Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Revision of Maine State Waters Scallop Exemption Program

August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces a proposed rule that would allow vessels with both Maine commercial licenses and Federal Northern Gulf of Maine scallop permits to continue fishing in Maine’s state waters once the Federal total allowable catch in this area is harvested.

Maine requested this exemption as part of the Scallop State Water Exemption Program, which allows Federal permit holders to fish in the state waters scallop fishery on a more equitable basis where Federal and state laws are inconsistent.

The Program specifies that a state with a scallop fishery may be eligible for state waters exemptions from specific regulations if it has a scallop conservation program that does not jeopardize the objectives of the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP.

We have determined that Maine qualifies for this exemption, and that allowing this exemption would have no impact on the effectiveness of Federal management measures for the scallop fishery overall in this area.

Maine requested this exemption only for Northern Gulf of Maine permit holders. Limited access, individual fishing quota, and incidental scallop vessels would still be required to stop fishing for scallops in state waters of the Northern Gulf of Maine if the Federal catch allocation is reached.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, which is open for public comment through September 4.

Submit your comments online through Regulations.gov or by mail to:

John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator
NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930

Please mark the outside of the envelope: Comments on Atlantic Sea Scallop Proposed Rule.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2015 Annual Catch Limits for Bluefish

August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces the following annual catch limits for the 2015 bluefish fishery: 

2015 COMMERCIAL QUOTA: 5.241 MILLION LB. 

This is a 35 percent decrease from 2014 (7.46 million lb).

2015 RECREATIONAL HARVEST LIMIT: 12.951 MILLION LB. This is a 4.3 percent decrease from the 2014 recreational harvest limit (13.52 million lb).

Together, the total allowable landings for 2015 is 18.19 million lb. 

This is a 13.7 percent decrease from the 2014 total allowable landings (21.08 million lb).

Although the bluefish stock is not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring, the most recent stock assessment update indicates the size of the stock has declined, which is why we reduced the limits. In recent years, states’ landings of bluefish have been below their allocated quota, and the quota reductions may be partially mitigated by the states’ ability to transfer quota.

Read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register, and get more information from the permit holder bulletin.

The Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Florida each transferred 150,000 lb of commercial bluefish quota to the State of New York to ensure the New York quota is not exceeded. The transfers will become effective upon the filing of this final rule.

Independent coastal bait and tackle retailers contribute $2.3 billion to U.S. economy

July 27, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

In 2014, NOAA Fisheries conducted our first-ever survey of independent retailers that sell saltwater bait and tackle in coastal communities. We found that bait and tackle shops generated an estimated $854 million in sales of saltwater bait, tackle, and other fishing-related equipment. Collectively, these sales support $2.3 billion in total sales output, nearly $800 million in income, and support over 16,000 full and part-time jobs.

Before this study, we lacked baseline data to help describe the role independent bait and tackle retailers play in local economies. These results will inform decision-making on how proposed fishing regulations changes might affect our society and economy Please take a moment to review the full results and share the findings with others who may be interested.

Please contact the report’s lead author, Cliff Hutt (cliff.hutt@noaa.gov), if you have questions or need additional information about the study.

Lobstering: Monitors more likely on boats with state, federal permits

July 16, 2015 — Federal plans to expand observer coverage on lobster boats from Maine to Maryland may have a hit a lull, but they are not going away, especially for lobstermen who hold both state lobster and federal access permits, according to the NOAA Fisheries official that oversees the program.

Amy Martins, manager of the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program, said Wednesday the number of calls to lobstermen to schedule observer trips have declined substantially in the past month primarily because of concerns lobstermen expressed at a contentious June 4 meeting at NOAA Fisheries’ regional headquarters in Gloucester.

“We heard concerns from the lobstermen that our observer program was calling too frequently and that we were perhaps overly aggressive,” Martins said. “We’ve also done quite a bit of work since that meeting that has allowed us to zone in a little more clearly on the specific parts of the fishery we want to monitor, the fleet-within-the-fleet, so to speak.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times