Saving Seafood

How many sharks are there off the Jersey Shore? This scientist wants to find out

August 1, 2018 — Shark fishing is big business in New Jersey.

People come to the Shore from across the state and throughout the region for their chance to hook the ocean’s apex predator. But the thrill only happens if the sharks show up.

But studies of the sharks in Jersey waters have been few and far between. Little is known about how many sharks there are, and when they migrate.

Now, a Monmouth University professor is working with local fishermen to get answers.

Enter Keith Dunton.

A native of Long Island, Dunton came to Monmouth University from Stony Brook University three years ago for the chance to the study sharks. Dunton said he was drawn to New Jersey because there was a lack of shark research in the Garden State, despite the popularity of shark fishing.

Last summer, shark research group OCEARCH conducted their first scientific voyage into New Jersey waters, with the goal of tagging white sharks in the deep ocean.

And the National Marine Fisheries Service has studied the shark population of Delaware Bay. But Dunton aims to create a definitive understanding of the sharks that live off of New Jersey.

Read the full story at NJ.com

 

NEW YORK: Governor Cuomo And Attorney General Underwood Demand Changes To Unfair Federal Fishing Quotas

July 27, 2018 –Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today submitted comments to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and demanded that the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council repeal and replace the unfair state-by-state allocation of the annual commercial quota for summer flounder, also known as fluke. The need for equitable distribution of fluke is critically important to New York’s fishing industry and the state’s overall ocean economy.

“New York’s commercial fishing industry has been constrained by unfair federal regulations, limiting the amount of fish commercial fishermen and women can catch and damaging our state’s economy,” Governor Cuomo said. “It’s far past time for these inequities to be addressed, and our petition is clear: New York must be put on equitable footing with other East Coast states in order for this valuable industry to reach its full potential.”

“Relying on decades-old data to allocate states’ fluke quota is unfair and unreasonable, and causes direct harm to New York’s commercial fishing industry,” said Attorney General Underwood. “Federal law requires the share of the commercial summer flounder fishery to be determined by the best available science. We will pursue all available legal options if the federal government does not address these inequities.”

In March, Governor Cuomo and the Attorney General jointly filed a petition with the federal government demanding that New York’s commercial fluke allocation be increased because the current allocations are unfair to New York, not based on current data, and violate the Magnuson-Stevens Act. In response, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service published notice of New York’s petition in the Federal Register on July 10, 2018 and invited public comment until July 25, 2018.

Today, Governor Cuomo directed DEC and AG Underwood to submit a letter to the federal agencies in support of the state’s petition, and to point out and clarify that none of the commercial allocation options currently being considered by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will provide New York with a fair allocation for summer flounder. Despite strong objections from New York’s representatives, the Council voted to proceed with a draft amendment that does not include options that are fair to New York fishermen and women, and is therefore not compliant with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

Study Shows Importance Of Puget Sound Chinook Production To Starving Orcas

July 26, 2018 –A new analysis is showing the importance of Puget Sound Chinook for the inland sea’s orcas.

Fall kings from the Nooksack to the Deschutes to the Elwha were ranked as the most important current feedstocks for the starving southern residents, followed by Lower Columbia and Strait of Georgia tribs.

For the analysis, NOAA and WDFW sampled orca doots to “assist in prioritizing actions to increase critical prey for the whales.”

Nutritional stress has been identified as among the chief causes of their declining numbers, and the news comes as officials report a newborn calf died off Victoria yesterday. Just half of the 28 reproductive-age “blackfish” have produced calves in the last 10 years, another report said.

“Ramp up the hatchery production. Do it now. It’s the only way,” says Tom Nelson, co-host of Seattle outdoors radio show The Outdoor Line on 710 ESPN.

He was reacting this morning while fishing for coho at Possession Bar to a Seattle Times scoop on the findings.

Read the full story at the Northwest Sportsman

NOAA issues rule protecting habitat for false killer whales

July 26, 2018 –A federal agency will designate waters around Hawaii as protected critical habitat for endangered false killer whales.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports about 17,500 square miles (45,300 square kilometers) of ocean habitat will be protected under a new rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

The rule was published Tuesday in the Federal Register and goes into effect Aug. 23.

The waters around the state host about 150 false killer whales, which are actually members of the dolphin family.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KFVE

Documents Released on Trump Administration Defense of National Monument Actions

July 25, 2018 — In today’s print edition, the Washington Post published an article by Juliet Eilperin on the Trump administration and national monuments. The article, based on internal documents from the Interior Department, was critical of senior officials for allegedly dismissing positive information on the benefits of national monuments.

The majority of the story focused on land-based monuments, but with regard to marine monuments, the Post reported that,“On Sept. 11, 2017, Randal Bowman, the lead staffer for the review, suggested deleting language that most fishing vessels near the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument ‘generated 5% or less of their annual landings from within the monument’ because it ‘undercuts the case for the ban being harmful.’”

Saving Seafood executive director Bob Vanasse was quoted in the article noting that “‘Trump administration officials have been more open to outside input than their predecessors.’ … ‘They had a lot of meetings with our folks but didn’t listen,’ he said of Obama officials, adding even some Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the New England marine monument’s fishing restrictions.”

The article suggested that Mr. Bowman, a career Interior Department employee and not a Trump administration appointee, purposefully excised information from logbook data indicating that, on the whole, most vessels fishing near the monument generate just 5 percent of their landings from within the monument.

However, there are valid reasons to be cautious about the logbook-data driven 5 percent statistic. There are more sources available to characterize fishing activity – in addition to just logbooks, formally known as “vessel trip reports”, which was the sole source cited in the email referenced in the Post story. While, as the material references states, the information comes from NOAA and the fishery management councils so it can be presumed accurate, the context is missing.

An Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) survey identified recent (2014-2015) fishing activity within the boundaries of the National Monument that, if the Obama executive order is not reversed, will be closed to the fishery in the future. The results indicate that 12-14 percent of the offshore lobster fishery effort and 13-14 percent of revenue ($2.4-2.8 million annually) for the lobster and Jonah crab fishery comes from the area of the National Monument. This revenue is significantly higher than that derived from the vessel trip report (logbook) analysis, which is only about $0.7 million annually.

The document cited in the Post story correctly cites the $2.4-$2.8 million annual revenue in those fisheries, but it does not make clear the significant percentage of offshore revenue that comes from the monument area. Similarly, when the document cites $1.8 million from the Monument region annually (2010-2015), that includes only the $0.7 million lobster trap revenues derived from vessel trip reports, not the total indicated by the ASMFC survey for more recent years.

While it is generally accurate, if one looks at the entire fishing industry in the region, to make the statement that only a small number of vessels derive more than 5 percent of their revenue from the Monument area, for those vessels and fisheries that conduct significant portions of their operations in the monument area, the economic harm is significant.

Also, in a document attached to the story, a margin comment erroneously states that NOAA advised the Interior Department that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for red crab was “revoked.” That is not the case. In 2009, the red crab fishery became the first MSC-certified fishery on the East Coast. The certification was never revoked. The certification expired because the participants in the fishery determined that the cost to pursue renewal of the certification exceeded the financial benefits they anticipated would arise from maintaining it, and they decided voluntarily to allow it to lapse.

Read the full Washington Post story

Read further coverage of this story from E&E News

Looking for local red snapper? South Carolina limited fishing season will open soon

July 24, 2018 — A limited season for red snapper will open July 26 for recreational and commercial fishing in the South Atlantic Region, which includes South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council announced Monday in a release that scientific research showed an increase in the red snapper population since 2010. It states NOAA Fisheries determined limited harvest beginning in 2018 is not expected to result in overfishing, nor prevent a continued rebuilding of the population.

Recreational fishing will open for harvest on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It will run from July 26 to August 20.

Read the full story at The Island Packet

CHARISE JOHNSON: The newly endangered species of the Trump era is the Endangered Species Act

July 24, 2018 — The Endangered Species Act itself is currently endangered, as a result of predation by lobbyists, conservatives in Congress and President Donald Trump.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced proposed revisions that would change the way the agencies implement the Endangered Species Act – actions that could lead to the destruction of essential habitat and otherwise preventable species extinctions. And President Trump’s allies in Congress are preparing their own additional attacks on the law, pushing bills in both the House and the Senate that would demolish the scientific foundations of the law.

Speaking to the New York Times, Richard Pombo – a former member of Congress notorious for his hostility to environmental laws who is now paid to lobby for mining interests – says that the Trump administration and Congress are offering “probably the best chance that we have had in 25 years to actually make any substantial changes” in the law.

Read the full opinion piece at NBC News

NOAA Fisheries Announces Limited Opening of Recreational and Commercial Red Snapper Seasons in South Atlantic Federal Waters

July 24, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries announces a final rule for Amendment 43 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 43). This rule specifies recreational and commercial annual catch limits for red snapper beginning in 2018.

  • Red snapper recreational and commercial seasons will open in South Atlantic federal waters for limited harvest beginning in 2018.
  • The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved Amendment 43 after recent scientific information indicated an increase in the red snapper population since 2010.
  • NOAA Fisheries determined limited harvest beginning in 2018 is neither expected to result in overfishing, nor prevent continued rebuilding of the population.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

  • The rule will take effect on July 26, 2018.
  • The recreational sector will open for harvest on weekends only (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) on the following days:
  • August 10, 11, and 12, 2018 – The recreational season opens at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 10, 2018, and closes at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 13, 2018.
  • August 17, 18, and 19, 2018 – The recreational season opens again at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 17, 2018, and closes at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 20, 2018.
  • The commercial sector will open for harvest upon publication of the final rule at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 26, 2018, and will close at 11:59 p.m., local time, on December 31, 2018, unless the commercial annual catch limit is met or projected to be met before this date.
    • NOAA Fisheries will announce if the commercial sector needs to close before December 31, 2018.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

  • The total annual catch limit will be 42,510 fish.
  • The recreational annual catch limit will be 29,656 fish.
    • The recreational bag limit will be one red snapper per person per day. This applies to private and charterboat/headboat vessels (the captain and crew on for-hire vessels may retain the recreational bag limit).
  • The commercial annual catch limit will be 124,815 pounds whole weight (12,854 fish).
    • The commercial trip limit will be 75 pounds gutted weight.
  • There will be no minimum or maximum size limit for the recreational or commercial sectors.
  • NOAA Fisheries expects that beginning in 2019, commercial and recreational harvest will begin in July, as per Amendment 43 and the final rule.

Senators question NOAA Fisheries-FWS merger proposal in hearing

July 24, 2018 — Members of the U.S. Senate got their first chance to look at the latest attempt to merge NOAA Fisheries with the Fish and Wildlife Service at a meeting on Thursday, 19 July.

Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee met to discuss the Trump administration’s plan to revamp agencies within the Department of Interior, which is where the proposed merged agency would be located. Two Democratic committee members spoke out against the proposal during the hearing.

A merger of the two agencies requires approval of the U.S. Congress.

U.S. Sen Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), the ranking minority member on the committee, said a merged FWS-NOAA Fisheries could trigger laying off thousands of workers and create “more bureaucratic mismanagement” of fisheries.

“Moving NOAA Fisheries from (the Department of) Commerce to the Department of Interior ignores the agency’s responsibility of managing multi-billion-dollar commercial fisheries,” said Cantwell, who added that she believes what fisheries need is “science and funding.”

Susan Combs, a senior advisor in Interior Department, said in her opening remarks that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has reviewed the agency’s operations and sought to modernize it in order to serve the country well for the 21st century.

“The secretary’s vision is to establish science-based unified regional boundaries, where priority decision making is made at the local level with informed centralized coordination,” Combs said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA lifts New Bedford groundfish ban

July 23, 2018 — New Bedford’s groundfishing fleet began to emerge from the criminal shadow of Carlos Rafael on Thursday when NOAA Fisheries announced the approval of new operational plans for two fishing sectors that have been shut down for the past eight months.

They’re not fishing yet. But there is light on the horizon.

NOAA Fisheries, in an interim final rule published Thursday morning in the Federal Register, approved plans to transform Northeast Fishing Sector IX to a lease-only operation for 2018. Meanwhile, all of Northeast Fishing Sector VII’s 56 vessels remain inactive and those vessels and permits owned by Rafael will remain unable to fish until they are sold to independent third parties, NOAA Fisheries said.

“To become active, the sector board would have to allow a vessel to harvest sector annual catch entitlement consistent with normal sector operations, and notify (NOAA Fisheries) of the vessel change in status” the rule stated. “In contrast to the vessels owned by Mr. Rafael, these vessels do not need to be sold in order to be active in the groundfish industry.”

In both cases, NOAA Fisheries said, the agency approved plans developed by the individual fishing sectors in consultation with federal fisheries regulators.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times