Saving Seafood

Energy Department announces $10.8M in funding to study impact of offshore wind on East Coast fisheries

October 15, 2021 — The Department of Energy has announced $10.8 million in funding to research the impact of offshore wind on East Coast fisheries and ocean ecosystems. The move is part of President Joe Biden’s plan to tackle climate change by making a big push for renewable energy. But the commercial fishing industry says plans to use hundreds of thousands of acres of ocean to develop wind power will impact the catch.

Clammers and scallop fishermen say they won’t be able to maneuver through the turbines, which would be spaced 1 nautical mile apart. They fear a shrinking patch of fishable ocean will lead to the collapse of the industry.

Some worry about the impact of construction on marine mammals, especially the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which currently has an estimated population of less than 400.

“Harnessing the incredible potential that exists within offshore wind energy is an essential piece of reaching a net-zero carbon future,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement. “In order for Americans living in coastal areas to see the benefits of offshore wind, we must ensure that it’s done with care for the surrounding ecosystem by coexisting with fisheries and marine life —and that’s exactly what this investment will do.”

Read the full story at WHYY

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan

October 5. 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries published a proposed rule for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The New England Fishery Management Council developed Amendment 21 to adjust the management of the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) as well as the limited access general category (LAGC) individual fishing quota (IFQ) program to support overall economic performance of the fishery while allowing for continued participation in the general category fishery.

Amendment 21 would:

•Account for biomass in the NGOM as part of the Overfishing Limit and the Acceptable Biological Catch to be consistent with other portions of scallop resource management.•Develop landing limits for all permit categories in the NGOM and establish an 800,000 lb NGOM Set-Aside trigger for the NGOM directed fishery.

•Expand the scallop observer program to monitor directed scallop fishing in the NGOM.

•Allocate 25,000 lb of the NGOM allocation to increase the overall Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA).

•Increase the LAGC IFQ possession limit to 800 lb per trip only for access area trips.

•Prorate the daily observer compensation rate in 12-hour increments for observed LAGC IFQ trips longer than 1 day.

•Allow for temporary transfers of IFQ from limited access vessels with IFQ to LAGC IFQ-only vessels.

For more information, read the proposed rule as filed in the Federal Register. The comment period is open through November 4, 2021. Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Travis Ford, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9233

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

NEFMC SSC: Live Listen – Wednesday, October 13, 2021 (Scallop Issues)

October 5, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee will meet by webinar to discuss issues related to Atlantic sea scallops.  The public is invited to listen live.  Here are the details.

WHEN:  Wednesday, October 13, 2021

START TIME:  9:00 a.m.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.  The Remote Participation Guide is posted here.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (562) 247-8422.  The access code is 606-978-888.  Please be aware that if you dial in using this number without joining the webinar at the link above, you will be unable to speak during opportunities for public comment.  This is a listen-only telephone option.  Your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The SSC will meet to:

  • Review information provided by the Council’s Scallop Plan Development Team;
  • Recommend overfishing limits (OFLs) and acceptable biological catches (ABCs) for Atlantic sea scallops for fishing years 2022 and 2023, with 2023 being default specifications; and
  • Consider other business as necessary.

COMMENTS:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Monday, October 11, 2021.  Address comments to Council Chairman Eric Reid or Executive Director Tom Nies and email them to comments@nefmc.org.  Additional information is available in the meeting notice.

MATERIALS:  All documents for this meeting will be posted on the SSC October 13, 2021 meeting webpage.

QUESTIONS:  Contact Joan O’Leary at (978) 465-0492, ext. 101, joleary@nefmc.org or Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817,jplante@nefmc.org. 

Scallops: NEFMC Receives 2021 Survey Season Overview; Updates on Framework 34 and Other Work Priorities

October 1, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council received a high-level overview of the 2021 scallop survey season when it met by webinar for its September 28-30, 2021 meeting. It also received a progress report on Framework Adjustment 34 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan and short updates on: (1) the Scallop Survey Working Group’s recent meeting; and (2) a project to evaluate the scallop fishery’s rotational area management program.

Scallop survey coverage this year was extensive throughout the range of the resource. Several surveys were conducted on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic. These were done by three survey partners under the Scallop Research Set-Aside Program (RSA) and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Participating RSA partners included:

• Coonamessett Farm Foundation;
• UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST); and
• The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).

SMAST and the University of Maine also conducted RSA surveys in the Gulf of Maine, including on Stellwagen Bank.

Overall, the survey groups discovered that biomass in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area is down substantially. While blips of pre-recruit scallops occasionally were found, the survey teams did not see signs of another strong incoming year class. Most of the remaining scallops in this area are nine years old, stemming from the exceptional 2013 year class, which has run its course. As such, 2022 fishing activity in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area is expected to be minimal, and the Scallop Plan Development Team (PDT), Scallop Committee, and Scallop Advisory Panel are discussing the possibility of reverting this area to open bottom.

Two Bright Spots

Survey teams did find evidence of recruitment in the New York Bight and Nantucket Lightship West areas. The Council is considering establishing rotational closures to protect concentrations of small scallops in both locations. Closures such as these are the premise behind rotational management. Areas with small scallops are closed to fishing activity to give the animals time to grow to a harvestable size. A few years down the road, the closure areas are reopened and fishing is allowed to take place on larger scallops.

The New York Bight area that’s under consideration for a closure (see blue box in map at right) contains multiple years classes, including many smaller scallops with growth potential that will not recruit to the fishery in fishing year 2022 (see closeup shots below at right). Establishing a rotational closure in the New York Bight would provide an opportunity to improve yields for all scallops, especially the smaller ones, and increase the potential for downstream recruitment to the Hudson Canyon and Elephant Trunk areas in the Mid-Atlantic, as recent research suggests is possible.

Surveys conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Coonamessett Farm Foundation using a Habitat Camera Mapping System (HabCam) showed high densities of very small scallops – less than 35 millimeters in shell height – in the western portion of Nantucket Lightship (see graphics below). HabCam is a towed underwater camera that takes a constant stream of images along the seafloor. It is a survey tool that can help identify new beds of very small seed scallops, also referred to as spat. The Scallop Plan Development Team will analyze establishing a second rotational closure to cover Nantucket Lightship West in addition to the New York Bight. If the new year class of seed scallops in Nantucket Lightship West survives and continues to grow, these scallops should be ready to start contributing to the fishery several years down the road.

Current Biomass

The highest concentrations of harvestable biomass were found in Nantucket Lightship South and within Closed Area II on Georges Bank. These are the areas the PDT will analyze for possible access area fishing in 2022. Most of the scallops in Nantucket Lightship South will be 10 years old in 2022. These slow-growing scallops continue to be available in dense concentrations and, despite their smaller size, have drawn high prices on the market.

Survey teams saw some modest signs of recruitment in Closed Area II in the southeast portion, extension, and Habitat Area of Particular Concern (colored orange above).

As part of its work on Framework 34, the Scallop Plan Development Team is analyzing several possible configurations for Closed Areas II access area trips under two trip limit options – 18,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds – with trading allowed in 9,000-pound and 15,000-pound increments. The PDT also will provide a range of possibilities for open area fishing days. Biomass in Closed Area I is no longer high enough to support an access area trip for the limited access fishery. However, the PDT is looking at two options for this area: (1) reverting it to open bottom; and (2) reserving the area for LAGC IFQ access area fishing and RSA trips. LAGC IFQ is the acronym for the limited access general category individual fishing quota component of the fishery.

Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM)

In the Gulf of Maine, most of the biomass is located on Stellwagen Bank. The portion of the biomass that’s inside the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area, meaning north of 42ᴼ 20’, is protected by a closure that will remain in place until changed by Framework 34. The biomass on Stellwagen Bank south of 42ᴼ 20’ is open bottom and available for fishing by the limited access and LAGC IFQ components of the fishery.

Framework Adjustment 34 – What’s Next?

Framework 34 includes 2022 fishing year specifications, 2023 default specifications, and other provisions. It also is the vehicle that will put in place measures developed under Amendment 21, which is under review by NOAA Fisheries. The amendment and framework are expected to be implemented concurrently by the start of the new fishing year, which is April 1, 2022.

The Council will take final action on Framework 34 during its December 7-9, 2021 meeting. Between now and then, the Scallop PDT, Committee, and Advisory Panel will hold several meetings to prepare final recommendations for the Council’s consideration. Keep tabs on the Council’s scallop webpage for a list of upcoming meetings.

• Meeting materials used during the Council’s September scallop discussion are posted HERE.

• View the presentation for a quick overview of what’s in Amendment 21 and the timeline for implementation of the amendment and Framework 34.

Read the full release from the New England Fishery Management Council

 

Maine scallop fishermen to have same limits in 2021-22

August 30, 2021 — Maine fishermen will likely face the same quota limits for scallops in the coming fishing season.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said regulators have proposed daily possession limits of 15 gallons along most of Maine’s coast and 10 gallons in the Cobscook Bay area. Those are the same limits fishermen faced in the previous year.

The fishing season for Maine scallops begins in late fall. The marine resources department said there would be restricted and closed areas along the coast to help scallops grow. That happens every year.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Sea Scallops Farmed in Maine Aren’t Just Sustainable. They’re Helping Their Habitat.

August 23, 2021 — On a damp, cloudy morning in April, Marsden Brewer drove his 38-foot lobster boat out into the middle of Penobscot Bay. Other than a few buoys and the occasional gull, the water was calm and empty — a vast, gray expanse leading to pine-topped islands in the distance.

You certainly couldn’t tell that, just below the waves slapping against the hull, there were hundreds of thousands of sea scallops, swimming, squirting and cavorting in a series of nets, all part of Mr. Brewer’s aquatic farm.

Mr. Brewer and his son, Bob, pulled up a long algae-covered net and scooped scallops into a bucket of seawater, where they zipped around, moving a whole lot faster than you’d think bivalves could. Most would go to Glidden Point Oyster Farms. The rest were about to become lunch.

A third-generation commercial fisherman, Mr. Brewer has witnessed firsthand the instability of the wild fisheries around him, watching the fluctuations of the lobster catch, and the once-plentiful stocks of cod, urchins and shrimp all but disappear.

“What I’ve seen over the years has not been good,” he said as he shucked a scallop, revealing its pale adductor muscle — the white disk we think of when we picture scallops — nestled against a pillow of orange roe.

“It’s made me think, maybe it’s not that there are too many fishermen, but that there’s not enough fish. So, I thought, how do we make more fish?”

Read the full story at The New York Times

Sea Scallop Research Program Seeks Proposals

August 20, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries is soliciting proposals for the 2022-2023 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program, in coordination with the New England Fishery Management Council.

Approved applications are awarded pounds of scallops that have been set aside to pay for research experiments.

No federal funds are provided for research.

The New England Fishery Management Council sets the priorities for the research, and NOAA Fisheries administers the competition, oversees awarded projects and set-aside harvest activities.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Sea Scallop Research Program Seeks Proposals

August 19, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries is soliciting proposals for the 2022-2023 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program, in coordination with the New England Fishery Management Council.

Approved applications are awarded pounds of scallops that have been set aside to pay for research experiments.

No federal funds are provided for research.

The New England Fishery Management Council sets the priorities for the research, and NOAA Fisheries administers the competition, oversees awarded projects and set-aside harvest activities.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Seafood fraudster targeted US Foods, other distributors and restaurants

August 18, 2021 — A man in the U.S. state of Rhode Island has been accused of bilking nearly USD 1 million (EUR 855,000) from major broadliners in the U.S. by fraudulently purchasing seafood from them.

Paul Diogenes, also known as Paul Dejullio, created a fictitious catering company – LePage Catering – in order to obtain credit from US Foods, Performance Food Group, and other distributors to purchase more than USD 831,700 (EUR 711,000) in product. Diogenes bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of lobster, sea bass, shrimp, scallops, filet, ribeye steak, and wild boar, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.

Read the full story at Seafood Source