Saving Seafood

NEFMC: SSC Listening Session Wednesday, April 4

March 29, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet via webinar on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 to discuss a draft document regarding “best scientific information available.” The public is invited to listen via webinar or telephone. Here are the details.

START TIME:  1:00 p.m.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting will be available at Listen Live. There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (951) 384-3421. The access code is 657-881-243. Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The SSC will review a draft document, which was distributed by NOAA Fisheries, titled “Framework for Determining that Stock Status Determinations and Harvest Specifications are Based on the Best Scientific Information Available.” The SSC will discuss the draft and develop comments for consideration by the New England Fishery Management Council.

MATERIALS:  Meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at SSC April 4, 2018 documents.

 

As the sardine population keeps dropping, the feds come under scrutiny

March 29, 2018 — On April 8, the Pacific Fishery Management Council – a body of appointed officials that regulates fisheries off the West Coast – will be presented with the draft assessment of the sardine population from roughly southern California to Canada. The news it brings is neither good for fishermen nor the local marine ecosystem: The estimated number of sardines in July 2018 – which dictates policy for the 2018-19 fishing year – is 52,065 metric tons, an approximately 97-percent drop from 2006, the most recent peak.

The cutoff for when sardine fishing can occur is when the estimated population is at least 150,000 metric tons, which means the fishery will be closed for the fourth consecutive year.

What is in dispute: the accuracy of the population assessment, and how we got here. On one side, conservation nonprofit Oceana believes the assessment could be too high, and that sardines were pushed to this point due to overfishing when the numbers were low.

On the other side, advocates for fishermen believe there are far more sardines in the water than estimated, and that the estimates are not using the best available methods to make projections.

Currently, the method employed by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is to do months-long acoustic surveys off the coastline to measure sardine biomass.

Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, believes that method is flawed and doesn’t accurately capture the sardines close to the shore – NOAA uses large boats that can’t come in too close.

Read the full story at the Monterey County Weekly

 

MAFMC: NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Modified Scope of Summer Flounder Amendment

March 29, 2018 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries has released a supplemental notice of intent (NOI) seeking public comments on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s proposal to modify the scope of issues addressed in the amendment formerly referred to as the “Comprehensive Summer Amendment.”

The Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) originally initiated the amendment with the objective of performing a comprehensive review of all aspects of the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) related to summer flounder, including commercial and recreational management strategies. To avoid delaying the amendment while waiting for updated recreational information, the Council and Commission are now proposing to limit the scope of this action to focus on FMP goals and objectives and commercial management issues. This action will now be referred to as the “Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment.” Following completion of this amendment, the Council and Commission may then develop at least one future action relating to recreational fishery issues and commercial/recreational allocation to incorporate updated recreational fishery data when it becomes available later this year.

The purpose of this comment opportunity is to allow the public to comment on the Council and Commission’s decision to modify the scope of the amendment. The Council and Commission are continuing to analyze a previously approved range of alternatives and developing a draft amendment document for public review. The public will have future opportunities to comment on the amendment during a formal public hearing process.

Additional details and instructions for submitting comments are available in the notice published in the Federal Register.

To stay informed about this issue, sign up for our email list at http://www.mafmc.org/email-list and select “General Council News” or “Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass News.”

For additional information about the Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment, go to http://www.mafmc.org/actions/summer-flounder-amendment.

 

 

NY threatens suit over federal limits on black sea bass

March  28, 2018 — New York State will file suit against the federal government if it loses an appeal in opposition to current restrictions on the recreational black sea bass fishery, which for 2018 mandates a 12 percent reduction in fishing, a top state commissioner said Tuesday night.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is holding a meeting Tuesday night to discuss options for the black sea bass season for 2018, and by all indications it will be contentious. Fishing boat captains on Facebook have urged anglers to attend the meeting to protest the 12 percent reduction, which would drastically shorten the season and the number of fish anglers can take. The DEC moved the location to a larger venue to accommodate more people.

“Please get on top of this situation and get the people of New York on equal footing with the rest of the boats and businesses on the East Coast,” Huntington fishing boat captain James Schneider said, noting charter and partyboats face a 30 percent reduction in their business. “Our people should not be punished.”

In an interview Tuesday night in advance of the meeting, Basil Seggos, DEC commissioner, said he’s been directed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to make sure state fishermen don’t suffer as a result of federal regulations that seek to limit a fishery that’s considered healthy.

“Black sea bass populations have increased substantially,” he said. “Nonetheless, we’re stuck with the prospect of cuts, which never made sense to me, never made sense to the governor, or to our fisheries managers.”

New York joined with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut in filing an appeal on March 16 of the 12 percent quota reduction for black sea bass this year. If the appeal with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is not successful, he said, the state will file an appeal with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division. “If they are not prepared to rule favorably, then we’d pursue the litigation route,” said Seggos. “We think the science is with us” showing an abundance of black sea bass in the region.

Read the full story at Newsday

 

Texas fisheries get disaster area declaration in wake of Hurricane Harvey

March 28, 2018 — Seven months after Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has issued a national disaster declaration for the state’s commercial fishery.

The “commercial fishery disaster” designation will allow commercial fishermen in the state to receive federal funds and other assistance. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 included USD 200 million (EUR 161 million) for fishery disasters declared by the U.S. Department of Commerce in calendar year 2017, and for fishery disasters resulting from Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey.

“The 2017 hurricane season was catastrophic for communities in Texas and for states along the Gulf of Mexico,” Ross said in a NOAA press release. “The Department of Commerce and the [p]resident are committed to working closely with Congress and the [s]tate of Texas to continue supporting recovery efforts for fishermen and local fishing businesses affected by the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Endangered status of Atlantic sturgeon up for review

March 27, 2018 — Federal fishing regulators say they are conducting a five-year review of threatened and endangered populations of Atlantic sturgeon.

Populations of sturgeon are listed as threatened in the Gulf of Maine and endangered in New York Bight, the Chesapeake Bay and off the Carolinas and South Atlantic.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Endangered Species Act requires the agency to conduct the review to ensure the listings are still accurate. The listings are intended to be based on the best available scientific data.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said last year that a sturgeon stock assessment indicated the population is still very low compared to its historical abundance. They face threats such as climate change, ship strikes and fishing.

Sturgeon suffered overfishing in the 20th century when it was harvested for eggs for caviar.

Shortnose sturgeon are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as an endangered species throughout their range. Atlantic sturgeon are listed as five distinct population segments with those that hatch out in Gulf of Maine rivers listed as threatened, and those that hatch out in other U.S. rivers listedas endangered.

Once thought to number less than 100 in the Merrimack, the river’s shortnose sturgeon population has been on the rebound, researchers have said. Atlantic sturgeon are also found in the Merrimack, up to the Essex Dam in Lawrence.

Two distinct groups of adults, numbering more than 2,000, inhabit the river. One group includes fish born in Haverhill’s spawning grounds, while the other consists of fish born in Maine rivers such as the Kennebec and Androscoggin, which migrate to the Merrimack.

Researchers say that for much of the year, sturgeon are looking for food in the lower part of the Merrimack — from Amesbury to the Joppa Flats in Newburyport — and live there from November to March.

Haverhill is the only place in the river where sturgeon lay their eggs, and that happens in the spring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

‘Truly alarming’: No babies for endangered right whales

March 27, 2018 — SAVANNAH, Ga. — The winter calving season for critically endangered right whales has nearly ended with zero newborns spotted in the past four months — a reproductive drought that scientists who study the fragile species haven’t seen in three decades.

Survey flights to look for mother-and-calf pairs off the Atlantic coasts of Georgia and Florida are scheduled to wrap up when the month ends Saturday. Right whales typically give birth off the southeastern U.S. seacoast between December and late March. Researchers have recorded between one and 39 births each year since the flights began in 1989.

Now experts are looking at the possibility of a calving season without any confirmed births.

“It’s a pivotal moment for right whales,” said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service. “If we don’t get serious and figure this out, it very well could be the beginning of the end.”

Zoodsma said she doesn’t expect any last-minute calf sightings this week.

The timing could hardly be worse. Scientists estimate only about 450 North Atlantic right whales remain, and the species suffered terribly in 2017. A total of 17 right whales washed up dead in the U.S. and Canada last year, far outpacing five births.

With no rebound in births this past winter, the overall population could shrink further in 2018. One right whale was found dead off the coast of Virginia in January.

“It is truly alarming,” said Philip Hamilton, a scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston who has studied right whales for three decades. “Following a year of such high mortality, it’s clear the population can’t sustain that trajectory.”

Right whales have averaged about 17 births per year during the past three decades. Since 2012, all but two seasons have yielded below-average calf counts.

Scientists will be looking for newborn stragglers as the whales return to their feeding grounds off the northeastern U.S. this spring. That happened last year, when two previously unseen babies were spotted in Cape Cod Bay.

Right whale researcher Charles “Stormy” Mayo of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, said he was hopeful some calves were born this season off the Carolinas or Virginia, where scientists weren’t really looking.

It’s also possible right whales could rally with a baby boom next year. Females typically take three years or longer between pregnancies, so births can fluctuate from year to year. The previous rock-bottom year for births — just one calf spotted in 2000 — was followed by 31 newborns in 2001, the second-best calving season on record.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

Fishing boat sinks, crew saved hundreds of miles off Hawaii

March 27, 2018 — HONOLULU — A commercial fishing crew and a federal observer were rescued after their vessel sank and they spent hours in a life raft hundreds of miles off the coast of Hawaii, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.

The agency said it received an emergency distress alert from the Princess Hawaii late Sunday morning about 400 miles (644 kilometers) north of the Big Island. A few hours later, a Coast Guard plane got to the area, where rescuers saw a flare and found eight people in a life raft.

The 61-foot longline fishing boat was mostly submerged with only the bow above water.

Officials said the Coast Guard air crew dropped a radio to the life raft and helped establish communication with the vessel’s sister ship, the Commander, which was fishing nearby and went to rescue the survivors. It arrived nearly 12 hours after the distress call and brought the crew aboard, Coast Guard spokeswoman Tara Molle said.

She said the crew was in good condition and was expected to arrive back in Honolulu later this week.

Most longline fishing vessels in Hawaii use foreign crews with no U.S. work visas. The workers cannot legally enter the United States so they are required to live aboard their vessels for the duration of their contracts, often a year or two at a time.

Most workers come from impoverished Southeast Asia and Pacific island nations and are paid between $300 and $600 dollars a month.

The observer on the boat was part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program that monitors the actions of commercial fishing crews at sea. Observers log data about catch, interactions with endangered species, vessel conditions and crew safety.

NOAA officials said they could not identify the observer who was aboard the Princess Hawaii. The agency is working with the Coast Guard to determine what role the observer played in alerting authorities to the sinking, spokeswoman Jolene Lau said.

A request for the NOAA observer’s log from Sunday’s Princess Hawaii voyage was denied.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act states that “all observer information is confidential and may not be disclosed, subject to certain very narrow exceptions,” said NOAA’s Office of General Counsel Pacific Island Section Chief Frederick Tucher in an email. “Observer information includes all information collected, observed, retrieved, or created by an observer.”

The boat was inspected by the Coast Guard in February, and no safety violations were found. It was in 10-foot (3-meter) seas with winds around 20 mph (32 kph) before it sank, authorities said.

The Coast Guard said in the statement Sunday that it “called the registered owner, who confirmed the vessel had gone out early that morning to fish.” The agency said Monday that it could not confirm the name of the owner or any information about the crew.

According to NOAA permit records, the Princess Hawaii is owned by Holly Fishery LLC. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission lists the captain of both the Princess Hawaii and the Commander as Loc Nguyen of Honolulu.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

Feds seek comments on plan for more cod, haddock catch

March 26, 2018 — U.S. fishing regulators are soliciting feedback from the public about a plan to increase catch quota for a slew of key fish stocks, some of which are jointly managed with Canada.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to increase quota for Georges Bank cod by 139 percent, Gulf of Maine cod by 41 percent and Gulf of Maine haddock by 190 percent. The agency also wants to increase eight other stocks and decrease nine others.

The agency says increased cod and haddock quota would provide “economic revenue and flexibility” to Northeastern fishermen. The haddock stock has been strong, but the cod stock has plummeted this decade and has been the subject of intensive rebuilding efforts by regulators.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Spending bill takes cost of at-sea monitors off groundfish fleet

March 26, 2018 — The federal omnibus spending bill that U.S.President Donald Trump signed into law Friday, 23 March, included a provision lifting a fee New England groundfish fishermen paid for at-sea monitors to accompany them on excursions.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) said the spending package now prevents the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from placing the cost of at-sea monitors on fishermen in the Northeast. The charge was as much as USD 700 (EUR 564) per day on fishing trips.

“New Hampshire fishermen face enough daunting challenges – the last thing they need right now is to be further burdened with a costly regulatory fee,” Shaheen said in a press release. “We should be focused on making it easier, not harder for our commercial fishing industry to compete in today’s market, which is why I fought to include relief for at-sea monitoring costs this year. I’ll continue to prioritize our fishermen and work to ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability.”

At-sea monitors collect data on board commercial fishing vessels by interviewing boat captains, observation, and photographing their catches. The monitors weigh both the fish kept and discarded as well as monitor interactions with protected species.

The new law ends a lengthy battle taken on by fishermen in the region who fought to keep the government from shifting the cost onto them. They filed the suit in December 2015, nine months after NOAA announced it would start charging them for the monitors.

Read the full story at Seafood Source