Fishing Industry Alerts

The following is excerpted from a story that appears in the October issue of National Fisherman: 

Omega Shipyard at Moss Point, Miss., recently delivered two menhaden steamers to the Omega Protein plant in Reedville, Va. They will be fishing in Chesapeake Bay and off the Virginia coast.
 
Both steamers are converted offshore oil supply boats that operated in the Gulf of Mexico, carrying equipment and personnel to and from oil platforms.
 
The 196' x 40' Rappahannock was built in 1982, making it the largest boat operated by Omega Protein. The 184' x 38' Fleeton was built in 1976. The addition of the two boats gives Omega's Reedville menhaden fleet a total of seven
steamers.

These are not "steamers" in the sense of being powered by coal-fired steam engines, as menhaden boats once were-starting in the 1870s when steam replaced the sail power of schooners, sloops and pungies. Today the boats are diesel powered, but around Chesapeake Bay they are still referred to as steamers.

"The offshore supply boats make good fish boats," says Omega Protein's general manager, Monty Deihl. "The boats are wide and long, stable and low-sided. We have to be able to work from the deck, so we must have a relatively low-sided vessel." He adds that converting a supply boat as opposed to building a new steamer is "a very cost-effective option."

Of course, taking boats designed for  work not at all related to commercial fishing and giving them the capability to catch menhaden requires some alterations. In an 18-month project, the Omega yard rebuilt about 40 percent of each steamer. Most of the work took place in the stern and the midship section.

"We gutted out the whole boat," says O.W. Brown, the shipyard's general manager. Below deck, a supply boat has a centerline corridor that goes between tanks for fuel, seawater and mud. They removed the corridor and all the tanks. Beyond that, Brown says, "We used framing that was there, and tossed out what was bad and replaced it."

In the now empty space, they built four insulated fish holds. "The fish holds are slightly larger than on our standard boats. We also doubled the tonnage of the refrigeration system to improve the quality of our product when it gets to our processing plants," says Brown.

Read the full story from National Fisherman

 

The following is an excerpt from a story originally published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

A new study conducted by Dutch scientists in the North Sea suggests there may actually be some unexpected benefits from bottom trawling.
 
The report, entitled "When does fishing lead to more fish? Community consequences of bottom trawl fisheries in demersal food webs," was commissioned by the Wageningen Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (IMARES) in the Netherlands.
 
…
 
Some of the results were surprising.
 
"What we found is that the indirect effects or side-effects of trawling – namely, the sort of selective removal of certain types of bottom life – sort of makes the system more productive in terms of food for the fish that fishermen target," said Tobias Van Kooten, one of three authors of the report, along with Daniel van Denderen and Adriaan Rijnsdorp.

The focus of the research was to model the effects of bottom trawling on fish species and food sources that are either resistant or susceptible to bottom trawling.

The authors found there are indications bottom trawling may actually "increase the availability of food and promote growth, and even yield of target fish species."

Read the full story at the CBC

View the study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Read an analysis of the study from Earth Times

 

 

The following is excerpted from the Louisiana Sportsman:

Some biologists have called the Gulf of Mexico menhaden fishery a near-perfect fishery. Factors of such a perfect commercial fishery would include:

* Low bycatch.
* A stable number of fishermen, without the big swings in numbers that often occur in commercial fisheries.
* The fishery would not be in competition with recreational fishermen for the fish.
* The number of fishermen in the fishery would be small enough to monitor their catch accurately.
* All parts of the fish would be used, with no backbones, skin, shells or other waste to discard.
* The fishery would be consistently profitable. 
 
The most-difficult goal of these six elements to meet has been the last one – profitability – although recent years have been good to the fishery.
      
Pogies numbers are awe-inspiring – in the many, many millions. They swim in massive, silvery schools that attract many predator species, including man. The primary target of the fishery is the gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, found between Orange Beach, Ala., and Freeport, Texas.     
 
Menhaden are caught with a large purse seine, but located by the pilot of a small spotter airplane.       
 
The fishery is the largest by weight in the Gulf, averaging 1.1 billion pounds per year. Almost all of that catch is reduced into fish oil, meal and solubles. Because of exports, the fishery provides jobs in the United States funded with dollars imported from other countries.
 
Read the full story at the Louisiana Sportsman

 

The following was released by the office of New Bedford, Massachusetts Mayor Jon Mitchell:

Mayor Jon Mitchell today urged the organization responsible for setting catch limits for fish species shared between the United States and Canada to negotiate a Georges Bank yellowtail flounder quota for the 2014 fishing year that does not result in further harm to the fishing industry.

In a letter to its members, the Mayor called on the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) to reach a quota of no less than 500 metric tons for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. “Georges Bank yellowtail is by-catch for the scallop fishery, which brings in approximately $400 million in direct annual revenue to New Bedford,” said the Mayor. “Taking into account the groundfish and scallop fisheries’ ancillary businesses, Georges Bank yellowtail is tied to nearly $1.3 billion in annual economic activity in Greater New Bedford,” he explained.

The TMGC is a government–industry committee comprised of representatives from Canada and the United States tasked with developing guidance in the form of harvest strategies, resource sharing and management processes for Canadian and US management authorities for the cod, haddock and yellowtail flounder transboundary resources on Georges Bank.

Previously, the organization recommended a 57 percent reduction in the yellowtail quota for the 2013 fishing year. Their recommendation was based on the 2012 TRAC assessment, science that was widely viewed as uncertain and flawed.

“Unfortunately, there are even greater concerns about the 2013 TRAC assessment for Georges Bank yellowtail,” said the Mayor. “As Mayor of the number one fishing port in the United States, I appreciate the importance of conserving the fisheries for the long-term, as well as the difficulty of conducting assessments. Nevertheless, we must not allow unreliable scientific determinations to threaten the lifeblood of our fishing communities.”

Mayor Mitchell urged the TGMC members to “work to ensure that future TRAC assessments are conducted in a manner that renders them sufficiently reliable for giving catch advice.”

The text of the letter follows:

September 3, 2013

Mr. Terry Stockwell
Director of External Affairs
Maine Department of Marine Resources
21 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333,,0021

Mr. Thomas D. Dempsey
Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance
1566 Main Street
Chatham, MA 02633

Mr. Terry Alexander
67 Grover Lane
Harpswell, ME 04079

Ms. Mary Beth Nickell-Tooley
43 Norton Pond Road Lincolnville, ME 04849

Dear Mr. Stockwell, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Dempsey, and Ms. Nickell-Tooley:

In anticipation of the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC)'s meeting on September 10 and 11, 2013, I write to urge that you negotiate a quota of no less than 500 metric tons for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder ("Georges Bank yellowtail") for the 2014 fishing year.

As you know, Georges Bank yellowtail is critically important to New Bedford's economy. In addition to being part of the ground fish fishery, Georges Bank yellowtail is by-catch for the scallop fishery, which brings in approximately $400 million in direct  annual revenue to New Bedford. Taking into account the groundfish and scallop fisheries' ancillary businesses, Georges Bank yellowtail is tied to nearly $1.3 billion in annual economic activity in Greater New Bedford.

For the 2013 fishing year, the quota for Georges Bank yellowtail was slashed to 500 metric tons from 1150 metric tons in 2012. This 57% reduction generated significant criticism because it was based on a 2012 TRAC assessment that was widely viewed to have a high degree of uncertainty and to be methodologically flawed. In light of the assessment's flaws, both the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) recommended that the 2013 quota be set at 1150 metric tons. However, NOAA did not adopt their recommendations because the TMGC had set a lower quota of 500 metric tons.

A year later, there are even greater concerns about the 2013 TRAC assessment for Georges Bank yellowtail. In an August 12, 2013 letter to the SSC chair, Dr. Jake Kritzer, Dr. Steve Cadrin of the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMass Dartmouth stated that he could not "accept the 2013 TRAC assessment of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder as a reliable basis for fishery management decisions." And in a detailed letter to Dr. William Karp, the Director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, attorneys for the Fisheries Survival Fund explained that the 2013 TRAC assessment "increased in uncertainty, the assessment process did not meet NMFS' own guidance for best available scientific information, and accepting the assessment contradicts NMFS' own guidance regarding retrospective patterns."

Given the problems with the 2013 TRAC assessment – problems that should have been identified and addressed over the past year – I urge that at your upcoming meeting with the Canadian representatives of the TMGC, you negotiate a Georges Bank yellowtail quota of no less than 500 metric tons. This quota would be consistent with the SSC's August 21,2013 recommendation that the Georges Bank yellowtail quota not exceed 500 metric tons, and it would ensure that New Bedford's fishing industry is not further harmed based on uncertain and flawed science.

At the same time, I ask that you work to ensure that future TRAC assessments are conducted in a manner that renders them sufficiently reliable for giving catch advice. As mayor of the number one fishing port in the United States, I appreciate the importance of conserving the fisheries for the long-term, as well as the difficulty of conducting assessments. Nevertheless, we must not allow unreliable scientific determinations to threaten the lifeblood of our fishing communities.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jon Mitchell
Mayor

cc: Members, New England Fisheries Management Council

For more information: 

Read the press release on FSF's letter to NEFSC Director Dr. Bill Karp

Read the FSF letter to NEFSC Director Dr. Bill Karp

Read Dr. Steve Cadrin's letter to the NEFMC's Scientific and Statistical Committee

View Dr. Cadrin's presentation on the Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder Assessment

Read the New Bedford Standard-Times story by Steve Urbon on NOAA's August 12 forum

 

On August 21, the NEFMC Scientific and Statistical Committee met to develop recommendations for the Acceptable Biological Catch and Overfishing Limit for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.

The meeting took place amid a growing consensus, by both SSC members and leading voices in the fishing industry, that the methodology used in yellowtail stock assessments is critically flawed, and is unacceptable for use in yellowtail management.

 

The SSC reviewed the TRAC's 2013 Georges Bank yellowtail flounder assessment, as well as the Groundfish Plan Development Team's (PDT) report on OFL and ABC alternatives for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder for fishing years 2014-2016. The SSC agreed on an ABC of no more that 500 metric tons, but due to the high degree of uncertainty in the stock assessment, was unable to provide a specific OFL recommendation.

 

In advance of the meeting, several stakeholders publicly voiced their concerns over the reliability of the most recent yellowtail assessment. Most notably, Dr. Steve Cadrin, an SSC member and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, wrote to Dr. Jake Kritzer, the Chairman of the SSC, that "there is neither the scientific nor the procedural basis to support the 2013 TRAC [Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee] recommendation for Georges Bank yellowtail catch advice." The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), an industry group representing the majority of full-time, limited-access Atlantic scallop permit holders, expressed similar concerns to Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Dr. Bill Karp, calling the assessment "not viable for use as a basis for catch advice," and stating that the yellowtail management process is "arbitrary and capricious" as a result.

 

At the meeting, Dr. Kritzer detailed some of Dr. Cadrin's criticisms of the yellowtail assessment. Specifically, he called attention to Dr. Cadrin's assertion that the TRAC's 2013 recommendations for yellowtail did not comply with the TRAC's own standards for catch advice, which it laid out in the 2005 yellowtail benchmark assessment. Concern over the assessment was widespread on the SSC, with members Dr. Daniel Georgianna, Jean-Jacques Maguire, and John Hoenig all expressing reservations regarding the results. The Committee members aired doubts over whether the yellowtail stock is actually in danger, raised the question of whether or not the results of the assessment should be accepted, and expressed a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the assessment models.

 

Drew Minkiewicz, representing the Fisheries Survival Fund, reviewed FSF's criticisms of the assessment and the stock assessment process. He noted that the FSF leveled the same criticisms against the 2012 assessment, only to see the issues go unaddressed and worsen with the 2013 assessment. FSF beleives the flaws in the 2013 assessment are deep enough that the TRAC's process of accepting it violated several national guidelines, and that the SSC's current approach is not fixing the fundamental problems in the assessment.

 

Listen to Dr. Christopher Legault, of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center, offer his rationale as to why the TRAC offered a range, rather than a specific value, as catch advice for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.

 

Listen to Dr. Christopher Legault discuss how high levels of variability and inconsistency in the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder data have made it difficult to use a stock assessment model other than the current virtual population analysis (VPA).

 

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the SSC's inability to reach a formal consensus due in large part to SSC member Dr. Steve Cadrin's submission of a written statement asserting that the Georges Bank yellowtail assessment should not be used for catch advice. Dr. Cadrin was absent from the meeting. Mr. Minkiewicz also voices concern for basing catch advice on a model that has already been corrected twice and has shown a retrospective pattern year after year.

 

Listen to SSC Chair Dr. Jacob Kritzer highlight the key points of SSC member Dr. Steve Cadrin's written statement to the SSC. Dr. Cadrin, who is also a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Oceanography in the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, stresses that the 2013 TRAC assessment of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder is not a reliable basis for fishery management decisions.

 

Listen to SSC members Dr. Daniel Georgianna, Jean-Jacques Maguire, and John Hoenig discuss their apprehension in basing Georges Bank yellowtail catch advice on an inconsistent model.

 

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the importance of addressing issues fundamental to the SSC's deliberative process, and examine Georges Bank yellowtail flounder's role in the scallop fishery.

 

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the effects the SSC's catch recommendations will have on the groundfish industry.  

 

Listen to SSC Chair Dr. Jacob Kritzer accept piecemeal suggestions from SSC members to be included in the Committee's final recommendations regarding catch advice for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.

 

 

 

The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition:

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — Yesterday, 230 commercial groundfish fishing industry members of the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC), a non-profit industry membership organization, wrote to Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and Senator Richard C. Shelby, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to express sincere thanks for their efforts to secure $150 million in fishery disaster assistance in the FY2014 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Additionally, NSC executive director Jackie Odell wrote to Senators representing the Northeast region thanking them for their efforts to help secure a future for the fishery.

In September 2012, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank issued a fishery disaster declaration under federal law for the Northeast groundfish fishery due to unprecedented reductions of up to 78 percent in the amount of groundfish fishermen are able to harvest, despite fishermen's adherence to strict catch limits.

Even with the disaster declaration, industry has yet to see the Department of Commerce take actions needed to mitigate the disaster. In contrast, many Members of Congress-including Sen. Mikulski and Sen. Shelby-have been at the forefront of Congressional efforts to provide the critically needed disaster assistance. According to Odell's letter, FY2014 appropriations measures including improvements to the use of Saltonstall-Kennedy funds and ensuring the cost of monitoring are covered will be critical to helping small fishing-dependent businesses survive.

Both Odell and the NSC industry-member letters stress that the current fishery disaster is a consequence of natural forces far beyond the control of man. "We are told that just like nature can wreak havoc on man's world through sudden events like hurricanes, tsunamis and droughts-it can also have devastating effects on the productivity of our marine ecosystems… We know they will recover-and with time and better science, so will we, provided something can be done in the meantime to preserve our world for that better day," the NSC industry member letter reads.

Odell wrote that the recovery of the Northeast groundfish fishery will not be simple: it will require substantial improvements and adjustments to science and management; moreover, a recovery will take time. Fishery disaster assistance, she wrote, is absolutely essential if there is to be a future for the Northeast groundfish fishery.

NSC is grateful to Senators Mikulski, Shelby, Collins, Shaheen, Warren, Reed, Blumenthal, Schumer, Menendez, King, Ayotte, Markey, Whitehouse, Murphy, Gillibrand, and Chiesa for their tireless support and efforts to secure a future for our fishery, families, and communities in the face of the declared disaster.

Read a PDF of the release

Read the letter from the Northeast Seafood Coalition to Senators Mikulski and Shelby

Read the letter from Northeast Seafood Coalition Executive Director Jackie Odell to 14 Senators representing the Northeast

 

This afternoon in Annapolis, the Maryland Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) Committee will hold a public hearing on emergency menhaden regulations.

The meeting will start at 2:30 pm, and will be held in the Legislative Services Building, located at 90 State Circle in Annapolis, in the AELR Joint Hearing Room.

The following story was originally published in the Star Democrat of Easton, Maryland. A link to the full article is provided below.
 
ANNAPOLIS — Maryland watermen will have their chance to be heard in front of the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 in Annapolis.
 
The emergency regulations put on the menhaden fishery this season by the state Department of Natural Resources expire on Thursday, Aug. 29. The permanent regulations wouldn't take effect until Monday, Sept. 2, leaving a gap of time that watermen wouldn't have to operate under the provisions of the emergency regulations.
 
Recently, DNR requested that the emergency regulations be expanded until the permanent ones could be put into effect. The action brings the regulations in front of the AELR Committee, which had to hear the request this week due to when the emergency regulations expire, according to a spokesman for the Department of Legislative Services.  
 
For watermen, this is a chance for their voice to be heard on regulations that some, like Bob Newberry, who is a co-organizer for the Harvesters Land and Sea Coalition, say are negatively affecting their livelihood and aren't necessary.

"We're just asking for our day in front of the AELR Committee to explain our side of the situation," Newberry said.  
 
…
 
According to a spokesman for the Department of Legislative Services, those who wish to voice their opinion at the hearing on Wednesday just have to show up before the meeting to sign up, and they can also bring a copy of their testimony to give to the committee.
 
Read the full story at the Easton Star Democrat

 

Several environmental groups are demanding that NOAA reverse a recent proposal designed to provide economic relief to a struggling groundfish fleet.

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — The 2013 fishing year ushered in a series of steep cuts in the allowable catch for key New England groundfish species. These cuts, including a 61 percent reduction for Georges Bank cod and a 78 percent reduction for Gulf of Maine cod, have proven devastating to the region’s remaining groundfish boats. Now, several environmental groups are demanding that NOAA reverse a recent proposal designed to provide economic relief to the struggling fleet.

The proposal, recommended to the agency by the New England Fishery Management Council in its Framework Adjustment 48, awaits final approval from NOAA. It grants groundfish boats limited access to areas off the New England coast that are currently closed to the fishery. Over the past several decades, large sections of New England’s waters have been closed to the groundfishery. There are generally two different types of closures: mortality closures, which were established to control fishing mortality, and habitat closures, designed to preserve fish habitats. NOAA’s proposed action would allow groups of fishermen to apply for access on a case-by-case basis to the mortality closures, while leaving the habitat closures intact.

Citing stocks at “desperately low levels from chronic overfishing” and the need for habitat preservation, petitions circulating from the Conservation Law Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity are insisting that all of the existing mortality closures be maintained. But their demands are based on flawed assumptions that the mortality closures are still necessary to prevent overfishing in New England, and that the closures affected by the proposal provide meaningful habitat protections.

These mortality closures used to be a key method to limit overfishing, back when fisheries managers controlled the catch indirectly through measures like area closures and trip limits. Since 2010, and the introduction of sector management, the functions of these closures have been taken over by an allocation-based system, and overfishing is controlled directly through the setting of a Total Allowable Catch (TAC). A TAC prevents fishermen from exceeding biologically acceptable fishing limits, and when one is in place, effort controls like areas closures are not needed and unnecessarily impede fishing.

NOAA recognizes that these closures are obsolete, which is why they are proposing to allow fishermen limited access to parts of the areas (Closed Areas I and II and Nantucket Lightship) that are not also designated as essential fish habitats. The agency stated in a filing in the Federal Register that the TAC in place in the New England groundfishery makes “certain other mortality or effort controls redundant,” and that allowing access to the closures “would provide operational flexibility and efficiency” for groundfishermen.

While the petitions also allege that partially opening the areas “will eliminate some of the best intact habitat in New England’s waters,” and that “trawling threatens to severely damage this habitat and diminish its benefits for fish and other marine species,” the areas under consideration actually provide little in the way of habitat benefits, regardless of the level of trawling.

Habitats in the mortality closures are mostly made up of sand and gravel. They do not retain many long-term changes from trawling, and are also subject to frequent natural disruptions from tidal forces. Because of the naturally dynamic nature of these habitats, they support few unique habitat features like those found in designated habitat closures. In its examination of the potential environmental impact of its proposal, NOAA found that opening parts of Closed Area II “would likely have minimal impact on benthic habitats,” and that the proposed openings in Nantucket Lightship similarly are “not expected to have any significant adverse habitat impacts.”

Several sections of the proposed openings are already accessible to certain fisheries, and are not “intact,” as claimed by CLF. For example, since 2004, scallopers have been able to enter parts of Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and Nantucket Lightship. The proposal from NOAA simply affords groundfishermen opportunities similar to those enjoyed by scallopers for the past decade.

NOAA’s proposal contains measures intended to limit any potential environmental impacts. The only areas affected are ones that the agency has determined would not be negatively impacted by trawling or have recently been accessed by scallopers. Important habitat areas, like the habitat closures in Cashes Ledge, are not included or affected by the proposal. For fishing within the closures, the agency has also restricted the type of gear that can be used, so that accidental bycatch does not lead to overfishing.

Perhaps most importantly, the proposal includes measures to protect fish spawning in these areas. The need to protect these spawners was cited by both CLF and the Center for Biological Diversity as reason to permanently maintain these closures. But year-round closures are not necessary to effectively protect spawning. Under NOAA’s proposal, the areas would not be open past December 31 in the fishing year in order to ensure that any allowed fishing does not interfere with spawning activity in these areas.
 
Permitting fishing in the mortality closures would not hurt fish populations or fish habitats. Fishing would only be allowed in areas resistant to trawling that provide few habitat benefits, and would be timed to avoid interference with spawning. The only thing protected by these petitions is an outdated management system that unnecessarily denies fishermen economic relief during already-tough times.

Read the petition from the Conservation Law Foundation

Read the petition from the Center for Biological Diversity

Read the public and scientific documents cited in this story:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "Framework Adjustment 48", Federal Register

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "Proposed Rule to Allow Northeast Multispecies Sector Vessels Access to Year-Round Closed Areas", Federal Register

Harris, Bradley; Stokesbury, Kevin, "The spatial structure of local surficial sediment characteristics on Georges Bank, USA", Continental Shelf Research, Volume 30, Issue 17, October 15, 2010, p. 1840-1853 

Harris, Bradley; Cowles, Geoffrey; Stokesbury, Kevin, "Surficial sediment stability on Georges Bank, in the Great South Channel and on eastern Nantucket Shoals", Continental Shelf Research, Volume 49, September 23, 2012, p. 65-72

Saving Seafood has extensively covered the debate surrounding areas closed to fishing in New England. Links to some of our previous coverage are below.

ANALYSIS: Conservation Law Foundation Misleads Public on Habitat Closed Area Changes

CLF Incorrectly Accuses NOAA of "Risky" Fisheries Management

Inaccuracies Abound in Joint Press Release from the Conservation Law Foundation & Earthjustice