Economic Impact

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — September 23, 2012 — Gloucester fisherman Paul Vitale’s job is on the line. New England legislators are lobbying for $100 million to save next year’s groundfish fishery season in the wake of a disaster declaration, but that isn’t easing Vitale’s uncertainty about his industry’s future.

“There’s three households earning money off of my shoulders,” said Vitale, 40, captain of the 50-foot “Angela + Rose” and a father of three. “We never know day to day what’s happening.”

Despite local fishermen adhering to catch limits, groundfish stocks such as Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder and Gulf of Maine cod remain depleted. This could lead to the annual catch limit being cut by as much as 72 percent in May, officials said.

Gloucester, a one-time fishing mecca, is now gasping for air, as its landings in value last year — $61 million for 77 million pounds — fell by six times compared to New Bedford’s, putting the North Shore coastal community as the 19th-ranked U.S. port based on volume.

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn A. Kirk said only about 75 boats remain in the fleet, and that her city’s needs alone could total upward of $25 million.

“Fishermen are doing their part so they put a business plan together, take out a financial obligation to run their business, and 10 months later literally the rug gets pulled out from under them,” she said. “They are doing everything the government’s told them to do in terms of complying with regulations.”

 

Read the full article at the Boston Herald

 

 

September 24, 2012 — In August, the New England Fisheries Management Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated that "Several important fish stocks are in poor condition and some catch limits for 2013 will be reduced markedly from 2012.” The anticipated severe cuts could be approximately 70% for cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and American plaice. Yellowtail flounder stock cuts are predicted to be approximately 50%.  At the time these announcements were made, Samuel Rauch, head of NOAA Fisheries, and C.M. “Rip” Cunningham Jr., chair of the New England Fishery Management Council, stated "While there is unlikely to be any solution to fully mitigate the challenges in 2013, we plan to continue to work closely with the industry to explore every possible option."

One perennial problem in U.S. northeastern fisheries management has been a patchwork of regulations that prevent U.S. fishermen from harvesting healthy stocks to their full sustainable levels as determined by best available science. This problem exists in several fisheries, including pollock, redfish, and haddock. This issue brief examines options that could allow U.S. fishermen to fish Georges Bank haddock up to the scientifically determined total allowable catch.

United States Georges Bank haddock, especially when compared to Canadian haddock from the same stock, is underfished. By “underfished,” we refer to the fact that US fishermen routinely fish significantly less than the scientifically determined total allowable catch.

Several regulatory barriers are preventing the successful exploitation of haddock, ultimately resulting in fishermen leaving hundred of millions of dollars in the ocean and the continuation of pressure on unhealthy stocks. There are a variety of precipitant factors influencing underfishing in the US:

•    In the United States, fishermen may only keep haddock that are over 18 inches in length. In Canada, which shares the haddock resource with the US, no such minimum fish size is set. The US is the only country in the world to require a minimum fish size. Thus, Canadians are able to catch 15 and 16-inch haddock, and export them after processing to US markets as fillets.  Our fishermen cannot do this because they have to meet the US minimum length size for the whole fish.  There is no minimum size for processed fillets, nor is there any way to determine from examining a processed fillet the length of the fish from which it came.
•    While the US requires a minimum size for haddock landings, fishermen often catch smaller fish in their nets. These fish, most of which are already dead, need to be discarded.
•    In 2003, the year class of haddock was the largest recorded at the time. Because of size limits, these fish could first be caught by the US fishery starting in 2007.  Since 2007, the US catch of haddock has averaged around 18 percent of the assigned haddock quota. During the same time period, and exploiting the same resource, Canadian fishermen caught an average of 94 percent of their quota.
•    If the United States caught the same percentage of its haddock quota as the Canadians, industry observers estimate that it could have translated to an extra $485 million in landings for the period between 2007-2011.

There are several reasons that Canadian fishermen are able to catch so much of their quota, while the US has been much less successful with its own.

•    The fishery is currently managed by a combination of input controls (that attempt to restrict fishing by limiting fishing effort) and output controls (regulations that control the total allowable catch). Doing both at the same time is impractical, as two different tools are being used to manage the fishery simultaneously. If strong output controls are enacted, such as a hard TAC, input controls can be relinquished and a more efficient catch can result.
•    NMFS studies demonstrate that the wrong minimum mesh size on haddock nets is being used in the United States. Currently, the United States has a minimum mesh size of six and one half inches, while the Canadian minimum mesh size is 5-1/4 inches. This allows Canadian fishermen to fish more efficiently. With the current mesh size, about 50 percent of the legal-size fish that are caught by US fishermen escape from the net.
•    The closed areas for haddock in the United States were implemented to protect haddock. The haddock stock no longer needs this protection, and is experiencing record highs for the population.
•    One US closed area goes up to the Hague line, allowing Canadians to fish on its edge, giving Canadian fishermen the ability to gain from a US closed area, but depriving Americans of the that benefit.

Suggestions and Implications

•    The 2010 year class of haddock is the largest ever recorded. These fish are now becoming large enough to harvest.  Canadian fishermen are already taking advantage of this. Because of the size of the year class, the US quota next year will be very large, estimated to be about 50,000 tons.
•     The United States needs to become better at catching and landing these fish in order to lessen pressure on unhealthy stocks. 

The United States can mitigate and minimize the harm of the oncoming cuts to New England groundfish by eliminating the barriers that have been preventing fishermen from fulfilling quotas of the healthiest stocks.

Recommendations:
1. Re-open the closed areas where possible, as the haddock stock is healthy.
2. Change to the appropriate mesh size.
3. Lower the minimum possession size. (Under consideration in Framework 48)
4. Change to a full retention fishery. (Under consideration in Framework 48)

 

Read the issue brief here

 

 

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — September 21, 2012 — In only two years, according to the government’s annual report of domestic and global fisheries, released Wednesday, landings have declined by 63 percent, from 122.3 million pounds landed in 2009 to 77 million landed in 2011.

The precipitous decline was at odds with national trends, whose indicators, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are mostly pointing upward, and shoved Gloucester from 10th place in landings volume to 19th place.

A longer view creates a more dreary picture. Figures in Pringle’s “History of Gloucester” show that in 1891, a fleet of 374 boats landed 118 million pounds of fresh fish — not including landings of haddock and other stocks that supported the port’s 44 businesses outfitting boats over the winter.

Pringle did not clarify the strange statistical anomaly.

On a single day in 1917, roughly in the middle of the port’s apex period, more than 5 million pounds were landed, notes the website GoodMorningGloucester.com, quoting the historical site, downtothesea.com.

Gloucester was top o’ the world back then. Its tercentenary in 1923 was a time of unrivaled prosperity with Gorton’s feeding the world frozen, processed wild caught seafood for the first time. The industry kept its perch through the 1950s but as the post-war reconstruction produced factory trawlers that dramatized the outdated technology of Gloucester boats, the long decline began.

Elsewhere across the region, the figures are better, with landings in 2011 up 8 percent from 2010 to 2011; it took the Commerce Department more than 10 months since Gov. Deval Patrick’s filing of a brace of socio-economic studies last November to decide that the groundfishery on which Gloucester depends has legally failed.

The Sept. 13 formal disaster declaration has made at least feasible an effort, led by Sen. John Kerry, to leverage $100 million in disaster aid in the final days of the 112th Congress.

Landings in New Bedford declined a bit more than in Gloucester, 2009 to 2011, but the southern co-capital of New England fishing is diversified and depends much more on scallops than groundfish, and remains the No. 1 port in landings value, at $369 million last year, six times Gloucester’s $61 million in landings last year.

New England’s third port, Point Judith, R.I., which benefits from access to Georges Bank for scallops and groundfish and the Southern New England waters for squid, flatfish and species that remain in the warmer waters, actually edged forward with slightly higher landings in 2011 over 2009, the report, “Fisheries of the United States 2011,” shows.

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

BOSTON — September 20, 2012 — In this land of the (disappearing) cod, new federal statistics underscore just how great a seafood transformation the U.S. has undergone in the last three decades: A whopping 91 percent of the seafood U.S. consumers eat is now imported.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration statistics, up five percent from a year ago, probably do not have a lot to do with the plummeting number of cod and flounder off New England's coast – populations so low the federal government declared a disaster for fishermen on Sept. 13. But it does highlight the continued lack of federal and state oversight to ensure the seafood consumers are eating is the species they think it is and from the country they think it was processed in.

Last year, my colleague, Jenn Abelson, and I wrote a series about widespread mislabeling going on in the seafood industry, a problem amplified by the long, confusing journey fish take from sea to plate. Many times consumers order one fish and get a less expensive another instead – a case of economic fraud that can also have major implications for human health.

The top three imports are shrimp, canned tuna, and tilapia fillets. Most imports are farmed safood and some were U.S. caught products sent overseas for processing. The report notes that the average America now eats about 15 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2011, slightly less than in 2010. Yet the U.S. is second only to China in seafood consumption – making oversight a critically important area.

 

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine — September 20, 2012 — The U.S. seafood catch reached a 17-year high last year, with all fishing regions of the country showing increases in both the volume and value of their harvests.

Commercial fishermen last year caught 10.1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish valued at a record $5.3 billion, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s a 23 percent increase in catch by weight and a 17 percent increase in value over 2010.

New Bedford, Mass., was the highest-valued port for the 12th straight year, due largely to its scallop fishery. Dutch Harbor, Alaska, was the No. 1 port for seafood volume for the 15th year in a row.

The increases are evidence that fish populations are rebuilding, said Sam Rauch, deputy assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

Still, a number of fisheries are in trouble. The Department of Commerce has declared disasters for cod and other so-called groundfish in New England, oyster and blue crab fisheries in Mississippi, and chinook salmon in Alaska’s Yukon and Kuskokwin rivers.

‘‘Overall nationally, the numbers are very good news,’’ Rauch said. ‘‘But we don’t want to miss the fact that there are parts of the industry that are or soon will be suffering economic pain.’’

Alaska led all states by far in catch volume, with 5.4 billion pounds, followed by Louisiana, California, Virginia and Washington, according to the report. Alaska was also tops in the value of its catch, at $1.9 billion, followed by Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana and Washington.

Fishermen brought 706 million pounds of product to Dutch Harbor, the leading port by volume, while New Bedford, the top port by value, had $369 million worth of seafood cross its docks.

 

Read the full story from the AP at the Boston Globe

 

 

NEW ORLEANS — September 19, 2012 — Fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico hauled in more menhaden and other species last year compared with 2010, when millions of gallons of oil spewed from a blown well, a federal fisheries report said Wednesday.

But it's too early to rule out any long-term effects from the spill, said Roy Crabtree, southeast regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Gulf's menhaden catch last year was nearly 66 percent above that in 2010, but annual catches vary wildly anyway, and we don't know all the reasons, Crabtree said.

"I would say it's guardedly good news in that the catches are up for most of these," said Crabtree. "I certainly wouldn't say that we can rule out any long-term impacts from the oil spill. It's too soon to know that."

The Gulf's menhaden catch rose across the Gulf Coast, to 727,664 tons. In all four states hit by oil in 2010, the catch was well above both those in 2010 and 2008. The earlier figures were available on the agency's website.

With fisheries closed by the spill and fishing boats occupied with cleaning up the oil, adult fish that weren't in the oil's path might have had a better chance of surviving and reproducing, said Jackie Savitz, senior scientist for the nonprofit ocean conservation group Oceana.

Long-term effects can show up years later, she said, like the crash in Alaska's herring population after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Populations looked normal for years, but by 1993 there were only one-quarter as many spawning adults as there had been in the late 1980s.

Some important species caught closer to shore were more varied than menhaden. For instance, blue crab and brown shrimp figures rose from 2010 in all four states, but the white shrimp catch fell in Louisiana and west Florida, while rising in Alabama and Mississippi.

The 23,850 tons of white shrimp landed last year at Louisiana docks were 8.1 percent below the 2010 figure and 16.7 percent under 2008's. Along west Florida, 187.6 tons of white shrimp were unloaded, nearly 19 percent below the 2010 figure, but 21 percent above that for 2008.

Mississippi hauled in 1,373 tons of white shrimp, almost 19 percent more than in 2010 but 4.7 percent less than in 2008. Alabama's 3,100 tons were 49 percent above 2010 and 5.8 percent above 2008.

 

Read the full story by the Associated Press in the Republic 

 

 

BILOXI, Miss. — September 18, 2012 — Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank issued a fishery disaster declaration Sunday for Mississippi, the Northeast and Alaska.

The declaration for Mississippi means help could be on the way for South Mississippi's commercial crab and oyster fishermen affected by 2011's Mississippi River flooding.

The flood forced officials to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway, sending fresh water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Rigolets.

The freshwater then made its way into the Mississippi Sound and dropped salinity levels into the lower single digits from their customary 20 to 24 parts per thousand.

The low salinity levels damaged most of the oyster reefs in the western Mississippi Sound near Bay St. Louis.

The state Department of Marine Resources is rebuilding the reefs.

Blue crab commercial fishing industry was also damaged by the flood waters, which reached the eastern end of the Gulfport Ship Channel.

According to a NOAA website, the declaration opens the door for Congress to appropriate money toward alleviating the financial hardship caused by the disaster. If money is appropriated, NOAA will work with Congress and the states to develop plans to preserve coastal communities.

 

Read the full story at the Biloxi Sun Herald

 

 

NEW ORLEANS — The National Marine Fisheries Service on Wednesday released fisheries statistics that show the 2011 seafood catch in the Gulf of Mexico rebounded to its highest volume since 1999. That’s despite the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that still has area fishermen fearing less seafood in local waters.

Menhaden, often described as a keystone species showing and helping determine the viability of many local species, rose dramatically in Louisiana. It jumped from its 10-year average of about 900 million pounds of catch since 2001 to about 1.3 billion pounds in 2011. Sales of menhaden at Louisiana docks jumped from the $47.9 million average to $100 million.

The herring-like species mainly is used for fish meal, oil, and solubles, often for poultry and swine feed.

In terms of national fisheries’ catch, Alaska led all states in volume with 5.4 billion pounds. Louisiana came in second with 1.5 billion pounds, followed by California’s 515.6 million pounds, Virginia’s 493.4 million pounds, and Washington’s 487.8 million pounds.

But in terms of the money garnered for its landings, Louisiana came in fourth, trailing Alaska, Massachusetts and Maine. Louisiana earned $339.3 million from its overall fisheries landings compared to Alaska’s $1.9 billion, Massachusetts’s $570.7 million and Maine’s $426.5 million.

The oyster numbers for Louisiana show 11.1 million pounds in 2011 compared to the 12.6 million pound annual average since 2001. But, the amount garnered for that catch was up from the 10-year average of $36 million to $41.6 million in 2011.

Overall, U.S. oyster landings yielded 28.5 million pounds valued at $131.7 million – an increase of 424,000 pounds and $14.1 million compared to 2010. The Gulf region led in production with over 18.2 million pounds of oyster meat, nearly 64 percent of the national total.

The average price per pound of oyster meat nationally was $4.62 in 2011, compared with $4.19 in 2010.

Louisiana shrimp catch in 2011 did drop compared to the 10-year average but white shrimp sales were about $5 million above the decade average, according to National Marine Fisheries Service data.

Louisiana white shrimp catch fell from its 10-year average of 64.3 million pounds of head-on weight to 52.6 million pounds in 2011, but the amount garnered at the dock for that catch jumped from the $93.7 million annual average to $98.3 million in 2011.

Louisiana brown shrimp catch also dropped from the 10-year average of 43.5 million pounds to 39.2 million pounds in 2011. And brown shrimp sales also fell, declining from the $43 million average to $34.5 million in 2011. But despite those brown shrimp declines, the 2011 numbers still are much greater than the three previous year totals and, like all fisheries catch, variation is very common year to year.

The total U.S. shrimp catch was about 312.7 million pounds, valued at almost $518 million – an increase of 53.6 million pounds and $104 million compared to 2010, according to the recent National Marine Fisheries Service report.

Gulf region shrimp catch was the nation’s largest with 212 million pounds, or almost 68 percent of the national total. Louisiana led all Gulf states with almost 92.6 million pounds, followed by Texas’s approximately 79.3 million pounds, Alabama’s 19.2 million pounds, the west coast of Florida’s nearly 10.8 million pounds, and Mississippi’s 10.1 million pounds.

 

Read the full story in the Times Picayune

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — September 19, 2012 — New Bedford for the 12th consecutive year is the nation's No. 1 dollar-value fishing port in America, NOAA Fisheries announced this morning.

Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is No. 1 in terms of pounds of fish landed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The sea scallop industry represents the bulk of New Bedford's catch value.

Some 117 million pounds of fish were landed here for a total worth of $369 million.
U.S. commercial fisheries landed 10.1 billion pounds of fish in 2011, NOAA said.

That's an increase of 1.9 billion pounds and $784 million in value over the previous year.

Gulf of Mexico menhaden, Alaska pollock and Pacific hake were at their highest levels since 1994.

The Northeast, however, is headed for a crisis in groundfish catch next year, as sharply reduced stock assessments are leading to sweeping cutbacks in allowable catch. The Northeast congressional delegation is seeking disaster assistance for the groundfish industry.

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — September 19, 2012 — The scallop catch could be cut up to 30 percent in each of the next two years in what fishermen say would be a heavy blow to the industry.

Deirdre Boelke, a scallop plan coordinator with the New England Fishery Management Council, said the reductions are needed because fewer full-grown scallops are available for harvest.

"The projected catch for 2013 and 2014 is in the neighborhood of 40 million pounds," Boelke told The Standard-Times after a meeting of the council's Scallop Oversight Committee in New Bedford on Tuesday. That's down from just under 57 million pounds in 2011, the latest full-year figures available.

The proposed cuts could be offset if scallop fishermen are permitted to fish in other areas of the Northeast, known as habitat areas, that are currently off limits, industry figures say.

"Thirty percent of the biomass is tied up in those closed areas," said scalloper Joe Gilbert, of Stonington, Conn., who attended Tuesday's meeting.

"They should have opened the Northern Edge 10 years ago," Canastra said of a restricted area on Georges Bank.

That proposal has some support and will be reviewed, said Boelke. "We have forwarded the council a request to look into the most expeditious way to get fishing into those areas," she said. There are an estimated 46 million pounds of scallops available for harvest within those areas, Boelke said.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times