Saving Seafood

Virginia Cancels Trophy Rockfish Season, Urges Other States to Follow

April 24, 2019 — It’s official- there won’t be a trophy rockfish season in Virginia this spring. Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) has voted unanimously to enact an emergency closure because of worrisome new research about the striped bass population on the Bay.

Bay Bulletin reported in early April that VMRC’s biologists called for the spring season to be canceled. And on Tuesday, the commission voted 7-0 to eliminate the spring striped bass trophy season in the Bay from May 1 through June 15, the Coast from May 1 through May 15, and the Virginia tributaries to the Potomac River from April 29 through May 15. Starting May 16 through June 15 fishermen will be able to catch and keep two striped bass from 20 to 28 inches.

The emergency action comes after recent scientific research showed the rockfish population “has been below the sustainable threshold for the past six years and overfishing has been occurring sine 2010.”

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine 

VIRGINIA: Quick action urged to end striped bass overfishing

April 22, 2019 — Virginia and two New England states are urging other East Coast fishery managers to move quickly to curb striped bass catches in the wake of a new assessment that found the prized species was being overfished.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is poised to act as soon as Tuesday when it is scheduled to take up a staff recommendation for an emergency shutdown of the state’s spring striped bass trophy season, which targets the largest fish in the population.

Big striped bass, or rockfish, is a popular springtime catch for anglers. But the larger fish also happens to be the most productive egg bearers.

The action comes in the wake of a new stock assessment that found striped bass along the East Coast were in worse shape than previously thought and had been overfished for several years.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

MASSACHUSETTS: Lured to Gloucester: Virginia business comes to buy haddock after expo visit

April 12, 2019 — When executives at Gloucester-based Intershell Inc. decided to ramp up the company’s presence at the Seafood Expo North America in March, they hoped at the very least to develop new relationships that could slingshot into additional sales.

Intershell did strong business during the three days the vast show ran at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston, shipping orders to new customers stretching from New York to Texas.

Now it can add the bustling burg of Spotsylvania, Virginia, to the list of new out-of-state clients.

Intershell has entered into an agreement with the Spotsylvania-based Van Cleve Seafood Co. to fully source Gloucester-landed haddock for a new line of ultra-healthy frozen seafood the all-female-owned company is developing for national distribution from its facility near the Chesapeake Bay.

“We think this could evolve into a very good revenue stream for local fishermen,” said Frank Ragusa of Intershell. “We’ve also talked with them about sourcing North Atlantic pollock, as well, which would really help build up the market for pollock and help our guys out even more. And it all started with a conversation at the seafood show.”

In that conversation, the women from Van Cleve — mother Shelly Van Cleve and her daughters Monica Van Cleve-Talbert and Alexandra Cushing — explained to the Intershell executives that they were looking for the cleanest, freshest seafood they could find for the new line.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Striped bass fishing season could be canceled in Virginia as population declines

April 12, 2019 — Virginia officials are weighing whether to cancel this year’s fishing season for large rockfish in the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay out of concern for its dwindling numbers.

The rockfish season in Virginia will begin April 20 along the Potomac River tributaries, then days later in the bay. But indications that the population of the fish, also called striped bass, is declining raised concerns that further catches could have a long-term effect on its survivability.

“Striped bass aren’t doing as well as we thought,” said Ellen Bolen, deputy commissioner for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. “We’re taking fish out faster than they can reproduce.”

Bolen’s group, which helps manage and oversee fish populations in the state, is expected to vote April 23 on an “emergency proposal” that would recommend canceling the trophy-size rockfish season, when anglers can keep rockfish that measure 36 inches or longer.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Regulations likely to stiffen after stock assessment determines striped bass are overfished

April 10, 2019 –Many angling old timers remember the days 30 years ago when keeping striped bass was off limits because of a moratorium on the species.

Even more will remember the benefits that later came from shutting down the fishery.

Striped bass action was spectacular for years.

Lately it’s been been anything but. Catches have been on the decline the last few years and blame can be dished out to anyone and everyone involved with the catching of striper.

So guess what? Change is coming and likely sooner rather than later.

The fisheries management staff at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission has recommended an emergency shut down of the spring trophy seasons that start in May. The VMRC will meet April 23 to discuss the possibility.

The move is being looked at as a way to proactively get ahead of reductions planned by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for next year. In its 2018 stock assessment, the ASMFC determined that striped bass are overfished.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

 

Overfishing assessment may lead Virginia to ban recreational fishing for striped bass

April 8, 2019 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is considering banning recreational fishing for trophy-sized striped bass this spring in the state’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay, its coastal waters and Potomac River tributaries because of indications that the species has been overfished.

Striped bass, locally called rockfish, are among the most popular species with regional saltwater anglers. Hundreds of charter captains and thousands of recreational fishermen target the fish throughout the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay region.

In Virginia’s spring trophy season, which is set to run May 1 through June 15, anglers are allowed one striped bass 36 inches or longer per day.

The commission is scheduled to take up the proposed ban at its April 23 meeting, with a proposed effective date for the emergency regulation of April 29. The rationale for the moratorium is an expected final determination in May by the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board that the large, mostly female rockfish that do most of the spawning are being overfished.

A preliminary assessment delivered to that board showed the estimated overall fishing mortality exceeded the established standard in 2017. Additionally, female spawning stock biomass (the estimated total weight of all spawning-size females) was 151 million pounds, significantly below the 202 million pound threshold.

Read the full story at The Free Lance-Star

NOAA maintains East Coast bluefish catch rules for this year

April 4, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators say catch quotas and regulations for Atlantic bluefish will be about the same this year as they were in 2018.

Bluefish is an oily fish that is popular with some seafood fans on the East Coast, where it is fished commercially. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says rules for this year are only experiencing minor adjustments, in part because no states exceeded their quota allocations last year.

Fishermen will be able to harvest more than 7.7 million pounds of bluefish from Maine to Florida this year. The states with the most quota are North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, Florida and Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

North Carolina bill wants to ban wind power near the coast. ‘You do need to make choices.’

March 29, 2019 — North Carolina could permanently ban big wind-power projects from the most energy intensive parts of the state’s Atlantic coast, but a state senator said Wednesday the move is necessary to prevent hindering military training flights.

Legislation introduced by Republican Sen. Harry Brown would prohibit building, expanding or operating sky-scraping wind turbines within about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the coast. The bill would apply to the area that stretches from the Virginia border to south of the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base.

“It would have a major impact to the areas of North Carolina with potential for wind energy development,” said Brent Summerville, who teaches about wind energy in Appalachian State University’s sustainable technology program.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The News & Observer

Fish 2.0 to host free workshop for seafood entrepreneurs and investors

March 27, 2019 — Aquaculture entrepreneurs and researchers seeking capital for ventures and technologies supporting sustainable seafood or the marine environment are encouraged to join a Fish 2.0 workshop at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Marine Campus on 23-24 April.

The event is part of the Fish 2.0 initiative and established businesses from the US South Atlantic coast (Maryland, DC, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and the Atlantic coast of Florida) involved in seafood supply chains, climate resilience technologies, or seafood production, including aquaculture, wild harvesting or trade are eligible to apply at no cost.

“If you know of technologies being commercialised at universities or ventures getting started in your state, please forward this message. We want to help those entrepreneurs meet investors that can fund these important ventures,” say Fish 2.0’s organisers.

Fish 2.0 is a year-long global programme that connects entrepreneurs with business-building resources and a network of investors and innovators that are shaping the future of fisheries, aquaculture, and the marine ecosystem.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

Federal regulators scramble as SC fish start to range north for cooler seas

March 25, 2019 — Shrimp boats from North Carolina pulled up to the McClellanville dock last week, loaded down with catch.

They had been trawling unrestricted ocean waters along the North Carolina-Virginia state line — in other words, hauling in shrimp that spawned in the Chesapeake Bay.

Until a few years ago that was unheard of: The bay just didn’t produce shrimp. It’s too far north.

But fish species are shifting their range as seas warm — four times faster than land species, according to a recent study.

The concerns are for a lot more than shrimp. It’s deep-water finfish as well as surface roamers, species like wahoo, snapper, grouper and cobia. Those are among the most sought after game and seafood fish, and the rules for all of them are under review.

As the waters warm this spring, the near-shore shrimping grounds will open. More of the half-million licensed recreational anglers in South Carolina will crank up boat motors and head out. Commercial boats are out there already. While the pressure on species from overfishing is a long-recognized and long-regulated issue, now there is a new one: How long will this fish even be there?

Anxiety is starting to churn in fishing communities over what will happen to their livelihoods or hobbies. The value to South Carolina of its rich shrimp and finfish waters has been estimated at $44 billion per year for both recreational and commercial fishing combined.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier