Saving Seafood

Florida: Bob Jones Retires from the Southeastern Fisheries Association

June 7, 2018 — TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — The following was released by the Southeastern Fisheries Association:

After 54 years serving as the leader of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, Executive Director Bob Jones is retiring from SFA by the end of 2018. The SFA Board of Directors has begun the process to search for qualified candidates to be the next leader of the SFA organization. The SFA Board of Directors and Jones will continue to lead the organization during this transition.

The open and honest interaction Jones has had with all the seafood industry stakeholders gave credence to the impact Southeastern Fisheries Association has on saving the commercial fishing culture because of the importance of producing seafood for the United States of America.

SFA is responsible for establishing the Florida Seafood Marketing program in 1965. It is funded through a self-imposed fee on wholesale seafood dealers and fishermen. SFA won the legislative battle to keep king and Spanish mackerel available to the market and was the prime mover establishing the Tortugas shrimp nursery off Key West setting aside 3,000,000 acres where no trawling is allowed so juvenile shrimp can mature. SFA was a founding member of the Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation that managed over 200 projects assisting the industry. Jones was a 1976 original member of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. He served as vice-chairman 1976-1980 and chairman in 1981. He served on the US State Department’s Ocean Affairs Advisory Committee when the Magnuson-Stevens Act was created.

Jones plans to stay involved with the seafood industry in the area of food safety, consumer fraud and promoting equal access to the nation’s fisheries for non-fishermen, especially seniors.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Bob for his open and honest interactions in the seafood industry over the past 54 years,” said Mr. Peter Jarvis, SFA President. “Under Bob’s leadership, SFA has maintained respect for seeking the truth and presenting the facts. We are deeply grateful to Bob for his contributions to the fishing industry and his love of the Rule of Law”.

For additional information, visit www.SFAonline.org

 

NOAA Fisheries: Fishing for White, Brown, and Pink Shrimp is Open Off Georgia in Federal Waters

May 21, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

WHAT/WHEN:

  • Federal waters adjacent to Georgia state waters are open to fishing for white, brown, and pink shrimp as of 4:15 p.m., local time, May 18, 2018.
  • Georgia state waters remain closed until the state determines an appropriate reopening date.

WHY THIS REOPENING IS HAPPENING: 

  • Georgia closed its state waters to all shrimping on January 15, 2018, due to a prolonged period of water temperatures at or below 9°C in the region.
  • Georgia requested NOAA Fisheries to close federal waters off Georgia. The federal closure was effective January 24, 2018.
  • The purpose of the closure was to protect the white shrimp spawning population.
  • Based on warming water temperatures and current projections provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, state fisheries officials determined the threat to overwintering shrimp has passed and requested that NOAA Fisheries open federal waters to trawling.
  • Georgia officials will continue to monitor the white shrimp population for the purposes of determining when it is appropriate to allow shrimp fishing to resume in state waters.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations. Full regulations can be found in the  Federal Register.

 

North Carolina: Working group is confident it’s found ways to cut down on shrimp bycatch

May 15, 2018 — An industry work group will tell the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission on Thursday that it has found a way to modify nets to significantly reduce the bycatch of finfish and other species during shrimp trawling, one of the state’s largest fishing activities.

North Carolina has a long history of battling the bycatch of juvenile fish, sharks and turtles that a shrimp trawl can capture, in 1992 becoming the first state to require a bycatch reduction device. A 2009 study by N.C. Marine Fisheries biologist Kevin Brown found that more than 100 species were included in bycatch, with Atlantic croaker accounting for 25 percent and spot accounting for 7 percent.

“Bycatch has been an issue for a long time. It always seems like good things happen when people get together and start focusing on it,” said Scott Baker, a N.C. Sea Grant fisheries specialist who was part of the working group.

The Marine Fisheries Commission created the current 12-member working group — including six fishermen and four netmakers — in 2014 as part of its management plan for shrimp, giving them three years to find a way to reduce bycatch by an additional 40 percent beyond the federally mandated 30 percent. Now, the group will tell the commission, it has crafted four sets of gear that meet the target and is recommending the commission consider requiring shrimpers in the Pamlico Sound to use some of the devices.

“We’re basically twice (the reductions) the federal requirement are,” Brown said.

Read the full story at the Wilmington Star

 

North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission To Consider Changes To Shrimp Trawling Industry

May 15, 2018 — The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission plans to discuss and possibly vote on new gear requirements in the shrimp trawl fishery at their quarterly business meeting in New Bern on Wednesday and Thursday.

A three-year study identified four new gear configurations that reduce finfish bycatch by at least 40 percent.  The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries and N.C. Sea Grant worked with commercial fishermen and local net makers to test 14 different trawl net configurations.

“Each time that we met, they would define what gears to be tested and, you know, as the three-year process went on, we started seeing some devices that showed more promise and we started focusing our efforts on those type of devices.”

Kevin Brown, gear development biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries says nearly 314,000 pounds of fish and shrimp were sampled during the study.

Read the full story at WTEB

 

World’s largest ‘dead zone’ discovered, and it’s not in the Gulf of Mexico

May 14, 2018 — The Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone is bigger than ever. Recent surveys put it at an enormous 8,776 square miles, large enough to cover New Jersey.

But another massive zone of low dissolved oxygen confirmed recently in the Arabian Sea is seven times larger. At 63,000 square miles — the size of Florida — it ranks as the world’s largest.

Scientists from the University of East Anglia of Norwich, England measured the dead zone, which sits in the Gulf of Oman south of Iran, with underwater robots. The area had been suspected of hosting a massive dead zone, but roving bands of pirates and the region’s volatile geopolitics made research difficult. The torpedo-shaped robots were able to slip in and do the measurements with ease, but they came back with very bad news.

“The Arabian Sea is the largest and thickest dead zone in the world,” said Bastien Queste, a marine biochemist and the study’s lead author. “But until now, no one really knew how bad the situation was because of piracy and conflicts in the area have made it too dangerous to collect data.”

Waters depleted of oxygen turn fish away and suffocate anything that can’t escape, including plants and slow-moving crabs and other shellfish.

“Of course all fish, marine plants and other animals need oxygen, so they can’t survive there,” Queste said. “It’s a real environmental problem with dire consequences for humans, too.”

In the Gulf of Mexico, the growing dead zone has had a big impact on commercial fisheries. Shrimp are harder to find and the oxygen-starved crustaceans are slow to grow, producing a smaller shrimp that fetches lower prices.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

 

ASMFC 2018 Spring Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

April 26, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spring Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2018-spring-meeting for the following Boards/Sections (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2018SpringMeeting/SupplementalMaterialsCombined.pdf. NOTE: The Shad and River Herring Management Board, previously scheduled for May 1st (11:15 a.m. – Noon), has been cancelled. The Tautog Management Board will be meeting in its place (same date and time). The Tautog Board’s materials can be accessed through the Board link and is also in the combined supplemental materials file.

Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Board jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council –  Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview; Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment Draft Public Hearing Document; Draft Amendment to the FMP for Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass for Public Comment; Black Sea Bass Management Reform Initiative 

Bluefish Management Board jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council – Draft Agenda

Tautog Management Board – Draft Agenda & Meeting Overview; Draft Proceedings from October 2017; Connecticut 2018 Commercial Measures

Atlantic Herring Section – Technical Committee Task List & Update on River Herring/Shad Catch Caps, Accountability Measures in the Mackerel Fishery, and Potential Impacts on Atlantic Herring

Northern Shrimp Section – Technical Committee Task List

Executive Committee –  Draft Meeting Summary from February 2018

American Lobster Management Board – Technical Committee Task List & Public Comment

Winter Flounder Management Board – Technical Committee Task List; Technical Committee Report on Proposed Aggregate Weekly Limits in the Commercial SNE/MA Fishery; Law Enforcement Committee Guidelines on the Enforceability of Fishery Management Measures

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – NOAA Southeast Regional Office Correspondence to ASMFC

As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning April  30th at 10 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 2:15 p.m.) on Thursday, May 3rd. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1945339924799258370 to register.

 

SAFMC: Upcoming Meetings Will Address Federal Fisheries Management Issues

Advisory panels provide grassroots input; Cobia Stock ID Workshop; Scientists convene in May

April 3, 2018 — NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Fishermen and others interested in federal fishery management issues will want to mark their calendars for upcoming meetings that may affect fishing for snapper, grouper, black sea bass, mackerel, cobia, rock shrimp, and golden crab as well as policies affecting essential fish habitat and ecosystem-based management. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold several advisory panel meetings as well as a meeting of the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) in the coming weeks. A workshop to address stock boundaries for cobia is also scheduled as part of a benchmark stock assessment for cobia.

The Council’s advisory panel members, representing recreational fishermen, charter captains, commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and others knowledgeable about fisheries issues, provide grassroots input into the fishery management process. The Council’s SSC is responsible for reviewing the scientific basis of Council management plans and actions and developing fishing level recommendations in accordance with national fisheries guidelines. Members of the SSC include stock assessment scientists, economists, biologists, sociologists, and others knowledgeable about fisheries in the South Atlantic.

Additional information about the meetings listed below, including meeting agendas, overviews, and briefing book materials will be available online (see details below). Members of the public are invited to attend all meetings. The advisory panel meetings and the SSC meeting will also be accessible online via webinar as they occur. Webinar registration is required and details are posted on the meeting pages of the website.

SEDAR Cobia Stock ID Workshop

April 10-12, 2018

Meeting Location: Town and Country Inn, 2008 Savannah Highway, Charleston, SC 29407

The Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) benchmark stock assessment for cobia is scheduled to start in 2018. It will be a multi-step process consisting of a series of workshops and webinars. Cobia stock identification will be resolved through a multi-step process prior to the Data Workshop scheduled as part of the SEDAR 58 stock assessment. The Cobia Stock ID Workshop is the first step in this process. Participants in the Stock ID Workshop include data collectors, database managers, stock assessment scientists, fishermen, environmentalists and non-government organizations, and staff from state and federal agencies.

Workshop participants will review all available, relevant information on cobia stock structure including genetic studies, growth patterns, movement and migration, existing stock definitions, and oceanographic and habitat characteristics and make recommendations on biological stock structure and the assessment unit stock or stocks to be addressed through the SEDAR 58 assessment. They will also document the rationale behind their recommendations. Additional information is available at: http://sedarweb.org/sedar-58.

Read the full list of meetings at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

Dan Webster Champions Sustainable Shark and Fisheries Trade Act

March 21, 2018 — U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., is leading three other members of the Florida delegation in wanting the U.S. Commerce Department to increase regulation on the international shark trade.

Last week, Webster, who is the vice chairman on the U.S. House Water Power and Oceans Subcommittee, unveiled the “Sustainable Shark and Fisheries Trade Act” which modifies the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. The proposal has support from both sides of the aisle with three members of the Florida delegation–Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Bill Posey and Democrat U.S. Rep. Darren Soto–cosponsoring the proposal.

Webster’s office noted “the bill preserves U.S. commercial fishing jobs, a key component of our state and nation’s economy” and, taking a page from the World Trade Organization’s process for certifying importing shrimp, would have the U.S. Secretary of Commerce establish a three year certifying process for nations exporting shark products to the U.S.

Read the full story at Sunshine State News

 

National Fisherman: No privacy, please

March 8, 2018 — As the north coast of California finally opened its Dungeness crab season this year, we saw yet again that diversity in fisheries is the key to sustaining infrastructure.

About 3,000 miles away from Crescent City, Calif., where buyers put crab boats on 3,000- to 6,000-pound limits when the season opened, Maine fishermen know exactly what it’s like to lose fishery landings and value prospects to a loss of infrastructure.

The California processors were claiming they couldn’t move product quickly enough because the season has been hindered for several years running. That has led them to consolidate, cut staff and trim the fat on trucking infrastructure. In Maine, the boom and bust winter shrimp fishery is mostly busted. Decades of quota extremes led the dwindling number of onshore processors to cut back on their commitment to the fleet (when it was running).

Some communities and individuals developed programs around direct marketing the catch in Maine. But just as they were getting established, the fishery went bust again and hasn’t been back since. When it does come back, who will be able to take the shrimp? And beyond the processors, what will the market be?

Lucky for Maine fishermen, local shrimp carries a certain mystique. When it comes in, coastal communities gather round to buoy the fleet and enjoy the fruits of the sea. But California’s Dungeness is a premium product, closer to Maine’s lobster in quality, flavor and demand. It is also sold live. What would Maine look like if its lobster fleet suffered a similar fate to that of California crabbers? It would not be pretty.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

 

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Unveils New Database to Evaluate Aquaculture Management

March 7, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) announced on Tuesday that they have launched a new approach to assessing sustainable aquaculture management in major production regions.

The nonprofit organization has published 35 profiles of farmed shrimp, salmon and pangasius across 10 countries. The profiles, which are available at www.fishsource.org, were written to “allow corporate buyers to assess specific production regions and better understand risks in their procurement strategies.”

“In SFP’s view, sustainably managed aquaculture requires best practices at the farm level, production zone level and national policy level,” SFP CEO Jim Cannon said in a press release. “The new methodology and profiles on FishSource offer a broad vision for sustainability managed aquaculture. SFP is inviting partners and industry to join us in adopting this ambitious new approach for aquaculture.”

SFP says that they plan to “continue developing and adding profiles to the database.” They hope that the tool will help businesses understand the risks affecting their supply chain.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.