Saving Seafood

Webinar/Agenda for NEFMC Meeting, Portland, ME, Dec 1-3, 2015

November 25, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold its Dec 1-3 meeting in Portland, ME. Please take a look at the details below if you would like to listen in. 

Location: For further information about the venue, check Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, ME

Meeting Materials: See the agenda here Dec 1-3, 2015 Council Meeting Agenda and meeting materials at www.nefmc.org/calendar/december-2015-council-meeting 

Webinar Registration: See https://global.gotowebinar.com/ojoin/9120951799557371650/300000000000299567 for online access to the meeting.

The webinar will be activated beginning at 8:00 a.m. each day and end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST .

Charges for Listening: There are no charges if you access the webinar via your computer. If dialing in, your normal phone charges will apply.

Dial in number: Toll: +1 (646) 307-1720

Access Code: 399-520-213

View a PDF of the Meeting Agenda

NEFMC Approves Framework 9 Monkfish Fishery Management Plan

November 23, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council: 

The NEFMC took final action on Framework 9 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan. It is developed jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Council, with New England in the lead. While this framework addresses monkfish issues, it also would modify the region’s groundfish regulations. If approved by NOAA Fisheries, it would:

  • Allow limited access monkfish category C and D sector vessels only to declare, and use, while at sea, a groundfish (or Northeast Multispecies) day-at-sea while fishing in the Northern Fishery Management Area (NFMA).
  • Eliminate the monkfish trip limit when on a groundfish/monkfish day-at-sea in the NFMA.
  • Reduce the minimum mesh size of standup gillnet gear in the Southern Fishery Management Area (SFMA). Vessels fishing on a monkfish day-at-sea with a stand-up gillnet in the Mid-Atlantic Exemption Area could use mesh a minimum mesh of 5- inches, fish with no more than 50 standup gillnets, and retain dogfish and monkfish.
  • Allow vessels fishing on a monkfish day-at-sea in the Southern New England (SNE) Dogfish Exemption Area to use a minimum standup gillnet mesh size of 6-inches, fish no more than 50 standup gillnets from May 1 through October 31, and retain both dogfish and monkfish. Vessels fishing on a monkfish day-at-sea in the SNE Monkfish and Skate Exemption Area could use a minimum mesh size of 10-inches year round and retain both dogfish and monkfish on the same trip.
  • Allow a 6.5-inch minimum mesh size for standup gillnet gear while fishing on a monkfish and groundfish day-at-sea in the SFMA.

The Council opted for No Action on three alternatives that would have: a.) allowed vessels in the SFMA to declare a monkfish day-at-sea while at sea; b.) increased the daily day-at-sea/ trip limit allocation for Category F (offshore) vessels; and c.) allowed vessels to re-declare or use a monkfish research set-aside day-atsea while already at sea using a monkfish dayat-sea. The decisions were made largely on the basis of concerns effort shifts from north to south.

Both Councils, voting at their respective June Council meetings, agreed on the management measures proposed in Framework 9. It will be submitted to NOAA Fisheries later this summer. The Monkfish Committee is scheduled to consider next Amendment 6, an action that will address among other issues, options for catch shares in this fishery.

View a PDF of the Newsletter

 

Enviros Push for “National Monuments” Off Northeast Coast that Could Ban Recreational Fishing

November, 2015 — A coalition of environmental groups including the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Conservation Law Foundation, and the National Resources Defense Council, is pushing hard to create a half-dozen “marine national monuments” in the Atlantic Ocean that would prohibit commercial fishing and could ban recreational fishing as well.

The coalition is encouraging President Obama to use his authority to designate the monuments through the Antiquities Act of 1906, which was created to “protect the objects of historic and scientific interest” and is supposed to be limited to “the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” Through the Act, a president can unilaterally create these areas without any public or congressional oversight or input. A number of presidents have exercised this privilege in the past, yet most monuments have been designated on land or in the Western Pacific Ocean.

At the time of this writing the areas under consideration are not completely clear, but appear to include at least three canyons – Lydonia, Gilbert, and Oceanographer – along with four seamounts to the south, as well as Cashes Ledge some 50 miles offshore in the Gulf of Maine. Other canyons and seamounts are also reportedly under consideration.

It is clear to many of us, however, that the coalition’s intent in creating these monuments has little to do with historical or cultural preservation. As Maine’s Gov. Paul LePage put it, the monuments designations “would serve only one purpose – excluding commercial fishing from certain segments of the ocean.”

The recreational sector, however, needs to be very careful – and skeptical as well. At least one attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has suggested that recreational fishing would likely be allowed in the monuments, in order to garner support from sport fishermen, and indicated that it would be a real “win” for the recreational sector if just the commercials were prohibited in these areas.

But the rec sector isn’t taking the bait. “Just because a couple of environmental groups claim they wouldn’t oppose recreational fishing in the monuments doesn’t mean that sport fishing would be allowed once the final regulations are drafted in D.C.,” explained Frank Blount, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Groundfish Committee and a party boat fleet owner in RI. “There’s no way to predict what the language in any monument designation will entail. We need to oppose the whole idea, right from the get-go.”

One of the biggest problems with the Antiquities Act of 1906 is that it strips away the open, democratic processes that protect these areas yet can allow sustainable and appropriate fishing activity. The open federal Fishery Management Council system is the vehicle by which this is best accomplished, and in fact the NEFMC has already implemented strong protections for Cashes Ledge, where most commercial fishing is already now prohibited. And in June, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to protect 38,000 square miles of marine habitat in order to protect deep-sea corals.

A marine monuments designation, in contrast, would nullify these existing management actions, and deny the public any input into what new restrictions might, or should, be enacted. “Instead, it all becomes purely political,” says Jim Donofrio, the RFA’s Executive Director. “Whoever has the most influence on the administration and the president will get what they want in the way of restrictions in these areas. This is no way to manage our publicly-owned marine resources. We already have a transparent process via the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It’s certainly not perfect, to be sure, but it at least allows for public participation.”

Read the full story at Making Waves, the official publication of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

Agenda, NEFMC Meeting, December 1-3, Portland, ME

November 11, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting on Tuesday-Thursday, December 1-3 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland, ME.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

9:00 a.m. Introductions and Announcements (Terry Stockwell, Council Chairman)

9:05 Reports on Recent Activities Council Chairman and Executive Director, NOAA Regional Administrator (Greater Atlantic Region), NOAA General Counsel, Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council liaisons, and representatives of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA Enforcement, and the Northeast Regional Ocean Council

11:15 Spiny Dogfish Report (Jason Didden, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff) Approve final action on the 2016-2018 fishery specifications and associated management measures

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 Open Period for Public Comments (Terry Stockwell) Opportunity for the public to provide brief comments on issues that are relevant to Council business but not listed on this agenda for formal discussion (speakers are asked to sign up beforehand and limit remarks to between 3-5 minutes)

1:45 Overview and Discussion of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Strategic Plan (Dr. Bill Karp, Science Director, NEFSC)

2:15 Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Report (Dr. Jake Kritzer, SSC Chair)

  • Review and approve committee recommendations for an overfishing limit (OFL) and an acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the following: Atlantic sea scallops for fishing years 2016-2017; red hake for 2016-2017; most of the groundfish stocks in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for fishing years 2016-2018;
  • Receive SSC comments on NOAA’s Ecosystem-based Fishery Management Policy

3:45 Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management (EBFM) Committee Report (John Pappalardo)

  • Receive a progress report on the development of a prototype Fishery Ecosystem Plan
  • Review and finalize NEFMC comments on NOAA’s EBFM policy

**Public scoping hearing on Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan** at 5:30 or immediately following adjournment of the Council meeting

The intent of the amendment is to establish a limited access program for the five small mesh stocks that are regulated via the NEFMC’s Groundfish Plan — two stocks of whiting (silver hake), two stocks of red hake, and one stock of offshore hake.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

8:30 a.m. Skate Committee Report (Libby Etrie) Approve final action on Framework Adjustment 3 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP); in addition to setting specifications, other measures may include possession limits and modifications to the seasonal management of the wing fishery

9:15 Thorny Skate Update (Kim Damon-Randall, NOAA Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office staff) Update on NOAA Fisheries’ follow-up activities associated with the petition to list thorny skate as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act

9:45 Groundfish Committee Report (Frank Blount)

  • Overview of the Greater Atlantic Region’s (GAR) Recreational Fishery Implementation Plan (GAR staff) Following a presentation, opportunity for the Council to develop formal comments on the plan
  • Recreational Fishery Measures, beginning at approx. 10:30 Develop final recommendations for Gulf of Maine haddock and Gulf of Maine cod recreational measures for fishing year 2016;
  • Framework Adjustment 55, beginning at approx. 11:15 Take final action on the 2016-2018 fishery specifications for 20 groundfish stocks, plus the three U.S./CA stocks for 2016 only; this framework also could include final action on multiple at-sea monitoring and other management measures

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 Groundfish Report/Framework Adjustment 55 – continue until meeting adjournment for the day

Thursday, December 3, 2015

8:30 a.m. Finalize NEFMC Management Priorities for 2016 (Executive Director Tom Nies)

10:00 Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) Briefing (ACCSP staff) Program overview and update

10:45 Research Steering Committee Report (Mark Alexander) Request Council consideration of specific research recommendations for sea scallops and monkfish

11:00 Scallop Committee Report (Mary Beth Tooley)

  • Amendment 19 to the Sea Scallop FMP Take final action on an amendment that would allow earlier implementation of the sea scallop fishery specifications (now proposed as April 1)
  • Framework Adjustment 27 Take final action on fishing year 2016 specifications and default measures for fishing year 2017

12:00 p.m. Lunch Break

1:00 Scallop Committee Report – continued

3:00 Other Business

Times listed next to the agenda items are estimates and are subject to change. The meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities Council member financial disclosure forms are available for examination at the meeting.

View a PDF of the Agenda

New England Fishery Management Council seeks candidates

November 5, 2015 — The New England Fishery Management Council announced in a news release that it is seeking qualified candidates to serve on its Scientific and Statistical Committee.

Individuals may nominate themselves or be nominated by other individuals or organizations. Nominees must submit a resume or curriculum vitae. A summary of qualifications, including length and type of relevant experience must also be included. Appointments are for three years, with the term beginning January 1, 2016 and ending December 31, 2018.

Read the full report by Penobscot Bay Press

 

NEFMC Declares Amendment 18 Flawed Then Votes It In

November 4, 2015 — PLYMOUTH, Mass. —“The core message, across the board, is—we don’t want this fishery owned and controlled by a small group of people.”

That was the consensus, as expressed by Brett Tolley, of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, delivered to the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) during their latest deliberations on Amendment 18 to the groundfish management plan.

Tolley continued, “That’s no good for communities or the fish or the seafood system. And right now, at the end of this process, we’re debating whether seven or five entities should control this fishery….So there’s something fundamentally flawed with this public process.”

In late September, NEFMC was considering measures that would impose limits on the amount of fishery permits and/or Potential Sector Contribution (PSC) that individuals or groups may hold, as well as other measures that might promote fleet diversity or enhance sector management.

But fishermen and others at the meeting said Amendment 18 failed to achieve the goals outlined by NEFMC.

“It feels like we’re making things up on the fly,” said NEFMC member John Pappalardo. “The document here doesn’t answer a lot of questions that have come up today. I’m still toying with the idea of making a motion to scuttle this whole thing and send it back for further development….There’s a sense that folks just want to get this over with, but I’m not sure that’s the best course of action right now.”

Ed Barrett, a commercial fisherman from Marshfield, Mass., said he predicted, during the development of Amendment 16, that sector management would never work.

“We’re here in Amendment 18, pretty far down the road in a process that’s included years of scoping and committee meetings, and we have an amendment that’s not going to fix a thing,” Barrett said. “Right now, all we’re arguing over is the minutiae of a bad business model. This has been a waste of taxpayer money. It has failed me as a business owner, it’s failed my family’s business, it’s failed my fishing community. We need to stop this amendment right here. We need to go forward with something that will fix the problems that are killing the industry right now.”

“Give us the names of the five or seven guys who are going to own this fishery,” said Sandwich, Mass., fisherman William Chaprales. “We’re going too fast. Slow down. Let’s shelve this.”

Chaprales referred to the report produced by consulting firm Compass Lexecon (CL), which was charged in 2013 by NEFMC to determine if excessive market share currently exists in the groundfishery and to recommend potential constraints that could prevent excessive shares in the future. CL concluded there was no evidence of excessive market share and recommended accumulation limits in the 15.5 to 25 percent range on stock-specific potential sector contributions, and said lesser controls could reduce efficiency unnecessarily. PSC is an individual fisherman’s historical share of landings of groundfish species.

Read the full story at Fishermen’s Voice

 

 

A fisherman’s doubt, and his love of the sea

November 3, 2015 — He is up before the dawn, and, a creature of steady habits, he heads for the seashore.

It’s dark when Frank Mirarchi jumps into his black pickup truck, and dark still when he reaches Scituate Harbor. He parks on the town pier and stares at the ocean. But his 55-foot stern dragger is no longer moored there.

Actually, the boat is there. But it’s no longer his. It was renamed last June after he sold it — a poignant punctuation point to Mirarchi’s half-century career as a commercial fisherman.

“I’m down here every morning to watch the boats go out,’’ he told me Monday as we sat on a bench overlooking the dazzling harbor and under an unseasonably warm autumn sun. “I did it for 52 years. And I still love it.’’

I first met Mirarchi in early January when the harbor was icy and fat flakes of snow gently fell as if one of those snow globes had been softly shaken.

He is the son of a scientist and is something of a self-taught scientist himself. When I suggested Governor Charlie Baker would do well to pick his brain and appoint him to an ad hoc group looking into the travails of the cod fishery in the Gulf of Maine, the new governor took my advice. And soon Mirarchi was shaking hands with Baker on Beacon Hill.

When the latest news arrived last week about the depths of the cod collapse, the numbers were so alarming that I instantly thought of Frank and those like him who found their livelihood at sea.

Read the full story at Boston Globe

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Section Approves Public Hearing Document on Draft Amendment 3 for Public Comment

November 3, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section approved the Public Hearing Document for Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Herring for public comment. Draft Amendment 3 was initiated to strengthen spawning protections in Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) and address concerns raised by the commercial fishing industry. The Public Hearing Document proposes (1) alternatives to the spawning monitoring program (protocol, default start dates, area boundaries, and length of the closure period); (2) removing the fixed gear set‐aside rollover provision, and (3) requiring a vessel’s fish hold to be emptied before leaving on a fishing trip.

Today’s rebuilt herring population is comprised of a broader range of age classes with older and larger fish compared to the population during overfished conditions. Analysis of more than a decade’s worth of data suggests larger herring spawn first and the timing of the start of spawning varies from year-to-year. Proposed alternatives to the current spawning monitoring program address inter-annual differences and provide additional measures to more adequately protect spawning fish in the areas where they spawn.

At the request of the fishing industry, the Public Hearing Document includes an option to adjust the fixed gear set-aside rollover provision. Currently, the set-aside of 295 mt is available to fixed gear fishermen through November 1, after which the remaining set-aside becomes available to the rest of the Area 1A fishery. The November 1 date was set because, typically, herring have migrated out of the Gulf of Maine by that time. Anecdotal evidence suggests herring are in the Gulf of Maine after November 1, therefore, fixed gear fishermen requested the set-aside be made available to them for the remainder of the calendar year.

Members of industry also suggested a requirement for fish holds to be empty of fish prior to trip departures. This provision would allow for full accountability and encourage less wasteful fishing practices by creating an incentive to catch herring to meet market demands. The New England Fishery Management Council included a complementary provision in its Framework Adjustment 4 to the Federal Atlantic Herring FMP.  

The states will be conducting public hearings on the Public Hearing Document this winter. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Public Hearing Document either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. A subsequent press release will announce the availability of the Public Hearing Document, details of the scheduled hearings, as well as the deadline for the submission of public comment. For more information, please contact, Ashton Harp, FMP Coordinator, at aharp@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

ASMFC American Lobster Board Initiates Addendum to Jonah Crab FMP

November 2, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board initiated Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to consider changes the incidental bycatch limit for non-trap gear. The FMP currently prescribes a 200 crabs per calendar day/500 crabs per trip incidental bycatch limit; however, concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of these limits. Data submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries illustrated while 97-99% of trips from 2010 through 2014 have been within the current limit, there were a number of trips above the limit. Furthermore, current bycatch landings are sufficiently low, accounting for approximately 1% of total landings.

Given a goal of the Jonah Crab FMP is to prevent expansion of the fishery while including all current participants, the Board has initiated an addendum to consider altering the incidental bycatch limit with options to increase the  limit to 1000 crabs per trip or eliminate the bycatch limit for non-trap gear. Draft Addendum I will be presented to the Board in February. If approved, the Board would release the Draft Addendum for public comment and will consider final approval of the addendum at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

NEFMC: Response to Study on Rising Water Temps in the Gulf of Maine

October 29, 2015  — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Gulf of Maine, located off northern New England and Canada, has hosted important commercial and recreational marine fisheries for centuries. In addition to existing threats from land-based pollution, marine discharges, energy development, and disturbances to habitat, a more recent problem, temperature rise, has emerged. The just-published paper in Science —Slow Adaptation in the Face of Rapid Warming Leads to the Collapse of Atlantic Cod in the Gulf of Maine — adds to the increasing body of work on this topic.

As an organization responsible for the management of fisheries in federal waters that encompass the Gulf of Maine, the New England Fishery Management Council (Council), along with partners, NOAA Fisheries and the New England states, offers comments on this paper.

  • Most importantly, climate change is a very real issue that affects fisheries in ways we are just beginning to understand and is one the Council and others must confront.
  • This particular paper presents interesting research, but as is generally the case, it is rare that any one scientific study provides “The Answer.” This one will almost certainly generate more discussion and further consideration of how fisheries management bodies might respond.
  • NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center is actively investigating climate change that could help develop possible responses. The Science paper will likely become part of the larger discussion on how to adapt and respond to climate change. During that process, it will be the subject of careful review, including testing of its assumptions and conclusions. Should they stand up to this scrutiny, the work may influence future quota-setting
  • Work is underway by the Council to look more broadly at fisheries through ecosystem-based fisheries management; those efforts may illuminate the way in which we consider this pressing threat to the productivity of fisheries in the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere.
  • More critically, the Science paper appears to presume that the Council should have anticipated the unusual temperature rise in 2012, without any explanation of how that could have been done. The current quota for Gulf of Maine cod is the lowest on record, and will almost certainly remain so in the foreseeable future. The goal at this time is to allow sustainable levels of fishing on healthy stocks, such as haddock, redfish, and pollock to continue, while creating the opportunity for cod to recover.

After reviewing the paper, Council Executive Director Tom Nies summarized his reaction to the challenges raised in the Science paper. “Fishery managers will need to adapt to the host of significant changes caused by the rapid rise in water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine; specifically, the New England Council will continue its close partnership with the scientific community in order to mount an effective response to this circumstance.”

View a PDF of the release here