Saving Seafood

State Dept. Appoints NOAA’s Chris Oliver Alternate Commissioner to IPHC

October 1, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Earlier this month, the State Department announced two new appointments to the three-member U.S. delegation of the Seattle-based International Pacific Halibut Commission. Yesterday, the third new commissioner was announced.

As with the previous announcement, yesterday’s appointment of Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, to replace Dr. Jim Balsiger, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries in Alaska is being done on a temporary basis until the President’s “duly designated” commissioner is appointed.

In all three cases, it is expected President Trump’s designation will be the same names appointed under ‘alternate’ status. They are: Bob Alverson, executive director of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association; Richard Yamada, president of the Alaska Charter Association and owner of Shelter Lodge; and Chris Oliver. Only Alverson is a reappointment.

“While NOAA awaits the Presidential appointments for the International Pacific Halibut Commission commissioners, Chris Oliver, the Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, has been appointed by the Department of State as an Alternate Commissioner to the IPHC serving in the Federal Commissioner role,” the announcement read.

Alverson and Yamada were appointed to terms ending January 31, 2019. That is one day before the end of the annual IPHC meeting; presumably the President’s designation will be done for a longer term so the Commissioners can complete the annual meeting. Oliver’s term is through the end of March 2019.

“As Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, Chris oversees the management and conservation of recreational and commercial fisheries across the United States. He previously served as the Executive Director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council where he had direct experience working with the Pacific halibut fishery,” read yesterday’s release.

The statement referred to the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 as the defining legislation in the U.S. that put the Canadian-U.S. Treaty into law.

Below is the section of the law relevant to appointments of Commissioners.

“16 U.S. Code § 773a – International Pacific Halibut Commission

The United States shall be represented on the Commission by three United States Commissioners to be appointed by the President and to serve at his pleasure. The Commissioners shall receive no compensation for their services as Commissioners. Each United States Commissioner shall be appointed for a term of office not to exceed 2 years, but is eligible for reappointment. Any United States Commissioner may be appointed for a term of less than 2 years if such appointment is necessary to ensure that the terms of office of not more than two Commissioners will expire in any 1 year. A vacancy among the United States Commissioners shall be filled by the President in the manner in which the original appointment was made, but any Commissioner appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the Commissioner’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term. Of the Commissioners—

(1) one shall be an official of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and

(2) two shall be knowledgeable or experienced concerning the Northern Pacific halibut fishery; of these, one shall be a resident of Alaska and the other shall be a nonresident of Alaska. Of the three commissioners described in paragraphs (1) and (2), one shall be a voting member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

(3) Commissioners shall not be considered Federal employees except for the purposes of injury compensation or tort claims liability as provided in section 8101 et seq. of title 5 and section 2671 et seq. of title 28. This subsection shall take effect on the 90th day after May 17, 1982.

(b) Alternate United States Commissioners

The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary, may designate from time to time alternate United States Commissioners to the commission. An Alternate United States Commissioner may exercise, at any meeting of the Commission, all powers and duties of a United States Commissioner in the absence of a duly designated Commissioner for whatever reason. The number of such alternate United States Commissioners that may be designated for any such meeting shall be limited to the number of authorized United States Commissioners that will not be present.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Bipartisan aquaculture bill filed in US House

October 1, 2018 — American aquaculture supporters scored a victory late last week as two U.S. congressmen announced the filing of a bill that would give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulatory authority over fish farming in federal waters.

U.S. Reps. Steven Palazzo (R-Mississippi) and Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) introduced the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture, or AQUAA, Act in a joint statement on Friday 28 September. The House bill is a companion piece to a bill with the same name filed earlier this year by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).

It also comes just days after a federal judge in Louisiana ruled that NOAA Fisheries could not use the Magnuson-Stevens Act to regulate aquaculture in offshore waters.

Prior to that ruling, aquaculture supporters touted the AQUAA Act as a way to streamline the process for which developers received permits for such projects. The procedure, which could require approvals from such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Transportation, was seen as expensive and burdensome as agencies sometimes could not agree which one should take the lead.

“The United States does not have a comprehensive, nationwide permitting system for marine aquaculture in federal waters. Our bill seeks to rectify this by establishing an office under NOAA that would be charged with coordinating the federal permitting process,” Palazzo said. “It would also fund research and extension services for several existing aquaculture priorities.”

Palazzo had been lined up to be the Republican sponsor of the bill for weeks as an industry trade group sought support from the Democratic side. Stronger America Through Seafood touted Peterson’s bona fides in a statement shortly after the bill was announced.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Memorandum on Whales Lays Basis for Much Stricter Regulation of Trap Fisheries

September 28, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A recent technical memorandum from NOAA on right whale recovery in 2018 could push the agency to require new limits on trap fishing technology.

In short, the memorandum says that the measures adopted to reduce the number of rope lines in the water have backfired.

Although the number of lines to individual buoys have been reduced, the remaining trawl strings have more traps and stronger rope.

The result is that whales are suffering more for entanglements than they were before the new rules were introduced.

The memorandum says that “stronger rope contributed to an increase in the severity of entanglements.”

“Knowlton et al.(2012) showed that nearly 85% of right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once, 59% at least twice, and 26% of the regularly seen animals are entangled annually. These findings represent a continued increase in the percentage of whales encountering and entangling in gear, which grew from to 61.5% in 1995 (Hamilton et al. 1998), to 75.6% in 2002.”

“Rough estimates are that approximately 622,000 vertical lines are deployed from fishing gear in U.S. waters from Georgia to the Gulf of Maine. Notably until spring of 2018, very few protections for right whales were in place in Canadian waters. In comparison to recent decades, more right whales now spend significantly more time in more northern waters and swim through extensive pot fishery zones around Nova Scotia and into the Canadian Gulf of St. Lawrence (Daoust et al. 2018).

Taken together, these fisheries exceed an estimated 1 million vertical lines (100,000 km) deployed throughout right whale migratory routes, calving, and foraging areas.”

“Each vertical line out there has some potential to cause an entanglement. With a 26% annual entanglement rate in a population of just over 400 animals, this translates to about 100 entanglements per year.”

The problem is that sub-lethal entanglements can impact the reproductive success of the population.

“While serious injuries represent 1.2% of all entanglements, there are often sublethal costs to less severe entanglements. Should an entanglement occur but the female somehow disentangles and recovers, it still has the potential to reset the clock for this “capital” breeder. She now has to spend several years acquiring sufficient resources to get pregnant and carry a calf to term, the probability of a subsequent entanglement is fairly high, and this will create a negative feedback loop over time, where the interval between calving becomes longer. This is certainly a contributing factor in the longer calving interval for females, which has now grown from 4 to 10 years.

The implication of this technical report is that substantial reductions in entanglements will be necessary if the long term decline in the population is to be reversed, and under the endangered species act, NOAA will be required to evaluate any actions that increase harm or fail to mitigate harm to the right whale population.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

NOAA Seeks Nominations for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel

September 28, 2018 — NOAA Fisheries is soliciting nominations for the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review Workshops (SEDAR) Advisory Panel. Panel members may participate in the various data, assessment, and review workshops associated with shark stock assessments. If selected to participate in a workshop, members would consider the scientific information—including data and models—used in stock assessments and advise NOAA Fisheries on the conservation and management of Atlantic sharks.

In 2019, NOAA Fisheries anticipates conducting a benchmark stock assessment for Atlantic blacktip sharks. In 2020, we intend to begin a research track assessment for the hammerhead shark complex. Meetings or workshops for these assessments will be determined according to SEDAR guidelines.

This is a 5-year appointment beginning in 2019 and ending in 2024.

Eligible Nominees

To be considered, individuals must have definable interests in:

  • Recreational and commercial fishing and related industries.
  • The environmental community.
  • Academia.
  • Non-governmental organizations.

View the full solicitation at The Fishing Wire

 

Council Forwards Clam Dredge Framework Alternatives for Analysis; Proposed Great South Channel HMA Exemptions

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has tasked its Habitat Plan Development Team (PDT) with analyzing five areas within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area (HMA) where surfclam dredge fishermen potentially could continue to fish year-round. The PDT also was directed to analyze four additional areas for potential seasonal exemptions. The surfclam fishery currently is allowed to operate in all but the northeast corner of the HMA under a one-year exemption that expires April 9, 2019. The Council is working on a Clam Dredge Framework to consider options for allowing continued surfclam fishery access to non-sensitive habitat in the HMA. Since implementation of the Council’s Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The five areas that will be further analyzed as potential year-round clam dredge
exemption areas within the Great South Channel HMA are outline with solid red lines on the map above –
McBlair, Rose and Crown, Area A, Area B, and Area D. Four other areas outlined in green will be analyzed as seasonal closures – East Door, Old South, Zone C, and Zone E. The exemptions would apply from March 1 to August 31. These four areas would be subject to a six-month closure to protect spawning codfish. The Council has expressed concern about potential overlap with cod spawning grounds, which are colored in yellow. On April 1, 2018, the HMA has been closed to all other mobile bottom-tending gear.

The potential exemption areas being analyzed by the PDT were proposed by industry. At its June meeting in Portland, ME, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) expressed serious concerns about the initial alternatives developed by the Council’s Habitat Committee. The agency questioned whether any of those proposals could be approved in a final framework

US aquaculture advocates: Judge’s ruling on Gulf of Mexico proves need for law

September 28, 2018 — A lobbying group organized by more than a dozen powerful seafood companies says a ruling this week by a federal judge that the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) doesn’t have the authority to oversee fish pens in federal waters is why new legislation is needed.

In a 15-page opinion handed down Monday, US district court judge Jane Triche Milazzo, in the Eastern District of Louisiana, granted a motion by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and a coalition of fishing and public interest groups it represented to grant a summary judgment in its lawsuit against NMFS to block its efforts to establish aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico.

Milazzo has given the plaintiffs 10 days to file a proposed judgment.

CFS filed its lawsuit against NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in February 2016, arguing that the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), passed in 1976, was meant to give NMFS authority over the harvesting of wild fish, not aquaculture.

“In analyzing the plain text, statutory scheme, and legislative history of the MSA, this court finds that the term ‘harvesting’ was intended to refer to the traditional fishing of wild fish,” Milazzo wrote in her opinion. “There is nothing in the MSA or its legislative history to suggest that Congress might have intended that the term be defined to include the farming of fish.

“… It is often said that ‘Congress does not ‘hide elephants in mouseholes’, and this court cannot imagine a more fitting example,” she added.

NMFS, in January 2016, with the help of the Gulf Council, finalized regulations to authorize a federal commercial aquaculture permitting scheme in the gulf. According to CFS, the program would have allowed up to 20 industrial facilities and collectively 64 million pounds of fish to be grown each year in the area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Request for Comments: Proposed Changes to Golden Tilefish Regulations in Federal Waters of the South Atlantic Region

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests your comments on a proposed rule for golden tilefish. The proposed actions would reduce golden tilefish catch limits based on the most recent population assessment. The purpose of the action is to end overfishing (rate of removal is too high) of golden tilefish in the South Atlantic.

Comments are due by October 12, 2018

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES:

  • The proposed rule would set the total catch limit at 342,000 pounds gutted weight (lbs gw).
  • This proposed rule would also specify the commercial and recreational sector catch limits and component commercial quotas using the existing sector allocations.
  • The commercial catch limit would be 331,740 lbs gw. The commercial quota for the hook-and-line component would be 82,935 lbs gw, and the commercial quota for the longline component would be 248,805 lbs gw. The recreational catch limit would be 2,316 fish.

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED RULE:

The 15 day comment period associated with this proposed rule will end on October 12, 2018. We will address all comments specifically directed to the proposed rule in the final rule. You may submit comments by electronic submission or by postal mail. Comments sent by any other method (such as e-mail), to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA Fisheries.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 83 FR 48788, published September 27, 2018

Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0091.
2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
3. Enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to Karla Gore, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

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

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Declares Commercial Fishery Disasters for West Coast Salmon and Sardines

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that commercial fishery failures occurred between 2015 and 2017 for salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and California, in addition to the sardine fishery in California.

“The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “After years of hardship, the Department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

Between July 2016 and March 2018, multiple tribes and governors from Washington, Oregon, and California requested fishery disaster determinations. The Secretary, working with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), evaluated each request based on the available data, and found that all but one (the California red sea urchin fishery) met the requirements for a fishery disaster determination.

The determinations for West Coast salmon and sardines now make these fisheries eligible for NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance.  The 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act provided $20 million in NOAA Fisheries fishery disaster assistance. The Department of Commerce is determining the appropriate allocations of these funds to eligible fisheries.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries to Reimburse Vessels for 2018 At-Sea Monitoring Costs

September 28, 2018 — NOAA Fisheries has announced a plan to cover the 2018 costs of at-sea monitoring for ground fish sector vessels in the Northeast.

The agency also plans to contribute more reimbursements to vessels for the 2017 at-sea costs, bringing the total reimbursement for that year up to 85-percent.

The at-sea monitors participate in a series of sector trips to estimate the total catch of quota of the species kept and discarded by the vessel. NOAA says at-sea monitoring also helps groundfish vessels keep track of the pace to which they fill their quotas for each species.

“Effective at-sea monitoring is essential to the success and sustainability of this fishery. This $10.3 million increase from Congress for groundfish at-sea monitoring provides additional economic stability for the sector vessels,” said Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Jon Hare.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Commerce Department Makes Several Fishery Failure Determinations for West Coast Fisheries

September 27, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Salmon and sardine fisheries off the West Coast have been closed or severely curtailed in the years since The Blob — an unusual mass of warm water — stuck around for most of 2014 and 2015. While not the only odd ocean change, it was blamed for many fisheries problems.

Now, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has determined those salmon and sardine fisheries are indeed fishery failures due to natural resource conditions, the department said in a press release and letters released Tuesday. Those fisheries will now be eligible for $20 million in fishery disaster aid in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

““The Department of Commerce and NOAA stand ready to assist fishing towns and cities along the West Coast as they recover,” Ross said in a statement. “After years of hardship, the department looks forward to providing economic relief that will allow the fisheries and the communities they help support to rebound.”

About a dozen fisheries are included in the determinations, a mix of several tribes and state fisheries from all three West Coast states. Only one, the California red sea urchin fishery, was not included.

“The recent five-year average revenue (2011-2015) from the California red sea urchin fishery was $8,538,815,” Ross’ letter to California Gov. Edmund G. Brown said. “In 2016, California red sea urchin fishery revenues were $7,255,593, which is a 15 percent revenue loss as compared with the previous five-year average. Compared to the previous five-year average, this percentage loss in revenue is substantially lower than the 35 percent revenue loss minimum called for in the NMFS Policy Guidance to justify a determination of a commercial fishery failure, serious disruption, or harm.”

However, the 2015 and 2016 Pacific sardine fishery did meet the requirements for a fishery failure. A large biomass decline in sardines, resulting from unfavorable ocean conditions, was beyond the control of fishery managers, the letter to Gov. Brown stated.

“We are deeply grateful to Secretary Ross and Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Chris Oliver, as well as to West Coast NMFS officials and Governor Brown, for acknowledging that our sardine fishery closure met the legal requirements for designation as a fishery resource disaster,” California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner said in an email. “This determination now makes our sardine fishery eligible for NMFS fishery disaster assistance. We look forward to learning the level of disaster assistance that the Department of Commerce will determine. The fact that relief is coming is very good news.”

NMFS has not determined the allocations for the $20 million in disaster assistance yet, but the final divisions will be pretty small for each entity compared to similar disasters in years past.

For example, the 2016 and 2017 California and Oregon ocean troll Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fisheries were included in the determinations. A similar scenario in 2005 and 2006, in which commercial troll seasons were partially or fully closed due to poor returns of Klamath River fall Chinook, $60.4 million in disaster aid was made available to fishermen, processors and related businesses. Now, those fisheries will have to share part of the $20 million — barring additional funding appropriated by Congress.

Other determinations include the 2017 Yurok and 2016-2017 Hoopa Valley tribes’ Klamath River fall Chinook fisheries; the 2016 Makah ocean coho and Chinook salmon troll fishery in Washington; the 2015 Hoh, Suquamish, Nooksack and Stillaguamish tribes’ coho fisheries in Washington; the 2015 Muckleshoot and Upper Skagit tribes’ coho and pink salmon fisheries in Washington; and the 2015 and 2016 Quileute Tribe coho salmon fisheries in Washington.

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