Saving Seafood

Coonamessett Farm Foundation awarded contract for at-sea monitoring training

February 15, 2022 — The following was released by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation:

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc. (CFF) located in East Falmouth, MA was recently awarded a 2-year contract through the Atlantic States Fisheries Marine Commission, in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), to provide supplemental At-Sea Monitoring training sessions. These classes are critical to increasing the groundfish monitoring coverage rate to 100%, as stipulated under Amendment 23 of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. CFF, a recognized leader in sustainable fisheries and cooperative industry research, employs highly skilled instructors on staff that will begin training at-sea monitors for at-sea deployment by the NEFSC.

The At-Sea Monitoring Groundfish Program began in 2010 when the Northeast Fisheries Management Council and NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Office finalized the creation of the sector quota management system for federally permitted groundfish vessels. There are 13 commercially viable fish stocks such as Atlantic cod, redfish, haddock, and winter flounder that are managed as part of the Northeast species complex through sector allocations. Currently, based on geographical location within federal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, there are 20 recognized stocks that make up the groundfish complex.

Employed by observer/monitor service providers, certified at-sea monitors work directly with groundfish vessel captains and crews throughout the Northeast region and serve as NOAA Fisheries contractors. They are an important and vital link between industry, stock assessment biologists, and federal managers. Monitors are instructed in species identification, with core training components related to collecting haul level catch data of kept and discarded species; verification of area fished; and gear types used. During training, monitors undergo 3 days of instruction in vessel emergency and safety with hands-on field exercises to prepare them for working aboard commercial fishing vessels that range in size from 35 and 95 feet.

With guidance from training and data quality staff at the NEFSC, CFF plans to lead several trainings during the 2022-2023 season. In class training will be led by CFF ASM trainers, Tanner Fernandes and Taylor Irwin, former monitors and observers who joined CFF in 2021 to support this program. The NEFSC will advise on the need for additional training classes and provide ongoing support to CFF throughout this contract.

NEFMC Recommends Recreational Measures for Gulf of Maine Cod, Haddock for 2022; Discusses Atlantic Cod Stock Structure

February 14, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council met February 1-3, 2022 by webinar and devoted the entire third day of the meeting to groundfish issues. In short, the Council:

  • Developed recommendations on recreational fishing measures for Gulf of Maine cod and Gulf of Maine haddock for the 2022 fishing year for consideration by the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of NOAA Fisheries, which consults with the Council but is responsible for setting the measures;
  • Received a presentation on the 2021 Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Science/Assessment and Management Workshops, as well as the resulting draft final report;
  • Received a progress report from the Atlantic Cod Research Track Working Group; and
  • Engaged in an extensive discussion on potential management units for Atlantic cod based on the recent work on stock structure. The Council gave the Groundfish Committee a specific charge for considering next steps, which the full Council will review and discuss during the April 2022 meeting.

Read the full release from the NEFMC

NOAA, partners to issue long-term sea level projections

February 11, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On February 15, NOAA’s National Ocean Service and interagency partners will release a report updating long-term sea level projections for the United States.

The Sea Level Rise Technical Report delivers projections by decade for the next 100 years and beyond. The report updates the federal government’s 2017 sea level rise projections, with additional information on tide, wind, and storm-driven extreme water levels to support decision-making for a Climate Ready Nation.

The report is a product of the Interagency Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Hazard and Tool Task Force, composed of NOAA, NASA, EPA, USGS, DoD, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as several academic institutes.

When

Tuesday, February 15, at 1:00p.m. Eastern

What

Virtual media briefing on the interagency Sea Level Rise report

Who

Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator

Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator

Nicole LeBoeuf, Director, NOAA National Ocean Service

William Sweet, Ph.D., Oceanographer, NOAA’s National Ocean Service

Ben Hamlington, Ph.D., Sea Level Change Team Lead, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

How

GoToWebinar: The briefing will be followed by a Q&A session. An accompanying news release will be issued at the start of the webinar. 

NOTE: For credentialed reporters only. 

Interested reporters must register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/579382575564147468

To participate in the Q&A portion of the media briefing, please be sure to register using your full name and media affiliation. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please do not share your invite link with anyone, it is unique to you.

 

MAINE: Sen. Collins continues efforts to support Maine lobster industry

February 10, 2022 — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) recently joined a bipartisan, bicameral effort with several Maine lawmakers to continue advocating for their home state’s lobstermen and women, who are working to meet new federal requirements by May 1 that are expected to increase their financial losses.

The lawmakers expressed “renewed urgency” in requesting a delay in the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) implementation of the new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan final rule, which requires U.S. lobster and Jonah crab fisheries to modify their gear by May 1, according to a Feb. 7 letter they sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

“The economic harm imposed by the gear conversion deadline will be severe, and the scarcity of required gear is making it difficult — if not impossible — for lobstermen to achieve timely compliance,” wrote Sen. Collins and her Maine colleagues, who included U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Jared Golden (D-ME), and Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D).

Read the full story at the Ripon Advance

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford in line to get $30 million to improve waterfront Marine Commerce Terminal

February 10, 2022 — The Port of New Bedford was the nation’s highest value port for the 20th consecutive year in 2021 as announced by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

And the city could be getting $30 million to invest in improving the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

According to a news release from Sen. Mark Montigny, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Board of Directors voted to approve a motion authorizing $90 million to be spent from the Offshore Wind Industry Investment Fund created by the legislature in December 2021.

The funding reserves $30 million to expand capacity at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. The money is from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and state revenues that are held in MassCEC’s coffers to enhance the terminal.

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times

Maine Forum to Host Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Webinar on February 17; Fisheries Leadership Session on March 23

February 10, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Maine Fishermen’s Forum will be hosting two webinars of direct interest to the New England Fishery Management Council’s stakeholders. One will focus on the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) scallop fishery and the other will provide an opportunity for fishermen and other webinar participants to have an open dialogue with NOAA Fisheries leadership.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the forum’s board of directors canceled the March 2022 in-person event but made way for educational virtual seminars with remote participation by those who tune in via Zoom. Here are the details for the webinar lineup.

NORTHERN GULF OF MAINE SCALLOP FISHERY: This webinar, which is titled “Upcoming Changes to the Management of the Federal Scallop Fishery in the Northern Gulf of Maine,” will take place on Wednesday, February 17, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WHO ARE THE PANELISTS?

• Jonathon Peros, scallop lead for the New England Fishery Management Council and organizer of this webinar session;

• Travis Ford, scallop lead for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries); and

• Jessica Blaylock, industry-funded scallop observer program lead at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full release from the NEFMC

BOEM announces effort to protect right whales

February 10, 2022 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced in a press release it is partnering with multiple federal and state entities to research and strengthen the protection of the endangered North Atlantic right whales. The groups mentioned in the press release include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Fisheries, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

According to the release, BOEM is working with NOAA to develop strategies to “protect and promote the recovery of right whales” while allowing responsible development of offshore wind farms. The two organizations, with other partners, are also working on a passive acoustic monitoring network to identify and monitor the movements and distribution of marine mammals.

Read the full story at The Martha’s Vineyard Times

 

MAINE: Local lobstermen hear mostly bad news at Zone B Council meeting

February 8, 2022 — Area lobstermen heard little good news at a Jan. 31 Zone B Council meeting as Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shared information presented earlier at a December 2021 Lobster Advisory Council meeting. 

New gear, reporting and trap line regulations and the temporary closure of local waters to lobster fishing – all aimed at protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale – are changing how lobstermen fish today and in the future. But greater challenges will play out in federal courts, as lawsuits levied by well-funded environmental groups could shut the fishery completely down. 

“This represents the greatest threat to the industry,” Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said. 

If the federal court rules to vacate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s biological opinion, as one lawsuit requests, on grounds that it violates the Endangered Species Act and the 1946 Administration Procedures Act (which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations), then NOAA’s National Fisheries Marine Service (NFMS) could not legally authorize the fishery to operate. 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Congress Should Remove Burdensome Seafood Provisions from America COMPETES Act, Write 55 Saving Seafood Coalition Members

February 2, 2022 — Today, 55 members of the Saving Seafood Coalition added their names in opposition to seafood import monitoring provisions in H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act, that would impose “a blizzard of paperwork and insurmountable compliance burdens on processors, distributors, restaurants, and grocery stores.”

Earlier this week, a diverse group of thirteen seafood organizations representing fisheries from across the nation wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking that these provisions be removed from the bill.

The provisions, Sections 70101 to 70131, would expand the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to include all seafood species regardless of risk of illegal fishing, and extend it down the entireS supply chain. These sections draw heavily from H.R. 3075, portions of which were opposed by nearly 120 commercial seafood industry stakeholders in a letter last September.

The letter points to testimony from Janet Coit, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, in its opposition to SIMP expansion. In a hearing last July, Ms. Coit testified, “The current risk-based approach to SIMP allows NOAA to target our existing resources on those fish and fish products most likely to come from IUU [illegal, unreported, and unregulated] fishing.” Proposed changes to SIMP “would require NOAA to shift resources and reprioritize activities,” Ms. Coit said.

H.R. 3075 has not been considered by the numerous committees of jurisdiction in the House and is not ready for inclusion in a legislative package being prepared for a vote by the entire House of Representatives, the letter states.

“We strongly urge you to remove Sections 70101 to 70131 from H.R. 4521 and enable their consideration through regular order,” the Saving Seafood Coalition members wrote.

The letter was delivered to Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

NOAA Fisheries Denies Petition For Emergency Action on Bering Sea Salmon Bycatch

February 2, 2022 — Four days after the Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo approved eight fisheries in Alaska for official disaster determinations, including the 2020 Kuskokwim River salmon fishery and the 2020 and 2021 Yukon River salmon fisheries, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit denied a petition for emergency action to lower the number of salmon caught incidentally in the Bering Sea.

The petitioners — the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Bering Sea Elders Group, Kawerak, Inc., the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, representing over 118 Alaska Tribes — saw significant salmon declines both years. The Yukon was particularly hard hit: the fishery had its lowest runs ever last summer. The commercial fishery remained closed. Yukon River families were not allowed to fish for subsistence salmon.

Th petition asked Raimondo for emergency action to eliminate Chinook salmon bycatch and set a cap on chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery in the 2022 season.

Coits letter of denial reached them a few days after news of the fishery disaster approvals was reported, opening the door for relief funds. Responding to the disaster declaration, which was requested by Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, the state’s Congressional delegation issued a joint written statement that the federal funds could help compensate “crews, seafood processors, and research initiatives in the impacted regions.”

Read the full story at Seafood News