Saving Seafood

NEFMC Initiates Skate Framework Adjustment 6; Discusses Industry-Funded Monitoring and Research Steering

January 31, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today initiated Framework Adjustment 6 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan to consider alternatives for prolonging the skate wing fishery. The intent of this action is to better utilize total allowable landings and keep the fishery open as long as possible. The Council agreed to take this step at the request of industry. Many skate fishermen approached the Council during its December 2017 meeting asking that the framework be a 2018 priority.

The Skate Plan Development Team – with considerable input and guidance from the Skate Committee and Advisory Panel – will work over the next few months to analyze possession limit alternatives and other approaches that would help meet the framework’s goals and objectives. The Council will receive a progress report at its April meeting in Mystic, CT. Final action will occur either in April or June with the intent of having new measures in place during the second half of the 2018 fishing year, which ends April 30, 2019.

Industry-Funded Monitoring

The Council also received an update from the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) on an electronic Skates captured during a cooperative research trip. – Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) photo monitoring (EM) project that GARFO and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) conducted from August 2016 to January 2018 aboard 11 midwater trawl vessels participating in the Atlantic herring and mackerel fisheries. An estimated 1,000 hours of EM footage was collected on 126 herring trips, and 32 of those trips also were monitored by at-sea observers. The project was designed to evaluate whether or not electronic monitoring is an effective tool for tracking catch, discards, and slippage events on midwater trawl vessels involved in these fisheries.

In April 2017, the Council took final action on an Omnibus Industry-Funded Monitoring (IFM) Amendment that contains alternatives for potentially allowing EM and portside sampling as monitoring options for the Atlantic herring midwater trawl fishery. Mackerel is managed by the Mid-Atlantic Council, which has not acted yet on this amendment. The proposed rule for the New England Council’s action is being developed by NMFS and has a target implementation date of fall 2018.

Once the amendment is in place, herring fishermen will need to pay a substantial portion of the costs associated with monitoring the fishery, as implied in the term “industry-funded monitoring.” NMFS’s final report and recommendations resulting from the EM project will be presented to the Council at its April 17- 19 meeting.

Herring industry members also are interested in learning whether or not these new tools can be more cost effective than at-sea monitoring.

Setting Research Priorities

Based on recommendations from its Research Steering Committee (RSC), the Council endorsed several improvements to its research priority-setting process. It also provided guidance on improving the format for listing and tracking the priorities.

  • The Council agreed that plan development teams should continue to have the lead in developing and updating research needs. The RSC and Scientific and Statistical Committee will review research priorities before the Council is asked to approve them. The RSC will take the lead in tracking whether or not research needs are being met.
  • The Council, as a first step, also supported using a spreadsheet rather than a Word document to list research priorities. However, it directed the Research Steering Committee to explore the feasibility of developing a searchable database as a longer-term goal.
  • The Council endorsed the use of a more informative labeling system to describe research priorities that includes:
    • A description/rationale for the work;
    • A priority category label such as near-term, long-term/strategic, or urgent/immediate;
    • An indication of the fishery management plan and/or species the work applies to;
    • An indication of whether or not the priority is included on other lists such as the research setaside program or stock assessment data collection; and
    • The research status, indicating whether or not the work is underway or has been completed.

In related actions, the Council agreed to: (1) ask the Council Coordination Committee to urge NMFS to require anyone applying for national research program funding to indicate if and how their proposals would meet a regional fishery management council research priority in addition to national priorities; and (2) add, as a Council research priority, a more thorough evaluation of methods to reduce seabed impacts by ground cables used in trawl fisheries.

The Council also received a short briefing from its Research Steering Committee on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Northeast Cooperative Research Program activities, as well as and an overview of recent management reviews conducted for three completed projects. These were:

(1) the Seasonal Scallop Bycatch Survey;

(2) the River Herring Bycatch Avoidance project; and

(3) Effects of Fishing on Herring Aggregations.

View the release in its entirety by clicking here.

 

NEFMC Takes Final Action on Deep-Sea Coral Amendment; Comments on Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling in North Atlantic

January 31, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has taken final action on its Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment and voted to submit the document to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for review and approval.

In June of 2017, the Council adopted coral protection zones for the Gulf of Maine. Yesterday, at its meeting in Portsmouth, NH, the Council, after extensive debate, approved a 600-meter minimum depth “broad zone” for the continental slope and canyons south of Georges Bank. Once the amendment is implemented, this zone – with one exception – will be closed to all bottom-tending gear, meaning both mobile gear such as trawls and dredges and fixed gear such as traps and gillnets. The Council approved an exemption for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab pot fishery.

The 600-meter minimum depth broad zone, known as Option 6 in the Coral Amendment, was the Council’s preferred alternative for the continental slope and canyons prior to public hearings. However, the Council postponed final action last June in order to consider an additional proposal put forward by environmental groups. Known as Option 7, the new proposal covered more bottom and included shallower depths, ranging between 300 meters and 550 meters. Option 7 would have prohibited mobile bottom-tending gear but not fixed gear.

The Council’s Habitat Plan Development Team, using trawl vessel monitoring system data to identify fishing grounds, edited the Option 7 boundary to reduce economic impacts.

Before making a final determination, the Council considered extensive analyses of:

  • Option 6, the 600-meter minimum zone
  • Option 7 as revised, the 300-meter to 550-meter zone
  • Option 6/7 combined with Option 7 for mobile bottom-tending gear and Option 6 for all bottom-tending gear. An exemption for the deep-sea red crab pot fishery was considered for all options.

In the end, the Council selected the 600-meter broad zone, which encompasses 25,153 square miles. This option, which also was recommended by the Habitat Committee and Advisory Panel, covers: 75% of the known coral within the zone; 75% of the areas highly or very highly suitable as habitat for soft corals; and 85% of the areas with slopes greater than 30°. It also has lower economic impacts on fishermen using mobile bottom-tending gear.

Gulf of Maine 

Here’s a recap of what the Council approved last June for the Gulf of Maine:

  • Outer Schoodic Ridge and Mt. Desert Rock – The Council adopted a discrete coral protection zone for each of these areas where mobile bottom-tending gear (trawls and dredges) will be prohibited. Other types of fishing gear will be allowed, including lobster traps/pots.
  • Jordan Basin DHRA – The Council designated a Dedicated Habitat Research Area in Jordan Basin on/around the 114 fathom bump site, which encompasses roughly 40 square miles. This designation is meant to focus attention on the coral habitats at this site. The Council believes additional research on corals and fishing gear impacts should be directed here. No fishing restrictions are proposed at this time.

The Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment also specifies that anyone conducting research activities in coral zones would be required to obtain a letter of acknowledgement from NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

Once the amendment is implemented, changes to the following provisions will be allowable through framework adjustments: (1) adding, revising, or removing coral protection zones; (2) changing fishing restrictions; and (3) adopting or changing special fishery programs.

Offshore and Oil Gas Drilling 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is soliciting comments through March 9, 2018 on its Draft National 2019-2024 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which includes the North and Mid-Atlantic Planning Areas. The Council agreed to send a letter to BOEM recommending exclusion of these two areas from the five-year plan because oil and gas exploration and extraction activities in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf involve inappropriate risks that “may harm living marine resources and the communities that depend on them.” The draft plan proposes lease sales in 2021 and 2023 for the North Atlantic area and in 2020, 2022, and 2024 for the Mid-Atlantic area.

The New England Council previously submitted oil and gas development comments to BOEM and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on June 29, 2017 and August 15, 2017. In the August letter and reiterated in this next letter, the Council broke down its concerns into five categories, which involve the following:

  • Direct displacement of fishing activities due to survey or extraction activities in offshore environments;
  • Harm to sensitive, deep-water benthic habitats, including deep-sea corals, due to extraction activities;
  • Negative impacts on living marine resources due to highdecibel sounds emitted during seismic gas surveys and drilling operations, including potential harm to some of the 28 species managed by the New England Council;
  • Negative impacts to nearshore fish habitats due to infrastructure development needed to support an Atlantic oil and gas industry; and
  • Risks associated with leaks and spills resulting from oil and gas extraction and transport.

The Council also supported developing a report to spatially document the value of fisheries on the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf. The report will be used when developing future comments related to both renewable and non-renewable offshore energy.

More Information

View the release in its entirety here.

 

Gulf Shrimp Landings Hit 100 Million lbs. in 2017, an Improvement, but Still 2nd Lowest Since 2010

January 30, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The National Marine Fisheries Service reported their final Gulf of Mexico shrimp landings report for 2017. In December, landings (all species, headless) totaled 6.644 million lbs. compared to 5.848 million in December 2016. This brings the cumulative total to 100.08 million lbs.; 6.25 million pounds or 6.67 percent above the Jan-Dec 2016 total of 93.82 million lbs.

While improved year-over-year, the two most recent efforts are the lowest since 2010; the year of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In that year, the effort May to August was limited by a series of closures.

Individually, the two largest fisheries, Louisiana and Texas, moved in opposite directions. 2017 landings in Louisiana were 13 percent below the prior year and 26.5 percent below the 5-year average. The fishery struggled in the late summer and through the fall amid an active hurricane season. Conversely, landings in Texas were up 23.76 percent when compared to a year ago and 2.67 percent when compared to the 5-year average. Throughout the year, the fishery remained in-line or above the prior 5-year average; attributable in-part to Louisiana boats seeking opportunities in Texas.

The smaller fisheries in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida West Coast were all improved year-over-year; with notable strength in Alabama.

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

 

Another New Bedford Scallop Boat Affiliated with Carlos Rafael Caught Cheating on Scallop Landings

January 30, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — According to information posted by the Massachusetts environmental police, on Sunday January 28, they conducted a marine fisheries inspection aboard a federally permitted scallop vessel in New Bedford.  After observing the offload of the permitted limit of scallops, the police confirmed with the captain and crew that all sea scallops had been offloaded from the vessel.

During a subsequent inspection, police located five additional bags of shucked sea scallops hidden below a foot of ice and food stores.  The violation was documented and forwarded to NMFS.  The illegal sea scallops were held for disposition by NMFS.

Subsequent reporting was that the vessel in question was the FV Dinah Jane, permit #320244, owned by Leeanne & Noah Fishing LLC.  This permit was ordered revoked by NOAA on January 10th, with a 30 day deadline for the owners to appeal the notice of violation.

The owners of the F/V Dinah Jane also owned the F/V Hercules together with Carlos Rafael, and were cited for filing false landing reports.

The vessel Dinah Jane and its permit was cited in count 15 of the NOVA sent by NMFS to Carlos Rafael, for filing false records with Sector IX, which was cited in count 20.  Sector IX is currently under suspension by NOAA for failing to properly account for catch overages and false reporting.  However, scallop fishing is not subject to the sector allocations under the New England multi-species groundfish management plan, so the vessel was able to continue to fish.

The proposed permit revocation would take effect on February 10th at the earliest.  The vessel was still legally able to harvest scallops until then.

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

 

Report detailing enforcement abuses barred from fisherman’s trial

January 29, 2018 — The first criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in connection with a federal probe of a controversial fish-auction program is set to begin, but a report detailing fisheries enforcement abuses by the government has been barred from the trial.

Lawyers for Northport fisherman Thomas Kokell, charged in a multi-count indictment with overharvesting fluke, argued in pretrial motions that a 2010 federal inspector general’s report detailing abuses and “overzealousness” by the National Marine Fisheries Service was vital to the defense.

The Environmental Crimes unit of the U.S. Department of Justice has reached plea agreements with seven Long Island and New York City fishermen and fish dealers in connection with the six-year probe.

Most have been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and false reporting crimes. Five received prison time or home detention, including a 74-year-old Mattituck fisherman charged with taking $78,000 in illegal fish. Fines and restitution have ranged from $150,000 to $932,000 and most lost their fishing or dealer permits.

In November 2016, Kokell was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and falsification of federal records in connection with the illegal harvest of more than $400,000 worth of fluke. He is the first to fight the charges in court. The trial is set to begin next month.

His lawyers have argued that Kokell’s case should be handled as a civil, not criminal, case, citing findings from the inspector general’s report and the federal Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs the fisheries.

Kokell, who was fined $120,000 in a 2006 case involving overfishing, had been a vocal critic of the marine fisheries agency‘s enforcement and legal practices.

He and his wife appeared with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at a Port Washington dock to demand action against the fisheries agency, a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at Newsday

 

First dead right whale of 2018 found off Virginia

January 26, 2018 — A whale carcass tangled in fishing line that was reported off Virginia Monday is confirmed as the first documented death of a North Atlantic right whale this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The imperiled right whales, which lost nearly 4 percent of their total population last year in Canadian and U.S. waters, and with only five documented births, faces significant man-made threats from both fishing gear and ship strikes, according to researchers.

“This isn’t just a crisis, this is a countdown to extinction,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, which has an office in Plymouth.

A stranding response team with the Virginia Aquarium received notice and a photo of the carcass Wednesday, at which point the whale was identified as a North Atlantic right whale that appeared to show it was was alive and swimming when it ran into the line.

Entanglements of whales in ropes prevents them from surfacing for air, leading to drowning, or creates a drag that hampers feeding, movement and reproduction, and reduces energy stores, according to scientists.

NOAA requested a drift analysis from the Coast Guard to determine where the carcass might be, and to determine if it can be towed to shore for a necropsy.

The sex and identify of the dead whale has not be determined.

“Disaster, depressing,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo, who directs right whale research at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said of the latest whale carcass. “These are our whales, the humans who live along the Gulf of Maine. We are obviously not doing a very good job as stewards. Something’s got to change soon.”

In addition to a voluntary ship slow-down announced this week for 30 miles south of Nantucket, NOAA announced Thursday another voluntary slow-down 100 miles east-southeast of Virginia Beach, where a U.S. military ship crew had seen the carcass and four other live right whales.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

Red Snapper’s Overfishing Threat Triggers Records Suit

January 25, 2018 — BALTIMORE — Worried about regulatory changes that will exacerbate overfishing of red snapper, conservationists claim in a federal complaint that the Trump administration is stonewalling their records request.

Represented by Earthjustice, the nonprofit group Ocean Conservancy says it invoked the Freedom of Information Act on June 19, 2017 — the same day that the red snapper fishing season was expanded for private anglers in the Gulf of Mexico to 42 days, up from just three.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “admitted that the action would cause the private recreational fishing sector to substantially exceed the annual catch limit set for that sector and delay rebuilding for the overfished population of red snapper, in violation of a number of statutes,” the complaint states.

Ocean Conservancy says it wants access to the agencies’ records about the rule change so that it can understand why the rule was adopted and inform the public.

“The government has an obligation to the citizens of this country to manage our shared public resources in a transparent way, and it is unacceptable for them to withhold that information from us,” Meredith Moore, director of fish conservation at Ocean Conservancy, said in a statement on the group’s website. “By all indications, the red snapper decision was a politically motivated action that ignored science, contrary to the law. Their decision will cause long-term damage to the fishermen and communities that depend on this economically and ecologically important fishery.

Neither the NOAA nor NMFS has responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Read the full story at Courthouse News

 

Scallops poised to jump back on US casual restaurant menus

January 28, 2018 — MIAMI — Previously deemed to be saddled with prices too volatile to offer at casual restaurants in the US, look for scallops to come back on menus in 2018, predicts Sean Moriarty, vice president of sales for Blue Harvest Fisheries.

Good luck finding Atlantic sea scallops at the types of sit-down dining establishments Americans most often frequent, like Olive Garden, Applebee’s or Outback Steakhouse.

The price of the shellfish have proven too lofty and volatile for such major chains to take the risk. But that could change soon as the global supply of scallops promises to reach an epic high in 2018, pushing prices to a more affordable range.

“I think the domestic consumption should continue to increase,” said Moriarty Wednesday during a panel on bivalves at the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) Global Seafood Market Conference, in Miami, Florida. “I think, especially in 2018, you’ll see a push to get back on the menu, not just in appetizers but in the center of the plate.”

Moriarty’s vertically integrated New Bedford, Massachusetts-based employer — one of the US’ top five producers of Atlantic sea scallops with 15 vessels operating in New England — will be among those rooting for more restaurants to join the scallop party.

Along with few abrupt changes in recent times – including a sudden drop that followed a glut of landings in May 2017 — scallop prices have grown overall since 2011, according to Urner Barry figures shared by Moriarty at the event.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Bullard: Seafood Farming Is Key for the Future of Seafood and Our Communities

January 24, 2018 — As I retire from NOAA Fisheries, I want to share my vision of a bright future where marine aquaculture is part of our collective strategy for ensuring economic and environmental resiliency in coastal communities.

If done responsibly — as it is in the United States — aquaculture is increasingly recognized as one of the most environmentally sustainable ways to produce fish protein. While world population is rising, the amount of wild fish is not. I am proud of the progress that NOAA, the fishing community, and conservation agencies made in dramatically reducing overfishing in the United States through science-based management practices. While wild harvest fisheries have always been our priority, we know that even with sound management, wild fish harvests cannot meet increasing seafood demand. However, by fostering aquaculture here and growing our seafood locally, this nation can ensure a safe, secure and sustainable seafood supply.

In our local coastal communities, farming the sea is gaining momentum as a way for fishing families to diversify income and to provide fisheries-linked professions that we can pass on to future generations.

Few things are more New England than bustling waterfronts filled with hard-working men and women making a living from the ocean, but many working waterfronts have disappeared as wild stocks declined and processing plants give way to waterfront condos. Aquaculture farms — including shellfish, salmon, and seaweed operations — provide a year-round source of high-quality jobs and economic opportunities in coastal communities that can supplement seasonal employment, such as tourism and fishing.

There are already good examples where jobs in aquaculture and seasonal employment are combining. On the Piscataqua River, fishermen collaborated with the University of New Hampshire to farm steelhead trout as a way to supplement their incomes. The New Hampshire-grown steelhead operation helps fishermen diversify their income and learn a new trade. These fish also provide New England chefs with an additional local source of healthy protein.

Aquaculture is much more than food production. Around the nation, scientists are studying how shellfish farming can benefit local ecosystems and water quality, energy agencies are exploring farming algae as a source of biofuel, and seaweed farmers are fighting ocean acidification with their crops. NOAA’s Milford Laboratory is a world leader in aquaculture science and, working alongside shellfish farmers, we are leveraging its more than 85 years of research to inform management for sustainable expansion seafood farming in the region.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

 

US government shutdown ends with minimal damage to seafood industry

January 24, 2018 — The shutdown of the U.S. federal government lasted less than three days. However, the deal reached on Monday, 22 January to end it may have set up the stage for another one in less than a month.

Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement on a short-term budget resolution that included long-term funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and a promise to bring an immigration bill up for a vote by 8 February. If that vote on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals bill doesn’t take place, or if it isn’t passed, the U.S. government might soon be in the same scenario it was on Monday.

Neither children’s health insurance nor DACA have a direct impact on the country’s seafood trade. However, if the federal government shuts down again, it could have far reaching implications for the agencies responsible for overseeing the industry.

On Monday morning, just hours before Congress passed the bill that reopened the government, the Commerce Department issued a statement indicating which of its operations would remain open even during the shutdown. That list included the National Marine Fisheries Service Seafood Inspection Program, fisheries quota management, and law enforcement activities.

Read the full story from Seafood Source