Saving Seafood

2017 American Eel Stock Assessment Update and Stock Assessment Overview Now Available

November 1, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2017 American Eel Stock Assessment Update and the Stock Assessment Overview, which provides a brief and simplified summary of the Update, are now available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the American Eel webpage under Stock Assessment Reports. Direct links to both documents follow:

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59fa2b39AmericanEelStockAssessmentUpdate_Oct2017.pdf

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59e8c077AmericanEelStockAssessmentOverview_Oct2017.pdf

Healthy status of Atlantic menhaden confirmed

August 10, 2017 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) on August 2 received an updated stock assessment that shows Atlantic menhaden is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. These positive conclusions mirror the results of the ASMFC’s 2015 benchmark assessment of Atlantic menhaden, which showed a healthy and sustainable stock, as reported by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition.

The 2017 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update, prepared by the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee using data through the 2016 fishing year, shows that fishing mortality remains well below the ASMFC’s target levels.

Read the full story at the Rappahannock Record

Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update Finds Resource Not Overfished and Overfishing Not Occurring

August 3, 2017 — ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board reviewed the results of the 2017 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update, which indicates the resource remains healthy; it is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing relative to the current biological reference points. In 2016, population fecundity, a measure of reproductive capacity, is estimated to be 83,486 billion eggs which is well above the threshold (57,295 billion eggs) but below the target (99,467 billion eggs). Additionally, total fishing mortality is estimated to be 0.51, below both the fishing mortality threshold (1.85) and target (0.80).  The stock assessment update uses the same modeling approach as the 2015 Atlantic Menhaden Benchmark Stock Assessment but added additional years of data from 2014-2016.

While the stock status was assessed in the same way as the 2015 benchmark report, the reference point values have changed. Adding additional years of data to the model resulted in generally higher fishing mortality values throughout the times series which changed the scale of the reference points. While the scale is different and the trend differs in some years, the stock status for both fishing mortality rate and fecundity has been similar over the past decade.

Atlantic menhaden is harvested by both commercial reduction and bait fisheries. In 2013, Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan implemented a total allowable catch (TAC) of 170,800 metric tons (mt). The coastwide TAC was increased by 10% to 187,880 mt for the 2015-2016 fishing years and by another 6.45% to 200,000 mt for the 2017 fishing year. In 2016, reduction landings were 137,400 mt and accounted for approximately 76% of coastwide landings and bait landings were 43,100 mt and comprised 24% of coastwide landings.

For a more detailed description of the stock assessment results, go here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59822ab4MenhadenAssessmentOverview_Aug2017.pdf. To obtain the Stock Assessment Update go here –http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59832ee0MenhadenStockAssessmentUpdate_Aug2017.pdf. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or mware@asmfc.org.

Update Assessment Confirms Sustainable Atlantic Menhaden Stock

Atlantic fisheries managers will take positive findings into consideration for management purposes

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – August 2, 2017 – The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition: 

Today, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) was presented with an updated stock assessment that shows Atlantic menhaden is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. These positive conclusions mirror the results of the ASMFC’s 2015 benchmark assessment of Atlantic menhaden, which showed a healthy and sustainable stock.

The 2017 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update, prepared by the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee using data through the 2016 fishing year, shows that fishing mortality remains well below the ASMFC’s target levels (see Table 7.2.1.1 below). The assessment further indicates that the target has not been exceeded for many years; this includes 2012, when the ASMFC cut Atlantic menhaden catch rates by 20 percent based on a flawed stock assessment.

“We’ve maintained for years that Atlantic menhaden is being managed sustainably, and today’s update assessment continues to prove our case,” said Peter Himchak, Senior Fisheries Scientist at Omega Protein, a member of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition. “Coalition members who make their living in the menhaden fishery have worked diligently to safeguard this resource, and today’s findings validate their hard work.”

The Assessment Update approved today also shows an increase in Atlantic menhaden biomass and numbers of individual fish (see Figure 6.2.3.4 below). Taken in combination, positive trends for both biomass and numbers of individual menhaden are strong indications of a healthy menhaden stock.

In 2012, the ASMFC slashed Atlantic menhaden catch rates after a flawed stock assessment indicated menhaden was being overfished. However, a 2015 assessment using improved methods and better science showed that menhaden had not been overfished in 2012 or at any time since the 1960s, and that the stock was healthy. Based on these positive results, the ASMFC raised the catch quota for Atlantic menhaden in both 2015 and 2016, but catch rates remain below 2012 levels when quota reductions were implemented.

“This update assessment further confirms our view that the 2012 harvest cuts were unwarranted and not based on sound science,” said Jeff Kaelin, Government Relations Coordinator at Lund’s Fisheries, another Coalition member. “In large part due to those cuts, we are underfishing this resource and unnecessarily hurting the fishermen who depend on it. The ASMFC’s menhaden board has options before it that could restore the fishery to pre-2012 levels, and we ask that they give those options the consideration they deserve.”

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition 
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Upcoming Witch Flounder Outreach Meeting

July 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

NEFSC will be hosting a Witch Flounder outreach session prior to the SARC 62 meeting scheduled later this year.

Outreach topics will include a summary of the 2015 Update, the ABC, and the plan to transition from VPA to ASAP.  Witch Flounder assessment scientists will respond to questions, comments or feedback from interested parties.

Date/Time: Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.

Location: S.H. Clark Conference Room, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole, MA

Call-In Details: 877-653-6612 (toll-free) or 517-600-4840 (toll charges apply; for international callers)

Participant Code: 8116908

Webinar URL

More information is available here

KENNY HEBERT: CCA is telling fish tales about Omega Protein

April 20, 2016 — On April 2, the Sun Herald published an op-ed from the spokesman of the Coastal Conservation Association — Mississippi, F.J. Eicke (“A most important fish raises need for public scrutiny”), that was filled with more holes than a fisherman’s net. Sadly, time and time again, Mr. Eicke has demonstrated dismissiveness toward sustainable fisheries and the hardworking men and women of Mississippi’s commercial fishing industry.

A major contention offered by Mr. Eicke is that Mississippi’s resident menhaden stock is troubled. This statement is 100 percent incorrect and is little more than a scare tactic. There is no such thing as “Mississippi menhaden.” Due to their very nature — their biology and habitat — menhaden are a Coastwide migratory species, which is why menhaden stock assessments are conducted on a Coastwide basis.

As such, Mr. Eicke’s claim that the public “has no basis for assessing the catch in Mississippi waters” is nonsensical. Menhaden cross state borders routinely as they move around the Gulf. To assess the amount of menhaden in Mississippi waters at any given time is pointless, since, due to migratory patterns, the stock size would be completely different in subsequent days, weeks or months.

Contrary to Mr. Eicke’s claim that menhaden regulations are “minimal,” existing management has been successful in maintaining a sustainable fishery. According to the most recent, peer-reviewed Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission stock assessment, the menhaden stock is healthy: It is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. The same results have been consistent going back 20 years.

Read the full opinion piece at the Sun Herald

West Coast Catch Share Program Failure Keeps Vessel Off Fishing Grounds for 2016 Season

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [SeafoodNews] By Susan Chambers – March 21, 2016 — Criticism that the West Coast catch shares program is underperforming came to the forefront recently at the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Sacramento.

West Coast trawlers have been operating in fear of a “disaster tow” or “lightning strike” of a choke species since the beginning of the individual quota program in 2011. And for the F/V Seeker, a disaster tow of 47,000 pounds of canary rockfish – a species at the time listed as overfished — in November 2015 will prevent it from fishing for all of 2016.

The Seeker’s misfortune is an extreme example of the program’s failure, particularly for those fishing in the non-whiting sector.

Jeff Lackey, who manages the vessel, testified to the PFMC the vessel is in a bind and already has made plans to fish in Alaska for most of 2016 and return to fishing off the West Coast in 2017. The Seeker fishes in both the non-whiting shoreside sector and in the whiting mothership sector.

The Seeker is a victim of several features of the current regulatory system in the West Coast individual quota program.

First, current vessel limits prohibit the Seeker from acquiring enough quota to solve its deficit.

Second, canary rockfish was listed as overfished for more than a decade but an assessment accepted by the council in 2015 shows canary rockfish has been rebuilt.

And third, the PFMC’s management process operates on a two-year cycle, with no way to change annual catch limits (ACLs) mid-cycle.

“[The F/V Seeker] is not the only one,” Pete Leipzig, director of the Fishermen’s Marketing Association, told the Council. Other trawlers have come up against vessel limits for other species that have prevented them from fishing for some time, but none have been confronted with the extremity of the Seeker’s situation.

The vessel limits were designed to prevent consolidation of the fleet. Bycatch of choke species have prevented many vessels from capturing target fish. Fear of a disaster tow — one so extreme that a quota pound deficit cannot be covered in the existing fishing year — has limited trading of quota as fishermen hoard these species to cover their fishing operations for the year.

The biennial management cycle only complicates matters. Several years ago, the PFMC instituted two-year management cycles to streamline the management and regulations process, with stock assessments being conducted in off-year cycles. For instance, the council and the National Marine Fisheries Service set annual catch limits for 2015 and 2016 at the same time. Stock assessments are done and presented to the council for acceptance in odd years.

The council accepted the canary rockfish assessment in 2015. ACLs could double for the species were it not for the two-year management cycle.

There is no mechanism to allow the council or NMFS to increase the 2016 annual catch limits for canary in 2016. If higher ACLs would have been allowed this year, the Seeker’s deficit could have been covered and it would be fishing this year.

The Seeker is a member of the Newport, OR based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative. The organization proposed a solution to the Seeker’s problem: use an alternative compliance option that was eliminated during the development of the catch shares program. It would have been available for overly restrictive events, such as the Seeker’s, but still hold fishermen accountable. The council opted not to move forward with examining that option at this time.

This is the new reality of the West Coast individual quota program: rebuilding species will be encountered more frequently and fishermen could be held to conservative annual catch limits for a year or more if they experience an infrequent disaster tow and have insufficient quota to cover their deficit.

“As the regulations are currently written, any vessel that experiences the same situation would likely have to sit out of the shoreside trawl program for several years … This seems overly punitive and raises equity concerns,” Heather Mann, executive director of the MTC, wrote in a public comment letter to the council.

Although the Council took no action to try to remedy the situation in March, the issue is sure to come up again as the Council begins the five-year program review in June.

Between 2011 and 2015, the non-whiting shoreside quota program has harvested only between 20 and 35 percent of its annual quota. The industry has identified several dozen changes it would like to see implemented in an effort to make the program work.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission. 

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition releases ‘Atlantic Menhaden: Fishing by the Numbers’

March 16, 2016 (Menhaden Fisheries Coalition) — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

While prominent environmental groups have claimed for years that the menhaden fishery has harvested too many menhaden, a thorough analysis from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition shows that the number of fish being caught is a small fraction of the coastwide population.

Between 2004-2013, the fishery only harvested an average of 6.4 percent of the overall menhaden population. This leaves over 93% of menhaden left in the ecosystem as forage for birds, fish and other sea creatures. Menhaden fishing mortality, which hit an all-time low in the last assessment, is dwarfed by natural mortality, which accounts for predation and mortality from other causes outside of the fishery.

The analysis, “The Fate of an Atlantic Menhaden Year Class,” and accompanying infographic, “Atlantic Menhaden: Fishing by the Numbers,” is based on the catch data included in the 2015 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Atlantic menhaden stock assessment. Also examined in the analysis is the age of menhaden that are caught by the fishery. The fishery specifically does not target juvenile menhaden-those most likely to serve as forage-and the oldest fish-those that are the most fertile spawners. This harvest approach is reflected in the catch data: the fishery overwhelmingly catches menhaden between the ages of 2 and 3, and the catch for juvenile and older menhaden is negligible. 

These estimates, along with the 2015 assessment’s headline findings that menhaden are not experiencing overfishing nor are they being overfished, further confirm the sustainability of the fishery. With such a small percentage of the menhaden population actually going to harvest, as well as other positive indicators for stock health, it is clear that current menhaden management is safeguarding the health and the future of the species.

For more information on the results of the analysis, please review the infographic below. For more information on how these estimates were calculated, read “The Fate of an Atlantic Menhaden Year Class.”

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

Scientists say ocean warming is driving lobsters northward

March 2, 2016 — It’s too early to know what Maine’s 2015 lobster landings will look like, but there’s no doubt that the number will be huge.

In 2014, the last year for which the Department of Marine Resources has figures, Maine’s fishermen landed more than 123 million pounds of lobster — the third year in a row that landings topped 120 pounds — worth a record $457 million.

While last year’s numbers aren’t in, fishermen and dealers talk about a bonanza fishery, and mild weather saw the fishery stay active into December.

In a sense, the landings are unsurprising.

According to a 2015 Atlantic States Fisheries Management Commission stock assessment, the abundance of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank showed a meteoric rise starting in 2008 and is now at an all-time high. In southern New England, though, the story is completely different.

From a peak in 1997, the southern New England stock fell swiftly to a point where, by 2004, it was well below what scientists consider the threshold of sustainability. Things leveled off briefly; then the resource began an ongoing plunge again in 2010.

According to last year’s assessment, the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank stock is not depleted and is not being overfished. The estimated lobster population from 2011 to 2013 was 248 million lobsters, which is well above the abundance threshold — a red flag for fisheries managers — of 66 million lobsters.

In contrast, in the years 2011 to 2013, the southern New England stock was depleted at an estimated 10 million lobsters. The “red flag” abundance level is 24 million lobsters.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American