Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Quotas for 2020

February 26, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces 2020 fishing year quotas in the Atlantic mackerel, longfin squid, Illex squid, and butterfish fisheries, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This action maintains previously approved catch levels for 2020 for Illex squid, longfin squid, and butterfish, rolls over the 2019 catch level to 2020 for Atlantic mackerel, removes the initial 89 mt river herring and shad catch cap, maintains the 129 mt river herring and shad catch cap, and makes other minor adjustments to the management plan.

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

Fisheries of the United States, 2018: New Bedford by the Numbers

February 25, 2020 — According to NOAA’s Fisheries of the United States report for 2018, New Bedford is once again the port with the highest value of seafood landed. This is the 19th consecutive year that the Massachusetts port has held the title.

For 2018, New Bedford’s value of seafood landed totaled $431 million. The port truly leads the pack when it comes to value. In the number two spot is Naknek, Alaska, with an overall value of 195 million pounds, which isn’t even half of the value of New Bedford – and Naknek lands 77 million more pounds of seafood than New Bedford.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Commercial fisheries report: Alaska salmon reigns as the top finfish in the nation

February 25, 2020 — According to NOAA’s annual report on commercial fisheries landings, production and value, the top five species in order of value are:

  • Lobster at $684 million
  • Crabs at $645 million
  • Salmon at $598 million
  • Scallops at $541 million
  • Shrimp at $496 million

Alaska produces the overwhelming majority of our nation’s wild salmon landings (more than a third of which comes from the imperiled Bristol Bay region), topping out at just over 650 million pounds of salmon worth $595 million in 2018. That means Alaska salmon alone takes that same spot as the top-value finfish in the nation.

Alaska pollock, which helped lock in Dutch Harbor as the top port by volume for the 22nd year running, is the sixth most valuable species on the list at $451 million in value for 3.4 billion pounds landed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Reminder: SAFMC March Meeting Begins Next Week

February 25, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Federal fishery managers will gather next week in Jekyll Island, GA to address a number of topics including proposed management measures for dolphin and wahoo, Spanish mackerel, shrimp, and species within the snapper grouper management complex. Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will also discuss regulatory actions proposed for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, allocation issues, and receive reports from NOAA Fisheries on the status of the 2020 red snapper season as well as shark depredation.

The meeting will take place March 2-6, 2020 at the Westin Jekyll Island, 110 Ocean Way, Jekyll Island, GA, 31527. The meeting week begins Monday at 1:30 p.m. with a series of committee meetings and concludes with a meeting of the Full Council on Thursday afternoon and Friday. The meetings are open to the public. Briefing book materials for each committee meeting, as well as a meeting of the Full Council are now available.

A formal public comment session will be held on Wednesday, March 4th beginning at 4:00 PM. An online comment form for agenda items is also now available. The meeting is available via webinar as it occurs. Registration is required and can be completed in advance for each meeting day.

Webinar Registration Links:

Additional information for next week’s meeting, including briefing book materials with committee agendas and overviews, is available at: https://safmc.net/march-2020-council-meeting-details/.

New Jersey-based herring fleet sues over at-sea monitoring rule

February 25, 2020 — New Jersey herring fishermen are going to court challenging a new rule forcing them to pay for at-sea monitoring, which they say will cost more than $700 a day for observers and cut their revenue from herring trips by more than 20 percent.

A half-dozen vessels associated with Lund’s Fisheries, based near Cape May, N.J. are named in the lawsuit filed last week against the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA and the Department of Commerce.

Cape Trawlers, H&L Axelsson and Loper Bright Enterprises contend regulators have no statutory authority from Congress to impose industry-paid monitoring in addition to a separate, federally-funded observer program.

“The regulation also has the potential to modify other New England fishery management plans to allow for standardized implementation of additional industry-funded monitoring programs in the future,” Lund’s Fisheries said in a joint announcement with the Cause of Action Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based legal and free-market advocacy group.

A final rule published in the Federal Register Feb. 7, to take effect March 9, would require Atlantic herring trawlers with areas A and B permits to pay toward a 50 percent at-sea monitoring coverage target for the first time.

Originating with the 2018 Industry-Funded Omnibus Amendment approved by the New England council, the potential for levying new monitoring requirements had been in the background since being okayed by the Department of Commerce.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces New For-Hire Electronic Reporting Requirements in the Atlantic

February 25, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE

NOAA Fisheries is implementing the final rule for the South Atlantic For-Hire Reporting Amendment. The final rule establishes electronic reporting requirements for vessels with a federal charter/headboat permit for Atlantic coastal migratory pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, or South Atlantic snapper-grouper and modifies the reporting deadline for headboats.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

The rule will be effective on September 1, 2020.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

  • The final rule requires weekly electronic reporting for charter fishermen and modifies the reporting deadline for headboats starting September 1, 2020.
  • The requirements for weekly electronic reporting apply to charter vessels with a federal charter vessel/headboat permit for Atlantic Coastal Migratory Pelagics, or Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, or South Atlantic snapper-grouper species.
  • Charter fishermen must report information such as trip start and end dates and times, species kept and discarded, fishing location, depth fished, hours fished, and charter fee.
  • Electronic reports from charter fishermen are due by Tuesday following the end of each reporting week, which runs from Monday through Sunday.
  • Charter fishermen can report using their computer, smartphone, and tablets with access to the internet. Reporting must be through software approved by NOAA Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries will send information on how to download the software in a future Fishery Bulletin.
  • No action is required by charter fishermen at this time. NOAA Fisheries will send more information in the spring/summer of 2020. If you have questions, please call 727-209-5950
  • Headboat vessels with a federal charter vessel/headboat permit for Atlantic Coastal Migratory Pelagics, or Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, or South Atlantic snapper-grouper species will continue to submit reports to the Southeast Headboat Survey but will be required to submit electronic fishing reports by Tuesday following a reporting week, rather than by Sunday.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 85 FR 10331, published February 24, 2020.

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

A complete version of this Fishery Bulletin is available from NOAA Fisheries and includes a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and additional information.

New tech helps scientists detect right whales off Maine’s coast

February 24, 2020 — New acoustic monitors off Maine’s coast have detected the presence of North Atlantic right whales this winter. Scientists are trying to gather new data on the endangered animals’ whereabouts.

In mid-December, scientists put a set of underwater drones in the Atlantic Ocean. One of them is charting a zigzag course to and from Maine’s coast, starting Down East and working its way southwest. It’s currently heading eastward off Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

During its cruise, the glider’s electronic ears have heard dozens of calls from finback and humpback whales and, on seven occasions, the call of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

“We usually figure about a 10 kilometer of five-mile radius is on average where we can hear them,” said Genevieve Davis, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Davis is a coordinator for the project, which also includes researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Why Do Whales Migrate? They Return to the Tropics to Shed their Skin, Scientists Say

February 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Whales undertake some of the longest migrations on earth, often swimming many thousands of miles, over many months, to breed in the tropics. The question is why—is it to find food, or to give birth?

In a research paper in Marine Mammal Science, scientists propose that whales that forage in polar waters migrate to low latitudes to maintain healthy skin.

“I think people have not given skin molt due consideration when it comes to whales, but it is an important physiological need that could be met by migrating to warmer waters,” said Robert Pitman, lead author of the new paper and marine ecologist with Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. He was formerly with NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.

More than a century ago, whalers recognized that most whales that forage in high latitudes migrate to the tropics for calving. Scientists have never agreed on why. Because of their size, large whales should be able to successfully give birth in frigid polar waters. Due to reduced feeding opportunities in the tropics, most whales fast during their months-long migrations.

So why go to the trouble?

Read the full release here

Lund’s-linked vessels sue NOAA over industry funded at-sea monitors

February 24, 2020 — A group of US Atlantic herring trawlers linked to major New Jersey scallop and squid supplier Lund’s Fisheries have sued the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) arguing that a new rule requiring them to pay for the cost of at-sea monitoring violates federal laws.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 19 in a Washington, D.C., federal court, alleges that NOAA’s Feb. 7 publication of a “final rule” that will pave the way for industry-funded monitoring claims that the rule exceeds the agency’s authority granted under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the main legislation that regulates fishing in US federal waters.

The lawsuit further claims that the rule improperly infringes on “Congress’s exclusive taxation authority” and violates three other federal laws — the Anti-Deficiency Act, the Miscellaneous Receipts Act and the Independent Offices Appropriations Act, all of which regulate how the government collects and spends money.

The rule, according to the lawsuit, could cost herring harvesters as much as $700 per trip for the monitors, third-party observers hired by the vessel owner.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries report: 2018 production down, but value up

February 24, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has released the “Fisheries of the United States 2018” report, and it indicates that the production of both wild-capture and aquaculture was down in the U.S. in 2018, while the value of both sectors increased.

U.S. commercial fishermen combined to land 9.4 billion pounds (4.3 million metric tons) of seafood, a 5.3 percent decrease of 531 million pounds over the 2017 total. The value of those landings, however, increased by 2.8 percent, or USD 150 million (EUR 138 million), to USD 5.6 billion (EUR 5.1 billion).

Read the full story at Seafood Source