Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed 2020 Recreational Rules for Summer Flounder

April 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We propose to continue the conservation equivalency approach for the summer flounder recreational fishery, in which states or regions develop minimum sizes, possession limits, and fishing seasons that will achieve the necessary level of conservation. Both the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission recommended continuing conservation equivalency in 2020.

The proposed rule contains additional details on conservation equivalency, including what measures would be put in place if the Commission does not ultimately recommended conservation equivalency.

If approved conservation equivalency expires at the end of the fishing year (December 31).  The non-preferred coastwide measures become effective January 1.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register today.

The comment period is open through April 21. Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal.

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule: Removal of Regulations Implementing the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program

April 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are seeking public comment on an action that would eliminate the regulations implementing the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program.

The Special Access Program was implemented to provide groundfish vessels additional opportunity to harvest healthy stocks within year-round groundfish Closed Area I if they complied with certain gear and other restrictions.  The Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment eliminated Closed Area I on April 9, 2018.  As a result, the Program no longer provides access or allows activity otherwise prohibited by any closed or gear restricted area.  No vessel has participated in the Program since the start of fishing year 2018.

Restrictions and requirements related to the Program, including reporting requirements and possession/trip limits, are now unnecessary and confusing. Removing the Program from the regulations will help avoid confusion and inconsistency with other regulations.

For more details, please read the rule as published in the Federal Register.

The comment period is open through May 6.

Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal.

NOAA Fisheries’ Procedural Directive on Data Retention for 3rd-Party EM Programs

April 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries has reviewed the feedback and developed final guidance for Councils and NOAA Fisheries to develop data retention requirements for EM programs. As part of this guidance, our recommendation is that programs retain electronic monitoring (EM) data for at least 12-months once fishing is over and the catch monitoring processes are completed. This recommendation balances the fishing industry’s request to reduce unnecessary costs, while considering the length of time data must be retained to meet various program objectives. As noted in this guidance, as we learn more about program functions and costs, we can revisit this guidance in the future. The final procedural directive is published here and is attached.

NOAA Fisheries published a draft procedural directive in August 2019 on how long to retain data collected under an EM service provider “third-party” model. In these programs, the fishing industry is responsible for the data storage costs. As you know, the use of EM is an effective tool for collecting critical fishery-dependent data for science and management purposes. Unlike traditional means of data collection in fisheries (e.g., via at-sea observer programs or logbooks), the raw EM data video, imagery, or sensor data during fishing operations—can require substantially more storage capacity and make up a large portion of EM costs. We appreciate the expressed concerns over EM data storage costs, received and responded to input, and expect this guidance will resolve some uncertainty as EM programs continue development. We recognize there are other remaining questions too, such as retention of federal records. NOAA Fisheries is working on this issue and will provide an update shortly.

West Coast Salmon Fishing and Southern Residents: Part 1

April 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Southern Resident killer whales have long pursued the biggest and most nourishing Chinook salmon from coastal Pacific waters. Chinook salmon fishing is also a mainstay of the West Coast economy, generating nearly $72 million in income last year.

Is there room for both?

The answer is yes, with safeguards. NOAA Fisheries prioritizes the needs of Southern Residents in setting salmon fishing seasons, as the Endangered Species Act requires. We also recognize the importance of salmon fisheries to port communities up and down the West Coast, as outlined by laws including the Magnuson Stevens Act.

We are working with states, tribes, and the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council). We are examining in detail how West Coast fisheries affect prey for the Southern Residents. So far, the analysis has indicated that Council fisheries have been taking a small proportion of the available Chinook salmon each year.

Read the full release here

FishNews April 2, 2020

April 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We recently stood up a team of experts from across the agency to collect and analyze COVID-19-related impacts on the U.S. commercial seafood industry, including wild harvest and aquaculture. We are interested in learning about the virus’ impacts on their employees, their business, the businesses they support, and the broader seafood supply chain.

We are also looking at impacts on the recreational, subsistence, non-commercial, and tribal fishing industries. With this effort, we are interested in assessing immediate and long-term needs to secure and enhance the resilience of the U.S. seafood and fisheries industries. We will continue to work with the Administration and Congress on this important, unprecedented COVID-19-driven effort.

Stakeholders interested in sharing information on the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses can submit that information to NMFS.COVID-19@noaa.gov.

Read the full release here

GARFO’s Permit Office is available to help with permits and permit renewals

April 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

If you are shifting to selling your catch directly to consumers, we want to help you get the required federal dealer permit. We continue to staff our phones and respond to emails–our permits office is available to help you with a new dealer permit and/or to renew your vessel permit.

In addition, our new online system for permit applications is available on Fish Online.

Once received by mail or online, permits are processed and then mailed to you when finalized. If you applied for your permit(s) online, you will have the option to print your permit after it has been approved.

Remember, states may have additional permit and reporting requirements. Please consult with your state agency before selling directly to consumers. Even if your state has waived its requirements for direct sales, federal regulations still apply to federal permit holders.

If you are selling directly to consumers, you will need to report your catch on a vessel trip report (paper or electronic) and you will also need to report sales through the federal dealer reporting system. Initial dealer applications are available from your Fish Online dashboard. Our port agents are available to help you with your new dealer reporting requirements.

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.