Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Proposes Squid and Butterfish Quotas for the 2019 Fishing Year

May 1, 2019 — The following was published by NOAA Fisheries:

Based on updated information, we are proposing an 8-percent increase in the 2019 commercial Illex squid quota. The previously approved 2019 annual quotas for longfin squid and butterfish would be maintained and would not be changed by this action.

The increased 2019 Illex quota is based on an evaluation that similar historic catch has not harmed the stock. As new information becomes available, we may revise the proposed quotas for future fishing years.

Read the proposed rule as published today in the Federal Register.

Comments on this rule must be received by 5 pm on May 31, 2019.

To submit comments, please use the Federal e-rulemaking portal, or send comments by regular mail to:

Michael Pentony
Regional Administrator
National Marine Fisheries Service
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA, 01930

Please mark the outside of the envelope, “Comments on the Proposed Rule for 2019 Squid and Butterfish Specifications.”

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Alyson Pitts, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9352
Media: Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, 978-281-9175

Whale woes: Maine lobster reps agree to 50 percent cut in vertical lines

May 1, 2019 — After months of speculation and hand-wringing, Northeast lobstermen got a clear message from NMFS at the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team meeting last week: Make drastic changes, or we’ll do it for you.

“On day three of the TRT meeting, NMFS Deputy Assistant Administrator Sam Rauch… did not mince words in stating that the TRT’s job is to identify measures to reduce right whale serious injury and mortality from lobster gear by 60-80 percent,” said Maine Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron in an April 29 letter to members. “He was clear that the TRT meeting gave the fishing industry its opportunity to shape how that reduction is achieved. If we failed that task, NMFS would begin rulemaking without our advice and decide for us.”

The 64-member team — established in 1996 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act — includes East Coast fishermen and associations representing fixed-gear fisheries, fishery managers, environmental organizations and scientists. Maine’s lobster industry holds four seats on the team, including McCarron’s.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Michael Rubino takes on new role as NOAA Fisheries’ senior advisor for seafood strategy

April 30, 2019 — Dr. Michael Rubino has been appointed as the new senior advisor for seafood strategy at NOAA Fisheries, the agency announced on 29 April.

Rubino, who has served as the director of the Office of Aquaculture at NOAA Fisheries since 2011, will be in charge of leading the development of markets for U.S. fisheries products and oversee the expansion of new domestic aquaculture production in his new role. With a plethora of experience in seafood production and the science behind it, Rubino is an ideal fit for the new expanded position, according to NOAA Fisheries.

“We are thrilled that Michael is stepping into this new, expanded role,” Dr. Paul Doremus, the deputy assistant administrator for operations at NOAA Fisheries, said in a press release. “He has a wealth of experience leveraging partnerships across the seafood spectrum and will now play an even bigger role in the expansion of U.S. seafood production, economic growth, and new jobs.”

There will be two major responsibilities in store for Rubino as NOAA Fisheries’ new senior advisor for seafood strategy: First being to expand U.S. aquaculture production by forming partnerships with seafood companies, fishermen, seafood famers, scientists, government agencies, tribes, and others to support the adoption of sustainable aquaculture practices nationally; and secondly, helping to develop new markets for U.S. wild-capture fisheries, the agency said. To help fulfill these core responsibilities, Rubino will work closely with the Office of Aquaculture as it continues to lead the NOAA Fisheries’ work on aquaculture, and the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, as it continues to focus on market access and international trade.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sea Grant Announces Funding Opportunity for Highly Migratory Species Research

April 26, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Sea Grant:

Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS), which include tunas, billfish, and sharks, are important to both the ecological health of ocean ecosystems and to commercial and recreational fisheries. However, knowledge gaps in the life history, biology, and population status of many of these species limit understanding and the ability to sustainably manage these species. Populations of HMS and the coastal communities that rely on the health of these important fish stocks could greatly benefit from improved, science-based management and conservation.

As part of the FY 2019 Appropriations Bill for NOAA, Congress directed the National Sea Grant College Program to spend up to $2 million to initiate a HMS research initiative focused on HMS species in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, including the interactions between yellow-fin tuna and oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. This direction, and priorities identified in the 2014 Atlantic HMS Management-Based Research Needs and Priorities document developed by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in concert with industry and management stakeholders, was used to develop this initiative, which will support research to address critical gaps in knowledge about HMS in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean regions.

Letters of Intent are due May 15, 2019 (see formal announcement for details).

Full proposals are due June 19, 2019 (see formal announcement for details).

Read the full release here

Groundfish quota changes up for debate

April 26, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comment on its proposed rule revising catch limits for seven of the 20 groundfish stocks for the 2019 fishing season, but the real battle over commercial groundfish quotas probably will wait until after the next operational stock assessment in the fall.

The proposed rule, called Framework 58, calls for increasing the commercial quota for Georges Bank cod by 15 percent, Georges Bank haddock by 19 percent and Georges Bank winter flounder by 6 percent for the new fishing season that is set to begin Wednesday.

It also includes a 1 percent increase for witch flounder.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the proposed rule, published in the Federal Register, calls for a whopping 50 percent cut to the annual catch limit for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, a 1 percent reduction in the quota Gulf of Maine winter flounder and a 3 percent cut to the catch limit for Atlantic halibut.

“We’re still digesting the proposed rule and expect to submit our comments next week,” said Jackie O’Dell, executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition.

The deadline for public comment on Framework 58 is May 6.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Feds seek to get S.C. claims tossed in seismic testing suit

April 25, 2019 — As cross-arguments continue between the many parties in a federal lawsuit seeking to block seismic testing off coastal waters of East Coast states, three more municipalities in the Carolinas will get their voices heard, while the federal government tries to get some of South Carolina’s specific claims tossed.

Conservation groups, including Georgia’s One Hundred Miles, filed the suit in December in order to stop the seismic testing that is the precursor to offshore oil and gas drilling. The federal government already awarded five companies permits for incidental harassment of marine mammals that would occur during seismic testing.

The federal defendants — the National Marine Fisheries Services, NMFS Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — argue in a Monday filing that South Carolina “states four novel and legally baseless theories raised by no other party in this suit.”

Those claims, according to the federal attorneys, are that 2017 orders by the president and the Commerce secretary were invalid because “they retract putative policies” from the Obama administration, that they seismic testing is a public nuisance, that any survey activities would constitute trespassing and that the survey activities violate admiralty law.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

WASHINGTON: Skagit River has lost half of important habitat for salmon that orcas depend on

April 23, 2019 — The Skagit River is one of Puget Sound’s most important rivers for Chinook salmon and the killer whales who depend on them.

Last week, KING 5 visited a fish trap that looks like a floating hut. Each morning, state wildlife technicians check to see what’s been caught.

“We operate from January through mid-July to catch juvenile salmon as they are migrating towards Puget sound,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Clayton Kinsel.

Kinsel’s team is mostly counting chum salmon right now, some 3,000-4,000 each night. Southern Resident killer whales do eat chum, but scientists believe their diet depends on Chinook salmon.

Those salmon are dwindling like the whales who depend on them, and the fish trap is helping scientists figure out how to stop that.

“It tells us how many fish are coming down stream to Puget Sound. It’s a tool that we use to set fisheries, to manage fisheries to inform habitat restoration,” Kinsel said.

“Habitat restoration” is the buzz phrase when it comes to Chinook salmon recovery, especially on the Skagit River, where dikes and levees have cut off side streams that are important for young salmon trying to grow bigger and stronger for their journey to the ocean.

“These are places where the river used to flow many years ago. They are now cut off. In particular, the levee right along the Skagit River, it’s cutting water access off to all those side channels,” said NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Science Center research biologist Correigh Greene. “As a result, those places are inaccessible to juvenile salmon moving down the river.”

Read the full story at K5 News

SeaWorld Publishes Decades of Orca Data to Help Wild Whales

April 23, 2019 — The endangered killer whales of the Pacific Northwest live very different lives from orcas in captivity.

They swim up to 100 miles (161 kilometers) a day in pursuit of salmon, instead of being fed a steady diet of baitfish and multivitamins. Their playful splashing awes and entertains kayakers and passengers on Washington state ferries instead of paying theme park customers.

But the captive whales are nevertheless providing a boon to researchers urgently trying to save wild whales in the Northwest.

SeaWorld, which displays orcas at its parks in California, Texas and Florida, has recently published data from thousands of routine blood tests of its killer whales over two decades, revealing the most comprehensive picture yet of what a healthy whale looks like. The information could guide how and whether scientists intervene to help sick or stranded whales in the wild.

Read the full story at NBC Washington

Trump administration opts not to pursue appeal of driftnet ruling

April 23, 2019 — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has decided against appealing a federal judge’s ruling that NOAA Fisheries illegally withdrew a proposal that would have placed hard caps on the bycatch of protected species caught in California’s swordfish drift gillnet fishery.

On Monday, 15 April, when its brief was due to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the administration instead filed a notice to dismiss its appeal voluntarily. As a result, NOAA Fisheries will begin talks with the Pacific Fishery Management Council to determine the limits that should be placed on such species as humpback whales, loggerhead turtles, and leatherback turtles.

The PFMC initially worked with key stakeholders to establish caps on nine species, and NOAA Fisheries published the draft review for implementation in October 2016. However, eight months later, after Trump was elected president, the agency reversed its course.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UPDATE: New fishing rules on agenda to protect rare whale

April 23, 2019 — This week is shaping up to be the week of the North Atlantic right whale, as regulators, conservationists and fishing stakeholders convene in New England to hammer out new measures to protect the imperiled cetaceans from potentially deadly entanglements in fishing gear.

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team is set to meet Tuesday through Friday in Providence, Rhode Island. The proceedings will be closely watched by segments of the Northeast commercial fishing industry — particularly Massachusetts and Maine lobstermen — to gauge the impact on future fishing.

“Tackling entanglements is critical to the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale population, and we can’t do it without the assistance and cooperation of those who know best how the fishing industry interacts with large whales,” Mike Pentony, the Gloucester-based regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement. “The continued participation and dedication of our industry, science, (non-governmental organizations) and agency partners is absolutely necessary to future success.”

The population of the North Atlantic right whales peaked at about 480 in 2010 before another downward trajectory emerged, fueled in part by an unprecedented 17 mortalities in U.S. and Canadian waters in 2017, particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery.

Today, whale researchers estimate the North Atlantic right whale population hovers around 411.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times