Saving Seafood

Fishing Report: Stricter summer flounder limits on the way

August 19, 2016 — This season some recreational anglers felt summer flounder (fluke) fishing was good, others felt it was way off. The truth is that there are fewer summer flounder in the water.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) announced on Monday that they modified specifications for summer flounder, reducing catch limits in 2017 for both recreational and commercial fisheries by about 30 percent.

The 2016 assessment update indicates that summer flounder has been on a downward trend. The summer flounder spawning stock biomass has been on a downward trend for the last six years. Fish managers have taken action with 30-percent reductions proposed for 2017, both recreational harvest limits and commercial quotas. How this will play out with Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts fishing regulations for 2017 remains to be seen, but no doubt more conservative regulations are on the way.

Previously implemented specifications for scup, black sea bass and bluefish were reviewed but essentially kept the same pending fishery changes and any new scientific information.

The ASMFC’s actions are final and apply to Rhode Island state waters but how they are implemented is to be determined. The council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries administrator for final approval.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

RHODE ISLAND: More Tropical Fish Arriving in Narragansett Bay Earlier

August 18, 2016 — When a tropical fish called a crevalle jack turned up this summer in the Narragansett Bay trawl survey, which the University of Rhode Island conducts weekly, it was the first time the species was detected in the more than 50 years that the survey has taken place.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s seine survey of fish in Rhode Island waters also captured a crevalle jack this year for the first time.

While it’s unusual that both institutions would capture a fish they had never recorded in the bay before, it’s not unusual that fish from the tropics are finding their way to the Ocean State. In fact, fish from Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean have been known to turn up in local waters in late summer every year for decades. But lately they’ve been showing up earlier in the season and in larger numbers, which is raising questions among those who pay attention to such things.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about how they get here,” said Jeremy Collie, the URI oceanography professor who manages the weekly trawl survey. “Most of them aren’t particularly good swimmers, so they probably didn’t swim here. They don’t say, ‘It’s August, so let’s go on vacation to New England.’ They’re not capable of long migrations.”

Instead, fish eggs and larvae and occasionally adult fish are believed to arrive in late summer on eddies of warm water that break from the Gulf Stream. Collie said they “probably hitch a ride” on sargassum weed or other bits of seaweed that the currents carry toward Narragansett Bay.

Most of these tropical species, including spotfin butterflyfish, damselfish, short bigeye, burrfish and several varieties of grouper, don’t survive long in the region. When the water begins to get cold in November, almost all perish.

Read the full story at ecoRI

MAINE: Pogy fishery reopens with strict new rules

August 16, 2016 — Maine made bait fishermen and lobstermen happy Monday when it reopened its pogy fishery after concluding there is still enough menhaden left in the Gulf of Maine to keep the population healthy.

Those who hunt for nearshore schools of the flat, oily-fleshed silver fish – the second most popular lobster bait in Maine after herring – must follow strict new rules to prevent unusual damage or imminent depletion of the Atlantic menhaden. If they limit their fishing days to three and their catch to no more than 120,000 pounds a week, Maine fishermen can use up the remaining 2.3 million-pound quota allotted to Maine, Rhode Island and New York during a so-called “episodic” fishing event, when pogies are deemed unusually plentiful in New England waters.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources closed the traditionally quiet fishery on Aug. 5 after initial landing reports indicated the state had used up its usual pogy quota of 166,000 pounds a year and was racing through an extra 3.7 million “episodic event” pounds given to qualifying New England states much faster than expected. With the herring shortage already creating a tight bait market, DMR didn’t want to risk running out of pogies just as the lobster season peaks, when the state’s biggest commercial fishery, with a value of nearly $500 million in landings, need them most. Any overage could also trigger severe federal penalties.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Draft plan unveiled to curb Southern New England lobster declines

August 9, 2016 — The American Lobster Management Board has released a draft plan responding to declining stocks of lobsters in Southern New England waters that will be considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission at its annual meeting in late October.

The proposal presents a suite of management measures to increase egg production and lower harvesting mortality through a combination of management tools that include season closures, trap limits and reductions and changes in escape vent and lobster size regulations. The goal is to increase egg production for lobsters in Southern New England waters from zero to 60%.

The draft responds to the 2015 American lobster benchmark stock assessment that found the Southern New England “stock severely depleted and undergoing recruitment failure with poor prospects of recovery,” according to Friday’s statement from ASMFC.

“Declines in population abundance were most pronounced in the inshore portion of the stock where environmental conditions have remained unfavorable to lobsters since the late 1990s,” according to ASMFC. “Despite fleet attrition, stock declines have continued. These declines are largely in response to adverse environmental conditions including increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with continued fishing mortality.”

ASMFC reported that declines in in the offshore portion of the fishery were evident as well though not as severe. But it also noted the offshore portion of the Southern New England stock depends on a viable population of young lobsters in waters closer to the shore.

The lobster stock in Southern New England increased from the early 1980s, peaked during the late 1990s and then started declining steeply to a record low in 2013, according to ASFMC’s 2015 benchmark study. The study attributes the decline as being largely due to “increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with sustained fishing mortality.”

Read the full story at Maine Biz

Regulators to Vote on New Lobster Fishing Restrictions

August 5, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – New restrictions might be proposed for southern New England’s lobster fishery as it deals with a steep decline in population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to save the lobsters and might cast a vote on Thursday.

A report from the commission says that one way to slow the loss of lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size for the crustaceans.

Scientists say the population off of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut has declined during a time of warming oceans. Lobsters have remained plentiful to consumers because of heavy supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Regulators to vote on new lobster fishing restrictions

August 4, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — New restrictions might be proposed for southern New England’s lobster fishery as it deals with a steep decline in population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to save the lobsters and might cast a vote on Thursday.

A report from the commission says that one way to slow the loss of lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size for the crustaceans.

Scientists say the population off of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut has declined during a time of warming oceans. Lobsters have remained plentiful to consumers because of heavy supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

Minimum size for keeping caught lobster may change south of Cape Cod

August 1, 2016 — Southern New England lobster fishermen might have to start throwing back more small lobsters in an attempt to stem population losses.

New restrictions are on tap for the region’s historic lobster fishery, which is grappling with an unprecedented decline in some areas. Scientists have said lobsters off southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have declined as ocean waters warm.

The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to help preserve the species, and a report from the commission says one way to preserve lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size. The commission’s lobster board might take action on the issue Thursday.

“The biggest challenge I see is trying to establish an appropriate goal to manage the fishery in the face of what the scientists are telling us is the decline caused by ocean warming,” said Dan McKiernan, a member of the lobster board.

New England lobster fishing is one of America’s oldest industries, and it was worth more than a half-billion dollars last year. Lobsters have remained plentiful for consumers, and prices have been relatively stable because of abundant supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Regulators to revisit saving southern New England’s lobsters

July 28, 2016 — LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. — Regulators are taking another look at potential strategies to revitalize southern New England’s lobster population, which scientists say has sunk to its lowest levels on record.

The lobster management board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is planning to discuss possible solutions to the problem Aug. 4 in Alexandria, Virginia, near where the commission is based.

The commission’s members have expressed a desire to find new management options to increase egg production in southern New England lobsters by 20 to 60 percent.

Among the options being considered are reducing traps and shortening the fishing season so lobsters have time to reproduce. The population has declined in the face of warming oceans.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WMDT

New York Wind Farm Part of Larger Offshore Energy Ambitions

July 14, 2016 — UNIONDALE, N.Y. — A New York utility plans to approve a wind farm off eastern Long Island that it says would be the nation’s largest offshore wind energy project built to date.

The project would be the first phase of a more ambitious effort to construct hundreds of electricity-producing turbines in the Atlantic Ocean in the coming years.

The announcement that the Long Island Power Authority plans to approve a proposed 90-megawatt, 15-turbine wind farm in U.S. waters east of Montauk at a meeting next week was greeted enthusiastically by energy experts, elected officials and environmentalists.

“This is obviously an important development,” said Jeffrey Firestone, a professor at the University of Delaware and an expert on offshore wind. “Hopefully, this will be something toward facilitating a more regional approach to the need for offshore wind energy.”

The U.S. lags behind Europe and others in development of offshore wind energy because of regulatory hurdles and opposition from fossil fuel and fishing interests, among other challenges. Many wind farms in Europe are already producing hundreds of megawatts of power.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued several leases for wind projects along the Atlantic coast, but none have come to fruition yet. LIPA said its project would be the next one built after one opens near Block Island, Rhode Island, later this year.

A scallop industry trade organization, the Fisheries Survival Fund, has raised concerns about some wind farm proposals, but not this one. Important scallop areas were removed from the possible lease areas for this wind farm, said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney for the fund. He cautioned that other commercial fishermen could raise objections.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

New Atlantic Marine Monument Poll Presents Misleading Picture of the Issues

July 12, 2016 (NCFC) — Yesterday, a poll released by the Protect New England’s Ocean Treasures Coalition claimed that 80 percent of Massachusetts and Rhode Island residents support national monument designation for certain ocean areas. However, the survey questions selectively presented information to respondents, withholding information about existing protections in the proposed monument areas.

The poll, conducted by Edge Research, a suburban Washington, DC polling company with a specialty in ocean conservation issues, consisted of phone interviews with 400 residents in Massachusetts and 403 residents in Rhode Island. Respondents were presented with questions that minimized the economic impacts of a potential marine monument.

When asked about the monuments, respondents were told, “protecting these areas would prohibit the fishing activity in these limited areas and could result in a small adverse economic impact on commercial fishing.” [emphasis added]

But according to fishermen themselves, the economic impact of a marine monument could in fact be devastating – potentially costing the industry millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. The affected areas are important grounds for the valuable red crab, swordfish, tuna, and offshore lobster fisheries. This has led the affected fisheries, as well as virtually the entire New England fishing industry and its regulatory bodies, to unite in opposition to the current monument proposals.

The pollsters also repeatedly asked whether respondents supported federal protections for the areas in question, without mentioning the protections already in place under the current management system. These protections include the prohibition of federally managed fisheries from using bottom-tending gear in Cashes Ledge, one of the areas under consideration.

Several leading fisheries management bodies have made it clear that they support the current public and transparent process for habitat and fisheries management. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission passed a resolution in May asserting its preference for using the current process, under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, to develop protections for the proposed monument areas.

Also in May, the Council Coordination Committee, comprised of all eight regional fishery management councils in the U.S., stated its support for the “public, transparent, science-based process and management” of fisheries required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fisheries management in the country. Marine protections enacted under this process are not mentioned as a potential alternative in the poll.

The press release accompanying the poll states that Edge Research “is recognized as the chief pollster for ocean issues.”

The Edge Research principal named in the release, Lisa Dropkin, is described as having “conducted research for a host of conservation organizations, including The Ocean Conservancy, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Environmental Defense Fund, and World Wildlife Fund.” She also chairs Green Media Toolshed, “an application service provider supporting media communications for environmental organizations,” which lists among its goals strengthening the “ability of conservation groups to influence national, regional and local media.”

In June 2015, Edge Research “partnered with the David & Lucile Packard Foundation to conduct new research on American Millennials’ attitudes towards oceans, ocean conservation, and pathways for engaging this next generation of ocean leaders.”

There is no indication on the Edge Research website that they have ever done work for the commercial fishing or maritime shipping industries.

The Protect New England’s Ocean Treasures Coalition, which is advocating for a Marine National Monument in the North Atlantic Ocean, is composed of Center for American Progress, Conservation Law Foundation, Earthjustice, Environment America, Mystic Aquarium, National Geographic Society, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, New England Aquarium, Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

About the NCFC 
The National Coalition for Fishing Communities provides a national voice and a consistent, reliable presence for fisheries in the nation’s capital and in national media. Comprised of fishing organizations, associations, and businesses from around the country, the NCFC helps ensure sound fisheries policies by integrating community needs with conservation values, leading with the best science, and connecting coalition members to issues and events of importance.