Saving Seafood

Judge’s rejection of lobstering ban draws praise of industry, ire of environmentalists

October 18, 2021 — Lobster industry advocates and environmental groups offered starkly different reactions Sunday to a judge’s decision blocking a federal ban on lobstering in a section of the Gulf of Maine designed to protect the endangered right whale.

The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, said federal regulators relied on “markedly thin” analysis that didn’t provide hard proof of the whales’ presence in the roughly thousand-square-mile area off the Maine coast. Advocates for the lobster industry had asked for a stay of the three-month ban, arguing there wasn’t evidence that the critically endangered whales actually frequent the area.

Environmental groups accused Walker of relying on his own analysis of data rather than that of scientists. Lobstering advocates, on the other hand, praised the judge for offering a lifeline to the $1.4 billion industry, which is critical to Maine’s economy.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Portland Press Herald

 

Federal Fishery Managers to Choose Alternative for American Samoa Bottomfish Rebuilding Plan

October 15, 2021 —  The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will meet virtually Oct. 19, 2021, and take final action on the American Samoa Bottomfish Rebuilding Plan. The agenda, background documents and instructions for connecting to the meeting and providing oral public comments are available at www.wpcouncil.org/event/188th-council-virtual-meeting.

In February 2020, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) informed the Council of a change in stock status for American Samoa bottomfish to overfished and experiencing overfishing based on an artifact of uncertainty in the survey data. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires the Council to develop a rebuilding plan within 15 months of notification and rebuild the overfished stock within 10 years. Alternatives include an annual catch limit (ACL) of 5,000 pounds that would rebuild the stock in 10 years with a 27% risk of overfishing, and closing federal waters.

The ACL for the bottomfish stock complex specified in 2017, prior to the 2019 assessment, was 106,000 pounds. Following the assessment, fishermen were allowed to catch an interim limit of 13,000 pounds to alleviate the impact on their communities, which expires Nov. 18, 2021. The American Samoa bottomfish fishery is small, with six fishers catching an estimated 8,040 pounds in 2020. Fishery landings have been declining since a high of 21,536 pounds in 2015. NMFS is not scheduled to complete a new stock assessment until 2023.

“According to the Pacific Community (SPC), 5,000 metric tons of bottomfish are harvested in neighboring Samoa, which is an incredible amount of fish,” said Archie Soliai, Council chair and director of the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources. “We obviously have a data problem, not a resource problem.”

At the 187th meeting in September 2021, the Council deferred taking final action on the rebuilding plan for the federally managed bottomfish complex in American Samoa to allow Soliai time to consult with Governor Lemanu Mauga on the coordinated management of the bottomfish fishery in territorial and federal waters. Several Council members expressed their dismay at the low catch limit alternatives and the potential fishery closure.

The Council has worked with NMFS and the territory of American Samoa for the past year to develop the first set of rebuilding plans for the region. Governor Mauga is scheduled to make opening remarks at the Council meeting.

The virtual meeting will have host sites at Tedi of Samoa Building, Suite 208B, Fagatogo Village, American Samoa; BRI Building, Suite 205, Kopa Di Oru St., Garapan, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); and Cliff Pointe, 304 W. O’Brien Dr., Hagatña, Guam. Host sites are subject to local and federal safety and health guidelines regarding COVID-19; check the Council website for updates.

The Council manages federal fisheries operating in waters offshore of the State of Hawai‘i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Areas.

Squid processors help new Northeast science center study

September 24, 2021 — Researchers from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center have installed a new electronic data collection system at five shortfin squid processing facilities across the region, a project that NMFS officials say will help “support good management of a burgeoning fishery.”

With a lot of squid available to measure, researchers hope this pilot project will show that processors can help increase the amount of real-time data on this relatively short-lived species.

The Squid Electronic Size Monitoring Pilot Project is new, and was developed by a team of science center researchers including:

• The Cooperative Research Branch, which specializes research with industry partners.

• The Information Technology Division, which manages and develops data and information gathering systems.

• The Population Dynamics Branch, which studies the distribution, abundance, and population dynamics of commercial species like the shortfin squid.

This team worked alongside industry to design the system. The goal is to create a standardized data stream of northern shortfin squid size and weight provided by processors. The northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus) is fast-growing and lives for less than a year. At any given time, there are multiple cohorts (groups of similarly aged squid) in the population with a wide range of body sizes and weights.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Pacific Scientists Support Streamer Lines to Reduce Albatross Interactions with Tuna Fishery

September 15, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council strongly supported a study that found tori lines are far more effective than blue-dyed fish bait for seabird bycatch mitigation.

The tori line study was conducted from February to June 2021 under an experimental fishing permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Tori lines (also known as bird scaring lines or streamer lines) have shown promise in reducing incidental interactions with seabirds in the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery. The permit allowed tori lines to be tested without the use of blue-dyed bait, which is an existing seabird mitigation requirement in the fishery that has been shown to be less effective than other required measures over time.

The project is a collaboration between the Council, NMFS and the Hawaii Longline Association. The field experiment comprised 87 sets deployed during seven trips from three Hawai‘i-based commercial longline vessels. Participating vessels alternated sets between the two methods each day and carried a video-based system that electronically monitored seabird behavior.

Results showed that Laysan and black-footed albatross were 1.5 times less likely to attempt to attack, and 4 times less likely to contact baited hooks when tori lines are set versus when fishermen use blue-dyed bait. Ultimately, this leads to the seabirds being 14 times less likely to be hooked.

Study author and SSC member Milani Chaloupka noted that “tori lines are economical, fishermen like them and the improved design has reduced entanglement with fishing gear.”

A report from an earlier tori line project in 2019-2020 is available here: https://tinyurl.com/torilinesreport.

The SSC meeting continues through Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. Instructions on connecting to the web conference, agenda and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/event/141st-scientific-and-statistical-committee-virtual-meeting.

 

Maine legislators call for no “hasty” changes to whale plan

August 31, 2021 — Maine’s legislative delegation in Washington is urging federal officials to ensure that the forthcoming North Atlantic right whale regulations don’t include any last-minute changes that would hurt the livelihood of Maine’s fishing communities without providing any meaningful protections for the whales.   

“We are now asking for your assistance to avoid hasty, late-breaking changes by (National Marine Fisheries Service) to measures that have been extensively negotiated and carefully designed in consultation with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and broad outreach to stakeholders,” legislators Susan Collins, Angus King, Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “These changes, as indicated by the Final Environmental Impact Statement, add significant costs to the industry without corresponding gains in conservation and seriously undermine conservation partnerships at state and local levels.”  

With finalization of rules on the lobster and other trap fisheries in response to declining right whale populations expected imminently, the delegation outlined three areas of concern.   

The proposed rule includes a requirement for Maine fishing gear to have a green marker if a specific piece of gear was set inside or outside a certain boundary. This would help determine the origin of gear should it become entangled with a whale.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Federal regulators urged to protect Maine lobstermen in crafting whale rules

August 31, 2021 — Maine’s congressional delegation is urging the federal government not to approve new rules that would negatively impact the state’s commercial fishing industry as they finalize protections for endangered whales.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the lawmakers wrote that they have a number of concerns about the National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposed regulations and the plan’s “ability to meaningfully protect whales and its impact on those who depend on fishing, especially lobstering, for their livelihoods.”

The lawmakers, which included Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked regulators to illuminate several “hasty, late-breaking changes” to the final whale protection rules.

Read the full story at The Center Square

Court case is final hope for Inlet drifters

August 27, 2021 — A late-season bumper run of sockeye salmon has pushed the Kenai River to its highest escapement in more than a decade.

Unfortunately for the commercial fishermen in Upper Cook Inlet, they have had to watch many of them go by.

Over the course of the season, Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists upgraded the estimate for the run’s escapement multiple times, upping the in-river bag limits for the sportfishery and opening some additional time for the drift gillnet fleet.

With the setnet fleet out of the water after July 20 because of poor king salmon returns to the Kenai, controlling sockeye escapements to the Kenai and Kasilof fell on the drift fleet and on the in-river dipnet and sportfisheries. Both rivers are ending their seasons significantly greater than the upper end of their escapement goals.

ADFG is projecting a final escapement in the Kasilof of 519,000 sockeye compared to the top end of the escapement goal of 320,000; the sustainable escapement goal for the Kenai River has a top end of 1.3 million and ADFG is projecting an in-river run of about 2.4 million sockeye.

Unless something changes, the drift fleet is likely to lose a major chunk of their fishing area at the end of this year, too.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently working its way through the regulations review process for a new fishery management plan amendment that will close the federal waters of Cook Inlet to salmon fishing. That section, known as the Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ, covers the section of Cook Inlet that’s three nautical miles and farther offshore; drifters typically harvest half or more of their salmon from there during the season.

“For most of the fleet, the EEZ is the preferred area for fishing,” said Erik Huebsch, a drifter and vice president of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association. “Without access to the EEZ, the drift fleet cannot harvest enough salmon to meet expenses and cannot afford to operate.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Collins joins Maine delegation in seeking Maine lobster industry protections

August 26, 2021 — A new set of federal rules to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale that is close to being finalized could be detrimental to Maine’s critical lobster industry, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and a bipartisan, bicameral group of her Maine congressional colleagues.

The forthcoming rules include “hasty, late-breaking changes” that would “significantly harm the livelihoods of communities that depend on fishing and lobstering without meaningfully protecting whales,” Sen. Collins wrote in an Aug. 21 letter sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Jared Golden (D-ME) also signed the letter.

Specifically, the lawmakers expressed concerns about newer proposed modifications to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule, which are now under consideration. They cited several modifications that they say could be harmful for the lobster industry, an important economic driver for Maine.

“These changes, as indicated by the Final Environmental Impact Statement, add significant costs to the industry without corresponding gains in conservation and seriously undermine conservation partnerships at state and local levels,” they wrote.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

Maine Delegation Urges Commerce Secretary to Protect Lobster Fishery

August 24, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME):

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden have sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, urging her to ensure that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule does not include last minute changes that would significantly harm the livelihoods of communities that depend on fishing and lobstering without meaningfully protecting whales. In their letter, the Maine Delegation emphasize that many measures have been crafted after years of negotiation and careful consultation with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to protect the coastal Maine communities that rely on the lobster fishery. The Delegation specifically cites potential changes to regulations on gear marking, closures of valuable fishing areas, and enforcing dangerous one-size-fits-all approaches on gear configurations as risks that could endanger livelihoods and safety for Maine’s lobstering communities.

“We are getting in touch with you once again about the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS’s) Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule (RIN: 0648-BJ09), the finalization of which we understand to be imminent,” wrote the Delegation. “We are grateful for your previous engagement with us over our concerns about this new regulation’s ability to meaningfully protect whales and its impact on those who depend on fishing, especially lobstering, for their livelihoods. We are now asking for your assistance to avoid hasty, late-breaking changes by NMFS to measures that have been extensively negotiated and carefully designed in consultation with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and broad outreach to stakeholders. These changes, as indicated by the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), add significant costs to the industry without corresponding gains in conservation and seriously undermine conservation partnerships at state and local levels.

“As you know, this rule builds on over two decades of collaborative whale conservation efforts and is the specific product of massive stakeholder input and data analysis in recent months and years,” the Delegation continued. “Despite this long timeline and vast effort, we and many of our constituents are deeply concerned about three specific elements of the rule, which we have outlined below. We have also shared these views with Shalanda Young, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and we urge you to direct NMFS staff to engage with their counterparts at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to ensure this opportunity for good public policy making and consideration of informed public comment is not squandered in the midnight hour.”

The Maine Delegation has been steadfastly opposed to undue burdens that would threaten the lobster fishery – an important economic driver for Maine – without meaningfully protecting whales. The Delegation has urged President Joe Biden to act on his pledge to protect lobstermen’s livelihoods, citing the lack of data to support claims that the lobster fishery presents an extreme risk to whales compared to other marine activities such as ship strikes.

The Maine Delegation’s full letter can be downloaded HERE.

NMFS planning new whale protections for Atlantic gillnet and trap fisheries

August 20, 2021 — NMFS officials are beginning a second phase in their drive to reduce fishing gear entanglement risks to endangered Atlantic right whales, fin whales and humpback whales, focusing next on East Coast pot and gillnet fisheries.

The first phase, focused on the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab trap fisheries, is under review is currently at the NOAA Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and agency officials say it will be finalized soon. That part of the plan will bring new requirements for weak links, gear marking, seasonal area closures and minimum number of traps per trawl.

Similar measures would be developed for the other fixed gear fisheries, and NMFS is opening a scoping period Sept. 9 through Oct. 21 to solicit input and information from fishermen and other stakeholders. A schedule released this week sets dates for 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. online webinars.

Read the full story at National Fisherman