Saving Seafood

Introducing the Fish Stock Sustainability Index 3.0

February 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Fish Stock Sustainability Index is a quarterly index that measures the performance of certain fish stocks. To make sure the index continues to focus on the most important commercial and recreational stocks, we’ve revised the list of included stocks.

The index allows for a quick, clear snapshot of the performance of U.S. fishery management. When the status of a commercially or recreationally important stock improves (e.g., no longer subject to overfishing, not overfished, or rebuilt), the total index score increases.

The index tracks a total of 175 fish stocks, down from 199 stocks in the previous version. The stocks in the index—selected for their importance to domestic fisheries—represent more than 80 percent of total U.S. fishing catch.

NOAA Fisheries tracks the status of all international and domestic stocks contained in federal fishery management plans whether or not they meet criteria for inclusion in the FSSI.

When we developed the index in 2005, it included 230 fish stocks and the maximum index score was 920 points. In 2015, we trimmed it to 199 stocks and a maximum score of 1,000.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Southern Red Hake Commercial Possession Limit Reduction

February 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The southern red hake commercial per-trip possession is reduced to 400 lb per day for the remainder of the 2019 fishing year, through April 30, 2020.

This action affects federally permitted vessels fishing for southern red hake. This reduction is required by regulation because as of January 14, 2020, the southern red hake fishery was projected to reach or exceed 90 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) on or around February 2, 2020.

For more information read the bulletin or the notice filed in the Federal Register.

Updated Shark Tagging Atlas Provides More than 50 Years of Tagging and Recapture Data

February 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

A 52-year database of the distribution and movements of 35 Atlantic shark species revealed new information on some of the least known species. It also uncovered a few surprises about where sharks go and how long they live.

Scientists collected data for sharks tagged and/or recaptured between 1962 and 2013. The sharks were found in the Atlantic Ocean and associated areas, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Participants tagged a total of 229,810 sharks of 35 species and recaptured 13,419 sharks of 31 species in that time span. The scientific journal Marine Fisheries Review recently published the data.

This new atlas updates an earlier version covering 1962 to 1993 and adds information on 22 species. Detailed profiles are provided for 14 shark species, including bull and tiger sharks and smooth dogfish. The updated data significantly extended their known ranges and movements.

The Cooperative Shark Tagging Program is the largest and longest-running in the world. The program is a collaborative effort among recreational anglers, the commercial fishing industry, biologists, and NOAA Fisheries. Its goal is to study the life history of sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.

Initiated in 1962 by biologist and shark researcher John “Jack” Casey at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the original group of 74 volunteer anglers began participating in the project in 1963. Since then the program has expanded to include thousands of participants along the entire North American and European Atlantic coasts, including the Gulf of Mexico.

“The program’s long-term data has shown the importance of tagging large numbers of each species and recording information in a database to determine shark movements,” said Lisa Natanson, a shark researcher in the Apex Predators Program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island. For example, until the tagging program was 34 years old, no one knew that tiger sharks cross the Atlantic.

Read the full release here

NOAA Implements NEFMC’s Monitoring Amendment Alongside New Herring Fishery Requirements

January 31, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced the implementation of a New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) amendment to allow industry-funded monitoring in any fishery under its management.

The monitoring will better assess catch and reduce uncertainty around catch estimates. The amendment also establishes monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery, which is faced with a significant quota cutback.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Pacific Coast Plan Identifies Ways to Improve Regional Recreational Fishing Data Collection Efforts

January 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Pacific Coast Recreational Fisheries Information Network (Pacific RecFIN) has completed its Marine Recreational Information Program Regional Implementation Plan. These plans represent a significant shift for the program. They clearly establish that regional partners will have a direct role in determining which survey methods are most suitable for their science, stock assessment, and management needs.

The plan (PDF, 30 pages) was created in response to Pacific Coast regional needs to enhance data for regional fishery management and science.

Prioritized Activities

The Pacific RecFIN identified the following seven prioritized needs:

  1. Maintain and restore base level funding for sampling saltwater recreational anglers and for-hire operators.
  2. Implement and support enhanced electronic data collection.
  3. Expand on-board sampling of commercial passenger fishing vessels or recreational charter boats.
  4. Explore new, high tech hardware and software to improve current, round-the-clock monitoring of recreational fishing vessels as they exit harbors to fish the ocean.
  5. Stratify party charter sampling by trip type and sampling period for Southern California highly migratory fisheries.
  6. Provide improved access to the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey database.
  7. State calibration of historical catch.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Measures for Private Recreational Tilefish Vessels

January 29, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on proposed measures for private recreational tilefish vessels that were approved in Amendment 6 to the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan. Proposed measures include requiring private recreational vessels that intend to target golden or blueline tilefish north of the Virginia/North Carolina border, to obtain a federal private recreational tilefish vessel permit through an online application on the Greater Atlantic Regional Office website. Proposed measures also include a requirement for private recreational tilefish vessels to fill out and submit an electronic vessel trip report within 24 hours of returning to port for trips where tilefish were targeted and/or retained.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

The comments due date is 02-28-2020.

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2020 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Levels for Groundfish Sector Fishery

January 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces that for fishing year 2020, the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 40 percent of all groundfish sector trips subject to the at-sea monitoring program. For more information, please read our letter to the New England Fishery Management Council and the Summary of Analysis Conducted to Determine At-Sea Monitoring Requirements for Multispecies Sectors FY 2020.

Per direction in 2020 appropriations, we have funds allocated for reimbursing industry for its at-sea monitoring costs. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will continue to administer the reimbursement program for 2020 as in prior years.

Read the full release here

Fisherman’s Perspective: Electronic Monitoring Needs to Pay Off for Fishermen

January 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This is part two of our interview Rick Bellevance, a charter fisherman out of Point Judith, Rhode Island and a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, about his experiences using electronic monitoring and reporting. In this part, we focus on electronic monitoring. Read Part 1 for Rick’s take on electronic reporting.

Getting Started in Electronic Monitoring

You just recently started a pilot project using cameras to attempt to verify eVTR recreational fishing reports. Why did you start this project?

I started the project on electronic monitoring as a way to validate my electronic vessel trip reports. I grow frustrated with folks who feel like they need to double, triple, and quadruple check our vessel trip reports. I honestly believe that we all try hard to accurately report what we catch and what we throw back. This was my way of being able to show a full season of how my business works. So those cameras are, in my opinion, recording what I already know, and I want to have an opportunity to show that to people.

Where are the cameras located on your boat?

One camera is on the railing on my bridge that shoots down into the cockpit and captures all the anglers in the back of the boat and all of the fishing activity. There is a second camera that is focused straight down on the station where we generally measure all the fish to determine if they are legal-sized or not. And so as I understand it, they can take the images from the angler reeling in the fish. Then the fish is then captured by the camera where it gets measured, and you can see whether the fish is discarded or retained. That system validates the numbers of discards and kept fish that we reported.

Have you seen the video? How are the cameras on the vessel working out so far?

I did see a little snippet from the program. It’s really cool how you can see the fish get caught on the first camera, and then see the fish measured and tossed or kept on the second camera.

Read the rest of the interview on our website.

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan

January 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. This action would set specifications for the herring fishery for 2020-2021. The proposed specifications would reduce catch limits for 2020 and 2021 in response to estimates of herring biomass and recruitment.

This action would use status quo methods to set all other specifications, including catch caps for river herring and shad.

This action would update the overfished and overfishing definition for the herring stock. Updating these definitions is largely an administrative change that is not expected to impact commercial fisheries. Additionally, this action would suspend the carryover of unharvested catch for 2021. Suspending carryover is proposed because the amount of carryover from 2018 (just under 5,000 mt) and potentially 2019 is substantial relative to the reduced ACL for 2020 and 2021 (11,571 mt). If carryover is harvested in specific management areas early in the year, other areas that are typically fished later in the year may be constrained by the ACL such the sub-ACLs in those areas cannot be fully harvested.  It is also consistent with the Council’s conservative management due to the current status of the herring stock and the uncertainty surrounding estimates of biomass and recruitment.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to:

Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office

55 Great Republic Drive

Gloucester, MA 01930

The comments due date is 02-12-2020.

Read the full release here

What’s tangling up the humpback whales? A food chain snarled by climate change

January 27, 2020 — Karin Forney still remembers when an unusual number of humpback whales started showing up in Monterey Bay a few winters ago. She could see them out her window — so close to the surf that kayakers could literally paddle up to them.

But with this delightful arrival came an alarming number of humpbacks getting entangled in fishing gear that cut into their flesh and often led to death. This sudden crisis confounded scientists, fishermen and animal rights groups.

“We went from virtually no humpback whale entanglements to one every other week — and then during peak, in the spring of 2016 … we were basically on call every single day,” said Forney, an applied marine ecologist at the NOAA Fisheries who scrambled to help the rescue efforts.

“The whales just kept coming.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times