Saving Seafood

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section and Advisory Panel to Meet November 29th to Consider 2018 Fishery Specifications

September 28, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on November 29, 2017 to consider specifications for the 2018 fishing season. The AP will meet in the morning (10 – 11:30 a.m.) to formulate recommendations for the Section’s consideration, and the Section will meet in the afternoon (1 – 3:30 p.m.) to set the specifications. Both meetings are scheduled to take place at the Westin Portland Harborview, Hotel 157 High Street, Portland, Maine; 207.517.8822.

In 2016, the Section approved a moratorium for the fourth consecutive fishing season (2014-2017) based on the status of the resource, which is considered at record low levels and experiencing low recruitment since 2012. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee is currently updating the 2017 Northern Shrimp Stock Status Report, the findings of which will form the basis of the Section’s determinations for the 2018 season.  This Report will be included in the meeting materials, which will be available in early November.

For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Scallop RSA Program: 2018-2019 research proposals wanted

September 12, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in coordination with the New England Fishery Management Council, is soliciting proposals for the 2018-2019 Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program.  The application deadline is November 6, 2017.

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK:  The Scallop RSA Program was established through the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan to address scallop research priorities identified by the New England Council.  The Council adopted 2018-2019 research priorities at its June meeting in Portland, ME.

HOW IS THE RSA PROGRAM FUNDED:  Each year, 1.25 million pounds of scallops are “set aside” during the specification-setting process to carry out the program.  Awards are made in pounds, not dollars, and no federal funding is provided to conduct the research.  Proceeds generated from the sale of set-aside scallops are used to fund research activities and compensate vessels that participate in research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.

2018-2019 PRIORITIES:  Projects funded under the Scallop RSA Program must: (a) enhance understanding of the scallop resource; or (b) contribute to scallop fishery management decisions.  For the current federal funding opportunity, priority will be given to proposals that address the New England Council’s list of 2018 and 2019 research priorities.  The complete list is spelled out in detail in the 2018-2019 Atlantic Sea Scallop Federal Funding Opportunity  notice, which also contains instructions for how to submit proposals.  In very general terms, the research priority categories include:

  • HIGHEST: (#1) Survey-related research
  • HIGH: (#2) Scallop meat quality research; and (#3) bycatch research
  • MEDIUM: (#4) Turtle behavior investigations and potential impact on the Mid-Atlantic/Georges Bank scallop fishery; (#5) scallop biology projects
  • OTHER: (#6) Dredge efficiency investigations; (#7) habitat characterization research; (#8a) projects related to water quality and environmental stressors; (#8b) spat collection and seeding projects; (#9) research to identify sources of management uncertainty and potential effects on projected landings; (#10) expanded survey coverage into new or minimally sampled areas; (#11) social and economic impacts and consequences of area rotation; and (#12) investigations of non-harvest scallop mortality.

REVIEW PROCESS:  All submitted proposals will be evaluated by: (1) technical reviewers for technical merit; and (2) a management panel comprised of scallop fishermen, fishery managers, fishing industry representatives, and others closely involved with scallop fishery management issues.

RSA BACKGROUNDERS:  Learn more at RSA and everything you ever wanted to know.

QUESTIONS:  For more information about the 2018-2019 solicitation and the Scallop RSA Program in general, contact Cheryl Corbett at (508) 495-2070, cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov.

Researchers find summer heat’s lasting longer in the Gulf of Maine

The warmer conditions endure two months longer than in the early 1980s, posing threats to the food chain and raising risks from more powerful hurricanes.

September 11, 2017 — New scientific research has revealed that summer temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, the second fastest warming part of the world’s oceans, are persisting two months longer than they were as recently as the early 1980s.

The findings, by a Maine-led team of scientists, have ramifications for marine life, fishermen and the strength of hurricanes, which appear in late summer and are fueled by warm water.

“What we found was quite astonishing in that almost all the warming is in the late summer and the winter is not contributing very much at all,” says the project’s lead scientist, University of Maine oceanographer Andrew Thomas. “You can think of impacts all across the food chain, from animals that have actual temperature tolerances to the distribution of species, their prey, and even their predators, not to mention the bacteria and viruses, which we have no idea how they will react.”

The researchers used daily satellite readings collected between 1982 and 2014 to map changes in sea surface temperatures along the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, breaking out the data by month to reveal seasonal differences in warming rates. They weren’t surprised to find the strongest warming in the Gulf of Maine and adjacent Scotia Shelf – team members had worked with Andrew Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland to demonstrate this in a 2015 study – but the profound seasonal differences were unexpected.

The satellite data show warming trends across the Gulf of Maine for every month and very sharp increases during July, August and September, especially off the Maine coast. While the Gulf of Maine warmed by an average of 0.72 degrees Fahrenheit per decade during the 33-year period, the warming rate was twice that in the months of July through September, or 1.44 degrees F per decade.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald at Central Maine

Shrimp plan changes advance

September 11, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Meeting in Portland at the end of August, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section selected several final measures for inclusion in the latest revision to the Fishery Management Plan for northern shrimp.

Known as “Amendment 3,” the latest version of the plan will bring about a number of significant changes to the way the fishery is managed — if indeed the northern shrimp fishery is ever resuscitated. Because fisheries scientists believed that the northern shrimp population had collapsed, commercial shrimp fishing on the Gulf of Maine has been banned since 2014 with only an extremely limited harvest for scientific data collection purposes permitted.

Before the amendment becomes effective, it will have to be approved by the ASMFC. In its recent action, the shrimp section also recommended that the commission approve the amendment at its next meeting, tentatively scheduled to be held in Norfolk, Va., next month.

The newly recommended provisions would make several changes in both the philosophy and the practical measures affecting the management of the shrimp fishery.

The plan’s stated objectives will now call for managing the resource to support a viable fishery and will give individual states more control over the way the fishery is managed.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Fish Habitat Enhancement Talk in Portland, Oregon September 7

August 28, 2017 — The following was released by the West Coast Seafood Processors Association:

For those of you who will be in Portland, OR the evening of Thursday, September 7, please consider the following event hosted by the OR Wildlife Foundation.

You are invited to the OR Wildlife Foundation’s Thursday, 9/7 presentation at Columbia Sportswear’s downtown Portland store (6:30 PM). More information and RSVP (through the OWF Facebook page) here: http://www.myowf.org/events

The presenter is Dave Stewart, Stream Restoration Biologist for ODFW. OWF has worked closely with Dave on a succession of projects including tributaries to the Clatskanie, Clackamas, and Siletz rivers. OWF has an upcoming project on the Little Clatskanie River and two more slated for summer 2018 on tribs to the Yaquina and Siletz respectively.

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section to Meet August 31st in Portland, ME to Consider Approval of Amendment 3

August 23, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section will meet on August 31st from 1 – 3:30 PM at the Westin Portland Harborview, Winslow Homer Ballroom, 157 High Street, Portland, ME (Tel: 207.775.2411). The Section will be reviewing submitted public comment and considering final action on Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp.

While the fishery is currently under a moratorium, the Amendment considers measures to improve management of the northern shrimp resource in the event the fishery reopens. Proposed options include state-by-state allocations and accountability measures to better manage effort in the fishery. The Draft Amendment also explores the mandatory use of size sorting grate systems to minimize harvest of small (presumably male) shrimp, as well as reporting measures to ensure all harvested shrimp are being reported. 

If approved by the Section, the Amendment will be forwarded to the Commission’s Business Session for final approval in October at the Commission’s Annual Meeting.

Meeting materials for the Section meeting can be accessed at  http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/NShrimpSectionMtgMaterials_Aug2017.pdf.

A PDF version of the press release can be found here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/599da091pr38NShrimpSectionMtg_Aug2017.pdf.

Maine fishermen, scientists combine forces with goal to save shrimp fishery

A new Fisheries Management Plan has been created for the fishery that has been closed since 2014.

August 21, 2017 — For more than 20 years, Dana Hammond made close to half his annual income shrimping. But his shrimping profits began to dwindle in 2013. That season, regulators were alarmed by the lack of shrimp biomass in the Gulf of Maine, and the amount he was allowed to catch was cut 72 percent. The fishery was closed entirely in 2014. It hasn’t reopened since and Hammond, who fishes out of Portland on his boat the Nicole Leigh, has been trying to make up the deficit from his other main source of income, groundfishing.

But Hammond isn’t ready to let shrimping go. It’s an ideal winter fishery for him, allowing him to stay close to shore during rough and cold weather. He’s so vested in the future of the fishery that this summer he went to sea with the Northeast Fisheries scientists who conduct the annual summer survey, the main source of data that determines the status of the fishery every year.

“I didn’t get paid,” Hammond said. “I went anyway because I want to make sure they are doing stuff right.”

Hammond’s goal is to help the scientists be better fishermen – the more they catch, the more likely it is his fishery will reopen. Or better put, the more shrimp the survey finds, the better chance it is that there will be another season for Maine shrimpers. The survey concluded earlier in August and though its findings won’t be available until late October, it is the key to determining whether Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will decide at its meeting in early to mid-December whether to reopen the fishery for the tiny Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in 2018.

In the event that the fishery does reopen, it will likely follow different rules. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has, with the cooperation and input of local fishermen, developed a new Fisheries Management Plan, updated in consideration of the recent problems in the shrimp fishery. That plan, known as Amendment 3 will be finalized at a meeting in Portland on Aug. 31.

Typically, putting the regulatory side of a fishery in contact with those who do the fishing entails some tension, distrust even, the kind that can make for a combative relationship. The people who make their living on the water don’t want to be told what to do and how to do it, especially not by people who came up in the world of petri dishes and test tubes, not traps and trawls.

But as the Northern shrimp fishery faces the most extreme challenge in a history that spans nearly a century, the relationship between shrimpers and scientists has become, cautiously, more collaborative. The more so the better, from the perspective of fisheries biologist Peter Chase, who oversees the annual survey for the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration’s (NOAA) Northeast Fisheries Science Center. He’s used to getting a lot of questions about the survey as soon as he comes ashore in summer – starting with, “did you see a lot of shrimp?” Moreover, he understands the frustrations of the fishermen. Some of them “have been vocal about complaining about our survey,” he said. “Others have been really helpful.” Like Hammond.

“It shouldn’t be an us-versus-them thing here,” Chase said. “I don’t want to put anyone out of business.”

“We want to be in this together,” he added. “This is research that I am hoping will show that the resource is coming back.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Portland seafood company fined over $550,000 for illegally importing urchins

June 29, 2017 — A Portland seafood company has been fined more than $550,000 for violating import laws.

ISF Trading Company, located on Hobsons Wharf at 390 Commercial St., was also ordered to forfeit nearly $300,000 and was put on probation for a year by federal District Court Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. for violating the Lacey Act, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland said.

The Lacey Act prohibits trading in wildlife that has been illegally caught, owned, transported or sold.

According to federal prosecutors, ISF bought sea urchins from a supplier in Canada that wasn’t allowed, under Canadian law, to export seafood. ISF then brought the urchins into the U.S., using labels from another Canadian supplier which, at times, was allowed to export the urchins, prosecutors say.

ISF was charged with illegally importing about 48,000 pounds of sea urchins between Dec. 31, 2010, and Feb. 1, 2011. Prosecutors said the processed roe from the urchins was worth at least $172,800.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

States to host hearings on changes to squid fishery

 

April 24, 2017 — Maine and Massachusetts will host hearings about potential changes to the East Coast squid fishery.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is hosting the hearings this week. It wants to reduce the number of latent permits for certain kinds of squid.

Longfin squid are fished from Maine to Virginia, with the majority of the catch coming ashore in Rhode Island. Regulators are concerned that the amount of participation in the fishery could become unsustainable if latent permits become active.

 Longfin squid are the kind that are sold as calamari. 

 Maine’s hearing is slated for the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland on Tuesday. The Massachusetts hearing will take place at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Station in Gloucester on Wednesday.

Both are at 5 p.m.

Read the story from the Associated Press at the Boston Herald  

MAINE: South Portland considers pier improvements to support anticipated aquaculture boom

January 30, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — It’s not easy to find the Portland Street Pier, but it’s there, right off Front Street, wedged among the Sunset Marina, the Saltwater Grille restaurant and a couple of massive green fuel tanks owned by the Portland Pipe Line Corp.

There’s no sign trumpeting its location, even though it’s one of South Portland’s prime waterfront assets. The weathered gray structure at the edge of Portland Harbor is empty and icy quiet this time of year, when the docks have been pulled from the water and the nine lobstermen who use the facility from spring through fall keep their fishing boats elsewhere.

City officials are trying to change that. They’re taking steps to improve and expand the long-neglected municipal pier in the hope of turning it into an incubator for aquaculture enterprises in Casco Bay. To prove that they’re heading in the right direction, they point to the ongoing development of about 10 new aquaculture leases in the region, which could double the number of commercial operations growing mussels, oysters, scallops or seaweed in the nutrient-rich waters off Maine’s largest metropolitan center.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald