Saving Seafood

WPRFMC: Billfish Amendment Targeted Pacific Island Commercial Fisheries with no Conservation Gained

October 9, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — HR 4528, signed into law by President Trump on Aug. 2, 2018, will have a big impact on Hawai‘i fishermen and wholesale businesses as well as potential markets for American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands fisheries.

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, R-Fla., the bill had the seemingly benign title, “To make technical amendments to certain marine fish conservation statutes, and for other purposes.” In reality, the amendment to the Billfish Act of 2012 prohibits U.S.-caught billfish landed in the U.S. Pacific islands by U.S. fishermen from being sold to continental U.S. markets (including Alaska and the Territory of Puerto Rico). Swordfish is not included in the Act’s definition of billfish.

“It is disappointing that special interest groups were successful in lobbying Congress to eliminate sustainable U.S. Pacific Island-caught billfish sales on the mainland,” notes Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. “The change will not have a conservation benefit and is inconsistent with the principles and standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently deciding whether implementing regulations are necessary to enforce the law. The Council staff believes regulations are needed to clarify what is prohibited and what remains legal. Shortly after the law was signed, Council staff received numerous calls from the public about purchasing fresh billfish and value-added products in Hawai‘i to bring to the mainland for sharing or for personal consumption. Questions are also being asked about the exportation of billfish and value added products to foreign destinations.

In addition, seafood businesses on the mainland will need time to adjust and source new products to support their programs that have been built on using sustainably caught fish from Hawai‘i fisheries. Hawai‘i vendors have made commitments to mainland restaurants and retail groups to provide a variety of selections to support their “Fresh Hawaiian Catch of the Week” programs. They specifically choose Hawai‘i sourced fish because it is sustainable and traceable and has been regulated to have low environmental impacts.

It is clear that NMFS, industry and the public will need time to work through the complexities of this new rule. Given these issues, the Council wrote to Chris Oliver, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, suggesting that NMFS develop a national education and outreach effort that corresponds to the rule-making process and that NMFS initiate enforcement after publication of the final rule. It was suggested that NMFS convene a meeting with the appropriate wholesale/dealer representatives in Hawai‘i and the Council to sort through the issues to be addressed in development of implementing regulations.

Prior to the bill’s passage, the Council received letters from both Oliver and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stating that HR 4528 was unnecessary and would not lead to improved billfish conservation. Proponents of the bill said the 2012 Billfish Conservation Act had created a loophole in the prohibiting of all foreign imports of billfish into the United States by providing an exemption for U.S. fisheries landing billfish in Hawai‘i, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. However, the exemption provided to U.S. Pacific Island fisheries in the 2012 legislation was clearly a preference by Congress to not negatively impact jobs in U.S. seafood markets, as the Congressional record indicates.

Sales of foreign-caught billfish in the U.S. and commercial harvest and sales of U.S. caught billfish in the Atlantic, where several species are overfished or experiencing overfishing, have been prohibited since 1988. For decades, a NMFS-administered Billfish Certificate of Eligibility (COE) has been required to accompany any billfish caught in the Pacific that is offered for commercial sale in the United States. The COE is meant to ensure billfish in the US market is not from the Atlantic or foreign fisheries by documenting the vessel, homeport, port of offloading and date of offloading. There was no loophole as alleged, and no evidence that foreign billfish were being laundered through Hawai‘i. Rather, the bill removed an exemption for domestic, sustainably caught billfish, as billfish populations in the Pacific are healthy. Proponents, on the other hand, believe marlins and other billfish should be caught only by recreational fishermen.

Sport fishing for billfish involves catch-and-release and retention for home consumption. Dozens of recreational billfish tournaments provide prize money for the largest marlin landed. Anecdotal information suggests a substantial amount of recreationally harvested billfish on the East Coast is sold through black-market channels.

Congresswomen Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawai‘i; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam; and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, R-American Samoa, said the legislation “will negatively impact the livelihoods of fishermen in Hawai‘i, Guam and the Pacific Insular Areas by closing off the only off-island market for U.S.- caught billfish.”

They added: “We support needed-conservation efforts in the Atlantic, but do not believe that Pacific fisheries need to be targeted in order to achieve these goals.”

Unfortunately, their Congressional voices and the voice of reason based on best scientific information fell on deaf ears.

The enacted legislation, unlike its title, was not a simple technical amendment, but rather an arrow pointed at sustainable U.S. Pacific Island commercial billfish fisheries at the behest of largely U.S. mainland recreational fishing groups.

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

Feds asked to take action to prevent herring overfishing

October 4, 2018 — Fisheries managers in New England are asking the federal government to take action to try to reduce the possibility of overfishing in the herring fishery.

Herring is an important small fish on the East Coast, and recent assessments of the stock show that it is in decline.

The New England Fishery Management Council recently approved a host of new restrictions for the fishery, voting to supplement severe rollbacks of herring quotas with a new inshore buffer zone aimed specifically at preventing mid-water trawlers — such as Gloucester-based Cape Seafoods’ 141-foot boats, Challenger and Endeavour — from fishing within 12 miles of shore in most areas of the Northeast.

In some areas around Cape Cod, the buffer zone expands to 20 to 25 miles.

The council also has requested the National Marine Fisheries Service set catch limits for next year’s fishery. If approved, 2019 catch levels will be capped at 21,226 metric tons — less than half of the 50,000 metric tons allowed in 2018.

The council says swift action by the federal agency is needed to “reduce the probability of overfishing.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Mid-Atlantic Council Votes to Increase Illex Squid Quota

October 4, 2018 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Today the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to increase the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) for Illex squid by 2,000 metric tons (mt) for 2019 and 2020 after reviewing recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). This is an increase of approximately 8% above the ABC originally approved by the Council.

In 2017, the Council established a 24,000 mt ABC for 2018, 2019, and 2020. However, the rapid pace of landings in 2017 and 2018 suggests that Illex squid have been highly available to the U.S. fishery during these years, despite several prior years of low landings. The fishery closed September 15th in 2017 and August 15th in 2018. Given the fishery’s recent performance, the Council asked its SSC earlier this year to consider whether changes to the 2019 and 2020 ABC are warranted. The SSC reviewed recent catch and survey information and endorsed a revised ABC of 26,000 mt.

If approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), this revised ABC will result in a domestic annual harvest (DAH) of 24,824.8 mt after accounting for discards. NMFS would then seek to close the fishery at 95% of that quota.

The Council also agreed to develop a working group to investigate new data collection and analysis to support setting Illex ABCs in the future.

For additional information about squid management, contact Jason Didden – jdidden@mafmc.org.

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Mississippi’s Palazzo gives US House it’s own offshore aquaculture bill

October 2, 2018 — Those who seek to clarify that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has authority over offshore aquaculture now have bills in both chambers of Congress, but time is short.

Representatives Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican, and Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, introduced the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act (HR 6966) on Friday, giving a companion to a similar bill (S. 3138) introduced in June by senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican.

Both HR 6966 and S. 3138 seek to create an Office of Marine Aquaculture within NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service that would streamline the approval process for new aquaculture facilities in federal waters, three to 200 miles offshore. They would help fund research and extension services for several existing aquaculture priorities.

“The bill would make no changes to current environmental standards, but instead uphold and maintain existing standards,” a press release assures.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NEFMC Approves Atlantic Herring Amendment 8; Asks NMFS to Set 2019 Catch Limits

October 2, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

On September 25 during its meeting in Plymouth, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council approved Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The Council also asked the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) to develop an in-season action to set 2019 specifications for the herring fishery.

ABC Control Rule:

  • The acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule is a formula that will be used to set annual catch limits. The Council considered close to a dozen alternatives that would allow different levels of fishing mortality depending on the estimated level of herring biomass in the ecosystem. In the end, the Council adopted a control rule that balances many objectives by capping overall fishing mortality at 80% of sustainable levels. Previously, fishermen were allowed to harvest up to 100% of sustainable catch levels. Under the proposed control rule, a portion of the available catch would be set aside to explicitly account for the important role of Atlantic herring as forage with in the ecosystem. The new control rule also will better address uncertainty in year-to-year variation in biomass estimates. While the control rule will reduce catches in the near term, it has a lower probability of resulting in overfishing than previous methods used to set catch limits.

Read the full release here

Council Forwards Clam Dredge Framework Alternatives for Analysis; Proposed Great South Channel HMA Exemptions

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has tasked its Habitat Plan Development Team (PDT) with analyzing five areas within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area (HMA) where surfclam dredge fishermen potentially could continue to fish year-round. The PDT also was directed to analyze four additional areas for potential seasonal exemptions. The surfclam fishery currently is allowed to operate in all but the northeast corner of the HMA under a one-year exemption that expires April 9, 2019. The Council is working on a Clam Dredge Framework to consider options for allowing continued surfclam fishery access to non-sensitive habitat in the HMA. Since implementation of the Council’s Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The five areas that will be further analyzed as potential year-round clam dredge
exemption areas within the Great South Channel HMA are outline with solid red lines on the map above –
McBlair, Rose and Crown, Area A, Area B, and Area D. Four other areas outlined in green will be analyzed as seasonal closures – East Door, Old South, Zone C, and Zone E. The exemptions would apply from March 1 to August 31. These four areas would be subject to a six-month closure to protect spawning codfish. The Council has expressed concern about potential overlap with cod spawning grounds, which are colored in yellow. On April 1, 2018, the HMA has been closed to all other mobile bottom-tending gear.

The potential exemption areas being analyzed by the PDT were proposed by industry. At its June meeting in Portland, ME, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) expressed serious concerns about the initial alternatives developed by the Council’s Habitat Committee. The agency questioned whether any of those proposals could be approved in a final framework

US aquaculture advocates: Judge’s ruling on Gulf of Mexico proves need for law

September 28, 2018 — A lobbying group organized by more than a dozen powerful seafood companies says a ruling this week by a federal judge that the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) doesn’t have the authority to oversee fish pens in federal waters is why new legislation is needed.

In a 15-page opinion handed down Monday, US district court judge Jane Triche Milazzo, in the Eastern District of Louisiana, granted a motion by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and a coalition of fishing and public interest groups it represented to grant a summary judgment in its lawsuit against NMFS to block its efforts to establish aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico.

Milazzo has given the plaintiffs 10 days to file a proposed judgment.

CFS filed its lawsuit against NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in February 2016, arguing that the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), passed in 1976, was meant to give NMFS authority over the harvesting of wild fish, not aquaculture.

“In analyzing the plain text, statutory scheme, and legislative history of the MSA, this court finds that the term ‘harvesting’ was intended to refer to the traditional fishing of wild fish,” Milazzo wrote in her opinion. “There is nothing in the MSA or its legislative history to suggest that Congress might have intended that the term be defined to include the farming of fish.

“… It is often said that ‘Congress does not ‘hide elephants in mouseholes’, and this court cannot imagine a more fitting example,” she added.

NMFS, in January 2016, with the help of the Gulf Council, finalized regulations to authorize a federal commercial aquaculture permitting scheme in the gulf. According to CFS, the program would have allowed up to 20 industrial facilities and collectively 64 million pounds of fish to be grown each year in the area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Request for Comments: Proposed Changes to Golden Tilefish Regulations in Federal Waters of the South Atlantic Region

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests your comments on a proposed rule for golden tilefish. The proposed actions would reduce golden tilefish catch limits based on the most recent population assessment. The purpose of the action is to end overfishing (rate of removal is too high) of golden tilefish in the South Atlantic.

Comments are due by October 12, 2018

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES:

  • The proposed rule would set the total catch limit at 342,000 pounds gutted weight (lbs gw).
  • This proposed rule would also specify the commercial and recreational sector catch limits and component commercial quotas using the existing sector allocations.
  • The commercial catch limit would be 331,740 lbs gw. The commercial quota for the hook-and-line component would be 82,935 lbs gw, and the commercial quota for the longline component would be 248,805 lbs gw. The recreational catch limit would be 2,316 fish.

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED RULE:

The 15 day comment period associated with this proposed rule will end on October 12, 2018. We will address all comments specifically directed to the proposed rule in the final rule. You may submit comments by electronic submission or by postal mail. Comments sent by any other method (such as e-mail), to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA Fisheries.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 83 FR 48788, published September 27, 2018

Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0091.
2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
3. Enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to Karla Gore, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Declares Commercial Fishery Disasters for West Coast Salmon and Sardines

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that commercial fishery failures occurred between 2015 and 2017 for salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and California, in addition to the sardine fishery in California.

“The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “After years of hardship, the Department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

Between July 2016 and March 2018, multiple tribes and governors from Washington, Oregon, and California requested fishery disaster determinations. The Secretary, working with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), evaluated each request based on the available data, and found that all but one (the California red sea urchin fishery) met the requirements for a fishery disaster determination.

The determinations for West Coast salmon and sardines now make these fisheries eligible for NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance.  The 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act provided $20 million in NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance. The Department of Commerce is determining the appropriate allocations of these funds to eligible fisheries.

Read the full release here

Commerce Department Makes Several Fishery Failure Determinations for West Coast Fisheries

September 27, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Salmon and sardine fisheries off the West Coast have been closed or severely curtailed in the years since The Blob — an unusual mass of warm water — stuck around for most of 2014 and 2015. While not the only odd ocean change, it was blamed for many fisheries problems.

Now, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has determined those salmon and sardine fisheries are indeed fishery failures due to natural resource conditions, the department said in a press release and letters released Tuesday. Those fisheries will now be eligible for $20 million in fishery disaster aid in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

““The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” Ross said in a statement. “After years of hardship, the department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

About a dozen fisheries are included in the determinations, a mix of several tribes and state fisheries from all three West Coast states. Only one, the California red sea urchin fishery, was not included.

“The recent five-year average revenue (2011-2015) from the California red sea urchin fishery was $8,538,815,” Ross’ letter to California Gov. Edmund G. Brown said. “In 2016, California red sea urchin fishery revenues were $7,255,593, which is a 15 percent revenue loss as compared with the previous five-year average. Compared to the previous five-year average, this percentage loss in revenue is substantially lower than the 35 percent revenue loss minimum called for in the NMFS Policy Guidance to justify a determination of a commercial fishery failure, serious disruption, or harm.”

However, the 2015 and 2016 Pacific sardine fishery did meet the requirements for a fishery failure. A large biomass decline in sardines, resulting from unfavorable ocean conditions, was beyond the control of fishery managers, the letter to Gov. Brown stated.

“We are deeply grateful to Secretary Ross and Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Chris Oliver, as well as to West Coast NMFS officials and Governor Brown, for acknowledging that our sardine fishery closure met the legal requirements for designation as a fishery resource disaster,” California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner said in an email. “This determination now makes our sardine fishery eligible for NMFS fishery disaster assistance. We look forward to learning the level of disaster assistance that the Department of Commerce will determine. The fact that relief is coming is very good news.”

NMFS has not determined the allocations for the $20 million in disaster assistance yet, but the final divisions will be pretty small for each entity compared to similar disasters in years past.

For example, the 2016 and 2017 California and Oregon ocean troll Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fisheries were included in the determinations. A similar scenario in 2005 and 2006, in which commercial troll seasons were partially or fully closed due to poor returns of Klamath River fall Chinook, $60.4 million in disaster aid was made available to fishermen, processors and related businesses. Now, those fisheries will have to share part of the $20 million — barring additional funding appropriated by Congress.

Other determinations include the 2017 Yurok and 2016-2017 Hoopa Valley tribes’ Klamath River fall Chinook fisheries; the 2016 Makah ocean coho and Chinook salmon troll fishery in Washington; the 2015 Hoh, Suquamish, Nooksack and Stillaguamish tribes’ coho fisheries in Washington; the 2015 Muckleshoot and Upper Skagit tribes’ coho and pink salmon fisheries in Washington; and the 2015 and 2016 Quileute Tribe coho salmon fisheries in Washington.

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