Saving Seafood

Red Snapper Continues Dominance at Galveston Gulf Council Meeting

October 26, 2015 — Regional management of the Gulf red snapper fishery continued to be a hot topic during the last Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council of 2015 held at the Hilton Galveston Island hotel. While the council also addressed important fishery issues concerning gag, black grouper, and shrimp, Gulf red snapper remained the biggest issue to dominate the Council’s time.

The Council continued discussions on Reef Fish Amendment 39 which would divide the recreational red snapper quota among regions to allow for the creation of different management measures better suited for each area. If enacted, the Council has selected to sunset the action five years after implementation. Currently, the Council has selected a preferred alternative that would sunset the action five years after implementation.

Charter boats across the Gulf of Mexico carry nearly 1.5 million recreational anglers from across the country and around the world on yearly fishing trips. Under the current federal management system, the Gulf federally-permitted charter fleet has a guaranteed allocation of red snapper for customers. Regional management would allow each Gulf state to manage red snapper in predetermined zones corresponding to each state’s land boundaries. Each state would have its own allocation of red snapper, as well as the ability to set fishing season lengths and daily bag limits. Under the current federal management system the federally permitted for-hire fleet and the private angling component have separate red sanpper allocations. Amendment 39 also considers whether to extend or end this separate management of the private angling and federally permitted for-hire components.

“The topic of the day was definitely the controversial red snapper regional management plan,” said Captain Shane Cantrell, Executive Director of the Charter Fisherman’s Association. “The federally permitted charter fleet continues to make it known to the Gulf Council that they do not want to be included in Amendment 39. This was demonstrated again in Galveston during several hours of public comment requesting that the federally permitted charter fleet and private anglers have the opportunity to develop independent management that suits their respective needs.”

On the second day of meetings, Robin Riechers the Director of Coastal Fisheries for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, stated during hearings that Texas federally permitted charter-for-hire captains were in favor of being included in the snapper regional management plan. The following day more than 50 Texas charter operators, a majority of the state’s industry, descended upon the Council voicing their strong opposition to being included stating that Riechers misspoke about their support for the plan.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Institute

Pink shrimp is Washington’s first state-managed MSC certified sustainable fishery

October 8, 2015 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

Washington pink shrimp is the first fishery managed by the state of Washington to achieve certification to the global Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. The Washington pink shrimp fishery was independently assessed as a scope extension of the MSC certified Oregon pink shrimp fishery, which achieved certification to the MSC standard in December 2007 and attained recertification in February 2013.

“Washington state’s pink shrimp fishermen are proud that this is the first Washington state-managed fishery to earn certification to the MSC standard,” said Charles Kirschbaum, ‎Pacific Seafood Group’s product manager. “Efforts by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, working closely with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, to develop and adopt reference points, and implement bycatch reduction measures are key to making the fishery one of the most sustainable shrimp fisheries in the world.”

Lorna Wargo, Senior Fisheries Biologist, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said, “Washington pink shrimp fishermen have a record of being willing to adopt sustainable fishing practices, often ahead of regulatory action, so I’m very pleased to see recognition of the fishery through MSC certification. We look forward to continued work with shrimpers and processors, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as such collaboration is an effective strategy for ensuring a healthy shrimp stock and vital fishery.”

Pink shrimp, also known as ocean shrimp, are generally considered to have a clean, sweet flavor and are commonly served on salad, in a shrimp roll or as whole cooked peel and eat shrimp. Since the late 1990’s, fishing for pink shrimp in Washington has steadily improved with recent landings increasing from approximately 10 million pounds per year to a record 30 million pounds, with a value of more than $16 million, in 2014. Fishing for Washington pink shrimp is allowed only in the U.S. federal Exclusive Economic Zone (which extends 200 nautical miles from the coast) and prohibited in State waters (0-3 mi). Permitted fishers are allowed to land as much as they can as long as they follow season (April 1 through October 31), area, size, and gear regulations (single and double-rigged shrimp trawl gear is permitted).

Brian Perkins, MSC Regional Director, Americas, said, “The expansion of the MSC certified pink shrimp fishery to include Washington pink shrimp is a significant advancement. In 2007, Oregon pink shrimp became the first pink shrimp fishery in the world to achieve MSC certification, and the addition of Washington demonstrates that this fishery continues to be committed to sustainably harvesting pink shrimp.”

This certification assessed the west coast pink (ocean) shrimp stock which extends from south east Alaska to California waters. The assessment considered the health of the coast wide stock and the effects of all permitted harvests on that stock.

Read the release here

 

NILS E. STOLPE: FishNet-USA/Who’s really in charge of U.S. fisheries?

September 14, 2015 — An Oligarchy is defined as “a country, business, etc., that is controlled by a small group of people” 

Ancient City Shrimp is an eight minute YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WepRokGO8d8) produced by the St. Augustine Lighthouse Museum that examines St. Augustine’s past as one of several centers of commercial shrimping in Florida.

Unfortunately – or perhaps tragically is a better fit – Florida’s shrimp fleet is only a shadow of what it once was. One of the reasons for this is the imposition of unrealistic regulations on U.S. shrimpers that has made the fishery much less profitable than it used to be.

The video’s producers don’t really focus on this as one of the reasons for this decline, rather emphasizing the impacts of cheaper – and generally inferior – shrimp from abroad. This is understandable. You can only cover so much ground in a short video. Opening the can of worms that fishery regulation in the Southeast has become is a guarantee of complication and controversy, things which few museums would willingly get involved in.

In spite of a really good job overall I found part of the final narration troubling. Almost at the end (7 minutes and 50 seconds or so in) the narrator in his wrap-up states “while we can’t change federal regulations we can change our purchasing habits. Demand local shrimp(my emphasis added).” He’s on target with the “demand local shrimp” but it’s hard to imagine anything more antithetical to the principles that our country was founded upon than his acceptance of the idea that we can’t, or that we shouldn’t, change federal regulations.

While it seems unlikely, apparently he missed out on any exposure to or consideration of the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”

As close to immortal as any words spoken in the last half a millennium, they are from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. In a commemoration of the sacrifices of Union soldiers in the battle of Gettysburg, on November 19, 1863, President Lincoln expressed what governance in the United States was all about. To repeat those words, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

It kind of makes you wonder how the documentarians who put together Ancient City Shrimp became convinced that we (the people, I presume, as in the U.S. Citizenry) can’t or shouldn’t change federal regulations. One possibility is that they weren’t aware that Aldous Huxley’s 1984 was a work of fiction. Another would be that they have been exposed to the bottomless morass that federal fisheries management has been turned into.

A history lesson or two

Back in 1976 (this was before the existence of a multi-billion dollar environmental industry so thankfully they weren’t there ti impede the process) the Magnuson-Stevens Act became law. It brought fishing in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone under federal control and established a management regime that would eventually phase out virtually all foreign commercial fishing in U.S. waters.

It was generally agreed that one of the strongest features of the Act was the determination that fishermen were an integral part of the federal fishery management process. This was achieved by mandating that fishermen were voting members on each regional Fishery Management Council.

This was in recognition of a number of factors that the public, or at least the majority of the involved politicians and bureaucrats, have subsequently turned – or been turned – away from. Among these were the relative lack of knowledge of our fisheries and what affects them, the value to fisheries managers of the knowledge that has been accumulated by a multigenerational fishing industry over many years, and the belief in and the commitment of fishermen to the long term sustainability of the fisheries they participate in.

Read the full op-ed at FisheryNation.com

Access options tabled for native shrimp fishery

September 28, 2015 — The three states involved in the Gulf of Maine northern shrimp fishery are no closer to agreeing on future management options for the beleaguered fishery and have postponed until next summer the discussion on limiting access to the fishery when it reopens.

The northern shrimp section of the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission, the multi-state regulator for shrimp and other near-shore species, announced it has halted further development of the draft amendment addressing access to the collapsed fishery.

Now it appears it largely will be left to Maine to come up with a plan amenable to Massachusetts, New Hampshire and the rest of the ASMFC.

“The states were having trouble finding something that would work for them all,” said ASMFC spokeswoman Tina Berger. “So, for now, Maine will tackle it on their own because they have by far the largest number of fishermen in the fishery.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Weekly Update for Sept. 14, 2015

September 14, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

JERRY’S LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEWS AND OBSERVER:

In response to your Sept. 1 editorial “Fishy business on fish rules“: The N&O claimed the General Assembly was considering budget language that would keep the Marine Fisheries Commission from doing an amendment on southern flounder. That is not true, and our position has been that an amendment is what the commission should be doing. The issue is the relatively recent authority that has been given to the commission to do a supplement. That process is supposed to be a quick way to get regulations in place if it’s determined that the species in question is in dire straits.

Although The N&O claims southern flounder is near collapse, there are no data to support such a claim. Further, the commission is using the supplement to ban gear, which can be done only through an amendment, as the supplement process does not allow for the more detailed public scrutiny.

We expect all fishermen to abide by the rules. Should not the regulatory body be held to the same standards or higher? Why does The N&O support an agency going outside the rules?

The Marine Fisheries Commission exists because it was created by the General Assembly. The commission is expected to abide by the rules that were adopted by the General Assembly. Why is it wrong for the General Assembly to provide oversight?

I have never heard anyone dispute the notion that commercial fishermen are some of the hardest working laborer’s in our country.

SIGN THE PETITION: SAY NO TO THE NEW ENGLAND MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT

MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION REGIONAL COMMITTEES TO MEET ON POTENTIAL SEA TURTLE INCIDENTAL TAKE PERMIT MODIFICATIONS

The purpose of the meetings is to review information from the division’s at-sea observer program, the number of large mesh gill net fishing days for each management unit, and to provide feedback on potential amendment items to the sea turtle and Atlantic sturgeon incidental take permits.  Protected Resources staff will present information on the draft issue paper: Potential Amendments to the Sea Turtle and Atlantic Sturgeon Incidental Take Permits.

Southern Regional Advisory Committee Briefing Materials

Northern Regional Advisory Committee Briefing Materials 

ATLANTIC SHARK IDENTIFICATION WORKSHOPS AND PROTECTED SPECIES SAFE HANDLING, RELEASE AND IDENTIFICATION WORKSHOPS

Free Atlantic Shark Identification Workshops and Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification Workshops will be held in October, November, and December of 2015. Certain fishermen and shark dealers are required to attend a workshop to meet regulatory requirements and to maintain valid permits. Specifically, the Atlantic Shark Identification Workshop is mandatory for all federally permitted Atlantic shark dealers. The Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification Workshop is mandatory for vessel owners and operators who use bottom longline, pelagic longline, or gillnet gear, and who have also been issued shark or swordfish limited access permits. Additional free workshops will be conducted during 2016 and will be announced in a future notice.  For more information and schedules see the news release.  

ASMFC FISHERIES FOCUS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ISSUE

US CUTS DUMPING TAX ON SHRIMP

Cuts to anti-dumping tariffs are expected to accelerate shrimp exports to the US for the remaining part of the year after shrimp exports witnessed a hefty drop of more than 50 per cent.  The US Department of Commerce on Monday announced the final result of the 9th period of review on anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Vietnamese frozen shrimp products exported to the US market from Feb. 1, 2013 to Jan. 31, 2014, according to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.  Read the rest of the story.  

NOAA AWARDS $2.75 MILLION FOR MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE EFFORTS

NOAA Fisheries announced the award of $2.75 million in grant funding to partner organizations in 16 states to respond to and rehabilitate stranded marine mammals and collect data on their health. The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program provides funding to non-profit and for-profit organizations, academic institutions, and state agencies that are members of the National Marine Mammal Stranding Network.  For more information read the news release.  

REGULATION AND RULE CHANGES:

-USCG Mandatory Dockside Inspections Required Effective Oct. 15

DEADLINES:

Sept. 14 – NMFS Generic Amendment to Snapper-Grouper, Golden Crab and Dolphin-Wahoo FMPs Comments

Sept. 17 – 2016 Commercial Atlantic Shark Season Comments

Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. – 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Research Set Aside Applications 

Sept. 25 – MAFMC Cooperative Research Proposals

Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. – MFC Kingfish and Interjusdiction FMP Update Comments

Oct. 2 – MFC Proposed Rules Comments

Oct. 2 – MAFMC Unmanaged Forage Species Scoping Comments

MEETINGS:

If you are aware of ANY meetings that should be of interest to commercial fishing that is not on this list, please contact us so we can include it here.    

 

Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. – NCFA Board of Directors Meeting, Washington Civic Center, 110 Gladden St., Washington

Sept. 14 at 6 p.m – Oyster and Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee Meeting, DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. – MAFMC Scoping Hearing for Unmanaged Forage Species, 

DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. – MFC Sea Turtle Advisory Committee Meeting, DENR Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington

PROCLAMATIONS: 

BLACK SEA BASS – COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS – ATLANTIC OCEAN – NORTH OF CAPE HATTERAS

RESEARCH SANCTUARY (RS-4-2015 RESCINDED)

Read the Weekly Update as a PDF

 

Iconic fish species move north as ocean warms

September 6, 2015 — Warming ocean temperatures off the North Atlantic are causing fish to move up the coast to cooler waters — raising concerns among scientists and regulators about the ocean’s ecosystem, and potentially changing the experience Delaware anglers have enjoyed for generations.

In 2013, a Virginia Beach striped bass tournament drew hundreds of boats, but only one striper was caught.

Wachapreague, Virginia, a tiny town south of Chincoteague that called itself the “flounder capital of the world,” lost its identity and economic engine when summer flounder relocated to waters off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.

And the iconic blue crab, a staple of restaurants and dinner tables throughout the Delmarva Peninsula, are expanding their range, scuttling up the coast to Maine.

Striped bass, which gave birth to a charter fishing industry in Delaware, are swimming into deeper water during their fall migration through the mid-Atlantic — well beyond the 3-mile limit off the coast where it is legal to catch and keep them.

Black sea bass — once so common in area waters, they were the go-to-fish when other species weren’t biting — have moved north to New England.

Read the full story at Delaware Online

 

Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery may allow fewer fishermen in future

August 26, 2015 — Gulf of Maine shrimp might come back on the market eventually but there could be fewer fishermen catching them.

Regulators are considering putting a limit on the number of shrimp fishermen, which include a small number of fishermen from Gloucester and other portions of Cape Ann, who can participate in the Gulf of Maine’s beleaguered shrimp fishery in an attempt to revive the shuttered industry.

A board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is developing a proposal to control the number of fishermen who can fish for the shrimp that are prized for their sweet, tender meat. The plan will likely be the subject of public hearings next year, and could apply as soon as the 2017 fishing year, said commission spokeswoman Tina Berger.

The fishery has been shut down to shrimping since 2013 because of historically low levels of recruitment and spawning which has left the shrinking shrimp population in a perilous state.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

Conviction After US Shrimp Mislabelling Case

August 27, 2015 — A North Carolina seafood processor and wholesale distributor faces a felony conviction after Federal prosecutors exposed the company’s shrimp mislabelling scheme.

The prosecution also resulted in a $100,000 fine, forfeiture of more than 20,000 pounds of shrimp and three years’ probation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina joined forces to investigate and prosecute Alphin Brothers Inc., in a case that saw the company admit to falsely labelling tens of thousands of pounds of shrimp.

“This case is an example of coordinated law enforcement, both state and federal, working together with the tools they already have to crack down on fish fraud,” said Lisa Weddig, Secretary of the Better Seafood Board (BSB.)

Read the full story at The Fish Site

 

Mislabeled shrimp case ends in conviction

August 25, 2015 — A North Carolina seafood processor and wholesale distributor faces a felony conviction, a $100,000 fine, forfeiture of more than 20,000 pounds of shrimp and three years’ probation after Federal prosecutors exposed the company’s shrimp mislabelling scheme.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina joined forces to investigate and prosecute Alphin Brothers Inc., in a case that saw the company admit to falsely labelling tens of thousands of pounds of shrimp.

U.S. Attorneys used the Lacey Act as the centre piece of their prosecution. Federal law makes it illegal to “make or submit any false record, account, or label for, or any false identification of, any fish or wildlife that has been or is intended to be imported, transported, purchased or received from any foreign country, or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”

Read the full story at World Fishing & Aquaculture

 

Maine shrimp fishery may allow fewer fishermen in future

August 22, 2015 — Maine shrimp might come back on the market eventually but there could be fewer fishermen catching them.

Regulators are considering putting a limit on the number of fishermen who can participate in the Gulf of Maine’s beleaguered shrimp fishery in an attempt to revive the shuttered industry.

A board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is developing a proposal to control the number of fishermen who can fish for the shrimp that are prized for their sweet, tender meat. The plan will likely be the subject of public hearings next year, and could apply as soon as the 2017 fishing year, said commission spokeswoman Tina Berger.

The winter fishery, which formerly took place in the early months of the year, is currently shut down over concerns about low population, and fishermen haven’t been able to catch shrimp there since 2013.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald