Saving Seafood

Governor’s bill on menhaden catch limits advances, barely

March 1, 2018 — Atlantic menhaden aren’t giant fish — generally measuring about a foot or less — but they are big business in Virginia, so much so that they are the only species not entrusted to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission for management.

“The General Assembly has decided to retain control over setting quotas for menhaden,” said Matt Strickler, Virginia’s new secretary of natural resources.

Strickler had just emerged from a bruising hearing Wednesday before the House’s Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee, which barely advanced a bill sent down by Gov. Ralph Northam to bring Virginia into compliance with a November decision by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that cut the quota for fish netted in the Chesapeake Bay.

The bill by Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, which made it out of the committee on an 11-10 vote, was fiercely opposed by Omega Protein. The company operates the only “reduction fishery” on the Atlantic coast, a fleet of boats and plant in Reedville that turn thousands of tons of the fish into oil and meal each year for a range of products each year, from dietary supplements to pet food.

“This bill does harm industry and it does risk jobs,” Monty Deihl, Omega’s vice president of operations, told the committee, adding that no one was more attuned to menhaden numbers than the company, which was founded in Virginia in 1913. “This stock is more important to us than probably anyone else.”

Environmental groups and recreational fishermen urged the committee to send it on to the House floor.

Chris Newsome, a charter fishing captain from Gloucester, said menhaden are a “shared resource owned by all constituents of the commonwealth.”

“Decisions regarding menhaden shouldn’t be influenced solely by one stakeholder,” he said.

Read the full story at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

Trump’s plans to expand offshore drilling face headwind on Atlantic coast

February 22, 2018 — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s bid to open Atlantic waters to offshore drilling has sparked bipartisan opposition in the states with the largest oil and gas reserves off their coasts, presenting unexpected obstacles to the long-held designs of the energy industry.

In recent years, political leaders in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina had supported oil and gas drilling off their coasts, envisioning high-paying jobs and increased tax revenues. But new governors in the three states – two Democrats and a Republican – have all reversed the positions of their predecessors, fearing the potential impact on beaches, fisheries and tourism industries.

“This last election we’ve seen a significant shift at the leadership level,” said David Holt, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance, a trade group representing large energy users and producers. “If you look at the last 10 years, the majority of the governors and the public had been supportive.”

For oil executives in Houston, an international center of the offshore oil and gas sector, the Atlantic coast is a new frontier that could potentially mean significant profits in the decades ahead. Most of the world’s biggest oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, have a major presence here, employing thousands of people, as do firms specializing in offshore drilling and services, including TechnipFMC, National Oilwell Varco, McDermott International and Transocean.

But the recent shift in political and public sentiment represents a very real threat to their plans.

The oil and gas industry has sought access to U.S. Atlantic waters for years, hoping to find rich oil and gas fields similar to those off the coasts of Nigeria and Ghana. In Trump – who proclaims “energy dominance” almost as frequently as “Make America great again” – the industry believed it had found the key to achieving its goal.

Energy companies came close two years ago when former President Barack Obama considered allowing oil and gas development in Atlantic waters. They had the support of Republicans and Democrats, including Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2016, and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime friend and fund raiser for Hillary and Bill Clinton, but Obama ultimately decided against an expansion of offshore drilling.

Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle

 

Virginia: Will Lawmakers Agree to Menhaden Catch Limits?

February 21, 2018 — A battle over menhaden is underway in the Virginia General Assembly right now.

The oily, stinky fish makes up the biggest commercial fishery by volume on the Atlantic Coast, and more than 70 percent of its harvest is caught in Virginia waters. Menhaden also play a key role in the Chesapeake Bay’s food chain, as prey for sea birds, and bigger fish like rockfish.

The menhaden fishery is the only one regulated by the legislature, instead of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission or the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Thus, lawmakers must rewrite current menhaden catch limits in order to stay in compliance with the newest fishery management plan.

The plan, drawn up by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in November, increases the allowable catch for the entire menhaden fishery, but decreases Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay harvest cap to 51,000 metric tons, which is rounded up from the previous five-year average .  Read more about the new management plan here.

The bill first introduced in Virginia’s General Assembly this winter got stuck in committee, but Virginia State Delegate Barry Knight has introduced a new bill on behalf of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, to comply with the ASMFC plan.

In a letter to Delegate Danny Marshall (R-Danville), the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, Governor Northam writes, “Increases in stock abundance and relinquishment of quota from other states to Virginia have resulted in an increase of more than 4 million pounds of menhaden for the Commonwealth. Delegate Knight’s new bill reflects that, and does no harm to the menhaden industry.”

If the plan isn’t implemented, Virginia could fall out of compliance with the Interstate Fishery Management Plan, and the state could face a moratorium on all menhaden fishing.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine 

 

Virginia: Time for bill runs out, higher menhaden quota remains

February 13, 2018 — A multi-state body says Virginians must catch fewer menhaden from the bay, but Virginia’s General Assembly didn’t listen — or, to be exact, didn’t really get a chance to hear.

A bill to bring Virginia’s quota in line with a steep cut demanded by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has languished for more than a month in the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee.

The committee won’t meet again before Tuesday’s midnight deadline for the House of Delegates to act on bills sponsored by House members. Without a committee’s vote to recommend a bill, it couldn’t make it to the floor for all the delegates to consider.

And that means that the higher quota applies for the only fishery — Virginia’s biggest — that the General Assembly regulates.

Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, wanted the General Assembly to agree to the cut in Virginia landings of menhaden from 87,216 metric tons to 51,000 tons that was approved in November by the regional fisheries commission.

That 41.5 percent cut came as the commission approved an 8 percent increase in the coastwide quota set by the commission.

The proposed quota cut is meant to protect a major nursery for menhaden and the striped bass that feed on them, said Chris Moore, senior regional ecosystem scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

While menhaden aren’t sold for human food, they are processed for fish oil, in food supplements, and for fishmeal, an important ingredient in livestock feed, as well as in pet food and to nourish farm-grown fish and seafood.

The striped bass that eat menhaden, on the other hand, have become an important food fish, as well as popular catch for recreational fishermen. Menhaden are also a vital food for marine mammals and osprey.

Moore said not enacting the regional commission quota puts Virginia, and the fishing crews and processing plant workers who depend on menhaden, at risk of sanctions.

That’s a big business. Omega Protein, the Texas-based fish oil and fishmeal producer whose Reedville operation, supplied by seven ships, is the fifth-largest U.S. port for fish landings, with 321 million pounds, worth $31 million, in 2016.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

Virginia Beach wants the same protection from offshore drilling Florida was promised

February 8, 2018 — Leaders want the local coastline taken off a newly expanded list of places open for offshore drilling.

City Council members approved a resolution Tuesday reiterating the city’s opposition to offshore drilling. It also asks for congressional representatives to help secure the same promise from the federal government as Florida, which was assured that it would be “off the table” for drilling.

The White House proposed a five-year offshore leasing program last month that would open most of the East Coast to drilling. The plan isn’t final, and a public hearing will be held in Richmond Feb. 21.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

 

VIRGINIA: Labor Joins Business Groups In Opposition to ASMFC Menhaden Allocation

AFL-CIO, United Food & Commercial Workers, Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturers Association, Seafood Council, and Watermen Urge Virginia to Reject Commission Decision

February 7, 2018 (Saving Seafood) – WASHINGTON – Virginia business and labor groups have united in calling on Virginia’s General Assembly to reject a reduction in the state’s menhaden quota. In a letter to the Chairmen of Virginia’s Senate and House committees on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the groups argued that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) decision to redistribute a share of Virginia’s menhaden allocation to other states is unfair and damaging to Virginia businesses and workers.

The letter, sent yesterday to Chairman Richard Stuart of the Virginia Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee and Chairman Danny Marshall of theVirginia House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee was signed by the Virginia AFL-CIO, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Manufacturers Association, the Virginia Seafood Council, the Virginia Waterman’s Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400.

In November, the ASMFC voted to raise the coastwide allocation of Atlantic menhaden by 8 percent but redistributed it in such a way that the two largest menhaden producing states – Virginia and New Jersey – saw their percentage of the coastwide catch reduced. Under Virginia law, the state legislature must pass legislation accepting the decision of the ASMFC before any such determination becomes effective in the Commonwealth.

“The ASMFC re-allocated the number of menhaden each state could land, giving increased shares to states with little to no menhaden fishing activity,” the groups wrote. “This plan unfairly takes from Virginia while increasing the total allowable catch on the Atlantic Coast by 16,000 metric tons.”

In their letter, the groups argued that the ASMFC could have avoided this problem by increasing the quota further; they pointed out that scientists on the Commission’s Menhaden Technical Committee previously concluded that the coastwide quota could be increased by over 40 percent without a risk of overfishing.

Virginia’s General Assembly is currently considering legislation that would accept the ASMFC’s quota and reallocation plan. The letter calls on legislators to vote against the pending bill.

“Should Virginia reject this, they will stand up for all fisheries managed by the ASMFC,” the groups wrote in their letter. “Should Virginia accede to the ASMFC on this issue, in the future other states may team up on Virginia, take our allocation of other fish, and distribute it to other states.”

The request from organized labor and business groups comes at a delicate time for the ASMFC. As their letter notes, there is recent new precedent for a state that believes its own rules provide adequate conservation to successfully appeal a decision made by the ASMFC. Last June, the Commission recommended to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross that New Jersey be found out of compliance with new rules on recreational summer flounder fishing, known as Addendum XXVIII. However, Secretary Ross did not agree with the Commission’s determination, and ruled New Jersey to be in compliance, marking the first time the Commerce Department had rejected a noncompliance recommendation from the ASMFC.

In a letter to ASMFC Executive Director Robert Beal, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Chris Oliver wrote, “New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year…will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective…” As a result, “the Secretary has found that the measures are likely to be equivalent in total conservation as those required under Addendum XXVIII,” Administrator Oliver wrote.

According to the ASMFC, the menhaden fishery is sustainable and the stock remains healthy. The Commission’s most recent stock assessment, completed in 2017, concluded that menhaden is currently not overfished and is not experiencing overfishing.

 

Attorneys general urge offshore drilling plan’s cancellation

February 2, 2018 — The top lawyers for a dozen coastal states want the U.S. Interior Department to cancel the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling, warning it threatens their maritime economies and natural resources.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and her fellow attorneys general, all Democrats, wrote Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday about his agency’s proposed five-year oil and gas leasing plan that opens new ocean waters.

“Not only does this irresponsible and careless plan put our state’s jobs and environment at risk, but it shows utter disregard for the will and voices of thousands of local businesses and fishing families,” said Healey in a prepared statement. “My colleagues and I will continue to fight this plan.”

Healey first announced her opposition to the plan in an August 2017 letter to Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association agreed with her that the Interior Department’s plan to expand offshore drilling threatens Massachusetts’ $7.3 billion commercial fishing industry — the third largest in the country — and more than 240,000 jobs in the state.

The plan also could devastate the state’s robust recreation and tourism industries, according to Healey, as well harm the state’s coastal environment and protected endangered species, including the Northern Right Whale, which feeds in the waters off of Cape Cod and Nantucket, according to the comment letter. There are only about 460 critically endangered Northern Right Whales remaining worldwide.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces February 2018 Recreational Season for Black Sea Bass

January 31, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a February recreational season in 2018 for the black sea bass fishery.

The current black sea bass recreational management measures of a 12.5-inch minimum size and 15-fish possession limit apply during the February 1-28 federal season.

Federal measures for the rest of the 2018 recreational black sea bass fishery will be developed through a separate action to be implemented later this spring.

Only Virginia and North Carolina have committed to participating in this February season.

Federally permitted charter/party vessels are required to abide by the more restrictive set of regulations when federal and state measures differ.

If you have questions regarding your state’s recreational management measures, please contact the marine fisheries management agency for your state or the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

For more details, read the rule as filed in the Federal Register today, and the permit holder bulletin on our website.

Learn more about NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region by visiting their site here.

 

Right whale death off Virginia coast adds to concern about species’ demise

January 30, 2018 — The death of a right whale, spotted floating off the Virginia Beach coast last week, has drawn wide attention to a species considered one of the most imperiled of marine mammals.

The 10-year-old juvenile female is believed to have become entangled in fishing gear, and its death was the first of 2018 among North Atlantic right whales. The 39-foot whale was buried at Sandbridge’s Little Island Park beach after a necropsy Sunday involving experts from six institutions from Massachusetts to Florida.

Only about 450 of the whales are believed to exist after at least 17 deaths last year, and so far this winter no newborns have been spotted in the calving grounds off Florida and Georgia.

That has added to concern that the species’ demise might be accelerating. Some scientists have predicted that North Atlantic right whales could become extinct this century.

Earlier this month, the Center for Biological Diversity and two animal welfare groups sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its parent agency, claiming that they’re not enforcing laws and regulations meant to protect the whales from entanglement in lines for lobster traps and other fishing gear.

Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries, said the whale found dead near the North Carolina border was wrapped in line in a way that suggested it had been alive when it encountered the gear. She said officials will try to identify the line and who had deployed it.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot 

 

Virginia: A big, but cautious bay role for the General Assembly

January 26, 2018 — Issues involving crabs, oysters and fish sometimes need to age a bit in Virginia’s General Assembly, even though the unusually large role in fisheries management it has assumed makes the questions seem familiar.

So, as the couple of dozen aging holders of crab scrape licenses struggle harder to make ends meet dragging softshell crabs from bay eelgrasses, Eastern Shore Del. Rob Bloxom’s notion of letting them keep any hard-shell crabs they haul from the bottom won a nod this week from the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Chesapeake Bay Committee.

And, though nobody necessarily wants to admit it, the idea that those watermen, mainly based on Tangier Island, are getting older may have been a factor in why Bloxom let slide his first pass at the issue, which also would have allowed them to run bigger scrapes. You have to haul them up by hand, after all.

A newer notion about crabs — that the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences has found a way to help them escape from abandoned pots — had less luck this week, though.

State Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, has been talking enthusiastically for months about VIMS’ research on biodegradable panels for crab pots. The idea is to keep the thousands of ghost pots dotting the bottom of the bay from trapping so many crabs, which die there because they can’t escape.

“They’re basically competing with watermen,” Mason told his fellow senators. A few years back, a $4.2 million effort to scoop up the abandoned pots netted nearly 35,000, which trapped an estimated 3 million crabs a year, Mason said later.

“When one of those drop, it is harvesting and fishing till the end of time,” Mason said. The cost to watermen in terms of crabs not caught and crabs not reproducing amounts to millions of dollars a year.

But neither the watermen, who flooded senators with phone calls opposing the measure, nor most of the Senate itself were convinced.

At $1.50 a panel, times two, times installing them twice a year, times several hundred pots, Mason’s proposal to require two biodegradable panels on all crab pots by 2020 would pose a significant financial burden on watermen, said state Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach.

State Sen. Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomack, said the first tests of the new panels were limited and produced only mixed results.

Mason said he’s going to keep trying to make the economic case. He’s already talked to Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew J. Strickler about reviving a ghost pot recovery effort, and plans to ask the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to push for more testing of the panels.

Read the full story at the Daily Press