Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries: Southeast Region Permit Office Update and Availability

April 14, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGE:

The Southeast Region (SERO) Permit Office is still open, but due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic our operating processes have changed.

Office Phone Call Center – Due to limited staff in the office, we have suspended the live phone call center. Our main number now goes directly to voicemail. If you leave a message and contact information, someone from our office will call you back as soon as possible.

Submitting Your Application – We are experiencing up to a week delay with receiving applications, documents, and correspondence by mail. There is no delay in receiving applications via the Southeast Fisheries Permit System. We strongly encourage all eligible applicants to submit their renewal application, supporting document(s), and application fee via the online system. Permits can be renewed starting 60 days prior to their expiration date. We recommend starting the renewal process as soon as your permits are eligible.

Pending Applications – Due to the delay in receiving mail through the USPS, if you have an application pending due to deficiencies, we recommend using the online system for online applications to upload missing documents, or our fax (727-551-5747), if you submitted a paper application to transmit the missing information back to us. Be advised, we do not accept the following documents via fax:

  1. An entire application to renew, transfer, or request new permits.
  2. Original permits (for transfer applications).
  3. Payment (i.e. copy of check, money order, or credit card number).
  4. Reporting requirements – All logbooks are submitted to the Logbook Office at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami, FL. (877-376-4877 – Option 2).
  5. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) requirements (i.e. power down exemptions) – All VMS related questions need to be asked to the Office of Law Enforcement – VMS Office. (877-376-4877 – Option 3).

Check Application Status – To check if we received your vessel or dealer application, visit our Application Status website. This website will also tell you the date we are currently processing applications on. If your application was received after this date, we have not started processing it yet.

MORE INFORMATION:

If you have further questions regarding this matter, please contact the SERO Permit Office by telephone at (877) 376-4877, weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., excluding federal holidays and leave a message.

Recreational Tilefish Anglers: Learn How to Obtain a Permit and Report Your Catch

April 14, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Recreational tilefish anglers may soon be subject to new permitting and reporting requirements. Under proposed regulations published by NOAA Fisheries, private recreational vessels (including for-hire operators using their vessels for non-charter, recreational trips) would be required to obtain a federal vessel permit to target or retain golden or blueline tilefish north of the Virginia/North Carolina border. These vessel operators would also be required to submit vessel trip reports (VTRs) electronically within 24 hours of returning to port for trips where tilefish were targeted or retained. For more information about the proposed requirements, check out our Recreational Tilefish Permitting and Reporting FAQs.

NOAA Fisheries is encouraging anglers not already using another electronic VTR system to utilize NOAA Fish Online, which is available through a mobile app or a web-based portal. Other systems that may be suitable for recreational anglers include SAFIS eTrips/mobile and SAFIS eTrips Online. You can access information about approved applications and other aspects of electronic reporting on the NOAA Fisheries website.

Read the full release here

Pacific council recommends keeping California sardine catch at 4,000t in 2020

April 13, 2020 — Sardine landings off the coast of the US state of California will stay the same in 2020 if harvesters catch all they are permitted under the limits recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) reports.

Despite concerns expressed by environmental groups, the PFMC this week approved repeating the 4,000 metric ton catch target of 2019 in the new season, which begins on July 1, 2020 and ends June 30, 2021, according to a press release from CWPA. A meeting and vote on the matter was held via webinar as a result of COVID-19 concerns.

The decision still requires approval and publication in the Federal Register by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Meet Dr. Anne Hollowed, Renowned For Her Work Assessing the Effects of Climate and Ecosystem Change on Fish Stocks

April 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Dr. Anne Hollowed is a Senior Scientist with the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center. She conducts research on the effects of climate and ecosystem change on the current and future status of fish and fisheries. She leads the Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessment program. Anne currently serves as co-chair of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee. She is also an Affiliate Professor with the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington.

We asked Anne to share a little bit about herself, what inspired her to pursue a career in fisheries science and what she would recommend for other young scientists interested in getting into the field.

When did you know you wanted to be a fisheries scientist?

My mother was a chemist and she nurtured my interest in science. I spent my summers in Kansas, at a family retreat. Time spent disconnected from the fast pace of the world allowed me to explore the diversity of nature and animal behavior. By the time I entered college I knew I wanted to pursue a degree in biology. My decision to pursue a career in ocean studies was formed during my semester abroad. I attended Lawrence University, a small liberal arts college in Wisconsin. My professors taught an interdisciplinary course in oceanography that included field work on Andros Island in the Bahamas. It only took one open ocean dive for me to know that I wanted to spend the rest of my career studying the ocean.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Approves Industry-Funded Monitoring (IFM) Service Providers for the Atlantic Herring Fishery for IFM Years 2020 and 2021

April 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today we filed notice in the Federal Register announcing the industry-funded monitoring (IFM) service providers that have been approved to provide IFM services for the Atlantic herring fishery during IFM years 2020 and 2021 (April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2022). Herring vessels may secure monitoring services from these providers in order to fulfill their IFM requirements. The notice, which will publish tomorrow, contains contact information for each approved IFM service provider. For more information on IFM in the Northeast visit our website.

Read the full release here

Earn the Endangered Species Patch Online with NOAA Resources

April 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

With many school districts closed, students and teachers are looking for ways to learn at home. One option is for Girl Scouts, who can learn about endangered species while earning their Endangered Species patch. They can now earn the patch virtually—no need to leave the house!

Cadette-, Senior-, and Ambassador-level Girl Scouts from any state can earn this patch by completing a five-step process. They must explore, investigate, create, experience, and present information about plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. Since its launch in May 2019, 168 Girl Scouts have completed these patches.

Below are a few suggestions about how to complete the patch using NOAA resources:

1. Learn about endangered and threatened species and the Endangered Species Act. Read how NOAA and the Fish and Wildlife Service use the ESA process to save species.

2. Investigate two endangered species: locally, regionally, or globally. View our endangered species list and learn about two in your city, town, state, or country.

3. Make a creative project inspired by endangered species. Participate in the Endangered Species Art Contest sponsored by the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office (this is now a virtual contest!) or color a salmon mural.

Read the full release here

Judge: NOAA Violated Endangered Species Act By Allowing Lobster Traps That Threaten Right Whales

April 10, 2020 — A federal judge ruled Thursday that federal fisheries regulators are illegally allowing lobster traps that pose a threat to the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

U.S. District Judge James Boasburg says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration violated the Endangered Species Act by authorizing the lobster fishery without appropriate attention to its impact on the whales.

Specifically, he faults the feds for failing to produce an assessment of the potential that whales will be entangled in lobster trap rope and face injury and death.

Read the full story at Maine Public

NOAA Lists Waiver of Observer Requirements HMS, South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fisheries

April 10, 2020 — NOAA has issued another update on the temporary waiver of observer requirements for federally permitted vessels.

According to the latest document, NOAA is temporarily waiving the requirement to carry a fishery observer for federally permitted vessels participating in the following fisheries:

-South Atlantic Penaeid Shrimp
-South Atlantic Rock Shrimp
-South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper
-Southeast Gillnet
-Gulf of Mexico Commercial Reef Fish
-Gulf of Mexico Shrimp
-Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Pelagic Longline
-Shark Bottom Longline (Atlantic HMS)
-Shark Gillnet (Atlantic HMS)

Read the full story at Seafood News

Fishing fleets say NOAA observers are too risky amid pandemic

April 10, 2020 — Fishing fleets in the U.S. are taking a gamble during this public health crisis by pursuing their catch despite swooning customer demand, a hazy future and the risk crew members could contract the coronavirus.

While commercial fishermen are checking temperatures, wearing gloves and self-isolating, they are looking to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to step in and waive a federal requirement to carry independent observers on trips to sea. They say the agency has been slow to react, instead issuing a patchwork of waivers.

To gather scientific data, track species and keep watch on the industry, NOAA manages an observer program — a network of specialists who climb aboard ships and document what they see and hear.

But as the virus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, upend daily life in the U.S. and abroad, people in the industry say they are worried about continuing to place potentially infected observers on ships in close proximity with crew members, who already operate in tight quarters.

“It’s virtually impossible to maintain six-foot separation,” said Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, headquartered in San Francisco. Deckhands often work shoulder-to-shoulder to haul in their catch, eat in tight galleys and rest bunked a few feet apart. “You can’t really sleep in different spots.”

Read the full story at Roll Call

NEW Slow Speed Zone East of Boston to Protect Right Whales

April 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) east of Boston.

This DMA is based on an April 9, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales from a Boston-area beach by private citizens.

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

East of Boston DMA is in effect through April 24, 2020.

42 47 N
42 05 N
70 26W
71 23W

Active Seasonal Management Areas (SMAs)

A mandatory speed restriction of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) is in effect in the following areas:

Mid-Atlantic: November 1-April 30

Cape Cod Bay: January 1-May 15

Off Race Point: March 1-April 30

Great South Channel: April 1 – July 31

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating 

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. NOAA is cautioning boaters and fishermen to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking all fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales and remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements. Commercial fishermen should use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are only about 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

North Atlantic right whales are NOAA Fisheries’ newest Species in the Spotlight. This initiative is a concerted, agency-wide effort to spotlight and save marine species that are among the most at risk of extinction in the near future. 

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

Read the full release here