Saving Seafood

ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Board Initiates Amendment 7 to Address Longstanding Fishery Management Issues

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board initiated the development of an Amendment to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan. As the first step in the development of a new FMP or amendment, the Public Information Document (PID) will focus on the following management topics: (1) fishery goals and objectives; (2) stock rebuilding/timeframe; (3) management triggers; (4) biological reference points; (5) regional management (recreational measures, coastal and producer areas, regional reference points); (6) recreational discard mortality; (7) conservation equivalency; (8) recreational accountability; and (9) coastal commercial quota allocation. The purpose of the PID is to solicit stakeholder input on prioritizing the importance of each topic for continued development and inclusion in the Draft Amendment.

“Now that Addendum VI measures are in place and stock rebuilding has been initiated, the Board can focus on addressing a number of issues that have been at the forefront of striped bass management for a long time,” stated Board Chair David Borden of Rhode Island.

Between the Spring and Summer Meetings, a Work Group of Board members met to discuss significant issues facing striped bass management. The Board agreed that all of the issues discussed by the Work Group are extremely important and complex, and deserve significant thought and consideration. Furthermore, the prioritization of issues to be addressed by the Amendment should be guided by stakeholder input.

“Given it’s been 17 years since the Board last considered a new plan amendment to the striped bass management program, the Board intends to be very thoughtful and deliberative as it proceeds with the development of this Amendment,” stated Mr. Borden. “It’s important that we provide the public with sufficient background information in order to solicit effective feedback from all stakeholders and ensure the Draft Amendment addresses the most pressing issues at this time.”

During its deliberations, Board members discussed the importance of addressing discard mortality in recreational striped bass fisheries given discards significantly contribute to total fishing mortality. As a result, the Board tasked the Plan Development Team and Technical Committee to review factors limiting the accuracy of discard mortality estimates for stock assessment purposes, and to identify potential actions that could improve understanding or help reduce discard mortality in the fishery.

The Work Group Report, which can be found here, will serve as the foundation of the Draft PID. The Board will review the first draft of the PID at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in October. At that meeting, the Board will determine if the PID is ready to be sent out for public comment or if further modifications to the document are needed. Given current, and possibly future, meeting restrictions due to COVID-19, public hearings may be conducted via webinar.

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

New app connects Rhode Island fishermen directly with customers

August 3, 2020 — Hit hard by restaurant closures due to the coronavirus, Rhode Island fishermen welcomed a 120-day pilot program announced in May by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management that allows them to sell directly to consumers.

Now, there’s a free app called “FishLine” that shows which fishermen are selling which types of fish and where to find them. The app is a collaboration between the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative, the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, Eating with the Ecosystem and Rhode Island Sea Grant.

Westerly fisherman Josiah Dodge fishes for lobster, black sea bass, fluke, scup and sea robin from his vessel, F/V Cricket. Dodge’s family has been fishing since 1661, but having a long history in the industry doesn’t mean he’s not open to new ideas.

“This app is super helpful and really easy to use, and hopefully, more people catch on to it down here,” he said.

Dodge and other participating fishermen can be found on the FishLine app under the tab “Find Seafood.” The user enters a zip code and the app finds fishermen close by. Clicking on an individual fisherman will bring up GPS coordinates that will guide the user to the vessel.

Read the full story at The Westerly Sun

Researcher to Map Commercial Fishing Activity to Reduce Fishing, Wind Industry Conflict

July 29, 2020 — A natural resource economist from the University of Rhode Island will document where commercial fishing is conducting in southern New England waters to help reduce the conflict between the region’s fishermen and the wind industry.

“I’m exploring a new way of improving spatial planning for offshore wind,” said URI Associate Professor Thomas Sproul. “One of the biggest sources of delay in the regulatory process for offshore wind has been because of the conflicts with commercial fishing.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

JOB OPENING: CFRF Research Associate

July 29, 2020 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation:

The CFRF is seeking a motivated and qualified individual for the position of Full-time Research Associate to start September 2020. Applications are due by August 12, 2020.

A full description of this job opening and application instructions are available HERE.

Overview of Position: Full-time position focusing on leading the communication aspects of CFRF’s research portfolio. This includes leading two projects focused on the communication of environmental change to fishing communities.

Timeframe and Compensation: The position will last for one year, beginning in September 2020. The Research Associate will maintain an average of 35 hours of work/week, will receive compensation at a rate of $48,00-$52,000/year, depending on qualifications, and benefits of paid holiday and vacation time.

Scope of Work: The qualified applicant will be responsible for helping CFRF Research Biologists and the Executive Director communicate project results and CFRF’s mission to a variety of stakeholders. All CFRF projects have an outreach component that this position will assist in. The individual will also lead two projects that seek to communicate the impacts of ocean acidification on the scallop fishery and changes on the New England shelf related to intrusions of warm, salty water.

Location: : The Research Associate will work from the CFRF office located in the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island building on the East Farm Campus of the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI) as well as from their home office.

Qualifications: See full position description for minimum and preferred qualifications.
To Apply: Email a cover letter, CV, and contact information for three professional references to twinneg@cfrfoundation.org by August 12, 2020.

Questions: Contact Teresa Winneg at twinneg@cfrfoundation.org or 401-515-4890. Please visit here for additional background information www.cfrfoundation.org.

Massachusetts Lawmakers Call for Observer Waiver to Continue Past July 31

July 28, 2020 — With just days left before the redeployment of observers will begin in the Greater Atlantic Region, Massachusetts lawmakers called on NOAA Fisheries to extend the waiver of fishery observers as long as is necessary.

In a letter to NOAA leadership, the delegation asked for a delay of the at-sea monitoring requirement for the Northeast groundfish fishery citing rising cases in coastal areas in the region including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia communities.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Rhode Island Targets 100 Percent Renewable by 2030

July 28, 2020 — Rhode Island has embarked on its goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Getting there is a work in progress, but the target will likely be reached without doing much outside of existing renewable-energy initiatives and hoping that offshore wind development reaches critical mass.

Based on an Office of Energy Resources PowerPoint presentation given at a July 9 online public workshop, the state has a fairly simple math problem to solve. Rhode Island consumes about 7,200 gigawatts of electricity annually. The offshore Revolution Wind project will deliver about 1,300 gigawatts once it goes online, which is expected in 2024. Other long-term contracts the state has with power producers, such as the the Gravel Pit Solar II project in East Windsor, Conn., will account for about 400 gigawatts. Net metering and the state’s fixed-price contract program deliver some 1,200 gigawatts. That leaves about 4,300 gigawatts, or about 40 percent, of Rhode Island’s annual electricity consumption to be filled for the state’s renewable-energy goal to be achieved.

The solutions under consideration by the Office of Energy Resources (OER) are expected to rely on renewable-energy programs like the Renewable Energy Standard (RES). The state mandate requires National Grid to make annual increases in the amount of renewable energy it delivers to ratepayers. It does so by buying renewable-energy credits (RECs) from wind turbines, solar facilities, and other qualified power systems in New England and New York.

Read the full story at EcoRI

URI researcher to map commercial fishing activity to help reduce conflict between fishing, wind industries

July 27, 2020 — The following was released by The University of Rhode Island:

A University of Rhode Island natural resource economist has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to create a new way of documenting where commercial fishing is conducted in southern New England waters. The project is aimed at reducing conflict between the fishing industry and offshore wind farm developers.

“I’m exploring a new way of improving spatial planning for offshore wind,” said URI Associate Professor Thomas Sproul. “One of the biggest sources of delay in the regulatory process for offshore wind has been because of the conflicts with commercial fishing.”

He said that while the National Marine Fisheries Service collects a variety of data about the fishing industry, limited information is available about where commercial fishing occurs.

“There isn’t a consensus map of the ocean that says, for instance, if you put a wind turbine here, it affects 30 percent of the squid fishery,” Sproul said.

He will be taking a novel approach to the problem by combining existing data from numerous sources, including the Automatic Identification System, which identifies the location of every fishing vessel over 65-feet long every minute of every day it is at sea. It will be combined with the government’s vessel monitoring system and vessel trip reports, along with seafood dealer reports, Coast Guard registry records, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ship-board observer program.

Read the full release here

JOB OPENING: CFRF Research Biologist

July 22, 2020 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation:

The CFRF is seeking a motivated and qualified individual to fill the position of a Full-time Research Biologist in August 2020. Applications are due by August 5, 2020.

A full description of this job opening with qualifications and application instructions is available HERE.

Overview of Position: Full-time position focusing on collaborating with the commercial fishing industry to execute pre-development fisheries monitoring surveys. The individual will also assist in other CFRF research initiatives at the direction of the Executive Director.

Timeframe and Compensation: The position will last for one year, beginning in August 2020. The research biologist will receive compensation at a rate of $48,00-$52,000/year, depending on qualifications, and benefits of paid holiday and personal time.

Scope of Work: CFRF and local commercial fishermen are conducting a suite of surveys to collect pre-construction biological and environmental data in wind farm development and reference areas. The qualified applicant will be key to the completion of these surveys, including serving as the overall project lead for a trawl-based survey.

Location: The Research Biologist will work from the CFRF office located in the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island building on the East Farm Campus of the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI) as well as from their home office. Surveys will be one-day trips leaving from Point Judith, Newport, or Sakonnet, Rhode Island.

Qualifications: See full position description for minimum and preferred qualifications.

To Apply: Email a cover letter, CV, and contact information for three professional references to twinneg@cfrfoundation.org by August 5, 2020.

Questions: Contact Teresa Winneg at twinneg@cfrfoundation.org or 401-515-4890. Please visit here for additional background information www.cfrfoundation.org.

Fresh off the boat: Virus snagged Rhode Island fishing industry, so state let fishermen sell direct to public

July 20, 2020 — Newport fisherman Jon Kourtesis’s days are even longer now, thanks to a change in state regulations that allows him to sell fish directly to consumers.

But he’s OK with it, for the most part.

In the spring, when the state closed restaurants to stop the spread of the coronavirus, fishermen were hit hard. Prices dropped dramatically. In some cases, wholesalers stopped buying, and fishermen had no place to sell their catch.

To help fishermen navigate this storm, the state temporarily changed some regulations to allow them to peddle their catches directly to consumers, fish markets and restaurants, instead of selling exclusively to wholesalers.

“I think it’s a great idea, and I’m glad they came up with it,” Kourtesis says.

It’s opened a new market for Kourtesis, but it comes with a catch. He says he’s working 15- to 16-hour days to make “a few hundred extra bucks.”

“It’s like three jobs for me,” he says.

Through an emergency regulation on April 17, the state created a direct-sale dealer license for Rhode Island fishermen. It authorizes commercial fishermen in Rhode Island to sell certain species of finfish, and to sell and transport for sale live lobsters and crabs, directly to consumers and licensed seafood retailers from the vessel on which they were harvested.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

RHODE ISLAND: Fishing industry creates seafood cooking classes that will also feed families in need

July 16, 2020 — Local fishermen have had to figure out ways to stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The industry has been impacted the closure of local restaurants and limited reopenings, which followed a COVID-19-driven slowdown in worldwide markets which began even before the virus hit American shores.

But fishermen, who have had excess supply because of the limited markets, have seen an even greater need locally: Families struggling to put food on the table because of sudden income loss due to the pandemic.

“They had extra fish they were willing to donate, but they didn’t have a way to get it to people in need,” Eating with the Ecosystem Program Director Kate Masury told Providence Business News. “In order to get it to the food pantries, it had to be processed and packaged in a certain way because seafood is perishable.”

Read the full story at Providence Business News