Saving Seafood

Good News for California Fisheries Seeking to Test Extended Hook and Line Fishing Gear in U.S. West

May 10, 2019 — The following was released by the California Pelagic Fisheries Association:

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP or “permit”) to allow two U.S. fishermen to test extended hook and line (both deep set and shallow set) fishing gear in Federal waters within the U.S. West Coast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A primary function of the testing is to determine if the U.S. fishermen can help to increase America’s reliance on domestic seafood.

Currently the U.S. imports 90 percent of its seafood. The new permits could increase reliance on local seafood, particularly where swordfish and tuna are concerned. The North Pacific swordfish population, for example, is very healthy and would support a substantial additional harvest according to all international fisheries experts and published reports. Any increase in U.S. fisheries production improves America’s seafood security as well as provides for a sustainable ecosystem footprint often lacking in the weak environmental oversight of foreign fisheries.

“NOAA’s decision is a huge win for American fisheries, fishermen and ultimately, the environment,” said Dave Rudie, owner of Catalina Offshore Products and President of the California Pelagic Fisheries Association. “It will greatly benefit San Diego and southern California and our consumers as well.”

The EFP excludes any fishing within 50 miles of the coast or offshore islands and requires that a U.S. Government approved fisheries observer be present during all test fishing. Additionally, it requires a full suite of verified mitigation techniques be used during all test fishing. These techniques are known to reduce or eliminate interactions with sea birds, sea turtles and marine mammals.

About the California Pelagic Fisheries Association

The California Pelagic Fisheries Association (CPFA) was formed in 2015 by a group of American fishermen and seafood processors with the function of representing their interests in developing high seas (pelagic) fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. As a result of CPFA’s ongoing efforts at both a local and national level, American consumers have more opportunities to enjoy the very best quality tuna, swordfish and similar species knowing they were harvested by American fishermen using proven environmentally friendly fishing techniques.

About Catalina Offshore Products

Founded in 1977, Catalina Offshore Products was once exclusively a sea urchin wholesaler in both domestic sales and exports. Today the company is one of the largest buyers of local seafood in San Diego, specializing in species found off the West Coast, from Baja and Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. Its business has expanded to include an online store and walk-in fish market and proudly remains family owned and operated. Recognized as an industry leader, Catalina Offshore Products is committed to providing high quality seafood choices from responsible fisheries or farms. For more information, visit catalinaop.com.

Scallops sales to fund ocean research on East Coast

May 10, 2019 — The federal government says a program that sells scallops to pay for marine science will include a study of how shellfish harvesting impacts sea turtles in this year’s projects.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside will help pay for 13 projects in 2019 and 2020. Regulators use the program to set aside more than a million pounds of scallops, which generates millions of dollars for the science projects.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Special Events for Endangered Species Day

May 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Endangered Species Day is an annual celebration and opportunity for people to learn about endangered and threatened species and what we can all do to help them.

Always held on the third Friday in May, Endangered Species Day is on May 17 this year. The Endangered Species Act protects these vulnerable animals. Through conservation and recovery programs, we work to rebuild the populations to healthy levels.

NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center participate in several Endangered Species Day events, listed below.

Through our programs, we hope to increase knowledge and understanding of protected marine species/species of concern from Maine to Virginia, as well as the Endangered Species Act  and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

For more information, please visit our Endangered Species Day website.

Read the full release here

Scallop Research Set-Aside Program Supports 13 Projects for 2019-2020; Resource Surveys Once Again Top the List

May 8, 2019 — The following was published by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program will support 13 projects during the 2019-2020 award cycle that address resource surveys, dredge efficiency, bycatch reduction, fishery impacts on loggerhead turtles, potential offshore wind development impacts on larval and juvenile scallop transport, and more. The projects focus on scallop research priorities identified by the New England Fishery Management Council, which ranked resource surveys as the highest priority.

The awards were announced today by the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Collectively, these awards are expected to generate more than $14 million. This includes an estimated $2.8 million to fund the research and $11.4 million to compensate industry partners who harvest set-aside quota. No federal money is involved, making this a true industry-funded program.

• The New England Council approved research priorities in June 2018 for the 2019-2020 RSA projects.
• The Council will develop a new list of priorities at its June 2019 meeting for 2020-2021 projects.

The Council established the Scallop RSA Program to address research questions that support the management of the scallop resource. Each year during the specification-setting process, the Council “sets aside” 1.25 million pounds of scallops to carry out RSA projects. The work is conducted collaboratively between fishermen and scientists. Research results directly contribute to stock assessments and help the Council better manage the fishery overall.

While the Council sets the annual research priorities, NOAA Fisheries manages the RSA competition and administers the program.

Learn More on the NEFSC RSA Webpage and View the Award Announcement

More information is available in the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s announcement.

Read the original announcement from NOAA Fisheries here.

New England, Mid-Atlantic fishery councils ponder switch to electronic vessel trip reporting

May 7, 2019 — The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is considering an action that would require all vessel trip reporting done by fishermen in the region be electronic.

The move, which is under an omnibus framework action, would require commercial fishing vessels to fill out all of their vessel trip reports electronically, eliminating the ability to fill out paper forms. Electronic vessel trip reporting (eVTR) has been an established way to submit reports since 2013, according to Karson Coutre of the Mid-Atlantic council.

“The Mid-Atlantic Council has been interested in eVTR for the past several years,” Coutre told SeafoodSource. “Many stakeholders have voiced the desire to move in the direction of electronic reporting with technological advances and eVTR being an established means to submit VTRs since 2013.”

The move, Coutre said, is intended to increase the reporting efficiency for both the operators of vessels, and the data collection agency.

“For the vessel operator, eVTR can decrease the entry of redundant information using customized favorites, dropdown menus, plain language instead of codes, and auto-complete features,” Coutre said. “Electronic reporting would also increase the timeliness and accuracy of fisheries data submitted to NMFS [National Marine Fisheries Service] because the VTR data would be available for error-checking and validation instantaneously.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Team Reaches Consensus on Right Whale Survival Measures

May 6, 2019 — After many hours of discussion over a span of four days, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team was able to reach nearly unanimous consensus on right whale survival measures.

The agreement consists of a package of measures that would achieve at least a 60-percent serious injury and mortality reduction goal in each of the lobster management areas. Two general risk reduction approaches emerged as the Team’s preferred options: line reduction and gear modification.

“This is hard work. The Team members brought not only their expertise but also their passion for the people and communities they represent to the table. Everyone understands that there are real and difficult consequences to fishermen as a result of the choices made in this room,” said Sam Rauch, NOAA Fisheries deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs.

“I am confident that the meaningful measures supported by the majority of the Team today present a substantial opportunity to reduce the impacts of U.S. fisheries on right whales and an opportunity to support the recovery of this species.”

The measures in the package include reductions in vertical buoy lines as well as gear modifications to reduce the strength at which lines will break. Reduced breaking strength lines would allow entangled whales to more easily break free of gear.

Additionally, an expansion of gear marking to create larger and more frequent marks on U.S. trap/pot fishery buoy lines throughout U.S. East Coast waters was supported by most team members.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

They smell, bark and snatch pet dogs. Sea lions cause trouble at Northwest ports

May 3, 2019 — A big rebound in the sea lion population along the West Coast in recent years has created a constant battle to wrangle the protected animals. They’re smart and fun to watch from a safe distance, but also noisy, smelly and proving to be a headache for some coastal marinas.

“It’s a free zoo kind of, just don’t pet ’em!” observed Dennis Craig of Olympia while he watched a pier at Washington’s Westport marina nearly sink under the weight of dozens of burly bulls jostling and snoozing in the sun.

“You notice when the charters come in, they’ll swing wide just so people can get a closer look because, like I say, it’s entertaining,” Craig said.

The flip side of these flippered fish fiends can be seen in the mounting bill to the marina, including the cost of busted docks, broken electric stanchions and lost business.

“Nearly all of our net revenue was used to repair damage caused by sea lions this year, taking those funds away from infrastructure improvements and replacements that are critical to the marina facility and our users,” said Westport Marina business manager Molly Bold in an email.

Sea lions have blocked people from mooring their boats. In other cases, commercial fishermen have had to run through a sea lion gauntlet just to get onto their vessels. The sea lions even snatched a few pet dogs right off the piers, said Westport Aquarium co-owner Marc Myrsell, who volunteers to monitor the marine mammals.

Read the full story at KPBX

Some whale protection rules on hold

May 3, 2019 — Inshore lobstermen will get a break when the federal government adopts new whale protection rules, but it remains to be seen for how long.

On Thursday, May 2, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher announced on the DMR website that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will delay imposing any whale protection rules to see whether measures likely to be adopted by NOAA Fisheries offer sufficient protection to endangered right whales.

Late in April, NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) recommended a 50 percent reduction in the number of vertical endlines (which connect lobster traps on the sea bottom to marker buoys on the surface) in the water. The TRT also called for the use of weaker rope, likely for the upper 75 percent, of the endlines that remain so that if whales swim into the rope it will break.

According to DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols, while the 50 percent reduction in endlines applies to both inshore and offshore fisheries, “the weak rope provision targets federal waters,” outside the three-mile limit.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Secretary of Commerce Appoints Three New Committee Members to NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee

May 3, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has appointed three new advisors to NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, bringing the group’s membership to the full complement of 21. Terms for the three members commence immediately. The Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, or MAFAC, advises the Secretary of Commerce and NOAA on all living marine resource matters that are the responsibility of the Department of Commerce. These three individuals were chosen from a pool of highly qualified applicants who submitted nomination packages during an open, publicly announced process. A nomination process is announced when vacancies occur.

MAFAC members draw on their expertise to evaluate and make recommendations on national living marine resources policies.  The members represent a wide spectrum of fishing, aquaculture, protected resources, environmental, academic, tribal, state, consumer, and other related national interests from across the U.S., and ensure the nation’s living marine resource policies and programs meet the needs of these stakeholders.

The three new members are:

  • Thomas Fote, Toms River, New Jersey
    Retired veteran and longtime recreational fisherman advocate         
  • Don McMahan, Pensacola, Florida
    Owner, Pensacola Bay Oyster Company, LL, and Pensacola Bay Oyster Hatchery, LLC  
  • Patrick Sullivan, PhD, Ithaca, New York
    Professor and Chair, Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University

MAFAC provides advice and recommendations on NOAA and Department initiatives and programs. MAFAC recently identified priority initiatives for incoming NOAA and Commerce leaders to improve seafood businesses and trade, support recreational opportunities, strengthen science and fishery data, enable adaptive management, and recover protected species.

In recent years, MAFAC has also provided advice and input on:

  • Enhancing seafood production and promotion, and identified major challenges to healthy oceans and thriving industries that need addressing.
  • The NOAA Aquaculture Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, highlighting the need to substantially increase domestic aquaculture production, and supported the development of an effective national aquaculture initiative.
  • Implementation of the Recreational Fisheries Policy.
  • Improving species recovery and section 7 pre-consultation processes;
  • How NOAA can best meet resource, habitat, and socio-economic resilience needs of fishing communities and sectors, particularly in a changing climate.
  • Long term salmon and steelhead conservation and recovery through its Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force.

For more information about the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, visit this web page.

Read the full release here

SHELLEY WIGGLESWORTH: Please support our local commercial fishermen

May 2, 2019 — If you don’t think commercial fishermen are an endangered species – think again.

I have been very vocal over the years about my feelings on the commercial fishing industry being in jeopardy, and highlighting the importance of just what an integral part the industry plays in not only the economy, but the infrastructure as a whole, not only in our town and coastal towns across America.

As someone with deep ties to our community and the fishing community in particular, I am in a unique position working as a mate on a commercial fishing vessel, and being a journalist. I see so much firsthand that I hope the general public will take into account when I write about it. So here I go again, with more food for thought on an issue that is near and dear to my heart.

To anyone who really wants to support the local economy, please start by supporting local fishermen. Support them in all of their endeavors and their diversification efforts. Think about it. If fishing was not in jeopardy, many commercial fishermen would not be doing maritime related and other business venues.

Commercial fishermen help us all live better. Fishermen, and lobstermen in particular in Maine, are a crucial part of the local economy. Think of all the businesses that rely on fishermen to survive – restaurants, fish markets, stores, seafood processors, truckers that transport seafood, bait dealers, fuel companies for boats and to fuel the trucks that deliver fish, marine mechanics, boat builders, fishing gear manufacturers and much more.

In addition to choosing local over foreign sourced fish whenever possible, there are other ways to support local fishermen and their families, all the while strengthening the local economy. I will list those at the end of this article. Before I do, I would just like to remind folks of the never ending rules and regulations commercial fishermen face.

Restricting catch and the number of fishing days in an industry where many days to fish are already lost due to dangerous conditions at sea is detrimental. In addition to this, fishermen are regularly forced to change or stop using certain gear, such as lobstermen being forced to change their rope to avoid potentially tangling right whales. According to National Marine Fisheries Service data on rope removed from whales, there has been only one case of a right whale confirmed in Maine lobster gear in 2002, and this whale was last seen alive and gear free in 2017. Once again, as I type this, lobstermen are being forced to change lines to a 50% vertical line reduction (¾ toppers on all gear outside of 3 miles = 0.75 [weak rope] x 0.31 [1700lb rope reduction] X 0.50 [50% VL reduction] = 11.6% + 50% VL reduction = 61.5% reduction.) This change does not come without a price tag for lobstermen, not to mention the time they have to put in to comply, reducing days to fish on their own dime. When government regulations prove ineffective, the government creates new methods for fishermen to implement. They get paid to do this whether the methods and regulations work or fail. Fishermen do not.

Read the full story at SeaCoast Online