April 7, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is looking for members of the mobile gear, gillnet, trap/pot, and recreational fishing communities, as well as other members of the public, to serve on its On-Demand Fishing Gear Conflict Working Group. The application deadline is Monday, April 24, 2023.

The working group’s goal is to identify strategies for reducing gear interactions between on-demand gear, which is often referred to as ropeless gear, and fisheries that use other gear types, such as the groundfish, monkfish, and scallop mobile gear fisheries and the recreational party/charter rod-and-reel fishery.

In addition, the working group will identify strategies for reducing gear interactions that may result from future measures adopted for sink gillnet fisheries and trap/pot fisheries. These would be measures other than those already implemented for the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fisheries to protect North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, fin whales, and other protected resources.

April 5, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

Kittleman & Associates LLC, the executive firm contracted by the New England Fishery Management Council to assist the Council in its search for a new executive director, has posted the vacancy announcement for this position. The application deadline is May 4, 2023.

Tom Nies, a 25-year veteran of the Council staff who has served as executive director since 2013, announced his retirement in January 2023. As the first step in seeking his replacement, the Council issued a request for proposals in February 2023 to retain a contractor to ensure the Council carried out a “thoughtful, objective, and trusted executive search process.”

The executive director: (1) oversees a 20-member staff plus various contractors; and (2) handles the overall management of Council operations.

This is a highly visible, demanding position that requires a strong leader with a broad understanding of natural resource management, coupled with outstanding administrative and organizational skills. The executive director serves at the pleasure of the Council and reports directly to the chair and/or Executive Committee as appropriate.

Key duties and preferred qualifications are outlined in the NEFMC Position Guide. The guide also contains information about:

April 3, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program will support 13 new projects under the 2023- 2024 award cycle. The harvest of the set-aside is expected to generate $20 million in revenue. Of that total, $4 million will fund the research and $16 million will compensate industry partners who harvest the set-aside scallops. In order to determine the award amounts, the price of sea scallops was projected to average $15 per pound. Five different institutions will lead the projects, partnering with fishermen, fishing businesses, and non-profit fishery research organizations. The complete list of projects and award totals is shown in the table on page 3.

The 2023-2024 RSA projects address research priorities identified by the New England Fishery Management Council in June 2022. The Council’s priorities focused on resource surveys, research on scallop biology and sea turtles, scallop enhancement, habitat characterization, high density resource areas, offshore wind, bycatch reduction of small scallops and non-target species, and gear research.

RSA-funded scallop surveys have been a long-standing priority and have become increasingly important in: (1) providing information that directly helps scientists determine the status and distribution of the resource; and (2) guiding the Council in making management decisions for this valuable resource.

April 3, 2023 — The Following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is seeking proposals from independent contractors with significant expertise in facilitation to develop and lead two online workshops and one in-person plenary meeting between August and mid-September 2023. The workshops and plenary meeting will focus on Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) strategies based on the Council’s example Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Georges Bank. The application deadline is May 1, 2023.

The goals of the workshops are to: (1) engage with and educate fishery stakeholders about the concepts of Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management; (2) identify potential opportunities and concerns that different stakeholders see in EBFM; and (3) promote stakeholder participation in the further development of EBFM.

The contractor will collaborate with Council staff and the Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management Committee to develop a comprehensive agenda for each workshop. The contractor will identify and recruit knowledgeable speakers and panelists, drawn from the EBFM Plan Development Team, EBFM Committee members, Council and National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) staff, fishermen, additional stakeholders, and other sources. The contractor also will develop outreach strategies to ensure effective stakeholder participation. These outreach strategies may include developing outreach materials for the Council website for general distribution.

The workshops conducted under this contract constitute the second phase of public outreach, delving deeper into the management issues, topics, and options in the example Fishery Ecosystem Plan (eFEP). Workshops will not cover the same topics, but the plenary meeting will include and discuss issues voiced during the first two online workshops.

Proposal respondents are encouraged to review the Phase 1 initial workshop news release and summary report, the eFEP document, and the outreach materials that the Council previously developed.

The request for proposals (RFP) related to Phase 2 of the public outreach workshops contains details about:

March 22, 2023 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet by webinar to discuss issues related to ecosystem-based fishery management and groundfish.  The public is invited to listen live.  Here are the details.

WHEN:  Wednesday, March 29, 2023

START TIME:  9:00 a.m.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to join the meeting through this webinar.  The Remote Participation Guide is posted here.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (415) 655-0052.  The access code is 950-160-283.  Your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The SSC will meet to:

March 15, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries is now soliciting proposals for funding through the 2023-2024 Monkfish Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. The application deadline is Monday, April 10, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. As explained in the funding opportunity notice, monkfish RSA projects “must enhance the knowledge of the monkfish fishery resource or contribute to the body of information on which monkfish management decisions are made.”

The New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, which jointly manage monkfish, established the RSA program through Amendment 2 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan. The Councils set research priorities for this program, while the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of NOAA Fisheries administers the RSA competition, oversees the awarded projects, and monitors set-aside harvest activities. The Councils’ 2023-2024 research priorities are listed in the table at right. Visit GARFO’s webpage for application info.

Read the full release here

February 21, 2023 — The New England Fishery Management Council will be participating in four seminars at this year’s in-person Maine Fishermen’s Forum, which is taking place March 2-4, 2023 at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, ME.

Come meet some of our staff members and Council Chair Eric Reid at sessions related to: (1) offshore wind; (2) gillnet fishery interactions with whales and Atlantic sturgeon; (3) the Northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery; and (4) an open forum discussion with federal fishery management leaders on topics of interest to fishermen. Chair Reid is taking part in the leadership session on Friday, March 3, 2023 at 2:45 p.m.

Read the full release here

February 8, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is soliciting the services of an independent contractor to assist the Council with the hiring of a permanent, full-time executive director.  The Council’s current executive director recently announced his retirement.

This is a short-term, temporary contractor role.  The application deadline is March 1, 2023.  The Council’s goal is to make a hiring decision on the new executive director by early June 2023.

The Council is taking the extra step of soliciting a contractor to ensure that it undertakes a thoughtful, objective, and trusted executive search process.

The contractor will work with the current executive director and Executive Committee to, among other tasks:

February 7, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

During its January 24-26, 2023 meeting in Portsmouth, NH, the New England Fishery Management Council voted on a suite of recreational fishing measures for Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock, and Georges Bank cod that it will recommend to NOAA Fisheries for the 2023 fishing year. The Council also received:

• A revised recommendation from its Scientific and Statistical Committee regarding fishing year 2023-2025 acceptable biological catches (ABCs) for Atlantic halibut, which the Council approved and incorporated into Framework Adjustment 65;

• A progress report on work being conducted to develop metrics to evaluate the groundfish monitoring program in Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan; and

• An update on the 2023 Atlantic Cod Research Track Stock Assessment.

Read the full release here

February 2, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet by webinar to discuss its 2023 work plan and a project related to ecosystem-based fishery management.  The public is invited to listen live.  Here are the details.