Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Shrimp lovers lining up for local catch

March 2, 2017 — Joe Jurek knew his catch would be popular. He just didn’t know how popular.

Jurek, a Gloucester-based groundfisherman who specializes in yellow-tail flounder on most fishing days, now holds the rarified position as the only Massachusetts fisherman allowed to fish for northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.

His tenure as shrimper-in-residence will last only two more weeks, much to the dismay of local northern shrimp lovers — including Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken — who literally have trooped down to the dock with buckets to try to buy the cold-water delicacies. The local shrimp have disappeared from seafood retail shops in the last four years the shrimp fishery has been closed.

“Once people found out about it, it was like a bunch of seagulls,” said Romeo Theken, who along with a couple other dozen friends put in an order for about 230 pounds of the small, sweet shrimp. “Now people know the process, that they have to sign in at the auction and buy it through a seafood dealer.”

Jurek said he’s averaging 350 to 400 pounds of the shrimp per fishing day, which he lands at the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange at an average off-the-boat price of about $6.50 a pound.

Jurek, owner and skipper of the 42-foot FV Mystique Lady, is the lone Massachusetts participant in the eight-week Gulf of Maine winter shrimp sampling program. The study also includes eight trawlers from Maine and one from New Hampshire.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Impact of shrimping regulations felt far and wide along North Carolina coast

March 1, 2017 — For months at a time, fisherman Dennis Aultman lives on his boat, the “Bertie P,” where he said he spends his time trawling along places like the “the Pamlico Sound and out off of the beach off of Ocracoke and Kitty Hawk.”

He’s just one of hundreds of North Carolina fishermen who said any changes to the industry would affect their livelihoods.

The N.C. Wildlife Federation introduced a petition last November to the state Division of Marine Fisheries that adds new regulations on shrimpers.

“I don’t understand why they want to shut us down,” said Aultman. “It creates jobs for a lot of people other than just us.”

But David Knight of the N.C. Wildlife Federation said the organization sees the regulations as a necessity.

“Those that are saying this is about banning shrimp trawling in North Carolina are incorrect,” said Knight. “That statement is untrue. If you look at our petition and read it closely, we want there to be more restriction on these nursery areas.”

Read the full story at WNCT 9

NORTH CAROLINA: Shrimp Trawling Proposal Moves Forward

February 28, 2017 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted February 16th to grant a petition for rulemaking and began drafting rules to implement it. If adopted, the rules will limit shrimp trawling in most North Carolina waters.

According to the Division of Marine Fisheries, shrimp are the second most economically important fishery in North Carolina.  In communities like Englehard, Lowland, Hobucken and Down East Carteret County, many commercial fishermen make their living trawling for shrimp in the Pamlico Sound.  That’s why a petition to reclassify most internal waters is a contentious topic right now.

At a public hearing last Thursday in Wilmington, the North Carolina Fisheries Commission voted 5-3 to grant a petition for rulemaking that if adopted would limit shrimp trawling in most North Carolina waters.  Proponents say the changes would greatly reduce bycatch and help bolster populations of commercially valuable finfish.  Those against the measure say it will raise the price of locally caught shrimp and could decimate the shrimping industry in North Carolina.  Jerry Schill is the President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a nonprofit organization that lobbies local, state and federal policymakers on behalf of commercial fishermen.

“It was not surprising to us but it was very disappointing after you come off an advisory committee meeting in New Bern where the five advisory committees votes overwhelmingly to recommend that the Commission reject the petition or deny the petition.  And they went ahead and accepted it anyway which was very disappointing.”

The petition, submitted on November 2nd by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and modified on January 12th asks the commission to designate all coastal fishing waters not otherwise designated as nursery areas (including the Atlantic Ocean out to three miles from shore) as special secondary nursery areas.  It also seeks to establish clear criteria for the opening of shrimp season and define the type of gear and how and when gear may be used in special secondary nursery areas during shrimp season.  Since the meeting, advisor with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation David Knight says he’s received a positive response from people who feel the recommendations are a step the right direction.

Read the full story at Public Radio East

NORTH CAROLINA: Tale of two sides: Opponents, backers of shrimp trawling petition weigh in

February 23, 2017 — NEW BERN, N.C. — A fishing industry advocacy group said the proposed state regulations in a recently approved petition could sink shrimp trawling in North Carolina, but a recreational fishermen’s environmental nonprofit thinks shrimping will just need to change.

Representatives from the N.C. Fisheries Association, a nonprofit industry group that advocates for the state seafood industry, and the North Carolina branch of the Coastal Conservation Association, an interstate nonprofit dedicated to protecting the coastal environment, spoke Tuesday to a crowd of about 84 people at the regular meeting of the Coastal Carolina Taxpayer’s Association at the Stanly Hall Ballroom. The association invited them to provide their opinions on the petition for rulemaking approved Thursday by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.

Jerry Schill, NCFA executive director, said the association thinks the proposed special secondary nursery areas are the biggest problem with the petition’s proposed rules.

“The people who created this petition, they don’t understand the history of the (shrimp trawl bycatch) issue,” he said. “The fishing industry created nursery areas in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the term ‘bycatch’ came up.  Now we have turtle excluder devices in shrimp trawls and sea turtles have rebounded. Finfish bycatch is still an issue, but bycatch reduction devices are being used.”

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

New Rules Could Be Coming to Shuttered Maine Shrimp Fishery

February 23, 2017 — Interstate regulators are holding a pair of meetings to determine how to manage New England’s depleted shrimp fishery in the future.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been considering new ways to manage Northern shrimp, which have declined as waters have warmed. The fishery is currently shut down.

Regulators are looking at ways to manage the fishery when and if it reopens. They are considering options such as state-by-state quotas, mandating different types of gear and adding new reporting methods.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Northern Shrimp Data Workshop Scheduled for April 5-7, 2017 in Portland, ME

February 22, 2017 — The following has been released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

The Northern Shrimp Data Workshop will be conducted April 5-7, 2017 at the Westin Portland Harborview in Portland, Maine. The Data Workshop is the first in a series of workshops to develop the next shrimp benchmark stock assessment. The assessment will evaluate the health of the Gulf of Maine northern shrimp population and inform management of this species. The Workshop is open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data, when the public will be asked to leave the room. 

For data sets to be considered at the workshop, data must be sent in with accompanying methods description to Max Appelman (mappelman@asmfc.org) by March 17, 2017. All available data will be reviewed and vetted by members of the Northern Shrimp Stock Assessment Subcommittee for possible use in the assessment.  

The benchmark stock assessment will be peer reviewed in April 2018. For more information on submission and presentation of materials at the Data Workshop, or attending the Data Workshop, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.               

NORTH CAROLINA: Debate intensifies over new shrimping proposal

February 22, 2017 — Proposed shrimping regulations was once again at the center of debate in New Bern Tuesday night.

A meeting, hosted by the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association, aimed at providing people in attendance arguments for, and against, the petition.

The petition would create stricter regulations on those fishing for shrimp. It would limit trawling to 3 days a week, increase the size of fish-eyes to reduce bycatch, and limit where trawling could take place.

It would also put significant restrictions on shrimping in the Pamlico Sound.

Those supporting the petition said it is needed to protect shrimp populations, as many fish species have declined in North Carolina waters.

“A lot of things will have to be looked at. Will the petition stand as written? I doubt it,” said Donald Willis, VP of the North Carolina Coastal Conservation Association.

Read the full story at WNCT 9

The Status of Maine Fisheries

February 22, 2017 — Maine’s Department of Marine Resources Commissioner will discuss the health of Maine’s fisheries – from scallops to herring, shrimp to lobster – and measures to protect them.

Guest: Patrick Keliher is a Gardiner native. He has spent much of his life in the woods and on the waters of Maine. His career has involved work as a registered Maine hunting guide and charter boat captain. He also served as Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maine, the Executive Director of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, and Acting Commissioner of the department before being appointed by Governor LePage to serve as Maine’s Department of Marine Resources Commissioner in 2012.

Listen to the interview and read the full story at Maine Public

Opponents of North Carolina shrimp trawl limits not backing down

February 21, 2017 — Opponents of proposed shrimp trawl limits in the US state of North Carolina say they don’t plan on backing down, reports JD News.

“It’s going to be a long road,” said Allen Jernigan of Sneads Ferry, a full-time waterman who runs fishing charters and also does some commercial fishing.

The state’s fisheries commission voted five-three, with one member abstaining, last week to approve a petition for rule-making from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, setting in motion a lengthy process of reviewing the rules proposed in the petition before a final decision is made.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

North Carolina shrimpers say net of new rules for trawlers will destroy industry

February 17, 2017 — WILMINGTON, N.C. — The state Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to begin drafting rules that would limit trawling for shrimp in North Carolina’s inland coastal waters, a move that many on the coast say could destroy the shrimping industry.

The decision came after months of wrangling between commercial and recreational fishermen, with the latter group arguing that trawlers are scooping up millions of young fish before they’re old enough to spawn, effectively killing off fish stocks in the region.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation petitioned the state – the only one on the East Coast that allows shrimp trawling in its sounds and estuaries – to reduce the size of trawler nets, limit how long nets could be pulled in the water, permit shrimping only three days per week and eliminate night-time shrimping.

“North Carolina has some of the most lenient shrimp trawling rules on the East and the Gulf Coast,” said David Knight, a policy consultant for the Wildlife Federation.

Thousands of people signed petitions against the proposal, and commercial fishermen packed Marine Fisheries Commission meetings in recent months to make their stance known. Hundreds left in disgust Thursday after the commission overrode the recommendations of its advisory committees and accepted the Wildlife Federation’s petition.

“What just happened today is appalling,” said Brent Fulcher, who owns Beaufort Inlet Seafood in Beaufort. “The state process is broken.”

Read the full story WRAL