Saving Seafood

Five options for whiting fishery to be studied this summer

April 27, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council will spend much of the summer considering five alternatives to potentially limiting entry into the region’s small-mesh whiting fishery.

The council last week approved the five alternatives as part of Whiting Amendment 22, which includes three major components — limited access qualification criteria, possession limits by permit type and permit characteristics, and conditions that could result from the decision to pursue a limited-access fishery.

The council, following the approval of the five alternatives, said it expects to select preferred alternatives at either of its regularly scheduled meetings in June or September. Those preferred alternatives would go to public comment in the summer or fall (depending on when the preferred measures are identified), with final action anticipated for the fall or early winter.

The fishery includes five stocks: northern silver hake, southern silver hake, offshore hake, northern red hake and southern red hake. The first three fall under the general description of whiting.

Historically, the whiting fishery has been characterized by low effort, with harvesters landing only a fraction of the annual catch limits for the three species that fall within the whiting category.

But, as fishing stakeholders continue to cast about for underutilized species, regulators are concerned that allowing the fishery to remain wide open “could result in effort increases.” They also point out that northern red hake has exceeded its annual catch limit in several recent years and there also is concern that harvesters also have exceeded the sub-annual catch limit for the fishery’s yellowtail flounder.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NEFMC’s Whiting Limited Access Options Advance for Further Analysis

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today approved a wide range of alternatives for further analysis in Whiting Amendment 22, which is being developed to potentially limit access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery. Five stocks are part of this fishery. The first three – northern silver hake, southern silver hake, and offshore hake – are collectively referred to as “whiting,” and the other two stocks are northern red hake and southern red hake.

The amendment contains three major components:

  • Limited access qualification criteria (see table at right);
  • Possession limits by permit type;
  • Permit “characteristics and conditions” that could apply if limited access is adopted.

The public will have several opportunities to comment on the alternatives. At its June or September meeting – depending on how long it takes to complete the necessary analyses – the Council will select “preferred alternatives” from the analyzed range. Then, the amendment will go out to public hearing in the summer or fall. The Council is not expected to take final action on Amendment 22 until fall or early winter.

Read the full release here

West Coast Whiting Stock Assessment Shows Population Highest Since 1980s

February 1, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The draft stock assessment for the Pacific whiting (hake) stock off the west coast of North America was released yesterday with higher estimates of spawning biomass than last year, which could result in an estimated median catch limit for 2017 of 969,840 tons.

In the past, Canada and the U.S. have agreed to a much lower catch limit due to the abundance of smaller fish, but this year the incidence of smaller size fish was only about 15% of the catch. However, uncertainty in abundance, recruitment, and future performance in the stock is high due in part to natural forces, so a precautionary approach is traditionally taken when setting the TAC.

Coastwide catch in 2016 was 329,427 tons, out of a TAC of 497,500 tons. The U.S. landed 70.7% of its quota; the Canadian fleets landed 53.7% of their quota. Both countries had a variety of constraints that prohibited full attainment.

The new estimate for catch is based on the whiting default harvest rule. That rule allows a level of removals that, according to the model, may result in lower spawning biomass as soon as the next two years. For that and other reasons, harvest levels have always been less. Last year’s TAC was the highest set in recent history, which shows a gradual increase since 2012. 

This year’s estimate of spawning biomass at 2.129 million tons compares to last year’s estimate of 1.993 million tons, which is slightly higher than the 1.885 million tons estimated in an earlier assessment.

“The stock is estimated to be at its highest biomass level since the 1980s as a result of es­timated large 2010 and 2014 cohorts. The 2014 cohort has not yet been observed by the survey and only twice by the commercial fishery, thus its absolute size is highly uncertain,” reads the report.

The draft was posted on the Pacific Whiting Treaty website by the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the Pacific Hake/Whiting Agreement Between the Governments of the United States and Canada. The Joint Management Committee (JMC) is planning a teleconference to discuss this document, during which the JTC will brief the JMC on the preliminary draft 2017 stock assessment on February 9, 2017.

The stock assessment model for 2017 is similar in structure to the 2016 model. It is fit to an acoustic survey index of abundance and annual commercial catch, as well as age compositions from the survey and commercial fisheries.

The spawning biomass in 2017 is estimated to have increased from 2016 due to the 2014 year-class likely being above average size.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

Fish Seek Cooler Waters, Leaving Some Fishermen’s Nets Empty

POINT JUDITH, R.I. — There was a time when whiting were plentiful in the waters of Rhode Island Sound, and Christopher Brown pulled the fish into his long stern trawler by the bucketful.

“We used to come right here and catch two, three, four thousand pounds a day, sometimes 10,” he said, sitting at the wheel of the Proud Mary — a 44-footer named, he said, after his wife, not the Creedence Clearwater Revival song — as it cruised out to sea.

But like many other fish on the Atlantic Coast, whiting have moved north, seeking cooler waters as ocean temperatures have risen, and they are now filling the nets of fishermen farther up the coast.

Studies have found that two-thirds of marine species in the Northeast United States have shifted or extended their range as a result of ocean warming, migrating northward or outward into deeper and cooler water.

Lobster, once a staple in southern New England, have decamped to Maine. Black sea bass, scup, yellowtail flounder, mackerel, herring and monkfish, to name just a few species, have all moved to accommodate changing temperatures.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Locals wary of changes to whiting plan

November 21, 2016 — It didn’t take long for the Gloucester Fisheries Commission to oppose the proposals being developed at the New England Fishery Management Council that would introduce limited access to the historically open-access whiting fishery.

A mere two days after the NEFMC received its first look at the proposals being generated by its whiting advisory panel and whiting committee, Gloucester commission members raised concerns over the impact the proposals could have on the city’s whiting fleet — particularly the small boats.

“We should not allow any other species to go under limited access,” said commission member Angela Sanfilippo, also the president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. “This is a healthy stock and I am totally against limited access.”

Sanfilippo’s views were echoed by member Joe Orlando and Chairman Mark Ring.

The three proposals to potentially limit access to the fishery are contained in Amendment 22 currently being developed by the council. The council’s whiting committee hopes to furnish a more finished product at the council’s next meeting in late January.

The city fisheries commission, however, wasn’t waiting around for the council staff’s final analysis. It voted 6-0 to oppose any attempts to limit access to Ipswich Bay for the local whiting fleet.

The three proposals, being developed by the NEFMC’s whiting advisory panel and whiting committee, essentially offer potential eligibility parameters for future access into the fishery.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Advisory panel releases 3 proposals for whiting

November 18, 2016 — The New England Fishery Management Council, meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, this week, got an advance peek at three proposals that ultimately could limit access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery that includes whiting.

The three proposals, generated by the council’s whiting advisory panel and the whiting committee, will serve to provide the council with a fuller slate of alternatives, said Andrew Applegate, the council’s senior fishery analyst for small mesh multispecies.

Applegate stressed the analysis of the three proposals by the whiting plan development team is in the very early stages.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but we hope to present the council with something sometime next January,” Applegate said.

The initial discussion on the three proposals, Applegate said, “is just to update the council on our progress.”

The whiting fishery currently is an open-access fishery. The proposals to potentially limit access to the fishery are contained in Amendment 22 currently being developed by the council for the 2017 fishing season.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

New England Fishery Management Council Approves Skate Limited Access Scoping Document; Hears Progress Report on Whiting Amendment 22 Analyses

November 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During discussions that addressed two of the last remaining open access fisheries in the region, the New England Fishery Management Council today:

  • Approved a scoping document for Amendment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to consider limited access in both the skate bait and non-bait fisheries; and
  • Received a progress report on Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP, which will include alternatives to limit access to small-mesh multispecies.

The skate complex is made up of seven species: barndoor, clearnose, little, rosette, smooth, thorny, and winter skates. The bait fishery primarily targets little skate, along with a small percentage of juvenile winter skate, while the non-bait fishery primarily targets adult winter skate for the wing market.
Control dates already are in place for both fisheries – July 30, 2009 for the bait fishery and March 31, 2014 for the non-bait fishery. The Council asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to publish the control dates after skate fishermen expressed concern that unrestrained increases in fishing effort by new entrants

Advancing to the next step of the process, the Council is now preparing to conduct scoping hearings early in the new year to give the public an opportunity to raise concerns or make suggestions about the range of alternatives for Skate Amendment 5. The purpose of the amendment is to consider developing a limited access program for the skate bait and non-bait fisheries, potentially with qualification criteria, permit conditions and categories, and other related measures.

Whiting Limited Access Under Consideration in Amendment 22

The Council also received a progress report on Amendment 22, which contains alternatives to potentially limit access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery. Participants in this fishery target red hake, silver hake, and offshore hake. Silver and offshore hake typically are referred to as “whiting.”

The Council held five scoping hearings in December 2015 to solicit initial input on the amendment and now is developing qualification criteria alternatives using a preliminary analysis of fleet history. The Whiting Plan Development Team (PDT), Whiting Advisory Panel, and Whiting Committee still have a considerable amount of work to do before the Council can select alternatives for the draft amendment that will be taken to public hearing. However, the Council took an early look at three alternatives that the PDT will begin to analyze. Two use a five-year, 2008-2012 qualification period – up to the Nov. 28 cutoff for the control date – and one uses a 1996-2012 qualification period. Each alternative has a high- and low-level permit status, potentially having different possession limits. As a first cut, the Whiting Committee identified three sets of qualification criteria representing the cumulative poundage (all five years combined) needed to qualify under the proposals:

  • First Alternative – 500,000 pounds for the high level permit and 100,000 pounds for the low level permit under the 2008-2012 qualification period;
  • Second Alternative – 1,000,000 pounds for the high level permit and 20,000 pounds for the low level permit under the 2008-2012 qualification period; and
  • Third Alternative – 1,000,000 pounds for the high level permit and 200,000 pounds for the low level permit using the 1996-2012 period.

Tarr: Marine monument punishes fishermen

September 16, 2016 — Creating the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument is a needed response to dangerous climate change, oceanic dead zones and unsustainable fishing practices, President Barack Obama said Thursday.

But state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said the designation “singled out commercial fishing for more punishment.”

The new Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument consists of nearly 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains about 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod.

Gov. Charlie Baker said he is “deeply disappointed” by Obama’s designation of an area off the New England coast as the first deep-sea marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, a move the Swampscott Republican’s administration sees as undermining Massachusetts fishermen.

The monument area includes three underwater canyons and four underwater mountains that provide habitats for protected species including sea turtles and endangered whales.

Fishing operations

Recreational fishing will be allowed in the protected zone but most commercial fishing operations have 60 days to “transition from the monument area,” according to the White House. Red crab and lobster fisheries will be given seven years to cease operations in the area.

Tarr said the designation marked a missed opportunity to “balance conservation and support for commercial fishing.”

“In New England, we have one of the most highly regulated fishing industries in the world, and we have had a steady decline in the amount of area available to fish, and it should be a last resort to take away more area as opposed to trying to carefully draw the lines of this monument area,” Tarr told the State House News Service.

The marine protections will hurt red crab, swordfish, tuna, squid, whiting and offshore lobster fisheries, according to the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, which said industry representatives offered White House aides alternative proposals that would have protected coral habitat while still allowing fishing in some areas.

“The Baker-Polito Administration is deeply disappointed by the federal government’s unilateral decision to undermine the Commonwealth’s commercial and recreational fishermen with this designation,” Baker spokesman Brendan Moss said in an email. “The Commonwealth is committed to working with members of the fishing industry and environmental stakeholders through existing management programs to utilize the best science available in order to continue our advocacy for the responsible protection of our state’s fishing industry while ensuring the preservation of important ecological areas.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Above the waves, Connecticut fishermen struggle to hang on

August 30, 2016 — STONINGTON, Conn. — Gambardella Wholesale Fish on the docks here is all but empty on an early afternoon, eerily quiet save for the rhythmic clack, clack of cardboard boxes being stapled together.

“We used to start at seven in the morning,” said Mike Gambardella, whose grandfather started the family’s original fish market more than a century ago. “And when we used to have the whiting boats coming in here, sometimes we wouldn’t get out of here ‘til two o’clock in the morning. Now if I open one day a week, I’ll be happy.”

The problem isn’t the fish. There are plenty of fish – but they’re the wrong fish.

Warming water and other shifting ocean conditions, probably caused by climate change and its cascading impact on the entire marine ecosystem, have pushed the longtime mainstays of Connecticut fishing, like winter flounder and most notably lobster, north to deeper and colder waters.

In their places are species that had been more common further south, also moving north in search of more hospitable conditions. But the way the fish management and quota systems work on the East Coast, fishermen in New England can’t catch many of those fish.

Instead, trawlers from North Carolina are traveling all the way to the ocean waters in Connecticut’s backyard and catching what used to be off their own coast – summer flounder, scup and the very valuable black sea bass – while Connecticut fishermen can only watch; throwback tons of fish – most of which will die; or risk a costly, difficult and long trip to where the fish they are allowed to catch in larger numbers are now.

The situation has resulted in an emotional dispute over how the U.S. fishing system operates, with Connecticut fishermen and politicians calling, if not downright begging, for immediate changes to fish allocations to save the state’s fishing industry from what many believe is its inevitable ruin. But others in the scientific and environmental communities are saying – maybe not so fast.

Read the full story at the Connecticut Mirror

NEFMC Puts Out Call for Advisory Panel Applicants

August 2, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Industry members who want to serve on one or more of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Advisory Panels (APs) still have time to submit applications. The deadline is Aug. 31, 2016.

“Our advisors are important to us,” said Council Executive Director Tom Nies. “They bring a wide range of experience and perspectives to the table and give us valuable insight into the practical, social, and economic implications of our actions.”

Selected AP members will be appointed to three-year terms running from January 2017 through December 2020.

IMPORTANT: Current advisors who want to continue serving on APs do not need to fill out new applications but MUST email Joan O’Leary at joleary@nefmc.org or fax a note to the Council at (978) 465- 3116 indicating their desire to remain on a particular panel.

Seats are available on the Council’s Habitat, Herring, Enforcement, Monkfish, Red Crab, Skate, Scallop, Whiting, and Groundfish APs, as well as the Groundfish Recreational Advisory Panel, commonly referred to as the RAP.

Potential qualified applicants include:

  • Commercial and recreational fishermen;
  • Seafood processors and dealers; and
  • Other industry stakeholders such as members of conservation groups, academia, or state and local

    management agencies or boards.

Application forms and additional information are available here.