Saving Seafood

Fish Farming In Gulf Poses Questions And Opportunities

February 3, 2016 — Most of the fish we eat in the U.S. comes from other countries. Fishermen in Louisiana have long sought to displace some of those imports but the industry has faced challenges like hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill.

Now, a new source of fish in the gulf offers promise — but also raises questions.

For the first time, the Gulf of Mexico is open for fish farming.

Companies can apply for permits through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. Then they can install floating fish cages — like those already in place in state waters off the coasts of Maine, Washington and Hawaii.

Harlon Pearce owns Harlon’s LA Fish, which sells local fish to restaurants and grocery stores across the south. On a recent afternoon his refrigerated warehouse in Kenner was full of them. He pointed to yellowfin tuna, snapper, black drum and sheep’s head. It doesn’t always look this way.

Pearce, who is on the board of the Gulf Seafood Institute, says he freezes a lot of his fish in order to meet continuous demand, but ultimately always runs out. He wants to sell nationwide and contract with big chains, like Red Lobster, but he says, “We never have enough fish to supply the markets. Never.”

That’s true for a couple of reasons – the seafood industry in the Gulf still hasn’t bounced back from the 2010 BP oil spill, but it’s always fluctuated due to hurricanes and pollution.

Read the full story at New Orleans Public Radio

 

New quotas cut deep for fishing industry

February 3, 2016 — Fishermen and fishing stakeholders say the darkness that has descended on the Northeast groundfish fishery over the past three years is only going to grow deeper in 2016, with some fishing stakeholders envisioning the final collapse of the small-boat industry due to slashed quotas for species they believe are abundant.

“With these cuts, we will not have a fishery as we know it anymore,” said Vito Giacalone, the manager of Gloucester-based Northeast Fishing Sector 4 and the policy director at the Northeast Seafood Coalition. “The great shame to this is we’re going to have this entirely detrimental economic impact while the stocks are in great shape and no one in the government is listening. There is just no leadership.”

At the heart of the issue is the expanding difference between what fishermen say they are seeing on the water and the results from NOAA stock assessments used to produce the annual fishing quotas. Call it a watery Great Divide.

“The fish are in great shape and the only real constraint on catch is quota,” Giacalone said. “Fishermen are seeing that across the board on a lot of the species.”

The quotas, set for 2016 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the final groundfish framework, reflect a far different analysis by NOAA and its scientists. They include savage cuts to gray sole (55 percent), Georges Bank cod (66 percent), northern windowpane flounder (33 percent) and Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder (26 percent).

“We’ve never had a greater gap between what the fishermen are seeing on the water and what the scientists are saying,” Giacalone said. “Never.”

Gloucester fisherman Al Cottone said his personal sector contribution (PSC) for 2016 includes a slight increase in Gulf of Maine cod from the 1,800 pounds he was allotted in 2015, but cuts in several other species such as yellowtail flounder (down 25 percent to 2,400 pounds); American plaice (down 17.6 percent to 2,800 pounds) and gray sole (down 6 percent to 2,800 pounds).

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

 

Whale habitat change concerns fishermen

February 2, 2016 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — NOAA Fisheries announced last week that it was expanding the critical habitat for endangered North Atlantic right whales to cover its northeast feeding areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. The designated area is much larger than the one it replaces, and now includes all of the Gulf of Maine on the U.S. side of the national boundary with Canada.

The designation also was applied to an expanded area of the whales’ southeast calving grounds from North Carolina to Florida.

Under the Endangered Species Act, critical habitat within the range of the species consists of areas that contain physical or biological features essential to conservation of the species.

The final rule, which was first proposed in February 2015 and received 261 general comments over a 60-day comment period, does not include any new restrictions or management measures for commercial fishing operations. It does not create preserves or refuges.

However, federal agencies conducting, funding or permitting activities in these areas are required to work with NOAA Fisheries to avoid or reduce impacts on critical habitat.

The announcement has sparked long-standing disagreements between environmental and animal organizations and commercial fisheries.

Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle called the decision “a lifeline” for right whales in a blog post published Friday. “The HSUS and its allies have been fighting for an expansion of protected habitat since 2009, and it’s a victory for us over commercial fishermen and shipping interests that have irresponsibly downplayed their role in driving down the numbers of these mammoth creatures,” he wrote.

Read the full story at Mount Desert Islander

 

Fishermen await trial on NOAA monitors mandate

February 2, 2016 — HAMPTON — Local fisherman David Goethel said he hopes a court ruling comes soon to determine the legality of a new federal mandate, as he and other fishermen are fearful they will go under before the trial begins.

Goethel said he may sell his fishing boat after this summer if the trial isn’t resolved by then. He filed the lawsuit causing the trial, challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s plan to make fishermen pay for their own policing. He filed it in conjunction with a fishing sector based in Massachusetts.

Industry members estimate the observers would cost a given fisherman $700 for each day the observer joined them at sea. Observers are mandated to go with fishermen on 24 percent of their fishing days. Fishermen say their industry was already being devastated by strict restrictions on catch limits.

“I will not be able to pay for this,” Goethel said. “I keep saying over and over: This is the straw that will break the camel’s back.”

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

Why the U.S. East Coast could be a major ‘hotspot’ for rising seas

February 1, 2016 — New research published Monday adds to a body of evidence suggesting that a warming climate may have particularly marked effects for some citizens of the country most responsible for global warming in the first place — namely, U.S. East Coasters.

Writing in Nature Geoscience, John Krasting and three colleagues from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration find that “Atlantic coastal areas may be particularly vulnerable to near-future sea-level rise from present-day high greenhouse gas emission rates.” The research adds to recent studies that have found strong warming of ocean waters in the U.S. Gulf of Maine, a phenomenon that is not only upending fisheries but could be worsening the risk of extreme weather in storms like Winter Storm Jonas.

“When carbon emission rates are at present day levels and higher, we see greater basin average sea level rise in the Atlantic relative to the Pacific,” says Krasting. “This also means that single global average measures of sea level rise become less representative of the regional scale changes that we show in the study.”

In the new research, the scientists used a high powered climate change model based at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., that simulates the ocean, the atmosphere and the cycling of carbon throughout the Earth system. The goal was to determine how much sea level rise would occur in the Atlantic, versus the Pacific, under a variety of global carbon emissions scenarios.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

 

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for Feb 1, 2016

February 2, 2016 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

CARTERET COUNTY FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION TO MEET

The Carteret County Fishermen’s Association has scheduled a meeting for Saturday, February 6, 2016 at the Marshallberg Community Center at 6:30pm.

SOUTHERN SHRIMP ALLIANCE & SHRIMP IMPORTS:

The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organization of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors, and other members of the domestic industry in the eight warmwater shrimp producing states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.

Founded in 2002, the SSA works to ensure the continued vitality and existence of the U.S. shrimp industry.  The livelihoods of U.S. shrimpers are threatened by cheap, unfairly traded imported shrimp.  The U.S market has become a dumping ground for shrimp that are turned away from other major seafood importing countries.  Proposed restrictions on shrimp fishing and rapidly increasing costs of doing business also loom over the industry.   The SSA is committed to preserving the long term viability of one of our nation’s most valuable fisheries, which for decades has been a foundation of the economy and social structure of countless coastal communities throughout the Gulf and Southeast regions. 

SSA is currently conducting a sunset review, which is required to determine if antidumping duties should remain for imported shrimp from certain countries. John distributed surveys for shrimpers and processors. It is very important for shrimpers and shrimp processors to participate in this survey! If not, the antidumping duties could be lifted.

We have copies at the office, so call if you want us to send you one or more. Or you can contact John Williams of the Southern Shrimp Alliance directly: john@shrimpalliance.com or call: 727-934-5090.

PROPOSED BOUNDARY EXPANSION TO MONITOR NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY

After several years of scientific and archaeological assessment and in coordination with the public, NOAA is proposing to expand Monitor National Marine Sanctuary off North Carolina’s Outer Banks to include additional maritime heritage resources. The proposed expansion would protect a nationally significant collection of shipwrecks that currently have little or no legal protection, including one of America’s only World War II battlefields.

 For more details and maps see http://monitor.noaa.gov/management/expansion.html.  

This expansion could have significant impacts on fishermen off the Outer Banks.  Please plan to attend one of the following public meetings:

 

Raleigh, NC

Tues., Feb. 9 from 6-9 p.m.

North Carolina Museum of History

5 East Edenton Street

919-807-7900

Beaufort, NC

Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 6-9 p.m.

North Carolina Maritime Museum

315 Front Street

252-728-7317

Hatteras, NC

Thurs., Feb. 11 from 6-9 p.m.

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum

9200 Museum Dr.

252-986-2995

Washington, D.C.

Tues., Feb. 16 from 6-9 p.m.

US Navy Memorial – Main Auditorium

701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

202-380-0710

Nags Head, NC

Wed., Feb. 17 from 6-9 p.m.

Jennette’s Pier – Oceanview Hall

7223 S. Virginia Dare Trail

252-255-1501

 

JERRY’S COMMENTS

Last fall WRAL aired a documentary that was not at all complimentary to our state’s commercial fishermen. I was interviewed for it and offered some suggestions for other interviews to the producer, Clay Johnson. After I watched it, I sent him a note and said it was the most subjective piece of fisheries journalism I’ve experienced. He didn’t agree with that statement, but I maintain that it’s a fact.

Since then, there are some fishermen who wonder why I would even consent to an interview. At the same time, we all seem to agree that we “need to get the word out”, and quit preaching to the choir. How do we do that by saying no to a request for an interview, when the question is, “would you be interested in being interviewed for a documentary about commercial fishing”? Before saying yes, I did some research on the producer. I watched several of his documentaries with one being about commercial fishing in 2008. The others were not about commercial fishing but all of them, in my opinion, were fair and objectively done.S

Below is the link to the video, “Net Loss”, produced by Clay Johnson in 2008. If you haven’t watched the other one that aired last year, let me know and I’ll forward to you.

http://www.wral.com/wral-tv/video/3599816/

CALENDAR

Feb 2-4     ASMFC Winter meeting; Alexandria VA

Feb 6        Carteret County Fishermen’s Association; 6:30pm;

Feb 9         Monitor National Marine Sanctuary hearing; 6-9pm; Raleigh

Feb 10     Monitor National Marine Sanctuary hearing; 6-9pm; Beaufort

Feb 11       Monitor National Marine Sanctuary hearing; 6-9pm; Hatteras

Feb 9-11   MAFMC meeting in New Bern NC

Feb 17     Monitor National Marine Sanctuary hearing; 6-9pm; Nags Head

Feb 17-19 NC MFC meeting in Wrightsville Beach, NC

Mar 7-11   SAFMC meeting in Jekyll Island, GA

View a PDF of the Weekly Update

Maine DMR Hosts Visitors from People’s Republic of China for Fisheries Talk

February 1, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

As part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Leadership Program, the Maine Department of Marine Resources hosted visitors from the People’s Republic of China’s State Oceanic Administration on Thursday, January 28, 2016. The visitors included Ms. Danhong Chen with the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (3rd from right), Mr. Jilu Wu with the China Institute for Marine Affairs (2nd from right), and Mr. Antao Wang with the Department of International Cooperation (far right). Discussing Maine and U.S. fisheries enforcement were (left to right) U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant J.G. Pierre Spence, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher, NOAA Supervisory Enforcement Officer Eric Provencher, U.S. Coast Guard Commander Jamie Frederick, and Maine Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish.

 

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An hour with: The Woods Hole Science Aquarium

February 1, 2016 — WOODS HOLE, Mass. — The cart of food wouldn’t look totally out of place at an upscale sushi restaurant: capelin and herring, both whole and neatly chopped, mysis shrimp and cubes of gelatin packed with ground fish, broccoli, carrots and spinach.

But these restaurant-grade meals aren’t for fine dining; they’re for the fish and other marine animals that call the Woods Hole Science Aquarium home.

The free aquarium is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service and is open five days a week. But fish need to eat even on weekends or federal holidays. So every morning, usually before the doors open at 11 a.m., one of the three staff members or five regular volunteers comes to dole out a specific mix of edibles to the critters in each tank, clean the tanks or perform other behind-the-scenes maintenance at the nation’s oldest public aquarium at 166 Water St.

Alison Brodet, a marine biologist who volunteers at the aquarium once a week, briefly conferred with senior biologist Kristy Owen about the morning’s feeding. Some usually ravenous fish were being slower to the food today, but Owen wasn’t worried. The bigger fish will eat more than once a day, but the smaller fish may eat only once a day or less, depending on their temperament.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Times

 

U.S. Fisheries Management Clears High Bar for Sustainability Based on New Assessment

January 28, 2016 — Today, NOAA Fisheries announced the publication of a peer-reviewed self-assessment that shows the standards of the United States fishery management system under the Magnuson-Stevens Act more than meet the criteria of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s ecolabelling guidelines. These same guidelines serve as a basis for many consumer seafood certification and ranking schemes. The assessment demonstrates that the U.S. fisheries management system is particularly strong when considering responsiveness and science-based criteria. Beyond the biological and ecosystem criteria, the assessment also pointed out that the U.S. system incorporates the social and economic components of fisheries essential for effective long-term stewardship.

This assessment was authored by Dr. Michelle Walsh, a former NOAA Fisheries Knauss Fellow and current member of the Marine Science Faculty at Florida Keys Community College. Walsh evaluated the sustainability of how U.S. federal fisheries are managed using the FAO’s Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. These guidelines are a set of internationally recognized criteria used to evaluate the sustainability of fisheries around the world.

“While the performance of U.S. fisheries clearly illustrates that the U.S. management system is effective, my colleagues and I wanted to evaluate the U.S. approach to fisheries management as a whole against these international guidelines for ecolabelling seafood,” said Walsh.

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries

Federal judge denies fisherman’s motion to block shift of monitoring costs to fishermen

January 28, 2016 —  A federal judge has denied a New Hampshire fisherman’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have halted NOAA Fisheries’ plan to shift the cost of the at-sea monitoring program to fishermen.

U.S. District Judge Joseph J. Laplante, sitting in Concord, New Hampshire, ruled Wednesday that New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel’s claims for injunctive relief in his suit against the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are barred by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

“Accordingly, plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction is denied,” Laplante wrote in his ruling.

Goethel, owner of the 44-foot fishing trawler Ellen Diane out of Hampton, and Northeast Fishing Sector 13 are suing the federal agencies and administrators, claiming NOAA’s plans to shift the cost of at-sea monitoring (ASM) to permit holders is illegal and will put fishermen out of business.

Saving Seafood Editor’s Note: The following clarification was provided by David Goethel, a primary plaintiff in the lawsuit:

The Judge gave a narrow preliminary ruling that denied the availability of a particular kind of preliminary injunctive relief. He ruled that he could not issue an injunction to stop the National Marine Fisheries Service from charging the fishermen for At-Sea-monitoring until the merits of the case were decided. The court said nothing about the merits of the case — specifically, nothing at all about the legality of industry funding for ASM — and we are working to get the merits decision as quickly as possible. Meanwhile the Court denied the government’s motion to transfer the case to Boston, Massachusetts, so we can hope that he will want to reach the merits soon.  We are still fighting to prevent industry funding from kicking in. A court date has not been set for a hearing on the merits of our case, but the Judge did set a date for the government to provide the administrative record and honor a Freedom of Information request for all documents and emails written in regards to at-sea monitoring.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times