Saving Seafood

Report: Speed compliance to save rare whales could be better

January 25, 2021 — Compliance with speed rules designed to protect rare whales has increased in recent years but could still be higher, according to a report from the federal government.

The slow speed zones are implemented to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number about 360 and are vulnerable to collisions with ships. The National Marine Fisheries Service implemented seasonal, mandatory vessel speed rules in some areas along the East Coast in 2008 to try to help the whales.

A report released by the service this week states that the level of mariner compliance with the speed rule increased to 81% in 2018-19. That was the highest level on record.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Gloucester Daily Times

Follow-up survey of fishermen and covid-19 impact begins

January 25, 2021 — The National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Florida are conducting a second national telephone survey of fishermen, seafood dealers and processor to assess the effects of covid-19 during the second half of 2020.

A report on findings from the first survey reported the pandemic crushed industry revenues by a combined 29 percent from March into July, as the seafood industry reeled from U.S. restaurant closures and export markets drying up.

University of Florida researchers are working with NMFS on the project, and organizers urge fishermen to be on the lookout for calls coming to their phones from the Florida 352 area code.

“Phone survey participants were selected using carefully designed random sample. If you were selected, you will receive a phone call from the University of Florida with a 352 area code,” according to a statement Friday from NMFS. “Your response is very important to the success of this survey. It will take less than 10 minutes, and the information you provide is strictly confidential.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NMFS reports fishing revenue crashed 29 percent in pandemic

January 19, 2021 — The U.S. fishing industry lost nearly one-third of its revenue in the first seven months of 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic vaporized its major markets, according to a new analysis by NMFS.

The year started on a high note, with revenues up 3 percent in January and February – before diving 19 percent in March and cratering at 45 percent less in July, said Paul Doremus, deputy administrator for operations at NMFS, in a telephone conference with reporters Friday.

Cumulatively, “over those seven months we’re looking at a 29 percent decrease,” said Doremus.

The agency mobilized its economic experts and government and academic partners in March to document the impact of the pandemic and begin preparing “as comprehensive an account as we could,” said Doremus.

The findings were compiled in a report with more than 100 pages of supporting documents, including detailed region-by-region breakdowns, by authors and economists Rita Curtis of the NOAA Fisheries Office of Science & Technology and Steve Kasperski of the agency’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

While the report only documents the industry’s situation up through July, “we’ve already initiated the work to do that next update,” said Curtis. The goal is to continue monitoring economic impacts and fishermen’s response, drawing lessons and strategies for making fishing communities more resilient, said Doremus.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CARES Act relief funding straggles into 2021

January 19, 2021 — As 2020 drew to a close, one-third of the USD 300 million (EUR 246 million) in aid set aside for the fishing industry through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act remained for delivery as states labored to complete distributions.

Lagging farthest behind were Alaska and Washington state, the nation’s top volume seafood producers, and at USD 50 million (EUR 41 million) each the largest designated shares of the aid package. The states finally released their final draft spending plans on 7 December and 8 December, for approval by NMFS.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NMFS begins online public sessions for right whale gear rules

January 13, 2021 – New gear regulations proposed for the Northeast lobster fishery will be presented in online public sessions beginning Tuesday evening, as the National Marine Fisheries Service pitches its newest effort to meet endangered species requirements for the northern right whale.

The new package of changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, is NMFS’ bid to satisfy a federal court ruling that the agency must do more by May 31, 2021 to protect the East Coast right whale population, now estimated to number fewer than 400 animals and less than 100 breeding females.

The new steps aim to reduce the number of vertical lines in the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries by requiring fishermen to fit more of their traps between buoy lines.

Fishermen will need to add new weak insertions or weak rope into buoy lines, so that whales have a better chance to break free in the event of an entanglement.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CARES Act relief funding straggles into 2021

January 13, 2021 — As 2020 drew to a close, one-third of the $300 million in aid set aside for the fishing industry through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act remained for delivery as states laboured to complete distributions.

Lagging farthest behind were Alaska and Washington state, the nation’s top volume seafood producers, and at $50 million each the largest designated shares of the aid package. The states finally released their final draft spending plans on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, for approval by NMFS.

This week the Jan. 15 deadline is approaching for fishermen to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Seafood Trade Relief Program, a $530 million package to help compensate for an estimated $250 million in losses in trade wars with China and the European Union.

Nineteen U.S. species are covered under a formula based on fishermen’s catches in 2019 and calculated losses from increased tariffs on U.S. seafood exports.

After the Department of Commerce announced its system for distributing direct aid, coming up with state-by-state plans lagged well into the fall. In Alaska there was protracted public debate over how to allocate equitably the aid among the state’s vibrant and varied fisheries. There was wide disagreement over who should qualify — including Alaska residents and its large fishing workforce with homes in other states, and how to split the money between commercial fishing, processing and the recreational charter and guide sectors. One chafing point was state officials’ intent to give the charter sector a bigger share than the 5.5 percent recommended by NMFS.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA proposes new round of whale protections

January 6, 2021 — A proposed rule released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Dec. 30 aims to lower North Atlantic right whale entanglements in commercial fishing lines. Its release follows two years of research, public meetings and comment.

Federal regulators found the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) proposal submitted last January to be lacking — by 8 percent.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service seeks a 60 percent risk reduction to whales while the Maine DMR plan would only achieve a 52 percent reduction, NOAA informed Maine DMR in January 2020. Both proposals increase the number of traps per trawl line to reduce the number of vertical lines in the ocean, allow for gear marking to identify which state a whale fatality occurred in, require weak links in lines that would allow an entangled whale to break free and provide for seasonal closures in one lobster management area (LMA).

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

A new Trump rule could shrink protected habitat for endangered wildlife

December 16, 2020 — The Trump administration adopted a rule Tuesday that could shrink the historic habitats of plants and animals threatened with extinction, an action that opponents say will make it more difficult for them to recover.

On their way out of office, the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service established a rule that changed the definition of what determines a habitat under the Endangered Species Act. It was the second major rollback the administration has made to the signature wildlife protection law.

Under the new definition, only “critical habitat” that can sustain the species in question can be protected, as opposed to a broader habitat the plant or animal might one day occupy if it is suitable.

“This action will bring greater clarity and consistency to how the Service designates critical habitat,” Rob Wallace, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, said in a statement. “Making the Endangered Species Act more effective at conserving imperiled wildlife and more transparent and user friendly for stakeholders represents a win-win for everyone.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

NMFS planning for offshore aquaculture areas

December 15, 2020 — Now in the early stages of planning, NMFS officials are seeking public comments on the potential for “aquaculture opportunity areas” off southern California and the Gulf of Mexico.

It’s an early step in what will be a three-year process to identify those areas and develop “programmatic” environmental impact statements, agency workers said in a online virtual public information session 3 December.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

PFMC: Ecosystem Subcommittee of the SSC to hold online meeting January 12, 2021

December 14, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council’s) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold an online meeting to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (CCIEA) team on how COVID-19 impacts may affect its annual Ecosystem Status Report to the Pacific Council.  The meeting is open to the public and will be held Tuesday, January 12, 2021 beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and continuing until 1 p.m. or until business for the day has been completed.

Please see the Ecosystem Subcommittee of the SSC meeting notice on the Council’s website for additional details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer John DeVore at 503-820-2422; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.