Saving Seafood

FB20-063: NOAA Fisheries Announces Changes to Transit Provisions for the South Atlantic Shrimp Fishery

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGES:

  • NOAA Fisheries announces changes to provisions for shrimp trawl vessels transiting through cold weather closed areas with brown, pink, or white shrimp on board in federal waters of the South Atlantic.
  • The rule will allow trawl doors in the rack (cradle), nets in the rigging and tied down, and try net on the deck during transit.
  • The final rule for Amendment 11 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region will update the regulations to more closely align with current fishing practices, reduce the socio-economic impacts for fishermen who transit these closed areas, and improve safety at sea while maintaining protection for overwintering white shrimp.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

  • Regulations will be effective November 23, 2020

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER CITATION:

  • 85 FR 67309; October 22, 2020. 

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

Where can I find more information on Amendment 11? 

  • By Phone: (727) 824-5305
  • By FAX: (727) 824-5308

Reminder: Midwater Trawl Herring Vessels May Only Fish Inside Groundfish Closed Areas on Trips That Carry an Observer

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Atlantic herring vessels may only fish with midwater trawl gear inside the following Groundfish Closed Areas when carrying an observer onboard the vessel:

  • Closed Area I North (February 1 – April 15)
  • Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area
  • Cashes Ledge Closure Area
  • Closed Area II

Because industry-funded monitoring has not yet been implemented in the herring fishery, vessels are currently unable to purchase optional industry-funded observer coverage in order to fish inside a Groundfish Closed Area.

Currently, a vessel may fish with midwater trawl gear inside a Groundfish Closed Area on a herring trip if the following criteria are met:

  1. If the vessel is assigned Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) coverage on the trip in the Pre-Trip Notification System, and
  2. If the vessel actually carries a NEFOP observer on the trip.

If the vessel is issued a coverage waiver for the trip for any reason, the vessel is not permitted to fish inside Groundfish Closed Areas during that trip. For complete information on notification and reporting requirements, please see Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery.

Read the full release here

Six critically endangered sawfish found dead on the side of the road in Florida Everglades

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation involving the deaths of six critically endangered smalltooth sawfish in Everglades City, Fla. An employee with Everglades National Park reported the dead sawfish and two dead bonnethead sharks to NOAA experts. Two of the sawfish are missing their rostra (saws). One other had its meat removed, leaving only the carcass.

The animals were found along the causeway between Everglades City and Chokoloskee Island, Fla. A sawfish biologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will perform a necropsy on the animals to try to determine the cause of death.

Smalltooth sawfish are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. They were once found in the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida and along the East Coast from Florida to North Carolina. Their distribution has decreased greatly in U.S. waters over the past century. Today, the species is generally only found off the coast of Florida, especially southwest Florida where sawfish give birth. They reproduce every other year and give birth to just 7-14 young. The loss of these six animals is nearly equivalent to one mother’s entire litter.

NOAA officials seek information from anyone who may have details about this incident and are offering a reward up to $20,000 for information leading to a criminal conviction or the assessment of a civil penalty.

Please call the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Tips may be left anonymously.

Read the full release here

Fishery council to finalize priorities for 2021

October 21, 2020 — The New England Fishery Management Council has scheduled a special meeting for next week to finalize its priorities for 2021, as well as approve recommendations that fit within the executive order promoting U.S. seafood competitiveness and economic growth.

The special meeting, set for Oct. 27, will be held as a webinar. It is set to begin at 12:40 p.m. Deadline for submitting written comments is Thursday at 8 a.m.

The council, which usually finalizes its next-year priorities at its December meeting, moved up final action on its priorities so it may identify which of those may also directly respond to Executive Order 13921 issued in May by President Donald Trump.

“The council will first adopt its priorities for 2021 related to every fishery management plan and every action,” Janice Plante, council spokeswoman, said Tuesday. “The council has to decide which of those priorities will make the cut.”

Plante said the development of the master list of 2021 council priorities should naturally help inform the council when it turns to crafting its recommendations for the executive order.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Nature Conservancy purchasing millions of surplus oysters to offset COVID-19 losses

October 21, 2020 — The Nature Conservancy announced 21 October it plans to help struggling oyster farmers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by purchasing five million surplus oysters.

The oysters, according to a release from The Nature Conservancy, will be used in nearby oyster restoration projects in order to rebuild 27 acres of “imperiled native shellfish reefs.” Partnering on the initiative are The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the action is being coordinated with efforts taken by NOAA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the 2020 Atlantic Herring Specifications

October 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This action increases the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) and the ACL for 2020.  Because landings in New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 2,942 mt through October 1, we subtracted 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and re-allocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and ACL.

This action increases the Area 1A herring sub-ACL from 3,344 mt to 4,344 mt for the remainder of the fishing year. When 92 percent of the total Area 1A sub-ACL is reached, vessels are prohibited from fishing for, possessing, catching, transferring, or landing more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip, per calendar day.

This action also increases the herring ACL from 11,571 mt to 12,571 mt. When 95 percent of the herring ACL is reached, vessels are prohibited from fishing for, possessing, catching, transferring, or landing more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip, per calendar day in or from all herring management areas.

For more details, please read the rule in the Federal Register and our permit holder bulletin.

Read the full release here

Marine heat wave ‘blobs’ are becoming more severe as oceans warm

October 20, 2020 — Off the coast of California this August a sea monster of record size was spotted: a patch of warm water that grew to the size of Canada, 9.8 million square kilometers simmering up to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than usual. “It’s off the chart,” says Andrew Leising, a fisheries oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is mapping the marine heatwave on his website, nicknamed the Blobtracker. By Leising’s reckoning, in September, the unglamorously-named “NEP20b” became the biggest-yet-spotted blob of warm water there since satellite records began in the early 1980s.

Researchers are now scrambling to chart or anticipate the impacts of the NEP20b blob on marine life, tracking how the step change in temperature throws ecosystems out of whack.

The phenomenon of a patch of abnormally warm water off the west coast of North America gained notoriety in 2014, when the first such “Blob” was spotted and given that name, after the horror movie creature that devoured everything in its path. That first Blob lasted years, from 2013 to 2016. It has been blamed for slicing some forage fish populations in half; starving seabirds; triggering a collapse in cod; shifting tuna as far north as Alaska; pushing whales into the path of crab fishing lines and ships; and allowing exotics, including glowing tropical sea pickles, to arrive in northern waters.

In 2019, a second blob emerged. With record-warm waters appearing again this year, some scientists believe the 2019 event, known as Blob 2.0, may have just never gone away. If NEP20b is now big enough and hot enough, Leising says, it may do what the 2013-2016 version did, creating its own microclimate that perpetuates the heat, forcing the warm water to stick around for years yet to come.

Read the full story at PBS

Extended: Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

October 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the previously triggered voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) south of Nantucket.

This DMA was originally triggered by an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales and previously extended until October 20, 2020. A Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in this area on October 19. Since the current DMA is set to expire we are extending it through November 3.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.

South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through November 3.

41 16 N
40 32 N
069 37 W
070 28 W

Read the full release here

Federal fishery managers to allow red snapper harvest

October 20, 2020 — Commercial and recreational fishermen will be able to harvest red snapper this season, even if the season lasts less than four days.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced Oct. 13 that Regulatory Amendment 33 for the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan will go into effect Friday, Nov. 13. The final rule allows the red-snapper fishing season to be less than four days in the federal south Atlantic region, which includes the waters between 3-200 miles offshore of North Carolina.

It removes the minimum season length requirement. Red snapper harvest, recreational and commercial, could be open for either commercial or recreational harvest for three days or less. The intent of the final rule is to improve access to the red snapper resource.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

Pandemic aid available for those in Connecticut’s fishing industry

October 19, 2020 — People who work in the commercial fishing industry in Connecticut can now apply for Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act assistance.

According to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the federal CARES Act provided $300 million in aid for “marine fishery participants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Connecticut received $1,835,424 from the CARES Act Assistance to Fishery Participants but had to submit a spending plan for approval to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

DEEP, in consultation with the state Department of Agriculture, developed a plan, the final iteration of which was submitted for review on Aug. 7 and it was approved by NOAA on Oct. 9

Read the full story at The Day