Saving Seafood

News for the South Atlantic Region

SAFMC Meeting June 8-11, 2020 via Webinar

May 27, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold their quarterly meeting June 8-11, 2020 via webinar. The meeting, originally scheduled to be held in Key West, Florida was rescheduled via webinar due to the coronavirus and concerns for public safety.

The meeting week begins on Monday, June 8th at 10:30 a.m. with a series of committee meetings and concludes with a meeting of the Full Council on Thursday, June 11.

Meeting briefing book materials, including committee agendas and overviews, discussion documents, and presentations are now available at: https://safmc.net/june-2020-council-meeting-details/. An online comment form is also available for written comments. The meeting will be available via webinar each day as it occurs. Registration is required and can be completed in advance.

A formal public comment session will be held on Wednesday, June 10th beginning at 4:00 PM. Details on how to sign up for public comment are available from the meeting page of the website.

Agenda Highlights:

  • Best Fishing Practices – The Information and Education Committee will receive updates on the Council’s Best Fishing Practices campaign including input from its I&E Advisory Panel.
  • Dolphin Wahoo – Work continues on draft Amendment 10 to the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan to address revisions to recreational data and catch level recommendations, redefine Optimum Yield for the Dolphin fishery, modify accountability measures, and consider other revisions to the Dolphin and Wahoo fisheries. The Committee will also provide recommendations on management options to add Bullet and Frigate Mackerel to the Dolphin Wahoo FMP as Ecosystem Component Species.
  • Snapper Grouper – The Council is scheduled to approve measures to designate existing artificial reefs in federal waters off NC and SC as Special Management Zones at the request of the state marine resource agencies. In addition, the Snapper Grouper Committee will review results of stock assessments for Red Porgy and Greater Amberjack and provide recommendations for catch levels.
  • Coastal Migratory Pelagics – The Mackerel Cobia Committee will review the results of a recent stock assessment for King Mackerel and provide recommendations for catch levels.
  • Citizen Science – The Citizen Science Committee will provide feedback on Program goals and objectives, evaluation plan options, and receive updates on current CitSci projects including FISHstory and SAFMC Release.

Additional Information:

Discussion on the impacts of COVID-19 on fisheries will be held during each species-specific committee meeting. Further discussions and consideration of Council actions will take place during the meeting of the Full Council on Thursday in order to consider the impact across fisheries and all public comments. The Council will discuss these impacts and consider any necessary response.

Historic Dock Photos May Lead to Better Fisheries Management In the Future

May 26, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

There’s something special about old saltwater fishing photos from the coastal United States. Steeped in nostalgia and Americana, each photo tells a unique fishing story. Now, fishery managers are hopeful that they can reveal more.

That is the intent of FISHstory (pronounced like history), the new Citizen Science project launched today by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Participants in the pilot project can step back in time to the docks of Daytona Beach from the 1940s to the 70s, getting a unique look at images captured from the for-hire fleet. The FISHstory project will train volunteers to identify and count fish from more than 1,300 historic photos. Data collected will help fishery managers build a more complete picture of for-hire fisheries prior to the beginning of dedicated catch monitoring programs.

Knowing the species, number, and size of fish caught over time is crucial in understanding the health of a fish population, including estimates of stock productivity. However, in the South Atlantic there is little information available from the charter and headboat fleets prior to the 1970s. Historic dock photos, an untapped source of this important biological data, could help fill the gaps.

“We are very excited with the launch of FISHstory as part of the Council’s Citizen Science Program,” explained Mel Bell, Council Vice Chair and Chair of the Citizen Science Committee. “A great deal of teamwork has gone into the development and implementation of this pilot project,” said Bell. “We are especially grateful to Rusty Hudson for sharing his historic photos and hope to expand the project over time to include photos from additional sources. This is a unique opportunity and we encourage people to sign up now to participate.”

Using Zooniverse, a popular crowdsourcing platform that hosts citizen science projects from around the world, volunteers for FISHstory will look at photos and use marking tools to identify and count the fish and people. Tutorial and training materials are available, so even people who are unfamiliar with fish identification can help collect data. The project is also developing and testing a methodology to estimate fish lengths outside of the crowdsourcing platform. The method will be tested on King Mackerel and may be adapted to determine the lengths of other species if successful.

Rusty Hudson, a long-time Florida fisherman who currently serves on the Council’s Snapper Grouper and Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panels, provided the historic photos from his family’s headboat fishing fleet. The photos represent over 40 years of family and fishing history and hold valuable information on the region’s fisheries. If the pilot project is successful, it could be expanded in the future to other fishing fleets throughout the region.

Become a citizen scientist and test your fish identification knowledge, starting today! Create your own Zooniverse account and take part in FISHstory.

To get involved visit https://safmc.net/safmc-fishstory/ or contact Allie Iberle, Project Coordinator at allie.iberle@safmc.net or Julia Byrd, Citizen Science Program Manager at julia.byrd@safmc.net

COVID-weary Florida seafood restaurants, wholesalers crank back into gear

May 26, 2020 — This coming Memorial Day weekend is supposed to be a time of reflection in the US as the country salutes its fallen soldiers but, for Dewey Destin and others in Florida’s seafood restaurant industry, it’s also a time to hustle for business as the tourists begin their annual summer invasion of the US state.

Thanks to the recent easing by Florida of its coronavirus-related restraints, Destin already is seeing an uptick in traffic at his three Dewey Destin’s Restaurants locations on the state’s panhandle this weekend.

“I would say the last 10 days we’ve been close to probably 80% of what it should be. So it’s looking fairly good,” the owner told Undercurrent News on Friday, adding: “As long as we don’t have a spike in people getting sick, which could put us all back to zero again.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Florida Seafood Business Owners Break Down Reopening Process, Impacts of COVID-19

May 22, 2020 — The seafood sector in Florida is beginning to reopen businesses and the Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA) provided a look into how business owners are approaching the process.

Florida members of the Alliance, which represents restaurants, hotels, fishermen and seafood dealers tied to the fishing economy in the Gulf of Mexico, are placing a priority on limiting the spread of COVID-19 and supporting those impacted by the pandemic while following all of the state’s reopening guidelines.

Read the full story at Seafood News

FLORIDA: Agricultural and marine industries take hit from COVID-19, says UF/IFAS survey

May 20, 2020 — New numbers show agricultural and marine industries are taking a huge hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

The University of Florida and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences held a virtual news conference Tuesday to reveal the findings of a month-long survey conducted with members of the agricultural and marine industries in Florida.

Almost every marine industry lost revenue according to the survey’s results. Andrew Ropicki, an assistant professor specializing in marine resource economics, noticed that despite this decrease, some businesses relatively fared better.

Read the full story at WCJB

Funding Process for Florida Keys Fishermen Slowly Unfolds

May 18, 2020 — Both commercial and for-hire fishermen in the Florida Keys hit hard by the economic shutdown spurred by the novel coronavirus may apply to receive a portion of $23.6 million allocated to the state through the CARES Act Stimulus.

Of the $300 million slugged for federal fisheries’ assistance, Florida is to receive about 12.7%, or the fourth largest share behind Alaska, Washington and Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Seafood News

FLORIDA: Fishermen come together to feed the unemployed

May 15, 2020 — There’s no study of rocket science in making the statement that fishing has a long, illustrious history in Port St. Joe.

And it continues to this day: what is a fundraiser in Port St. Joe without some fresh mullet supplied by local fish houses?

Now, a group of commercial fishermen are taking that concept to another level, pledging a percentage of every mullet catch to those who have lost their jobs to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group is undertaking incorporation as Fishermen for Florida, Inc. with the stated mission of providing disaster relief to the county’s unemployed due to coronavirus.

“It is really the people’s natural resource,” said J. Pat Floyd, attorney and representative of the new organization.

The board includes the folks at St. Joe Shrimp Co., Mark Moore, Clint Moore, Eckley Sander and their staff and fishermen; and Harold, Eugene, Joey and Randy Raffield and the folks at Raffield Fisheries.

Read the full story at The Star

FLORIDA: Funding process for Keys fishermen slowly unfolds

May 13, 2020 — Both commercial and for-hire fishermen in the Florida Keys hit hard by the economic shutdown spurred by the novel coronavirus may apply to receive a portion of $23.6 million allocated to the state through the CARES Act Stimulus.

Of the $300 million slugged for federal fisheries’ assistance, Florida is to receive about 12.7%, or the fourth largest share behind Alaska, Washington and Massachusetts.

While Capt. Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, says the Keys fisheries have been slighted, he remains optimistic about the upcoming lobster season.

“This pales in comparison to what was made available to the agriculture and livestock industries, but this is what we have to work with,” he said Monday. “We have a lot to be concerned over. It was the importance of the Keys fishermen that helped us out [in Monroe] of the 2008 recession fairly well. We could have the same rebound if we, in fact, maintain a strong fishery. We export 80% of live lobster to China, and when that fishery reopens on Aug. 6, we don’t know what the market in China will be. We’re hoping for a strong market.”

NOAA will administer the funds through the interstate marine fisheries arms. For here, that’s the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which will, in turn, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to identify and establish a plan for fishermen to apply for funds.

Read the full story at Florida Keys News

Feds eye cutting bluefish catch to avoid overfishing

May 13, 2020 — Federal regulators are considering the East Coast’s harvest of bluefish to prevent overfishing.

Bluefish are popular gamefish that are also harvested commercially for food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the catch of the oily fish would be reduced by 25%, to about 2.8 million pounds, under the current plan.

The recreational harvest would be cut by nearly 40% to a little less than 9.5 million pounds. The federal bluefish recreational daily bag limit would also be reduced.

Private recreational vessels will face a daily bag limit of three fish per person, and for-hire vessels, such as charter boats, will see a daily bag limit of five fish per person.

Fishermen seek bluefish from Maine to Florida, with North Carolina accounting for the largest share of the harvest in 2018. Commercial fishermen have typically caught between 3 million and 7 million pounds of the fish per year over the last decade.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times