Saving Seafood

‘Saving New England Fisheries’ to air on New Hampshire Public Television

May 16, 2016 — PORTSMOUTH, NH — The documentary “Saving New England Fisheries” was premiered during a screening on Friday night at the Sheraton in Portsmouth.

The hourlong special, created for New Hampshire Public Television, is hosted by Willem Lange. It traces the history of groundfishing in the Gulf of Maine, and balances the work scientists are doing to conserve natural resources against the need for commercial fishermen to make a living from the ocean.

One of the fishermen featured in the film is David Goethel, owner of the 44-foot fishing trawler Ellen Diane out of Hampton. Goethel is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over its at-sea monitoring program in federal court. He said that he has had to pay for in-person monitors since March, at the cost of approximately $700 per trip.

The government used to cover that cost.

Read the full story at the Manchester Union Leader

Filming starts soon for New Hampshire Fish and Game reality show

May 13, 2016 — New Hampshire conservation officers and wildlife biologists are gearing up to be the focus of a reality TV show, while a similar program in Maine winds down amid questions of whether the filming contributed to controversial poaching raids in 2014.

“We are scheduled to begin filming later this month – we have not determined an exact start date – and will continue through spring, summer and fall,” said Maj. John Wimsatt, assistant chief of law enforcement for the Fish and Game Department.

Filming will be done by Engel Entertainment of New York City, the production company behind North Woods Law, a long-running program on the Animal Planet channel about the Maine Warden Service.

Steven Engel, the company’s president, said that while Animal Planet had not signed a contract to continue the show with a New Hampshire angle, he was confident it would be broadcast.

Read the full story at the Concord Monitor

Atlantic herring rules change proposed

May 9, 2016 — Portsmouth, N.H. — Rules for Atlantic herring are being proposed by New Hampshire Fish and Game to help sustain the populations.

The rules are proposed to get New Hampshire into compliance with Amendment 3 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic herring.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is a deliberative body that coordinates the conservation and management of the 15 Atlantic coast states’ shared near-shore fishery resources for sustainable use.

Read the full story at WMUR

ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Board Approves Draft Addendum I for Public Comment

May 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:

Alexandria, VA – The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Draft Addendum I to Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes modifying the FMP’s bycatch allowance provision. Specifically, it considers allowing two licensed individuals to harvest up to 12,000 pounds of menhaden bycatch when working from the same vessel fishing stationary, multi-species gear – limited to one vessel trip per day. Bycatch represents less than 2% of the total coastwide landings.

The practice of two permitted fishermen working together from the same vessel to harvest Atlantic menhaden primarily occurs in the Chesapeake Bay pound net fishery.  This practice enables the fishermen to pool resources for fuel and crew.  However, the practice is currently constrained by the FMP’s bycatch allowance provision, which includes a 6,000 pound/vessel/day limit. The Draft Addendum seeks comment on whether the provision should be revised to accommodate the interests of fixed-gear fishermen who work together, as authorized by the states and jurisdictions in which they fish.

The intent of Draft Addendum I is to add flexibility to one element of the bycatch allowance provision while the Board prepares to address menhaden management more comprehensively through the development of Draft Amendment 3 to the FMP over the next two years. A subsequent press release on the public hearing schedule and Draft Addendum I availability will be distributed once state hearings have been scheduled.

In a separate action, the Board extended the episodic event set aside program until the finalization of Amendment 3. It also conditionally approved a request from New York to be added as an eligible state.  The program reserves 1% of the coastwide total allowable catch to be used by New England states in areas and times when menhaden occur in higher abundance than normal.  Rhode Island opted into the program in 2014 and 2015, and harvested a portion of the set aside each year.  As a result of the Board’s decision to extend the program, the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut remain eligible to participate in the program in 2016.

New York is currently reporting unusually large amounts of menhaden in the Peconic Bay estuary, raising the potential for more large fish kills, similar to last year, as the waters warm.  New York sought Board approval to participate in the episodic event set aside program so fishermen can harvest a portion of the large build-up of menhaden in the Peconic Bay estuary to mitigate the impacts of additional fish kills. The Board approved the request subject to a one million pound harvest cap under the episodic event set aside.

Atlantic Herring Landing Days for Area 1A’s Trimester 2 and Next “Days Out” Meeting Notice

April 28, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (Commission) Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set the “days out” effort control measures for the 2016 Area 1A Trimester 2 (June 1 – September 30) as follows:

·         June 1 – 30: Vessels may land herring three (3) consecutive days a week.All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery (e.g., vessels may not land herring).

·         July 1 – 14: Vessels may land herring four (4) consecutive days a week. All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery.

·         July 15 – September 30: Vessels may land herring five (5) consecutive days a week until further notice. All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery.

Landing days in New Hampshire and Massachusetts begin on Monday of each week at 12:01 a.m. Landings days in Maine begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m.

The initial Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) is 30,397 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for a carryover from 2014. The Area 1A sub-ACL will be adjusted after the final rule for the 2016-2018 herring specifications is released. The final 2016 Area 1A sub-ACL will include the following reductions: 8% bycatch, 3% research set-aside and 295 mt fixed gear set-aside. The Section allocated 72.8% of the sub-ACL to Trimester 2.

By starting with three landings days per week and then adjusting to four and then five days during Trimester 2, the allocation is projected to extend through the end of the trimester. Landings will be monitored closely and the directed fishery will be adjusted to zero landing days when the trimester’s allocation is projected to be reached. The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are scheduled to reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort and adjust landing days as necessary on the following day:

·         Monday, July 11 at 10:00 AM

To join the call, please dial 888.394.8197 and enter passcode 499811 as prompted.

Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until June 1, 2016.  Please contact Ashton Harp at 703.842.0740 for more information.

Fishing advocates praise allocation of funds for electronic monitoring

April 22, 2016 — SEA BROOK, NH — Advocates for electronic monitoring technology in the commercial fishing industry are pleased that the Senate Appropriations Committee has secured federal resources to help defray costs associated with regulating catch sizes.

On Thursday, U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D- NH) announced that $3 million has been set aside for the development and installation of this technology. Fishermen hope it will replace the current model of in-person monitoring, which costs them approximately $700 per day every time they bring a person out.

Josh Wiersma of the Environmental Defense Fund said appropriating the money is a step in the right direction.

“I think this is a big step forward,” Wiersma said.

Wiersma testified on the subject before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee in Washington, D.C., this March. He has worked to make electronic monitoring programs a reality for some time, saying that the current in-person monitoring mandated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration leads to inaccurate results, and fishermen don’t have room for monitors on their boats.

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Spawning season is here

April 18, 2016 — Let the spawn begin!

Late April through the first two weeks of May in the southern areas of Maine and New Hampshire means the largemouth and smallmouth bass will begin to spawn.

Mother Nature will alert them to start pre-spawn as the water temperatures rise. For largemouth, that perfect temperature is between 62-65 degrees, and 60-70 degrees for smallmouth.

The largemouth males sense this warming trend and start to make a bed for the females. The males clean out a nest of about 20 inches in diameter and six inches deep. While this is happening, the females feed heavily.

When the nests are completed, the male bass entices the female to spawn. The females will lay hundreds of eggs, which are fertilized by the males. These eggs are adhesive and stick to the bottom of the nest. If not, the small predator fish would eat all the eggs.

Meanwhile the perch and crappie do show up for a free meal of the eggs. All this time the male has his fins full trying to fend off all of the perch and crappie who gang up and use a decoy to invade the nest. When this happens, the bass chases the decoy away while the other predators race to the bed to eat the eggs.

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

N.H. Fishermen Say Burden of At-Sea Monitoring Fees Could Break Industry

April 1, 2016 — New rules that took effect last month shift the costs of at-sea monitoring to local fisherman.

Critics say these new fees threaten the very existence of New Hampshire’s dwindling fishing industry and will put people out of business. There’s now a lawsuit pending on the issue.

Jeff Feingold, editor of the New Hampshire Business Review, joined NHPR’s Morning Edition to talk about the issue.

Let’s start with some background – what are these fees all about?

Back in 2010, they put these new rules together that limited the amount of ground fish that could be caught; that’s cod, haddock, and other fish, a lot of what commercial fishermen are looking for.

See the full story at NHPR

Number of New Hampshire groundfishermen continues to decline

March 30, 2016 — PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The number of New Hampshire boats fishing for groundfish has continued to decline, with only five full-time groundfisherman left in the state.

Fishermen have been catching haddock, cod and flounder off the coast and selling it in New Hampshire for centuries. But fishermen said that quotas and regulations over the past decade that are meant to protect groundfish have made it almost impossible to make a living.

The regulations have also affected other fishermen. At Tuesday’s regional meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council, some complained they were unable to catch herring to use as bait because they were in the same area as regulated groundfish.

Read the full story at WMUR

REP. FRANK GUINTA: Federal regulations are sinking New Hampshire’s historic fishing industry

March 21, 2016 — On New Hampshire’s Seacoast, Granite State fishermen tell the tale of an out-of-control federal agency more dangerous than any sea monster.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration severely limits their catch of ground fish, flounder and cod that dwell in the Gulf of Maine. International competitors face fewer rules and supply most U.S. seafood.

Dave Goethel of the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative in Seabrook estimates that NOAA, which manages U.S. fisheries and the president’s climate change agenda, has reduced his catch by 95 percent.

He tells me many of his friends have quit or taken early retirement. Young Granite Staters interested in maritime careers no longer consider our state’s 400-year-old tradition.

What seaman nowadays would brave such treacherous regulatory waters?

On March 1, NOAA implemented fees around New England that will hit New Hampshire fishermen, mostly small boat operators, hardest. Only a few remain on the United States’ shortest coastline.

In her explanation to me, the agency’s chief administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, estimates that new fees for at-sea monitors could amount to $710 per day.

Read the full opinion peace at The Eagle-Tribune