Saving Seafood

Shark Landings Update Through October 23, 2017

October 27, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The following are preliminary landings estimates in metric tons (mt) and pounds (lb) dressed weight (dw) for the Atlantic shark commercial fisheries; 1 mt is equal to 2,204.6 pounds.  These preliminary estimates are based on dealer reports and other information received from January 1 through October 23, 2017.  The estimates include landings by state-only permitted vessels, federally permitted vessels, and the 2017 shark research fishery participants.  We provide percentages of landings instead of estimated landings where needed to continue ensuring participant confidentiality.  The fishing seasons for all shark management groups opened on January 1, 2017, except for the aggregated LCS, blacktip shark, and hammerhead shark management groups in the western Gulf of Mexico sub-region which opened on February 1, 2017.

Gulf of Mexico Region

  • Includes any landings south and west 25° 20.4’ N. long.
  • As of 10/23/2017, the retention limit for directed permit holders is 45 large coastal sharks other than sandbar sharks per vessel per trip in the eastern Gulf of Mexico sub-region and no retention of large coastal sharks in the western Gulf of Mexico sub-region*.
  • The retention limit for directed permit holders can change throughout the season.

GOM

* Fishery closed at 11:30 p.m. local time on May 2, 2017 (82 FR 20447).

NMFS will announce closures of management groups when landings reach or are projected to reach 80 percent of the quota.  Management groups that are quota linked close when landings of either of the linked management groups reach or are projected to reach 80 percent of the quota.

For the full list of shark landings by region visit NOAA Fisheries

Agency gave bad data to senator trying to stop shark finning

October 27, 2017 — A federal agency said on Thursday that it made a mistake with a key piece of data it gave to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker as he was building a case to shut down America’s shark fin trade.

Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, has cited more than 500 incidents involving complaints of shark finning in the U.S., dating back to January 2010, as cause to support shutting down the trade. But the number is actually 85.

Booker reached out to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration months ago to find out how often it investigates allegations of shark finning, an illegal practice in which a shark’s fins are removed and the shark is dumped back into the water, sometimes while it’s still alive.

An NOAA worker’s error involving a new case management system caused the mistake in the number of finning incident reports, said Casey Brennan, chief of staff for the NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. He said the number of reports that led to charges was 26.

Saving Seafood, a fishing industry trade group, asked the NOAA to clarify the figures about shark finning incidents after seeing conflicting data on the agency’s website.

“Shark finning is a reprehensible activity that has been outlawed in the U.S. and is opposed by participants in the sustainable U.S. shark fishery,” said Robert Vanasse, executive director of the group. “Members of our coalition do not believe there is any need for Booker’s bill.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Post

Footnote Error Leads to Dramatically Inflated Claims of Illegal Shark Finning from Sen. Booker, Oceana

October 26, 2017 (Saving Seafood) — The horrific practice of shark finning has been illegal in U.S. waters since 2000, and is vehemently opposed by all U.S. shark fisheries and participants in those fisheries. The Office of Law Enforcement at NOAA Fisheries is enforcing the current finning prohibition; US fishermen are in full compliance with the law.  There are very few incidents of this terrible practice on record in the United States.

On August 1, 2017, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) chaired a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, & Coast Guard regarding the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).  During the hearing, Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) asked Chris Oliver, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries and head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, to keep him informed on NOAA investigations of shark finning allegations. Sen. Booker introduced a bill earlier this year designed to prevent people from possessing or selling shark fins in America.

Leading up to his question, Senator Booker stated the following. “You know that shark finning was first outlawed in U.S. waters in 2000. And a loophole in that original law was closed by the Shark Conservation Act of 2009. I recently asked your office how many shark-finning investigations NOAA has opened since January 1, 2010. I was shocked to find out that since 2010, NOAA has investigated over 500 incidences of alleged shark finning. As of April, there were seven shark finning cases that were open but not yet charged.”

Sen. Booker’s statement, that NOAA advised him of over 500 instances of alleged shark finning immediately sparked incredulity in the commercial fishing industry, because in June 2016, in an article by Ally Rogers, a communications specialist for NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), entitled OLE Working Hard To Identify, Prevent Incidents of Shark Finning, Illegal Shark Fishing, NOAA stated that during the ten year period from 2006-2016, 40% of the “nearly 80 shark-related incidents” referred to “fins that were not naturally attached to the shark carcasses.”  That works out to fewer than 32 incidents involving shark fins in a decade, or on average no more than 3.16 per year.

Saving Seafood asked NOAA how it could be that the agency told Senator Booker that they had “investigated over 500 incidences of alleged shark finning” in the past 7.5 years.

While the information NOAA provided in response to Senator Booker’s staff was not entirely inaccurate, a footnote was attached to the wrong sentence, making it possible for a reader to misinterpret the over-inclusive information provided.

In the NOAA case management system, there were 526 reports that contained the word “shark” in some form or another.  This could include a number of legal and illegal activities including inspections, boardings, a legal or illegal take of a shark, by-catch, harvesting sharks during a closed season, and unpermitted shark fishing activities, to name a few.  Any report that came into NOAA with the word “shark” in it, would have appeared as an incident in the numbers provided to Senator Booker.

In fact, of those 526 reports, only 85 were incidents that referred to “shark fins” or “shark finning”.  Of those 85 incidents, only 26 resulted in charges that could be a criminal complaint, a summary settlement, a written warning, or a Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA).  So, in the past 7.5 years, with an annual average of 2.6 million pounds landed sustainably from Federally managed shark fisheries, there has been on average just 3.5 incidents per year resulting in charges. And that is consistent with the earlier data.

In 2016, just ahead of the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” Senator Booker, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-California) joined with actor Morgan Freeman and the environmental group Oceana to introduce the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act (S. 793/H.R. 1456, in the current Congress).  The ban is opposed by leading shark scientists David Shiffman of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and Robert Hueter, Director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.  Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (I- Northern Mariana Islands), and Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) are also original co-sponsors.

Oceana, the Humane Society International, Wild Aid, and COARE have used the inaccurate information in support of the shark fin ban, erroneously arguing that even “in U.S. waters, our anti-finning law does not effectively stop shark finning.”  In a recent blog post, Lora Snyder, Campaign Director at Oceana, Iris Ho, Wildlife Program Manager at Humane Society International, Peter Knights, Executive Director at WildAid and Christopher Chin, Executive Director at COARE, reference “government records cited during recent Congressional testimony” to make the claim that “more than 500 alleged shark finning incidents… have taken place in U.S. waters since January 2010.”  They go on to extrapolate from that number, stating “That is approximately five cases every month.”

In fact, over the past decade, there have been fewer than four incidents per year.

Oceana hired The McGrath Group, headed by six-term former Congressman and President of the National Republican Club Ray McGrath to lobby for the bills, spending $20,000 with the GOP firm between July 1 and Sept 31 this year.

Surprise Catch: First Shortnose Sturgeon Documented Above Dam in Connecticut River

October 25, 2017 — VERNON, Vt. — This August, a fisherman casting downstream of the Vernon Dam (in Vernon, Vermont) on the Connecticut River had quite a surprise when he reeled in not a walleye or bass, but instead a relic from the age of dinosaurs: an adult-sized shortnose sturgeon!

Sturgeon are among the most primitive of the bony fishes, and have five rows of bony plates or “scutes” covering their bodies. More than once, these odd-looking ancients have been mistaken for sea monsters. Shortnose sturgeon are the smallest of the sturgeon species that live in North America, and have been listed as endangered since 1967. As part of our Recovery Plan for the species, we monitor their populations in a number of rivers along the U.S. East Coast.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries 

 

Fishermen, researchers try to outsmart bait-robbing seabirds to save them

October 24, 2017 — When commercial fishermen spool out long lines in pursuit of sablefish— better known to consumers as black cod — seabirds looking for an easy meal dive to steal the bait off the series of hooks.

Some unlucky birds get hooked and drown as the line sinks to the deep. And when the drowned bird is an endangered species such as the short-tailed albatross, it triggers scrutiny.

“Just one was all it took. Yeah, just one,” said Amanda Gladics, a coastal fisheries specialist with Oregon Sea Grant. “Because they are endangered there is a lot of scrutiny on every single time any of those albatrosses are caught in a fishery.”

Gladics and colleagues from Oregon and Washington went to sea to determine the best tactics to avoid bycatch and published those in the journal Fisheries Research.

The paper recommends either fishing at night or deploying bird-scaring streamers on a line towed from a mast.

Read the full story at KTOO Public Media 

 

Right whale deaths raise concern for species’ survival

October 24, 2017 — CAPE COD, Mass. — The discovery Monday of another dead North Atlantic right whale off Cape Cod escalated the already fevered concern among Canadian and U.S. marine scientists and fishery managers on the imperiled state of the highly endangered species.

The discovery of the severely decomposed whale brings the 2017 death count to at least 16, with the majority of the mortalities — attributed exclusively by researchers to ship strikes and gear entanglements — occurring in Canadian waters.

Four of the right whale deaths have occurred off the coast of Massachusetts.

“Our research and data have shown us that ship-strike or entanglement are the only definitive cause of death,” said Mike Asaro, NOAA Fisheries’ Gloucester-based marine mammal and sea turtle branch chief for the Atlantic region. “There’s nothing else we’re aware of.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times 

NOAA approves changes to scallop fishery in New England

October 24, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal regulators say they have approved a change to fishing rules that will allow Maine and Massachusetts scallop fishermen opportunities to fish in state waters.

An arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says both states qualify for a program called the State Waters Scallop Exemption Program. The program allows some fishermen who are permitted to fish in federal waters to harvest scallops in state waters.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle Times

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

October 24, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests your comments on Amendment 41 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 41) and proposed rule. The proposed actions would update mutton snapper catch limits and fishing regulations based on the most recent population assessment.

Comments are due by November 27, 2017

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES FOR MUTTON SNAPPER:

For commercial fishermen:

  • Revise the commercial catch limit;
  • Increase the commercial minimum size limit from 16 to 18 inches total length;
  • Establish a commercial trip limit during January through April, and July through December, to 500 pounds whole weight;
  • In order to protect fish that are aggregating to reproduce, establish a commercial trip limit during May and June of five mutton snapper per person per day, or five mutton snapper per person per trip, whichever is more restrictive.

For recreational fishermen:

  • Revise the recreational catch limits;
  • Increase the recreational minimum size limit from 16 to 18 inches total length;
  • Decrease the recreational bag limit within the ten-fish aggregate snapper bag limit to five mutton snapper per person per day;
  • Revise the recreational annual catch target.

For both sectors:  

  • Specify the maximum sustainable yield (long-term average catch that can be taken from a population under prevailing ecological and environmental conditions);
  • Specify the minimum population size threshold (level below which a fishery is overfished (population abundance is too low)).

Please see the Frequently Asked Questions below for more information on these actions.

HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS:

The comment period is open now through November 27, 2017. 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: 82 FR 49167, published October 24, 2017

Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0103.
2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
3. Enter or attach your comments.

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

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

Why are the proposed actions necessary?

A population assessment for mutton snapper conducted in 2015 indicated that the population is not undergoing overfishing (rate of removal is not too high), and is not overfished (population abundance is too low). However, the assessment resulted in lower biological reference point values and fishing level projections than those from the original assessment in 2008.

What are the proposed commercial and recreational catch limits?

Table 1. Proposed commercial and recreational catch limits for 2017-2020 through Amendment 41.

 

Year

 Commercial 

Catch Limit

(pounds)

 Recreational 

Catch Limit

(numbers of fish)
2017 100,015 116,127
2018 104,231 121,318
2019 107,981 124,766
2020 111,354 127,115

Why is the catch limit for the recreational fishery specified in numbers of fish instead of pounds?

The recreational catch limit is specified in numbers of fish because recreational fishermen report landings in numbers, not by weight. In addition, since fishery managers are proposing a minimum size limit increase to 18 inches total length through Amendment 41, the average weight per fish is expected to increase. Therefore, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has concluded that the combination of increasing the minimum size limit and converting the catch limit from numbers to pounds could increase the risk of exceeding the acceptable biological catch.

Where can I find more information on Amendment 41?

  • Contact NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Regional Office

By Mail: Mary Vara

NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Regional Office

Sustainable Fisheries Division

263 13th Avenue South

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505

By FAX: (727) 824-5308

By Phone: (727) 824-5305

Access this and other Fishery Bulletins from NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office by clicking here.

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comment on Proposed Rule for the Tilefish Fishery

October 23, 2017 — The Following was released by the NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on a proposed rule that would make minor modifications to improve and simplify administration of the golden tilefish fishery.

The proposed changes under Framework 2 to the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan include:

  • Eliminating the interactive voice response (IVR) reporting requirement;
  • Limiting the recreational golden tilefish fishery to rod and reel only, with up to 5 hooks per rod;
  • Requiring commercial golden tilefish to be landed with the head attached;
  • Limiting commercial incidental landings to the lesser of 500 lb or 50 percent of the weight of all fish onboard;
  • Prohibiting tilefish individual fishing quota (IFQ) vessels from fishing more than one IFQ allocation at a time; and
  • Adjusting how assumed discards are accounted for during the specifications process.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and the draft Environmental Assessment and preliminary Regulatory Impact Review (EA/RIR).

You may submit your comments through the online portal or via regular mail to: John Bullard, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

The comment period is open through November 7, 2017.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175

$13M settlement proposed for Buzzards Bay oil spill

October 20, 2017 — BOSTON — More than 14 years after a barge spilled 98,000 gallons of oil into Buzzards Bay, state and federal officials have announced a proposed settlement that would require the transportation company in charge of the vessel to pay more than $13 million for the damage done to migratory birds and their habitats.

In April 2003, a Bouchard Transportation Co. barge traveling to the power plant on the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich struck rocks south of Westport. The crash ruptured the barge’s hull and spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the bay, damaging salt marshes, beaches, and hundreds of birds such as loons, sea ducks, terns and shorebirds.

The settlement proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island was filed in U.S. District Court, where it must be approved before being finalized.

If the settlement is approved, it would bring the total amount of money paid to resolve claims filed by the Natural Resource Damages Trustee Council, a group composed of several state and federal agencies, up to $19 million. Bouchard previously paid $6 million for claims on shoreline resources, piping plovers, and other damage recovery efforts.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times