Omnibus Habitat Amendment Archives

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2

October 6, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we published a Notice of Availability for the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2.

We are seeking public comment on an action that would:

Revise the essential fish habitat designations for all New England Fishery Management Council-managed species and life stages;
Add Habitat Areas of Particular Concern to highlight especially important habitat areas;
Revise the spatial management system within the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the southern New England area;
Establish two Dedicated Habitat Research Areas;
Revise or implement seasonal spawning protection measures; and
Add system for reviewing and updating the proposed measures.

Read the Notice as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: John Bullard, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

The comment period is open through December 5, 2017.

Retiring NOAA exec has impossible to-do list: whale deaths, Rafael decision, more

September 29, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — John Bullard knows he has a daunting list of tasks to complete before he walks away, in about three months, from his position as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) top decision maker for the northeastern part of the US.

It’s urgent for NOAA to determine why so many right whales have recently died, take action to protect scallop populations in the northern Gulf of Maine and advance the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, a six-volume document that’s been in the works for 10 years and would address essential fish habitat as well as permanent and seasonal closed areas, he believes. But that’s just a few of the jobs he told Undercurrent News he wants to see to completion before leaving.

The announcement, made in July, that Bullard will retire as the administrator of NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic Region on Jan. 5 puts a cap on a recent five-year stint at the agency, which he told Undercurrent during a break at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting, is three years longer than he said he told his wife he would stay in the job. He said he has not yet decided what he will spend his time on after that.

“I’m retiring,” he reiterated when pressed. “I’m retiring.”

Neither will NOAA, which advertised Bullard’s job for a month starting on Aug. 7, say how many candidates it’s now considering to fill his post or suggest when a successor might be named. It’s the agency’s policy to “not comment on ongoing hiring actions,” a spokesperson said.

Whoever is awarded the position – one of five regional leadership positions for NOAA — will have the daunting job of working with the fishery councils to manage 44 fish stocks, including two in New England (scallops and lobster) that are worth more than $500 million per year each, according to the agency.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell Submits Additional Testimony on Marine Monuments to Congress

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – March 30, 2017 – On March 15, Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, Massachusetts delivered written testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee expressing serious concerns about the impact of marine monuments on fishermen and coastal communities, as well as the process by which president’s designate monuments using the Antiquities Act.

Yesterday, Mayor Mitchell submitted additional answers to questions from Rep. Doug Lamborn, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans. In his follow-up answers, Mayor Mitchell supported fisheries management under the Council process created by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

“I would argue that the Council has both the resources and the approach necessary to achieve ecosystem protection (while balancing economic productivity) commensurate with any protections that could be pursued in conjunction with a monument designation under the Antiquities Act,” Mayor Mitchell wrote. “I have witnessed firsthand the strengths of the of the Fishery Council’s deliberative- and decision-making processes.”

Mayor Mitchell went on to cite two recent examples of the Council process effectively being used to protect important marine resources. In the Mid-Atlantic, the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area, designated by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in 2015, brought together a broad range of stakeholders to protect over 38,000 square miles of federal waters. The resulting protected area was applauded by conservation groups and fishermen alike.

In New England, the Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, passed last year by the New England Fishery Management Council after more than a decade of work, used the most up-to-date science to protect essential and vulnerable New England habitats, while opening up areas no longer considered important for successfully conserving fish stocks. The development of this amendment was deliberative and collaborative, with input from federal and state regulators, environmental groups, scientists and academics, and members of the fishing industry, Mayor Mitchell wrote.

Read Mayor Mitchell’s letter here

Battle over Cashes Ledge continues between fishermen, environmentalists

August 29, 2016 — Despite the Obama administration’s declaration that Cashes Ledge has been taken off the table as a possible location for a marine national monument, the divisive issue of the monuments continues to percolate nationally between fishermen and conservationists.

From Hawaii to New England, the lines are clearly drawn.

Conservation groups have sustained a steady lobbying campaign to convince President Obama to employ the Antiquities Act to create new marine national monuments in the waters around Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles off Gloucester, and the seamounts off southern New England and Monterey, California.

On Friday, Obama ended a contentious process in the Pacific Ocean when he expanded an existing marine national monument area in the northwest Hawaiian Islands to create the largest protected area on Earth — 582,578 square miles.

Fishing stakeholders and fishing communities have countered with their own public campaign that sharply criticizes the collateral impact of closing more areas to commercial and recreational fishing, as well as the method of using the Antiquities Act as an end-run around the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act.

“The Antiquities Act does not require transparency or a robust analysis of the science,” the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition said in a statement. “It does not require any socioeconomic considerations be taken into account. No process is required other than an executive action by the president of the United States.”

The coalition and others, including several members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation and Gov. Charlie Baker, have tried to drive home the point that the current system of federal ocean management requires fishing businesses and communities to follow the established and intricate regulatory procedures established under Magnuson-Stevens.

To allow the creation of marine national monuments by what amounts to presidential fiat, they say, is unfair to those who have operated under the established rules and makes a mockery of Magnuson-Stevens.

“The New England Fishery Management Council is in charge of carrying out this requirement in our region,” the NSC said. “Last year, the council approved Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 and is presently working on an Omnibus Deep Coral Amendment. These areas include the very areas now proposed and under consideration for a national monument.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

President Obama Will Not Designate Cashes Ledge as a National Monument

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — March 25, 2016 — Earlier today, a spokesperson for the White House Council on Environmental Quality told the Associated Press that Cashes Ledge is “not under consideration for a [national monument] designation at this time.” According to attendees at meetings held yesterday in Massachusetts, Christy Goldfuss, Managing Director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, stated, “Based on feedback we received, we are not considering Cashes Ledge for any kind of action at this time.” Located approximately 80 miles offshore in the Gulf of Maine, Cashes serves an important and historic area that has been fished commercially and recreationally for decades.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition and Associated Fisheries of Maine noted in a joint statement that, “Consideration of National Monument designations in the offshore Canyon areas of Southern New England remains ongoing, and affected fishermen should remain vigilant in assuring that any concerns they may have are addressed.” Fishing interests including the Atlantic red crab fishery, offshore lobster fishery, squid, mackerel, butterfish, tilefish, albacore wahoo,dolphinfish (mahi mahi), and others have interests in areas that remain on the table. Pelagic longline, rod and reel and greenstick fisheries including yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, bigeye tuna and swordfish could also be affected.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is in the midst of an ongoing process working with fishing, environmental and scientific interests to protect deep sea coral and other important sea bottom attributes in the Northeast Canyons. NEFMC executive director Tom Nies told Saving Seafood, “The Council’s recommendations to protect Cashes Ledge are still being reviewed as part of our Omnibus Habitat Amendment. The Council has not taken a position on any of the monument proposals that have been circulated, but the meeting in Boston did give us the opportunity to explain our deep-sea coral amendment process directly to Ms. Goldfuss. We are very pleased that CEQ traveled to New England to give us this opportunity. I think the industry and state representatives present also appreciated this face-to-face meeting and we all look forward to a continuing dialogue.”

In response to the announcement, Terry Alexander, President, Associated Fisheries of Maine said, “Commercial fishermen in New England face continuous regulatory uncertainty, so it is a relief to know that there is one less restriction on fishing to worry about. We believe that the President was persuaded by a lack of scientific information to support such a designation, as well as the position expressed by stakeholders that decisions about closing areas to fishing should take place under the process outlined in the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).”

Vito Giacalone, Chair of Governmental Affairs for the Northeast Seafood Coalition said, “We are relieved by the President’s decision to forego a National Monument designation on Cashes Ledge, As stakeholders who participated in a lengthy, thorough and transparent public process to identify and protect important marine habitats such as Cashes Ledge, we are grateful and pleased to hear that the MSA process we all followed has been acknowledged and respected by the Obama Administration. We are sincerely grateful that the President, after gathering all pertinent facts, saw that the use of Executive Order was unnecessary in light of the process that has already taken place through the New England Fisheries Management Council.

The American Antiquities Act of 1906 provides authority for the President to declare national monuments by public proclamation on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, but fishing representives attending the meeting expressed concern that establishing an Atlantic marine monument usurps the public, inclusive Council/NMFS processes already undertaken and ongoing.

While the process in New England is ongoing, similar processes in the Mid-Atlantic were praised by environmental groups. For their efforts Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA) Executive Director Greg DiDomenico and Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) Chairman Rich Robbins were lauded last September as as Conservation Leaders by the New York Aquarium. In October, the two men were honored again together with GSSA president Ernie Panacek as Regional Ocean Champions by the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University. “The process in the Mid-Atlantic should be the model for developing targeted habitat protection in New England,” said Mr. DiDomenico. “An open, collaborative process is the best way to build on these efforts.”

A Simple Map Shows Cashes Ledge Habitat Is Already Protected

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — September 2, 2015 — Yesterday, Saving Seafood released an analysis explaining how the proposal to use a National Monument designation to protect Cashes Ledge, as advocated by the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Geographic Society, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, overlooks existing protections and overrides the current, successful system of open, democratic management. In short, we called the proposal “a solution in search of a problem,” one that removes the public from the management of public resources.

Read the full Saving Seafood analysis here

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) today provided Saving Seafood with an updated map (see below), one that is clear, simple, and easy to understand. It delineates the protections the Council voted for last June in Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), which are currently being evaluated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for final approval. In light of this evening’s public event at the New England Aquarium which will describe the uniqueness and value of this region, Saving Seafood is sharing this map so that all interested parties can be fully aware of the protections already in place, additional protections currently in progress, and of the decade of work by numerous scientists, fishermen, regulators, environmentalists, elected officials, researchers, academics, and career government staff at the Council and the Agency that has gone into developing them.

As we noted in our analysis, the NEFMC and NOAA have successfully protected Cashes Ledge over the last decade though a collaborative, consultative process that built a consensus among the scientists, fishermen, regulators, and other valuable New England stakeholders. The Council has also ensured that the region remains protected well into the future with the recent approval of Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), and is working to extend similar protections to the New England Canyons and Seamounts through their in-progress Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.

These developments support Saving Seafood’s conclusion that the process as it exists is working, and the a National Monument designation would only circumvent and undermine the public management of these areas that have been so beneficial to Cashes Ledge and other unique habitats.

See the updated map below:

Saving Seafood Analysis: Campaign for New England Marine Monument a “Solution in Search of a Problem”

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — September 1, 2015 — An analysis released today by Saving Seafood examines a proposal from several environmental organizations to extend “permanent” protections to the Cashes Ledge region of the Gulf of Maine and the New England Canyons and Seamounts, by asking President Obama to declare the area a National Monument. The analysis notes that these efforts are largely duplicative of area closures already in place in this region, none of which are poised for opening. Saving Seafood further concludes that such a unilateral move would undermine the democratic and collaborative processes that to date have been highly effective in preserving and protecting the area.

Read the analysis from Saving Seafood here

The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and partners including the National Geographic Society, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council intend to ask that these areas be declared the eastern seaboard’s first Marine National Monument, according to emails sent by CLF to State House News Service. A sold out event scheduled for Wednesday, September 2 at the New England Aquarium, featuring National Geographic and the CLF, is expected to discuss this proposal. Last Friday, Maine Governor Paul LePage wrote to President Obama opposing the designation of areas within the Gulf of Maine as a national maritime monument, as reported by the Portland Press Herald.

Such a designation would be both duplicative of, and possibly damaging to, the current management of Cashes Ledge, according to the Saving Seafood analysis. Closures already in place, developed through an open, democratic and collaborative process under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, already prohibit fishing of federally managed species in the area. These prohibitions have been in place for over a decade, the analysis notes, and have been extended into the foreseeable future with the recent passage of Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The Council is actively working on extending similar protections to the New England Canyons through the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.

A petition being circulated by CLF and promoted by National Geographic notes that a “trawl could strip clear the kelp forest on Ammen Rock,” but as noted in the Saving Seafood analysis, current protections for these areas – including regulations passed as recently as June of this year – already protect areas such as Ammen Rock and the kelp forests. Saving Seafood notes that none of these areas are being considered for opening to fishing.

The Saving Seafood report also cautions against proposals to create “permanent” protections for these areas that would circumvent the process already in place to manage New England’s marine habitats. It notes that the New England Fishery Management Council has responsibility for managing Cashes Ledge and other habitat areas. Through a deliberative, consultative effort involving input from scientists, public officials, regulators, and other stakeholders, the Council has consistently protected the unique habitats on both Cashes Ledge and other areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.

According to the analysis, efforts to circumvent these procedures in pursuit of ostensibly “permanent” protections, such as a National Monument designation via the Antiquities Act, would undermine the open and democratic management process that has already resulted in the long-term protection of Cashes Ledge. Upending the regulatory process that has worked so well for so long is likely to do more harm than good, the report concludes.

Read the analysis from Saving Seafood here

Frulla & Hawkins of FSF: Doing the Math on Closed Areas

August 17, 2015 — The following is an opinion piece written by David Frulla and Anne Hawkins, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, which appears in the September 2015 issue of National Fisherman magazine:

Old closed areas, like old attitudes, die hard. After 10 years’ work, the New England Fishery Management Council took final votes in June on Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, addressing essential fish habitat protection in the Gulf of Maine, on Georges Bank and in the Great South Channel.

One last major vote involved Georges Bank. Discussions had proceeded for months about how to work within the existing alternatives to refine a carefully drawn area that closed three areas for habitat protection. The council’s choice for Georges came down to two options: doing nothing or a new alternative based on more than a decade of new scientific data and analyses. Ultimately, the council chose progress.

The argument to do nothing was driven by a false choice that has gained attention as rhetoric began to outpace the facts contained in council decision documents. For two-plus years, environmental NGOs have made the false argument that more than 7,000 square miles of allegedly pristine habitat on Georges Bank will be .thrown open to mobile bottomtending gear, to be replaced by only 2,000 square miles of habitat protections. Lost in the blizzard of misinformation is the fact that the habitat amendment subjects more area on Georges Bank to habitat management than “no action.”

And now, a warning: We’ll mire you in some details. Sound bites are easy. It’s harder to explain change involving complex analyses and choices.

The history: In December 1994, NMFS closed 6,711 square miles of Georges Bank, via the emergency enactment of Closed Areas I and II. The closure’s focus was reducing fishing mortality on cod, yellowtail and haddock to aid rebuilding. Then, in 2006, Scallop Amendment 10 and Groundfish Amendment 13 designated 1,965 square miles within the two closed areas as closures to protect habitat. The council needed to close areas to protect habitat on Georges and it decided to work within the existing groundfish closures rather than closing additional areas. The areas designated as habitat closures have remained permanently closed, while much of the remaining 4,746 square miles (6,711 minus 1, 965) have been used as scallop and/ or groundfish special access areas, among other things.

The changes: In contrast to the 1,965 square miles on Georges Bank specifically managed for habitat now under “no action,” the habitat amendment would specifically manage approximately 2,470 square miles for habitat: about two-thirds of the existing Habitat Area of Particular Concern in Closed Area II, plus some area outside it; a new Georges Shoals area, to the west, currently open to fishing; and a dedicated habitat research area within existing Closed Area I. Almost all these 2,470 square miles will be closed. Less than 10 percent would be open to scallop access area fishing, and about half that to limited groundfishing.

In addition, the habitat amendment closed for habitat approximately 1, 700 additional square miles in the Great South Channel. Most is within a new habitat of concern for juvenile Georges Bank cod. This would replace a somewhat larger closure within the Nantucket Lightship Closed Area. Virtually none of the existing area habitat closure is habitat of concern for juvenile Georges Bank cod, or anything.

When viewed across the entire Georges Bank cod stock area (Georges Bank and the Great South Channel), the habitat amendment would include roughly 4, 170 square miles for habitat management (totally closing more than 90 percent of it) versus 4,050 square miles for “no action,” and it includes far more habitat of concern for juvenile Georges Bank cod than “no action.” The habitat amendment also closes more areas that peer-reviewed analyses identify as vulnerable gravel and cobble substrate.

What of the rest of the “lost” Georges Bank and Great South Channel groundfish closures? The remaining areas include: current access areas, such as the scallop and groundfish special access areas in southern Closed Area II and central Closed Area I, and portions of the closed areas that the habitat amendment’s peer-reviewed metrics show have little to no habitat value whatsoever. The amendment does not, moreover, open these areas without restriction, but rather imposes approximately 5,500 square miles of seasonal spawning closures. Protecting spawning is the remaining conservation consideration now that quotas control groundfish fishing mortality.

The result: More, not less. Altogether, approximately 7,764 square miles of the Georges Bank cod stock area on Georges and in the Great South Channel will either be managed as-a habitat area or seasonal spawning closure. Moreover, the council designed these areas using peer-reviewed models, rather than 2006’s dead reckoning approach limited to existing groundfish closed areas. In total, across Georges Bank, the Great South Channel and the Gulf of Maine, the habitat amendment would close more area for habitat than is currently closed. As the late Paul Harvey might say, ‘.’That’s the rest of the story.”

View a PDF of the opinion piece from National Fisherman magazine here

GIB BROGAN: A Knockout Blow for American Fish Stocks

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — July 7, 2015 — Today the New York Times published an op-ed written by Oceana fisheries campaign manager Gib Brogan that is critical of both the recent Omnibus Habitat Amendment proposals approved by the New England Fishery Management Council and the members of the fishing industry who advocated for them. The op-ed is the latest attack by an environmental organization against the Council-approved version of the Omnibus Habitat Amendment, and is aimed at convincing the National Marine Fisheries Service to reject the Amendment.

Calling the measures a “knockout blow” to the region’s groundfish stocks, Mr. Brogan accuses the Council of “gutting” habitat protections. He is similarly critical of the Fisheries Survival Fund, which he describes as a “well-funded industry group” that “spends more than a quarter of a million dollars a year advocating for their interests, often at the expense of other fisheries.”

An excerpt of the op-ed is reproduced below:

First, the council is preparing to drastically reduce the amount of protected habitat in New England waters, including by nearly 80 percent around the Georges Bank. The plan would allow for expansion of bottom trawling and dredging, two of the most destructive fishing methods, into protected habitats.

In addition to gutting habitat protections, the council wants to suspend a program that places observers on fishing vessels to monitor compliance. But without monitoring the numbers of fish being taken out of the ocean, there is no way to accurately determine the health of their populations or ensure that quotas are respected.

The fishing industry had agreed to eventually pay for the monitoring. But as federal funds near expiration, later this year, the industry is trying to renege on its responsibilities by pressuring the council to eliminate the program. When the bank balance is low, it isn’t time to fire the accountant.

Pressure for even more change looms. Atlantic scallops are one of the most lucrative parts of the American fishing industry, responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shellfish every year. Scallop companies have a well-funded industry group, paradoxically named the Fisheries Survival Fund, which spends more than a quarter of a million dollars a year advocating for their interests, often at the expense of other fisheries. Dissatisfied with its current profits, the scallop industry is pushing the council to reopen portions of the most important New England cod habitat on Georges Bank, where the bottom-scraping scallop dredges would destroy any hope of rebuilding cod populations.

Similar pressure is coming from the cod, haddock and flounder industries, which are in a perpetual state of crisis as fishermen work with small catch limits that were set by managers trying to rebuild the populations. In the last two years, the New England fishery was declared a disaster and received more than $30 million in relief funding from the federal government to help with the losses. To stay viable for another year, the industries claim that they need additional access to closed areas.

Read the full opinion piece at the New York Times

Georges Bank vote sparks more debate between fishermen, environmentalists

June 21, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The world of Northeast American fisheries may have felt a seismic shift in the wake of the three-day meeting last week of the New England Fisheries Management Council. But it is much too soon for either side in the endless fishery management debate to claim a victory.

Major non-profit environmental organizations are lamenting the decision by the council to recommend reopening 5,000 square miles of Georges Bank, an area known as the Northern Edge, to fishing after a closure of two decades.

Peter Shelley, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, charged that the council ignored years of scientific data and analysis and “caved to industry pressures” regarding Georges Bank. (The council did approve four other areas of habitat protection.)

“The council hammered the final nail into the coffin of what could have been a landmark victory for ocean habitats protection in New England,” Shelley wrote on his organization’s web site.

Dr. Sarah Smith, a member of the Fisheries Solutions Center at the Environmental Defense Fund, wrote The Standard-Times in an e-mail, “We are disappointed that the council chose short-term economic gains for a few over the long-term health of the fishery, particularly struggling stocks such as Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder.

“The Council’s preferred alternative overlooks our best scientific information, and perhaps most troubling, would virtually eliminate protection for sensitive areas that serve as critical habitats for juvenile cod and other groundfish.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times