Saving Seafood

Under threat of lawsuit, Maine lobstermen say Canada is failing to protect right whales

November 1, 2017 — A record number of right whale killings this summer has put environmental groups on the offensive, potentially leading to stricter regulations for Maine lobstermen, even as most of the animals turn up dead in Canadian waters.

A group of environmental organizations has notified federal officials they intend to sue if regulatory agencies fail to better protect the endangered species, following what’s believed to be one of the deadliest summers for North Atlantic right whales in centuries.

Maine lobstermen fear that a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service could result in more costly restrictions on how they fish, even though none of the 16 right whale deaths have been directly linked to the American lobster fishery. Twelve of the whale deaths occurred in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where that country’s snow crab fishery has been cited by experts as a likely factor in several of the deaths.

The remaining four were found off Cape Cod.

With this year’s deaths, the total population of North Atlantic right whales is estimated at fewer than 450.

Early this month, the four environmental organizations sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chris Oliver, head of the federal fisheries service, saying that federal regulators are violating the Endangered Species Act by not doing more to protect North Atlantic right whales. The groups specifically called on regulators to determine whether additional restrictions should be placed on the American lobster fishery in order to prevent whales from getting entangled in lobster gear.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

No salmon return to Canada river, bringing New England fears

October 30, 2017 — A conservation group’s discovery that no wild Atlantic salmon have returned to a key river in New Brunswick is prompting concern for the fish’s population health in the U.S. and eastern Canada.

The New Brunswick-based Atlantic Salmon Federation has been monitoring the Magaguadavic River for the Canadian government since 1992. The group says this year is the first time since then that no wild salmon have returned to the river to spawn.

Atlantic salmon were once abundant in rivers of New England and eastern Canada, but they’re now endangered or have disappeared in parts of both areas. The U.S.’s National Marine Fisheries Service is in the midst of reviewing the Gulf of Maine’s population, which is listed endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

About 900 wild salmon entered the river to spawn in 1983, and the fact that none returned this year is bad news for the fish’s population in Maine and Canada, said Neville Crabbe, spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

“It means for the Magaguadavic River, whatever wild salmon that existed there are now extinct,” Crabbe said. “It affects the good work being done on all the rivers.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Shark Landings Update Through October 23, 2017

October 27, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The following are preliminary landings estimates in metric tons (mt) and pounds (lb) dressed weight (dw) for the Atlantic shark commercial fisheries; 1 mt is equal to 2,204.6 pounds.  These preliminary estimates are based on dealer reports and other information received from January 1 through October 23, 2017.  The estimates include landings by state-only permitted vessels, federally permitted vessels, and the 2017 shark research fishery participants.  We provide percentages of landings instead of estimated landings where needed to continue ensuring participant confidentiality.  The fishing seasons for all shark management groups opened on January 1, 2017, except for the aggregated LCS, blacktip shark, and hammerhead shark management groups in the western Gulf of Mexico sub-region which opened on February 1, 2017.

Gulf of Mexico Region

  • Includes any landings south and west 25° 20.4’ N. long.
  • As of 10/23/2017, the retention limit for directed permit holders is 45 large coastal sharks other than sandbar sharks per vessel per trip in the eastern Gulf of Mexico sub-region and no retention of large coastal sharks in the western Gulf of Mexico sub-region*.
  • The retention limit for directed permit holders can change throughout the season.

GOM

* Fishery closed at 11:30 p.m. local time on May 2, 2017 (82 FR 20447).

NMFS will announce closures of management groups when landings reach or are projected to reach 80 percent of the quota.  Management groups that are quota linked close when landings of either of the linked management groups reach or are projected to reach 80 percent of the quota.

For the full list of shark landings by region visit NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule for Northeast Skate

October 20, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks public comment on a proposed rule to modify the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan.

Framework 4 would alter effort controls and possession limits to help reduce the risk of the skate bait fishery closing down as it did in fishing year 2016. Several measures are proposed to de-couple the skate wing and bait accountability measures, control catch, and provide a more consistent supply of skate bait to the lobster fishery. We propose to:

  • Reduce the Season 3 (November through April) bait skate possession limit from 25,000 lb to 12,000 lb;
  • Reduce the Season 3 bait skate in-season possession limit reduction threshold trigger from 90 to 80 percent;
  • Establish an 8,000-lb incidental possession limit for skate bait when a seasonal threshold trigger is reached; and,
  • Close the skate bait fishery when 100 percent of the quota is projected to be harvested.

To get all the details on these proposed management measures, read the proposed rule as published in theFederal Register today and the background documents available on the Regs.gov website.

We are accepting comments through November 6.

Please submit comments either through the online e-rulemaking portal or by mailing your comments to: John Bullard, 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 Skates Framework 4.”

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov.

Feds seek dismissal of lawsuit over extended red snapper season

October 19, 2017 — WASHINGTON — U.S. officials accused of allowing red snapper to be overfished in the Gulf of Mexico have called on a federal judge to enter a summary judgement in their case, saying the environmental organizations suing them have a moot point.

The rule challenged by Ocean Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund to extend the recreational fishing season has already expired, said Jeffrey Wood, the acting assistant attorney general for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Wood also claims the federal court has no jurisdiction over the case.

“Even if the court were to find it has jurisdiction, the only appropriate course at this juncture is to remand to the agency for further action consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act,” Wood argued in a 13 October filing.

The two organizations filed suit against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service in July, a month after officials added 39 more days to the recreational fishing season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska: Electronic monitoring rolling out in 2018 after years of work

October 19, 2017 — JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska fishermen will see changes to the mandatory observer program next year.

After years of requests, testing and prepping, the National Marine Fisheries Service is rolling out a more-complete electronic monitoring program for small boat fishermen who are directed to have partial observer coverage as part of the 2018 observer program.

Electronic Monitoring uses cameras and sensors to record and monitor fishing activities, and help ensure the accuracy of catch records. Normally, that work is done by human observers who are placed on fishing vessels.

But when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council moved to put observers on smaller fishing vessels (those 60 feet or shorter) several years ago, to get a better sense of what was happening on those boats, captains said it could be problematic to take an extra person on their boats.

It was difficult to find them space to sleep, keep them safe and out of the way while actually catching fish and bringing them onboard, and hard (or burdensomely expensive) to ensure that there was enough life raft capacity and safety gear for an extra person. Instead, they asked for a camera system.

Developing such a system has taken several years, from the 2013 decision to restructure the observer program to see what was happening on smaller boats, to 2016, when 51 vessels participated in a pre-implementation program.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Live Cam May Show True Status of Atlantic Cod Fishery

October 18, 2017 — Atlantic cod, New England’s most iconic fish, has been reported at historic lows for years, but fishermen hope a new video monitoring technique will prove there are more of the fish than federal surveyors believe.

Ronnie Borjeson, who has been fishing for more than 40 years, says the federal surveys don’t match up with what fishermen are seeing. “I don’t care if you’re a gillnetter, a hook and line guy, a trawl guy,” he said, “there’s codfish everywhere up there. Everywhere. You can’t get away from them.”

Borjeson helped test a video rig designed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth that allows them to record fish underwater and count them on the video later. With this rig, scientists can sample a larger area in the same amount of time and hopefully improve federal estimates of how many cod are left.

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, cod are overfished, and in 2014, the spawning population reached its lowest numbers ever recorded. The once-booming cod fishery has been subject to increasingly strict regulations since the 1990s, forcing commercial fishermen to target less-profitable species while they wait for the cod population to recover.

Read the full story at PBS

Restaurant demand fuels Maine, NH fish-to-table movement

October 17, 2017 — ELIOT, Maine — The vibrantly colorful Memorial Bridge passes overhead, briefly cutting through the early morning darkness, casting alternating hues of blues, reds, greens and yellows on the slack tide waters of Portsmouth Harbor.

It is 1:36 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8 and the crew of the small fishing boat F/V Finlander, a 36-foot Northern Bay, leaves the protection of the channel and ventures into the open Atlantic Ocean.

The pilot house of the Finlander is dark, illuminated only by a sole Global Positioning System (GPS) display screen showing navigational information and an eastward course plot. The boat begins to pitch as sea swells grow larger and cross winds increase.

“Today is going to be a rough one.” says Capt. Tim Rider, a Dover, New Hampshire, native and owner of the Finlander. “The wind is coming from a different direction than the swells, it’s going to bounce us all over. It’s going to get rougher the farther out we go, but I think we can handle it.”

The Finlander and her five-member crew are headed to fishing grounds approximately 60 miles due east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an ocean-going commute of four hours in five-foot seas. They will be fishing for Atlantic pollock, considered a successful and sustainable species of whitefish, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service FishWatch website, and whose popularity among Seacoast chefs is increasing.

Demand for locally caught fresh fish by Seacoast restaurants has created a viable market for the crew of the Finlander.

Read the full story from Foster’s Daily Democrat at the Bangor Daily News

Feds: Popular Species Of New England Flounder Is Overfished

October 17, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Federal ocean managers say a popular species of New England food fish is overfished, and conservation measures are needed to rebuild its population.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says the Northwestern Atlantic witch flounder stock is overfished, and the status of whether overfishing is still occurring is unknown.

Witch flounder are mostly brought to shore by fishermen in Maine and Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

Survey shows GOA cod biomass down 71 percent

October 16, 2017 — CORDOVA, Alaska — Surveys and preliminary modeling for the 2018 Pacific cod stock assessment show that Pacific cod biomass is down substantially in the Gulf of Alaska, a NOAA Fisheries research biologist told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during its fall meeting in Anchorage.

The data for the report by Steve Barbeaux of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle only became available several days before the council meeting and the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee expressed its appreciation of the rapid and extensive investigation that Barbeaux and others made, the SSC said.

The most salient survey result was a 71 percent reduction in the Gulf of Alaska bottom trawl survey Pacific cod biomass estimate from 2015 to 2017, a drop observed across the Gulf and particularly pronounced in the Central Gulf, Barbeaux told the SSC.

Barbeaux also presented additional data sets to the SSC that appeared to corroborate the trawl survey results, including a 53 percent drop in the National Martine Fisheries Service 2017 longline survey, and low estimates in recent years by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game large mesh trawl survey. Barbeaux said Pacific cod fishery data from 2017 indicated slower rates of catch accumulation and lower catch per unit effort over the season, at least in the central Gulf, compared to other recent years, and a change in depth distribution toward deeper waters.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times