Saving Seafood

Northeast Fishery Observer Sea-Day Schedule Posted, Short-Term Reimbursement for Groundfish At-Sea Monitoring Available July 1

June 23, 2016 — The following was released by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

Today NOAA Fisheries published the 2016 Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Annual Discard Report with Observer Sea Day Allocation and the resulting final 2016 sea-day schedule for our Northeast Fishery Observer Program.

This year we are able to fully fund our SBRM monitoring program and will use remaining funds to offset some of industry’s costs of the groundfish at-sea monitoring program.

Any sector trip beginning on or after July 1 may be eligible for reimbursement of at-sea monitoring costs though a program we are developing with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Because this support is not likely to last for the entire year, this method preserves the contract relationships sectors already have in place with at-sea monitor providers.

How unstable supply is forcing Japanese fish farmers to get creative

June 23, 2016 — Fishing for anchovy started late this year in the main producing area of Peru, and the supply of fish meal used as an ingredient in feed for farmed fish is unstable.

In the main producing area of Peru, catches were poor at the end of 2014 and no quota was allocated for the 2015 season. The poor catches are attributed to the El Niño phenomenon, which changes ocean currents and water temperature.

In Peru, the season for catching anchovy for fish meal is usually from April to July and from November to February. Trial fishing was conducted before the season, to determine the total allowable catch. Usually the quota is announced in April, but this year no announcement was made until well into June, so fishing is only getting started. As it is rare for the fishing the season to be extended into August or later, it is likely that the season will simply be shortened, resulting in a continued supply shortage.

The good news is that the El Niño may have ended. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on 9 June reported that El Niño indices were near zero by the end of May. Based on surface and subsurface water temperatures NOAA reported, “For the first time in 2016, atmospheric anomalies over the tropical Pacific Ocean were also consistent with ENSO-neutral conditions.” (ENSO stands for El Niño–Southern Oscillation.)

Spot prices for prime fish meal were at a high point of USD 2,390 (JPY 248,966; EUR 2,119) per metric ton in December 2014. Currently, the price is at USD 1,530 (JPY 159,379; EUR 1,356). So, it is less a problem of price than of unpredictable supply.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

NOAA Fisheries Releases Draft Northeast Climate Science Action Plan

June 22, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking comments on a draft plan to help guide our approach to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information and to reduce impacts and increase resilience of fish stocks, fishing-dependent communities, and protected species. As part of its efforts to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information, NOAA Fisheries has released a draft climate science action plan for the U.S. Northeast. It outlines a strategy and specific actions for increasing understanding of, preparing for, and responding to climate change effects on the region’s ocean species — including marine and anadromous fish, invertebrates, marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds — and the people that depend on them.

The draft action plan was developed to meet the growing demand for information to better prepare for and respond to climate-related impacts. Ultimately, this information will be used to develop science-based strategies to sustain our marine resources and human communities that depend on them during this time of changing climate. Each NOAA Fisheries’ region will have a climate science action plan that helps implement the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy.

“Our science center is studying how climate variability is affecting fishery species and marine communities in the region,” said Bill Karp, Director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “Warming oceans, rising seas, and ocean acidification are affecting marine life and also disrupting fisheries and local economies. We hope this plan will help us provide the kind of information needed to support actions that will ensure sustainable fisheries and coastal communities in this time of great change.”

The Northeast region includes waters that extend from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to the western end of the Scotian Shelf, the Mid-Atlantic Bight, Southern New England, Georges Bank, and the Gulf of Maine. These waters are among the fastest warming in the world’s oceans, a result of both human-caused climate change and natural climate variability. Fish, shellfish, marine mammal, and sea turtle populations are already responding to this changing environment, which is also affecting habitats that these species use, predator-prey relationships, and competition in the ecosystem. Human communities that depend on the function and health of this ecosystem are also feeling the effects.

“With water in the Gulf of Maine warming at a significant pace, understanding how environmental changes are affecting our species is critical to planning for a sustainable fisheries future,” said John Bullard, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region. NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center collects, analyzes and provides scientific information necessary to fulfill the agency’s mission to sustain marine species in watersheds, estuaries and the coastal ocean. The NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Office ensures effective science-based management of these resources to achieve the same goals. The Northeast Regional Climate Action Plan focuses on present climate variability and future climate change in this large marine ecosystem.

“This plan builds on the work already underway in the region to address climate change,” said Jon Hare, of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the plan. “For instance, we’ve been leaders in long-term monitoring needed to explain change, linking stock assessment and climate models, and working toward an ecosystem-based understanding of sub-regions like Georges Bank. We are also providing biannual and annual state-of-the-ecosystem reports to federal fishery managers to support their efforts to implement fishery management in a more holistic way, accounting for ecosystem factors as well as the biology of the fish.”

The core elements of the Northeast Regional Action Plan include developing new multispecies models that incorporate environmental terms such as temperature and ocean acidification, conducting work to better understand how climate change is forcing change in species distribution and habitat use, initiating a Northeast Climate Science Strategy Steering Group, cooperative research with the fishing industry, and integrating social science into ecosystem assessments in order to better account for human dimensions.

Designed to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information, the plan will guide efforts to provide timely information to managers to reduce impacts and increase resilience of fisheries, protected species and coastal communities.

If you have questions about the plan, please contact jon.hare@noaa.gov. Written comments can be submitted via email to nmfs.gar.nerap@noaa.gov by July 29, 2016.

See the release at NOAA

LDWF Secretary opposes move to give Louisiana authority over red snapper

June 22, 2016 — Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon stated Tuesday he is opposed to a push to transfer management authority of Gulf of Mexico red snapper from the federal government to the fisheries agencies of the five Gulf states.

Melancon said a bill proposed by Rep. Garret Graves (R-Baton Rouge) that’s currently making its way through Congress would grant Gulf states management authority without providing necessary dollars.

“Without federal funding, Louisiana could potentially lack the proper resources to manage the red-snapper fishery,” Melancon said. “It would be fiscally irresponsible for the department to support any mandate that would result in an unknown amount of fiscal burden placed on the state of Louisiana for the management of a single species of fish.”

Previously, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida had joined Louisiana in calling for NOAA Fisheries to surrender management control of the popular reef fish. Critics say gross mismanagement of red snapper has led to reduced fishing opportunities for recreational anglers. This year’s federal red-snapper season for recreational anglers was initially set at nine days, but was extended to 11 days after tropical weather kept many anglers at the dock.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Management Measures for the 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Fishery

June 22, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces proposed management measures for the Atlantic Herring fishery for the 2016-2018 fishing years. The proposed catch limits for fishing years 2016 through 2018 are slightly lower than the current catch limits because the most recent assessment shows a slightly lower spawning stock biomass and a slightly higher fishing mortality.

We are also proposing to increase the catch cap limits for river herring and American shad to increase access to the fishery, while still providing sufficient protection for these species.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register and supplemental documents.

The comment period is open through July 21.

You may submit comments by any one of the following methods:

  • Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
  • Mail: Submit written comments to NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope “Comments on 2016-2018 Herring Specifications.”
  • Fax: (978) 281-9135, Attn: Shannah Jaburek.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or email jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov.

Feds: No New Rules to Protect Sturgeon

June 21, 2016 — A federal proposal to designate portions of coastal rivers in North Carolina as habitat essential to the survival of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon will not add another layer of regulations for fishermen, boaters, dredgers and others using those rivers, federal officials say.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a proposal earlier this month to designate critical habitats for sturgeon in coastal rivers along the East Coast. About 915 miles of waterways in the Yadkin-Pee Dee, Waccamaw, Cape Fear, Northeast Cape Fear, Black, Neuse, Tar-Pamlico and Roanoke rivers in North Carolina are included in the designation.

Required by the federal Endangered Species Act, the designation is meant to protect spawning, foraging and other areas that are important to the survival of the fish. The sturgeon was listed as endangered in 2012.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held 7 p.m. Thursday at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. It will be the only hearing in North Carolina. Comments on the proposal can be submitted to NOAA until Sept. 1.

Sturgeon, a large bony fish known for its roe used for caviar, are called anadromous fish because they spawn upriver in fresh water but spend most of their lives in marine or estuary waters. The species dates back 120 million years to the time of the dinosaurs. In the 1800s, Atlantic waters teemed with the fish, which can span 15 feet and weigh 800 pounds. However, in the last century, numbers have fallen drastically due to overfishing, and sturgeon fishing was banned in North Carolina more than 20 years ago in an attempt to recoup the numbers.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker throws oar into lobster fight

June 21, 2016 — Gov. Charlie Baker has tossed his two cents across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Swedish lobster contretemps.

Sweden is attempting to convince the entire European Union — which numbers 28 member states — to ban the import of American lobsters to Europe.

The Massachusetts governor, in a letter dated June 16 to a chief official of the European Union, warned that a proposed ban on the importation of American lobsters into the EU would significantly and negatively impact United States and Canadian fishermen, while also imposing an economic hardship on European consumers and seafood distributors in Europe and the U.S.

The letter to Daniel Calleja Crespo, the EU’s commission’s director general for the environment, closely mirrors similar positions of NOAA Fisheries and its Canadian counterpart.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Rep. Jones, others want red snapper fishery to reopen

June 20, 2016 — More than a dozen congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, wants federal fisheries regulators to reconsider a decision to close the South Atlantic red snapper fishery.

The representatives said data produced by a Florida research institution shows the South Atlantic red snapper stock is healthier than what federal data indicates so the fishery should be reopened to commercial and recreational fishing.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries program, announced the South Atlantic red snapper season is closed this year because the total number of red snapper removed from the population in 2015 exceeded the allowable level, according to the NOAA Fisheries website.

Read the full story at the Daily Reflector

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Addresses Management Options for Red Snapper

June 19, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council listened intently as a draft list of management options for red snapper was presented for consideration during their meeting this week in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The options include a comprehensive adaptive management approach that may allow harvest of red snapper as the stock continues to rebuild. The red snapper fishery remains closed for the second year in a row in federal waters after NOAA Fisheries estimated the total number of fish removed in 2015 exceeded the annual catch limit of 114,000 fish by more than double. The majority of the total removals, an estimated 276,729 fish, are attributed to dead discards within the private recreational fishery as fishermen encounter more red snapper while targeting other species. Scientists estimate that approximately 40% of red snapper that are released do not survive.

“No one wants to continue to see the large numbers of red snapper being discarded while this valuable fishery remains closed to harvest,” said Council Chair Dr. Michelle Duval. “Stakeholders have made it clear that managers must consider alternative management options and we agree. The Council must also balance the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act as the stock recovers.” The proposed comprehensive management approach includes options to reduce discards by establishing a federal private recreational snapper grouper fishing season, allowing a limited recreational bag limit for red snapper during the season, use of descending devices and venting tools, changes to size limits, and limiting the number of hooks allowed. The approach also includes requirements for a federal recreational snapper grouper stamp. The Council voted to address options for a limited entry program for the for-hire sector in a separate amendment. There are also recommendations for improving data collection for the fishery that include electronic reporting using logbooks for private recreational fishermen, increased biological sampling, discard monitoring using cooperative research and citizen science projects, tagging programs, and other methods. “Many of the ideas included in this approach are similar to those heard during our port meetings as part of the Visioning process for the snapper grouper fishery,” said Dr. Duval. The Council agreed to move forward with development of a scoping document for further review during their September 2016 meeting.

Council members also had many questions regarding the data used for the latest red snapper stock assessment and the determination by their Scientific and Statistical Committee that the stock remains overfished and undergoing overfishing, as the number of dead discards increases. “The fact that the stock is showing a strong biomass and recovering age structure is encouraging,” said Dr. Luiz Barbieri, senior research scientist with the Florida Marine Research Institute and member of the committee. Red snapper are long-lived, with some fish living up to 50 years, and the stock assessment shows there are still not enough older fish needed for a healthy stock due to overfishing for the past few decades. Dr. Barbieri acknowledged the uncertainty associated with the stock assessment and data available since the red snapper fishery was initially closed in 2010 with subsequent mini recreational seasons in 2012, 2013 and again in 2014. The Council requested the Scientific and Statistical Committee reexamine the assessment and the stock status determination when it meets again in October. The Scientific and Statistical Committee will also review the Council’s proposed changes to stock reference points as noted in the adaptive management approach.

Management Changes for Atlantic Cobia and Mutton Snapper Approved for Public Hearings  

The Council approved management actions and alternatives for Atlantic cobia to take out to public hearings scheduled for August 2016. The measures, as outlined in draft Framework Amendment 4 to the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery Management Plan would reduce harvest of cobia in federal waters along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to New York. The new measures are designed to help ensure consistent and stable fishing opportunities for all participants in the fishery. The recreational fishery in federal waters will close on June 20, 2016 when the annual catch limit is projected to be met. The early closure for 2016 was required due to the overage of recreational harvest of Atlantic cobia in 2015 and the accountability measure that requires a shortened season the subsequent year. The 2016 recreational closure of the seasonal fishery occurs during the peak fishing season in North Carolina and Virginia. The Council reviewed the numerous written and public comments before choosing alternatives for public hearings. Actions include reducing the recreational bag limit with a preferred alternative to reduce the daily bag limit from 2 per person/day to 1 fish per person/day with a vessel limit of 3 fish/per day, modifying the recreational fishing year with a preferred alternative for the year to begin May 1st, modifying the current accountability measure, and changes to the commercial trip limit.

The Council also approved measures for mutton snapper, a popular species found primarily in South Florida and the Florida Keys. Stakeholders have expressed concerns about fishing pressure that occurs each spring as mutton snapper gather to spawn. Snapper Grouper Amendment 41 includes actions to modify the annual catch limit based on the most recent stock assessment for mutton snapper, reduce the current bag limit of 10 fish per person/day with a preferred alternative of 3 fish per person/day year round, establish a commercial trip limit with the preferred alternative of 300 pounds, and modify the minimum size limit, with the Council’s preferred alternative to increase the size limit from 16 to 18 inches total length. Public hearings are scheduled for August. Details are available from the Council’s website at http://safmc.net/meetings/public-hearing-and-scoping-meeting-schedule.

Other Business

The Council also discussed options for establishing a limited entry program for the federally permitted for-hire sector (Snapper Grouper, Dolphin/Wahoo and Coastal Migratory Pelagic federal permits). The Council approved a control date of June 15, 2016 for the open access charter vessel/headboat permits. The control date is designed to alert fishermen that the Council may use that date for making future management decisions. The Council approved development of an amendment to establish a for-hire limited entry program.

40 years of change: For fishing industry, the spring of 1976 was the start of a new era

June 20, 2016 — The following is excerpted from a story published Saturday by the New Bedford Standard-Times:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — When you talk about fishing here in New Bedford, you have to start with the whaling era — and the lessons learned.

For decades, the pursuit of whaling chugged along without any dramatic changes. The ships, the equipment, the culture remained essentially the same for years, feeding countless families, lining countless pockets … until the bonanza ran out and the industry collapsed in the early part of the 20th century, never to be revived.

The fishing industry, both local and national, might have fallen into that same trap, but 40 years ago the U.S. government changed the game, adopting the most sweeping changes in the laws governing fisheries that reverberates to this day.

On April 13, 1976, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was passed and immediately accomplished two major goals.

One, it set into motion a new and unique scheme of regulation to rebuild dwindling fish stocks, a system dramatically different than anything else the government had tried until 1976.

Two, it expelled foreign fishing vessels from fishing inside a 200-mile limit from America’s shoreline.

It isn’t talked about much today, but until 1976 the capacity of the foreign fleet exceeded the Americans, sending huge factory ships into fertile places like Georges Bank to virtually vacuum the fish into the hold and freeze it on the spot, allowing the ships to stay for weeks at a time. “There were West Germans, Poles, Russians, East Germans,” recalled former fisherman James Kendall, now a seafood consultant.

In 1975, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported there were 133 foreign fishing vessels fishing on Georges Bank. The Magnuson-Stevens Act ended that decisively.

Since 1976, much has changed. The unions, which once represented the fishermen and the workers in the fish houses, virtually disappeared from the waterfront. The venerable fish auction at the Wharfinger Building on City Pier 3 is now a museum piece, since the brokers years ago put down their chalkboards and picked up computer screens. Today it has evolved into a computerized display auction elsewhere on the waterfront, with complete transparency and documentation, and bidders located across the nation.

What else has changed?

For lack of a better term, everything.

Where, oh where has our groundfish fleet gone?

At the BASE New Bedford Seafood Display Auction, co-owner Richard Canastra called up data of groundfish sales in recent years that demonstrate a dropoff of more than 30 percent in the last few years alone.

Today there are some days that don’t warrant conducting the auction at all. “Sometimes it’s like a candy store,” he said. “Five pounds of this and three pounds of that.”

Much of the blame for the shrinking of the groundfish fleet, particularly in New Bedford and Gloucester, is laid at the feet of the catch shares and sector management introduced in 2010 by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco. It dispensed with most of the old days-at-sea  system, which had reduced the annual days at sea to 50, down from around 225, that the boats once had available to them.

The term “sectors” was unfamiliar to the industry when NOAA announced their arrival in 2010. Essentially they are cooperatives, in which individual boats are grouped together along with their catch allocations, and the sector manager manages them as efficiently as he or she can.

This was predicted to cause a consolidation of the industry into the bigger players as the smaller ones weren’t getting enough quota to make it profitable to fish.

For some boat owners, the problem was that the catch shares were determined by the history of the boats but the practice of shack left no paper trail, no formal record, so catch shares were reduced in many cases.

Dr. Brian Rothschild, dean emeritus of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology and a critic of NOAA, noted that many boat owners found that they can “own it and lease it out and obtain money in windfall profits” without even going fishing.

Oh, those pesky environmentalists!

It was “not right from the beginning that NOAA has enforced this,” Rothschild said. “On top of that, NOAA enforcement didn’t come from a desire to make good public policy but because it came under the influence of organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund,” he said.

Catch shares and sector management have, however, withstood legal challenges in federal court, because of a legal doctrine named Chevron, in which government institutions are allowed to interpret laws such as Magnuson any way they wish unless the departures from congressional intent are egregious.

Rothschild is among those who believe that sector management under Magnuson has been ignoring key provisions of the act, notably the socio-economic impact evaluation and the instruction to use the best available science. That has largely excluded scientists outside of NOAA itself.

Outside scientists have occasionally run rings around NOAA. For example, SMAST’s Dr. Kevin  Stokesbury’s invention of a camera apparatus to quite literally count the scallops on the seabed individually has revolutionized scallop management, opened the door to a treasure trove of healthy scallops, and made New Bedford the No. 1 fishing port in the nation.

But NOAA now employs its own camera apparatus. It conducts regular surveys of fish populations and that has been a very sore point at times in recent years.

This is a departure from the days before Magnuson, when fishermen were issued permits for various species and were left largely on their own to discover how many fish were in the ocean, which were already dwindling at the time.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times