Saving Seafood

Management & Regulation

Proposed Rule to Designate a Habitat Area of Particular Concern Offshore of Southern New England

September 26, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is requesting comments on the proposed designation of a Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) in and around offshore wind lease areas in southern New England, including Cox Ledge. The New England Fishery Management Council recommended the HAPC designation due to concerns about the potential adverse impact on essential fish habitat (EFH) from the development of offshore wind energy projects.

The proposed designation would focus on important cod spawning grounds and areas of complex habitat that are known to serve important habitat functions to federally managed species within and adjacent to offshore wind development areas. Complex benthic habitat provides shelter for certain species during their early life history, refuge from predators, and feeding opportunities.

The proposed HAPC, if adopted, would provide additional conservation focus when NOAA Fisheries reviews and comments on federal and/or state actions that could impact Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and HAPCs, as part of the EFH consultation process. EFH consultations provide non-binding conservation recommendations to the implementing (action) agency to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of federal actions on EFH. 

For more information, read the proposed rule as filed in the Federal Register. The comment period is open through October 26, 2023. You may submit comments via our online portal.

NOAA Fisheries Confirms 90 Percent Coverage Target for 2023 At-Sea Monitoring for Northeast Groundfish Sectors

September 26, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries confirm that groundfish vessels in the Northeast will be required to have human at-sea monitors on 90 percent of all vessel trips subject to the groundfish sector monitoring program in fishing year 2023 (May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024). We preliminarily announced this increase in coverage in March. This does not apply to vessels that are using electronic monitoring to satisfy the monitoring requirements of their sector.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will continue to reimburse 100 percent of sector at-sea monitoring costs, including electronic monitoring. The ASMFC will continue to administer the reimbursement program for fishing year 2023.

New England council elects chair, seats new member Jackie Odell

September 26, 2023 — The New England Fishery Management Council has elected Eric Reid as chair and Rick Bellavance as vice chair, returning the two Rhode Islanders as officers for the third year in a row during the Sept. 25-28 meeting week in Plymouth, Mass.

New member Jackie Odell of Massachusetts was appointed to her first three-year term on the council as an at-large member. Three current council members were reappointed to new three-year terms:  John Pappalardo of Massachusetts, Daniel Salerno of New Hampshire and Alan Tracy of Maine.

Re-elected to the chair, Eric Reid is a fisheries consultant based in North Kingstown, R.I., with a 54-year career in commercial and recreational fisheries. He also serves as the New England council’s liaison to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, as U.S. commissioner to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and representing Rhode Island at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Two Sides to Wind Farm Debate: Ocean Perils vs. Much-Needed Renewable Energy

September 23, 2023 — The Pulitzer Center supported this story through its Connected Coastlines project.

A Rhode Island citizen activist made a powerful pitch about the dangers of offshore wind projects to a mostly supportive audience in Westport, Mass., on Tuesday, and a small group of pro-offshore wind observers pushed back afterward, accusing the speaker of bias and distortion.

The speaker at the Sept. 19 event, Lisa Knight, is one of the founders and leaders of Green Oceans, a Little Compton-based citizens group that is using media, small-group meetings, and promises of forthcoming legal actions to block wind projects in development off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

She said, “People believe what they want to believe,” a comment that was heartily seconded by a wind-farm supporter.

Knight’s comments were delivered to a live audience and were also livestreamed on YouTube, one of a series of gatherings Green Oceans had hosted since the start of this year. She touched on many topics, including the fossil fuel industry origins of some wind developers; potential harms of wind farms to the ocean environment and animals; dangers to fishermen; costs of electricity created by wind power; and the permitting decisions of federal and state agencies that, she said, are giving wind developers a free pass.

About 60 people attended the talk, and a few dozen more watched online.

During the Q&A period, a man in the audience said, “Listening to this, I don’t know who the bad guys are.” Knight replied, “They are the same people,” pursuing her earlier theme that wind farm developers are former oil industry people.

At present, the South Fork and Vineyard Wind projects are permitted and under construction from bases in Long Island, N.Y., and New Bedford, Mass. Revolution Wind, to be constructed from ports in Rhode Island, has received most of its permits and hopes to begin construction next year. SouthCoast, Sunrise, Revolution 2, and other wind projects are grinding through the permitting process. Regardless of where the wind-generated electricity makes landfall, the turbines will be built in a giant patch of the ocean, or wind lease area, southeast of the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Stephen Porder, a professor at Brown University, the associate provost for sustainability, and part of a group of pro-wind industry activists, watched the session online and commented afterward. He said Knight’s talk was riddled with examples of cherry-picking data “to make it appear that something is happening when it is not.” Porder also said Knight often would “mistake correlation with causation,” meaning that she assigned causes to events that simply happened at the same time.

“I’m getting older and the planet is getting warmer, but global warming is not causing me to get old,” Porder said, by way of illustrating many of Knight’s arguments.

Read the full article at ecoRI News

New England ports prepare for offshore wind

September 23, 2023 — As the offshore wind industry grows in New England, more infrastructure is needed to support these massive turbines. In 2012, the Port of New Bedford began to prepare for the future of offshore wind by upgrading its existing port.

Ports like Providence, Rhode Island; Salem, Massachusetts; and New London, Connecticut, are just some of the regional ports vying for offshore wind developers. As technology improves and turbines get larger, space becomes a challenge. The city of New Bedford is preparing for the future by building a new terminal within the Port of New Bedford. This new terminal stands on what was recently water.

“It’s a complicated project interrelated with a number of other activities within the port that’s using dredged material to fill that area and create the space. When complete early next year, it’ll be another 10.5 acres of space that could be used possibly for more commercial fishing or to support offshore wind,” Gordon Carr, Executive Director of the New Bedford Port Authority, said.

Read the full article at WCVB

Sport angling community concerned by potential data errors in NOAA fishing survey

September 23, 2023 — The sportfishing community is calling on NOAA for an overhaul of the methods researchers use to estimate fish stock after an internal study from the association found that a coastal survey could be overestimating the amount of recreational fishing going taking place.

NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — published a study in August called “Evaluating Measurement Error in the MRIP Fishing Effort Survey,” which found a 30-40 percent discrepancy between the data from the administration’s current Fishing Effort Survey (FES) and a differently formatted test survey that was issued as part of the study.

Researchers concluded that the discrepancy is likely an overestimate of coastal fishing activity.

The study was one of a handful that researched possible biases in the continual Fishing Effort Survey, which is run by the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), a state, regional and federal partnership that is part of NOAA. MRIP is tasked with compiling recreational catch data, which is then used to direct management strategies for fish populations.

Read the full article at OC Today

 

NOAA Fisheries Releases Updated National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy

September 21, 2023 —  The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has released an updated National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy and multi-year national and regional implementation plans. They identify actionable commitments to advance our policy goals.

Saltwater recreational and non-commercial fishing is an integral part of American coastal life. It is both a cultural cornerstone and an important economic driver in the United States. With millions of saltwater anglers—from Maine to Guam, Alaska, and the Caribbean—the American saltwater recreational fishing community is as diverse and widespread as the species it pursues. Recreational fishing supports 594,000 jobs, generates $98 billion annually in sales impacts, and contributes $54.9 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product. Sustainable saltwater fisheries can only be achieved with trust and collaboration between scientists, managers and the recreational fishing community.

“The recreational fishing community is a valued constituency and critical stewardship partner for NOAA Fisheries and the nation,” said Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “We are excited to release the updated National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy and implementation plans that reflect and reinforce our commitment to anglers and sustainable recreational fisheries. We look forward to achieving a vibrant, sustainable future for recreational fishing through partnership.”

Updates to the Recreational Fisheries Policy

The updated policy will help guide NOAA Fisheries’ approach to recreational fisheries by articulating our goals and principles. The original policy was released in 2015 and required an update to remain relevant in our changing oceans.

Key additions to the goals and principles include:

  • Climate change
  • Equity and environmental justice
  • Greater focus on expanding offshore industries (such as aquaculture and wind energy)

Incorporating Public Input

Following the 2022 National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Summit, we received substantial public input for how to update the policy from the recreational community and our management partners. We developed the implementation plans that accompany the policy to address the particular needs of the recreational fisheries we serve. These initial implementation plans contain almost 150 agency commitments and are intended to be periodically updated as needs and priorities change. We will monitor their implementation to ensure follow through and accountability.

Policy and Implementation Plans

Policy

Implementation Plans

Fisheries council opposes Biden administration’s plans for new marine monument

September 20, 2023 — The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, at its latest meeting, again signaled its opposition to the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to establish a new marine monument in the Pacific Remote Islands.

The administration’s proposal would form a new sanctuary around the Pacific Remote Islands using the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, creating a 770,000 square mile area that would be fully conserved. The conservation plan, the council said at its latest meeting, is likely already satisfied by the existing fishing regulations that govern the area.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Lt. Governor wraps up the two-day NOAA PRIA Workshop

September 19, 2023 — At the close of the event Lt Governor Talauega E. V. Ale emphasized the importance of the potential effects of the sanctuary designation for American Samoa, noting that it goes beyond economics and extends to the preservation of the Samoan people as a fishing community.

At the close of the event Lt Governor Talauega E. V. Ale emphasized the importance of the potential effects of the sanctuary designation for American Samoa, noting that it goes beyond economics and extends to the preservation of the Samoan people as a fishing community.

“The importance of the tuna industry in American Samoa and our local cannery cannot be overstated,” Lt. Gov Talauega said. “It is the pillar of our economy, it is the employer of thousands, and it is what feeds our families. Any action that threatens the survival of the fishing industry threatens the survival of our fragile economy,” he is quoted saying in a press release issued by the Governor’s Office.

He also expressed appreciation for the conservation efforts being made in the Pacific and highlighted the value of the natural marine resources of the territory. “I have confidence in finding a solution that would ensure the preservation of oceans without crippling the fishing industry, the economy, and the unique culture of American Samoa.”

Read the full article at Samoa News

Can Fishing and Offshore Wind Coexist in the Gulf of Maine? It Depends, Experts Say

September 19, 2023 — Fisherman David Goethel is looking at the prospect of large scale wind production in the Gulf of Maine and what changes that may mean to fish behavior, marine environment and life as it has been known on the ocean for centuries.

He told an online seminar for the New Hampshire Network for Environmental, Energy and Climate Monday night that “Europe built first and studied later,” the impacts to turbines in their waters.

He said people should also think of food security versus energy security when they look at impacts.

“It’s just as vital and yet, I don’t think it’s getting enough discussion,” he told about 60 people listening to the presentation entitled “Planning for Offshore Wind AND Sustainable Fisheries in New England.”

The central question discussed was can both fishing and renewable wind harvesting coexist and what would the impacts be?

Panelists said it depends on what is built, where and who provides input in the planning.

Read the full article at InDepthNH.org