Saving Seafood

NH fishermen ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear monitoring case

July 25, 2017 — New Hampshire fishermen fighting for their livelihood are now trying to take their case to the nation’s highest court.

Commercial fishermen said they must pay $700 a day for fishing monitors, people who go out with fishermen and collect data.

The government mandate began seven years ago, but the cost was only recently put on the fishermen.

That prompted legal action against the government.

“Basically, we had a ruling that said we were time barred, which means we didn’t appeal within a certain period of time,” said Hampton-based fisherman David Goethel.

Goethel said he believes they did appeal in time, and now wants the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize that.

“What we’re asking for is the court to rule that we deserve a review of the merits of the case,” he said.

The lawsuit is against the U.S. Department of Commerce, which includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“NOAA Fisheries doesn’t have taxing authority,” Goethel said. “Only the United States Congress does. That’s the essential merits of the case.”

Goethel said that back in 2010, before the fishing monitors, there were about 100 groundfishermen in New Hampshire. Today, he said, there are only about six.

Read the full story at WMUR

Trump administration steps in on fishing limits, and the implications could ripple

July 25, 2017 — [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross earlier this month dismissed the findings of the 75-year-old Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which concluded that New Jersey was violating a conservation plan for summer flounder that all the other states in the compact approved. Many conservationists thought that New Jersey, while following protocols, was bowing to the fishing industry.

The decision, which effectively allows New Jersey to harvest more summer flounder, marked the first time the federal government had disregarded such a recommendation by the commission, and it drew a swift rebuke from state officials along the East Coast.

Officials in New Jersey, which has one of the region’s largest fluke populations, had drafted an alternative plan that they said would do more to protect the fishery, but it was rejected by the commission, whose scientists concluded the plan would result in nearly 94,000 additional fish being caught. Ross, who oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, overruled the commission, allowing New Jersey to proceed.

“New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year, despite increasing catch above the harvest target, will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator of fisheries at NOAA, wrote the commission in a letter on behalf of Ross.

“This is the first time that no one asked me for a formal recommendation,” said John Bullard, NOAA’s Greater Atlantic regional administrator. “The secretary’s decision goes against long-standing protocol, and there’s a cost to that.”  He added: “There’s a reason to have regional administrators, because their experience and knowledge is valuable in making decisions like this one. This is an unfortunate precedent.”

“Ross was brilliant in his decision,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in New Jersey, which represents thousands of recreational fishermen across the country. “The Trump administration has challenged a broken fishery management system in this country, and I applaud them for doing it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Louisiana Lt. Governor Nungesser Tours Maine Aquaculture With Gulf Seafood Leaders

July 26, 2017 — Southern drawls and Cajun accents mixed with New England Down East tones as 20 members of the Gulf seafood community toured Maine’s innovative aquaculture facilities to identify potential opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.

One voice on the tour was that Billy Nungesser, Lt. Governor of Louisiana, who sees a huge need and opportunity for his state to become an aquaculture leader in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the world.

Nungesser thinks that environmentally sound and sustainable aquaculture is needed in all the states that ring the Gulf to meet the ever-growing need for fresh fish worldwide. He admits that Gulf States, including his, are behind the curve in investing in the growing worldwide trend toward farm-raised fish.

Nungesser joined other state officials, fisherman, processors and seafood stakeholders in the tour organized by the Gulf Seafood Institute and hosted by the Maine Aquaculture Association. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided funding for learning experience.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Foundation

NEFMC Chair Dr. John Quinn to Testify on MSA Reauthorization

July 26, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

New England Fishery Management Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at a 10 a.m. hearing on reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The subcommittee is under the wing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation. Dr. Quinn, who is Director of Public interest Law Programs at the University of Massachusetts School of Law, will be speaking on behalf of the Council Coordination Committee (CCC). The CCC is comprised of the leadership teams of all eight of the nation’s regional fishery management councils.

“I’m honored to be testifying before the Senate subcommittee on behalf of my fellow Council chairmen, vice chairs, and executive directors,” said Dr. Quinn. “We discussed Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization extensively at our mid-May CCC meeting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and I look forward to presenting our position during the hearing.”

The MSA is the primary law governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters. It was first passed in 1976 as the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, extending U.S. jurisdiction out to 200 nautical miles and establishing the regional fishery management council system. The act underwent two major reauthorizations – the first in 1996 through the Sustainable Fisheries Act and the second in 2007, resulting in the current Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) chairs the 17-member subcommittee that scheduled this Aug. 1 hearing. Chris Oliver, the newly appointed assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, also will be testifying. Live video with opening statements, witness testimony, and questioning will be available at the Senate link below. The hearing will focus on “NOAA and Council Perspectives” related to MSA reauthorization issues.

The subcommittee has scheduled a second hearing for Aug. 23 in Soldotna, AK. This hearing will focus on the MSA’s “fisheries management successes and challenges.”

New England fishermen taking fight over monitors to Supreme Court

July 25, 2017 — A New England fishermen’s group is taking its fight over the cost of at-sea monitors to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The monitors are workers who collect data that help inform government fishing regulations. The government shifted the cost of paying for monitors to fishermen last year.

A group of fisherman led by David Goethel of New Hampshire sued the government over the change and lost in a federal district court and later in 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

An attorney for Goethel says he filed a petition with the Supreme Court earlier this month seeking a review of the case.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NH1

Americans Need to Know U.S. Fisheries are Sustainable: Former Senior NOAA Official

July 24, 2017 — Earlier this month, Saving Seafood unveiled our campaign to tell the public that American Seafood is Sustainable Seafood™. A recent paper by Mark Helvey, former NOAA Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries for the Pacific Region, confirms that purchasing U.S.-caught seafood is one of the most sustainable choices consumers can make, and notes that, “Most Americans remain unaware of the high environmental standards by which U.S. federal marine fisheries – and many state fisheries – are managed, in compliance with multiple state and federal laws.”

According to the paper, the standards under which U.S. fishermen operate “conform to or exceed internationally accepted guidelines for sustainable fisheries adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.”

The first recommendation made in the peer-reviewed paper is to “increase awareness…of the high environmental standards by which U.S. federal marine fisheries – and many state fisheries – are managed.”

The paper makes the case that, “Sea Grant Extension Programs in U.S. coastal states and territories have conducted education and out-reach, with NOAA Fishwatch and a number of nongovernmental organizations also helping to bridge this gap. However, further efforts to address this lack of understanding are needed.”

This is precisely the goal of our American Seafood is Sustainable Seafood™ campaign.

Mr. Helvey provided the following summary of his paper to Saving Seafood:

  • The United States is recognized for its robust seafood appetite and strong commitment to environmental conservation. However, efforts to close or restrict its own domestic fisheries in pursuit of environmental protection are often not considered within the context of seafood consumption.
  • Restricting U.S. fisheries comes at the cost of displaced negative environmental impacts associated with the fishing activities of less-regulated, foreign fisheries.
  • The authors provide six solutions for addressing this issue beginning with the need for U.S. consumers becoming more aware of the exceedingly high environmental standards by which U.S. marine fisheries are managed relative to many foreign ones.
  • While efforts by NOAA’s Sea Grant Extension Program, FishWatch, and a number of nongovernmental organizations are bridging the information gap, the authors stress that more is required for increasing awareness that U.S fisheries are sustainable fisheries.

The paper, “Can the United States have its fish and eat it too?,” was published in the January 2017 volume of Marine Policy and is co-authored by Caroline Pomeroy, Naresh C. Pradhan, Dale Squires, and Stephen Stohs.

Read the full paper at ScienceDirect

NOAA Requests Comment on a Change to Bluefin Regulations

July 24, 2017 — CAPE COD, Mass. — NOAA is seeking public comment regarding a request from the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance for an exemption from a regulation that prohibits having unauthorized gear on board while fishing for, retaining, or possessing a bluefin tuna.

In their application, the Alliance suggest that the use of electronic monitoring, already required by federal fishing authorities is a sufficient at-sea monitoring to verify that the catch of bluefin tuna occurred on authorized gear.

The regulation was designed to allow enforcement to not only verify that only the authorized gear type was used to catch the bluefin tuna, but also serves as an effort control for bluefin tuna as it limits the number of vessels that can actively pursue bluefin tuna to those with only authorized gear.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

NEW JERSEY: Freeholders Praise Washington’s Approval Of Flounder Limits

July 22, 2017 — The federal government’s decision to cap flounder fishing limits at levels favored by the state, county and local fishermen is a win for the entire Jersey Shore, Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said.

“We are very pleased with this decision that maintains the limits that the state already imposes on daily flounder catches,” Vicari said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier this month affirmed New Jersey’s summer-flounder fishing size, bag limits and the length of the fishing season, meaning all rules adopted by the state earlier this year will remain in effect through early September.

The decision also won final approval from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

In approving the state plan, Ross rejected a proposal to reduce the annual flounder haul by 34 percent and instead found that New Jersey’s existing rules are in compliance with the safe and sustainable management of summer flounder.

The Freeholders in April passed a resolution favoring the existing limits and rejecting the proposed 34 percent decrease, saying the change would have harmed the local tourism economy and done nothing to protect the flounder population.

Read the full story at Jersey Shore Online

NOAA Announces Continuation of Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone

July 21, 2017 –A voluntary speed restriction zone about 15 miles south of Nantucket has been extended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division.

NOAA established the speed restriction zone last month due to the presence of three endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The voluntary speed restriction zone will be in effect through July 30.

According to researchers, there are only about 400 North Atlantic right whales still in existence.

Those who approach a right whale closer than 500 yards will be in violation of federal and state law and could lead to criminal charges.

All right whale sightings are to be reported at 1-866-755-6622.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Lobster Trap Tag Transfer Period Opens August 1

July 21, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries announces the continuation of the Lobster Trap Transfer Program for Fishing Year 2018.  

We began the Lobster Trap Transfer Program in 2015 to allow permit holders the flexibility to buy and sell trap allocation for Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2, 3, and the Outer Cape. 

The trap transfer application period is August 1-September 30.

Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, or received by our office by September 30.  

We will process all transfer requests after September 30, and will notify applicants by December 31. Approved trap transfers will then become effective on May 1, 2018.

For more information and instructions, see our detailed guide and our trap transfer program information bulletin. You can also review materials from last year’s workshop under the “Trap Transfer Program” tab on our American Lobster web page. 

Questions? Contact Carrie Wein at 978-281-9225 or carrie.wein@noaa.gov