Saving Seafood

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 14, 2016

March 15, 2016 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

KENDALYN ROSE LEWIS:

As noted in a separate message yesterday, Capt. Kenny Lewis and his wife Lynda, lost their daughter, Kendalyn Rose, earlier this week. Words cannot begin to express our sadness and disbelief at the loss of a vibrant young lady who was known and loved by so many. Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers. Visitation will be on Wednesday, March 16th, from 6:00 till 8:00pm at the Munden Funeral Home in Morehead City. The funeral service will be on Thursday, March 17th, at 2:00pm at the funeral home.  

May her soul and the souls of all of the faithful departed, rest in peace.

BLUELINE TILEFISH:

Below is part of an article that is on the NC Coastal Federation website about commercial fishermen donating to a local food pantry. Dewey Hemilright, an NCFA Board member, is one of those fishermen.

You can see the entire Coastal Federation article here: http://www.nccoast.org/2016/03/paying-it-forward-in-blueline-tilefish/

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Blueline tilefish are commercially harvested off the N.C. coast, provide lean, white meat and delicately flavor.

Several commercial fishermen from the Outer Banks have been paying it forward this winter with donations of fish to a local food pantry. Buddy Coppersmith (F/V Emily Shay), Jimmy Taylor (F/V Windy Gale), and Dewey Hemilright (F/V Tar Baby), have been commercial fishermen for most of their lives. Recently, they’ve been working under a cooperative research grant collecting data that will improve future stock assessments for blueline tilefish.

Hemilright, an avid community outreach volunteer with the Coastal Federation’s office in Manteo is well-known for leading education lessons for students and adults and was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the Coastal Federation’s northeast education program with a Pelican Award in 2015.

While participating in the cooperative research project to gather fisheries- independent data on blueline tilefish and snowy grouper, the fishermen were sent out to fish and collect samples. Since the fishermen were receiving payment through the cooperative research grant, they could not sell their catch. Nor did they want to see it go to waste, and so sought out other options for it.

HEARINGS FOR BLUELINE TILEFISH:

And speaking of blueline tilefish, there are some hearings coming up about it. From the Mid Atlantic Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting public input on a draft amendment to address management and conservation of blueline tilefish in the Mid-Atlantic. Four public hearings will be held between March 21 and March 29, 2016. Written comments will be accepted until Wednesday, March 30, 2016.

The draft amendment considers adding blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) as a managed species in the Golden Tilefish Fishery Management Plan, effectively turning that plan into the Golden and Blueline Tilefish Fishery Management Plan. The management measures proposed in the amendment are needed to constrain fishing mortality on the blueline tilefish stock and effectively manage the blueline tilefish fishery in waters off the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts.

Additional information and documents, including a public hearing document (to be posted by March 14), may be obtained from http://www.mafmc.org/actions/blueline-tilefish.

Members of the public are invited to comment on any aspect of the draft amendment. Following a review of comments received, the Council will choose preferred management measures and submit the Amendment to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and publication of proposed and final rules, both of which have additional comment periods.

For more information, contact Jason Didden at (302) 526-5254 or jdidden@mafmc.org.

Hearings for our area are listed below in the Calendar section.

SOUTHERN FLOUNDER:

Thanks to those of you who have contributed to our Southern Flounder Fund. Those funds will be used exclusively for issues related to southern flounder, either legally or other avenues to address the situation.

If you have not yet contributed, please do so ASAP!

Send your donations to:

NCFA 2807 Neuse Blvd; Suite 11

New Bern, NC 28562

Please make your check out to NCFA/Southern Flounder Fund or to the NC Fisheries Association and be sure to put Southern Flounder Fund in the memo.

God bless, Jerry

CALENDAR

Mar 17; 4:00pm; MFC Sea Turtle Advisors; DEQ office; Washington, NC

Mar 21; 6:00pm; Blueline tilefish; Dare County Admin Bldg; Manteo

Mar 22; 7:00pm; Blueline tilefish; Hilton Oceanfront; Virginia Beach

Apr 4; Noon; NCFA Board meeting; Civic Center; Washington NC

Apr 6; 5:30pm; MFC Southern Advisory Cmte; DMF office; Morehead City

Apr 7; 5:30pm; MFC Northern Advisory Cmte; DEQ office; Washington

Apr 11; 6:00pm; Oyster/Hard Clam Advisors; DMF office; Morehead City

Apr 12-14; MAFMC meeting in Montauk, NY

Apr 14; 6:00pm; Shellfish/Crustacean Advisors; DMF office; Morehead City

Apr 25; North Carolina General Assembly convenes for the Short Session

May 2-5; ASMFC Spring Meeting; Westin; Alexandria, VA

May 18-20; MFC meeting; Civic Center; Morehead City

View a PDF of the Weekly Update

North Carolina Fisheries Association Releases Weekly Update for March 7, 2016

March 7, 2016 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

INFO NEEDED!

Thanks to the efforts of Aundrea O’Neal at Beaufort Inlet Seafood, NCFA now has the information needed to plug into our database for vital information for those fishermen who pack at that facility. Our biologist, David Bush, needs that information to quantify how regulations may impact fishermen. For example, our new database will include the fishermen’s name, address, phone, email if any, gear type used, areas fished and targeted species.

Whether it’s to assess potential regulations or to fight what we perceive as overzealous regulations by state and/or federal regulators, we need this data to make it easier for David to compile it.

We appeal to you to make this information available, so if you need more information, please contact Aundrea at Beaufort Inlet Seafood and she’ll tell you how it’s done. Her contact info is: Beaufort Inlet Seafood: (252) 504-2036 Cell: (252) 503-8302

MONKFISH & REGULATIONS:

Monkfish, or the “poor man’s lobster” is really good! For those that appreciate monkfish but can’t find it at your favorite fish market, consider this:

Last week I was in Dare County and one of the meetings I attended was the monkfish meeting on Thursday evening at the DMF office in Manteo. There were a total of 4 at the meeting: 3 DMF employees and me. One might wonder why fishermen aren’t taking the time to attend an information meeting about monkfish. Consider this: by law, they can only fish for about 4 weeks in March/April. They can only fish between 2 & 3 miles in the ocean. It’s illegal to fish for monkfish in federal waters, which begins at the 3 mile mark. They can only fish if the water temps are under 52 degrees.

Rationale? Not so much for monkfish, but “other issues”, such as sea turtles. If the temps are above 52 degrees, there is a better possibility of interaction with sea turtles, so the fishery closes. Inside of 2 miles there is a possibility of interaction with marine mammals.

Point being this: with the restrictions outlined above, there is not much of an incentive for a fishermen to target monkfish. As a result, the landings will be minimal in North Carolina, not because there aren’t any monkfish, but because there is not an adequate economic incentive to fish for them. Those who are always proclaiming that the sky is falling will then cite the declining landings and allege that commercial fishermen are catching them all! It’s a vicious cycle that is not unique to monkfish!

Meanwhile, a rash of letters to the editor recently allege that commercial fishermen in North Carolina have few regulations!

SOUTHERN FLOUNDER:

Thanks to those of you who have contributed to our Southern Flounder Fund. Those funds will be used exclusively for issues related to southern flounder, either legally or other avenues to address the situation.

If you have not yet contributed, please do so ASAP!

Send your donations to:

NCFA

2807 Neuse Blvd; Suite 11

New Bern, NC 28562

Please make your check out to NCFA/Southern Flounder Fund or to the NC Fisheries Association and be sure to put Southern Flounder Fund in the memo.

God bless, Jerry

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CALENDAR

Mar 7-11 SAFMC meeting in Jekyll Island, GA

Mar 17; 4:00pm; MFC Sea Turtle Advisors; DEQ office; Washington, NC

Apr 12-14; MAFMC meeting in Montauk, NY 

View a PDF of the weekly update

NORTH CAROLINA: Flounder and semantics heat up fisheries meeting

February 19, 2016 — WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — Before state officials decide how to better regulate commercial fishing licenses, they’ll have to answer an important question — ‘just who is a commercial fisherman?’

When members of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission met in Wrightsville Beach this week — their first meeting of 2016 — updating the state’s 17-year-old criteria for commercial fishermen was a hot topic. And it’s one that’s sure to be contentious — when Commissioner Alison Willis proposed a subcommittee to study the issue, she said she was putting her head on the chopping block.

By the time her motion was worded as carefully as possible, it was a paragraph long.

“And here I was thinking that it was the lawyers that got paid by the word,” Phillip Reynolds, the commission’s legal council, joked.

But commissioners agreed they would rather be cautious than concise after a year of meetings marked by emotional exchanges, audience outbursts and even threats. At this week’s three-day meeting, members tackled topics from shellfish management to fishing licenses and tied up loose ends on the southern flounder management plan changes that caused so much controversy in 2015.

Read the full story at Star News Online

North Carolina Fisheries Association Annual Meeting, Monday, January 25th

January 19, 2016 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

Attached above is a pdf flyer for several meetings this coming Monday, January 25th, all to be held at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern.

Please print out the flyer and post it on your bulletin board if you have one, or distribute to encourage fishermen to attend the Annual Meeting!

10:00 – 2:00  Bycatch Reduction Workshop

2:00 – 3:00    Southern Shrimp Alliance Survey

3:00 – ?          NCFA’s Annual Meeting

Attendance at NCFA’s Annual Meeting is very important as critical issues will be discussed, including southern flounder and the election of the Board of Directors will be held. If you cannot attend, please send a proxy to davidbush@ncfish.org or call (252) 633-6232 ext 102. 

View a PDF of the agenda

More absurdness from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

December 31, 2015 — On January 1 we will have imposed on commercial fishermen (those who fish with nets) and people who like fresh seafood bought either from the local fish market or prepared in a local restaurant an example of the worst kind of government. That is, the imposition of regulations for the sake of regulation, without valid or reliable science or even common sense. The Division of Marine Fisheries will impose absurd regulations on the catching of flounder in North Carolina’s coastal waters.

The purpose of the regulations, plus the mission of the DMF in general in recent years, could be said to extinguish commercial fishing in the state’s waters.

Here’s how WECT-TV reports it:

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission voted in late November to put new restrictions on catching Southern Flounder into place beginning Jan. 1, 2016.

Marine Fisheries Commission voting on new southern flounder regulations Thursday

Marine Fisheries Commission voting on new southern flounder regulations Thursday

Living on the Coast many of you enjoy catching and eating fresh southern flounder, but soon that fish might be harder to get. For almost a year, the Division of Marine Fisheries has been talking about changing the regulations on Southern Flounder.

Read the full opinion piece at Beaufort Observer

 

Fisheries panel places emergency limits on flounder catches

November 19, 2015 — After five hours of motions, amendments and haggling over details, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission approved an emergency measure Thursday that will close down most fishing for southern flounder in the state’s sounds after Oct. 16.

The restrictions, which are aimed at allowing larger numbers of fish to migrate into the ocean to reach spawning age, were deemed necessary by the Division of Marine Fisheries even though the usefulness of a 2014 stock assessment was challenged by a peer review.

While the closings will also apply to recreational anglers, commercial fishermen will take a big financial hit because the fall months are generally the most productive for catching flounder with gill and pound nets.

The measure, approved as the commission met at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, comes in the form of a supplement to the Fisheries Management Plan. A supplement allows the MFC to act on its own in an emergency without the usual vetting by special committees and public comment that an amendment would require. In this case, however, public comment was invited.

Read the full story from The Outer Banks Voice

Fishing for facts on the Southern flounder in NC

November 19, 2015 — Southern flounder are one of North Carolina’s most precious fishery resources. They support an important commercial fishery, provide joy to recreational fishermen and are desired by consumers. Their unique features include having a right eye that moves to the left side of their head while young, being flat and having a light and dark side.

Much has been written about flounder conservation lately. People claim that stocks are collapsing and the fishery is in crisis.

We served on the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, which is empowered by the General Assembly to conserve our state’s fishery resources and to provide fair regulation of commercial and recreational fishing groups. We have had to make hard decisions serving in slots dedicated to scientists (two of us are marine fishery biologists), recreational fishermen and at-large positions. During our tenures we believed then, as we do now, that our leaders should use scientific facts and economic and social data to determine appropriate action in difficult conservation decisions.

The status of the Southern flounder population is unknown. The latest population assessment was rejected by reviewers and the state’s fishery experts.

Read the full story from The News & Observer

NORTH CAROLINA: Fisheries division criticized for avoiding recommendations to regulators

November 12, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission is a nine-member regulatory body that was created by the North Carolina General Assembly to regulate fishing activity and conserve the marine and estuarine fishery resources in state waters. The General Assembly has stated in law that the Commission has the duty to provide fair regulation of fishing groups in the interest of the public. The Division of Marine Fisheries is the state agency that is charged to offer scientific support to the Commission and carry out the regulations adopted by the Commission.

Currently, the issue of most concern of the Commission and the Division is that of southern flounder. Since February, the Commission has been debating various proposals to reduce the catch of southern flounder, which is our state’s most important finfish fishery for commercial fishermen. The total economic impact of this fishery averages $17 million per year to North Carolina, just for those fish caught commercially. 

Remarkably, since the Commission started the process of debating the issue of southern flounder management over 9 months ago, the Division of Marine Fisheries has not offered any recommended actions to reduce the catch of southern flounder. Currently, only one of the nine Commission members has a scientific background in fisheries, and even that experience is not based on saltwater fisheries. Yet, the Division, who has the expertise on staff that could assist the Commissioners, has not made any formal recommendations on the options being considered by the Commission or offered any options of their own. 

“We wonder why the Division exists, if not to offer assistance and make recommendations to the members of the Marine Fisheries Commission in carrying out their conservation responsibilities”, said Brent Fulcher, Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, (NCFA). 

The MFC has put six options on the table for consideration under a fishery management plan “supplement”, and the issue will be decided at its meeting next week in Nags Head.

“In the 28 years I’ve been involved with this process, I cannot remember a time when the Commission has faced such a contentious and important issue such as this one, where the Division was silent in assisting the Commission with recommended actions from a scientific perspective”, said the President of NCFA, Jerry Schill. “This decision, which will have a huge effect on many commercial fishing families and many coastal communities, is on a track for a decision to be devoid of any science and based totally on politics. That is a sad day in fisheries management for our state. Our fishermen and consumers deserve better.”

The North Carolina Fisheries Association urges the Director of Marine Fisheries, Dr. Louis Daniel, to offer recommendations based upon science to the Marine Fisheries Commission, prior to its deliberations next week.

Schill concluded, “The angst over this measure was made much more contentious when the Commission adopted the draconian net ban language, which is clearly outside the scope of the supplement process. Add the Division’s failure to offer recommendations based upon science, and you have a recipe for a very combative atmosphere.”

The North Carolina Fisheries Association is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of North Carolina’s commercial fishing families.

NORTH CAROLINA: MFC to take action on southern flounder supplement

November 11, 2015 — NAGS HEAD, N.C. — State fishery managers are scheduled to take action on a controversial southern flounder management supplement next week.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, the state’s marine fisheries rulemaking body, will hold its regular meeting Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 18-20, at Jennette’s Pier. According to a release from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the state agency that enforces marine fisheries rules and conducts fisheries research, the MFC is scheduled to select and approve management measures for supplement A to the southern flounder fishery management plan (FMP) Amendment 1.

The proposed supplement, and the MFC’s use of the supplement process, has drawn both support and opposition. A recent release from the N.C. Fisheries Association, a nonprofit supporting the seafood industry, criticizes the proposed supplement.

The current supplement draft includes management options to reduce southern flounder catch (both harvested flounder and dead discards) by 25-60 percent. The supplement has six management options, which include measures such as trip limits, size limits, closures and prohibiting large mesh gill nets from internal state waters.

These proposals, particularly the net ban, have been part of the reason for debate among fisheries managers, fishermen, environmentalists and legislators.

According to the NCFA release, the General Assembly has stated in law that the MFC has the duty to provide fair regulation of fishing groups in the interest of the public.

The association said the DMF is the state agency that is charged to offer scientific support to the commission and carry out the regulations adopted by the commission. The total economic impact of the southern flounder fishery averages $17 million per year to North Carolina, just for those fish caught commercially.

According to the NCFA, since the commission started the process of debating the issue of southern flounder management over nine months ago, the DMF has not offered any recommended actions to reduce the catch of southern flounder.

“Currently, only one of the nine MFC members has a scientific background in fisheries, and even that experience is not based on saltwater fisheries,” the association said. “Yet, the DMF, who has the expertise on staff that could assist the commissioners, has not made any formal recommendations on the options being considered by the commission or offered any options of their own.”

Brent Fulcher, NCFA chairman and owner of Beaufort Inlet Seafood, said the association wonders “why the division exists, if not to offer assistance and make recommendations to the members of the Marine Fisheries Commission in carrying out their conservation responsibilities.”

Read the full story at Carteret County News-Times

NORTH CAROLINA: Commission delays vote on southern flounder

October 6, 2015 — A state commission will delay until November a decision on whether the state should impose new restrictions on southern flounder in an effort to protect the potentially over-fished coastal stock.

Some recreational fishermen and conservationists claim the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission put off the protections under political pressure from a handful of state lawmakers and the state’s commercial fishing interests. Waiting until November means the new limits won’t be in place for this year’s fall season.

The Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina has written to the commission chairman, Sammy Corbett, saying it is “infuriated” at his decision not to take up the topic until the next scheduled meeting, in mid-November. In August, Corbett said a special meeting would be held in September to consider the restrictions.

“This is not your commission, but a governor-appointed body that includes diverse interests, tasked with the duty to safeguard and manage public fisheries resources for all of the citizens of North Carolina,” Bud Abbott, the organization’s president, wrote.

Read the full story at The News & Observer