Saving Seafood

Northeast fishery managers look to improve sampling

September 11, 2025 — An online workshop is planned Sept. 22-23 to help turn around reduced sampling of commercial fisheries landings in the Northeast, and its effects on stock assessments, organizers say.

“Reduced sampling of commercial landings in our region has been identified as a significant threat to stock assessment integrity,” according to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “To help address this threat and optimize federal and state sampling efforts, the Northeast Region Coordinating Council is hosting a virtual State-Federal Commercial Landings Sampling Workshop on September 22–23, 2025.”

Originally formed in 2001, the Northeast council draws members from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils, and NMFS’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

The coordinating council’s stated mission is to “prioritize, communicate, and coordinate fisheries scientific and management resources through in-person meetings that include Federal, State, Council, and Commission managers and scientists of the Greater Atlantic region of the United States.”

Biological sampling – the scientific basis for characterizing the size and age composition of commercial landings – has declined markedly since 2019, according to the Northeast science center.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

2017 Northeast Groundfish Operational Assessment Meeting Materials Available

September 1, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center is carrying out routine, regularly scheduled stock assessments for New England groundfish. The peer review will be September 11-15, and the NEFSC is sending the draft assessment reports and supporting information to the peer reviewers and making the information available to the public this Friday, September 1. At this stage the results are preliminary until they are vetted by the peer review panel.

You may now access the 2017 draft groundfish operational assessments and a range of additional materials through our data portal link here:

https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/groundfish/operational-assessments-2017.

For each species stock, we will also include models, model inputs, maps, figures, tables, and other background materials that will be used by peer reviewers. We hope this will help you prepare for the assessment meeting if you plan to attend and to better understand the draft assessment results, recognizing that the results are not final until confirmed by the peer review panel.  Please let us know your thoughts on how we can continue to improve access to information for future assessment meetings.

The 2017 peer review of 19 Northeast groundfish operational stock assessments will occur September 11-15 in Woods Hole, MA.  The meeting will also be available by webinar and teleconference.

Questions? Contact Teri Frady at 508-495-2239 or teri.frady@noaa.gov.

Fishermen Express Concerns About Upcoming Stock Assessments And Fishing Limits

August 30, 2017 — Fishermen who attended a meeting Monday in Point Judith about upcoming groundfish stock assessments are unhappy with the data collection process for those assessments.

Federal regulators use data collected by fishermen and scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries to assess the health of fish species and set limits on how many fish can be taken from the sea. Those limits are intended to protect against overfishing.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the research arm of NOAA Fisheries in the region, talked with commercial and recreational fishermen as a part of a series of port outreach meetings to hear fishermen’s concerns and to figure out how the science center could work to address them.

Patrick Duckworth, a commercial fisherman who attended the meeting, said regulators are using bad scientific methods to collect data and set fishing limits.

Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

2nd Round of 2017 Groundfish Assessment Port Meetings Scheduled

August 25, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is coming to a port near you! Join us for the second set of port meetings between August 28 and September 7 to discuss the upcoming groundfish operational stock assessments.

These meetings will include an informal explanation of the stock assessment process, the cooperative research program, and ways that your concerns can be addressed by the science center.

We’d like to talk to commercial and recreational fishermen. We’re listening to what you have to say.

See the full schedule of confirmed meetings.

Find out more about the assessments and meeting schedules.

Stock assessment meeting erupts into lively talk between NOAA, fishermen

August 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Diagrams, life-like statues and pictures fill the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to depict the history and future of the industry.

NOAA scientists and local fishermen filled the small building on Bethel Street on Wednesday night to discuss future stock assessments. The meeting, though, told another aspect in the story of the Port of New Bedford: the decades old tension that continues to exist between the groups.

“We all have to pull in the same direction,” Executive Director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting Jim Kendall said.

Instead a powerpoint presentation listing stock limits led to a discussion, which evolved into an argument and ended with two fishermen abruptly leaving. Russ Brown, director of the Population Dynamics Branch of NOAA, ended his presentation to meet with the fishermen outside. They spoke outside for 20 minutes before parting ways with a semblance of mutual respect.

“What we need to do is find common themes,” Brown said. “I’m a scientist. We want to find common themes within the science where we have questions and the industry has questions, and we can basically collaborate and pull in the same direction.”

Most of the discussion revolved around the methods in which NOAA is acquiring its data. Fishermen in attendance questioned the methods used by scientists to count groundfish. They also pointed out that years to correct a data point is too much time for an industry that continues to shrink.

“We understand that the management is affecting people and is having some serious consequences for our stakeholders who are depending on the resources,” Brown said. “We care about that, and we want to make sure the science is as accurate as it can be.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Groundfish: NEFSC to Hold Port Meetings With Fishermen to Talk About Upcoming Assessments

August 14, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has scheduled a series of port outreach meetings to talk with commercial and recreational fishermen about the upcoming operational assessments for 20 groundfish stocks. Here are the details.

WHAT’S GOING ON: Stock assessment and cooperative research staff from the science center will provide an informal explanation of the stock assessment process, the cooperative research program, and ways that industry concerns can be addressed by the science center. The center said, “We’re listening to what you have to say.”

WHERE ARE THE MEETINGS: Below is the list of confirmed meetings to date.  Additional information will be posted at meeting schedule.

  • August 15 in Chatham, MA – Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance: In the Barn, 4 p.m.
  • August 16 in New Bedford, MA – New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, 4 p.m.
  • August 17 in Portland, ME – Portland Fish Exchange, 3 p.m.
  • August 18 in Gloucester, MA – Sawyer Free Library, 2 Dale Ave., 10 a.m.
  • August 28 in Point Judith, RI – Superior Trawl/NESTCO Conference Room, 65 State St., 4 p.m.
  • August 30 in Montauk, NY – Details to be announced.

ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE AND DETAILS: The Groundfish Operational Assessments Peer Review is scheduled for September 11-15, 2017 at the science center in Woods Hole, MA.  Additional information is available at NEFSC.

QUESTIONS: Need to know more?  Contact Stock Assessment Outreach Coordinator Ariele Baker at (508) 495-4741, ariele.baker@noaa.gov.

Fishermen, scientists to evaluate NOAA stock assessments

June 13, 2016 — The most incendiary divide between groundfishermen and fishing regulators in the past two years has been the discrepancy between what NOAA Fisheries says its stock assessments show and what fishermen are seeing on the water.

The groundfish assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — particularly for the iconic Gulf of Maine cod stock and certain flounders — have been uniformly dire, leading to the virtual shuttering of cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine and scant quotas for other species.

Fishermen — including commercial groundfishermen, charter captains and even lobstermen — paint a very different portrait of what they are seeing on a daily basis: cod, cod everywhere, and not a one they can catch.

On June 20, the city’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation and fishing stakeholders will host a presentation by a team of University of Massachusetts scientists on their current findings and methodology for fish population counting in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

BILL GERENCER: Fishermen needlessly on the hook for uncertainties of stock estimates

June 2, 2016 — BOWDOIN, Maine — Proper stock assessments are the key to sound fisheries management here in New England. The current and now primarily survey-based assessments are heavy with uncertainty and always assumed to be overstated. Given the changes in the available stock assessment data created by 20 years of regulations, the uncertainty only seems to be increasing.

The fact that the R/V Bigelow, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s primary fishery research vessel, delayed the survey this year is a significant threat to fishermen: We have been told that there are very few codfish in the Gulf of Maine, but this spring, fishermen have found it impossible to set a net in the water without catching codfish. This does not correlate well with the assessment advice.

Many boats have simply tied up to avoid codfish. The late start taken by the survey cruise has most likely missed significant codfish “data” as the research vessel remained at the dock.

Even with an on-time start, the survey method employed by the R/V Bigelow covers only a tiny sliver of the available fishing bottom and puts the survey gear on the bottom for a very short time during trips made in the spring and fall. The R/V Bigelow has also become famous in the fishing community for its demonstrated inability to catch cod and flatfish alongside commercial vessels catching those species and in areas fishing boats declared off limits to themselves because of the presence of codfish.

The low annual catch limit for codfish is tied directly to the low numbers provided by the most recent stock assessments. The low limit has resulted in small codfish allocations to each commercial fishing boat. Once a boat harvests its cod allocation, it will be prohibited from fishing for the duration of the fishing year even if it has significant allocation of other species.

Read the full opinion piece at the Portland Press Herald

Fisheries scientists to address flaws in past forage fish research

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – May 2, 2016 – Dr. Ray Hilborn, a marine biologist and fisheries scientist at the University of Washington, has launched a new initiative aimed at addressing key issues surrounding forage fish science and the impacts of forage fishing on predator species. Dr. Hilborn’s Forage Fish Project is one of several scientific efforts occurring in the next few months to expand the existing body of scientific research on forage fish.

Comprised of 14 renowned fisheries scientists from around the globe, the Forage Fish Project held its inaugural conference last month in Hobart, Australia, where it identified shortcomings in the existing forage fish research. Specifically, it found several issues with work produced by the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, whose April 2012 report, “Little Fish, Big Impact,” concluded forage fish are vulnerable to overfishing, among other findings.

The Forage Fish Project, which includes two members of the Lenfest Task Force, began work to address these flaws, with the goal of producing an accompanying study later this year.

In Hobart, Project members found that most of the models used in previous forage fish studies, like the Lenfest Task Force report, left out factors such as the natural variability of forage fish stocks, and the extent of size overlap between fisheries and predators. The group also found multiple indications that the Lenfest study greatly overstated the negative impact of forage fishing on predator species.

“Most [food web] models were not built with the explicit intention of evaluating forage fish fisheries, so unsurprisingly many models did not include features of forage fish population biology or food web structure that are relevant for evaluating all fishery impacts,” according to minutes from the Hobart meeting.

Two upcoming fishery management workshops will also evaluate forage species on the East and West Coasts of the U.S., the first organized by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the Pacific Fishery Management Council. The workshop, which will be held in La Jolla, Calif., from May 2-5, will focus on how to improve stock assessment methods for northern anchovy and other coastal pelagic species. Attendees will evaluate model-based assessment approaches based on routinely assessed pelagic species from around the world, consider non-assessment approaches to estimate fish stocks, and develop recommendations for how the SWFSC should evaluate coastal pelagic fish stocks in the future.

A similar forage fish workshop will be held May 16-17 in Portland, Maine. This workshop will focus on Atlantic herring, with the goal of establishing a rule to specify its acceptable biological catch (ABC), the recommended catch level for any given fish species. An effective ABC rule will consider the role of Atlantic herring in the ecosystem, stabilize the fishery at a level that will achieve optimum yield, and address localized depletion in inshore waters.

Ultimately, these various forage fish workshops and projects are striving to use the best available science to update previous research and determine sound management practices for forage species.

Read the full minutes from the Forage Fish Project conference in Hobart, Australia

Learn more about the upcoming coastal pelagic species workshop in La Jolla, Calif.

Learn more about the upcoming Atlantic herring workshop in Portland, Maine

D.B. PLESCHNER: Sardines not collapsing, may be in recovery

April 25, 2016 — On April 10, the Pacific Fishery Management Council closed the West Coast sardine fishery for a second straight year. The council followed its ultra-conservative harvest control policy and relied on a stock assessment that does not account for recent sardine recruitment.

But in fact, there are multiple lines of evidence that young sardines are now abundant in the ocean.

In addition to field surveys, fishermen in both California and the Pacific Northwest have been observing sardines — both small and large — since the summer of 2015. And California fishermen also provided samples of the small fish to federal and state fishery managers. During the council meeting, the industry advisory subpanel — comprised of fishermen and processors — voiced concern with the inability of acoustic surveys — on which stock assessments are largely based — to estimate accurately the number of fish in the sea. These surveys routinely miss the mass of sardines in the nearshore, where the bulk of the fishery occurs in California, and in the upper water column in the Pacific Northwest, where Oregon and Washington fishermen catch sardines. The recruitment we’re seeing now seems much like the recruitment event following the 2003 El Niño. The years 1999-2002 were characterized by strong La Niña conditions, similar to the years 2010-2013. And what happened after the early 2000s? By 2007 the West Coast sardine population hit its highest peak in recent memory.

So by all appearances the sardine population is likely on the upswing — not still tanking as many environmentalists and media reports are claiming.

Read the full opinion piece at the Monterey Herald