Saving Seafood

Oregon, California senators step up pressure on Trump administration to approve salmon emergency cash

October 5, 2017 — Oregon and California’s four senators, all Democrats, stepped up the pressure on the Trump administration Wednesday to approve disaster assistance for salmon fishermen along 200 miles of coastline.

In April, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages coastal salmon seasons, recommended closing coastal and commercial salmon fishing entirely along an area equal to roughly half of Oregon’s coastline. Govs. Kate Brown of Oregon and Jerry Brown of California requested emergency funding relief in May, to no avail.

The fall chinook fun on the Klamath is the biggest and is important for recreational and tribal fisherman as well as commercial fisheries. The Yurok tribe, which has preference along the waterway, also had its allocation severely curtailed this year, to roughly 650 fish. Management officials estimated returning salmon to be roughly 12,000.

Oregon has had success in securing emergency assistance for salmon fishery disasters under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Emergency funds were approved in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and their California counterparts, Sens. Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris, sent a letter Wednesday to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division urging action before the end of 2017.

Read the full story at The Oregonian

A Cheerful Story About Environmental Conservation

October 3, 2017 — October is National Seafood Month, and I have a surprise for you. It’s a cheerful story about environmental conservation. I’m serious. Don’t roll your eyes in disbelief and click away to Facebook right now; stay with me. I know the headlines about the environment have been dire recently, particularly when it comes to seafood. But when I learned the story of West Coast groundfish, a true story about people with diverse perspectives banding together and taking action — and the action worked! — I was floored. And moved, because this could become a model of success for fisheries across the globe.

First, a deep dive

In late 1999, West Coast groundfish fishermen were seeing landings plummet drastically, from a 20-year average of about 74,000 tons annually to an estimated 27,000 tons for the year 2000. At the time, the cause of the crash was deemed “undetermined, but probably natural, causes,” but stock assessments between 1999 and 2002 determined that overfishing (fish being caught faster than they could breed) played a part in the crash. The Pacific Fishery Management Council and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) declared 10 species of West Coast groundfish overfished. The environment had suffered as well, with seafloor habitats damaged by certain types of fishing gear.

Groundfish get grounded

When a stock is deemed overfished, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires regulators to develop a plan to rebuild the stock in as short a time as possible, while balancing and incorporating the needs of the fishing community.

Historically, fisherfolk and government regulators have had contentious relationships. Complex regulations can make the hard day-to-day work of fishing even harder. And then there are the environmentalists, who frequently have contentious relationships with both parties. But in the face of the West Coast groundfish disaster, something unprecedented occurred: fishermen, regulators, and conservationists sat down and worked together to save West Coast groundfish.

It wasn’t easy, especially for the fishermen. A management plan was put into place that included individual fishing quotas (IFQs) or “catch shares,” which meant that they had to accept drastic cutbacks on the number of fish they could catch, even species that weren’t overfished because of the possibility of bycatch, or catching a non-targeted species while catching a targeted species. The management plan also included area restrictions, seasonal closures, gear restrictions, and a mandate that a federal observer be on every fishing trip to monitor bycatch.

Read the full story at HuffPost

Environmental group sues after Trump administration scraps effort to protect West Coast sea animals

July 14, 2017 — An environmental group has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s withdrawal of proposed limits on the number of endangered whales, dolphins and sea turtles that can be killed or injured by sword-fishing nets on the West Coast.

Oceana Inc., which lodged the case late Wednesday in Los Angeles, alleges that the government violated required procedures for rescinding the proposed caps that had been recommended in 2015 by the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Named as defendants in the U.S. District Court case are Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“The withdrawal of this important protection for whales, sea turtles, and other species is plainly illegal,” said Mariel Combs, Oceana’s attorney. “The law requires the fisheries service to respect the fishery management council’s expertise in managing fisheries.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

TWO IMPORTANT WEST COAST GROUNDFISH STOCKS REBUILT

June 20, 2017 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

Two important West Coast groundfish stocks that were formerly overfished have now been rebuilt.

Bocaccio and darkblotched rockfish, which are managed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, were under strict rebuilding plans that have constrained West Coast fisheries for more than a decade. Bocaccio was declared overfished in 1999, and darkblotched rockfish in 2000; both were rebuilt well before their original target dates.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils that manage ocean fisheries in the United States. Altogether, the Pacific Council manages more than 100 species of groundfish.

Managing groundfish fisheries under rebuilding plans has been an immense challenge for the Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries). These plans required sharp reductions in commercial and recreational fisheries targeting groundfish, which included widespread fishing closures through the establishment of Rockfish Conservation Areas off the West Coast and other measures. Since 2003, managing overfished species through area closures such as the Rockfish Conservation Areas has helped to reduce fishing impacts and rebuild overfished groundfish species.

In addition, the groundfish fleet has had to limit fishing for other more abundant species to avoid unintentional catch of the overfished stocks.

“The rebuilding strategies used to achieve this conservation success, coupled with favorable environmental conditions for groundfish productivity, have paid huge dividends in rebuilding our overfished groundfish stocks and resurrecting West Coast groundfish fisheries,” said Council Chair Herb Pollard.

The successful rebuilding of these species reflects the support and sacrifice of West Coast ports and fishermen who recognized the difficult actions and fishing cutbacks necessary to restore the stocks. The rebuilding of bocaccio and darkblotched rockfish will lead to increased harvest opportunities beginning in 2019.

“By working together, we’ve brought bocaccio and darkblotched rockfish back to where they will again be part of a sustainable West Coast groundfish fishery that creates renewed opportunity for the fishing fleet, as well as more options for seafood consumers,” said Barry Thom, Regional Administrator of NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region.

Between 1999 and 2017, ten West Coast groundfish stocks were declared overfished, as surveys documented their declining numbers. Pacific whiting, for example, was declared overfished in 2002. The Council, working with NOAA Fisheries and the fishing industry, reduced commercial harvests. Combined with strong reproduction and recruitment, the fishing cutbacks led to the rapid rebuilding of Pacific whiting by 2004. The Council and NOAA Fisheries developed rebuilding plans for the other nine overfished stocks—bocaccio, darkblotched rockfish, lingcod, canary rockfish, cowcod, Pacific ocean perch, widow rockfish, petrale sole, and yelloweye rockfish.

Lingcod was declared rebuilt in 2005, and widow rockfish in 2012. Both petrale sole and canary rockfish were declared rebuilt in 2015. Rebuilding plans remain in place for three remaining overfished species: cowcod, Pacific ocean perch, and yelloweye rockfish. New assessments for Pacific ocean perch and yelloweye rockfish will be reviewed this summer and may be adopted in September. Cowcod is expected to be rebuilt by 2019.

“The Council is a transparent, science-based, inclusive approach to fisheries management,” said Council Executive Director Chuck Tracy. “Our progress in rebuilding overfished stocks shows the effectiveness of this approach. West Coast fisheries are a model of sustainable resource management, and they will continue to provide healthy seafood, jobs, and support for coastal communities, as well as access to this resource for all Americans.”

Process

The bocaccio and darkblotched rockfish assessments were developed by scientists at NOAA Fisheries and were reviewed by the Council’s scientific advisory bodies.  NOAA Fisheries confirmed the stocks’ status as rebuilt on June 16.

Council Role  

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries 3‐200 nautical miles offshore of the United States of America coastline.  The Pacific Council recommends management measures for fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

U.S. West Coast Fisheries Revitalized by Catch-Share System

June 16, 2017 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has published its new, comprehensive analysis of the impact of sustainable seafood certification in safeguarding our marine resources. The MSC Global Impacts Report 2017 spotlights the U.S. West Coast groundfish trawl among more than a thousand examples of positive change made by certified fisheries to safeguard fish stocks and marine habitats.

The turnaround of the U.S. West Coast groundfish trawl, which received a disaster declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in 2000, is a true American success story. Between the 1980s and 2000s, landings dropped by 70 percent. Fishing communities suffered as revenues fell from US$47.3 million in 1997 to US$22.2 million in 2007. In 2011, under the advice of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Pacific Fishery Management Council took the then-controversial decision to introduce an individual fishery quota system.

The system has been described by NOAA as the biggest transformation in fish management for more than a generation. Since its introduction, fishers have made fewer trips each week, landed more of the fish that they catch, and earned higher revenue for each fishing trip. Importantly, bycatch and discards have dropped substantially with catch of rebuilding stocks 50 percent lower than before the catch-share system was introduced. For example, the discard rate of darkblotched rockfish dropped from 51 percent to just 2 percent and for bocaccio rockfish it fell from 80 percent to less than 1 percent.

In 2014, MSC certification provided valuable recognition of this transformation and ushered in further improvements. Since becoming certified, the fishery client has continued to work closely with NOAA and has fostered strong collaborations with international non-profit organizations.

Representing the U.S. West Coast groundfish trawl fisheries, Brad Pettinger, Director of the Oregon Trawl Commission, said: “In gaining MSC certification for this fishery, what we really did was to renew the social contract that we have with the public, providing assurance that we are fishing sustainably and in a manner that is consistent with the public’s high expectation.”

The MSC report provides governments, industry and NGOs with evidence for credible certification as a powerful tool to catalyze and secure improvements in marine fisheries. The findings were released just ahead of the United Nations (UN) Oceans Conference, which convened in New York last week to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, which calls to conserve and sustainably use the oceans.

“When people purchase MSC certified seafood, their choice supports fishermen around the world who are working hard to meet the world’s most rigorous standard for environmental sustainability,” said Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas. “We’re extremely proud of the MSC certified U.S. West Coast groundfish trawl fishery and fisheries around the globe working to safeguard seafood supplies for the future.”

With certified fisheries currently comprising 12% of global marine catch, the MSC’s goal is for 20% of all wild caught seafood to come from fisheries engaged in the MSC program by 2020. The report clearly demonstrates that with the correct incentives and actions fisheries can achieve the sustainable performance required to meet the SDGs.

A catalyst for change in habitats and ecosystems management

The MSC report shows that 94% of fisheries entering the program have made at least one improvement to achieve or maintain certification, totaling more than 1,200 over the last 16 years. Of these, 117 actions by 39 fisheries contributed to improving habitat status, management and information. In total, MSC certified fisheries have been involved with 46 new scientific research projects as part of efforts to better understand and minimize impacts on habitats.

Our oceans, our future – more to do

Roughly half of fisheries which complete voluntary pre-assessment to the MSC Fisheries Standard do not progress to full assessment, suggesting that they have work to do to reach the requirements of certification.

The MSC Global Impacts Report maps the location of certified fisheries in large marine ecosystems (LMEs) around the world, showing the proportion of MSC certified fisheries in areas of international importance to biodiversity. The maps reveal a need to support small-scale fisheries, particularly those in developing countries, on the road to sustainability. The MSC is developing new tools and investing in scientific research to support fisheries in achieving MSC certification.

In order for these initiatives to have impact at scale, the MSC encourages the international community meeting at the UN to support market-based incentive mechanisms, including certification, as an essential tool to contribute to realizing the SDGs. Consumers can also play their part by choosing seafood with the blue MSC label.

Read the MSC’s commitment to SDG 14

The MSC program is recognized in the UN Concept Paper for Partnership dialogue as a promising tool for developing partnerships and sustainable seafood supply chains.

Controversial drift-gill net fishery wins long-fought battle

June 13, 2017 — Federal fishery managers denied a proposal this week to immediately shut down Southern California’s most controversial fishery in the event that wide-mesh gill nets accidentally kill a handful of certain marine mammals or sea turtle species.

The swordfish and thresher shark fishery will remain open, even if it kills several whales or sea turtles, the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries decided.

The decision not to institute so-called hard caps on the fishery comes after a public review period initiated last year was extended to discuss the law proposed by the state’s Pacific Fishery Management Council in 2014.

For the few dozen fishers who still catch swordfish and thresher sharks off Southern California in deep-water drift gill nets, the decision brought a big sigh of relief.

“It’s a great feeling to know that NOAA is using science and not political pressure to decide this issue,” said longtime local fisherman David Haworth. “We have just a few people fighting against millions of environmentalists who think taking one of anything is too many: That would be great, but we have to feed the whole world.”

The decision was a blow to Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and other conservation groups that have lobbied for years to close the fishery.

“We’re disappointed that NOAA Fisheries decided to abandon these plans. It’s a long time coming,” said Paul Shively, project director for The Pew Charitable Trusts. “We did a poll (in 2015) that showed overwhelming support with Californians to shut down the fishery.

“This still remains the most harmful fishery on the West Coast when it comes to marine mammals and sea turtles.”

Read the full story at the Daily Breeze

Trump administration cancels proposed limits on marine mammals and sea turtles trapped in fishing nets

June 12, 2017 — The Trump administration announced Monday that it has canceled proposed limits on the number of endangered whales, dolphins and sea turtles that can be killed or injured by sword-fishing nets on the West Coast.

Although the restriction, proposed in 2015, was supported by both the fishing industry and environmental groups, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division said studies show that the pending rule is not warranted because other protections have dramatically reduced the number of marine mammals and turtles trapped in long, drifting gill nets.

“The fishery has been under pressure for years to reduce its impact, and it has been very successful doing that,” said Michael Milstein, a NOAA fisheries spokesman. “The cap would have imposed a cost on the industry to solve a problem that has already been addressed.”

The decision brought immediate criticism from environmental groups that had joined the Pacific Fishery Management Council in an effort to further protect a variety of marine mammals and turtles.

The list included endangered fin, humpback, and sperm whales; short-finned pilot whales and common bottlenose dolphins; as well as endangered leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles and green sea turtles.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

West Coast Senators Add Voices To Request For Salmon Disaster Declaration

June 9, 2017 — Four West Coast senators are calling on the Trump administration to declare a salmon fishery emergency and provide aid to economically struggling coastal communities.

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon — as well as Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris from California — released a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Friday calling for the declaration. It comes in the wake of a similar appeal two weeks ago from the two states’ governors, Kate Brown of Oregon and Jerry Brown of California.

So far, the Trump administration has not publicly responded.

Concerns about idled salmon fishing fleets this year were raised after recommendations to restrict salmon fishing off the coasts of California and Oregon.

Read the full story at KUOW

California, Oregon governors request salmon disaster declaration

May 26, 2017 — California Gov. Jerry Brown and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called on the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Thursday to declare a federal fisheries disaster due to this year’s unprecedented low number of ocean salmon, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The disaster declaration would allow Congress to appropriate relief funds to aid losses sustained by the salmon fishing fleet in California and Oregon. North Coast representatives including state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) had asked Jerry Brown to request a disaster declaration earlier this year after the Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended restricting salmon fishing off the coasts of California and Oregon.

Ocean salmon fishing for Klamath River salmon is completely closed this year after the council predicted the lowest return of spawning Chinook salmon on record at about 12,000 fish.

Tribes, fishing organizations and North Coast representatives praised the governors’ requests on Thursday.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

NMFS OKs new electronic fisheries monitoring system

May 10, 2017 — The Pacific Fishery Management Council on April 27 recommended new regulations governing the use of electronic equipment to monitor at-sea discards of target, non-target and prohibited fish for certain West Coast groundfish fisheries. If approved by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), this will mark the culmination of a four-year process to develop and implement regulations for electronic monitoring system use in these fisheries.

“For many fishing operations, electronic monitoring will provide a more cost-effective way to meet 100 percent monitoring requirements. This will allow fishermen the flexibility to choose the monitoring method that makes the most sense for them while maintaining full accountability,” Council Member Dorothy Lowman said in a press release.

Under the council’s catch share program, every vessel must carry a human observer to help monitor catch that is allocated to each vessel owner, including discards that happen at sea. Each owner has a share of the total catch allocation and the program requires that each vessel have “quota pounds” to cover its catch of nearly all groundfish species. The catch share program relies on at-sea monitoring to ensure that discards are accurately identified with an estimated weight so that vessel quotas are properly tracked.

However, fishermen must pay as much as $500 per day for an observer, and must schedule deployment of an observer when a vessel is ready to fish. The electronic monitoring program is expected to increase flexibility while reducing operating costs for fishermen.

An electronic monitoring system collects video images of fishing activity with cameras, uses gear sensors to trigger recording and monitor use, and includes a Global Positioning System to collect location data. It then stores this information on a computer hard drive for review at a later date at a mainland facility, where a person reviews the video to monitor the fishing activity. Under the West Coast electronic monitoring program, the video images will be used to verify the species and amount of discarded fish that is recorded in a fisherman’s logbook.

Read the full story at The Daily Astorian