New England Fishery Management Council Archives - Page 98 of 104

New England Fishery Management Council Reviews Sea Scallop Survey Findings and FW 28 Status

September 23, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Council Reviews Sea Scallop Survey Findings and FW 28 Status

In preparation for developing new specifications for the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, the New England Fishery Management Council today received a broad overview of 2016 scallop survey results. These results will guide the Council, Scallop Committee, Scallop Plan Development Team (PDT), and industry in formulating 2017 fishing year days-at-sea and access area trip allocations for limited access vessels, as well as individual fishing quotas for limited access general category boats. Default specifications for 2018 also will be developed.

In short, here are some of the key survey findings:

Total biomass is at a very high level and expected to increase as a result of growth from previous large year classes.
Survey results did not show signs of good incoming recruitment on Georges Bank or in the Mid-Atlantic.
The vast majority of the current high biomass is located either in closed areas or scallop access areas.

The surveys also came across an unprecedented number of densely concentrated, “slow growing” scallops in the southern portion of the Nantucket Lightship area in deep water. Many of these age-four scallops had only reached a size normally achieved by age two. The PDT said that “growth potential” for these animals may be limited given their depth.

In another development, large concentrations of starfish, a known predator of scallops, were observed in the shallow portion of the Habitat Area of Particular Concern on the Northern Edge. Surveys also found Didemnum, an invasive tunicate, covering the gravel in this shallow area. These tunicates may be interfering with scallop seed settlement.

The following institutions contributed to the 2016 scallop survey:

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducted dredge surveys in the Mid-Atlantic, Nantucket Lightship, and Closed Area II and surrounding bottom;
The School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth conducted intensive Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship drop camera surveys;
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) with Lund’s Fisheries conducted a HabCam Version 4 survey on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank;
Arnie’s Fisheries conducted an intensive Elephant Trunk survey with HabCam 3;
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) conducted the federal Georges Bank dredge survey plus Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank HabCam 4 surveys; and
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and University of Maine conducted a Northern Gulf of Maine dredge survey (map at right).

The 2017 specifications and 2018 default measures will be part of Framework Adjustment 28 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which is still under development and scheduled for final action at the Council’s Nov. 15-17 meeting in Newport, Rhode Island. The full range of specifications will include: (a) acceptable biological catches (ABCs), annual catch limits (ACLs), days-at-sea, and access area allocations for both limited access (LA) and limited access general category (LAGC) vessels; (b) a hard total allowable catch (TAC) for the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area; (c) a target TAC for the LAGC incidental catch; and (d) set-aside amounts for the scallop observer and research set-aside programs.

The framework also contains: (1) a measure to potentially restrict the possession of shell stock inshore of the days-at-sea demarcation line north of 42° 20’ N; (2) measures to apply spatial management to fisheries specifications (ACL flowchart); and (3) measures to modify the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area boundary to be consistent with potential changes to habitat and groundfish mortality closed areas as outlined in the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, which is under review by the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office.

See the full release at the NEFMC

New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee to Continue Working on Three-Year Monkfish Specs

September 22, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today initiated a framework adjustment to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan to develop 2017-2019 fishing year specifications for both the Northern and Southern Fishery Management Areas. The Monkfish Committee will continue to work this fall on specifications and any other needed measures for the fishery. The Monkfish Plan Development Team (PDT) will conduct the necessary days-at-sea and trip limit analyses. The Council is scheduled to approve the framework with final specifications during its Nov. 15-17 meeting in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) has recommended “status quo” area-specific acceptable biological catches (ABCs) and overfishing limits (OFLs) for 2017-2019 as follows in metric tons (mt):

Northern Area ABC – 7,592 mt
Northern Area OFL – 17,805 mt
Southern Area ABC – 12,316 mt
Southern Area OFL – 23,204 mt

The SSC reviewed the new 2016 index- based operational stock assessment for monkfish before making these recommendations, which followed PDT advice.

The full range of specifications will include area-based caps on total allowable landings (TALs), days-at-sea allocations, and trip limits.

Under current monkfish regulations, the northern and southern ABCs are reduced by 13.5% and 6.5% respectively to account for “management uncertainty.” The PDT will analyze a lower deduction of 3% in both areas since TALs have not been reached in recent years. The Council is striving to maximize fishing opportunities in both areas while simultaneously providing adequate stock protection.

On a related note, Northeast Fisheries Science Center surveys – namely the scallop survey and fall bottom trawl survey – signaled “an above average recruitment event” in 2015 for monkfish. While the news is welcoming, the SSC cautioned that it was “unclear as to whether this large recruitment event would transfer into the fishable population.”

The Monkfish PDT will closely monitor the progress of the 2015 recruitment event and report back to the Monkfish Committee and Council when additional information is available.

The Council’s Monkfish Advisory Panel will meet Oct. 12 and the Monkfish Committee will meet Oct. 18 to continue discussing the framework. Meeting details will be announced in the near future.

See the full release here

NOAA hosting hearings on funding fish monitors

September 21, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries has scheduled a number of public hearings in October and November, including one in Gloucester, to elicit public comment on the proposals for industry-funded monitoring programs for a variety of fisheries.

The schedule includes a public hearing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office at 55 Great Republic Drive in Gloucester on Oct. 4 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The other locations for the public hearings are Portland, Maine, on Oct. 20; Cape May, New Jersey, on Oct. 27; and Narragansett, Rhode Island, on Nov. 1. There also will be an online webinar Oct. 17.

The period for written public comments on the amendments being considered by the New England Fishery Management Council and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will stretch from Sept. 23 until Nov. 7.

“The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils are developing an omnibus amendment to allow for industry-funded monitoring,” said the notice published Tuesday in the Federal Registry. “This amendment includes omnibus alternatives that would modify all of the fishery management plans managed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils to allow for standardized and streamlined development of future industry-funded monitoring programs.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Fishing managers considering changes to herring trawling

September 21, 2016 — Fishing managers who regulate New England’s waters are considering new ways to manage the herring fishery, which is a key source of bait and food.

The New England Fishery Management Council is looking at ways to address “localized depletion” in the herring fishery.

The council says localized depletion occurs when harvesters take more fish than can be naturally replaced in a given time period.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Times

Dartmouth attorney, former legislator voted chair of New England Fishery Management Council

September 21, 2016 — A member for four years, John F. Quinn of Dartmouth has been elected chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, a quasi-government group that develops rules for fisheries operating in federal waters.

Attorney Quinn, 53, ran his first council meeting as chairman in Danvers on Tuesday after the vote. He had been vice chairman for the last three years and switched positions with former chairman E.F. “Terry” Stockwell III of Maine. The two have led the council since 2014, according to a news release.

“I am honored that my colleagues from across New England elevated me to this position,” Quinn said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

The director of public interest law programs at the UMass Dartmouth law school, Quinn said he signed up for the council because of his experience as a lawyer and litigator on SouthCoast. Having worked with fishing issues in the region, it seemed fitting to be on the regulation side, he said.

“I understand the waterfront and some of the challenges the industry is facing,” said Quinn, who married into a fishing family.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

NEFMC Receives Atlantic Herring Amendment 8 Update

September 20, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During the first day of its Sept. 20-22 meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, the New England Fishery Management Council received a progress report on Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The amendment contains two key components that involve:

Development of a long-term acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule for the Atlantic herring fishery; and

Measures to address potential localized depletion of Atlantic herring.

The ABC control rule may: (1) explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem as a forage species; and (2) address the biological and ecological requirements of the resource itself. It is being developed through a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach.

MSE incorporates more public input and technical analyses upfront before alternatives are selected.

The Council held its first MSE public workshop in mid-May to begin gathering recommendations on a potential range of objectives for an ABC control rule, as well as feedback on how the objectives should be evaluated. A second workshop likely will be held Dec. 7-8 in Massachusetts.

The Council also received a briefing on the Atlantic Herring Committee’s late-August discussion about potential alternatives to address localized depletion. Most of the committee’s early proposals focus on variations of “inshore buffer zones” where midwater trawl gear – or in one case all herring gear types – would be restricted or prohibited year-round or seasonally. The Council made two motions to modify the Committee’s initial range of buffer zones, which now span from a discrete six-mile closure in an area off the backside of Cape Cod, up to a 50-mile buffer zone throughout the range of the fishery south of Herring Management Area 1A, covering the inshore portions of Areas 1B, 2, and 3 (see map). The committee will meet again on Oct. 20 and Nov. 9 to further debate and reevaluate the alternatives.

To recap how this all began:

The Council went through a public scoping process for Amendment 8 from Feb. 26 to April 30, 2015 to consider long-term harvest strategies for herring through an ABC control rule.
After reviewing the scoping comments, the Council in June 2015 expanded the reach of Amendment 8 to “include consideration of the spatial and temporal availability of Atlantic herring” in order to address public concern about localized depletion.
The Council is aiming to approve the range of alternatives on localized depletion and ABC control rule measures in January.

Fishermen upset over creation of Atlantic’s first monument

September 19th, 2016 — Fishermen in New England say President Obama needlessly dealt a big blow to their industry when he created the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument and circumvented the existing process for protecting fisheries.

The new Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument consists of nearly 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains off the New England coast. The designation will close the area to commercial fishermen, who go there primarily for lobster, red crab, squid, whiting, butterfish, swordfish and tuna.

After Thursday’s announcement, fishermen pondered their next move: sue, lobby Congress to change the plan or relocate. It’s hard to move, they said, because other fishermen would likely already be fishing where they would want to go.

They said the designation process wasn’t transparent and the administration should have let the New England Fishery Management Council, which is charged with regulating the region’s fisheries, finish working on the coral protection measures it’s considering.

“There seems to be a huge misconception that there are limitless areas where displaced fishermen can go,” said Grant Moore, president of the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association. “Basically with the stroke of a pen, President Obama put fishermen and their crews out of work and harmed all the shore-side businesses that support the fishing industry.”

Read the full story from The Concord Monitor

Undersea monument plan advocates hear fishermen’s concerns

August 31, 2016 — MYSTIC, Conn. — One hundred and fifty miles east of Cape Cod, a unique undersea landscape of deep canyons and high mountains supports a diverse ecosystem, abundant with colorful corals, fragile sponges, beaked whales, dragonfish and mussels adapted to living in methane hydrate seeps, that is being considered for protection as a National Monument.

Two leading advocates for the designation, which would be given by President Barack Obama under the American Antiquities Act before he leaves office in January, explained why they are lobbying for the designation Tuesday to an audience of both conservation advocates and commercial fishing representatives concerned about losing valuable fishing grounds.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Peter Auster, retired University of Connecticut marine science professor and currently the senior research scientist at the Mystic Aquarium, made their case for declaring the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts as a Marine National Monument during a program Tuesday evening at the aquarium.

But commercial fishing groups say the designation would cut off their access to productive areas for red crab, swordfish, tuna and offshore lobster harvests, among other species.

“Those areas have been used for hundreds of years,” said Joe Gilbert, owner of Empire Fisheries, which has operations in southeastern Connecticut and elsewhere along Long Island Sound.

He and other fishing representatives argued that if Obama uses the executive authority afforded him in the Antiquities Act to designate the area a monument, the federal and regional fisheries regulatory processes that require public input would be circumvented.

“We feel disenfranchised at this point,” Gilbert said.

Eric Reid of North Kingstown, R.I., who represents commercial fishing interests on the New England Fishery Management Council, said creating the monument would cause “localized economic damage” to the already stressed fishing industry, and advocated for a compromise being recommended by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Read the full story at The Day

Battle over Cashes Ledge continues between fishermen, environmentalists

August 29, 2016 — Despite the Obama administration’s declaration that Cashes Ledge has been taken off the table as a possible location for a marine national monument, the divisive issue of the monuments continues to percolate nationally between fishermen and conservationists.

From Hawaii to New England, the lines are clearly drawn.

Conservation groups have sustained a steady lobbying campaign to convince President Obama to employ the Antiquities Act to create new marine national monuments in the waters around Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles off Gloucester, and the seamounts off southern New England and Monterey, California.

On Friday, Obama ended a contentious process in the Pacific Ocean when he expanded an existing marine national monument area in the northwest Hawaiian Islands to create the largest protected area on Earth — 582,578 square miles.

Fishing stakeholders and fishing communities have countered with their own public campaign that sharply criticizes the collateral impact of closing more areas to commercial and recreational fishing, as well as the method of using the Antiquities Act as an end-run around the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act.

“The Antiquities Act does not require transparency or a robust analysis of the science,” the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition said in a statement. “It does not require any socioeconomic considerations be taken into account. No process is required other than an executive action by the president of the United States.”

The coalition and others, including several members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation and Gov. Charlie Baker, have tried to drive home the point that the current system of federal ocean management requires fishing businesses and communities to follow the established and intricate regulatory procedures established under Magnuson-Stevens.

To allow the creation of marine national monuments by what amounts to presidential fiat, they say, is unfair to those who have operated under the established rules and makes a mockery of Magnuson-Stevens.

“The New England Fishery Management Council is in charge of carrying out this requirement in our region,” the NSC said. “Last year, the council approved Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 and is presently working on an Omnibus Deep Coral Amendment. These areas include the very areas now proposed and under consideration for a national monument.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Marine Preserve Proposal Ignites Debate Over Fishing

August 22, 2016 — Proposals to create a vast national marine preserve off the New England coast are generating a whirlpool of debate that’s sucking in commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, environmentalists, multistate bureaucrats and politicians.

Environmental groups are calling on President Barack Obama to use his executive powers to establish a 6,180-square-mile New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts national monument. They insist it would protect a unique and ecologically critical marine environment lying about 150 miles off New England’s shores.

If Obama heeds those calls, virtually all fishing and commercial operations such as oil and undersea mining would be banned within the new national preserve.

The controversy has exposed deep fault lines between commercial fishermen fiercely opposed to new federal restrictions on their industry and many recreational anglers who argue the preserve would benefit fishing in the region.

Interstate fisheries councils and commissions involved in regulating fishing along the Atlantic coast are also involved in an effort to protect their jurisdiction over the proposed preserve.

The leaders of eight U.S. regional fisheries management councils have written to Obama warning that creation of the proposed marine monument would ignore federal mandates to “achieve optimum yield from the nation’s fishery resources and may negatively impact jobs and recreational opportunities.”

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant