Saving Seafood

Announcement: Northeast Observer Waiver Extended through April 18

April 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Consistent with the agency’s emergency rule on observer waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic and under the authority granted to the Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator at 50 CFR 648.11(c), NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors for an additional two weeks, through April 18, 2020. We will continue to evaluate the need for further extensions of this waiver on a weekly basis.

Read the full release here

Pop-up pots and the search for ‘whale-safe’ gear

April 2, 2020 — I lay becalmed one summer night trying to sail from Cutler, Maine, to Nova Scotia. I drifted in the dark, laying across the cockpit in my survival suit and listening for the thrum of a freighter that might run me downhill. Out of the inky black came a blast like a tire exploding, followed by a ringing like bellows, the sound of a great inhalation. It was a whale. I sat up, startled, but could see nothing. Right whales had been in the area that summer and frequented the channel where I lay adrift. They passed me for 15 minutes or so and then were gone.

The morning broke with the wind driving me right back to Cutler, through a carpet of lobster buoys. There are an estimated 3 million traps off the coast of Maine, ground zero for a $483 million dollar industry. Unfortunately, the last 400 North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species with a propensity to get tangled in the buoy lines of fixed-gear fishermen anywhere between Florida and Newfoundland. According to the New England Aquarium, 83 percent of these whales show signs of having been entangled at least once and 59 percent more than once.

While right whales also die from ship strikes and other causes, the environmental groups that are part of NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team are calling for eliminating rope in the water column.

Fixed-gear fishermen on the West Coast have a similar problem. A spike in humpback whale entanglements in 2014 and 2015 led the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity to sue the commonwealth of California in 2017, resulting in a settlement that will require fishermen to limit spring fishing and pursue a conservation plan that could include ropeless or “pop-up” gear, as they call it in California.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces Transfer of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Quota from Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery to Groundfish Fishery

April 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are transferring unused quota of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic sea scallop fishery to the commercial groundfish fishery.

If we expect the scallop fishery to catch less than 90 percent of its Georges Bank or Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, we are authorized to reduce the scallop fishery quota for these yellowtail flounder stocks to the amount projected to be caught, and increase the groundfish fishery quota by the same amount. This adjustment helps achieve optimum yield for both fisheries, while still protecting from an overage of the annual catch limits.

Based on the current projections, the scallop fishery is expected to catch 13 percent of its allocation of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, and 11 percent of its Georges Bank yellowtail allocation.

Effective today, we are transferring 13.1 mt of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery, and 15.2 mt of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder through the end of the 2019 fishing year (April 30, 2020).

For more information, read the rule as filed today in the Federal Register.

Fishing and offshore industries no closer to finding solutions

April 2, 2020 — Outstanding permitting for the delayed 800MW Vineyard project off Massachusetts may not be resolved until December, when the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is expected to issue a final decision.

A much-awaited supplement to the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is currently expected on 12 June.

The Vineyard phase 1 of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid’s “pathfinder” project will miss its original commissioning date of 2022. The deadline for a conditional order for MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines expired in early March.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had refused to endorse BOEM’s draft EIS for Vineyard, complaining that fishing concerns were not addressed adequately. This helped trigger the government’s ongoing analysis of offshore wind’s cumulative impacts in the region.

Studying cumulative impacts is extremely complicated, said Bonnie Ram, a senior researcher at the Centre for Research in Wind at the University of Delaware. BOEM is not a large agency and is learning as it proceeds, she noted.

Read the full story at Wind Power Monthly

Here’s How Alaskan Fishermen Are Dealing With The Coronavirus Pandemic

April 1, 2020 — In Alaska, salmon is kind of a big deal. According to NOAA Fisheries, more than half of the fish caught in US waters come from Alaska, and about a third of those fish are salmon. COVID-19 has been on the global radar for several months, however the focus now is mitigating rapid community spread. Shelter-in-place orders keep people indoors and away from grocery stores, markets, and restaurants. While the pandemic is crippling every industry, the seafood supply chain is at a standstill. Producing more by volume than all other states combined, Alaskan fisheries are exceptionally important to seafood markets. The outbreak could disrupt the start of salmon season for Alaskan fishers this year, and there is currently little understanding of how the seafood industry will be affected now and in the future.

The salmon season in Alaska runs from May through September. In this time, many fishers pull in a majority of their annual income. In 2019, the valuable salmon season brought in $657.6 million. Of the five species of salmon caught in Alaska, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon account for more than 90% of the total value, according to the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Many remote Alaskan fishing towns rely on seasonal crews from other states or countries. One deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development estimates more than 20,000 workers are brought into the state each year to work in the seafood industry, according to Anchorage Daily News. With travel restrictions in place, questions remain as to whether essential workers will be able to travel to work in the processing plants this year.

Read the full story at Forbes

Massachusetts senator talks $300m seafood relief in COVID-19 call with industry

April 1, 2020 — US senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and one of the handful of lawmakers responsible for getting $300 million worth of assistance for the seafood industry in the recently passed $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill, talked to dozens of fishing industry leaders, state legislators and mayors on Saturday about the state of the crisis, the Cape Cod (Massachusetts) Times reports.

He warned them that it was going to get worse.

“These numbers are mounting, the number of cases, and it could go on potentially for a sustained period of time,” Markey said. He described the relief package as a life raft and said Congress was “fully prepared to come back as many times as it takes to make sure we keep all industries afloat in this health care crisis.”

The fishing industry responded that the $300m won’t be enough.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

CARES Act Helps Preserve New Jersey’s Commercial Fishing Industry, Coastal Economy

April 1, 2020 — The following was released by the Garden State Seafood Association:

The recently passed CARES Act provides emergency loans and other forms of relief for American small businesses affected by the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The Act also included over $300 million specifically intended to help the domestic fishing industry, one of the many industries harmed by the ongoing closures necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19.

This federal support is essential for the future of New Jersey’s fishing industry, which is a key part of the state’s coastal economy. According to statistics compiled by the Garden State Seafood Association, New Jersey’s fishing industry landed over $170 million worth of fish in 2018. According to NOAA statistics, 68 percent of what consumers spent on seafood was at food service establishments, like restaurants, rather than in retail sales.

The fishing industry is one of the largest year-round employers and is responsible for thousands of direct and indirect jobs. According to a 2016 paper from NOAA, New Jersey’s seafood industry is the sixth largest in the U.S., and is responsible for 37,127 jobs, $6.2 billion in sales, $1.4 billion in income, and $2.3 billion in value- added impacts.

The industry landed over 190 million pounds of finfish and shellfish in 2018, worth a total of  $170,261,000. Four of the top six commercial fishing ports in the Mid-Atlantic are found in New Jersey. The industry is responsible for significant harvests of Atlantic scallops, monkfish, shortfin and longfin squid, Atlantic mackerel, tunas, swordfish, black sea bass, summer flounder, Atlantic surfclams, and ocean quahogs.

The industry is concentrated at five major coastal ports; Belford, Point Pleasant, Barnegat Light, Atlantic City, and Cape May/Wildwood. The table below illustrates the 2018 landings at three of the ports, and their dollar value.

Read the full release here

Reminder to Give Seals Space

April 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

As more people are taking to the outdoors and we approach harbor seal pupping season, we are asking the public to help us by social distancing with animals too! Respect the social distance that is required by these sensitive animals. Help our stranding responders stay safe by not endangering, touching, or closely approaching  potentially healthy animals.

Read our webstory for more information about how you can help us avoid wildlife tragedies.

Questions?
Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

New Requirements Protect Bluefin Tuna, Expand Opportunities in Other Fisheries

March 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announced measures that provide more fishing opportunities for vessels targeting Atlantic swordfish and some tuna species. We will continue under these measures to protect bluefin tuna from overfishing.

The changes give fishermen using pelagic longlines access to new fishing areas originally closed to reduce the number of bluefin caught unintentionally. Under the new rules, longline fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico are also required to use weak hooks only when bluefin tuna are spawning. This means they are only required to use them January through June rather than year-round.

Regardless of where or when they fish, longline fishermen are still not allowed to target bluefin tuna. They can keep some caught unintentionally, but they have to stay within their individual allocation of the U.S. bluefin quota. This allows them to fish for economically valuable species like swordfish and other tunas while protecting bluefin.

The measures are in part a response to the success of the Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) Program in reducing bluefin bycatch. We also designed the measures to help reverse a trend of underharvesting the U.S. swordfish quota.

“The success of the IBQ Program has allowed us to simplify and streamline Atlantic HMS management,” said Randy Blankinship, who leads the group responsible for managing Atlantic bluefin in the United States. “With this rule, we are optimizing fishing opportunities for pelagic longline fishermen while continuing to manage and conserve bluefin tuna through the IBQ program and other management measures.”

Read the full release here