Saving Seafood

West Coast Fisheries “Comeback of the Century”

October 8, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

With help from rebounding West Coast rockfish, Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi has put the fisherman back in San Francisco’s famed Fisherman’s Wharf.

Pennisi is the first fisherman to sell freshly caught fish off his boat at Fisherman’s Wharf in many years. He has reintroduced locals to the flaky white fish that was once a mainstay of West Coast seafood. Most weekends when the fishing is good, crowds form early at the dock next to his boat, the Pioneer, and continue all day. Some wait for hours to buy chilipepper rockfish, rose fish, boccacio and other deep-water species Pennisi brings up in his nets.

“You can’t help but be excited when you get to the dock and all these people are waiting for their fish,” he said.

The reemerging demand for rockfish reflects what may be the West Coast fisheries comeback of the century. Rapidly rebuilding stocks are reviving opportunities for determined fishermen such as Pennisi and customers of his Pioneer Seafoods. From Washington to California, a fishing fleet that sacrificed heavily while groundfish stocks rebuilt are now beginning to harvest the results.

“It really does seem like we’re turning an important corner,” said Shems Jud, who has long tracked the groundfish fishery for the Environmental Defense Fund. The rebuilding of groundfish represents a rarity among environmental issues. Fishermen, environmental groups, fisheries managers, and others replaced contention and controversy with lasting collaboration.

Read the full release here

MAINE: DMR joins partnership to restore Penobscot River salmon

October 8, 2019 — The Department of Marine Resources will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot River.

The project, funded through a $1,075,000 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Species Recovery Grant, will involve a partnership among DMR, Cooke Aquaculture USA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries and the Penobscot Indian Nation to grow juvenile Atlantic salmon to adult size in aquaculture pens located in Machias Bay near Cutler. The adult salmon will then be released into the East Branch of the Penobscot, a river with large amounts of high-quality salmon habitat, to spawn.

Smolts raised from native broodstock by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery in Ellsworth and smolts captured in the wild using rotary screw traps will be used to stock the marine net pens in 2020, 2021 and 2022. To ensure the genetic integrity of salmon in the river, only smolts of Penobscot River origin will be released.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Federal Fisheries Management Needs Some Fine-tuning, Locals say

October 8, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Formerly depleted fisheries off the Pacific Coast have recovered in recent years, but North Coast fishermen are concerned larger vessels are more likely to get access to those fisheries than smaller and medium-sized vessels.

That was the message a panel of fishermen and fisheries experts gave to North Coast U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman at the D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata on Saturday afternoon. Specifically, Huffman was asking for input on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which governs how fisheries are managed in federal water.

“This is a chance to build on the success of that framework,” Huffman said, “but also see if we can modernize it, fine-tune it and make it even better without undermining those elements that have made it so successful over the years.”

The act is designed to “prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, increase long-term economic and social benefits, use reliable data and sound science, conserve essential fish habitat, and ensure a safe and sustainable supply of seafood,” according to information on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries website.

While the act has helped rebuild depleted fish stocks, local fishermen said generally larger fishing vessels have a better ability to gain access to those stocks.

“We have seen winners and losers,” said Marc Gorelnik, vice chair of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. “The large fleets fared very well under Magnuson. I think that the small fishing communities, medium-sized fishing communities, small boat fishermen have not necessarily fared that well.”

The fact that the fish stocks have been rebuilt should be a huge success story, said Harrison Ibach, president of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, but the unequal access to those stocks has blemished that success and needs to be addressed.

Permits for fish stocks are also going to become more complicated as climate change intensifies and fish stocks move to different areas, the experts said.

Most fisheries have gone to limited entry over the last 30 years, so a permit is required to catch a particular kind of fish in a given area, said Dave Bitts, a local fishermen.

“We may well find in the future, and they may already be finding more than us in the Atlantic … the permit I’ve got ain’t worth anything anymore because those fish aren’t here,” Bitts said. “However, there’s another type of fish here and there’s lots of them and I don’t have a permit for them.”

The act could possibly create a way to expedite shifting permits around, he said.

The act also needs to take a more holistic approach to managing fisheries, the panelists said. Right now, only the most endangered species are a focal point of protection, but the entire habitat needs to be protected, they said.

“I think there should be consideration to manage water for all species, not just those that have already had a train wreck,” said Dave Hillemeier, the Yurok Tribe’s fisheries director.

Instead of being reactive to crises, Hillemeier said the act should be more proactive in preventing stocks from depleting in the first place.

Doing that is a challenge because what happens with the fish stocks along the coast also depends on how water is managed in the Central Valley, where the needs of fish are always pitted against the needs of people, the experts said.

Huffman said it might be a good idea to require mandatory consultation with the regional councils that manage the fisheries and agencies managing water inland. Right now, the fishermen said the most they can do is send an angry letter to the relevant agencies.

“One of the things I’ve learned in those 30 years is you can win a case in court, you can pass a law,” Bitts said, “but good luck changing what happens in the Central Valley.”

Beyond the issues with managing fisheries, the panelists said it was important to revisit some definitions in the act, such as over-fishing. Sometimes a fishing stock may be depleted for reasons that have nothing to do with fishing, such as climate change.

“I think it would be greatly to our advantage as fishermen and the public’s advantage in knowing what’s going if we could change the definition from overfished to depleted,” Bitts said.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

NOAA Fisheries report identifies IUU in Ecuador, Mexico, South Korea

October 8, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries has released its 2019 report to the U.S. Congress, identifying the organization’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing internationally while also rebuking three countries for lack of sufficient enforcement against IUU.

The biennial report on improving international fisheries management – made to Congress as part of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act – identified Ecuador, Mexico, and the Republic of Korea has three countries that failed to sufficiently comply with agreed-upon regulations related to IUU. The report also credited Ecuador, Mexico, and the Russian Federation for earlier work to react to IUU allegations made in NOAA’s 2017 report to congress.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2020-2021 Summer Flounder Specifications and Interim 2020 Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish Specification

October 8, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are implementing the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommended 2020-2021 summer flounder specifications and initial 2020 specifications for the scup, black sea bass, and bluefish fisheries. The initial 2020 specifications for scup, black sea bass, and bluefish will be re-evaluated early in the fishing year to address the results of an operational assessment for all three species.

Read the final rule as published in the Federal Register, and our permit holder bulletin.

NOAA Fisheries Evaluates Role of Opt-in Angler Reporting Apps in Recreational Fisheries

October 11, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In a new report, NOAA Fisheries describes how electronic technologies, including web and app-based data collection programs, may improve the agency’s estimates of marine recreational catch. The report finds “opt-in,” or non-mandatory, angler reporting apps to be appropriate for collecting qualitative data that support citizen science-based studies. But for these apps to produce population-level estimates of recreational catch, a large proportion of anglers would have to consistently use them to report accurate information about their fishing trips, and a statistically valid probability-based sampling survey would have to validate self-reported data, monitor the extent of reporting, and account for unreported trips.

The report (PDF, 12 pages) is part of the MRIP Action Plan on Implementing Electronic Reporting. Its recommendations are based on an external review of electronic reporting options for recreational fishing surveys, as well as our own assessment of two projects that evaluate the use of iAngler and iSnapper to collect recreational fisheries data.

Electronic reporting is a method of data collection that can include smartphones, tablets, and other technologies used to record, send, and store data. When electronic reporting is part of a probability-based sampling survey design, it has the potential to reduce data collection costs and improve the quality of reported information. But when recreational catch estimates are produced with only those data collected through an opt-in website or mobile app, the estimates are likely to be biased.

Read the full release here

University of Maine receives grant for marine species research

October 7, 2019 — The University of Maine has been awarded $1.6 million to help research Atlantic Marine Species.

The grant is made possible from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

The funds will support a research project on tuna and shark species in the Gulf of Mexico and the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Data researches hope to collect includes growth, age, and migratory behavior.

Maine’s Congressional Delegation made the following statements:

“Maine’s coastal communities depend on Highly Migratory Species fisheries as an economic engine, sustaining and creating jobs as well as driving coastal tourism and recreation year after year,” said Senator Collins. “In order to better understand and maintain the health of HMS fisheries, more research is needed. This funding will assist researchers at UMaine as they work with partner institutions to fill the knowledge gaps about the history and biology of HMS fisheries.”

Read the full story at WABI

West Coast Rockfish Boom with the Blob

October 4, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The high temperatures that came with the marine heatwave known as the Blob led to unprecedented mixing of local and subtropical species. There were, often with new and unpredictable outcomes. Out of that mix came one unexpected winner: West Coast rockfish. These bottom-dwelling species, which that had previously collapsed in the face of overfishing during the 2000s, thrived under the new conditions.

Scientists from Oregon State University and NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center recount the boom in young rockfish in a new research paper in the journal Fisheries. It examines the effects of the Blob as documented by NOAA Fisheries offshore surveys. Scientists have been conducting the surveys for more than 20 years. The Blob years brought some of the most dramatic changes in marine life off the West Coast they’ve ever seen.

Unexpected interactions may have also altered the abundance of some species, from plankton that support the food web to fish that depend on them, the researchers wrote.

In the waning months of the Blob in 2016, juvenile rockfish increased over a large area from California to Alaska. Since juvenile rockfish are very difficult to distinguish from one another, scientists could not tell which species benefited. They could not tell what specifically drove the boom in their numbers and or whether they will support fisheries in future years.

Read the full release here

Advocates advance ways for safeguarding East Coast whales

October 4, 2019 — Humpback whales are dying all along the East Coast, though advocates say “smart” buoys, slower ship speeds and fishing gear that breaks apart might have saved them.

Ships and entanglements are two of the most clearly identified killers, scientists say.

“You’d be surprised at how many animals are out there with propeller scars,” said Arthur H. Kopelman, president, Coastal Research & Education Society of Long Island, a West Sayville nonprofit that conducts research and offers whale-watching.

Humpbacks and fin whales “come right up under the bow” of whale-watching ships, he says, luckily when the engines are in neutral, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requires.

Read the full story at Newsday

MAINE: Aquaculture Operation to Support Novel Approach to Wild Atlantic Salmon Restoration

October 3, 2019 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot.

The project, funded through a NOAA Section 6 Species Recovery Grant totaling $1,075,000, will involve a partnership between DMR, Cooke Aquaculture USA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the Penobscot Indian Nation to grow juvenile Atlantic salmon to adult size in aquaculture pens located near Cutler Maine. The adult salmon will then be released into the East Branch of the Penobscot to spawn, a river with large amounts of high-quality salmon habitat.

Smolts raised from native broodstock by the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery in Ellsworth, Maine, and smolts captured in the wild by rotary screw traps will be used to stock the marine net pens in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Smolts will include only those from Penobscot River origin to ensure the genetic integrity of salmon released into the river.

Plans call for increasing the number of smolts captured in the wild from the East Branch to be used to supply juveniles that will be grown out in the net pens. While hatchery spawned fish help ensure an adequate supply of fish for recovery goals, those spawned in the natural environment are more robust due to the impact of natural selection which results in fish that are better suited to survival in the wild.

The smolts will be placed in net pens under a limited-purpose aquaculture lease in Cutler, Maine where they will be fed and managed in cooperation with Cooke Aquaculture USA for 16 to 30 months, during which time they will grow to mature adults. The DMR will hold the lease on the pens while Cooke will supply the pens and feed for the salmon as they grow.

“We are committed to be part of this wild Atlantic salmon enhancement project in Maine. Cooke Aquaculture has the experience working with Atlantic salmon in their natural environment based on proven aquaculture and fish-health science. Working with the Penobscot Nation and government partners, together we will make this restoration program a success by seeing the fish return to their native waters,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO, Cooke Aquaculture USA.

Approximately 5,000 adult fish will be transported from the net pens to target tributaries and the mainstem of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in the fall of 2021 or 2022 where they will find suitable habitat to naturally spawn. This will result in more spawning adults than have been present in the Penobscot River for decades.

While net pens are not new in Maine for cultivating Atlantic salmon, using them to cultivate salmon for conservation purposes at this scale is new in Maine and showing promise in a Bay of Fundy partnership between Cooke and Canadian provincial and federal governments, First Nations and academia.

The Penobscot Indian Nation has inhabited the Penobscot River drainage since time immemorial. The deep cultural, spiritual and historical connections between the Tribe and the Atlantic salmon of the Penobscot River go back thousands of years, said Dan McCaw, Fisheries Program Manager for the Penobscot Nation. The Penobscot Nation is hopeful that this new program can help to restore this iconic species to its ancestral homeland and applauds the collaborative nature of this multi-stakeholder endeavor.

As populations expand, the goal is to build healthy wild populations of Atlantic Salmon on the East Branch, including the potential for downlisting. The estimated 5,000 adults produced by this effort could result in 20 times more eggs in the gravel in the Penobscot River basin compared to existing stocking and natural reproduction, said Sean Ledwin, Director of DMR’s Searun Fisheries and Habitat Division.

The program will involve surveys of redds in spawning areas to assess spawning success of released fish. Released fish will also be tracked using Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) and radio telemetry. Electrofishing surveys and use of rotary screw traps, along with genetic analysis, will be used to assess the abundance of offspring from this effort.

The program will also include a public outreach effort undertaken by the department and other program partners that will provide information on salmon and other sea-run species, and the impact of protecting ecosystems on which they rely.

https://www.maine.gov/dmr/news-details.html?id=1597983