Saving Seafood

Fishery Council Announces Recommendations for Hawaiʻi Fisheries

November 5, 2018 — After a four-day meeting last week, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council announced their recommendations for nearshore fisheries in Hawai’i and Guam. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, the council has authority over fisheries throughout Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the US Pacific Remote Islands.

During the meeting, the Council prepared an amendment to the Hawai’i Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) to revise the precious corals essential fish habitat (EFH) document. The council specifically recommended revising existing seabeds and designating new seabeds as EFH for deepwater precious corals. The council also decided that the geographic extent and habitat characteristics for shallow-water precious corals should be updated.

The council recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) set the MHI non-Deep 7 bottomfish ACL at 127,205 pounds and MHI deep-water shrimp ACL at 250,773 pounds for fishing years 2019-2021. The council also recommended that the NMFS set the MHI Kona crab ACL at 3,500 pounds for fishing year 2019.

For precious corals, the council recommended that the ACLs for 2019-2021 be set to 5,512 pounds for ‘Au’au Channel black coral, 2,205 pounds for Makapu’u Bed pink coral, 55 for Makapu’u Bed bamboo, 489 pounds for 180 Fathom Bank pink coral, 123 pounds for 180 Fathom Bank bamboo coral, 979 pounds for Brooks Bank pink coral, 245 pounds for Brooks Bank bamboo coral, 148 pounds for Ka’ena Point Bed pink coral, 37 pounds for Ka’ena Point Bed bamboo coral, 148 pounds for Keahole Bed pink coral, 37 pounds for Keahole Bed bamboo coral, and 2,205 pounds for precious coral in MHI exploratory area.

Read the full story at Maui Now

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker urges Interior: Keep NY turbines out of prime fishing grounds

November 5, 2018 — Gov. Charlie Baker wrote to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on Thursday to ask him to consider eliminating the highest-priority fishing areas from future leases for offshore wind, particularly in the New York Bight, a heavily fished area south of Long Island.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has begun evaluating potential locations in the New York Bight for wind.

“Some of the areas under consideration for leasing represent very productive and high-value grounds for fishermen from Massachusetts and other states,” Baker said in the letter.

He cited an assessment of fish landings earlier this year by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils that calculated the value of fishing within the proposed areas at more than $344 million from 2012 to 2016.

“Views of the fishing industry must be valued, which has been fundamental to the successful process in Massachusetts,” he said.

New Bedford fishermen and city officials expressed serious concerns about the New York locations in a meeting with BOEM in September. At the time, vessel owner Eric Hansen said 40 to 50 percent of the scalloping grounds fished by New Bedford scallopers are within that area.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Electronic monitoring has smooth first year; human observer costs rising

November 1, 2018 — After the first year of electronic monitoring on fishing vessels in Alaska, the National Marine Fisheries Service is expanding the pool for boats that want to get in on it.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has been working on implementing an electronic monitoring program for commercial fishing vessels in Alaska for several years. The devices, essentially small cameras and sensors, replace a human observer and take note of the bycatch and total catch on eligible vessels. In 2018, the first year of the program, the council approved 145 vessels to participate.

At its meeting Oct. 4 in Anchorage, council staff member Elizabeth Figus said things went so well on those vessels that not a single one had to be removed from the pool for a violation of the Vessel Monitoring Plan, or VMP.

“That was really good news,” she told the council.

In June, the council approved an expansion of the program to allow up to 165 vessels to participate. The deadline to register through the Observer Declare and Deploy System was Nov. 1.

The small boat fleet in particular pushed for the implementation of electronic monitoring equipment after the council changed the requirements for observing to include small vessels — boats 60 feet or shorter— because it’s harder for them to provide the space and gear for another person besides the crew.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Navy to limit sonar, explosions in more areas off East Coast to protect endangered whales

November 1, 2018 — The Navy is expanding the area it limits the use of sonar and explosives off the East Coast as part of an effort to help protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The whales were nearly hunted into extinction by the 1890s and today there are only about 450 left, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

While the biggest modern day threats to the whales are entanglement in fishing gear and direct strikes from vessels, underwater noise pollution can interfere with their communication and affect their behavior, the fisheries service said.

The large black whales travel between New England in the warm months to feed and mate and south to Florida to have their offspring in winter. They’re recognizable by their lack of a dorsal fin, broad tails and raised patches of rough skin on their heads. Occasionally, they roam in the same areas that submarines, warships and helicopters that use sonar or deploy torpedoes or other explosives train and operate in.

To comply with federal laws protecting marine mammals and endangered species, the Navy works with the fisheries service to reduce its impacts through mitigation areas. In the northeast, the mitigation area is expanding to include the right whale’s entire critical habitat area to limit the use of sonar and explosives.

Read the full story at The Virginian Pilot

Federal Managers Make Recommendations for Guam, Hawaii Fisheries

October 30, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council wrapped up its four-day meeting in the Mariana Archipelago last week in Guam with the following recommendations regarding Guam and Hawaii nearshore fisheries and other matters.

For Guam fisheries, the Council recommended bottomfish annual catch limits (ACLs), and made recommendations about the Guam Ocean Fishery Management Council and marine reserve areas, among other items.

The Council recommended the National Marine Fisheries Service set an bottomfish ACL of 66,000 pounds for fishing year 2019. Currently, Guam harvests 29 percent of that recommended bottomfish ACL. The next benchmark assessment, scheduled for review in February 2019, will provide new information to set the ACLs for fishing year 2020 to 2022.

The Council also encouraged the Government of Guam to expedite the appointment of the members of the Guam Ocean Fishery Management Council and reduce the paperwork requirements for the community and the public to serve in it.

With respect to marine preserve areas in Guam, the Council directed staff to communicate with the federal Marine Protected Area Advisory Committee regarding the findings of the “Fishing Community Perceptions on Marine Preserve Siting Process” report, including procedural justice, transferred effects, safety, etc., and to provide the final report to the local federal agencies for use in their management objectives.

The Council also made recommendations regarding the ACLs for Hawaiian fisheries.

For main Hawaiian island (MHI) non-Deep 7 bottomfish, deep-water shrimp, Kona crab and precious corals, the Council recommended NMFS set the MHI non-Deep 7 bottomfish ACL at 127,205 pounds and MHI deep-water shrimp ACL at 250,773 pounds for fishing years 2019-2021 and the MHI Kona crab ACL at 3,500 pounds for fishing year 2019. For precious corals, the recommended ACLs for 2019-2021 are Auau Channel black coral 5,512 pounds; Makapuu Bed pink coral 2,205 pounds; Makapuu Bed bamboo coral 551 pounds; 180 Fathom Bank pink coral 489 pounds; 180 Fathom Bank bamboo coral 123 pounds; Brooks Bank pink coral 979 pounds; Brooks Bank bamboo coral 245 pounds; Kaena Point Bed pink coral 148 pounds; Kaena Point Bed bamboo coral 37 pounds; Keahole Bed pink coral 148 pounds; Keahole Bed bamboo coral 37 pounds; and precious coral in MHI exploratory area 2,205 pounds.

The Council also directed staff to evaluate options for improving conservation and management of the Hawaii bottomfish fishery, including an assessment of data collection, consistency of federal and state regulatory measures and harvest controls, and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

The Council also considered other matters, such as marine monuments, aquaculture and habitat.

The Council directed staff to communicate to the administration that the fishing prohibitions be removed for the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and allow only Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-registered vessels to fish there. It also directed staff to write to the Okeanos-Foundations for the Sea in New Jersey and cc the governors of Guam and the CNMI, noting that the Council commends the development of the Okeanos Marianas vessel as a traditional method for addressing climate change impacts and encourages the Foundation to keep the vessel in the CNMI and transfer its ownership to the local Okeanos Marianas organization in Saipan.

Habitat issues also got attention, as the Council directed staff to convene a regional workshop of experts to discuss habitat-related issues, including non-fish impacts on essential fish habitat (EFH) and habitat areas of particular concern, prior to the convening of the national workshop on habitat to be convened by the Council Coordination Committee.

Staff was also directed to look at the current regulatory regime in place in federal waters to determine the needs for developing offshore aquaculture, determining the best sites for aquaculture and obtaining funding to assist local interests to develop aquaculture in the Western Pacific Region. Furthermore, staff will the Plan Team to include in its research priorities the impacts of climate and ecosystem changes to pelagic fisheries and coral reef ecosystems.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

U.S. Withdrawal of California Gillnet Protections for Whales, Turtles Ruled Illegal

October 29, 2018 — The Trump administration unlawfully withdrew a plan to limit the number of whales, turtles and other marine creatures permitted to be inadvertently killed or harmed by drift gillnets used to catch swordfish off California, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision requires U.S. fisheries managers to take steps to implement the plan, which calls for placing numerical limits on the “bycatch” of bottlenose dolphins, four whale species and four sea turtle species snared in swordfish gillnets.

As currently written, the regulation in question also would mandate suspension of swordfish gillnet operations altogether off Southern California if any one of the bycatch limits were exceeded.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council endorsed the plan in 2015, and it was formally proposed for implementation by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service the following year.

The rule was expected to gain final approval but was abruptly withdrawn instead in June 2017 under President Donald Trump, whose Commerce Department determined the cost to the commercial fishing industry outweighed conservation benefits.

The environmental group Oceana sued, accusing the Commerce Department of violating U.S. fisheries laws and the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Oceana also asked the courts to order the agency to put the bycatch limits into effect.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner declined to force the National Marine Fisheries Service to immediately implement the restrictions in a decision handed down Wednesday in Los Angeles.

But he sided with environmentalists in finding the agency’s reversal exceeded its authority and was “arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of its discretion.”

Read the full story at U.S. News

Catalina Offshore Gets Funding to Revive Opah Consumption in California, West Coast

October 26, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Catalina Offshore Products has been awarded $139,700 for a project to grow demand for opah and other underutilized and undervalued species. The funding is thanks to the 2018 National Marine Fisheries Service Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program.

Catalina’s proposal, A Culinary Engineering Approach to Increasing the Value of Local Fisheries: Reducing Fish Discards at Sea and Promoting Full Utilization, was envisioned as scalable to the national level and is based on a year-long project that may help to increase revenue to local fleets and provide consumers with a greater range of locally sourced seafood.

Two objectives underscore the project’s culinary engineering approach. The first and primary objective is to broaden the appeal of opah, such that all edible portions of the fish are utilized. The second is to develop new culinary markets for species being discarded by U.S. Pacific highly migratory species (HMS) fisheries landing their catch in southern California.

Opah (Lampris spp.), or “moonfish,” are a closely related group of six large pelagic fish species found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, two of which (smalleye Pacific opah, L. incognitus, and bigeye Pacific opah, L. megalopsis) occur seasonally off the coasts of California and Mexico. Historically elusive, Pacific opah are a secondary target in West Coast commercial fisheries and have been showing up more frequently in recent years.

Opah are about the size of a car tire and can weigh up to 200 pounds, yet a considerable portion is typically discarded. This reduces profitability to fishermen and deprives U.S. consumers of additional sources of responsibly harvested domestic seafood.

Catalina Offshore has pioneered a full utilization approach to opah by identifying seven distinct types of meat. These portions of the opah, each with a unique color, flavor and texture profile, allow for a wider range of culinary applications. This differs from most other species in which flavor, texture and color tend to be the same throughout the fish.

“People tend to eat what they’re familiar with,” notes the company’s fishmonger, Tommy Gomes in a press release. “We’re trying to get them to look beyond the standard fillet. You wouldn’t harvest a pig just to make bacon. Fish should be approached the same way.”

Catalina also produced a short video showing the different cuts of meat available from an opah.

Several partners join Catalina Offshore on this project, including celebrated local chefs, fishermen dedicated to sustainable fishing practices, a retired NOAA Fisheries administrator turned sustainable seafood consultant, scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and Wildlife Computers.

Hoping to gain a better understanding of the opah’s basic biology and ecology, SWFSC researchers began collecting samples from opah in 2009 and initiated an electronic tagging program in 2011. Culinary aspects will draw from the imaginations of chefs Rob Ruiz, Davin Waite and Jason McLeod, known for their innovation, zero waste practices and commitment to using responsibly sourced seafood.

Work will consist of data collection, roundtables with fishermen and consumers, kitchen workshops, recipe development, culinary demonstrations, and an “Ocean to Table” finale event. During this public showcase, project outcomes will be presented along with a suite of dishes highlighting different culinary applications for opah, as well as other HMS species currently being discarded but identified through research as having market potential.

“We’re fortunate to have such passionate and esteemed individuals lending their expertise to our culinary engineering project,” Catalina Offshore owner Dave Rudie said in the statement. “This collaboration will allow us to build on our experience working with opah, and further develop market demand for undervalued and underutilized species. We hope our efforts will benefit our local fisheries, increase the viability of our working waterfronts, and illustrate the value of not only fishing sustainably, but eating sustainably.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

Fight for New Fluke Quota in New York

October 26, 2018 — For many years, commercial fishermen in New York have complained about the inequities they faced in the numbers­­­ of summer flounder they could land (as well as other popular species), when compared to other states along the East Coast. The fight has gone on for nearly 30 years and continues to this day.

In April, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council approved a summer flounder commercial issues draft amendment that rejected a motion by New York representatives to add provisions that would more adequately address the state-by-state quota inequity in the fluke fishery. Once again, the council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission solicited public comment on the draft amendment, which ended last week. While a decision has yet to be made, it’s very clear that frustration abounds concerning an imbalance between many on land and those who work on the water.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has called for two additional options in the summer flounder commercial issues draft amendment — to negotiate new state quota shares of summer flounder and to include a coast-wide quota and management of summer flounder.

“The state-by-state quotas created by the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council and the Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, are based upon faulty and incomplete collection data, which discriminate against commercial fishermen in the State of New York,” Mr. Thiele said in an Oct. 15 statement.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

 

Western Pacific Council Makes Recommendations to Keep US Pacific Island Fisheries Viable

October 26, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded its two-day meeting in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) this week with recommendations regarding pelagic, international and American Samoa fisheries.

Council discussion centered around keeping healthy, sustainable U.S. Pacific Island fisheries viable amid an accumulation of U.S. regulations and international negotiations.

Billfish Conservation Act and Bigeye Tuna

The Council expressed dismay over the recent amendment to the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, which bans the interstate commerce of billfish (excluding swordfish) landed by U.S. fishermen in Hawaii and the US Pacific Islands. The billfish stocks caught by Hawaii and U.S. Pacific Island fisheries are healthy, unlike the billfish in the Atlantic, the Western Pacific Council said in a press release.

The bill to amend the Act was introduced and promoted by Congressional delegates and sports fishing organizations from Florida. Recent guidelines from the National Marine Fisheries Service say the billfish landed in the US Territories and Hawaii are also prohibited from being sold in foreign markets. The Council directed staff to develop a list of questions and issues associated with amendment compliance and send them to NMFS for a response.

The Hawaii deep-set longline fishery catches billfish incidentally when targeting bigeye tuna. The amount of bigeye in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) the fishery may retain annually is developed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), an international regional fishery management organization to which the U.S. is a party.

The Council endorsed recent WCPFC’s Permanent Advisory Committee to advise the U.S. commissioners (PAC) majority recommendation to obtain a longline bigeye quota of 6,000 metric tons (mt) at the upcoming WCPFC meeting in December in Honolulu. This amount is slightly less than the amount of bigeye caught in the WCPO in 2016 by Hawaii longline vessels, including those vessels operating under agreements with U.S. Participating Territories. The Council said it will communicate this recommendation to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Hawaii longline fleet is the sole fishery that utilizes the U.S. quota, which is currently set at 3,554 mt.

South Pacific Albacore

The Council also endorsed the PAC recommendation that the U.S. position generally be in support of adopting a South Pacific albacore target reference point. The reference point is a catch target that supports economically viable operations and healthy stock biomass. The American Samoa longline fishery, which harvests this stock, has been in decline since 2011. The Council asked NMFS to provide economic evaluations of the fleet’s performance at various target reference points in advance of WCPFC15.

Hawaii Longline Fishery

Among other pelagic and international fishery matters, the Council recommended initial action be taken that would require electronic reporting in the Hawaii longline fishery. The Council will ask NMFS to continue to develop electronic reporting in the Hawaii longline fishery and to work with Hawaii longline participants and Council staff to address several implementation issues and report back to the Council at its March 2019 meeting.

The Council intended to take action regarding the management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles in the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery, which targets swordfish. However, action was postponed as a draft biological opinion due from NMFS on Oct. 1 has not been completed. The Council will reconvene its Scientific and Statistical Committee Working Group when the draft opinion is available. The Council may convene an interim Council meeting, if needed, to review the draft opinion and consider revisions to its June 2018 recommendations, including a possible specification of individual trip limits for leatherback sea turtle interactions.

American Samoa Fisheries

Regarding American Samoa fisheries, the Council recommended an annual catch limit (ACL) of 106,000 pounds for the American Samoa bottomfish species complex for fishing year 2019. The Council noted the next benchmark assessment, which is scheduled for review in February 2019, will provide new information to set the ACLs for fishing years 2020 to 2022. The Council also directed its staff to work with the Council’s American Samoa Advisory Panel to develop a plan for outreach and education, preferably in cooperation with Territory’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, to educate communities on various fisheries and fisheries-related issues.

The Council will reconvene at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, at the Hilton at Tumon, Guam.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

US Western Pacific council recommends catch limits for CNMI, presents $250K check

October 25, 2018 — The US Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, at its 174th meeting in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on Monday, recommended an annual catch limit (ACL) of 228,000 pounds for all CNMI bottomfish during the 2019 fishing year. That includes such species as amberjack and red snapper.

The amount is well above the average annual catch from 2015 until 2017 of 35,696 lbs, the council noted in a press release.

The next stock assessment is scheduled for review in February 2019 and will provide new information to set the ACLs for fishing year 2020 to 2022.

The council opened its meeting by presenting a $250,000 check to CNMI governor Ralph Torres and Department of Lands and Natural Resources secretary Anthony Benavente, according to the press release. The funds, which stem from a 2017 bigeye fishing agreement between the CNMI and Hawaii longline vessels, will be used to implement a bottomfish training and fishing demonstration project, which could then lead to the purchase of a vessel to help with fishery development, council executive director Kitty Simons said.

The council also discussed, among other issues, community concerns about the pre-positioning of ships anchored off Saipan’s shores. It said it would help an advisory panel in the CNMI facilitate a meeting between the Saipan military liaison and the CNMI government.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News