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Maine Lobstering Union drops part of lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries
August 25, 2022 — The Maine Lobstering Union is agreeing to drop part of its lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Services, where the federal agency is closing a 960-square-mile section of the Gulf of Maine to lobster fishers.
Federal regulators said this section of ocean is prime habitat for North Atlantic right whales and argued blocking that part of the ocean off from buoy lines from Oct. 18 to Jan. 31, 2023, would help reduce the risk posed to entanglements between lobster gear and whales.
Alfred C Frawley with McCloskey, Mina, Cunniff, and Frawley, LLC, said in an email the move was made as federal agencies add more regulations against the lobster industry.
“The MLU has taken the procedural step of agreeing to dismiss its case in Maine, which was largely mooted by the DC Court’s recent decision, in order to focus its resources on the ongoing litigation in DC and on ensuring that NMFS issues a new rule that both protects the North Atlantic right whale and ensures the sustainability of Maine’s lobster fishery,” Frawley said in an email to NEWS CENTER Maine.
Louisiana AG Jeff Landry looks to intervene in lawsuit over red grouper fish quotas
August 24, 2022 — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is getting involved in a legal battle over recreational fishing in the state.
He has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service rule that deals with quotas for Gulf of Mexico red grouper fish.
Milford laboratory working to make sure CT’s shellfish industry survives
August 23, 2022 — Thousands of people came to Milford this weekend for the Milford Oysterfest. They served up some 30,000 oysters, all grown in the water off Connecticut’s coast. As they enjoy those tasty shellfish, they may not know that, right nearby, scientists are constantly studying those oysters.
Just across the harbor is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory. The scientists working there try to make the shellfish industry thrive.
“Among our main projects are to improve the hatchery techniques so that it’s more effective and dependable to have shellfish seed to plant,” explained Dr. Gary Wikfors, Aquaculture Sustainability Branch Chief of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
Shellfishing is a $30 million industry in Connecticut, and Connecticut’s senior senator wants to see more funding to study it.
NOAA broke law by not protecting right whales, judge rules
July 12, 2022 — NOAA violated federal law by not doing enough to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglements caused by lobster fishing gear, a federal judge said Friday.
In his ruling, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the agency broke both the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) when it issued a biological opinion and a final rule that changed fishing gear requirements last year.
Boasberg declared both the biological opinion and the rule “invalid” and said more needs to be done to protect the whales.
The judge acknowledged that “this may seem a severe result” for both NOAA Fisheries and the lobster industry but added that “no actor here … operates free from the strict requirements imposed by the MMPA and ESA.”
NOAA declined to comment.
The ruling marked a win for the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Defenders of Wildlife, groups that first sued NOAA in early 2018 over a prior biological opinion.
“The court’s decision recognizes what NOAA Fisheries has ignored for decades — that Congress clearly intended to protect right whales from the lobster gear entanglements that are driving the species toward extinction just as surely as whaling nearly did,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife.
Davenport said the opinion represented “the course correction the agency needs to put both the species and the fishery on a path towards sustainability and co-existence.”
Federal court rules fisheries officials didn’t do enough to protect right whales from lobster gear
July 8, 2022 — A federal court on Friday ruled in favor of environmental groups that had filed a lawsuit against the government and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association claiming federal fisheries officials had failed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from potentially fatal entanglements in lobster fishing gear, records show.
A judge ruled that NOAA Fisheries had violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act when it issued a May 2021 biological opinion and a September 2021 final rule because officials had not done enough to reduce the lobster fishery’s threat to right whales, the plaintiffs in the suit said in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Defenders of Wildlife.
Captains and vessel owners are climbing the learning curve of electronic vessel trip reporting
July 7, 2022 — Among the biggest problems with effective fisheries management has always been lack of relevant data and the time lag between information retrieval and action.
One tool the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to use to close those gaps is electronic vessel trip reporting or eVTR.
Using the carrot and the stick approach, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has begun requiring many fishermen to submit vessel trip reports electronically. NMFS’s carrot is that the results may eventually benefit all, and in some fisheries recreational fishermen’s data is being added to the mix, but for small-scale fishermen, the stick of punishment for non-compliance can feel too much, especially when the failure is generated by new technologies.
While the eVTR learning curve and buggy apps create problems for some fishermen, the bigger and broader data picture that eVTR offers resource managers means that eVTR is likely here to stay. But it would appear from Facebook comments that NOAA, app developers, and fishermen need to have a conversation.
Judge throws out Trump-era rollbacks on endangered species
July 6, 2022 — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a host of actions by the Trump administration to roll back protections for endangered or threatened species, a year after the Biden administration said it was moving to strengthen such species protections.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Northern California eliminated the Trump-era rules even as two wildlife agencies under President Joe Biden are reviewing or rescinding the regulations. The decision restores a range of protections under the Endangered Species Act — including some that date to the 1970s — while the reviews are completed. Environmental groups hailed the decision, which they said sped up needed protections and critical habitat designations for threatened species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
Tigar’s ruling “spoke for species desperately in need of comprehensive federal protections without compromise,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. “Threatened and endangered species do not have the luxury of waiting under rules that do not protect them.”
The court ruling comes as two federal agencies — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service — review five Endangered Species Act regulations finalized by President Donald Trump’s administration, including critical habitat designations and rules requiring federal agencies to consult with the wildlife or fisheries services before taking actions that could affect threatened or endangered species.
NOAA Fisheries Invites Public Comment on New Draft Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy
June 30, 2022 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
Council Family – This topic was discussed at the most recent advisory group and Council meetings. As you know, the Western Pacific Region is recognized for community development and education and training programs in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and yet have been underfunded for many years. NMFS will host four webinars – see details below. At the June 30 session, NMFS Pacific Islands Region staff will focus on Pacific Islands Regional issues and will be on hand to answer questions. We encourage you all to participate.
-Kitty Simonds
The following was originally released by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) May 6, 2022.
NOAA Fisheries shared its first-ever draft Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy and invited public comments through August 19 (*extended to August 31*). In addition to accepting written comments, we will host four webinars on the strategy, where comments will be accepted. Additional in-person meetings and opportunities to comment via phone will be announced on a rolling basis, once those plans are finalized.
“NOAA Fisheries is focused on serving all communities more equitably and effectively, and this strategy will provide the framework to do just that,” said Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries and NOAA’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, Janet Coit.
“We are committed to advancing equity and environmental justice, including equal treatment, opportunities, and environmental benefits for all people and communities, while building on continuing efforts and partnerships with underserved and underrepresented communities,” she added.
Goals and Objectives
The agency identified three overarching, long-term goals in the strategy. They are:
- Prioritize identification, equitable treatment, and meaningful involvement of underserved communities
- Provide equitable delivery of services
- Prioritize equity and environmental justice in our mandated and mission work
The agency also identified six short-term objectives in the strategy. They are:
- Provide an empowering environment within the agency to support multiple equity and environmental justice approaches at NOAA Fisheries
- Incorporate equity and environmental justice in agency policies and plans
- Achieve equity in research and researching equity
- Outreach and engage equitably
- Equitably distribute benefits
- Ensure inclusive governance
This national strategy is the result of guidance from recent Executive Orders, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, the Department of Commerce’s Equity Action Plan, NOAA’s Climate Council and agency leadership, enthusiastic staff participation, and a clear and growing need indicated by underserved communities. The strategy also builds on our previous equity and environmental justice efforts to provide guidance for incorporating and prioritizing EEJ in ongoing and future activities in support of our mission.
“While we are making progress in addressing equity and environmental justice, we know that we have much more work to do to embed EEJ into our day-to-day efforts,” said NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, Sam Rauch, who also convened and led the agency’s EEJ Working Group. “By focusing on these goals and objectives we will provide more equitable stewardship of the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat.”
How You Can Help
NOAA Fisheries’ science, conservation, and management activities serve a diverse array of communities across the United States and territories. However, not all communities have equal opportunities and access to agency-led services. Through this call for public comment, we seek assistance in several areas, including help to identify:
- Who the agency’s underserved communities are
- How the agency can reduce barriers to underserved communities
- How the agency can better incorporate equity and environmental justice into our daily activities
- How we can improve equity in our programs and policies now, with our current resources, and in the future
- Help evaluating whether the draft recommendations for action are on target
How to Provide Comment
You can provide comments online. You can also comment at webinars, by phone, and at in-person meetings. The webinars will be held on:
- June 30, 2022, 1 – 3 p.m. HST, noon – 2 p.m. SST, July 1, 2022, 8 – 10 a.m. ChST
(Visit this page and click on “Register for June 30 webinar”)**** (link corrected)
- July 19, 2022, 10 a.m. – noon HST, 9 – 11 a.m. SST, July 20, 2022, 6 – 8 a.m. ChST
(Visit this page and click on “Register for July 19 webinar”) (link corrected)
****At this session, NMFS Pacific Islands Region staff will focus on Pacific Island Regional issues and will be on hand to answer questions.
Achieving Our Goals
To achieve our initial equity and environmental justice goals, each of the agency’s national program offices and geographic regions will incorporate EEJ into a step-down implementation plan. These plans will be specific and responsive to the needs of underserved communities and allows for the input of underserved communities. Each program, science center, and regional office will set equity and environmental justice as a Priority Area or milestone in annual strategic planning starting in 2023. And, the agency’s step-down implementation plans will include metrics describing equity and environmental justice actions. Our progress will be publicly reported annually in an EEJ Scorecard.
“To be clear, this strategy does not endorse business as usual and is not a rebranding of existing activities. Rather, this national strategy describes the path that NOAA Fisheries will take to incorporate EEJ into the vital services we provide to all stakeholders,” said Coit.
New criteria for Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish and Red Drum management
June 29, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries approved new criteria to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management, changing Amendments 48 and 5 for the respective fishery management plans.
Earlier this year NOAA Fisheries requested comments on new criteria used to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management. On March 2022, announcing the request, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council recommended these criteria changes for two amendments, Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5).
According to NOAA Fisheries, “Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5) were developed to establish or modify maximum sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, overfishing and overfished determination criteria called maximum fishing mortality thresholds (MFMTs), and minimum stock size thresholds (MSSTs), respectively, and optimum yield (OY) for some reef fish species and red drum.”
Plans and regulations are reviewed annually
The agency adds that “Status determination criteria are the MSY, MFMT, and MSST and are measurable and objective values or proxies that are used to determine if overfishing has occurred, or if the stock or stock complex is overfished. Overfishing means too many fish are being harvested from a population and overfished means that the population is too low.” Follow the link to download a Status Determination Criteria Infographic published by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.
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