Saving Seafood

Do you want better fishery data? NOAA is taking notes

August 14, 2019 — The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is seeking stakeholder input on cooperative research through meetings that kick off this week. The science center’s Cooperative Research Branch is conducting meetings in August and September from Maine to Virginia. (See contact info below in the event you are unable to attend and would like to provide your own feedback.)

“Your input is key to creating a strategic, forward-thinking plan that outlines clear and actionable steps for building community and developing effective cooperative research projects,” the center said in its release on the meetings.

Sen. Angus King says the Maine lobster fleet is not a threat to right whales

August 14, 2019 — Federal regulators working to protect right whales need better data or they will hit the wrong target – Maine’s lobster industry, U.S. Sen. Angus King said.

A surprise guest Tuesday night at a meeting at Ellsworth High School, King joined Maine lobstermen in criticizing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials for considering regulation changes that they say could make lobstering much more expensive and unsafe in order to save the endangered whales.

“There’s no question that I, and I suspect all of you, are concerned about the future of the species,” King said. “The question is, how do we save it? And how do you [hit] the right target? My problem is that when most of these rule changes affect the Gulf of Maine, where it doesn’t appear the whales are, it’s like bombing Brazil after Pearl Harbor.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Correction: Public Scoping Meetings for Modifications to Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan

August 13, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We will be conducting eight scoping meetings this month in anticipation of preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.

We are requesting comments on management options particularly including information about operational challenges, time, and costs required to modify gear by changing configurations such as traps per trawl to reduce endline numbers, installing new line or sleeves and by expanding gear marking requirements.

Read the full release here

USFWS: ESA Implementation | Regulation Revisions

August 13, 2019 — The following was released by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) jointly announce revisions to regulations that implement portions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

In 2017, we sought public input on how the federal government can improve upon the regulatory framework. We received substantial input from a wide range of stakeholders on modernizing the implementation of the ESA in order to improve collaboration, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Firstly, the agencies are finalizing changes to some of the parameters under which other federal agencies must consult with the Service and NOAA Fisheries to ensure their actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of listed species, or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. The agencies are also finalizing various measures to clarity and improve some of the standards under which listings, delisting, and reclassifications, and critical habitat designations are made.

Read the full release here

Rep. Bishop Statement on ESA Regulatory Reforms

August 12, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT):

Today, Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s regulatory reforms to the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“Under the previous administration, the Endangered Species Act strayed woefully far from its original intent. The Act was morphed into a political weapon instead of a tool to protect wildlife. Secretary Bernhardt’s dogged dedication to righting this wrong is again made apparent today.

“These final revisions are aimed at enhancing interagency cooperation, clarifying standards, and removing inappropriate one-size-fits-all practices. I look forward to supporting efforts in Congress to enshrine these revisions into law.”

Background:

Signed into law in 1973, the original goal of the ESA was to preserve and recover key domestic species from the brink of extinction. However, today the law is failing to achieve its primary purpose of species recovery and instead has become a tool for litigation that drains resources away from real recovery efforts on the state, tribal and local level and blocks job-creating economic activities. Congress last renewed the ESA in 1988, which means it has been over 30 years since any substantial updates have been made.

In 2017 and 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service sought public input on how the federal government can improve upon ESA’s regulatory framework. The changes finalized today aim to modernize the implementation of the ESA in order to improve collaboration, efficiency, and effectiveness.

To view the final ESA implementation regulation revisions CLICK HERE.

Global Overfishing Could be Helped by New Indicators

August 12, 2019 — In a new paper published in “Science Advanced,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers Jason Link and Reg Watson from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine Antarctic Studies suggested new ways of monitoring and managing overfishing.

They suggest a broader, whole ecosystem-focused approach to monitoring and research, rather than the population-by-population, smaller scale approach that most management uses now.

“In simple terms, to successfully manage fisheries in an ecosystem, the rate of removal for all fishes combined must be equal to or less than the rate of renewal for all those fishes,” said Link.

Link is the senior scientist for ecosystem management at NOAA Fisheries and a former fisheries scientist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Trade group, California processor seek to intervene in Oceana anchovy lawsuit

August 12, 2019 — A trade group and a California-based processing company filed a motion in a U.S. federal court last week seeking to intervene in a lawsuit brought on by Oceana against NOAA Fisheries.

The Oceana suit, filed in June, claims the government agency is not following the best available science to set the catch limit on the anchovy stock in Northern California. That suit was in response to the catch limit NOAA Fisheries set in May after an order from a federal judge stemming from an earlier lawsuit by Oceana.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA to meet with public about possible new whale protection

August 12, 2019 — Federal officials will meet with fishermen and other members of the public in a series of meetings about possible changes to rules designed to protect vulnerable whales.

A federal team has called for gear modifications and a reduction of the vertical trap lines in the Gulf of Maine to reduce the risk of entanglement, injury and of death of North Atlantic right whales, which number about 400, by 60 percent.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s looking for comments on the new management options, which have been highly criticized by some lobster stakeholders and public officials, particularly in Maine.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

ASMFC Approves Atlantic Cobia Amendment 1

August 9th, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia (Atlantic cobia). Amendment 1 establishes management measures that transition the FMP from complementary management with the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councils to sole management by the Commission. Amendment 1 to the FMP was initiated in anticipation of the Councils’ Regulatory Amendment 31 to the Coastal Migratory Pelagics (CMP) FMP, which was approved earlier this year and removed Atlantic cobia from the Councils’ oversight.

Amendment 1 changes several portions of the Commission’s FMP that were previously dependent on the CMP FMP and institutes a long-term strategy for managing in the absence of a federal plan. Several of these changes establish processes for the Commission to carry out management responsibilities previously performed by the South Atlantic Council, including the setting of harvest quotas and sector allocations, defining stock status criteria and recommending management measures to be implemented by NOAA Fisheries in federal waters. Additionally, Amendment 1 transitions responsibilities of monitoring and closing (if necessary) commercial harvest to the Commission.

Moving forward, the Commission will recommend to NOAA Fisheries that fishing in federal waters be regulated according to the state of landing. If a vessel has licenses for multiple states with open seasons, they must follow the most restrictive license’s regulations. If a vessel has licenses for multiple states, only one of which has an open season, they may fish under the regulations of the open state. Regulations resulting from this recommendation would only apply in federal waters. Fishermen would still be required to follow state possession or landing limits in state waters.

Amendment 1 establishes a harvest specification process, which allows the Board to specify a limited set of management measures for up to 3 years. One of the measures that may be set through this process is a coastwide harvest quota. However, until the first specification process occurs, after completion of the ongoing stock in 2020, the current coastwide quota (670,000 pounds) remains in effect.

The Amendment also changes the units used to measure and evaluate the recreational fishery from pounds numbers of fish. To accommodate this change, the recreational harvest quota in pounds (620,000) is converted to numbers (22,142 fish) and allocated among the states, resulting in the following state recreational harvest targets:

· Virginia: 8,724 fish
· North Carolina: 8,436 fish
· South Carolina: 2,679 fish
· Georgia: 2,081 fish
· 1% De Minimis Set Aside: 222 fish

States still may set their own seasons and vessel limits to achieve their respective targets.

Finally, Amendment 1 establishes a de minimis status for the commercial sector that exempts states with small commercial harvests from in-season monitoring requirements. States are required to implement measures of Amendment 1 by July 1, 2020. Amendment 1 will be available on the Commission’s website, http://www.asmfc.org/species/cobia, by the end of August.

For more information, please contact Dr. Michael Schmidtke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mschmidtke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Federal officials urge boaters to be cautious about right, humpback whales

August 9th, 2019 — Watch out for the whales.

The fisheries division of the NOAA for the New England region on Friday tweeted out that “Humpback #whales are showing up all along our coasts! Please keep everyone safe and follow the law by giving them space to behave naturally.”

The regulators urged boaters to keep their vessels at least 100 feet from the whales, or 600 feet “if other boats are around. Space prevents accidental collisions and helps you adhere to the law.”

North Atlantic right whales need even more room. “Please note: North Atlantic right whales require 500 yards of space,” the NOAA tweeted.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe