Saving Seafood

ASMFC: Atlantic Herring Western Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Oct. 4, 2018 through Oct. 31, 2018

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There is currently no samples for the Western Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, the Western Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:00 a.m. on October 4, 2018 and extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 31, 2018. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Western Maine spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Western Maine spawning area.

Western Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

43° 30’ N     Maine coast
43° 30’ N      68° 54.5’ W
43° 48’ N         68° 20’ W
North to Maine coast at 68° 20’ W

A PDF version of this announcement can be viewed here

 

NOAA officials say seal die-off linked to virus

September 24, 2018 — Gray and harbor seals have lured sharks in increasing numbers into Cape Cod waters, with tragic results, but the burgeoning seal population is taking a hit from viruses.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued an unusual mortality event alert for both species of seal in the Gulf of Maine.

From July 1 to Aug. 29 (when the alert was issued) 599 seals were found dead (137) or ill and stranded (462) on New England shores. In the few weeks since that number has soared to 921. Most of those were in Maine (629), with 147 in New Hampshire and 125 in Massachusetts.

The dead or dying seals have been located mostly to the north but a couple were found as far south as Plymouth in Cape Cod Bay.

The dead or dying seals have been located mostly to the north but a couple were found as far south as Plymouth in Cape Cod Bay.

For comparison the nearly 500 seals found last month is roughly 10 times the number that stranded in August of 2017.

“That is attributed to the influences of disease,” noted Terri Rowles, NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program coordinator.

Read the full story at the Eastham Wicked Local

 

Atlantic Herring Days Out Conference Call Scheduled for September 18 at 9:30 AM

September 17, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery via days out meetings/calls.

The next meeting to set days out measures for the Trimester 3 (October 1 – December 31) fishery will be convened, via conference call, on:

Tuesday, September 18 at 9:30 AM

To join the call, please dial 888.585.9008 and enter conference room number 502-884-672 as prompted.

Please contact Megan Ware, Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

Herring shut down as fleet nears catch limit

September 14, 2018 — Interstate regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided to shut down the Gulf of Maine herring fishery from Sept.13 until the end of the month, saying 97 percent of the quota from the productive fishing grounds has been landed.

The area includes coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Herring fishermen started the year with a catch limit of more than 240 million pounds, but that figure was scaled back to just under 110 million pounds in mid-August by NMFS “to lessen the risk of overfishing.” The agency warned that while the season officially ends on Dec. 13, certain grounds could be closed early as the catch limit neared.

Last year the commission closed the same region to fishing for the month of October based on an analysis of samples of female herring in the area. The closure was related to spawning.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

New England herring fishing to be limited in September

September 12, 2018 — Interstate fishing regulators say the quota is almost tapped out in one of the most productive herring fishing areas of the Northeast, and they’re shutting the fishery down for the rest of the month.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says 97 percent of the quota has been harvested from the inshore Gulf of Maine. The area includes coastal Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The commission says the fishery will be shut down from Thursday morning until Sept. 30. Boats that harvest other species will also be allowed to possess no more than 2,000 pounds of herring per trip per day.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

MAINE: Whale seen struggling in fishing net in Gulf of Maine ‘appears to be OK,’ expert says

September 7, 2018 — A whale caught in a fishing net last week appeared fine when seen swimming in the area over the weekend, said Dianna Schulte, research coordinator and co-founder of the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation.

Named “Owl,” the 32-year-old humpback whale “appears to be OK physically,” she elaborated.

Owl was entangled in the fishing net deployed off a “purse-seiner” vessel Aug. 30 off the Isles of Shoals, a small group of islands straddling the border between Maine and New Hampshire, according to multiple witnesses. The witnesses included 85 people aboard a Granite State Whale Watch tour, led by captain Peter Reynolds.

Reynolds said Friday that Owl was one of 12 humpback whales in the area at the time, that the fishing net was intentionally set in spite of them and he thought Owl was going to die while trapped and thrashing in the net for about 50 minutes. He said the fishing crew continued to try to haul the net while Owl was caught and “in obvious distress,” while his passengers watched and were “horrified.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Fisheries and Climate Change: What’s Going On in New England?

August 28, 2018 — From cod to lobster, it’s no secret that New England’s fisheries are suffering at the hands of rising water temperatures and ecological shifts related to climate change. But, sometimes, it smacks you in the face.

This past week alone, a new assessment found no improvement in the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, which has been closed for five years. And another study linked rising water temperatures to the spread of a shell disease that has hit lobsters in southern New England hard in recent years.

Andrew Pershing, the chief scientific officer for Gulf of Maine Research Institute shared his thoughts on what’s happening in the New England fisheries, and while it’s not great, it’s not all bad news.

“You have to really put lobster in Maine and New Hampshire and north-of-Cape-Cod in the winner category, where the warming over the last 30 years has been a real boon to that population and it’s helped them achieve the record catches that people in Maine have had over the last three or four years,” Pershing said.

But in southern New England, those warming waters have been the cause of a decline. They’re essentially making it too hot for baby lobsters to thrive, and now it also seems to be contributing to the spread of a lobster shell disease.

Read the full story at WCAI

Scientists eye flu, pollution in spike in seal deaths

August 22, 2018 — As the number of dead or stranded live seals washing up along the coast from northern Massachusetts to southern Maine continues to increase dramatically, marine mammal experts are considering influenza or environmental pollution as potential explanations.

Although there is no definitive cause for the uptick in seal deaths — the count is more than 400 so far this year — the Seacoast Science Center, in Rye, New Hampshire, is continuing to test tissue from fresh seal carcasses to determine if there is a possibility of illness. Live seals have been found in poor condition with signs of lethargy, coughing, sneezing and having seizures, according to Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration based in Gloucester.

NOAA, a scientific agency which focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways and the atmosphere, released an updated number of seal strandings and deaths Tuesday morning, primarily gray and harbor seals.

In northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire, marine mammal specialists found 15 live and 26 dead seals in July. As of Aug. 20, they had found 14 live and 31 dead seals in the same region. As of the same date, 57 dead seals have been accounted for in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to NOAA statistics. Four seals, three babies and one adult, were reportedly found dead on Plum Island in the last week.

NOAA scientists totaled 404 dead and live seals when examining all seals found on the shoreline in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

THE EAGLE-TRIBUNE: Long-term solution needed for monitoring fishermen

August 17, 2018 — The New England fishing industry is enjoying a rare victory over federal regulators, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced earlier this week that it would pick up the cost of at-sea monitoring of boats this year. What’s more, NOAA will reimburse fishermen for some of their out-of-pocket expenses from 2017.

While that’s good news, there is still work to be done. There is no guarantee the new policy — less a promise of change than a one-time concession tucked in the federal budget — will continue past this year. And beyond the cost, the expensive, inefficient at-sea monitoring program, which spreads a limited amount of monitors among a large number of vessels for an undetermined number of trips, must be able to provide accurate information regulators and fishermen can trust.

First, credit where credit is due. It was New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen who tucked the $10.3 million into the federal budget to pay for the monitoring program, which is meant to ensure fishermen are adhering to regulations that limit how much and what type of fish they can catch. The boat is required to allow a NOAA monitor to tag along on trips and record what has been caught.

Read the full story at The Eagle-Tribune

NOAA to Fully Fund At-Sea Monitoring Program in New England for 2018, Reimburse More Costs for 2017

August 16, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — NOAA announced on Tuesday that they will fund 100% of New England At-Sea Monitoring costs for 2018, as part of an additional $10.3 million added to the budget by New England congressmen, including NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

In addition, they will provide an additional 25% subsidy for 2017 costs, based on the money they saved from Carlos Rafael’s fleets not fishing. Since there was less need for monitoring, the overall program cost was lower.

The cost to vessels for an at-sea monitor is about $710 per day. This can have a significant impact on the profitability of smaller trips.

In 2016, NOAA supported 80% of this cost. In 2017 that dropped to 60%, with NOAA making the argument that the costs eventually had to be fully paid by fishermen. However, with the additional funds from 2017, the subsidies for that year will now be 85%.

For 2018 NOAA will cover 100% of the costs.

Part of the additional money will be used to further develop electronic monitoring and less costly systems.

“This is very welcome money and good news all the way around,” Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition told the Gloucester Times. “It’s a lot for groundfishermen to pay for, especially as quotas decline and they lose access to key stocks.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen said “Our state’s commercial fishing industry is operating on razor-thin margins and urgently needs relief from these burdensome fees, which is why I’m thrilled that funding is now available to cover the costs of at-sea monitoring.”

“Relieving our fishermen of these fees has been a top priority for me since NOAA unfairly shifted the responsibility for at-sea monitoring costs on to the backs of our fishermen. The commercial fishing industry plays a role in New Hampshire’s economy, history and culture, so ensuring its longevity will always be important to me. Negotiating this federal funding was one of my top priorities in the government spending bill.”

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.