatives appointed from federal, state and regional entities and tribes to hold several hearings with a variety of stakeholders. (In New England, the New England Fishery Management Council and two ex-officio members from New York and Canada were also included.) The input is used to develop guidelines for how to proceed, for instance, in the case of a proposed offshore wind farm.

“For any project that comes up now, the ocean plan will guide the consideration of that project and in very specific ways,” said Priscilla Brooks, vice president and director of ocean conservation at the Conservation Law Foundation, who participated in stakeholder meetings. “It will guide [the project] in terms of agencies using this new Northeast Ocean Data portal – which is a tremendous compilation of data of the ocean and how we use it – for the first time. There are guidelines on how to engage stakeholders early in the process.”

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Business Review

New England Fishery Managment Council Welcomes News: Barndoor Skates Declared “Rebuilt”

October 7, 2016 — The following was released by the NEFMC:

In a management success story that came after years of highly restrictive measures, the New England Fishery Management Council is welcoming the recent declaration that “barndoor skate is now considered rebuilt based on the best available scientific information.” Barndoor skate has been a prohibited species for commercial and recreational fishermen since 2003 when the Council’s Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was implemented and the stock was considered to be overfished.

The Council was informed of this change in status through a Sept. 30 letter from Regional Administrator John Bullard of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn noted that in 1999, NMFS received two petitions to list barndoor skate as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“We’ve come a long way since then,” Quinn said.

In 2002, NMFS determined that an ESA listing was not warranted because of several “positive trends” in the population, which included: “recent increases in abundance of barndoor skate observed during trawl surveys; the expansion of known areas where barndoor skate have been encountered; increases in size range; and the increase in the number of small barndoor skate that have been collected.”

The stock has continued to improve over the years and many fishermen have reported encountering higher numbers of barndoor skate in many areas. In light of the stock’s rebuilt status, some now are asking whether the Council will allow future landings. The answer is: It’s too soon to tell.

Other skate stock status findings by the science center include:

Overfishing was not occurring on any of the seven species in the Northeast Skate Complex, which are: winter
skate (Leucoraja ocellata); barndoor skate (Dipturis laevis); thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata); smooth skate (Malacoraja senta); little skate (Leucoraja erinacea); clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria); and rosette skate (Leucoraja germane).
Thorny skate is the only species in the complex that remains in an overfished condition. Like barndoor skate, possession of thorny skate is prohibited.

See the full release from the NEFMC

Changes could come to East Coast monkfish business

September 30, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators are working on a new plan to manage the monkfish fishery on the East Coast.

Monkfish are bottom-dwelling fish that are fished commercially and are a popular menu item in seafood restaurants. The New England Fishery Management Council has initiated a plan to create new fishing specifications for the fish for the next three years.

A spokeswoman says the council’s monkfish committee will work this fall on specifications for the fishery. Rules will be approved in November. The rules could also remain status quo.

Fishermen catch monkfish from Maine to North Carolina, though most are brought ashore in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Journal

New England Fishery Management Council seeks at-large Research Steering Committee members

September 29, 2016 — The following was released by the NEFMC:

The New England Fishery Management Council is seeking at-large members to serve on its Research Steering Committee. The committee’s primary mission is to foster collaborations between fishermen and scientists and advise the Council on research priorities aimed at achieving collaborative outcomes. The committee also reviews final reports to ensure that research projects have had adequate technical review and to discuss how information gained from the research may be used in management.

When fully populated, the Research Steering Committee is made up of: four voting Council members who are appointed annually; one Northeast Fisheries Science Center representative; one National Marine Fisheries Service representative from the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office; and eight at-large members.

The Council specifically is seeking applicants for the eight at-large seats, which are broken down as follows:

Two fishery scientists;
Four fishermen;
One representative from the conservation community; and
One representative from academia.

The solicitation announcement states, “The Council Chairman will appoint Research Steering Committee members on the basis of their experience and expertise concerning fishing, fisheries science and research, and/or fisheries policy.”

The committee meets roughly three times per year. Expenses for travel, meals, and lodging will be paid for in accordance with the Council’s travel policy.