Saving Seafood

Rockfish make a remarkable recovery off California coast, prompting federal officials to raise catch limits

December 14, 2018 –Locally caught red snapper was once a staple on Southern California menus and a vital part of the state’s fishing industry. But overfishing took its toll, resulting in federal restrictions nearly two decades ago to prevent their extinction.

But with stocks rebuilding faster than anticipated, federal officials on Tuesday boosted catch limits by more than 100% for some species of rockfish in a move they said would help revive West Coast bottom trawlers and sportfishing fleets.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s action is expected to result in anglers taking about 218,000 additional annual trips in coastal waters — about 148,000 of them between Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Officials say the move could generate an estimated 900 jobs and up to $54 million in annual revenue in West Coast states in 2019, including about 630 jobs and $44 million in Southern California. It may also put fresh, locally caught varieties of rockfish commonly sold as red snapper back on dinner plates in Southern California restaurants, which currently rely almost entirely on frozen seafood imported from Mexico and around the world.

“The rebuilding of these stocks also means the rebuilding of West Coast communities and economies that sacrificed for years waiting for the rockfish populations to come back,” said Barry Thom, regional administrator of fisheries for NOAA’s West Coast region. “Now, fleets can catch even more fish because they will be less constrained overall by limits on these stocks.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

 

South Bend Products: Seafood processor hopeful tariffs won’t derail success

November 19, 2018 — Over the past decade, many Washington-based seafood processors have been gutted. Increased regulations, labor wages and shipping costs have eroded margins and stifled growth, particularly for smaller, family-owned operations. However, one business along the Willapa Harbor in South Bend has defied industry trends over its 10-year existence, continuously improving and expanding while diversifying its product line.

“We’re celebrating our 10-year anniversary this month,” said Dean Antich, general manager South Bend Products, a subsidiary of Tacoma-based Northern Fish Products. “We just keep getting bigger and busier.”

Booming business

In 2015, Antich hired a sales manager, then added an assistant manager to help delegate the duties for the growing operation.

“I thought that would free my time up but we just got bigger and busier because now we can do more,” Antich said.

What largely started with processing wild salmon in South Bend now includes razor clams, albacore tuna, black cod, halibut and rockfish, depending on the season.

“Salmon is the biggest fishery by pounds,” Antich said. “Dungeness is the biggest fishery by sales.”

In January 2018 South Bend Products acquired a processing facility in Chinook, formerly owned by Bell Buoy Crab. The facility provided more access to the Dungeness crab fishery and curbed shipping costs.

Read the full story at The Daily Astorian

Global Bottom-Trawling Footprint ‘Substantially Overestimated’, According to New Research

October 10, 2018 — About a quarter of the world’s seafood caught in the ocean comes from bottom trawling, a method that involves towing a net along the seabed on continental shelves and slopes to catch shrimp, cod, rockfish, sole and other kinds of bottom-dwelling fish and shellfish. The technique impacts these seafloor ecosystems because other marine life and habitats can be unintentionally killed or disturbed as nets pass across the seafloor.

Scientists agree that extensive bottom trawling can negatively affect marine ecosystems, but the central question — how much of the total area, or footprint, is trawled worldwide — has been hard to nail down.

A new analysis that uses high-resolution data for 24 ocean regions in Africa, Europe, North and South America, and Australasia shows that only 14 percent of the overall seafloor shallower than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) is trawled. Most trawl fishing happens in this depth range along continental shelves and slopes in the world’s oceans. The study focused on this depth range, covering an area of about 7.8 million square kilometers of ocean.

The paper, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, brought together 57 scientists based in 22 countries, with expertise in mapping fishing activity from satellite monitoring and fishing logbook data. It shows that the footprint of bottom-trawl fishing on continental shelves and slopes across the world’s oceans often has been substantially overestimated.

Read the full story at Eco Magazine

 

Are Chesapeake Bay dolphins eating all the fish?

July 18, 2018 — Rockfish are a Chesapeake Bay delicacy pursued heavily by commercial and recreational fishermen alike.

But many say it’s been a poor year on the Bay and now a growing number are beginning to question whether an apparently increasing population of dolphins in the Bay might be to blame.

Researchers who have been tracking dolphins in increasing numbers said they don’t have any answers.

“We don’t have information to confirm one way or the other if there is any impact,” say Greg Bortz, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Many commercial watermen said dolphins are chasing and eating valuable game species like rockfish, but there are many other environmental factors that are impacting the health of the Bay this season.

“We’ve had a lot of weather that isn’t normal,” said commercial fisherman Andy Mattes III, who noted heavy rains this spring and high temperatures this summer.

Mattes said low oxygen in much of the bay cause by polluted runoff is a major problem. He said blaming dolphins is too simplistic.

Read the full story at WUSA 9

One fish, two fish: Are we counting too few fish?

June 3, 2018 — When fish are in short supply, every fish counts. To make every fish count, it’s important to accurately and comprehensively count the fish.

Three miles offshore, in the Gulf of Alaska’s industrial groundfish fisheries, counting fish is the job of fishery observers. These trained scientists gather data about what the vessels catch and keep, and what they discard as bycatch. The data collected is essential for monitoring and managing the fisheries.

Trawler boats that fish for pollock, cod, rockfish and flatfish are required to carry independent fishery observers for some of their trips. This is a requirement that makes sense; it is well-known to fishery managers that trawlers can easily end up taking more than their fair share of fish from the ocean. Large trawl nets, dragged through the water or along the seafloor, catch thousands to tens of thousands of fish in a single pass. Not all that fish is kept. Some species, such as salmon, halibut and crab, are required by law to be discarded. Those species are valuable as their own fisheries, so long-standing management measures have been put in place to prevent trawlers from targeting and selling them. Other species that are undesired or can’t be sold, like skates, sharks, snailfish and sculpins, are thrown back, dead or dying. The same goes for the corals, sponges and sea stars that make up the living structure of the Alaskan seafloor.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

US fisheries report reveals all-time-low numbers of overfishing, overfished stocks

May 21, 2018 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2017 Status of Stocks report, released on 17 May, indicates that the number of stocks facing overfishing or that are overfished is at an all-time-low since reports began in 2000.

Just 30 of the 317 stocks with known overfishing status were subject to overfishing, representing nine percent of the total stocks. Of the 235 stocks with known overfished status, just 35, or 15 percent, were considered overfished.

“Over 90 percent of our stocks are not subject to overfishing,” said Alan Risenhoover, director of NOAA”s Office of Sustainable Fisheries during a press conference. “This progress, outlined in the report, is the result of shared efforts of many partners.”

NOAA considered the report to also show a boon for the economy. Nationwide, the seafood industry represented USD 208 billion (EUR 176 billion) in value for the U.S. economy, and accounted for roughly 1.6 million jobs.

Risenhoover reported three previously overfished stocks are now considered to have been rebuilt: bocaccio, darkblotched rockfish, and Pacific ocean perch. All three were rebuilt ahead of schedule. The addition of those three species now makes 44 stocks that have been rebuilt since 2000. NOAA tracks 474 stocks in total, in 46 different fishery management plans.

Conservation organizations welcomed the news that stocks that are overfished or subject to overfishing has reached new lows.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Report: Number of overfished US stocks hits all-time low

May 18, 2018 — The number of U.S. fish stocks listed as overfished has reached an all-time low, according to NMFS’s annual Status of U.S. Fisheries report.

The overall number of stocks included as overfishing risks remains near an all-time low as well.

At the end of 2017, the overfishing list included 30 stocks (9 percent) and the overfished list included 35 stocks (15 percent). The number of stocks rebuilt since 2000 increased to 44 from 41 in the 2016 report. NMFS tracks a total of 474 stocks or stock complexes within 46 fishery management plans.

A stock is on the “overfishing” list when the harvest rate — a direct result of fishing activities — is too high. A stock is on the “overfished” list when the population size of a stock is too low, whether because of fishing or other causes, such as environmental changes.

“Ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks provides two key benefits for the American people,” said Chris Oliver, NMFS director. “First, it strengthens the value of U.S. fisheries’ contribution to the economy, which in 2015 exceeded $208 billion dollars. Second, it supports the communities and marine ecosystems that depend on healthy fisheries.”

According to the report, three stocks off the West Coast were rebuilt to healthy levels in 2017 — Bocaccio, darkblotched rockfish and Pacific ocean perch.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

NOAA report: Number of overfished stocks in U.S. reaches all time low

May 17, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The number of domestic fish stocks listed as overfished has reached an all-time low, with three species of West Coast rockfish rebuilt to sustainable levels, according to the 2017 Status of U.S. Fisheries report to Congress. The number of stocks on the overfishing list also remained near all-time lows, an encouraging indicator that the U.S. fishery management system is achieving its long-term sustainability goals.

“Ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks provides two key benefits for the American people,” said Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “First, it strengthens the value of U.S. fisheries’ contribution to the economy, which in 2015 exceeded $208 billion dollars. Second, it supports the communities and marine ecosystems that depend on healthy fisheries.”

Three West Coast stocks were rebuilt to target levels in 2017, bringing the total number of rebuilt U.S. marine fish stocks to 44 since 2000:

  • Bocaccio
  • Darkblotched rockfish
  • Pacific ocean perch

The overfishing list at the end of 2017 included 30 stocks, and the overfished list included 35 stocks. Overall, 91 percent of U.S marine fish stocks are not subject to overfishing and 87 percent are not overfished.  A stock is on the overfishing list when the harvest rate – a direct result of fishing activities – is too high. A stock is on the overfished list when the population size of a stock is too low, whether because of fishing or other causes, such as environmental changes.

Six stocks were removed from the overfishing list:

  • Sailfish – Western Atlantic
  • Blue king crab – Pribilof Islands
  • Puerto Rico Wrasses Complex
  • Coho salmon – Puget Sound: Hood Canal
  • Winter flounder – Georges Bank
  • Witch flounder – Northwestern Atlantic Coast (due to significant scientific uncertainty, the status of this stock cannot be determined following a 2017 assessment)

Six stocks came off the overfished list:

  • Yelloweye rockfish – Pacific Coast
  • Winter flounder – Georges Bank
  • Gray triggerfish – Gulf of Mexico
  • Red snapper – Gulf of Mexico
  • Pacific ocean perch – Pacific Coast
  • Bluefin tuna – Western Atlantic (due to significant scientific uncertainty, the status of this stock cannot be determined following a 2017 assessment)

“Rebuilding stocks to fully utilize our fisheries is one way NOAA can reduce our nation’s seafood deficit,” said Oliver. “We look forward to exploring innovative approaches to fisheries management and working with our partners to ensure America’s fisheries remain the world’s most sustainable.”

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our other social media channels.

 

Virginia: Proposal for tighter oversight of recreational striped bass catch dies

May 9, 2018 — Commercial fishermen asked state regulators Tuesday night to make recreational fishermen tag their striped bass the way commercial operators do, to make sure they’re not taking too many fish.

But the idea died when Doug Jenkins, president of the Twin Rivers Watermen’s group, in Warsaw, outlined his proposal to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission’s finfish management advisory committee.

“We’re losing our rockfish (striped bass) quota and losing our crab industry,” Jenkins told the committee.

He said the 20 percent cut in striped bass quotas imposed three years ago have hit commercial fishermen hard.

Jenkins said there are enough striped bass to allow commercial fishermen to catch more, and that striped bass preying on crabs is one reason why crab populations are down.

But the request comes at a bad time, when nobody seems to know for certain what the real state of the striped bass stock is, said Jeff Deem, chairman of the advisory committee.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

 

After decades of facing off against each other, fishermen and conservationists team up.

April 19, 2018 — History was made April 9 when the Pacific Fishery Management Council, a 14-member body that regulates fisheries on the entire U.S. West Coast, voted unanimously to protect more than 136,000 square miles of seafloor habitat that includes corals, sponges, rocky reefs and undersea canyons from bottom trawl fishing.

Those fragile, slow-growing habitats are important to species like rockfish, sablefish and octopus, and when they become damaged by bottom trawl fishing gear, whether by being toppled or crushed, the habitat can take centuries to recover, if ever.

In that same vote, the council also reopened 3,000 square miles of historical fishing grounds that were closed to allow depleted rockfish stocks to recover.

Read the full story at the Monterey County Weekly