New England Fishery Management Council Archives - Page 94 of 101

Overfished halibut under scrutiny as catch increases

December 13th, 2016 — Federal fishing regulators say they are looking to change the way they manage Atlantic halibut in the wake of a surge in catch of the fish.

The government lists Atlantic halibut as “overfished” and conservationists want to protect it. But many fishermen say the catch is up because the stock has been rebuilt over recent years.

East Coast fishermen caught more than 215,000 pounds of Atlantic halibut in 2015 in the most productive year of fishing for the flatfish since 1972. Catch of the fish in nearshore Maine waters is helping drive the increase, regulators say.

The regulatory New England Fishery Management Council decided last month to review management of halibut, which is popular with diners and chefs for its thick, meaty steaks. Exactly what form regulation changes could take isn’t yet known.

“We’ve identified that this is an issue, and this will be a priority for 2017,” said Janice Plante, a spokeswoman for the council.

The council has also asked that Maine’s state fishing managers adjust the way they oversee halibut. Part of the issue is that if fishermen exceed their quota for the fish, it can trigger restrictions on fishing that impact fishermen who operate in federal waters. About 40 percent of the halibut catch for the 2015 fishing year was taken in state waters, mostly in Maine.

Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said Maine should consider limiting the amount of halibut fishing in state waters. Otherwise, federal fishermen will be negatively affected by the surge in state catch, he said.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

Overfished halibut under scrutiny as catch increases

December 12th, 2016 — Federal fishing regulators say they are looking to change the way they manage Atlantic halibut in the wake of a surge in catch of the fish.

The government lists Atlantic halibut as “overfished” and conservationists want to protect it. But many fishermen say the catch is up because the stock has been rebuilt over recent years.

“We’ve identified that this is an issue, and this will be a priority for 2017,” Janice Plante, a spokeswoman for the council, said.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times

East Coast fishermen file appeal over cost of government-required ‘at-sea monitors’

December 12th, 2016 — David Goethel built his life off the profits of cod, trolling the waters of New England for 30 years netting the region’s once-abundant signature fish.

“My slice of the American Dream was paid for from fishing,” Goethel said from behind the wheel of his 44-foot fishing trawler on a windy Friday afternoon in December. “Cape Cod house, two cars, four college educations – it all came out of the fish hole in this boat.”

But a controversial federal mandate is threatening to put him out of business, he claims.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, requires groundfishermen — those who catch cod, haddock and other common bottom-dwelling species — to carry on board “at-sea monitors.” The observers, hired by three for-profit companies, are third-party workers whose task it is to observe fishermen’s compliance with federal regulations and ensure annual quotas are not exceeded.

The dispute lies in the cost of the monitors and who should pay for them: Fishermen are billed on average $700 a day when a regulator is present.

NOAA, meanwhile, says monitors were placed on fishing boats like Goethel’s only 14 percent of the time in 2016 — and claims the fishing industry supported this system of regulation in 2010 when a vote went before the New England Fishery Management Council, an advisory board to NOAA that sets the rules.

Read the full story at Fox News

Can Atlantic Cod Return to Canada’s East Coast?

December 8th, 2016 — According to the New England Fishery Management Council, the 2016 quotas for George’s Banks Cod are 1200 metric tonnes for 2016 and 500 metric tonnes for Cod in the Gulf of Maine.

In an article posted by the NOAA last month, optomism for the health of these stocks are low due to warming waters and bycatch concerns.

Many East Coast processors, however, feel that the fishery is in remission and hope for increased total allowable catches before re-building infrastructure from the moratorium in the early 1990s.

For now, fillet production has been predominately labour intensive hand cutting, tightening profit margins considerably.

Pricing last month on Canadian Atlantic Cod was around $3.25 per pound for 12-32oz skinless fillets caught in Newfoundland, and $3.15 per pound for shatterpacked bones 4-8oz fillets in Boston.

The Fishery is faced with adverse weather conditions at the moment – full fishing efforts should resume in Spring 2017 at which point we will have a clearer outlook on pricing.

— Another interesting note on this fishery – Scientists are now pushing for increased commercial Atlantic Cod quotas because of Snow Crab stocks in the Maritimes.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

Maine braces for potential closing of four areas to lobster fishing

December 6th, 2016 — The New England Fishery Management Council is debating a plan that may limit or eliminate lobster fishing in four areas off the Maine coast that host abundant colonies of deep-sea corals.

The areas in the Gulf of Maine that are being considered for protection include Mount Desert Rock, Outer Schoodic Ridge, Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll. More than 400 lobstermen fish those areas, which span about 161 miles of federal waters, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The council is considering approval of the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment, which may require gear restrictions in the protected areas. The Maine Department of Marine Resources and Maine lobstermen requested the council provide an exemption for lobster and crab fishing within the protected zones, arguing that the inshore lobster fishery is the primary economic driver for two coastal counties encompassing at least 15 harbors in Maine, but at a meeting in November, the council said it “was not prepared to completely eliminate lobster gear restrictions from consideration at this stage of the amendment process.”

Scientists only recently discovered that fragile coral habitats existed in the areas in question, and during their research, they found evidence that fishing has damaged and denuded the coral.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Herring management plan to be considered

December 6th, 2016 — If you were planning to attend the New England Fishery Management Council’s herring workshop this week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and have not registered, you might want to save yourself the trip.

The two-day workshop, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday to provide continued public input into the establishment of a “long-term control rule for specifying Acceptable Biological Catch for the Atlantic herring fishery,” is fully booked at the Portsmouth venue where the event is taking place.

To accommodate the overflow interest in the herring workshop, the NEFMC will make the proceedings available live to the public on a free online webinar and a corresponding dial-in option that requires an access code.

The website for the webinar and the phone number and access code for the dial-in option are available on the NEFMC website.

The two-day workshop at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth continues the process begun in January, when the NEFMC voted to conduct a management strategy evaluation “to support the development of alternatives regarding the ABC control rule.”

The council currently is working to develop Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

Effort to protect deep-sea coral has lobster industry on alert

November 28th, 2016 — Over 400 Maine lobstermen could lose their traditional fishing territory under a proposal to protect deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Maine.

The New England Fishery Management Council is considering a plan that would ban fishing in four designated coral zones spanning about 161 miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Maine – Mount Desert Rock, Outer Schoodic Ridge, Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll. Here, often on steep rock walls deep under water where sunlight cannot penetrate, scientists have found dense, delicate and slow-growing coral gardens of sea whips, fans and pens.

These coral habitats have become increasingly rare, suffering from centuries of damage from fishing gear. The council wants to protect these corals, which provide shelter, food and refuge to fish such as cod, silver hake and pollock, and serve as an essential habitat for larval redfish. A sister organization has already created deep-sea coral protection zones in deep mid-Atlantic waters from Long Island to Virginia.

Like most of the Gulf of Maine, the four coral zones under consideration here are home to lobsters. Two of the zones, Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge, are prime fishing grounds for Maine lobstermen who fish offshore when the lobsters migrate to deeper waters, while the other two are primarily fished by southern New England lobstermen.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

Fishermen to be allowed to catch more monkfish next year

November 21, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Fishermen will likely be allowed to catch more monkfish next year.

Monkfish are a species of bottom-dwelling fish that are a popular item at restaurants and seafood markets. The regulatory New England Fishery Management Council has approved rules for the fishery that will allow fishermen to bring ashore more than 15,000 metric tons of the fish next year.

Fishermen have typically caught between 7,000 and 10,000 metric tons of monkfish annually since 2009.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the News & Observer

New England Fishery Management Council Previews Deep-Sea Coral Amendment Analysis; Addresses Marine National Monument Overlap Issues

November 16, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council received a briefing yesterday from its Habitat Committee regarding preliminary Deep-Sea Coral Amendment analyses covering: (1) potential impacts of fishing activity on corals; and (2) available fishery effort and revenue data.

The Council also made two decisions related to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which President Obama established on Sept. 15, 2016 using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Although the President designated the monument, his proclamation directed the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, to manage the activities and species within the area under the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other federal laws.

In an Oct. 21 letter to the Council, John Bullard, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, asked the Council to amend its fishery management plans to “reflect the action of the President and implement the appropriate fishing regulations for the Marine National Monument.”

The Council discussed the request and decided not to develop its own amendment since it did not designate the monument. This means the Commerce Department will fulfill the President’s charge through a secretarial amendment.

Bullard said public hearings would be held under the secretarial action and any proposed amendments would be sent to both the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils for “consideration and comment.”

The Council also debated a motion it had postponed during its September meeting to move all proposals in the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment that overlap with the Marine National Monument to the “considered but rejected” portion of the amendment.

After considerable debate, the Council voted to keep the overlapping alternatives in place for further consideration and analysis, noting that it was important to move forward with the coral protection process it had begun before the monument was designated.

Regarding the current list of alternatives in the coral amendment, the Council did vote to add an additional option to the mix.

For background, the Council is proposing to protect corals through the development of two types of coral zones – discrete areas and broad areas, which are defined as follows.

“Discrete Areas” designate narrowly defined coral zones in the Gulf of Maine, for single canyons, and on individual seamounts; and

“Broad Areas” designate a coral zone along the entire shelf-slope region between the US/Canada Exclusive Economic Zone boundary and the New England/Mid-Atlantic Council boundary.

Broad zones are meant to prevent the expansion of fishing effort into additional deep-water habitats. The Council is considering various minimum depth contours for defining these zones.

The Council further debated whether to continue developing potential lobster trap/pot restrictions in the inshore Gulf of Maine coral zones, which are offshore the state of Maine’s waters near the Outer Schoodic Ridge area and west of Mt. Desert Rock.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources and Maine lobstermen requested that the Council provide an exemption for lobster and crab fishing within these zones, arguing that the inshore lobster fishery in this area is the primary economic driver for two Downeast Maine coastal counties encompassing at least 15 harbors.

The Council acknowledged the importance of these coral zone areas to the lobster fishery but was not prepared to completely eliminate lobster gear restrictions from consideration at this stage of the amendment process. Instead, it will continue to develop inshore Gulf of Maine coral zone alternatives that may restrict these gears but will include an option to exempt lobster trap/pot fishing.

Monkfish Specifications Expected to Rise in FY 2017-2019

November 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Monkfish total allowable landing (TAL) limits for the 2017-2019 fishing years are on track to increase under Framework Adjustment 10 to the federal Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). So are: (1) days-at sea allocations and trip limits for the Southern Fishery Management Area; and (2) incidental catch limits for monkfish C and D permit holders working under groundfish days-at-sea in the Northern Management Area.

The New England Fishery Management Council approved the framework today at its meeting in Newport, RI. The Mid-Atlantic Council, which jointly manages monkfish, is scheduled to take action at its Dec. 12-15 meeting in Baltimore, MD. The National Marine Fisheries Service must approve the framework before the new days-at-sea allocations and trip limits can be implemented.

The New England Council adopted the following allocations for days-at-sea:

Northern Fishery Management Area: status quo, 45 monkfish days-at-sea; and
Southern Fishery Management Area: 37 monkfish days, a 15% increase from 32.

Monkfish days-at-sea allocations have not been restricting fishing effort in the northern area, where the majority of fishermen catch monkfish while groundfish fishing. Therefore, the Council decided to leave monkfish days-atsea at status quo in the north – 45 days – and instead raise the incidental landing limit for Category C and D monkfish permit holders working under a groundfish day-at-sea. The Council took this step to help northern area fishermen better utilize the available TAL. In 2015, for example, only 71% of the TAL was harvested in the north.

Read the full release as a PDF here