Council Actions

November 14, 2012 — NOAA’s New England Fishery Management Council Wednesday heaped derision on a joint assessment of yellowtail flounder conducted jointly by U.S. and Canadian scientists, then trashed the minuscule allocation of the stock based on work that even the agency’s chief regional scientist declined to defend, except to say it was the best “available” and therefore binding.

But the deeply divided council voted 9-8 twice to authorize the $400 million scalloping fleet based in New Bedford and the groundfishing industry centered in Gloucester to land a total of 495 metric tons of yellowtail in 2013 — more than twice the amount authorized by the “transboundary” agreement covering the U.S. and Canada, though a weight that is still projected to constrain, if not short-circuit, scalloping and groundfishing.

Yellowtail and scallops are found near each other throughout the Northwest Atlantic, creating a relationship that has become a challenge for the scallopers, groundfishermen and now for the U.S. and Canadian governments, which have jointly managed the boundary between the nations’ waters that splits Georges Bank.

The council’s action, described as essential to maintaining a domestic scallop and groundfishery in 2013, was immediately undercut by NOAA Regional Administrator John Bullard, who said he could not approve the action because it violated two national standards in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act — one that bars overfishing and one that requires adherence to the best available science.

The blunt rejection of the division of the allocation by the two nations — into 285 metric tons for Canadian boats and 215 for Americans — was also repeatedly predicted to jeopardize the transboundry arrangement itself. And with Bullard on record as ready to veto, council members struggled with how to subdivide an uncertain tonnage of yellowtail, between the scalloping and groundfishing boats.

David Frulla, attorney for the scalloping industry’s Fisheries Survival Fund, described the problem as “dividing a crumb.”

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

November 15, 2012 — Deep cuts to the once-booming fleet over the last decade were made palatable by government assurances that key fish populations would rebuild and fishing nets would be teeming again. But with two critical species — Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank yellowtail — doing poorly, those assurances have disappeared.

Fishermen, and some council members, argued that the overall yellowtail catch next year would be so low it could cripple the estimated $400 million a year scallop industry or the groundfish business.

“This is pitting brother against brother,’’ said Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc. of New Jersey, which fishes for and processes scallops. “These numbers are not healthy numbers for a domestic US fishery.”

Hughes, along with other fishermen and council members, expressed deep frustration with the science behind the projected yellowtail cuts, and and the need to adhere to a US-Canadian agreed-upon quota on the submerged Georges Bank plateau that the United States jointly manages with Canada.

In two votes, the council narrowly voted to reject the joint quota and set a higher one, creating confusion about how much yellowtail flounder could be allocated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is all but guaranteed to reject that higher quota, said John Bullard, New England regional chief for NOAA.

 

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

 

BOSTON — November 14, 2012 — Fishing regulators, saying they were trying to avoid industry collapse, narrowly approved a catch limit for yellowtail flounder on Wednesday that’s twice the amount endorsed by a group that bargains with Canada on the shared catch. Members of the New England Fishery Management Council said they had no choice but to defy the negotiated catch recommendation, which they said was too low to allow fishermen or scallopers to survive. Their vote came even though the Northeast’s top fishing regulator, John Bullard, warned the higher allocation doesn’t pass legal muster and would be struck down.

‘‘There’s a lot at stake here looking forward to the future, the near future,’’ said David Pierce, of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, who proposed the higher allocation.

A committee of U.S. and Canadian negotiators had recommended a maximum 2013 allocation of 215 metric tons for U.S. fishermen chasing yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank, which extends through both countries’ waters. Instead, the council approved by a 9-8 vote a maximum 495 metric ton allocation for U.S. fishermen. That limit was based on numbers included in a separate recommendation by the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee.

That allocation will be split between scallopers and those fishermen who target bottom-dwelling groundfish such as cod, haddock and flounder.

Yellowtail flounder isn’t a big-money stock, but the species’ struggle has huge implications for fishermen. That’s because the fish swims among various stocks, and fishermen and scallopers inevitably pull them up unintentionally.

So regulators charged with protecting the fish devise yellowtail catch limits that fishermen and scallopers can’t exceed without triggering penalties that can threaten or even destroy their businesses.

The problem now is that the yellowtail population is weak and the catch limits are set very low, making it difficult for fishermen to avoid quickly hitting them. When they do, fishermen must stop fishing, while scallopers eventually get shut out of key fishing grounds.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell noted the 215 metric ton limit represented an 81 percent cut from 2011. He told the council it would obliterate thousands of jobs in his port, capital of the country’s lucrative scallop fleet, which had $350 million in revenues in New England in 2011.

Council member David Goethel said the future of both industries is so bleak, and the science of assessing fish populations so broken, the council had nothing to lose by voting for the higher limit.

‘‘At some point, it’s time to stand up and do the right thing, even you get shot down for it,’’ said Goethel, a New Hampshire fisherman.

But the decision came amid warnings that discarding the recommended catch limit could destroy the longtime trade agreement with Canada.

And it was made even though Bullard, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast office, said the higher catch limit violated legal requirements that fishing regulations end overfishing and be based on the best available science. The council is an advisory body to NOAA, which makes final decisions on regulations.

 

Read the full story by the Associated Press in the Boston Globe

 

 

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) November 15, 2012 — Yesterday, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), meeting in Newport, RI, passed two motions related to Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder issues that had been surrounded by controversy.

The NEFMC accepted the high end of the range presented by their Scientific and Statistical Committee for the 2013 catch limit for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. The upper bound of the range provided by the SSC — 1,150 metric tons —  is the same as the current year, and more than twice the amount approved in conjunction with Canada under a bilateral agreement.  The US-Canada Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) recommended a total 500 metric ton yellowtail quota for the 2013 fishing year. This 500 metric ton quota would be split between the U.S. and Canada, resulting in allocations of 215 and 285 metric tons, respectively. This would be a 57% reduction from 2012, when the quota was 1,150 metric tons, and an 81% reduction from 2011, when the total quota was 2,650 metric tons.

The TMGC set its limit based on their Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) yellowtail assessment, but, there is a widespread lack of confidence TRAC assessment from industry and many scientists. The limit agreed to by the NEFMC would set the US share at 495 metric tons and the Canadian share at 656 metric tons. The motion passed the Council 9-8.

Comments related to this motion can be found below:

Listen to and read New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’s letter to the NEFMC, urging them to reopen U.S. and Canada yellowtail flounder quota negotiations.

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the importance of scientifically or diplomatically obtaining a larger yellowtail quota.   

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss his concerns and reservations regarding the results of the Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) assessment with regards to Georges Bank yellowtail, and the U.S. and Canada Sharing Agreement’s resemblance to a “giving agreement.”

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, David Goethel, discuss the bleak futures of the groundfish and scallop industries and the “statistical sleights of hand” that have resulted in a flawed assessment and an unsound U.S. and Canada Sharing Agreement.

Listen to Bill Karp, the Science and Research Director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), respond to Northeast Fisheries Service Regional Administrator, John Bullard’s, question regarding the scientific credibility of a 1,150 metric ton yellowtail allocation.

In a later motion, the Council deliberated over options to set the allocation of Georges Bank Yellowtail by-catch for the scallop industry. The final determination concluded that the scallop fleet will receive a 40 percent allocation of the catch for 2013 and then a fixed percentage of 16 percent for the years 2014 and 2015.

A low catch limit on yellowtail threatens scallopers, as it is not possible to harvest scallops without some by-catch of yellowtail. Accordingly, they are given a yellowtail catch limit, which they can't exceed without triggering severe restrictions.  The scallop industry landed over a quarter billion dollars in product last year, and for over a decade has made New Bedford, Massachusetts the nation's most profitable fishing port.

The motion passed in the Council 16-0-1.

Comments related to this motion can be found below:

Listen to Ron Smolowitz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, express his concerns for the 2013 fishing season for the scallop industry, and express the need for real time data on catches and  transferability of remaining catches between the the groundfish fishery and the scallop fishery.

Listen to Jim Odlin, of Atlantic Trawler’s Fishing, speak about the importance of allocating resources based on historic catch and suggest splitting off management of yellowtail from management of scallops. He emphasizes the importance of compromise, suggesting giving the scallop fishery a 40 percent allocation for 2013 so that they can have a chance to recover.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, explain frustration over new yellowtail projections being released on the day of the final vote, and call on the Science Center to check the data more thoroughly. Mr. Minkiewicz also suggests creating a motion that would determine allocation by poundage instead of a fixed percentage.

Listen to Maggie Raymond, of the Associated Fisheries of Maine, speak on the need for fixed percentage allocations for all yellowtail, and express concern that there will not be enough of an allocation for the groundfishery otherwise.

Listen to Jackie Odell, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, support the amendment for a fixed percentage allocation on the high end for the scallop fleet. She also reminds the Council that the ignored groundfish fleet is receiving a dwindling allocation of yellowtail and continues to be harmed by reductions.

Listen to Chris Brown, the President of the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association, stress the need for a timely, focused, single-species stock assessment on the yellowtail flounder.

Listen to Bill Karp, the Science and Research Director of the NEFSC, discuss the need for alternative stock assessment models and the lack of short term solutions to resolve any issues with the current yellowtail assessment.

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, Frank Blount, discuss the possibility of not allocating the yellowtail resource.

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, David Goethel, discuss bycatch reduction and the creation of a trading mechanism between the scallop and groundfish fleets.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, express concerns about the TRAC assessment, changing the process without peer review, the catch efficiency estimate, and the sharing agreement with Canada.

Listen to Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc., discuss the scallop and groundfish industries’ battle over the small yellowtail stock.

 

 

November 14, 2012 — Northeast fishing regulators have approved a 2013 catch limit for yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank that's more than twice what was recommended by a committee that negotiates the shared catch with Canada.

Members of the New England Fishery Management Council, who met today in Newport, R.I., said they had no choice, in order to avoid the collapse of the local fishing and scalloping industries.

But it came amid warnings that approval could destroy the longtime trade agreement with Canada. And it came even though the Northeast's top federal regulator said the approval won't pass legal muster.

A low catch limit on yellowtail threatens fishermen who chase other species in Georges Bank. Since many accidentally catch yellowtail, they're given a yellowtail catch limit, which they can't exceed without triggering severe restrictions that threaten their businesses.

 

Read the full story by the Associated Press in the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

November 13, 2012 — Exactly two months after the Northeast groundfishery was acknowledged to have become a statutory disaster for the five New England states and New York, the regional fishery management council digs in today to debate and possibly vote on a suite of changes to the system — none with the potential to provide dramatic relief to an industry in dire straits.

Direct relief has been left to Congress; the congressional delegation has agreed to press for $100 million although no written plan exists for the use of that or any amount that may be included in the resolution of the federal budget and sequestration crisis, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.

If anything, the disaster is spreading from the groundfishery — which faces catch limits reduced by between 45 and 73 percent on Gulf of Maine Cod and multiple Georges Bank stocks, unprecedented since the enactment of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 — to the scallop fishery, the nation’s No. 1 fishery based on sales value, and a fishery centered in New Bedford.

Scallopers and groundfishermen are linked together by yellowtail flounder. Yellowtail is a target for the groundfishing fleet, but is worth much more as bycatch in the $440 million scallop fishery. In recent years, yellowtail has become an increasingly worrisome problem for scientists, fishermen and, political leaders and government regulators, and today could become the pivotal topic as the council.

It is unlikely the council will take final action on catch limits for the 2013 fishing year; a special meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 20 to approve catch limits and tie up the loose ends to an adjustment to Amendment 16, which holds the framework for the controversial catch share management system that has transformed the groundfishery into a commodities market.

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

November 13, 2012 — Today, in the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) meeting, Dr. Bill Karp, the recently appointed Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Director, presented a “Review of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan.” Dr. Karp presented an overview of the plan, which included an outline of the the planning process, the core activities planned, and the major research objectives.

According to Dr. Karp, the goal of the strategic plan is to document and prioritize the science activities of the Center, including evaluating places where synergies are needed, plans that need consolidation, and putting management in a better position to deal with the budget challenges expected in the next several years.

Each of NOAA's science centers is drafting a plan of this type and is seeking input from the public, but it is only a part of the planning process so far, Dr. Karp explains. Equally important is the implementation process, where each of the activities at the Science Center will be evaluated annually on their performance and their conformance to the science plan. The complete science plan will then be evaluated every five years to make sure it is up to date with fishing priorities.  

Dr. Karp then described the main activities under the science plan, including the recent “integrated ecosystem assessment," which takes into account the impacts of changing environmental conditions due to climate change. The Strategic Plan covers themes that include problems with current assessments and science discussed at last Friday’s Fishermen’s Northeast Groundfish Science Forum.

Following up comments he made at the Science Forum, Dr. Karp described how collaborative research would fit into the science plan. “Not only am I concerned and interested in briefing and exchanging with our primary partners…but that the science itself is done through partnerships," he stated. “One of the primary purposes of a strategic plan of this kind is really to fully understand how well we leverage our science with respect to the partnerships that we have, and whether there are new opportunities for partnerships for building and improving the science that is so important to us.” Dr. Karp notes that the partners he references include those in the industry, the academic community, and other federal organizations.

This was followed by a discussion of how the plan will be used to guide the Center’s work for the next five years, as well as comments by members of the Council and the public.

Listen to Dr. Bill Karp’s overview of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan and follow along with the slides. Please note: the webinar feed provided incomplete audio resulting in an abrupt start to Dr. Karp’s presentation.

Dr. Bill Karp’s review of the Center’s Draft Strategic Plan was followed by a Council member question and answer period. This portion of the discussion touched on a variety of issues including:

    •    The effect of environmental factors on fish stocks and the uncertainty that arises in stock assessment data as a result
    •    The need for public feedback on the Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan
    •    The definition of a “healthy marine ecosystem” and “value”
    •    Human beings as an integral part of the ecosystem

Listen to Council members' comments regarding Dr. Bill Karp’s overview of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan.

The Council members' comments were followed by a public comment period, which also brought to light a variety of issues. These issues included:

    •    The inclusion of the resilience of human communities in the Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan
    •    The development of effective and efficient science as a way of improving management
    •    The benefits of setting a multi-year fisheries management plan 

Listen to the public’s comments regarding the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Draft Strategic Plan.

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine – November 5, 2012 – The New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Groundfish Oversight Committee met on Monday to continue development of Framework Adjustment 48 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Over the course of the meeting, two issues stood out as focal points for a great deal of discussion and debate.

The first, dealt with how to approach closed area access, while the second focused on the allocation of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder to the scallop fishery. Several comments relevant to these topics can be found below:

Regarding closed area access:

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, Terry Alexander, address the public’s concerns about opening up the closed areas.

Listen to Groundfish Committee Member, David Goethel, discuss the public’s perception of the closed areas and how these closures should be dealt with on an area-by-area basis.

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, Terry Alexander, discuss how overcomplicating the issue of closed area access will lead to a reduction in economic benefit to the industry.

Listen to Maggie Raymond, of Associated Fisheries of Maine, discuss the need for access to small and highly restricted closed areas as a way of providing the industry with increased economic opportunity.

Listen to Jim Odlin, of Atlantic Trawlers Fishing, discuss experimental fisheries permits and the haddock industry’s need for a fair and equitable approach to closed area access.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the redundancy of the closed areas under a catch share system and the importance of moving the Habitat Amendment forward in an expeditious fashion.

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the Omnibus Habitat Amendment and the effect of experimental fishing permits on the industry.

Listen to Greg Cunningham, of the Conservation Law Foundation, talk about his dissatisfaction with the sector exemption approach to opening up closed areas.

Regarding yellowtail flounder allocations to the scallop fishery:

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, David Pierce, discuss research related to yellowtail biomass in Georges Bank.

Listen to David Frulla, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss some of the constraints surrounding the allocation of Georges Bank yellowtail to the scallop industry.

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the importance of establishing a yellowtail allocation.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the rationale and procedure behind setting an overfishing limit (OFL) for the yellowtail stock.

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, David Goethel, discuss the effect of the inaccurate stock assessment on the allocation of yellowtail flounder.

Listen to Jim Odlin, of Atlantic Trawlers Fishing, discuss the need to keep the yellowtail allocation fair and equitable and how such decisions were made in the past.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the scallop industry’s efforts to reduce bycatch, the flawed yellowtail stock assessment, and the yellowtail allocation alternatives.

Listen to Maggie Raymond, of Associated Fisheries of Maine, discuss the groundfish industry’s need for a fixed percentage yellowtail allocation.

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the uncertainty surrounding the yellowtail stock assessment and the effect of one yellowtail allocation alternative on the groundfish and haddock fisheries in Georges Bank.

Listen to David Frulla, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the effect of a yellowtail allocation on the scallop industry.

Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss finding a reasonable yellowtail allocation alternative that maintains both the scallop and groundfish fisheries.

Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss allocating the groundfish resource fairly and equitably between the groundfish and scallop industries.

Listen to Groundfish Committee member, Frank Blount, discuss his view of the alternative that would allocate 90% of the yellowtail resource in Georges Bank to the scallop fishery.

 

 

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — November 4, 2012 — The New England Fishery Management Council has set a special one-day meeting Dec. 20 to take final action on most groundfish allocations for the 2013 fishing year that begins May 1, and take near final action on Framework 48 which updates and refines Amendment 16 and its catch share maagement system.

The special meeting was spun off the November council meeting set for Newport, R.I., due to the welter of issues.

Excluded from the December agenda will be allocations of Gulf of Maine Cod, which will not be decided until January at the earliest, when a special assessment of the essential inshore groundfish is expected.

The catch limits will be the first set since the Commerce Department declared the Northeast groundfishery to have collapsed into a disaster.

Groundfish catch limits are certain to be significantly lower in general, with Gulf of Maine cod, the most important target for the day boat fleet, depending on a special benchmark assessment which was ordered in the furor that followed the 2011 benchmark assessment. The 2011 assessment showed the stock recovering much more slowly than found in a 2008 assessment that had served as the guideline for larger takings.

The 2012 catch limits were reduced by 22 percent for inshore cod by the unprecedented use — available for one time only — of emergency powers discovered in the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The future of the inshore cod fishery is far from the only pivotal decision facing the council. Updated assessments delivered earlier this year project to dramatic cutbacks in catch limits for many offshore stocks — reductions ranging from 43-75 percent.

The council holds its previously scheduled meeting on all issues other than groundfish Nov. 13-15 in Newport, R.I.

The special Dec. 20 groundfish meeting will be held at the Sheraton Colonial in Wakefield. A detailed agenda will be published at the end of November.

“Coordination among the Council’s various technical teams, the range of issues to be addressed, including at-sea monitoring, groundfish catch limits for 2013 and measures intended to minimize the economic impacts on the fleet caused by reductions in short-term allocations, all have contributed to the need for extra time to complete the analyses that will support decision-making,” said Patricia Fiorelli, spokeswoman for the council, an arm of NOAA.

Framework 48 issues the Council is likely to approve in November are the allocations of Georges Bank and Southern New/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder to the scallop fishery, and possibly that fishery’s allocation of Southern New/Mid-Atlantic windowpane flounder.

The yellowtail flounder allocation is expected to be divisive, owing to the shortage of yellowtail and their concentration in and among scallops.

 

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times 

 

 

November 2, 2012 — The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a special one-day meeting on December 20, 2012 to take final action on Framework Adjustment 48 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Colonial Hotel in Wakefield, MA.

A number of elements in Framework 48 will be completed at the Council’s November meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Newport, RI. The groundfish agenda item is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.

A more detailed agenda of work to be completed in December will be published at the end of this month.