August 26, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
The management track stock assessment peer review meeting for multispecies groundfish and small mesh stocks and Atlantic sea scallops begins at 9am on Monday, September 14, 2020 and runs through Friday, September 18, 2020. The review will be held remotely, and the agenda and connection information are available on our website.
Questions?
Contact Michele Traver, Assessment Process Lead, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
August 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Over recent decades, Alaska’s fisheries have undergone many regulatory, environmental, social, and economic changes, which have differentially affected dynamics in fishing families. Researchers from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center explored these changes and their effects on fishing families in a series of focus groups held throughout Gulf of Alaska fishing communities in 2017 and 2018. These focus groups covered three topics examining family roles and gender division of labor; impacts of management, environmental, economic and social conditions on these roles; and, the future of fishing families and women in Alaska’s fisheries. The research demonstrates the integral work of women in fishing families and their dynamic roles in Alaska’s fisheries more broadly. It further showcases how fishing families have, and continue to, adapt to multifaceted conditions in Alaska’s fisheries. This research has resulted in several scientific journal publications and web stories (which are available below), and is an ongoing effort to document novel conditions, adaptations, and resilience.
Thanks to Sarah Marrinan, North Pacific Fishery Management Council staff, for help with conducting these focus groups.
August 24, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
NOAA Fisheries recently implemented new permitting and reporting requirements for recreational tilefish fishermen. All recreational vessel operators (including for-hire operators using their vessels on recreational trips) targeting or retaining golden or blueline tilefish from Virginia to Maine are now required to obtain a free permit from NOAA Fisheries and submit electronic vessel trip reports (eVTRs) within 24 hours of returning to port.
A new app has been released to make the reporting process easy and convenient. Harbor Light Software’s eFin Logbook has received certification from NOAA Fisheries as an approved application through which anglers can report their trips. Funded by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, eFin Logbook is a user-friendly application designed specifically for recreational tilefish anglers. The app is available for use on all Apple and Android mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android phone, and Android tablet).
“During our initial outreach efforts, many anglers told us that the existing NOAA-approved reporting systems were too complicated for recreational reporting,” said Mid-Atlantic Council Executive Director Chris Moore. “Recreational stakeholders are generally supportive of the need for improved data collection on tilefish but have stressed the need for a simpler, more user-friendly interface. In response to this feedback, we collaborated with Harbor Light Software on the development of eFin Logbook, the first NOAA-approved electronic reporting system designed specifically for recreational fishermen.”
At present, eFin Logbook can only be used by tilefish recreational anglers to satisfy reporting requirements. Future modifications may expand its capabilities to other reporting and personal fishing log applications. For-hire operators, many of whom have other reporting requirements, are encouraged to choose different software. To learn more about other electronic reporting options and decide which one is right for you, visit the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region Electronic Reporting Web Page.
August 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries is announcing a reduction in the southern red hake in-season possession limit adjustment trigger from 90 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) to 40.4 percent (123.2 mt) of the TAL because of a 2018 overage of the annual catch limit (ACL). In 2018, the fleet caught 49.6 percent more than the ACL allowed triggering the accountability measure that reduces the in-season possession limit adjustment trigger by 1 percent for each percent the ACL was exceeded.
Review of catch reports indicate that the new in-season possession limit trigger, that will be put into place by this action, has been reached (i.e., 145 mt of southern red hake have been harvested). As a result, the possession limit for southern red hake will be reduced from 5,000 lb to the incidental possession limit of 400 lb for the remainder of the fishing year.
This rule becomes effective August 25, 2020. For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, and our permit holder bulletin.
August 21, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday chose the Gulf of Mexico as one of two places where it will look to grow offshore fish farming.
The gulf joins Southern California in becoming a region for “Aquaculture Opportunity Areas,” the first two in the United States. President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year outlining the concept as a way of boosting the country’s seafood industry and reducing its reliance on imported fish. The selection covers federal waters but does not identify more specific locations.
“The creation of Aquaculture Opportunity Areas will foster the U.S. aquaculture industry as a needed complement to our wild capture fisheries,” said Chris Oliver, the assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, in a statement. “This type of proactive work creates opportunities for aquaculture farmers and maintains our commitment to environmental stewardship.”
August 20, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has announced that federal waters off the coast of Southern California and in the Gulf of Mexico will be the first two regions investigated for future Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in the U.S.
The areas were chosen for initial assement following on an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump issued with the goal of increasing domestic aquaculture production in the U.S. One part of the order stipulated the identification of “at least two” geographic areas within federal waters that would be suitable for commercial aquaculture within a year of the order.
August 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
On July 30, 2020, NOAA Fisheries announced national-level criteria for vessels to be waived (released) from at-sea observer or shore-based catch monitor coverage requirements. Observer or monitor coverage may be waived, for both full and partial-coverage fisheries, on a trip-specific basis if one of the following two criteria are met:
We remain committed to the public health and safety of fishermen, observers, and their communities, while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life. Since late March 2020, NOAA Fisheries has been working with West Coast observer and catch monitor providers to implement safety protocols that meet state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Within our limited authority, our efforts are intended to ensure observers and monitors are following the same safety protocols that fishermen are following.
These measures include the following:
Vessel owners/operators should notify the Observer Program if their vessel or vessel company are following stricter safety protocols than those listed above that they would like the federally-contracted observer to follow. Contact NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center Observer Program at (866) 780-8064 for groundfish fisheries or West Coast Region Observer Program at (562) 980-4033 for highly migratory species fisheries.
Please give the Observer Program at least two weeks’ notice of the vessel’s specific protocols, and longer if the provider would need additional time to comply with the protocols before deployment. Vessel owners/operators and processors in the West Coast Groundfish trawl fishery should contact their individually-contracted observer/catch monitor providers to discuss specific protocols.
Additionally, NOAA Fisheries is seeking vessels and first receivers that are interested in testing electronic monitoring in lieu of human observers or catch monitors to develop exempted fishing permit applications in all west coast groundfish fisheries.
To discuss applying for an electronic monitoring exempted fishing permit, contact NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Permits Branch at (206) 526-4353.
August 18, 2020 — At-sea observers in the Northeast were reinstated by NOAA on August 14— but multiple groups and politicians are urging the government agency to reconsider their decision.
Observer coverage has been waived for months due to health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. However, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver announced late last month that observer coverage in the Northeast would resume on August 14.
August 18, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries this week made effective new regulations to implement measures that will promote the safety of fisheries observers on tuna-fishing vessels. These measures reflect stronger international standards developed through years of U.S.-led negotiations to improve the safety of observers at sea.
For example, the measures require countries and vessel operators to take emergency actions to help observers if an observer is threatened, harassed, assaulted, missing, presumed fallen overboard, injured, or suffering from a serious illness. Also, observers aboard purse seine vessels will now receive emergency communication devices and personal locator beacons before leaving port.
Fisheries observers collect data essential to the international organizations managing tuna fishing in the eastern Pacific Ocean: the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP). IATTC staff use the information collected by observers in fish stock assessments and to evaluate the compliance of member nations’ fishing fleets with international conservation measures.
Fisheries observers often face hazardous situations at sea. Rough waters churned up by storms, as well as busy decks with crews pulling in their catch, create dangerous conditions. Observers can also encounter difficult situations on board a vessel with fishing crews who can view them as intrusive.
August 17, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries will redeploy at-sea monitors and other observers aboard Northeast fishing vessels today for the first time since March despite continued health and safety concerns from fishing stakeholders.
The federal fisheries manager first excused the vessels from carrying all observers with a March 20 waiver that it extended six times because of pandemic-related health and safety concerns.
During a Wednesday webinar, as NOAA Fisheries officials discussed how they hope to complete the deployment safely, it became clear there would be no seventh extension despite the tenacity of the pandemic.
It was also clear that the path toward redeployment still has some murky stretches, which NOAA officials quickly conceded.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” said Katherine McArdle, branch chief for the agency’s Fisheries Sampling Branch. “We’re going into this with a very sensitive and gentle manner.”