Saving Seafood

New England Council Discusses Whiting, Enforcement, Dogfish, Herring, Ecosystem Management, and More at December Meeting

December 14, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council covered numerous issues during its December 4-6 meeting in Newport, RI. In addition to taking final action on Scallop Framework 30, Groundfish Framework 58, and the Clam Dredge Framework, the Council discussed a slate of other topics. Here are a few highlights.

WHITING: The Council took final action on Whiting Amendment 22, which was developed to consider limited access options for the small-mesh multispecies fishery. After reviewing all public comment and available analyses and considering a recommendation from its Whiting Committee, the Council selected the alternative called “status quo/no action.” As such, the whiting/small-mesh multispecies fishery will remain an open access fishery and no changes will be made to existing regulatory measures. More information, including summaries of public hearing comments, is available at December 3 Committee Meeting and December 4, 2018 Council Meeting Materials.

ENFORCEMENT: The Council adopted several consensus statements drafted by its Enforcement Committee. One of these pertained to use of the OMEGA Mesh Gauge® to measure fishing nets. The Coast Guard extensively tested the OMEGA gauge and concluded that it has notable benefits over the weight-and-spade tools currently being used to measure webbing. Coast Guard representatives provided a demonstration for Council members comparing the OMEGA gauge versus the weight-and-spade. The Council recommended that NOAA, under existing authority, adopt the OMEGA gauge to measure mesh size once the Enforcement Section of NOAA General Counsel determines that all legal requirements have been met.

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

 

Feds: US fishermen had good year aided by lobsters, scallops

December 14, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. commercial fishing generated more than $144 billion in sales in 2016, buoyed by growth in key species such as sea scallops and American lobsters, the federal government reported on Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the total of $144.3 billion in sales from commercial fishing in 2016 was up about $100 million from the previous year. The agency released the figure as part of its annual Fisheries Economics of the United States report, one of two reports about the health of fisheries that came out on Thursday.

The economics report states that the industry was boosted by growth in value of some economically critical species, also including shrimp, but other big-money species such as Alaska pollock and pacific salmon were down from the previous year.

The report shows U.S. fisheries holding steady, and continuing to play a critical role in the economies of states from Maine to California, said Ned Cyr, director of NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

 

Catch Of The Day Or Tuna From A Test Tube? How Innovation Could Change Seafood

December 10, 2018 — Massachusetts is home to the nation’s top fishing port. More than $300 million in seafood lands in New Bedford every year.

But the kinds of seafood are changing.

Rising ocean temperatures are driving southern fish species into our coastal waters. Today’s there are strict catch limits on Massachusetts’ state fish, the Atlantic cod. Scallops are now the New Bedford fishing industry’s primary source of revenue.

In response, local researchers are developing artificial intelligence to promote smarter fishing. And private companies are working on alternatives — including bioengineered fish and even fish flesh grown in laboratories.

Read the full story at WBUR

Scallops hold steady for New England, but sizes could shrink

December 7, 2018 —  The New England Fishery Management Council yesterday released information on the upcoming scallop season, including an estimated 60 million pounds in landings.

The council approved Framework Adjustment 30 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which still needs to be approved by NMFS before the season kicks off on April 1, 2019.

Peter Handy, president and CEO of Bristol Seafood, speculated that a reduction in trips to Nantucket Light Ship South and Closed Area 1 may also reduce the volume of U10 and U12 product on the market.

Last season, about half the catch in these areas were larger scallops.

“Overall, it looks like the trips to areas that have the most plentiful big scallops was reduced from two down to one,” Handy reported in a press release. However, he added, it is important to note that scallop sizes can change year to year within the same area.

The Northern Gulf of Maine TAC increased about 5,000 pounds to 205,000. However, last year the council’s prediction for the 2019 season was 135,000 pounds. The default for 2020 is set at 170,000.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEFMC recommendation could pave way for another big scallop year; 60m lbs projected

December 6, 2018 — New England scallop landings in 2019 could reach as much as 60 million pounds (27,215 metric tons), a similar result to 2018, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) projects.

The new season will begin on April 1.

At its meeting held today, Dec. 5, the NEFMC voted unanimously to approve a set of rules known as “Framework 30”, which, if the projection by the council’s plan team holds true, could lead to the 60m lbs harvest.

The framework will allow vessels with “full-time limited access” scallop permits to fish during 24 open-area days-at-sea and seven 18,000-pound access area trips.

That includes three trips to a zone called “Nantucket Lightship-West”, three to the “Mid-Atlantic Access Area”, and an additional “flex” trip that can be used in either of those areas or a more northerly zone, “Closed Area I”.

For the “part-time limited access fleet” in 2019, vessels will be allocated 9.6 open-area days-at-sea and three 17,000-pound trips. One trip will be used in Nantucket Lightship-West, another in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area and the third in either of those areas or in Closed Area I.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Scallops 2: NEFMC Takes Final Action on Framework 30

December 6, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During its December 4-6 meeting in Newport, RI, the New England Fishery Management Council approved Framework Adjustment 30 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The framework contains: (1) specifications for the 2019 scallop fishing year, which will begin on April 1; (2) default specifications for 2020; and (3) two “standard default measures” that will carry on into future years.

The Council will submit the framework to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) for review and implementation. The Scallop Plan Development Team projects that, under the provisions selected by the Council, the region’s scallop fleet should be able to land roughly 60 million pounds of scallop meats in the 2019 fishing year.

Here’s what’s in the framework.

Full-Time Limited Access Fleet

In 2019, vessels with full time limited access scallop permits will be allocated 24 open-area days-at-sea and seven 18,000-pound access area trips:

  • Three trips into Nantucket Lightship West;
  • Three trips into the Mid-Atlantic Access Area; and
  • One “flex” trip that can be fished either in Closed Area I, Nantucket Lightship-West, or the Mid-Atlantic Access Area.

Read the full release here

JOHN BULLARD: Trump policies threaten New England fishermen

December 5, 2018 — The Trump Administration just approved dangerous seismic blasting to look for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean, a move that will threaten marine wildlife and fisheries. This announcement came on the heels of the National Climate Assessment, which the Trump Administration tried to downplay by releasing it the day after Thanksgiving. That’s right, Trump just sidestepped science — twice — to deliver a one-two punch to fishermen.

The scientific report on climate change offers a devastating look at the impact of climate change on the American economy — including fisheries in New England — if we fail to act fast. According to the report, the American economy will decline by up to 10 percent by the end of this century. Failure to reduce carbon emissions will continue to negatively impact the health of fish stocks, threatening the economic stability of our fishing industry and coastal communities.

None of this is news to New England fishermen, who already know the changes happening in their place of business: the ocean. They know warming waters have driven lobster out of southern New England towards Canada. They know that despite difficult quota cuts, cod is much harder to rebuild, and many flounder species don’t reproduce the way they used to.

Fishermen know that warming oceans have pummeled the Maine lobster industry, where revenues fell by $99 million in 2017. Some scientists warn that ocean acidification could make the scallop industry, a $500 million-dollar mainstay of New England’s fishing economy, the next to go. There’s no Plan B if this happens. And new oil and gas development could accelerate the decline of these and other species. Without action, the working waterfronts of New England could cease to work.

What was President Trump’s response when asked about the climate report from his own administration? “I don’t believe it.” Apparently his self-professed intellect is superior to more than 300 scientists from inside and outside the government who wrote the report. Because of his inability to accept the advice of his own scientists on what may be the issue of gravest importance to future generations, the president is putting our region’s fishing industry at risk.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Scallop draggers get started for year in Down East Maine

December 4, 2018 —  Maine’s scallop draggers are getting started for the winter on the state’s eastern coast, where they hope to continue the industry’s steady growth.

The coastal state’s meaty scallops have enjoyed resurgence in recent years, as the 2017 harvest total was highest in two decades. Operators of scallop dragger boats can get started on the eastern coast Monday.

Draggers who harvest along the western coast can start Dec. 10. A more limited season in the Cobscook Bay area also gets started Monday. Cobscook Bay is regarded as the most fertile scalloping ground in the state and fishing there is subject to tight controls.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket Bay Scalloping Struggling To Say Afloat

November 29, 2018 — The commercial bay scallop season opened on Nantucket at the beginning of November and will run through the end of March, but for bay scallopers, this year’s harvest is already looking to be pretty lean.

Out in Madaket Harbor on the western-most edge of Nantucket, scalloper Blair Perkins is throwing out a test dredge and scanning his catch for the iconic bivalve that seems to be getting scarcer and scarcer in a net full of shells, crabs and Spanish moss.

“It’s been a terrible season. I’ve been scalloping for 30-odd years, since the 80s off and on, and this is the worst year I’ve seen it, ever,” Perkins said.

Bay scalloping has never been an easy job. To do it right requires a fisherman to be out on the water during the coldest time of the year, and it’s a lot of physical work for, sometimes, not much reward. Perkins drags a mesh bag attached to a string into the water and will pull it up periodically to dump out the catch. Usually, he’ll pull up about 20 scallops in each dredge, but since the season opened this month, he’s pulling up closer to 10 to 15 in a catch. While at its peak in the 1980s, bay scallopers would bring in about one hundred thousand bushels of scallops a season. By comparison, this season’s catch is predicted to be around five thousand.

These scallops are particularly sensitive to water quality changes, and most importantly, they rely on the harbor’s eel grass for their spawn to grow. Scientists credit water pollution, which has stifled eel grass, as a primary reason for the decline in bay scallops.

“So the pressures are additional nutrients in the water, septic systems overloading, increased ferry traffic. All these things come down to water quality,” said Nantucket town biologist Tara Riley.

The town has been working to restore eel grass habitats around the island, but Riley is still worried that the tradition of bay scalloping, something Nantucketers have done over the winter since the 1800s, is drawing less fishermen today.

“There aren’t a lot of young people that are getting involved,” Riley said. “It’s not a dependable way to make your income in the winter, so you have to have options. You can’t just put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to the bay scallop fishery.”

Read the full story at WGBH

DON CUDDY: Seafood comes in many forms — how fresh is yours?

November 27, 2018 — We live, as we are often reminded, in the top grossing fishing port in the United States and have some of the planet’s most productive fishing grounds right off our shores. So for those among us who enjoy and appreciate the harvest of the sea, and its clean, healthy, wild-caught protein, there is no better place to live than New Bedford. Lately however I have begun to wonder just how many people around the SouthCoast are fish eaters and include our excellent seafood as a regular part of their diet? Apart from perhaps ordering fish and chips or fried scallops in a restaurant on a Friday night that is. That counts certainly but what I have in mind is selecting some seafood at the market and bringing it home.

I regularly enjoy eating all kinds of great seafood at my house. In the past couple of weeks, I have bought, prepared and eaten swordfish, yellowfin tuna, haddock, scallops and oysters, all of it fresh and of surpassing excellence. On the other hand I have read that the vast majority of seafood consumed in the USA is confined to just three varieties — shrimp, salmon and canned tuna. I’m not a fan of shrimp nowadays as most of it is imported, farmed in Southeast Asia under dubious conditions, and I find the end product to be devoid of flavor. Decades ago when I lived in Miami, I would catch shrimp, one at a time, using a dip net and lantern as they entered Biscayne Bay via Government Cut so I know what wild shrimp tastes like.

Salmon fares a little better chez moi although wild salmon runs have all but disappeared on the East Coast and the commonly used marketing term ‘Atlantic salmon’ means that it is raised in pens, predominantly in the Canadian Maritimes and Norway. Both of these items enjoy great popularity in the restaurant trade and you will frequently find salmon and shrimp on seafood menus where even such New England staples such as cod and haddock are absent. But even at the local fish counter there is a high probability that the cod and haddock on offer, while fresh, is not caught or landed here.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times