Saving Seafood

Scallop fishermen seek buffer zone around New York Bight wind power areas

July 27, 2021 — Plans to open more of the New York Bight to offshore wind development will threaten the East Coast scallop fishing industry that brings in more than $425 million in dockside value annually and much more to the larger U.S. economy, fishing advocates say.

They say one immediate step should be creating a 5-nautical mile buffer zone between the southeastern edge of the Hudson South Lease Area that’s been proposed by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Hudson Canyon Access Area, highly productive scallop grounds that have supported the industry’s immense success over the last 20 years.

In the late 1990s, fishing pressure, declining scallop numbers and fishermen catching smaller scallops brought the fishery to crisis. But fishermen, scientists and regulators regrouped, creating a system of rotational scallop area management that federal scientists say has added more than $1 billion in revenue to coastal communities.

The Biden administration drive to develop more offshore wind, avidly supported by state governments in New York and New Jersey, will threaten that progress, representatives of the Fisheries Survival Fund and the port of New Bedford, Mass., told BOEM officials in a July 20 online conference, the group said.

“Proposed lease areas need to be thoroughly re-evaluated to reduce impacts to scallops and scallop fishermen, who operate in the most valuable federally managed fishery,” according to a statement issued by the group this week.

The proposed buffer zone would create a 5-nautical-mile strip inside BOEM’s mapped Hudson South wind energy area, standing off any future turbine construction from the southeastern edge that borders the Hudson Canyon scallop access area, said David Frulla, a lawyer with the Washington, D.C., firm Kelley Drye & Warren, which has represented the fund and other fishing groups.

“The buffer zone’s purpose is to make sure there is not a wind farm hard up against an access area,” said Frulla.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fishermen Push BOEM for Changes to New York Bight Wind Lease Areas

July 27, 2021 — Last week, scallop fishermen and industry advocates urged the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to adjust the proposed New York Bight offshore wind lease areas.

The Fisheries Survival Fund, a group representing the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, explained that the industry officials asked BOEM officials on an online call to create a buffer zone to protect the valuable scallop fishery in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood News

No crabs, no scallops: Seafood is vanishing from menus in U.S.

July 27, 2021 — At the Clam, there are no scallops.

Prices went “crazy,” says Mike Price, who co-owns the Greenwich Village restaurant, and so he yanked them off the menu. Over in Napa Valley, Phil Tessier, the executive chef at a popular spot called PRESS, did the same. And in Atlanta, at the tapas joint the Iberian Pig, chef Josue Pena didn’t stop at scallops. The Alaskan halibut and blue crab are gone, too.

That last one was a killer, Pena says. Crab croquettes had become a signature dish. “People were like, ‘What’s up?’” But, he says, with wholesale costs soaring like they are, “the price we had to charge to be profitable was almost insulting.”

For restaurants across the U.S., the reopening from COVID lockdown has been anything but easy. They’ve struggled to hire back enough waiters and chefs, often being forced to dangle double-digit pay hikes, and have been rocked by cost increases and shortages on all kinds of items — from condiment packets to takeout packaging and chicken wings. So this jump in seafood prices, part of the broader inflationary surge working its way through the U.S. economy, is only further squeezing restaurateurs just when they were supposed to be raking in cash as they recover from all those months lost to the pandemic.

Seafood prices rose about 11% in the 12 months through early July from the previous period, according to NielsenIQ. Stretch out the time horizon a little, Pena says, and the increases on certain hard-to-find products are much starker yet. A pound of halibut, he says, goes for $28 from the local seafood distributor he buys from in Atlanta. Before the pandemic, it was $16 at most. And blue crab has gone from $18 a pound to $44. But at least he can find crab. In Orlando, Brennan Heretick, co-owner of High Tide Harry’s, had to stop selling crab fingers because wholesalers in the region stopped offering them.

Just like in dozens of other overwhelmed industries in the booming economy, there are any number of factors causing the shortages and price spikes: The ports are congested; there aren’t enough fishermen; there aren’t enough truck drivers; and demand for seafood at restaurants is soaring.

“Distributors used to hustle and bustle to get your business,” says Jay Herrington, who owns Fish On Fire, a restaurant that’s a 10-minute drive from Heretick’s place. Now, “you don’t get a delivery, or it’s a late delivery. Sometimes we have to go and pick it up.” That’s something he’d never seen before. Herrington recently raised entree prices, which range from $10 to $20, by as much as $3 to offset the higher costs. “There’s just no stopping it,” he says.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Fishermen Call on BOEM to Change New York Bight Wind Leases to Protect Valuable Scallop Fishery

July 26, 2021 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

On Tuesday, July 20, scallop fishermen and industry advocates called for changes to proposed offshore wind leases in the New York Bight. In an online call with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) officials, industry representatives highlighted the need for a buffer zone to protect the most valuable scallop area in the Mid-Atlantic and expressed concern over environmental and fisheries impacts of offshore wind development generally. Proposed lease areas need to be thoroughly re-evaluated to reduce impacts to scallops and scallop fishermen, who operate in the most valuable federally managed fishery.

The Port of New Bedford often comes to mind when thinking about the scallop industry, and rightfully so since it is America’s highest-value fishing port. But the fact is that coastal communities from Massachusetts to Virginia depend on scallops. According to the New England Fishery Management Council’s 2021 Scallop Fishery Management Plan update, Atlantic scallops comprise the majority of landed value in eight of the largest East Coast fishing ports, and over 40 percent in four others.

Data Courtesy of the NEFMC’s Scallop Framework Adjustment 33 (2010-2017)

Damage to the scallop industry will have far reaching consequences for working families in ports throughout the Atlantic coast. The harm will extend beyond fishermen and processing plant employees – many of whom are recent immigrants – to fuel docks, marine equipment suppliers, restaurants, and markets. Coastwide, scallops were worth well over half a billion dollars to coastal economies in 2019 and nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars when taking into account their processed value. And this does not include the additional economic value added by the remainder of the supply chain until the product ultimately reaches consumers in markets and restaurants.

One of the most consequential concerns expressed by fishermen on the call was the need for a buffer zone between the southeastern edge of the Hudson South Lease Area and the Hudson Canyon Access Area (HCAA). Stakeholders argued in favor of a five-mile buffer zone, which would help protect the HCAA from the negative environmental effects of offshore wind development. According to estimates in a published scientific paper lead-authored by the lead federal scallop scientist, the HCAA has added well over a billion dollars in revenues to coastal communities in the last two decades.

Offshore wind presents many potential environmental threats to marine ecosystems. The assembly of turbines displaces large amounts of sediment on the seafloor, creating scour and sediment plumes that can interfere with scallop growth and filter-feeding processes. The turbine arrays themselves can disrupt ocean currents and thus scallop larval flow and settlement. Wind farms create habitats for other filter feeding species like mussels, which compete for available phytoplankton, change the biological makeup of the surrounding area, and interfere with the sustainability of the resource. Young scallops also face increased predation from marine life known to proliferate in wind energy installations such as starfish and moon snails. Seismic activity involved in wind farm site assessment activities has also been shown to damage scallops.

During the meeting, representatives from both the scallop industry and the Port of New Bedford argued that BOEM has been more responsive to concerns of wind developers and other ocean user groups like the military and commercial shipping interests than to those of fishermen. They called for in-person meetings with fishermen to discuss impacts from the proposed wind lease areas. By conducting meetings strictly online, BOEM is excluding many fishermen who are not accustomed to and well-equipped for Zoom and other online platforms. Meaningful personal engagement is necessary to ensure equity and reduce negative impacts of offshore development in the New York Bight area.

While the Fisheries Survival Fund appreciates that new jobs in coastal communities and economic growth could accompany offshore wind development, the benefits should not come at the expense of those who have historically relied on the scallop fishery to provide for their families. The Fisheries Survival Fund hopes to engage in meaningful, honest discussion with both developers and BOEM to mitigate impacts, preserve access, and protect the livelihoods of fishermen throughout the East Coast.

NEW YORK: Scallop Disaster Declared, But Some Hope for 2022

July 22, 2021 — Ask any bayman, and all would agree that the bay scallop fishery in the Peconic Bay estuary system in the past two years was a total calamity. As such, it was no surprise to learn that the United States Department of Commerce recently declared the events of 2019-20 a fishery disaster.

The declaration makes the fishery eligible for disaster assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Baymen may also qualify for disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration, according to the Department of Commerce. The department has balances remaining from previously appropriated fishery disaster assistance and will determine the appropriate allocation for the Peconic Bay fishery, which can also include funding of habitat restoration and additional research efforts.

“Fisheries are essential to our communities and economy, and we want to ensure America is in a position to remain competitive on the global stage,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “These determinations allow us to lend a helping hand to the fishing families and communities that have experienced very real and difficult setbacks in the last few years.”

But there is also some good news, for now, regarding the popular bivalve. While it’s still early, there have been no signs of a die-off this summer among scallops that were spawned last year, according to Stephen Tettelbach, a Long Island University ecology professor who heads Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Peconic Bay Scallop Restoration Program. Dr. Tettelbach’s team conducts periodic dives of the bottomland in several locations during the year to check on the status of the growing scallops.

Dr. Tettelbach was equally enthused about the number of larval scallops in local waters. “We did the first sampling of our larval spat collectors last Monday and saw the largest scallop set in the last 17 years,” he said. “There are small bugs all over the bays.” Small or newly-hatched scallops are commonly called “bugs.”

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

CONNECTICUT: Stonington fishermen fight for their livelihoods: A look at the fleet’s past, present and tenuous future

July 22, 2021 — At 3:20 a.m. Wednesday, the fishing boat Tradition, its deck awash in flood lights, eased out of the south pier of the Town Dock and headed out into Stonington Harbor. A few minutes later, the Jenna Lynn II followed, gliding through the placid water on the way to its fishing grounds.

The two boats would return Wednesday afternoon to unload their catches on the dock.

This scene has taken place here for more than 250 years as fishermen and lobstermen from the Town Dock and other borough piers have left home in search of fish, lobster and scallops in waters as close as Block Island and Long Island sounds and as far away as Georges Bank and Hudson Canyon.

While they have weathered storms, the loss of 41 fleet members at sea, declining catches and restrictions on how much fish they can land, the aging group of mostly men who make up the Town Dock Fleet now face a set of new challenges that threatens their future and that of the state’s last surviving commercial fleet.

These include the difficulty of luring young people into a grueling but potentially lucrative occupation and the leasing of vast areas of their fishing grounds to offshore wind energy companies that plan to erect hundreds of massive turbines.

“A lot of these men have sacrificed a lot to keep Stonington a viable fishing community,” said Joe Gilbert, who owns four large scallop and fishing boats at the dock.

To a man, they say the general public does not have a good understanding of or appreciation for what they do.

Read the full story at The Day

NEFMC SSC – Listen Live – Thursday, July 29, 2021 – Skate, Groundfish, Scallop, Social Science Issues; Guidance for Data Limited Stocks

July 21, 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 skates, social and economic information in recent groundfish and scallop actions, federal guidance under National Standard 1 for developing annual catch limits for data limited stocks, and ABC control rules for groundfish.  The public is invited to listen live.  Here are the details.

WHEN:  Thursday, July 29, 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.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (415) 930-5321.  The access code is 971-717-154.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  More specifically, the SSC will meet to:

  • Review information presented by the Council’s Skate Plan Development Team (PDT) and develop acceptable biological catch (ABC) recommendations for the Northeast Skate Complex for fishing years 2022-2023;
  • Receive a presentation on the SSC Social Science Subpanel’s review of social and economic information in Groundfish Framework Adjustment 59 and Scallop Framework Adjustment 32;
  • Discuss comments on the document titled NOAA/NMFS NS1 [National Standard 1] Technical Guidance Subgroup 3 Tech Memo, which addresses annual catch limits (ACLs) for data-limited stocks;
  • Discuss approaches for modifying ABC control rules for the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan; and
  • Consider other business as necessary.

COMMENTS:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27, 2021.  Address comments to Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn 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 July 29, 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.

NEW YORK: Study finding early signs of hope for Peconic scallop fishery

July 16, 2021 — Scientists studying the early stages of bay scallop growth are finding encouraging signs this year, after two years of scallop die-offs that recently led the federal government to declare a disaster in the Peconic Bay fishery.

Scallops can lay up to 2 million eggs when they spawn in the period of June to August, and this year’s larval scallops will go on to make up the breeding stock for next summer’s spawn.

An expanded survey of scallops being funded by New York state and conducted by the Cornell Cooperative Extension and Stony Brook University is finding higher levels of larval scallops than has been seen in 17 years, said Stephen Tettelbach, a shellfish ecologist for Cornell.

“It’s way beyond anything we’ve ever seen in terms of larval settlement,” said Tettelbach. “It shattered all records we’ve seen in 17 years by far.”

Just as encouraging, Tettelbach said, researchers haven’t seen the summer die-offs of adult scallops that they they saw in the previous two years, a die-off that amounted to 50% of the population by the end of June and 100% in some areas by the end of July. “So far we haven’t seen any big die-offs,” he said.

Read the full story at Newsday

Scallop harvest to decline again this year, but still strong

July 15, 2021 — Fishermen are harvesting fewer scallops off the East Coast as the population of the valuable shellfish appears to be on the decline.

Sea scallops are one of the most profitable resources in the Atlantic, and the U.S. fishery was worth more than $570 million at the docks in 2019. Fishermen harvested more than 60 million pounds that year.

But fishermen harvested about 43.5 million pounds in 2020 after a projection that they would collect more than 51 million pounds, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. They’re expected to harvest about 40 million pounds this year, NOAA said.

NOAA officials cautioned that the scallop population is not in peril, and 40 million pounds is still a lot of scallops. That is a higher number than any year from 2013 to 2015.

The decline in scallops stems from slowing growth in key fishing areas such as Georges Bank and the mid-Atlantic, and some disappointing production in the Nantucket Lightship Area off Massachusetts, said Teri Frady, a NOAA spokesperson. She said the fishery is still well within overfishing limits.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times

Potential Gear Conflicts in Lobster Area 4

July 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The New England Fishery Management Council has received reports of gear conflicts between lobster fishermen and scallopers occurring south of Long Island, NY in Lobster Area 4 (see figure below).

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1857(1)(K), it is unlawful to remove, damage, or tamper with fishing gear owned by another person within the EEZ. Violations of the Act, including unlawful gear interaction, may result in civil penalties.

The lobster gear in this area is set east-to-west in 30-pot trawls and marked by highflyers. Gear is set starting in mid-July and fished through December.  Gear is typically tended every seven nights. When fishing in this area, please be aware of the presence of fixed gear and tune your radar to be able to detect highflyers.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Travis Ford, Regional Office, 978-281-9233 or Caleb Gilbert, Office of Law Enforcement, 978-281-9338

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

Read the full release here