Saving Seafood

MID-ATLANTIC SCALLOP ACCESS AREA CLOSES AUGUST 4 FOR LIMITED ACCESS GENERAL CATEGORY FLEET

July 31, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are closing the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area to the Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota scallop fleet on Tuesday, August 4. The fleet has used its 2015 fishing year allocation of 2,065 trips into the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area.
Under the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, once this fleet reaches the Mid-Atlantic Access Area trip limit, we are required to close the area to the fleet for the remainder of the 2015  fishing year (through February 29, 2016) to prevent overharvest.
Vessels that complied with the observer notification requirements, declared a trip into the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area using the correct Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) code, and crossed the VMS demarcation line before 12:01 am on August 4, may complete their trip and retain and land scallops caught from the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area.
Read the Federal Register notice as filed on July 31, or get more information from the permit holder bulletin.
Questions about this action? 
Contact Shannah Jaburek, Regional Office, at 978-282-8456 or Shannah.Jaburek@noaa.gov.

OCEANA AGAIN SUES NOAA OVER BYCATCH MONITORING

July 29, 2015– WASHINGTON — Oceana, the maritime environmental group that successfully sued NOAA Fisheries in 2011 over its bycatch rules, is challenging the federal regulator of the nation’s fisheries over its newest bycatch rule for the Northeast region.

Oceana again sued NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday, claiming the current bycatch reporting rule finalized last month for the region — in part, as a response to Oceana’s earlier legal victory — is underfunded, uniformly inadequate for providing accurate information and in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

The 43-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., claims the new bycatch rule “leaves loopholes that would guarantee that observer coverage will never meet its performance standards, ultimately failing to fix current insufficiently low levels of monitoring in the region,” Oceana said.

The group’s lawsuit said NOAA’s new Statistical Bycatch Reporting Method (SBRM) “fails to address the fundamental legal flaws” identified in its previous lawsuit and “effectively doubles down on the Fisheries Service’s decade-long practice of under-funding and marginalizing its bycatch monitoring systems.”

That under-funding, Oceana said, impedes NOAA Fisheries’ ability to generate statistically reliable data needed to assess the impact of bycatch on individual fisheries.

The lawsuit draws a direct connection between faulty bycatch monitoring and overfishing. It specifically targets NOAA Fisheries’ bycatch monitoring performance in New England and among the Northeast multispecies groundfish fleet.

“New England in particular has been plagued for decades by lax monitoring and overfishing,” said Oceana Assistant General Counsel Eric Bilsky. “The failure to monitor catch and enforce catch limits is in part responsible for the collapse of the New England groundfish fishery, including the historically important Atlantic cod populations of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Hawaii’s longline fishermen on course to hit bigeye limit

HONOLULU (AP) — July 28, 2015 — Hawaii’s longline fishermen are on course to hit their annual bigeye tuna catch limit next week, which means they will have to stop catching bigeye in their most productive fishing grounds west of Hawaii on Aug. 5.

Hawaii fishermen will still be able to catch bigeye in eastern waters regulated by a different fisheries commission.

Last year fishermen continued catching bigeye after they hit their quota in November because federal authorities drafted rules allowing them to attribute some catch to U.S. territories.

But Mike Tosatto, Pacific Islands regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service, said officials haven’t yet had time to draft similar rules for 2015.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times

Atlantic Herring Research Set-Aside Proposals Due September 21st

July 29, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries, with assistance from the New England Fishery Management Council, is seeking proposals for the 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. No Federal funds are provided for research under this notification. Rather, proceeds generated from the sale of RSA quota will be used to fund research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.

Projects funded under the Atlantic Herring RSA Program must enhance the knowledge of Atlantic herring fishery resources or contribute to the body of information on which Council management decisions are made. Priority will be given to proposals that investigate research priorities identified by the Council. The priorities are listed in the Federal Funding Opportunity Announcement, along with application instructions.

Questions? Please contact Cheryl Corbett at cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov or 508-495-2070.

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces Common Pool Area Closure in Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic

July 28, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

We are closing the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder Trimester TAC Area to common pool vessels using trawl and sink gillnet gear for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31.

The area will reopen at the start of Trimester 2 on September 1.

We are required to close this area because the common pool fishery has caught over 90 percent of its Trimester 1 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Southern New England/ Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder.

Read the permit holder bulletin.

Questions? Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, at 978-281-9103 or allison.ferreira@noaa.gov.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Changes to Observer Waivers for Longfin Squid Fishery

July 20, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

Due to a change in one of the two observer programs (Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology or SBRM) that apply to the Longfin Squid Fishery, the observer waivers you receive through the Pre-Trip Notification System will no longer apply to SBRM observers when this change goes through.

The new waivers will say:

“You have been waived of observer requirements for [VESSEL NAME] departing [SAIL DATE and TIME], confirmation # [NUMBER] for your longfin squid trip notification through PTNS. However, you may be asked to take an observer through a selection notice or verbally by an approved observer service provider. If selected, you must carry an observer.”

The system will operate as usual after this change, but be aware that any waiver you get will only apply to observers from the butterfish mortality cap monitoring program. You may still be asked, either verbally or by a letter, to take an SBRM observer on a trip.

For more information on this change, please read our letter. Information about the Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish Fishery Management Plan regulations is available on our website.

Pre-Trip Notification procedures remain the same. Notify us either by emailing nefsc.ptns@noaa.gov, logging into our website (https://fish.nefsc.noaa.gov/ptns/), or calling 855-FISHES-1 (855-347-4371).

Questions? 

Contact Amy Martins, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, at 508-495-2266 or Amy.Martins@noaa.gov.

Longfin squid

Independent coastal bait and tackle retailers contribute $2.3 billion to U.S. economy

July 27, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

In 2014, NOAA Fisheries conducted our first-ever survey of independent retailers that sell saltwater bait and tackle in coastal communities. We found that bait and tackle shops generated an estimated $854 million in sales of saltwater bait, tackle, and other fishing-related equipment. Collectively, these sales support $2.3 billion in total sales output, nearly $800 million in income, and support over 16,000 full and part-time jobs.

Before this study, we lacked baseline data to help describe the role independent bait and tackle retailers play in local economies. These results will inform decision-making on how proposed fishing regulations changes might affect our society and economy Please take a moment to review the full results and share the findings with others who may be interested.

Please contact the report’s lead author, Cliff Hutt (cliff.hutt@noaa.gov), if you have questions or need additional information about the study.

NOAA Earmarks $88,000 in Funding to Study Massive West Coast Algal Bloom that Shut Dungeness Fishery

July 23, 2015 — SEATTLE (AP) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is committing $88,000 to help Washington analyze a massive bloom of toxic algae off the coast that have closed some shellfish harvests.

The algae blooms have occurred along the West Coast from southern California to Alaska since May. Dangerous toxin levels prompted the closure of Dungeness crab fishing off the southern coast of Washington. Ocean beaches were also closed to recreational razor clamming.

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

 

NOAA begins fence-mending with Northeast fishermen

July 23, 2015 —  NOAA Fisheries this week undertook an effort to build trust and cooperation from the New England fishing industry by including the industry in upcoming groundfish stock assessments.

NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, based in Woods Hole, conducted meetings at five sites Wednesday, with web meeting access provided for several more sites up and down the New England coast.

The NOAA scientists made a presentation of the assessment process and some of the options that the New England Fishery Management Council’s Science Committee has for action on assessments.

According to the NOAA web site, those options range from the status quo to a complete review and rebuild of all the methods and computer models being used by the science center to guide NOAA’s annual quota decisions on 20 different groundfish stocks.

With very few fishermen fishing for groundfish, few were among the 20 or so participants, according to Don Cuddy, spokesman for the New Bedford-based Center for Sustainable Fisheries.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times