March 5, 2021 — Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued her first signed majority opinion for the Supreme Court on Thursday, siding with the government over an environmental group seeking draft agenda reports about potential harm to endangered species.
Better data needed to guide regulatory decisions aimed at protecting right whales
March 3, 2021 — Federal regulators, in response to a court order, are again proposing stringent new rules on lobster fishing in an effort to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The decline in whale numbers in recent years is troubling. However, it is also problematic that more precise data on the causes of whale deaths remains lacking.
We, along with fishermen, conservationists, our governor and congressional delegation, want the right whale population to grow and thrive. But without evidence that lobster fishing gear is a significant threat to the whales, it is hard to accept potentially expensive, burdensome and dangerous changes in lobster fishing gear that may have little impact on the whales.
In the new draft biological opinion, the document that will be the basis for National Marine Fisheries Service regulations for the management of numerous ocean fisheries to limit harm to right whales, the agency clearly acknowledges the gaps in data.
Regarding collisions with ships, the agency says it is currently undergoing a separate review of measures, including mandated speed reductions and closed areas, to reduce what are called “vessel strikes.” Twice in the document it says: “This review is expected to be released soon.”
After years of inaction, federal regulators are on the cusp of imposing new rules to protect right whales
March 1, 2021 — Nearly two years ago, federal regulators declared that North Atlantic right whales were facing an existential crisis. They convened a wide-ranging team of experts — state officials, scientists, fishermen, and conservation groups — in what they said was an effort to save the species from extinction.
Since then, 14 whales have been found dead and another 14 have been so seriously injured — either from entanglements in fishing gear or vessel strikes — that they’re considered “swimming while dead.” As the estimated right whale population plunged by a quarter, a federal judge ruled last spring that the US government was violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to adequately protect them.
Now, after the Trump administration slow-walked regulations to protect right whales that could harm the powerful lobster industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service is finally on the cusp of issuing the controversial new protections, which are drawing opposition from both the fishing industry and environmentalists.
“Developing these proposed modifications was challenging for everyone involved,” wrote Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator for fisheries, in a letter that accompanied the release of the draft regulations in late December.
The proposed rules — likely to take effect this summer — are estimated to cost the lobster industry as much as $61 million over six years, or about 10 percent of its annual revenues in recent years.
Feds Taking Final Comments About Plan to Save Right Whales
March 1, 2021 — The federal government is taking the last of the comments about a proposal to try to save an endangered species of whale.
The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 360. The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking comments about its proposal to reduce risk to right whales until March 1.
The government’s proposal to help the whales includes changes to the U.S. lobster fishing industry, which is one of the most lucrative marine industries in the Northeast. The whales are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.
PFMC: Notice of availability: Salmon Preseason Report I
March 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:
This is the second report in an annual series of four reports prepared by the Salmon Technical Team of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) to document and help guide ocean fishery salmon management off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. The report focuses on Chinook, coho, and pink salmon stocks that have been important in determining Council fisheries in recent years, and on stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with established National Marine Fisheries Service ESA consultation standards. This report will be formally reviewed at the Council’s March 2021 meeting.
Please visit the Council’s website to download Preseason Report I: Stock Abundance Analysis and Environmental Assessment Part 1 for 2021 Ocean Salmon Fishery Regulations (Published March 2021).
For further information:
- Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.
Little time left to save the North Atlantic right whale
February 26, 2021 — After years of petitioning the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect North Atlantic right whales, conservation groups recently filed an emergency lawsuit asking the US government to expand protections for the highly endangered species.
Right whales were once hunted to near extinction, but when hunting was banned in 1935, the population of right whales began to slowly bounce back. Today, the population is again in free fall. Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are killing more right whales each year than are being born. Less than 400 of these giant marine mammals remain, making them a critically endangered species.
The National Marine Fisheries Service currently has a rule in place that requires vessels over 65 feet long to slow down in certain areas at certain times of the year to prevent right whales from getting run over and killed by ships. In 2012, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to expand the scope of that rule so that it applies in more areas and to smaller vessels.
“The agency has never responded to our petition, despite a host of evidence indicating that the rule, while it’s effective in the places and times that it applies, is not effective enough,” says Kristen Monsell, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Rules planned to save right whales loom over lobster fishers
February 22, 2021 — America’s lobster fishery is getting close to the date when it will have to contend with new rules designed to try to save a species of whale from extinction.
The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 360, and scientists have said the animal’s small population of breeding females could spell doom for the species. The National Marine Fisheries Service is developing new rules to reduce the possibility of entanglement in fishing gear, which can kill the whales.
A court decision required the fisheries service to finalize the rules by May 31. The agency is on track to produce the final rules on time, said Jennifer Goebel, a spokesperson.
The whale protection rules will focus on lobster and crab fisheries in the Northeast by reducing the number of vertical lines in the water, the federal government has said. It will also modify seasonal restricted areas and make other changes, the government has said.
The coming restrictions have sparked a rancorous debate between environmentalists and lobster fishermen over the proper way to save the whale. Lobster fishing groups have said overly restrictive rules could put them out of business.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said the industry has a “long history of conservation of lobster resource and large whale protections.”
BRENNAN STRONG: Maine lobstermen and fisheries regulators need more time to assess new whale rules
February 19, 2021 — I am a 22-year-old commercial lobsterman. I got my lobster license at 11 years old and I have poured my heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into building my business ever since. I am writing out of deep concern for the future of the lobster fishery because of the newly proposed right whale regulations.
For over 100 years, this industry has been the role model for a sustainable and honorable fishery. We throw back more lobsters than we keep every day, as well as remove litter consistently from the bays where we work. This industry has given thousands of people opportunities to work, dream, and contribute to coastal communities. Lobstering is a way of life and is vital for Maine and its people.
However, the Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross court ruling from Judge James Boasberg requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to have new right whale regulations and a new biological opinion by May 31, 2021 is dangerously premature. The problem is that May 31 is too soon to properly evaluate the scientific and real-life factors at play. The entanglement statistics contain many assumptions and more time is needed to make sure everything is fact-based.
The significant threats to right whales have been and continue to be vessel strikes and entanglement with Canadian fishing gear, not Maine lobster gear. Those threats are not discussed thoroughly in the draft biological opinion, which states:
“NMFS is conducting a review of our vessel strike reduction measures … as it pertains to right whale management. … This review is expected to be released soon.”
Proposal To Protect Pacific Corals Exempts Military Training Areas
February 18, 2021 — A National Marine Fisheries Service proposal to designate 230 square miles of critical habitat for seven threatened coral species in the Pacific Ocean is getting mixed reviews from environmental advocates due to an exemption for military training areas.
The unprecedented initiative would be a milestone for groups fighting to preserve the coral species, which are threatened by warming seas and ocean acidification fueled by climate change. But critics say the military should have to adhere to the same rules and called for more public hearings before a decision is made.
The designated critical habitats are located in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and other U.S. Pacific islands.
“The proposal does not accurately reflect the cumulative impacts of the proposed federal activities that will take place in the area that may affect the survival of these coral species,” Guam Sen. Sabina Flores Perez said in her public testimony on the proposal.
Ropeless gear bill introduced in California statehouse
February 17, 2021 — A bill to require the use of ropeless pop-up gear in Dungeness crab and other trap fisheries by November 2025 was introduced into the California State Assembly on Thursday, Feb. 11.
Dubbed the Whale Entanglement Prevention Act, fishermen say the passage of such a law would be a death knell for the iconic and recently embattled Dungeness crab fishery. But at this point, there isn’t much fear among the fleet, as the bill could be dead in the water.
“I think we’re going to kill it,” said Ben Platt, a Crescent City-based fisherman and president of the California Coast Crab Association. “It’s not going to make it out of committee.”
Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) introduced the bill, AB-534, with two environmental organizations as cosponsors, Social Compassion in Legislation and the Center for Biological Diversity. The latter group filed a federal suit against the state of California in October 2017, arguing an increase in whale entanglements in the Dungeness crab fishery violated the Endangered Species Act.
The spike in whale entanglements from 2015 to 2017 has been attributed to climate change and an extreme marine heatwave that caused ecosystem shifts and habitat compression.
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