Saving Seafood

NOAA admin defends budget in House oversight hearing

May 24, 2019 — There’s likely going to be no more withering nor efficient criticism of the Trump administration’s coastal economic and environmental policy goals than U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman launched into at the outset of a U.S. House subcommittee meeting Tuesday.

The House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife met to discuss the administration’s fiscal year 2020 budgets for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The California Democrat said the Trump administration’s proposed budget shows the president “does not value oceans, wildlife or the communities that depend on healthy ecosystems.”

Huffman cited a $250 million cut to USFWS and a nearly $1 billion cut to NOAA. He said some Republican members of the subcommittee may find these cuts wise, though he did not.

“But reducing funding for science, wildlife and communities working to increase resiliency in the face of climate change is not wise,” Huffman said. “It’s just passing the buck to our kids and grandkids, who will pay the price for these short-sighted, irresponsible decisions down the road.

“From climate change denial to a national debt that’s ballooning thanks to huge tax cuts to billionaires, to budgets like this that abrogate any notion of stewardship for future generations, young people today could be forgiven for thinking that the generation currently in power is reckless and hedonistic.”

U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., indeed did say the proposed cuts in the budget were not only the proper way to go, but should go further in consolidating perceived overlaps between NOAA and USFWS and cutting away more spending programs.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

University of Rhode Island to Join NOAA Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic

May 24, 2019 — The following was released by the University of Rhode Island:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) will join the Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR) led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Cooperative Institutes are NOAA-supported, non-federal organizations that have established outstanding research and education programs in one or more areas that are relevant to the NOAA mission. Cooperative Institutes’ expertise and facilities add significantly to NOAA’s capabilities, and their structure and legal framework facilitate rapid and efficient mobilization of those resources to meet NOAA’s programmatic needs.

CINAR will carry out innovative, multidisciplinary research that will help inform decisions for sustainable and beneficial management of the U.S. Northeast continental shelf ecosystem.

“The University of Rhode Island is pleased to have been selected among the eight leading research institutions to participate in the Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region, a critical ecosystem that extends from Maine to Virginia and encompasses the marine coastlines of 11 states, as well as Vermont and the Connecticut, Delaware, Hudson and Susquehanna river watersheds,” said URI President David M. Dooley. “URI brings great depth and breadth of expertise in ecosystem management to assist in advancing our understanding of climate change and the very real challenges we face for the future.”

“URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography is delighted to be part of CINAR,” said GSO Dean Bruce Corliss. “We look forward to continuing our support of NOAA’s efforts in fisheries and coastal resilience in the New England coastal ecosystem with our partners over the next five years.”

Read the full release here

Atlantic scallop haul tops 60 million pounds

May 24, 2019 — The valuable 13-month Atlantic sea scallop 2018 fishing year wrapped up on March 31, with prices strong for final landings. While final data is not yet available, preliminary NOAA estimates for fishing year 2018 show 60.1 million pounds landed.

“This is 107 percent of the projected landings for fishing year 2018, but that does not represent an overage of any type,” said Travis Ford, NOAA’s sea scallops fishery manager.

“At the beginning of the year, the price took a bit of a dive because of the influx of product, but ended up leveling out later in the year,” said Ford.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Essential Fish Habitat Consultation Protects Crab and Salmon from Mining Operations in Alaska

May 23, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently released for public comment a General Permit for Floating Mining Operations in Alaska State Navigable Waters, including marine waters. The permit includes new measures to protect red king crab and salmon which migrate through Norton Sound and into rivers to spawn. NOAA Fisheries reviews public notices and offers expertise to the USACE for the conservation of living marine resources.

Floating mining operations use a dredge in nearshore waters to ‘vacuum’ up gravel and sand substrates which are then sifted to retain gold. The new protections restrict mining operations during certain spring and summer months when juvenile red king crab settle to the seafloor. Mining operations will also be restricted in waters deeper than 30 feet and within one nautical mile of stream mouths to avoid areas where salmon concentrate.

An Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultation with NOAA Fisheries is required whenever a federal agency authorizes, funds, or undertakes activities in an area that will affect EFH. Together, the agency and NOAA determine how best to conduct the coastal activity while supporting fish habitat and minimizing or avoiding environmental damage. The science conducted through this consultation helped USACE make management decisions; balancing mining and fishery interests in the Norton Sound.

In recent years, researchers and scientists from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center used regular baseline sampling, analysis, monitoring, and new side-scan sonars technologies to inform studies on the benthic environment and red king crab in Norton Sound. Results showed that habitats deeper than 30 feet of water take more time to recover, while shallower habitats are routinely disturbed by natural events and recover quickly. Surveys also showed that crab larvae settle in nearshore substrates. These findings were used to better inform managers with the most recent science for the EFH consultation process.

NOAA Fisheries has provided USACE with EFH conservation recommendations relating to suction dredging operations in Norton Sound since 1999.

Read the full release here

Adak Groups, NOAA, and Secretary of Commerce Ross Appeal Decision to Rescind Amendment 113

May 22, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — On Friday the City of Adak, its regional development groups, and the Aleut Corporation filed an appeal to reverse a March 21 decision that vacated Amendment 113. Yesterday Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and the National Marine Fisheries Service joined the Aleut groups to appeal the decision from three months ago.

That ruling was in response to a challenge from the Groundfish Forum to the Secretary of Commerce asserting that Amendment 113 did not meet the standards in the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Defendant-intervenors in that challenge were the City of Adak and the City of Atka, along with the Adak Community Development Corporation, the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association (APICDA), and the Aleut Corporation.

The May 17 filing by the Adak groups opens a 14-day window for other parties to join the appeal. Briefs from all appealers will be filed later this summer, likely before the end of June.

AM113 included a set-aside of Pacific cod for the plants in Adak and Atka. Golden Harvest Alaska Seafoods, the plant based in Adak, has relied on deliveries of Pacific cod in recent years as a significant part of their annual revenue.

“The Aleutian Islands Pacific cod landed over a few short weeks in February and March has become the economic engine that sustains the local economy and allows Golden Harvest Alaska Seafoods to invest in new products and markets and the development of year round fisheries for the Adak community,” said Steve Minor for Golden Harvest.

“Golden Harvest serves a variety of federal and state water harvesters and species — including pot boats, longliners, trawlers and jiggers operating in the crab, halibut and sablefish fisheries,” Minor said.

“The loss of Amendment 113 puts all of these shore-based fleets and fisheries at risk.”

In the March 21 decision, the judge noted that “Although the Court finds that the Service did not exceed its statutory authority in imposing a harvest set-aside with an onshore delivery requirement, it nonetheless determines that the Service failed to demonstrate that the amendment satisfied the requisite standards for such regulatory measures set forth by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

“Accordingly, and for the reasons explained below, Plaintiffs’ motion will be granted, and Defendants’ and Intervenors’ motions will be denied,” US District Judge Timothy Kelly wrote.

Kelly asked NOAA Fisheries to reconsider the amendment with some guidance on where changes were needed.

That process, or the work begun within the North Pacific Council addressing the Pacific cod set-aside, will not be done by January 2020, when the plant would be begin taking deliveries for the new season.

Minor noted that at least one of the original plaintiffs in the Groundfish Forum challenge has decided to join the appeal and that “several other entities” are in discussions on filing amicus briefs.

The North Pacific Council will hear a discussion paper at their June meeting, which will include a status report on Amendment 113 litigation, a description of the Council’s December 2018 revision to Amendment 113, and a summary of AI Pacific cod fishery conditions since the implementation of Amendment 113 in November 2016.

The discussion paper will also identify potential regulatory approaches that could be used to provide opportunities for trawl catcher vessels harvesting Pacific cod in the AI delivering to AI shoreplants.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

MASSACHUSETTS: Few herring, no eels coming to spawn

May 21, 2019 — It appears, at least for the time being, that Cape Ann largely has fallen off the list of favorite places to visit for river herring and American eels.

And no one really seems to know the reason why the river herring have been so sparse at the West Gloucester alewife fishway and American eels have been absent from the eel trap set up at Millbrook Pond in Rockport.

“Officially, I’d say we’ve spotted fewer than 10 in our fish counts of river herring making their way up to the Lily Pond,” said Eric W. Hutchins, a fisheries biologist for NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf of Maine restoration coordinator. “Without a doubt, it’s significantly down this year and there isn’t much time left.”

The city, in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries, organizes volunteer fish counters at the alewife fishway to document the number of river herring making their way out of the Little River, up the fishway and into the Lily Pond to spawn. Three to six weeks later, they head back to the ocean.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Awards announced by NOAA, NEFMC

May 22, 2019 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) recently announced its awards for the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program for the 2019-2020 cycle, addressing resource studies, dredge efficiencies, bycatch reduction, fishery impacts on loggerhead turtles, and potential offshore energy impacts on early lifecycle scallop transport.

Thirteen projects will be supported by the program that centers on scallop research priorities identified by the NEFMC, which ranked resource surveys as the highest priority.

Collectively, these awards are expected to generate more than USD 14 million (EUR 12.5 million), according to the council. This includes an estimated USD 2.8 million (EUR 2.5 million) to fund the research and USD 11.4 million (EUR 10.2 million) to compensate industry partners who harvest set-aside quota. No federal money is involved, making this an entirely industry-funded program, the NEFMC said.

The NEFMC approved research priorities last summer for the 2019-2020 projects announced this month. The council will develop a new list at next month’s meeting for 2020-2021 projects. The organization established the scallop RSA Program to address research questions that support management of the scallop resource. Each year during the specification-setting process, the council “sets aside” 1.25 million pounds of scallops to carry out RSA projects.

The work is a collaborative effort between fishermen and scientists.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA names Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to host cooperative institute

May 20, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) selected Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to host NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR).

Cooperative Institutes are NOAA-supported, non-federal organizations that have established outstanding research and education programs in one or more areas that are relevant to the NOAA mission. Cooperative Institutes’ expertise and facilities add significantly to NOAA’s capabilities, and their structure and legal framework facilitate rapid and efficient mobilization of those resources to meet NOAA’s programmatic needs.

CINAR will carry out innovative, multidisciplinary research that will help inform decisions for sustainable and beneficial management of the U.S. Northeast continental shelf ecosystem.

“CINAR research seeks to provide a better understanding of the physical, biological, and chemical processes that enable forecasting conditions within the North Atlantic region as a tool for effective, ecosystem-based management and protected-species management,” said CINAR Director Don Anderson. “An important aspect of this approach includes interdisciplinary research to understand and forecast climate change, and the associated impacts to natural systems and communities.”

The partners working with WHOI include the University of Maine, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Read the full story at the EurekAlert

GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES: NOAA fixes proposed haddock rules

May 20, 2019 — Gulf of Maine haddock: NOAA Fisheries is recommending an increase in the daily bag limit to 15 from 12 in 2018, with the minimum size remaining at 17 inches. The recommendation for the open season is May 1 to Feb. 29 and April 15-30;

Gulf of Maine cod: NOAA Fisheries is recommending partially reopening the fishery that has been closed for several years to all fishing by allowing recreational fishermen to catch one GOM cod per day during the limited seasons of Sept. 15-30 and April 15-30. The recommended minimum size is 21 inches.

Georges Bank cod: NOAA Fisheries is recommending a status quo daily bag limit of 10, but with the proposed 2019 minimum size shrinking two inches to 21 inches. The fishery would be open to recreational fishing all year.

Interesting negotiating tactics

You know how it is with bosses and employees. They don’t always get along, but Forrest Broyles may have taken employer-employee animus to a new level.

Broyles, from the Hawaiian island of Kauai, has pleaded no contest in court “after telling police he was under the influence of a hallucinogenic when he used a machete to wreak havoc on his former boss’ home because of a fish dispute,” according to story by the Associated Press.

Broyles was angry at his boss, claiming he didn’t get his share of the choke ahi they caught together. So, on Dec. 3, while cruising at altitude on the hallucinogenic brew of ayahuasca (apparently a local favorite along the Amazon River), Broyles broke into his ex-boss’ abode and made his case in high-charged fashion.

“Broyles ex-boss told police he was at home watching football with his wife when he heard a horn honking and then a loud bang,” according to the report. “He then heard glass shattering from his front door and saw Broyles headed to the living area carrying a machete.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times