Saving Seafood

NOAA to groundfishermen: Take our survey

June 25, 2019 — As fishing regulators continue to consider changes to current groundfish monitoring programs, NOAA Fisheries is developing a new strategic communications plan to help stakeholders more fully participate in the rule-making process.

Toward that end, NOAA Fisheries is asking groundfish stakeholders to participate in an online survey that focuses on two areas — what information do fishermen need about current groundfish monitoring programs and the best manner for delivering that information.

The survey, which opened Friday and will be available online until July 21, can be found on the website surveymonkey.com/r/GARFO23. It is designed to take five to 10 minutes and can be completed anonymously.

“Our effort is focused on communicating information about monitoring programs, not developing alternatives or making policy decisions,” NOAA Fisheries said in announcing the survey. “We also expect this effort to provide tools and resources that can be applied across programs to improve the clarity and effectiveness of our communications with industry members.”

NOAA Fisheries has contracted with Vision Planning and Consulting to help it develop the new communications strategy and improve its communication about its various groundfish monitoring programs.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NEW JERSEY: Anglers Conservation Network Wrongly Attacks NOAA for Determination on Alewife and Blueback Herring

June 24, 2019 — The following was released by the Garden State Seafood Association:

On Tuesday, June 18, 2019, NOAA announced they found that no populations of alewife or blueback herring (collectively referred to as “river herring”), or any of the four alewife distinct population segments (DPS) and three blueback DPSs along the east coast of the United States were either in danger of extinction nor likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. Therefore, they determined that listing any of those species under the Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered is not warranted at this time.

Almost immediately, the Anglers Conservation Network responded on Facebook, asking the hypothetical question, “What do you do when the federal agency in charge of sustainability fails to not only recognize, name and correctly manage a vital forage fish? [sic].”

They accused NOAA of failing “to do its duty” and of letting “commercial fishing lobbyists carry the day.” They also asked their followers and readers to “please learn more about what the current administration is doing to America.”

This determination had nothing to do with any appointees of the Trump Administration. For the status review of alewife and blueback herring, NOAA formed a team composed of career scientists from NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The team members have scientific expertise in river herring biology/ecology and/or expertise in population ecology or fisheries management. Their report was reviewed by three independent external experts and by NOAA Fisheries staff.

The team members are:

  • Robert Adams – New York Department of Environmental Conservation
  • Michael Bailey – USFWS, Central New England Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office
  • Ruth Haas-Castro – NOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
  • Kiersten Curti – NOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
  • Ben Gahagan – Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
  • Ed Hale – Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife
  • Tara Trinko Lake – NOAA Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office
  • Bill Post – South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

Not a single team member is an appointee of the Trump Administration. The team members were not contacted by, nor did they interact with, “commercial fishing lobbyists” during their work on the determination. Their work was rigorous, with the final report totaling 167 pages.

The Anglers Conservation Network has a long history of opposing legal, well-managed U.S. forage fisheries. In a case argued by Roger M. Fleming of EarthJustice that failed on appeal in 2016, the Angler’s Conservation Network sued then Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, stating that NOAA unlawfully neglected to manage stocks of river herring and shad in the Atlantic Ocean from New York to North Carolina. The court found that NOAA rationally considered the status of river herring stocks, the fact that they are managed by the Atlantic coastal states where these fish breed, and greatest threats to their populations, including dams and barriers.

NOAA has created a program of bycatch caps in the Atlantic herring and mackerel fisheries to help conserve the stock. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to work with its partners in the states to improve habitat for these stocks. Far from “fail[ing] to do its duty,” as Anglers Conservation Network claims, NOAA has been proactive in helping to restore these important stocks.

Read the full release here

SIMP helping to drive seafood’s blockchain moment

June 24, 2019 — It’s not your imagination. The seafood industry is talking a lot more than usual about Bitcoin these days.

But don’t worry. There’s no effort afoot to launch a new form of seafood-themed cryptocurrency — though “Fishscales” would have a nice ring to it.

Rather, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s implementation of its new Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) requirements is helping to drive a great deal of interest in blockchain, the digital technology that underlies Bitcoin, Sean O’Scannlain, the president and CEO of Fortune Fish & Gourmet, told Undercurrent News in a telephone interview this week.

Besides running one of the US’ largest seafood wholesalers, O’Scannlain is also chairman of the Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF), a 55-year-old group that has provided almost $4 million in grants to help create about 400 research papers, all publicly available. Roughly a week ago, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) announced that SIRF would be launching a pilot aimed at enabling the industry to better use blockchain, increasing transparency, optimizing supply chain processes and combating fraud.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

2019 Northeast Sea Scallop Survey Finishes

June 24, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The 2019 Northeast sea scallop survey got underway May 15 aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp, first covering stations in the Mid-Atlantic and then on Georges Bank. Operations concluded on June 14.

This survey occurs annually. It uses both a dredge to collect physical samples of sea life and their habitat, and a towed vehicle known as the HabCam. The HabCam is fitted with a number of sampling instruments, including cameras that photograph the ocean bottom. This dual sampling method enriches data available to researchers and helps ensure that information can be collected even if one of the systems fails during survey operations.

2019 NEFSC Sampling Effort

Most of the dredge operations occurred on Georges Bank. Planned dredge stations were completed throughout the Georges Bank area, and additional stations were added in the Great South Channel. Only two dredge stations were planned for the Mid-Atlantic area. These were completed.

HabCam coverage in the Mid-Atlantic was the most comprehensive achieved by the Center survey to date.

On Georges Bank, only the Southern Flank tracks and a small part of the northern Great South Channel were covered—about 30 percent of planned HabCam tracks for Georges Bank. HabCam tracks planned for the Northeast Edge and most of Great South Channel were not completed owing to operational issues with the HabCam vehicle and two days of unworkable weather.

“The sea scallop fishery is among the most valuable in the region, and people who rely on it also rely on us to provide the best possible data,” said Jon Hare, director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “We were able to conduct additional dredge samples in the areas of Georges Bank that HabCam did not cover, and the team on the vessel did an excellent job adapting to the situation.”

Read the full release here

Retention Limit of Aggregated Large Coastal Shark and Hammerhead Shark Management Groups increase to 36 Sharks per Trip

June 24, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

NOAA Fisheries has increased the retention limit for the commercial aggregated large coastal shark and hammerhead shark management groups (Appendix 1, next page) for directed shark limited access permit holders in the Atlantic region from 3 to 36 sharks per vessel per trip effective June 25, 2019. The retention limit will remain at 36 LCS, other than sandbar sharks, per vessel per trip in the Atlantic region through the rest of the 2019 fishing season or until NOAA Fisheries announces another adjustment to the retention limit or a fishery closure via the Federal Register.

As agreed upon by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board in December 2015, the Commission will follow NOAA Fisheries for in-season changes to the commercial retention limit, therefore, no more than 36 sharks per vessel per trip may be retained from the aggregated large coastal and hammerhead shark management groups by state licensed fishermen effective June 25, 2019.

The Federal Register regarding the change to the commercial retention limit will be published on June 25 at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/25/2019-13483/atlantic-highly-migratory-species-commercial-aggregated-large-coastal-shark-and-hammerhead-shark. Shark landings can be found at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/atlantic-highly-migratory-species/2019-atlantic-shark-commercial-fishery-landings-and-retention.

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.

A PDF of the announcement ca be found here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5d11021cM19_48AdjustedCommericalRetentionLimits_June2019.pdf.

Record Number of Leatherback Turtles Tagged in North Carolina

June 24, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Despite challenging weather conditions, NOAA Fisheries researchers and colleagues captured and tagged a record 13 leatherback turtles May 14-22 off Beaufort, North Carolina, continuing a project begun in 2017 to assess the abundance, movements, behavior, and health status of these turtles. It is the second year this team has tagged leatherbacks off North Carolina, where the turtles aggregate in coastal waters during their northward spring migration.

Turtle researchers Heather Haas and Eric Matzen from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Woods Hole Laboratory joined NOAA Fisheries Southeast staffers, including team leader Chris Sasso, Larisa  Avens, Annie Gorgone, Blake Price, Jamie Clark and Joanne McNeil during the nine-day field operation.  A team of veterinarians led by Dr. Craig Harms from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine assessed health status, while Samir Patel and colleagues from the Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF) brought several types of suction cup tags for testing. These tags record high-resolution video as well as environmental and movement information.

Research was coordinated with Dr. Matthew Godfrey of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, who assisted in the field work. Haas and Matzen brought the Woods Hole Laboratory’s research vessel Selkie and an inflatable Takacat raft to provide field support.

Read the full release here

Effective on June 23 – Closed Area I Scallop Access Area is Closed for the Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota Fleet

June 24, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces the closure of the Closed Area I Access Area to limited access general category (LAGC) individual fishing quota (IFQ) scallop vessels effective 0001 hours, on June 23, 2019 through March 31, 2020.

As of June 23, 2019, no scallop vessel fishing under LAGC IFQ regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Closed Area I Access Area. The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that the LAGC fleet has fished all of the 571 trips allocated to them in this area.

Vessels that have complied with the observer notification requirements, have declared a trip into the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area using the correct Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) code, and have crossed the VMS demarcation line before 0001 hr, June 23, 2019, may complete their trip and retain and land scallops caught from the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area.

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

Read the full release here

Rep. Golden’s effort to withhold whale protection money fails

June 21, 2019 — An amendment filed by Maine Rep. Jared Golden to prohibit federal regulators from spending money on right whale protections that would impact lobstermen was voted down Thursday.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 345-84 to kill the amendment to the U.S. Department of Commerce spending bill. The proposed budget rider was also supported by Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District.

In defense of his amendment, Golden, D-2nd District, told a largely empty House chamber that it was needed to protect Maine’s $485-million- a-year lobster industry from being unfairly blamed for a problem that it didn’t cause. Good science would prove that, Golden said.

“(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), facing the threat of lawsuits, has rushed ahead using a tool that was developed for the purpose of reducing ship strikes by the Navy,” Golden said. Then NOAA “fed that tool with old data and hasty assumptions.”

“For years now, Maine lobstermen have made sacrifices with almost no measurable effect on right whales,” Golden said later Thursday in an emailed statement. “My amendment simply required the government to ensure the use of sound science and reliable data before they take even more from our lobstermen. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Camera Systems Offer New Option for Tracking West Coast Groundfish Catches

June 21, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Two types of fishing vessels in the West Coast groundfish fleet will have the option of installing cameras beginning in 2021 to monitor their catch as a less costly alternative to human observers who have long filled that role, under a new rule adopted by NOAA Fisheries this week.

The final rule establishes standards for the video camera systems, which are typically activated automatically whenever fishing crews use equipment such as winches to haul in their gear.

The option to switch to electronic monitoring applies to vessels in the Pacific whiting fishery and fixed-gear vessels in the groundfish catch-share fishery, two sectors where analyses showed that it would save fishermen money.

West Coast fishermen pay about $500 per day for a fisheries observer stationed aboard their vessel. Camera systems cost about $10,000 to install, but can save vessels money in the longer term. NOAA Fisheries estimates that electronic monitoring would save fishermen anywhere from about $100 to more than $300 a day, and from $3,000 to $24,000 per year, depending on the fishery and type of vessel.

“Electronic monitoring is not suitable for all fisheries, but there are fisheries where we think it can work and give the fleet another option,” said Melissa Hooper, Permits and Monitoring Branch Chief for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. The cameras work well for vessels that catch large numbers of a few kinds of fish, for example.

Read the full release here

Eric Schwaab Joins Environmental Defense Fund as Senior VP of Oceans Program

June 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has hired Eric Schwaab, former head of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), as their new Senior Vice President of the Oceans program.

“Eric’s passion for the oceans, his deep technical and management expertise on fisheries issues and his experience as a leader makes him a perfect fit,” said Amanda Leland, EDF’s Executive Vice President in an announcement yesterday. “Over more than two decades, he has worked in nearly all aspects of conservation and he understands what is required to drive impact at scale.”

Schwaab rose through the ranks at Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources from fisheries enforcement officer to become Deputy Secretary. In 2010 he was appointed head of NMFS, serving two years before moving to Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, he focused on rebuilding the Nation’s fisheries stocks, ending overfishing, enhancing protection of endangered species, marine mammals and sea turtles and improving aquatic habitat conditions on which these resources depend.  He led efforts with the regional fishery management councils and the fishing industry to establish annual catch limits for all commercial fisheries, and to protect the jobs and livelihoods that depend on our nation’s fisheries by promoting management approaches that achieve both sustainable fisheries and vibrant coastal communities.

In June 2013, Schwaab left government service to become Senior Vice President, Chief Conservation Officer for the National Aquarium, where he led coastal, ocean and fisheries activities for the nation’s ocean science and management agency through 2015. He was hired by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to lead their conservation grants programs for the next three years, followed by a a short tenure as Chief Program Officer for the Naitonal Park Foundation.

Schwaab’s conservation credentials were earned throughout his career along with a reputation for crafting solutions that address concerns of various sectors.

“Eric was critical to the success we achieved during my time as NOAA Administrator,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, University Distinguished Professor, Oregon State University and former EDF Board Trustee. “His unflappable get-it-done approach makes him notably effective working with a range of stakeholders from fishermen to global leaders.”

As EDF’s new Senior Vice President for Oceans, Schwaab leads a team of scientists, economists and advocates around the world who are partnering with fishing communities, academics and government leaders to achieve EDF’s vision of creating thriving, resilient oceans in our lifetimes.

“I’m excited about the opportunity for what we can achieve at EDF,” said Schwaab. “This team and the global network it is building have the tools and passion to reverse overfishing and make our oceans – and all those who depend on them – more resilient, even in the face of climate change.”

Internationally, Schwaab has represented the U.S. in global fishing treaties like the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as well as in bilateral negotiations with other countries and on U.S. fishing operations on the high seas. A hallmark of his career has been a drive for win-win solutions to environmental problems.

“I joined EDF because its mission is focused on people and nature,” said Schwaab. “I have always believed in the power of ideas that benefit both. What EDF does so well is to put those powerful ideas into action in a way that creates a brighter future for all.”

Schwaab holds an undergraduate degree in biology from McDaniel College and a master’s degree in environmental planning from Towson University.

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