Saving Seafood

North Carolina legislature adjourns without passing aquaculture bill

July 5, 2018 — The North Carolina legislature has ended its session without considering a bill that would have made it easier for Cooke Seafood USA and others to ramp up oyster farming in the state. Costal Review Online reported.

The North Carolina General Assembly had been preparing to vote on the Support Shellfish Industry Act, HB 361, which would have raised the cap for oyster permits in the Pamlico Sound, the US’ second largest estuary, covering over 3,000 square miles of open water behind North Carolina’s touristy Outer Banks. Permits would have risen from a combined 50 acres to 200 acres, allowing for larger scale operations. It’s a change being sought by the Wanchese Fish Company, a Suffolk, Virginia-based harvester and processor acquired by the Canadian Cooke family in 2015, among others.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA going to robots for ocean research

July 3, 2018 — We have, upon occasion, written of our fear of flying monkeys, robots, drones, wasps and eggs. There are more, but that seems sufficiently embarrassing.

Well, the robots are back at it and we’re here to tell you they’re not going to stop until they run the whole magilla. Wait until you walk into Delaney’s for a Tuesday night special and there’s a robot making your linguica pizza instead of Ronnie.

NOAA, in particular, seems enamored of the creatures, using them for all manner of survey and discovery tasks. It now has a fleet of Saildrones — wind-powered autonomous marine surface vehicles — it uses to help assess climatic and marine conditions, as well as the health of some fish stocks.

It also has other unmanned craft.

Just last week, according to The Charlotte Observer and the livescience.com website, NOAA researchers were aboard the vessel Okeanos Explorer to map the ocean floor off the coast of North Carolina when they came across something they called a “sonar anomaly” (which is science speak for “huh?”) and hinted it might be “an archaeology site, a geological formation or otherwise.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Environmental group reaches out to local businesses in fight against offshore drilling

July 2, 2018 — A group of concerned citizens visited businesses Saturday in Wilmington, Carolina Beach, and Wrightsville Beach asking them to publicly oppose offshore drilling.

The Don’t Drill NC Coalition organized the Coastal Day of Action.

“We have a number of concerned citizens, volunteers that are coming out to help us with our day of action,” said Drew Ball, director of Environment North Carolina.

Ball cited North Carolina’s coastal jobs, tourism economy, and fishing industry as reasons to avoid offshore drilling.

“North Carolina has a lot to lose if this plan moves forward,” said Ball. “(North Carolina) supports well over 30,000 jobs directly because of our clean coast, and we have a huge fishing industry, and a huge tourism industry, and all that would be put at risk if there were offshore drilling. When you drill, you spill, and we know that no matter what.”

Read the full story at WECT

Coastal fishing down in North Carolina last year

July 2, 2018 — There were fewer fishing trips and fewer fish caught along the North Carolina coast last year.

Information from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries shows those engaged in recreational fishing made about 4.5 million trips last year. That included shoreline or pier fishing, charter boats, private boats or in man-made ponds near the coast.

The agency says that’s down from 5.4 million fishing trips in 2016. Officials say Hurricanes Jose and Maria were part of the reason for last year’s decline.

The number of fish caught was also down in 2017. The number of fish caught dropped from 8.6 million in 2016 to 5.5 million last year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WITN

Spiny Lobster Catch Levels Increased, Rec Traps Prohibited in South Atlantic

June 27, 2018 — NOAA Fisheries announces a final rule for Regulatory Amendment 4 to the Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Lobster in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic (Regulatory Amendment 4). Regulatory Amendment 4 increases the catch limit for spiny lobster based on updated landings information and revised scientific recommendations; and prohibits the use of traps for recreational harvest of spiny lobster in federal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

Regulations will be effective at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 23, 2018.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

  • The final rule increases the catch limit for spiny lobster from 7.3 million pounds to 9.6 million pounds.
  • Currently, recreational harvest of spiny lobster using traps is prohibited in federal waters off Florida, but is allowed in federal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The final rule makes the prohibition consistent throughout the federal waters off all four states in the South Atlantic region.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 83 FR 29044, published June 22, 2018

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

Why increase the catch limits for spiny lobster?

  • Current catch limits for spiny lobster are based on landings from fishing years 2000/2001 through 2009/2010.  This time period included years where landings were historically low.
  • The Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils’ Scientific and Statistical Committees recommended specifying catch limits for spiny lobster using a longer time series of spiny lobster landings (fishing years 1991/1992 through 2015/2016).
  • The longer time period is better suited to capture the dynamics of the fishery that are influenced by factors beyond spiny lobster biology and harvest, such as environmental conditions.
  • The increase in catch limits is based on the best scientific information available.

Why prohibit recreational harvest of spiny lobster using traps in federal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia?

  • Use of traps to catch spiny lobster by recreational fishermen off Florida is prohibited.
  • The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is concerned that recreational use of trap gear may become more popular and result in potential negative impacts on essential fish habitat and result in an increase in the use of vertical lines that may interact with protected species (entanglement issues).
  • Trap gear also has the potential to “ghost” fish (trap continues to fish after it is lost).
  • To date, the public has expressed little interest in using traps for the recreational harvest of spiny lobster off North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.  This may be due to a daily bag or possession limit for spiny lobster from federal waters other than Florida, of two per person for commercial and recreational fishing, year-round.
  • Because spiny lobsters are larger in size in federal waters off Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina than off Florida, current trap configuration may not be efficient in capturing spiny lobster.  Recreational traps used off Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina may require larger entrances which could result in greater bycatch of fish, crabs, and other invertebrates.
  • The final rule will make the trap prohibition for recreational fishermen consistent throughout the federal waters off all four states in the South Atlantic region.
  • Consistent regulations regarding this prohibition will aid law enforcement and avoid confusion among the fishers.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

Bill to make North Carolina ‘Napa Valley’ of US oyster industry also good for Cooke

June 25, 2018 — The following is excerpted from a story originally published in Undercurrent News: 

Many North Carolina fishermen are petitioning in support of the Support Shellfish Industry Act. One group, Citizens for a Level Playing Field, have created a petition in support of the Act.

A vote by the North Carolina General Assembly — potentially as early as Monday — could make it easier for Cooke Seafood USA and others to harvest more oysters in the US coastal state. But it’s coming down to the wire, as the state’s legislature is expected to end its session either this week or next.

The Support Shellfish Industry Act (HB 361) would raise the cap for oyster permits in the Pamlico Sound – the US’ second largest estuary, covering over 3,000 square miles of open water behind North Carolina’s touristy Outer Banks — from a combined 50 acres to 200 acres, allowing for larger scale operations. It’s a change being sought by the Wanchese Fish Company, a Suffolk, Virginia-based harvester and processor acquired by the Canadian Cooke family in 2015, among others.

The measure, which was originally introduced in late May as Senate Bill 738 by Republican state senators Bill Cook, Harry Brown and Norman Sanderson, passed the North Carolina upper chamber on June 15 by a 28-9 vote, but still requires approval by the state’s Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

“With our acres of pristine waters, and a large and growing interest in cultivated oysters, the potential for the industry in the state is huge,” the three lawmakers said in a press release when introducing the original bill. “Our goal is for North Carolina to become the ‘Napa Valley’ of oysters and to become a $100 million dollar industry in 10 years.”

The North Carolina lawmakers might have picked a different area to represent dominance in the US wine industry. Despite its reputation, Napa Valley produces just 4% of the grapes used in California.

Regardless, Jay Styron, president and owner of the Carolina Mariculture Company, an oyster grower in Cedar Island, North Carolina, would settle right now for his state just getting on a playing field that’s level with the oyster industries in Virginia and Maryland, two states on the Chesapeake Bay (the US’s largest estuary), with lease caps that allow operations of up to 2,000 total acres.

Other states, like Louisiana and Washington, allow similarly high oyster growing caps, he said in a letter to the editor published Friday by Undercurrent News.

Styron told Undercurrent he isn’t interested in expanding beyond the 6.5-acre floating-cage oyster and clam farm he owns in the adjacent Core Sound, but is arguing for the change on behalf of other oyster growers in his role as the president of the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Jay Styron: North Carolina law needed to open up shellfish opportunity

June 22, 2018 — The following is a letter to the editor of Undercurrent News from Jay Styron, owner and president of the Carolina Mariculture Company, in Cedar Island, North Carolina:

If North Carolina wants to be a major player in the shellfish industry, it needs to make it easier for oyster farmers to lease space and raise their products. The Support Shellfish Industry Act, currently being debated in the state’s General Assembly, is a major step in the right direction.

The bill expands North Carolina’s shellfish leasing program, making it easier for local businesses to acquire leases and ensuring that our state’s working watermen are the ones operating the farms. Most importantly, it expands the area that can be leased for oysters in Pamlico Sound. Currently, businesses are capped to leasing only 50 acres in the sound. The bill raises that cap to 200 acres total, while keeping individual sites to 50 contiguous acres.

The bill ensures that this expansion is done in a responsible and cautious way. Before the additional acreage can be approved, the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries will be required to first study and identify suitable lease areas. The bill does not change this cap for other parts of the state, which will remain at 50 acres.

Allowing larger leases in Pamlico Sound, part of the nation’s largest single-state estuary, will help North Carolina keep up with other coastal shellfish-producing states. In the Chesapeake Bay, both Virginia and Maryland have lease caps of 2,000 total acres. Other states, like Louisiana and Washington, allow for similarly high caps. While this legislation won’t immediately raise North Carolina to the same level as these states, it represents a significant step towards closing the gap.

The bill makes other improvements to the state’s aquaculture industry beyond expanding leasing areas. It opens new areas for shellfish nurseries and hatcheries to operate, which will help clean the surrounding waters, and creates a new, in-state source of seed to make it easier to populate new shellfish beds. It also creates new administrative procedures for the DMF to quickly mitigate conflicts arising from leasing decisions. These provisions will all allow shellfish cultivation in North Carolina to grow and diversify.

Improving our shellfish leasing program will help North Carolina regain its competitive edge regionally, particularly with respect to Virginia. In recent years, Virginia has moved aggressively to expand its fresh wild-caught and farm-raised oyster harvest, now producing about $35.8 million in oyster production annually. By contrast, North Carolina lags well behind at $3.9 million annually. This disparity is even more alarming considering just 13 years ago North Carolina’s shellfish industry was worth four times as much as Virginia’s.

The Support Shellfish Industry Act will lead to greater economic development, providing much needed jobs for North Carolina oyster farmers. Importantly, the legislation keeps requirements that leaseholders have a business registered in North Carolina and a commercial fishing license – which only state residents can get – safeguarding North Carolina jobs. Leased areas will still be public waters owned by the state, and leases can be canceled at any time should issues arise. Strict regulations on lease sales will also remain in place, including hearings where members of the public can make their voices heard.

The benefits of the bill extend to the environment. Oysters are among the most sustainable forms of food production available, filtering the water around them and improving fish habitat. According to a recent study, led by University of Washington professor Ray Hilborn, farmed shellfish are among the least carbon-intensive sources of food, and have among the smallest environmental impact.

North Carolina’s shellfish industry has the potential to provide great economic benefits to our state’s coastal communities, but only if we tap into its full potential in places like Pamlico Sound. That requires passing the Support Shellfish Industry Act, which will help us regain an equal footing with our neighbors, instead of keeping us in their shadow.

Read the letter here.

 

What’s next in the offshore drilling debate? Hint: It involves fish.

June 22, 2018 — Environmental groups are keeping a close eye on the National Marine Fisheries Service to see whether the federal agency will grant permits that would likely pave the way for seismic testing off the Atlantic coast, including North Carolina.

“Seismic airgun blasting is the first step toward oil and gas drilling and could lead to catastrophic consequences. … (If approved), this is an investment in offshore drilling,” said Diane Hoskins, Oceana’s campaign director for offshore drilling.

The steps to seismic testing in the South Atlantic include approval of the incidental harassment authorizations by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which could then be followed by approval of the permits from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

According to NOAA’s website, the public comment period for proposed seismic permits in the Atlantic closed last July. The comment review and final determination process typically takes, according to the site, one to three months.

“We are working through about 17,000 public comments as expeditiously as possible, but will take the time necessary to ensure that they are all appropriately addressed and that our final decision is based on the best available science,” Kate Brogan, a National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

Read the full story at Star News

Interstate fishery managers seek input on bluefish regulations

June 21, 2018 — There’s still time to provide comments on bluefish allocation to interstate fishery managers considering changes to the bluefish fishery management plan.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, two interstate fishery management agencies with jurisdiction in the federal waters 3-200 miles offshore in North Carolina, have scheduled a series of scoping hearings to gather public input on the range of issues and information to be considered in the Bluefish Allocation Amendment. Hearings are being held through Monday, July 16, in nine coastal states.

In North Carolina, a hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office at 5285 Highway 70 West in Morehead City. An internet webinar will also be held at 6 p.m., July 16. Connection information is available at the website www.mafmc.org.

All comments, submitted either through public hearings or in writing, will be presented to the council and commission. Written comments will be accepted until Monday, July 30. In addition to providing comments at any of the scheduled scoping hearings, anyone interested may submit written comments online at the website www.mafmc.org/comments/bluefish-allocation-amendment.

Written comments may also be sent by email to mseeley@mafmc.org or by regular mail to Chris Moore, Ph.D, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, North State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901.

Anyone interested in commenting should include “Bluefish Amendment Scoping Comments” in the subject line if using email or on the outside of the envelope if submitting written comments by mail.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

Shrimp rise as overall North Carolina commercial catch dips

June 18, 2018 — North Carolina officials say commercial fishing in the state declined by weight last year even as shrimp volume increased to a record high.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries issued a release this month saying fishermen sold about 54 million pounds (24 million kg) of fish and shellfish to North Carolina dealers in 2017. That’s down about 9 percent from the previous year and below the five-year average.

But the $96.5 million estimated value of the catch was slightly higher than the previous year.

Biologists say the drop in volume is largely due to a decrease in hard blue crab landings by more than a quarter from the previous year.

Meanwhile, shrimp landings increased to the highest volume on record since the state began its current measurement program in 1994. The state reports that the value of the shrimp was nearly $30 million.

Read the full story at WRAL