Saving Seafood

Lawsuit claims Gulf of Mexico drilling permits violate Endangered Species Act

October 23, 2020 — Environmental groups went to federal court Oct. 21 with a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration is violating the Endangered Species Act by an inadequate interagency consultation on oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The San Francisco-based legal foundation Earthjustice filed the action on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Turtle Island Restoration Network. The lawsuit attacks an assessment of the hazards that offshore oil and gas drilling and production pose to endangered marine species, issued in March by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

In an earlier 2018 lawsuit filed in a federal court in Florida, Earthjustice and other groups complained NMFS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had unreasonably delayed developing a new biological opinion – or “BiOp” in the argot of federal bureaucracy – to evaluate impacts as required by the Endangered Species Act.

The law requires certification that government actions – such as permitting offshore drilling – won’t harm endangered species. The last biological opinion was issued in 2007; BP’s Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill in 2010, with its sweeping environmental impacts and losses of marine life, triggered the process for a reassessment of the dangers.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Suit: Feds ignore risk of huge spills to endangered species

October 22, 2020 — Environmental groups asked a federal court Wednesday to throw out the Trump administration’s assessment of oil and gas activity’s likely effects on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, saying it dismisses the chance of another disastrous blowout like the BP spill of 2010.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s 700-page analysis greatly underestimates both the likely number and size of oil spills, according to the suit filed by Earthjustice for the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Turtle Island Restoration Network.

Even though the study was prompted by the 2010 spill, it “essentially pretends the Deepwater Horizon spill never happened — that there was nothing to learn from that disaster,” Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton said in an interview Tuesday.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier

Federal fishery managers to allow red snapper harvest

October 20, 2020 — Commercial and recreational fishermen will be able to harvest red snapper this season, even if the season lasts less than four days.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced Oct. 13 that Regulatory Amendment 33 for the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan will go into effect Friday, Nov. 13. The final rule allows the red-snapper fishing season to be less than four days in the federal south Atlantic region, which includes the waters between 3-200 miles offshore of North Carolina.

It removes the minimum season length requirement. Red snapper harvest, recreational and commercial, could be open for either commercial or recreational harvest for three days or less. The intent of the final rule is to improve access to the red snapper resource.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

NEFMC Gives Go Ahead for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan

October 14, 2020 — Last week, the New England Fishery Management Council signed off on Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan.

The amendment includes new measures to “better manage total scallop removals from the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Management Area by all components of the fishery.” Along with expanding flexibility in the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery. The NEFMC noted that the amendment still needs NMFS/NOAA approval before it can be implemented.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Judge’s ruling likely ends seismic testing off coast for years

October 9, 2020 — Seismic testing off the coast of South Carolina is likely finished for several years after a federal judge dismissed a 2018 lawsuit on Tuesday.

The suit, filed by the Coastal Conservation League, took aim at the National Marine Fisheries Service for issuing preliminary seismic testing permits off the state’s coast.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel dismissed the suit because there are currently no pending applications for either of the two permits needed to proceed with seismic testing, and a Nov. 30 application deadline for one, coupled with a lengthy approval process, means any approvals would be moot by the time a trial occurred, Gergel said.

Read the full story at the Charleston Regional Business Journal

Feds move toward permitting offshore Florida fish farm

October 9, 2020 — The Army Corps of Engineers will open a public comment period on a permit application for a fish farming pilot project off Florida’s southwest coast, following demands from critics and a newly issued pollution permit.

Hawaii-based developer Ocean Era LLC is proposing its Velella Epsilon aquaculture project, a single net pen system to raise up to 20,000 Almaco jack fingerlings, in the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles southwest of Longboat Pass-Sarasota Bay.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 30 issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit allowing the fish farm to discharge up to 80,000 pounds of wastewater during its pilot production cycle.

“The proposed aquaculture system would be deployed for one period of 12-18 months, which will represent one production cycle including a 12-month rearing timeframe and 6 months for initial cage deployment and water quality and benthic sampling, time between stocking and harvesting, and the removal of gear at the project conclusion,” according to the Corps’ public notice of application.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New England’s Groundfish Fleet Will Be 100% Monitored, Not Yet Clear Who Will Ultimately Pay

October 8, 2020 — In an historic vote one week ago, the New England Fisheries Mainagement Council adopted Amendment 23 which will require human observers or electronic monitoring on all trips made by the groundfish fleet.

“After more than three-and-a-half years of hard work on developing measures to improve the groundfish monitoring program, the New England Fishery Management Council … overwhelmingly voted to submit the amendment to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) for review, approval, and implementation,” the Council announced in a press release yesterday.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NEFMC Adopts Scallop Amendment 21 with Measures for NGOM, LAGC IFQ Fishery

October 8, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has signed off on Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which includes new measures to: (1) better manage total scallop removals from the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Management Area by all components of the fishery; and (2) expand NGOM Allocations Under Amendment 21: Once the NGOM allocation is determined, deductions are made off-the-top to support monitoring and research. Of what’s left, the first 800,000 pounds goes to the NGOM set-aside. Anything above 800,000 is shared as shown in the flowchart above. flexibility in the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery. The amendment still needs to be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) before being implemented.

Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM)

Under Amendment 21, the Council will begin accounting for scallop biomass in the NGOM area in the same flowchart it uses to calculate the overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the rest of the resource. The NGOM annual catch limit also will be set consistent with how the rest of the fishery is managed, bringing the area more in line with the Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic scallop fishery

Read the full release here

Atlantic scallop fishers object to ongoing sea turtle litigation

October 7, 2020 — Atlantic scallop fishermen in the Northeast U.S. are objecting to the latest ruling in a long string of litigation regarding the fishery’s responsibility to protect endangered sea turtle species.

A recent court ruling determined that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS) needs to revise the method it uses for its incidental take statements. The scallop fishery, however, asserts that it has already taken steps to protect sea turtles, and that the litigation is unnecessary.

Read the full story at Seafood Source