Saving Seafood

Alaska: NOAA vet named head of crab group

May 8, 2018 — Jamie Goen, a veteran of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service as well as the International Pacific Halibut Commission, is the new executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

Goen most recently worked as branch manager with the International Pacific Halibut Commission, overseeing its fisheries data collection programs.

Before that, she worked as the congressional affairs liaison to the head of NOAA. While at NOAA for 15 years, she worked on fishing quota programs, including serving as the lead on implementation of the Trawl Rationalization Program. In addition, she also worked in New England on the Atlantic Sea Scallop Quota Program.

“Goen comes with a wealth of experience in fisheries management, starting in her career traveling the world on oceanographic vessels running scientific equipment, having sailed every ocean except the Arctic,” Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

New study reveals cost of 2017 salmon fisheries closure

May 7, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Last year’s closure of the commercial ocean salmon troll fishery off the West Coast is estimated to have cost $5.8 million to $8.9 million in lost income for fishermen, with the loss of 200 to 330 jobs, according to a new model that determines the cost of fisheries closures based on the choices fishermen make.

Scientists hope the model, described for the first time this week in Marine Policy, will help policy makers anticipate the economic toll of fisheries closures. Such foresight may be especially useful as conditions in the California Current off the West Coast grow increasingly variable, leading to more potential closures, said lead author Kate Richerson, a marine ecologist with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center and the University of Washington.

“We’re probably only going to see more of these closures in the future,” she said, “so being able to predict their effects and fallout for coastal communities puts us ahead of the curve in terms of considering those impacts in planning and management decisions.”

The new model estimates the future losses associated with fisheries closures based on the way fishermen reacted to previous closures. It anticipates, for instance, that many fishermen will simply quit fishing rather than shift their efforts to another fishery instead. In this way, the model accounts for the difficulty fishermen face in entering other fisheries with limited permits, Richerson said.

The research is the first attempt to predict the effect of fisheries closures before they happen, said Dan Holland, an economist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and coauthor of the study. The model, developed prior to the 2017 closure, also can help identify the most affected communities.

For example, Coos Bay and Brookings, Oregon, and Eureka, California, were among the hardest hit by the 2017 salmon closures because they are geographically located in the center of the closure that stretched from Northern California to Oregon. The closure led to the estimated loss of about 50 percent of fisheries-related employment in Coos Bay and about 35 percent declines in fishing-related income and sales. Predicted percentage declines in overall fishing-related income are lower than declines in salmon income, since many fishermen were predicted to continue to participate in other fisheries.

The study estimated that the closure led to a loss of $12.8 million to $19.6 million in sales. Richerson noted that the model estimates only the economic consequences of the closure to the commercial ocean salmon fishery and does not include the toll on recreational fisheries or in-river fisheries, which would make the total losses even higher.

The closure recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and adopted by NOAA Fisheries was designed to protect low returns of salmon to the Klamath River in Northern California.

Learn more about NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center here.

 

Massachusetts: Rafael is behind bars, and New Bedford’s economy is paying the price

May 7, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — In the harbor off Leonard’s Wharf, the large steel boats with their signature green hulls are rusting in the salt air, their dormant nets still coiled as if ready to scoop up schools of cod or haddock.

In the parking lot behind Reidar’s Manufacturing, more than a dozen trawls molder in the dirt, their floats and cables weathered and waiting.

As the new fishing season begins, many of the city’s fishermen are unemployed, their suppliers stuck with excess inventory, and local officials are questioning whether the millions of dollars in lost revenue will cost the port its ranking as the nation’s most valuable, as it has been for the past 17 years.

Carlos Rafael, the disgraced fishing mogul known as “The Codfather,” is now in prison. But the consequences of his crimes are still being felt throughout New Bedford.

“It’s devastating what’s happened to us, and other businesses here,” said Tor Bendiksen, the manager of Reidar’s, a marine supply company.

Rafael, whose commercial fishing company was among the nation’s largest, pleaded guilty last year to flouting federal quotas and smuggling cash out of the country.

Six months ago, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration responded with an unprecedented punishment, temporarily banning 60 fishing permit-holders in the area from allowing their boats to operate and halting all operations by the fishing sector that failed to properly account for their catch.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Massachusetts: New Bedford Port Authority, NOAA weigh in through public comments regarding offshore wind

May 7, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The New Bedford Port Authority, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA all filed written public comments regarding Vineyard Wind’s Environment Impact Statement.

The deadline to file public comments was April 30.

All three agencies cited concerns regarding offshore wind’s presence within an important region for commercial fishing as well as marine life that could be affected beyond the acute area.

“Commercial and recreational fishing are essential components of the existing landscape that must be preserved in the development of the project,” NOAA’s Northeast Regional Administrator Michel Pentony said in NOAA’s public comments.

It appeared in one of 31 total pages submitted by the three organizations.

While each submission differed in length and topics, the three strung similar themes together.

Each called for more research into an array of areas from which method the turbines will be constructed to how the ocean will return to its original state after decommission.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

ASMFC South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board Approves Addendum I to the Black Drum Fishery Management Plan

May 7, 2018 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board approved Addendum I to the Black Drum Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Addendum allows Maryland to reopen its black drum commercial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay with a daily vessel limit of up to 10 fish and a 28-inch minimum size.

In the late 1990s, Maryland closed its Bay commercial black drum fishery in order to conduct a tagging and migration study. The fishery was not reopened after the study. In 2013, the Black Drum FMP extended this closure by requiring states to maintain management measures in place at the time of the FMP’s approval.

In approving Addendum I, the Board considered the status of the resource, which is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing, and the estimated relatively small size of the reopened commercial fishery. When the fishery was open in the 1970s under more liberal management than that in Addendum I, it was a small scale fishery with an average annual harvest of 11,475 pounds. Over the next year, Maryland will develop a management program for the commercial fishery with implementation by April 1, 2019.

The Addendum will be available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org (under Black Drum). For more information, please contact Dr. Mike Schmidtke, FMP Coordinator, at mschmidtke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.   

View the release in its entirety here.

 

Monkfish are indeed fine as quota stays the same in 2018

May 4, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Michelle Wolf is right — the monkfish really are fine.

Federal fishing regulators are allowing fishermen to harvest the same amount of the ugly fish this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allowed fishermen to catch about 33.8 million pounds of monkfish last year, and says the fishery’s sustainable enough that the number will hold in 2018.

They’re sought by fishermen from Maine to North Carolina and can be less expensive at markets than popular fish such as cod and flounder. Some industry members want to grow interest in monkfish.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Raleigh News & Observer

 

Federal, state and local agencies express serious concerns over impact of offshore wind on Northeast fishermen

May 4, 2018 — WASHINGTON — In three letters submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), agencies representing New Bedford, Massachusetts, the state of Massachusetts, and the federal government outlined serious concerns over a proposed wind farm off Massachusetts. The Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office of NOAA Fisheries, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and the New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA) Fisheries Advisory Committee on Offshore Wind submitted their comments as BOEM begins drafting an environmental impact statement for a plan submitted by Vineyard Wind LLC.

Michael Pentony, the Northeast Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries wrote in his comments to BOEM that “commercial and recreational fishing are essential components of the existing landscape that must be preserved in the development of the project.” Mr. Pentony recommended that the Vineyard Wind project include analyses of the environmental impact, economic consequences, and long-term effects of wind energy development on the region’s fisheries.

This includes measuring the impact of wind turbine construction on the area’s essential fish habitats, the effects it will have on local fish populations, and how construction will affect commercial and recreational fishing operations. Mr. Pentony similarly called on Vineyard Wind to study any adverse economic impacts the project may have on regional fishing communities. He also urged developers to consider construction in alternative locations, and to not construct in areas where objections have already been raised.

“It is encouraging that NOAA is making clear the need to use the same type, level, and quality of information to locate, build, and operate offshore wind farms as the Councils and NMFS use in fisheries management decisions,” said David Frulla, an attorney representing the Fisheries Survival Fund. “NOAA emphasizes in great detail these wind energy installations will be ocean-altering, both individually and cumulatively.  These projects raise valid concerns regarding historic livelihoods, essential fish habitat, and fish populations, not to mention endangered and threatened species.”

Dr. David Pierce, director of the Massachusetts DMF, noted in his comments that commercial and recreational fishing in Nantucket Sound “provides tens of millions of dollars in revenue to the local economy, and is an integral, indeed historic, part of life in many Cape Cod and Island towns.” Dr. Pierce wrote that DMF remains concerned that the assumption that the wind energy area will be open to fishing is an “oversimplification.”

He also noted that Vineyard Wind’s plan does not adequately characterize all species potentially affected by the project, nor does it describe effects of oceanographic changes or the resulting impact on larval patterns and settlement of scallops or food patch dynamics for marine mammals. Additionally, for some species in the wind development area, impacts of electromagnetic fields are poorly studied, Dr. Pierce wrote.

The NBPA advisory committee, comprised of fishing interests from Maine to North Carolina, noted in its letter that commercial fishermen have approval from NOAA to fish in Vineyard Wind’s lease area, and that, as part of the lease agreement, the project cannot unreasonably interfere with their fishing activities. The committee wrote that Vineyard Wind’s plan struggled to identify all fisheries that would be impacted, and that there has been little coordination with fishing interests on cable routes or transit lanes. They also expressed concern over the size and scale of the project and lack of a detailed mitigation plan for fisheries financially impacted by the installation of wind turbines. They called for more independent study to measure impacts on individual fisheries, the impact of the diversion of fishing effort outside the lease area, the impact on right whales, and the impact on navigation.

 

Massachusetts: Fishing season begins, but New Bedford still on sidelines

May 3, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The 2018 fishing season began Tuesday with nearly 60 permits aligned in Sectors VII and IX not receiving quota allocation from NOAA.

The oceanic governing agency announced the measure a day prior to the opening of the fishing season. It leaves the two sectors on the sidelines as groundfishing begins and continues the ban that was installed in November.

The announcement wasn’t surprising after NOAA attended a New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Mystic, Connecticut, last month to discuss the ban as well as the restructured enrollment in Sectors VII, VIII and IX.

Fifty-five permits stationed in Sector IX in 2017 relocated to Sector VII at the end of March. The move was done to potentially allow those permits to lease quota despite not being able to fish.

The meeting extinguished those hopes revealing neither sector would be allowed to lease or fish when the season began.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

NOAA Fisheries: Sea Turtle Safe Handling and Release Gear Workshops

May 3, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

WHAT/WHEN:

  • NOAA Fisheries requires sea turtle safe handling and release gear be onboard federally-permitted commercial and for-hire vessels in the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery to increase fisherman and sea turtle safety if incidentally captured; there are also sea turtle handling protocols that describe the proper techniques for removing fishing gear.
  • NOAA Fisheries will be holding workshops and dockside outreach in the locations listed below.
  • During the outreach opportunities, NOAA Fisheries personnel will review the gear requirements and handling protocols.
  • For more information, contact Charlie Bergmann at (228) 238-4109 or charles.bergmann@noaa.gov.
  • Additional information on sea turtle safe handling and release gear and protocols are available at the following:

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/gulf_sa/turtle_sawfish_release/index.html.

Note: Workshops will take place May 7-15, 2018 in Florida. See the complete Fishery Bulletin from NOAA Fisheries for a list of dates, times, and locations for the workshops.

 

ASMFC Presents Annual Awards of Excellence

May 3, 2018 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented Mr. Dan McKiernan, Dr. Larry Jacobson and Colonel Kyle Overturf with its Annual Awards of Excellence for their outstanding contributions to science and law enforcement along the Atlantic coast.

“The Atlantic coast has no shortage of skilled and dedicated fisheries policy, science and law enforcement professionals. However, Dan, Larry and Kyle represent the cream of the crop’” said ASMFC Chair Jim Gilmore of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “The Commission’s 2018 Annual Awards of Excellence reflect a diversity of accomplishments from management to science to law enforcement. It is an honor to provide the 2018 AAE to three exceptional individuals for their contributions to the management and conservation of Atlantic coast fisheries.”

From left: ASMFC Chair Jim Gilmore, AAE Recipients Dan McKiernan and Colonel Kyle Overturf, and ASMFC Executive Director Bob Beal

Management & Policy Contributions

Mr. Dan McKiernan, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

Dan McKiernan has been a vital contributor to the Commission’s management and policy programs for over three decades. Throughout his career, he has worked tirelessly to meet the needs of Massachusetts’ fishermen while ensuring the health of the fisheries resources on which they depend. At the management board level, Mr. McKiernan approaches problem solving in a pragmatic, collaborative way.  His recipe for success has been one part engagement and one part persuasion, bringing his colleagues together during board meetings or over a friendly meal to make his case for Massachusetts’ position while finding effective solutions to difficult interstate fisheries management problems.

Mr. McKiernan’s efforts on the development and adoption of Amendment 1 to the Tautog Fishery Management Plan illustrate his dedication to the collaborative process. Working closely with neighboring Rhode Island officials, he helped to develop uniform rules throughout the region. He was also a staunch advocate of a harvester tagging program to improve tracking of fish in commerce, thereby addressing a longstanding poaching problem in the fishery.

Having spent much of his career working on science and management of the lobster fishery, there are few who are more passionate and dedicated to this species.  As Chair of the American Lobster Management Board, Mr. McKiernan skillfully led the Board through difficult deliberations regarding the findings of the 2015 benchmark assessment and the future management of the species. In response to the decline of the Southern New England stock, Mr. McKiernan was integral to right-sizing the industry in Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2 (inshore Southern New England) and 3 (offshore waters) to the abundance of the resource. This was accomplished through trap reductions over a six-year period.

Mr. McKiernan understands that on-the-water experience and talking to fishermen is a critical component of any fisheries manager job. That is why he has spent considerable time on fishing vessels acquiring the hands-on knowledge and perspective necessary to understand and respect fishermen’s views.  Throughout his career, Mr. McKiernan has been a proponent of working with the fishing industry to understand their unique perspective, get advice about management issues, and engage them in cooperative fisheries research.

Science, Technical & Advisory Contribution

Dr. Larry Jacobson, formerly with NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Dr. Larry Jacobson has greatly advanced the scientific understanding of American lobster biology through his contributions on the Commission’s American Lobster Stock Assessment Subcommittee. In 2004, Dr. Jacobson was one of the lead model developers for the Lobster Model Technical Review. He played an important role in shifting away from the historical Delury stock assessment model to the current statistical length-based approach developed by Dr. Yong Chen. Dr. Jacobson’s extensive knowledge in population dynamics and statistics, combined with his model programming skills, were invaluable during this transition and the continued development of Dr. Chen’s assessment model.

During the 2015 lobster assessment, Dr. Jacobson took over the assessment responsibilities for the Gulf of Maine stock. Under his leadership, the assessment model was substantially improved to incorporate spatial dynamics within a stock and show changes in climate and stock productivity. These improvements allowed for accurate modeling of the Southern New England stock decline, as well as the rapid increase in the combined Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank stocks. The 2015 lobster assessment could not have been completed in a timely fashion without Larry’s skill and commitment.

Dr. Jacobson’s willingness to step into a leadership role when needed, his commitment to seeking out and using the best scientific methods available, and his dedication to sharing his knowledge of lobster biology and stock dynamics with his colleagues are several reasons why American lobster is one of our best understood marine species.

Law Enforcement Contributions

Colonel Kyle Overturf, Connecticut Environmental Police

Colonel Kyle Overturf exemplifies the lifelong commitment and spirit of public service that is common among his natural resource enforcement peers. Growing up hunting and fishing, Colonel Overturf learned the “game warden” lifestyle firsthand from his father, who served 25 years with Connecticut’s Environmental Police.

Colonel Overturf began his law enforcement career in 1986, serving as a Conservation Enforcement Officer in the Central Marine Sector for the State Environmental Police. Progressing through his career, Colonel Overturf was promoted to Sergeant, then to Eastern District Supervisor in Recreational Law Enforcement. He later went on to serve as Captain and Commander of the State’s Western and Marine Districts. In recognition of his leadership and professionalism, Colonel Overturf was promoted to Colonel in 2010 and continues to lead the Connecticut Environmental Conservation Police as Director.

That leadership and professionalism has been reflected in Colonel Overturf’s work throughout his career, where he has focused on the mentoring, instruction and professional development of fellow marine and conservation officers. Colonel Overturf has served as an instructor at the Connecticut Police Academy and currently serves as an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches Conservation Law Enforcement. He has been a leader in resource conservation at regional and national levels, serving in the National Association of Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs, including as President of the Northeast Association of Chiefs. He supported the development of an enforcement group within the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and for many years has been a positive presence on the Commission’s Law Enforcement Committee. Colonel Overturf served as Law Enforcement Committee Chair from 2011-2013.

Reflecting his concern for professional development and training in the field of marine and conservation enforcement, Colonel Overturf has been a staunch advocate and supporter of a nationwide Conservation Law Enforcement Leadership Academy, administered through the National Association of Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs and with support from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. He serves on the Academy Steering Team and was a member of the first graduating class in 2014. He actively encourages and supports future leaders through this program, carrying on a tradition of care and passion for protecting all our natural resources that was bestowed on him by his father.

Learn more about the ASMFC by visiting their site here.