Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries head: Trump administration values regulatory flexibility, regional approach

November 21, 2017 — SEATTLE — The head of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) fisheries management arm, Chris Oliver, offered a crowd of Alaska fishermen some insight into the Donald Trump administration’s approach toward fisheries management.

Generally speaking, the assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries said at Seattle’s Pacific Marine Expo on Nov. 17, the administration values flexibility and a regional approach toward regulating commercial fishing of federally managed stocks, an approach that meshes with his own background and views.

“You’re looking at an administration that recognizes that fisheries by nature require a lot of regulation, but I also think they’re looking at councils to take a step back and look at ways to not have a tendency toward micromanagement but to look at the big picture,” Oliver, who took up the job in June, said.

Learning curve

Prior to that, Oliver served as executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during at a 16-year run that also included stints as a fisheries biologist and its deputy director. That council, one of eight regional bodies created under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), which regulates US commercial and recreational fishing, is arguably the country’s busiest, as it covers Alaska, home to half of all US seafood production.

His experience, he said, left him as a supporter of the council system. His new national-level job — he’s received over 200 briefings to date on the issues facing NOAA Fisheries — affords him a wider perspective.

“It’s been an incredible learning experience and an incredible learning curve. It’s been hectic at times, frenetic at times, and a bit overwhelming at times, but it’s been extremely exciting all the time and never boring,” he said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Fisheries Withdraws the Northeast Fishing Sector IX Operations Plan

November 20, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

Through an Interim Final Rule filed this morning, NOAA Fisheries withdraws approval of the 2017 and 2018 Northeast Fishery Sector IX operations plan. The Regional Administrator determined that the sector and its participants have not complied with the requirements of their approved operations plan, and that the continuation of the Sector IX operations plan will undermine achievement of the conservation and management objectives of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. This action follows the guilty plea and sentencing of Mr. Carlos Rafael, a major participant in Sector IX, who admitted to falsely reporting catch information.

Any Sector IX vessels that are currently at-sea on a groundfish trip must return to port immediately, and are allowed to offload and sell their catch. After that, vessels that are eligible to fish under other permits, without declaring a sector trip or using a multispecies day-at-sea, can continue to do so during the 2017 fishing year. Sector participants may not declare a sector trip or use a multispecies day-at-sea for the remainder of the 2017 fishing year. Sector IX may not lease in or out any groundfish allocation.

Read the rule as filed this morning in the Federal Register.

The comment period for this interim final rule closes on December 20.

You may submit comments on this document via the Federal eRulemaking Portal beginning November 22 or by sending them to John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, “Comments on the Interim Final Rule to Withdraw Approval of NEFS 9.”

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

Learn more about NOAA at their site here.

 

Massachusetts: NOAA shuts down Rafael’s fishing sector

November 20, 2017 — NOAA Fisheries dropped the hammer on New Bedford’s Carlos Rafael-dominated Northeast Fishing Sector IX on Monday, withdrawing the sector’s operation plans for 2017 and 2018 and shuttering the groundfish elements of the sector for the remainder of this fishing season.

NOAA Fisheries, which announced the management action Monday morning, said the sector was derelict in its compliance of the previously approved plans and that noncompliance helped Rafael misreport the scope and nature of his catch in a scam that led to his conviction and 46-month jail sentence.

“The action follows the guilty plea of Mr. Carlos Rafael, a major participant in Sector IX, who admitted to falsely reporting catch information,” NOAA Fisheries said in its statement.

NOAA Fisheries said its review showed that Sector IX failed to uphold section plan requirements to the extent that it undermined “foundational principles” necessary for successful sector operations.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NOAA: Our New Community Resilience Website

November 20, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

We have been working with our Northeast Fisheries Science Center and other partners to address issues of community resilience and to develop ways to support our regional fishing communities.

Part of this effort is our new website that contains information on how we define community resilience, our near and long-term goals, recent workshop proceedings and next steps, as well as links to our partners, data portals, and other resources.

Learn how we are supporting our communities as they face regulatory, environmental, and economic challenges from a changing climate, ocean acidification, and other impacts.

If you have questions, email NMFS.GAR.Community.Resilience@noaa.gov.

To learn more about NOAA visit their site here.

 

New NOAA director seems willing to work with fishing industry

November 20, 2017 — Jon Hare has just completed his first twelve months on the job as science and research director for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. And it’s a big job. But he’s still smiling.

The NEFSC manages the living marine resources of the Northeast Continental Shelf Ecosystem from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras. But Hare’s energy and enthusiasm have been equal to the task, while his willingness to listen and engage with all comers have earned him respect within NOAA and in the larger community. “It’s been a challenge but one that I’ve enjoyed,” he said, sitting down for a wide-ranging discussion at the Fishing Partnership office in New Bedford last week.

There was plenty to talk about but in this city, it begins with fish.

Among its many duties, the Science Center is responsible for conducting the groundfish surveys that determine annual catch limits for each species. Tensions with industry have ensued. Fishermen have frequently been critical of the survey’s methods and findings, convinced that cuts to their quota are a result of flawed science rather than falling stock levels.

There was not a lot of empathy from NOAA in the past but Hare has displayed his willingness to collaborate with the industry. NOAA supports a number of fishing industry-based projects, using commercial fishing vessels, to gather data that can be used to augment the government surveys.

“When any group asks me to meet with them I go. What we do affects them in their day-to-day life and that weighs on me,” he said. “I think now there is more of seeing the pros and cons of a particular piece of science. We need to value different perspectives. We should care what everyone thinks. It’s about communication.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

VIRGINIA: Endangered sturgeon’s return to James River could be hurdle for industry

Dominion seeking federal permit to ‘take’ protected fish after dead ones found in power plant’s water intake

November 17, 2017 — In the James River south of Richmond, endangered Atlantic sturgeon have become so common that observant spring and fall boaters are nearly guaranteed to see one breach. It’s hard to miss — a 6– or 7-foot fish exploding out of the water, as if shot from a cannon, wiggling for a split second in midair, then belly-flopping back into the river with a theatrical splash.

Long-lived and enormous — in its 60-year lifespan it can grow to 14 feet and weigh as much as 800 pounds — the Atlantic sturgeon was harvested to the brink of extinction in the late 1800s. But after a century of marginal existence, this prehistoric-looking fish, with its flat snout and rows of bony plates covering its back, is staging a steady but still fragile comeback in the Chesapeake Bay.

The sturgeon’s increased presence could complicate matters for industrial facilities that draw water from that same stretch of river. In one case, it already has.

After finding two dead sturgeon larvae and one adult in its water intake system in the fall of 2015, Dominion Virginia Power’s Chesterfield Power Station began seeking an “incidental take” permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which would allow the company to continue operating despite a potential impact to the endangered fish. In its application for the permit, Dominion estimated that up to 846 sturgeon larvae and maybe two adult fish per year could be trapped or killed in the intakes over the next decade.

The fisheries service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will determine in the coming months whether to grant Dominion’s Chesterfield plant a federal permit under an Endangered Species Act provision that allows private entities to “take” a given number of an endangered or threatened species in the process of conducting otherwise lawful operations.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito: Massachusetts, SouthCoast working to ‘unleash’ region’s potential

November 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For about eight hours Thursday, the SouthCoast replaced Boston as the state’s hub for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito led the administration’s cabinet to the region beginning with an 8 a.m. stop at the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting in Westport and ending with a ribbon cutting of the new refrigeration system at State Pier in New Bedford.

“This is an area of our state that has tremendous natural assets and has great leadership assets,” Polito said. “Together, state and local, we can work to catalyze private development to unleash even more potential.”

Polito also visited UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, where she held a cabinet meeting, cut ribbon at the New Bedford Regional Airport and noted the progress of Noah’s Place Playground on Pope’s Island.

“I come away knowing that this area of the state should be a center for marine sciences,” Polito said. “And I believe that coupled with their manufacturing base, they can create a lot of opportunity right here locally.

So happy, so cold

Coats were required indoors as state Reps. Tony Cabral, Robert Koczera, Chris Markey and Bill Straus joined Polito in the refrigerated section of State Pier, which was filled with pallets of clementines.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

ALASKA: Seafood jobs in 2016 mirrored decline in harvests

November 15, 2017 — Fewer men and women went out fishing in Alaska last year, in a familiar cycle that reflects the vagaries of Mother Nature.

A focus on commercial fishing in the November Economic Trends by the Alaska Department of Labor shows that the number of boots on deck fell by 5 percent in 2016 to about 7,860 harvesters, driven by the huge shortfall in pink salmon returns and big declines in crab quotas.

Fishing for salmon, which accounts for the majority of Alaska’s fishing jobs, fell by 6.4 percent statewide in 2016, a loss of 323 workers.

The only Alaska region to show gains in fishing jobs last year was Southcentral, which includes the Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet fisheries, as well as fishing boats out of Homer, Seward and Kenai. All of the region’s fisheries added jobs in 2016, even salmon, scoring the state’s second-highest total employment at 1,661 harvesters.

Southeast Alaska had the state’s largest slice of fishing jobs in 2016 at 29 percent, or 2,275 fishermen. But that reflects a decline for the third straight year. The Panhandle’s harvesting employment dipped 0.8 percent in 2015 and then 2.3 percent in 2016, declining by 53 jobs.

Fishing jobs at Kodiak fell by 8.5 percent in 2016, erasing the job gains of the few prior years. That reflected a poor salmon season, where fishing jobs dropped 14 percent, combined with slight drops in fishing for pollock, cod and other whitefish.

Bristol Bay, where fishing jobs rely almost entirely on salmon, took the hardest hit last year. The 1,276 permits fished reflect a loss of 133 fishing jobs, or 9.5 percent.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

 

Center For Biological Diversity Takes Aim at California Dungeness Fishery With New Petition

November 15, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Center for Biological Diversity is attacking the California Dungeness Crab fishery again — this time under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

A petition, co-signed by the Turtle Island Restoration Network, asks the National Marine Fisheries Service to designate the California crab fishery as a Category 1 fishery under the Marine Mammal Protection Act because of its rising injuries to humpback, blue, killer and gray whales, the Center said in a press release. Moving the fishery into the top category of concern would prioritize state and federal resources to help protect whales along the West Coast, the statement also said.

But the press release fails to note the petition itself goes much deeper. The Center focuses on the Central American breeding population of humpback whales — which feed primarily in California waters.

CBD cites an estimated average of 1.35 mortalities per year between 2011-2015. The Center also references the potential biological removal (PBR) of 0.8 in the stock assessment is below the estimated mortalities.

“This shows that the California Dungeness crab pot fishery – and not the
Oregon or Washington Dungeness crab pot fishery – primarily impacts the Central America [distinct population segment]. Without additional information, all interactions of the California Dungeness crab pot
fishery should be assigned to the Central America DPS,” the center says in the petition.

However, the years cited do not include the most recent seasons, when fewer whales were entangled.

Furthermore, the Center requests NOAA add blue whales; the offshore stock of killer whales; and the endangered Western North Pacific population of gray whales — of which three of seven tagged whales have been documented on the West Coast — to the list of marine mammals injured or killed in the California crab fishery.

A 2017-18 Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP) report, a pilot program put together by the California Dungeness Crab Fishing gear Working Group, identifies four priority factors that evaluate elevated risk of whale entanglements: crab season delay, forage/ocean conditions, whale concentrations and rate of entanglements. The report uses established data sources and the expertise of the working group members to determine entanglement risks.

The Working Group determined the whale concentration risk level is moderate; rate of entanglements risk is low; the chance of a season delay is low; and whale forage and ocean conditions risk level also is low.

The Central California crab season opened today, although some smaller vessels may be holding off for better weather.

“We are excited with the on-time opening of our local Dungeness crab season,” Angela Cincotta, with Alioto-Lazio Fish Company, said this morning. “We pray that all of our fishermen stay safe while the weather bats them about the sea. We are thankful for their commitment to our industry and their respect of the oceans.”

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

U.S. Leads in Global Fisheries Management

November 13, 2017 — The United States has some of the best managed marine fisheries in the world. With that leadership comes the opportunity and responsibility to advance sustainable conservation and management practices on the high seas and, as appropriate, to support other nations in achieving similar outcomes in their economic zones. NOAA Fisheries, through the work of our Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection—along with our national program offices, regional offices, fisheries science centers, and international partners—leads the nation’s efforts in achieving globally sustainable resources and conservation of living marine resources while ensuring U.S. fishermen’s access to high-seas fisheries.

Much of this is achieved through bilateral engagement, participation in regional fishery management organizations, other multilateral conservation fora, and scientific exchanges. But we also use our role as a major importer of seafood by enforcing laws requiring seafood exported to the United States to originate from fisheries that have comparable conservation measures in place. Over the past year, the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection has worked to implement two new regulations:

  • The Seafood Import Monitoring Program, which established traceability requirements for certain priority fish species entering U.S. commerce.
  • The international import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which require that seafood exported to the United States is from fisheries with measures in place to reduce the bycatch of marine mammals that are comparable in effectiveness to U.S. measures.

We are dedicated to the implementation and administration of these regulations and have engaged the governments and seafood producers of more than 100 nations this past year to explain the requirements of these regulations and gather information about their fisheries. In addition, we issued a report to Congress on international compliance with another law intended to combat illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, to reduce the bycatch of protected species, and to ensure adequate shark conservation measures on the high seas.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries