Saving Seafood

JESSICA HATHAWAY: What fishermen want: Process not politics

June 10, 2020 — I had the honor of being in the press pool for the presidential fisheries roundtable last Friday. When the conversation came around to the input from industry reps, there seemed be some confusion about whether the removal of commercial fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument was going to benefit the people at the table.

With the exception of Jon Williams, who fishes red crab traps in the monument area, that’s not why they were there. The truth is, most of the panelists have never and would never fish in the monument area. Even if this declaration weren’t destined to be tied up in court, the oversight of this habitat area would revert back to the New England Fishery Management Council, which implemented protections in 2002 and extended them in 2015.

The panelists’ support was not based on their personal vested interest in fishing that area. Rather, it was a philosophical objection to the process of declaring marine monuments. So what’s all the fuss, anyway?

The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the president the power to declare monuments on lands owned or controlled by the federal government.

The use of the act in marine environments is different because ALL of our ocean rights are controlled by government — state governments out to three miles and federal government from three to 200 miles. U.S. citizens cannot own water unless we own all the land surrounding and under that water. Otherwise, we can only own *access* to water.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Sets the 2020 Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Quota

April 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is setting the 2020 Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery quota, including a 2,000-mt annual catch limit and total allowable landings limit, as recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council.

This rule includes two regulatory updates:

  1. Revising the specifications timeframe from 3 to 4 years to match the recently updated Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s stock assessment schedule.
  2. Removing an outdated and unnecessary regulation that requires the Red Crab Plan Development Team to meet annually to review the status of the fishery.

Read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register and supporting documents on the Council’s website.

Read the full release here

NFI Red Crab Council Remains Committed to Improving Chinese Crab Fishery

March 17, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute’s Red Crab Council will continue to fund and support its Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in China. The comprehensive FIP is focused on improving crab production in Fujian Province, the leading harvesting region in China for red crab.

“For so many reasons the operating climate around red crab, from a trade perspective, is challenging these days,” said Newport International President Anjan Tharakan, the NFI Red Crab Council Chair. “It would be easy to see why companies might say they don’t want to participate in this work right now. But not one company did. This is a committed group.”

The Council’s project partner on the ground in China is Ocean Outcomes (O2), who coordinates with fishery stakeholders, government interests and the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance to keep the FIP moving in the right direction.

The NFI Red Crab Council funds the work by assessing a fee on each of its members based on the number of pounds they import each quarter.

“Like most FIPs, this project has its challenges on the water, but when your primary source of funding off the water is directly dependent on trade volume, and tariffs enter the picture, that makes things even more challenging,” said O2 Founder and Senior Advisor Rich Lincoln. “To be able to continue the work in China with local fishery stakeholders will allow us to build on the momentum we’ve generated and ensure this important FIP remains on track.”

The status of the Fujian Red Crab FIP is updated biannually on fisheryprogress.org. Its 2019 work focused on implementation of catch, biological and effort data collection, harvest strategy evaluation, and lost fishing gear assessment.

The NFI Red Crab Council is the leading precompetitive collaboration effort focused solely on the sustainability of Red Swimming Crab. The Council is committed to collaborating on Red Crab Fisheries Improvement Projects globally.

NOAA Fisheries Proposes 2020-2023 Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Quotas

February 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing specifications for the 2020 Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery, including an annual catch limit and total allowable landings limit. We are also proposing projected quotas for 2021-2023.

The New England Fishery Management Council recommended increasing the red crab fishery quota 12.7 percent to 2,000 metric tons for fishing years 2020-2023.  Landings from 2013-2018 were below this quota, but have been increasing.

This rule proposes two regulatory updates:

  1. Revising the specifications timeframe from 3 to 4 years to match the recently updated Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s stock assessment schedule.
  2. Removing an outdated and unnecessary regulation that requires the Red Crab Plan Development Team to meet annually to review the status of the fishery.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register and supporting documents on the Council’s website.

The comment period is open through March 6.

You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2020-0007, by either one of the following methods:

  • Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal. Go to our e-rulemaking portal, click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
  • Mail: Submit written comments to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Please mark the outside of the envelope, “Comments on the Red Crab Proposed Rule.”

Read the full release here

NEFMC Approves 2020-2023 Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Specs; TAL Increase by 12.7 Percent

September 27, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England Fishery Management Council voted on new specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery. The total allowable catch landings will increase by 12.7 percent for the next four fishing years.

The typically stable fishery also saw a 225 metric ton increase, jumping to a TAL of 2,000 mt. Previously, the cap sat at 1,775 mt for the last three spec cycles.

The decision was supported due to recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), which provided the best possible information for a stock that is considered, “data-poor.”

The SSC cited that the fishery, even under the previous catch limit was operating under quota and it has not hurt the population. It also found that economic performance of the fishery wouldn’t be impact and the increase should be accompanied by “precautionary monitoring for a negative response.”

Now, NOAA must review and approve the new specs before the landings limit can be implemented.

The red crab fishing season begins on March 1.

The council’s spec package said: “While the proposed 12.7% increase in the TAL is likely to increase landings, a review of recent fishery information and long-term trends point to a stable fishery. Further, this is a small, cooperative fishery with four active vessels … (that have) supported industry-funded research to improve data available for this fishery.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

New England Fishery Management Council approves red crab fishery totals

September 24, 2019 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) decided on new specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery a recent meeting on 24 September.

The council, which is meeting from 23 through 26 September, has increased the total allowable landings of the fishery by 12.7 percent for the next four fishing years. The proposed catch for the years 2020 to 2023 will now by 2,000 metric tons (MT), an increase of 225 MT over the 1,775 MT that the fishery has used for the last three specification cycles, according to a release from the NEFMC.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NEFMC Approves 2020-2023 Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Specs

September 24, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today voted on new specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery that will increase total allowable landings (TAL) by 12.7% for the next four fishing years. The proposed TAL for 2020-2023 is 2,000 metric tons (mt), a 225-mt increase from the long-standing 1,775-mt landings cap that has guided this fishery for the past three specification cycles.

The Council supported the increase based on a recommendation from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), which used the best information available for this “data poor” stock. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) must review and approve the new specifications before the revised landing limit can be implemented. The red crab fishing year begins on March 1.

Read the full release here

Russian Investors with No Crab History Closer to Grabbing Share of Lucrative Crab Quotas

August 29, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Russian red king crab fishery is the most valuable crab fishery in the world, and has long attracted the attention of poachers, oligarchs, and the Russian government.

For years the government has waged a campaign against poaching, which was often undermined by bribery of border guards and local officials.  However, poaching is less of an issue now because, first, the Russians increased the quotas to allow more legal harvest, and second, the legal harvesters began pushing for enforcement as well, to protect their products from cheaper competition.

Russia has a ten year cycle for crab quotas, and another auction is coming up.

Ten years ago, to bid in the auction companies needed to demonstrate a history in the fishery.

Subsequently, the Russian government has targeted investment in domestic processing and ship building as a key national objective to be obtained through trading awards of fish quotas to companies who make investments.

The Russian Fishing Company, associated with Gleb Frank, a close advisor to Vladimir Putin, has taken advantage of this to raise funds for a number of Russian built pollock trawlers and domestic processing plants.

Other oligarchs have also come into the fishing business as fishing is one of the fastest growing Russian agricultural segments, and investments are not hindered by international sanctions.

Salmon and trout producer Russian Aquaculture is the largest player in the Russian fish business with a 22% market share and is growing fast. The partners of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich acquired 25% in South Sakhalin fishing company Poronay, while Agama RT bought 49.99% in Russian Cod, controlled by a subsidiary of Russian Industrial Fish Company (RRPK) of Gleb Frank, the son-in-law of oligarch and Kremlin insider Gennady Timchenko.

Reportedly it was Gleb Frank’s RRPK which suggested to Vladimir Putin to redistribute crab quotas through auctions in autumn 2017, unnamed market participants told the Russian Vedomosti newspaper. RRPK has entered the market recently and spent a record-high RUB10bn on crab fishing quotas in May 2017.

The government could raise additional RUB 80bn-200bn from auctioning the quotas the state fishing agency Rosribolovstvo estimated, according to Tass.

Traditional participants in the Far East Crab industry fear getting cut back.  The governor of Primorsky region warned Putin that the local communities would suffer if this proposal is adopted. ‘Fishing Villages don’t have the money to go out and buy quota,” he said.

Further Far East companies have invested over $2 billion US in quotas from 2001 to 2017, and withdrawing quotas from these companies would lead to disruption of operations and investments by regional players.

The war over crab quotas has played out among different Russian Agencies, in particular with Rosribolovstvo the fisheries agency supporting quota auctions, and the FSB, the federal investigative service, attacking foreign ownership and trying to discredit or force sales from some previous quota holders.  The FSB has generally been thought to be attacking existing companies to force them into a situation where they can be bought by new Russian buyers.

It now appears that the government is going forward with awarding 50% of the quota in the upcoming crab auctions to “investors” without prior fishing history as a requirement.  This was announced officially as a government decree, according to the Vedomosti Daily.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Documents Released on Trump Administration Defense of National Monument Actions

July 25, 2018 — In today’s print edition, the Washington Post published an article by Juliet Eilperin on the Trump administration and national monuments. The article, based on internal documents from the Interior Department, was critical of senior officials for allegedly dismissing positive information on the benefits of national monuments.

The majority of the story focused on land-based monuments, but with regard to marine monuments, the Post reported that,“On Sept. 11, 2017, Randal Bowman, the lead staffer for the review, suggested deleting language that most fishing vessels near the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument ‘generated 5% or less of their annual landings from within the monument’ because it ‘undercuts the case for the ban being harmful.’”

Saving Seafood executive director Bob Vanasse was quoted in the article noting that “‘Trump administration officials have been more open to outside input than their predecessors.’ … ‘They had a lot of meetings with our folks but didn’t listen,’ he said of Obama officials, adding even some Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the New England marine monument’s fishing restrictions.”

The article suggested that Mr. Bowman, a career Interior Department employee and not a Trump administration appointee, purposefully excised information from logbook data indicating that, on the whole, most vessels fishing near the monument generate just 5 percent of their landings from within the monument.

However, there are valid reasons to be cautious about the logbook-data driven 5 percent statistic. There are more sources available to characterize fishing activity – in addition to just logbooks, formally known as “vessel trip reports”, which was the sole source cited in the email referenced in the Post story. While, as the material references states, the information comes from NOAA and the fishery management councils so it can be presumed accurate, the context is missing.

An Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) survey identified recent (2014-2015) fishing activity within the boundaries of the National Monument that, if the Obama executive order is not reversed, will be closed to the fishery in the future. The results indicate that 12-14 percent of the offshore lobster fishery effort and 13-14 percent of revenue ($2.4-2.8 million annually) for the lobster and Jonah crab fishery comes from the area of the National Monument. This revenue is significantly higher than that derived from the vessel trip report (logbook) analysis, which is only about $0.7 million annually.

The document cited in the Post story correctly cites the $2.4-$2.8 million annual revenue in those fisheries, but it does not make clear the significant percentage of offshore revenue that comes from the monument area. Similarly, when the document cites $1.8 million from the Monument region annually (2010-2015), that includes only the $0.7 million lobster trap revenues derived from vessel trip reports, not the total indicated by the ASMFC survey for more recent years.

While it is generally accurate, if one looks at the entire fishing industry in the region, to make the statement that only a small number of vessels derive more than 5 percent of their revenue from the Monument area, for those vessels and fisheries that conduct significant portions of their operations in the monument area, the economic harm is significant.

Also, in a document attached to the story, a margin comment erroneously states that NOAA advised the Interior Department that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for red crab was “revoked.” That is not the case. In 2009, the red crab fishery became the first MSC-certified fishery on the East Coast. The certification was never revoked. The certification expired because the participants in the fishery determined that the cost to pursue renewal of the certification exceeded the financial benefits they anticipated would arise from maintaining it, and they decided voluntarily to allow it to lapse.

Read the full Washington Post story

Read further coverage of this story from E&E News

Court Battle Continues Over Atlantic Ocean’s First-Ever National Monument

April 18, 2018 — Commercial fishing groups are joining in federal court to challenge the creation of the Atlantic Ocean’s first-ever marine national monument. But the federal government is now asking for the case to be tossed out.

At stake is the future of roughly 5,000 square miles off the coast of Massachusetts, called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.

President Barack Obama used the federal Antiquities Act to protect the zone in 2016. His office said it contained critical wildlife habitat.

The order stopped commercial fishing there, but did allow red crab and lobster fisheries a seven-year window to close up shop.

Read the full story at New England Public Radio