Saving Seafood

New England Fishery Management Council Approves Scallop Framework 28 with 2017-2018 Specs

November 17, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council yesterday approved Framework Adjustment 28 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The framework establishes specifications for the 2017 fishing year and sets default specifications for 2018.

If the framework is approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), full-time limited access scallop vessels in 2017 will be allowed to make four 18,000-pound “scallop access area” trips – one into the Nantucket Lightship Access Area, one into the Closed Area II Access Area, and two into the Mid-Atlantic Access Area (MAAA) with the option of making one of those Mid-Atlantic trips in the newly created Elephant Truck “Flex” Access Area (light green in chart). The Elephant Trunk Flex Area will be subject to a seasonal July 1-Sept. 30 closure. Part-time limited access vessels will be allowed to make two 14,400- pound trips into the available access areas, one of which must be in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area.

The Council approved a 2017 Northern Gulf of Maine TAC of 95,000 pounds, up from 70,000 pounds in 2016. However, the 2017 TAC will need to be adjusted to account for a 2016 overage. As a result, the Northern Gulf of Maine quota that will be available to the fishery on March 1, 2017 likely will be on the order of 75,000 pounds.

Framework 28 initially proposed to allocate 29.18 “open area” days-at-sea to full-time limited access vessels. Under the 13-month proration schedule and the automatic reduction that allows vessels to steam off of the days-at-sea clock south of Cape May, full-time vessels will be allocated 30.41 open-area days. Part-time vessels will be allocated 12.16 days-at-sea under the prorated schedule, up from the initial 11.67 allocation that resulted for a 12-month fishing year.

The Council agreed to base these allocations on spatial management – an approach that uses projected landings – under the existing allocation split between the two components of the fishery:

  • 94.5% for the limited access component of the fishery; and
  • 5.5% for the limited access general category individual fishing quota(IFQ) component.

For 2017, this means the IFQ fishery will be allocated 2.43 million pounds – prorated for 13 months at 2.49 million pounds – and 5.5% of the access area allocations. These trips will be equally distributed across all access areas, but the Closed Area II trips, which are a long haul for some general category boats, will be prorated 50% to the Nantucket Lightship area and 50% to the Mid-Atlantic/Elephant Trunk Flex Access Area, which are easier to steam to.

Also as part of Framework Adjustment 28 to the scallop plan, the Council agreed to:

  • Limit research set-aside compensation fishing to the Mid-Atlantic Access Area and open areas, excluding the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area;
  • Restrict the possession of shell stock inshore of the days-at-sea demarcation line north of 42° 20’ N latitude to 50 US bushels, as is already the case south of the line;
  • Adopt 2018 default specifications equivalent to 75% of the 2017 open area days-at-sea allocations for full-time vessels with one 18,000-pound Mid-Atlantic Access Area trip. The limited access general category IFQ component will receive 75% of the 2017 quota allocation, access area trips equivalent to 5.5% of the default access area allocation.

Groundfish Actions Impacting Scallopers

During its Groundfish Committee report, the Council addressed two issues that impact the Atlantic sea scallop fishery:

    • Northern Windowpane Flounder – The Council voted to develop a Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank northern windowpane flounder sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) for the scallop fishery under Framework Adjustment 56 to the groundfish plan. The sub-ACL will be a fixed percentage based on the 90th percentile of 2005-2014 scallop catch rates of northern windowpane. Under this formula, the scallop fishery will be allocated 21% of the total acceptable biological catch for this stock, which then will be reduced by 7% to account for uncertainty to determine the scallop fishery’s sub-ACL. The scallop fishery currently is not subject to a sub-ACL or accountability measures for northern windowpane, so this step represents a change for scallopers, assuming the action is approved by NMFS. The Council will be developing accountability measures for northern windowpane for fishing year 2018.
    • Accountability Measures (AMs) – The Council also voted to temporarily modify the existing AM policy for the scallop fishery for a two-year period so that accountability measures only will apply when the scallop fishery exceeds its sub-ACL for a groundfish stock and the overall ACL for that stock is also exceeded. The Council approved this temporary modification for both the George Bank yellowtail flounder and northern windowpane flounder stocks. Under current regulations, AMs also are triggered when the scallop fishery exceeds its sub-ACL by 50% and the overall ACL is exceeded. This new change removes the 50% trigger for the 2017 and 2018 fishing years.

Monkfish Specifications Expected to Rise in FY 2017-2019

November 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Monkfish total allowable landing (TAL) limits for the 2017-2019 fishing years are on track to increase under Framework Adjustment 10 to the federal Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). So are: (1) days-at sea allocations and trip limits for the Southern Fishery Management Area; and (2) incidental catch limits for monkfish C and D permit holders working under groundfish days-at-sea in the Northern Management Area.

The New England Fishery Management Council approved the framework today at its meeting in Newport, RI. The Mid-Atlantic Council, which jointly manages monkfish, is scheduled to take action at its Dec. 12-15 meeting in Baltimore, MD. The National Marine Fisheries Service must approve the framework before the new days-at-sea allocations and trip limits can be implemented.

The New England Council adopted the following allocations for days-at-sea:

  • Northern Fishery Management Area: status quo, 45 monkfish days-at-sea; and
  • Southern Fishery Management Area: 37 monkfish days, a 15% increase from 32.

Monkfish days-at-sea allocations have not been restricting fishing effort in the northern area, where the majority of fishermen catch monkfish while groundfish fishing. Therefore, the Council decided to leave monkfish days-atsea at status quo in the north – 45 days – and instead raise the incidental landing limit for Category C and D monkfish permit holders working under a groundfish day-at-sea. The Council took this step to help northern area fishermen better utilize the available TAL. In 2015, for example, only 71% of the TAL was harvested in the north.

Read the full release as a PDF here

Council Wants Money For Fishers Hurt By Monument Expansion

November 14, 2016 — The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council is wasting no time seeking financial compensation for those in the fishing industry who may claim they have been harmed by President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in late August.

At its meeting last month — shortly after being advised by counsel of restrictions on lobbying legislatures or the president for funds — the council decided to send a letter to Obama highlighting the expansion’s impacts on Hawaii fishing and seafood industries and indigenous communities and requesting that the Department of Commerce mitigate those impacts through “direct compensation to fishing sectors.”

The council’s letter will also include a request that the ban on commercial fishing in the expansion area — which includes the waters between 50 and 200 nautical miles off the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — be phased in. The letter will also ask for “other programs that would directly benefit those impacted from the monument expansion.”

Compensation for fisheries closures in federal waters is not unprecedented. In 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reimbursed the Hawaii Longline Association $2.2 million for legal expenses tied to the group’s lawsuit opposing a temporary closure of the swordfish fishery. Also, as part of the same $5 million federal grant that funded the reimbursement, lobster and bottomfish fishers displaced by the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve established by President Bill Clinton also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct compensation and funds for fisheries research.

With regard to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, after it was first established by President George W. Bush in 2006, then-Sen. Daniel Inouye inserted an earmark in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 that provided more than $6 million to NMFS for a “capacity reduction program.” That program allowed vessel owners with permits to fish for lobster or bottomfish in the NWHI to be paid the economic value of their permits if they chose to stop fishing well ahead of the date all commercial fishing was to end in the monument, June 15, 2011.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

New Jersey anglers throw back three times more fish than they keep

November 4, 2016 — According to a fisheries report, in 2015 New Jersey anglers kept 4 ½ million fish, but they threw back 14.8 million, or roughly three times the amount they brought home.

The three to one catch and release rate is the about the same rate as in 2014. But, the same report found there was a substantial drop off in the number of fish anglers caught.

In 2014 anglers put 6.2 million fish in their coolers while releasing 19.9 million.

The numbers were provided in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Fisheries of the United States report, released last week.

The report didn’t provide analysis, but the reason for the dip could be related to the fact that fewer fishermen fished in 2015. Nearly 625,000 anglers fished in 2014, compared to almost 540,000 last year. The result was about 600,000 less fishing trips.

In total 23 marine coastal states, plus Puerto Rico were in the survey and combined to keep 151 million fish last year while releasing 200 million.

Of all the coastal states only Maine and Massachusetts anglers kept more fish than they threw back.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fish catch most valuable in U.S.

November 4, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Citing 2015 landings worth $322 million, for the 16th year in a row the city held the top-value title nationwide for its fishing catch, according to NOAA Fisheries. The top ranking was thanks largely to scallops, SouthCoastToday.com reported Oct. 28.

New Bedford’s catch was 124 million pounds, good for 11th in the country.

“We’re reaping the benefits of good, cooperative science, and solid relationships between the regulators, the fishermen and the scientists,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, port director for the city’s Harbor Development Commission.

The annual catch reports, released by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, showed New Bedford’s catch dipped by about 11 percent last year, falling to 124 million pounds in 2015 from 140 million in 2014. The 2013 catch totaled 130 million pounds.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News 

American Samoa Attorney: Feds Continue To Ignore Local Concerns About Fisheries

November 4, 2016 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Local attorney Marie Alailima says the federal agencies involved in fisheries “continue to ignore” the call from local traditional chiefs, government leaders and residents of American Samoa for meaningful discussions in issues impacting the territory’s resources.

Alailima made the observation in her Oct. 27 comment letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration opposing the way NOAA’s National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) sought public comments, with only one local public hearing held on a proposed regulation for aquaculture program in American Samoa.

She joins Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele and Shipyard Service Authority chief executive Moefa’auo Bill Emmesly — both have lodged strong objections in the way NMFS sought public comments and have called for a delay in making any final decision on the NMFS proposal.

In her letter, released yesterday through the federal portal [www.regulations.gov], the local attorney says “no further action” should be taken on NMFS and Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to analyze the potential environmental impact of a proposed Pacific Islands Region (PIR) aquaculture management program and alternatives.

The PEIS is intended to support offshore aquaculture development, including appropriate management unit species for aquaculture, reasonably foreseeable types of offshore aquaculture operations, and permitting and reporting requirements for persons conducting aquaculture activities in Federal waters.

She cited various reasons, why no action should be taken and included the fact that notice of Sept. 8’s public meeting in American Samoa was made electronically, but such medium of notification, including in the case at hand — the sending of notice by electronic emails to a “select few” — “erroneously presumes notice through email, the federal register online, through announcement of public hearings on NOAA agency websites is a means readily accessible by the majority of the American Samoa population.”

Alailima argues, “It also erroneously presumes that the subject matter or import of such public meetings can be readily understood from such online notice by a population [that] for the most part lacks access to computers and is still transitioning into fully embracing American culture, its language, its federal procedures, legal institutions and concepts.”

Greater responsibility for providing the American Samoa population with meaningful notice and opportunity to comment must be considered by NMFS and other NOAA agencies, inclusive of all further steps involving the present proposed action, she said.

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

MASSACHUSETTS: Scientists take advantage of rare shark stranding in Orleans

ORLEANS — The corpse lay on its side as scientists honed knives on whetstones in preparation for the first cut.

But the scene at the town transfer station Monday wasn’t a ghoulish Halloween skit intended to frighten the knot of onlookers; it was a necropsy on a 12-foot-long great white shark that washed onto Nauset Beach on Sunday, dying in the sand.

The scientists were there in part to see if there was any obvious reason the 20-year-old male shark had washed ashore and died. But they also were collecting valuable specimens from an animal that can no longer legally be caught and killed, leaving researchers dependent on the rare instances when one washes up on the beach.

“We hate to have sharks strand because we like to have them in the water and healthy, but when they do we maximize what we could possibly learn from them,” said Gregory Skomal, lead shark scientist at the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

Researchers from his agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology converged on the transfer station Monday morning to take advantage of the opportunity.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

HAWAII: Fishermen Catch 11% More Bigeye Tuna Despite Overfishing Status

October 27, 2016 — U.S. commercial fishermen hauled in 2.5 million pounds more bigeye tuna last year than they did in 2014, landing almost all of it out of Honolulu, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Bigeye landings in 2015 totaled 25.8 million pounds, an increase of nearly 11 percent compared to last year. 

And that tuna was worth a bit more too, averaging $3.17 per pound in 2015, up from $3.08 in 2014, according to the most recent Fisheries of the United States report by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Overall, U.S. commercial fishermen landed 32 million pounds of seafood last year operating out of Honolulu, the 27th highest nationally by weight. 

But that seafood — mostly bigeye tuna, which fetches top dollar in local sashimi markets and high-end restaurants — was worth $97 million, making it the sixth-highest catch in the country by value. 

Bigeye tuna continues to be subject to overfishing, however. It’s one of 28 stocks on the federal overfishing list. Only 9 percent of fishing stocks monitored by the feds are subject to overfishing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Court backs seal protections on climate change grounds

October 25th, 2016 — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Obama administration had the right to use climate change to justify federal protections for the bearded seal.

The ruling from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court ruling from 2014 and upheld the 2012 decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to designate the bearded seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

 The ruling is an important victory for the Obama administration and could help build a precedent of using climate change forecasts for decisions like species protections.

The case hinged on an argument from the oil industry and the state of Alaska that the NMFS relied on climate projections that were not reliable for the time period for which the agency used them.

“This case turns on one issue: When NMFS determines that a species that is not presently endangered will lose its habitat due to climate change by the end of the century, may NMFS list that species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act?” the appeals court asked in its ruling, answering in the affirmative.

Read the full story at The Hill