Saving Seafood

New England Council Update – January 8, 2019

January 11, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

This is an important update regarding New England Fishery Management Council meetings during the partial government shutdown.

IS THE COUNCIL IMPACTED BY THE SHUTDOWN: The Council staff is at work and conducting business as usual. However, most of our federal partners at the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) are on furlough during the shutdown.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS: Since many GARFO and NEFSC scientists and fishery management specialists are key contributors to the Council’s Plan Development Teams (PDTs) and provide critical input and analyses during Committee meetings, the Council is rescheduling or modifying the agendas of several meetings where NOAA Fisheries representatives were expected to provide pivotal presentations, reports, and/or analyses.

WHAT ABOUT THE COUNCIL’S JANUARY 2019 MEETING: The Council’s January 29-31, 2019 meeting in Portsmouth, NH will proceed on schedule. The Council will not be taking final action on any agenda items during this meeting. If the partial government shutdown remains in place, the Council will conduct as much business as possible given the federal furlough. The agenda and additional information can be found at NEFMC January 2019 meeting.

GROUNDFISH: Groundfish PDT meetings have been revised or postposed. The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) meeting that was scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2019 has been postponed. The Groundfish Committee will meet on January 15 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Danvers, MA beginning at 10:00 a.m. under a revised agenda. All groundfish-related meetings and agenda updates will be posted on the Council’s groundfish webpage. Check back frequently during the shutdown.

RECREATIONAL WORKSHOPS: GARFO and Tidal Bay Consulting were scheduled to host three workshops to collaboratively brainstorm short- and long-term approaches for possible future recreational fisheries management strategies that could be shared with the Council, Groundfish Committee, and RAP. The January 8 Recreational Fishing Workshop in Portsmouth, NH has been postponed. The January 10 workshop in Narragansett, RI and the January 12workshop in Plymouth, MA also may be postponed. Interested parties are encouraged to continue checking the workshop registration page at the dates above for more developments.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: The Council’s Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at the Four Points by Sheraton in Wakefield, MA. Meeting details will be available shortly at Executive Committee.

SCALLOPS: The Council’s Scallop Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Boston beginning at 9 a.m. Learn more at Scallop AP. The Scallop Committee will meet the following day, Friday, January 18, 2019, at the same hotel. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Meeting materials will be posted in the near future at Scallop Committee.

EBFM: The Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) PDT meeting that initially was scheduled for January 9, 2019 has been rescheduled for January 18. The revised meeting notice and agenda are available at EBFM PDT. The EBFM Committee will meet for two days, Wednesday and Thursday, January 23-24, 2019, at the Boston Marriott Quincy in Quincy, MA. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. both days. Visit the EBFM meeting webpage for more information.

NEW ENGLAND COUNCIL UPDATES: Any further updates to the Council’s January PDT and Committee meetings will be posted on the Council website. Visit the homepage at www.nefmc.org and click on the fishery management plan or Committee you are interested in.

COUNCIL PRIORITIES: During its December 2018 meeting, the New England Council adopted 2019 priorities for each of its fishery management plans, committees, and other responsibilities with partner agencies. View the list at NEFMC 2019 Priorities.

BOEM: Also of interest to New England Council stakeholders, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has postponed a January 8 meeting in New Bedford and a January 9 meeting in Narragansett, RI that were intended to gather public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Vineyard Wind. Check the Vineyard Wind Website for updates on these two meetings, as well as the January 15 and 16 meetings currently scheduled for Hyannis and Nantucket, MA respectively.

Shutdown hooks fisheries

January 10, 2018 — The real-world implications from the partial shutdown of the federal government, which entered its 19th day on Wednesday, are starting to be felt by the fishing industry and other stakeholders.

In Gloucester, the shutdown effectively has shuttered the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on Great Republic Drive, impeding fishermen from dropping off documentation in person, contacting NOAA Fisheries personnel by telephone or email, and leaving other regulatory groups scrambling without essential input and participation from many NOAA Fisheries staffers.

So, while the New England Fishery Management Council remains at work, it is being hampered by lack of access to its federal management partners at GARFO and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

“Since many GARFO and NEFSC scientists and fishery management specialists are key contributors to the council’s plan development teams and provide critical input and analyses during committee meetings, the council is rescheduling or modifying the agendas of several meetings where NOAA Fisheries representatives were expected to provide pivotal presentations, reports and/or analyses,” the council said in a release detailing the impact of the shutdown.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Conflict Over Herring Quotas Breaks Out Between New England Council and NMFS

January 9, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Herring fishery reductions have become a point of conflict between the New England Fishery Management Council and NMFS.

In September, the council recommended an extreme reduction in herring catch to 15,065 tons, based on recent stock assessments.  The assessments put the overfishing limit at 30,668 tons, and the council recommended an allowable biological catch of 21,266 tons, and reserved 6200 tons for uncertainty in the survey data, as a precaution.

This action was projected to decrease the herring fishery 86%, and was projected to have a strong impact on the price and availability of lobster bait, which is the principle utilization of New England Atlantic herring.

The lobster industry in Maine was dead set against this reduction since it would impact their bait costs, and NMFS in Washington listened to those in the industry who might be hurt.

Instead of accepting the council recommendation, NMFS in a highly unusual move increased the ABC to the overfishing limit of 30,668 tons.  This had the immediate result of adding over 9000 tons of quota to the 2019 season.

The council reiterated its opposition to this in a vote in December, saying in a letter that they had attempted to apply the new Amendment 8 control rules which are coming into effect in 2020, but are not yet in place for 2019.

The council argues that this decision will crash the stock in 2020, and lead to a high probability of overfishing, which if determined will reduce the quota in 2020 by 18,000 tons.  Although the council motion calls for less fishing in 2019, it smooths out the projected decline more than the NMFS proposal.  Over two years, the council projects its approach leads to a 68% reduction, while the NMFS approach will lead to a 75% reduction in ABC.

Patrick Keliher, the newly re-appointed Maine commissioner of Marine Resources said he struggled with the issue and the short-term and medium-term impacts of both proposals, particularly with regard to the economic impacts to both Maine’s herring and lobster industries.

“The economic impact, both to the herring fleet and the lobster industry, is very, very real,” said Keliher. “I’m trying to figure out if there’s some relief here and trying to balance these two things. But we’re in a pretty difficult spot.”

Keliher voted for the initial council motion in September, but declined to vote for the December motion opposing the change made by NMFS.

In essence the argument is over risk and uncertainty.  Speaking to the Fishermen’s Voice, several council members gave their rationales.

Peter Kendall, chairman of NEFMC’s Herring Committee, said he didn’t support the NMFS proposal.

“I stand by what the council voted on in September,” Kendall said.

NEFMC member Matthew McKenzie said he agreed with the council decision and with Kendall.

“Given the level of uncertainty we have and the heavily declined state of the stock, we need to be more cautious than that in this period of transition,” he said.

NEFMC vice chairman Terry Stockwell said he also agreed with Kendall.

“We’re trying to provide stability for the industry, but that’s not the proper way to do business,” he said of the NMFS proposal.

NEFMC member Vincent Balzano said he understands NMFS’s reasoning, given the horrifying” impacts of the quota cuts on the fishery. But, he said, “If we take all this fish up front, there’s no guarantee we’ll get to the fish in the back. That’s my biggest concern. I agree it’s devastating to the herring and Maine lobster fisheries. But if we get stuck with 12,000 or 15,000 metric tons after this, that’s beyond devastating.”

“What we do in 2019 has an effect on whether we get the bounceback that we’d like to see begin in 2021,” said NEFMC member Michael Sissenwine.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

DON CUDDY: New England surf clam fishery is headed for disaster

January 7, 2019 — When it comes to fishery management controversy never seems to be too far away. Last month you may have read about the dubious nature of a decision by the New England Fishery Management Council to close a large area of Nantucket Shoals to fishermen who harvest surf clams there, ostensibly to protect fish habitat. Questionable actions such as these undermine industry confidence in fishery regulators and serve only to alienate, and embitter, fishermen and the many others on the waterfront whose livelihoods are threatened by such draconian measures. With respect to protecting fish habitat allow me to quote from NOAA Fisheries’ own web site (fishwatch.gov) which bills itself as ‘U.S. Seafood Facts.’ The salient quote, with respect to the Atlantic surfclam, spissula solidissima, is this: “Fishing gear used to harvest surfclams has minimal impacts on habitat.” In spite of this fact these traditional grounds have now been designated as essential fish habitat and clamming is banned there indefinitely. NOAA also tells us that surfclams support a valuable fishery. Well, come April 9 it will not be nearly as valuable for those who participate in the harvest and that includes fishermen and shore workers in New Bedford, Gloucester and Bristol, Rhode Island where Galilean Seafood employs around 120 people in this fishery.

“There were five areas out there where we harvested our clams and the two areas with the most historical tows are the ones they closed,” Alan Rencurrel told me. Alan knows surf calms. He owns Nantucket Sound Seafood in New Bedford where the clams he catches are hand shucked. “If you steam ’em open they get chewy,” he said. He’s been fishing on the Shoals since 1992. “And there were boats out there before me.”

He also played me some high-resolution video, taken from a dredge-mounted camera, showing the sea bed in the area known as the Rose and Crown, the largest of the areas to be closed. There were no fish, rocks or cobble to be seen, just a solitary skate, on a sandy bottom littered with old mussel shells. “We can’t tow over rocky bottom like a scallop dredge,” he told me. It’s too hard on the gear and anyway clams prefer sand bottom, he said. Conversely, groundfish such as cod and haddock are found on hard bottom.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

ALLEN RENCURREL: Clam fishermen put forth proposal that protects the resource

December 17, 2018 — Last week, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to kick Massachusetts surf clam fishermen off of 80 percent of our historic Nantucket Shoals fishing grounds. Our fishery in these treacherous local waters grosses $10 million per year to the dozen or so boats and their crews, and multiples more to the South Coast fishing economy. Our catch is hand-shucked for a higher value. New Bedford, Fall River, Gloucester, and Bristol, R.I. families stand to lose hundreds of jobs.

While the council’s decision was based on habitat considerations, it rejected an option that would have allowed us to fish on about 80 percent of the available surf clam resource while allowing access to less than 20 percent of the overall habitat zone. Half of that access was, moreover, only seasonal, to protect cod spawning. The council had left the final details of “Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2” open for just this type of solution. To be able to continue our fishery, we had ourselves offered electronic monitoring at about 10 times the rate of other regional federal fisheries and volunteered to invest in years of habitat research.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New England Council Discusses Whiting, Enforcement, Dogfish, Herring, Ecosystem Management, and More at December Meeting

December 14, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council covered numerous issues during its December 4-6 meeting in Newport, RI. In addition to taking final action on Scallop Framework 30, Groundfish Framework 58, and the Clam Dredge Framework, the Council discussed a slate of other topics. Here are a few highlights.

WHITING: The Council took final action on Whiting Amendment 22, which was developed to consider limited access options for the small-mesh multispecies fishery. After reviewing all public comment and available analyses and considering a recommendation from its Whiting Committee, the Council selected the alternative called “status quo/no action.” As such, the whiting/small-mesh multispecies fishery will remain an open access fishery and no changes will be made to existing regulatory measures. More information, including summaries of public hearing comments, is available at December 3 Committee Meeting and December 4, 2018 Council Meeting Materials.

ENFORCEMENT: The Council adopted several consensus statements drafted by its Enforcement Committee. One of these pertained to use of the OMEGA Mesh Gauge® to measure fishing nets. The Coast Guard extensively tested the OMEGA gauge and concluded that it has notable benefits over the weight-and-spade tools currently being used to measure webbing. Coast Guard representatives provided a demonstration for Council members comparing the OMEGA gauge versus the weight-and-spade. The Council recommended that NOAA, under existing authority, adopt the OMEGA gauge to measure mesh size once the Enforcement Section of NOAA General Counsel determines that all legal requirements have been met.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

 

DAVID H. WALLACE: Grateful for Jon Mitchell’s advocacy of clam industry

December 12, 2018 — I would like to publicly thank Mayor Jon Mitchell for attending Tuesday’s New England Fishery Management Council’s meeting to advocate on behalf of the clam industry and the 500 local families that depend upon it. Mayor Mitchell spoke fervently in favor of Alternative 2, citing the $10 million economic value of the industry to New Bedford’s working waterfront.

Mayor Mitchell has great respect for the commercial fishermen, processors, and other related supply chain businesses that generate incredible economic value throughout New Bedford and the greater northeast coast. He understands that all industry members are not only small business owners that provide jobs and wages to Greater New Bedford residents but are also stewards of the ocean with a belief in the long-term sustainability of its resources.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New England fishery council under fire for clam, wind decisions

December 10, 2018 — A decision this week by the New England Fishery Management Council to vote down a resolution that would’ve allowed clam harvesting in a 280 square mile area off Nantucket Shoals is drawing fire from the clam industry and others, South Coast Today, a New Bedford, Massachusetts-based newspaper, is reporting.

In particular, critics are pointing to the council’s decision to allow offshore wind development to continue in a 1,400 square mile area in a similar region, according to the newspaper.

“It’s amazing to me that they’ve turned this complete blind eye on really the most intrusive project that’s ever come on the East Coast, which is wind,” Scott Lang, a former New Bedford mayor and attorney for the clam industry, is quoted as saying. ”… They’re acting like that’s something we’re just going to have to live with, but a fishery that’s been around for a couple hundred years is a threat to the habitat.”

Read the full article at Undercurrent News

Fishing quotas for cod, haddock to get a boost next year

December 10, 2018 — Commercial fishermen will be able to catch a little bit more cod and haddock off New England next year.

Fishermen seek the valuable groundfish species and others off the East Coast, with most coming to land in New England states. The New England Fishery Management Council has approved new catch limits for several species for the fishing year that begins May 1.

The largest catch limit will be for Georges Bank haddock. It’ll increase by almost 20 percent to more than 117 million pounds (53 million kilograms).

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WTNH

New England Shellfish Harvest OK’d, With More Monitoring

December 10, 2018 — A regulatory board is allowing shellfish harvesting in a key management area off of New England, though more monitoring of the fishery will now apply.

The New England Fishery Management Council has approved new measures to allow the harvest of surfclams within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area. The council says mussel fishermen will also be able to operate in the new areas.

The council says it wants fishermen and researchers to work together to get a better idea of where surfclams can be harvested without disturbing sensitive undersea habitat.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public