Management & Regulation

October 27, 2014 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Monday to reduce Maine’s 2015 allotment of American eel landings by more than 2,000 pounds, according to a state official.

The interstate commission’s eel management board, meeting in Mystic, Connecticut, set a statewide quota for next year of 9,688 pounds, according to Maine Department of Marine Resources spokesman Jeff Nichols.

Last year, the board set a limit of 11,749 pounds of eels in Maine, which is the only state on the East Coast that has a sizable fishery for elvers, which are young eels that swim from the Atlantic Ocean into freshwater rivers and lakes. Elvers represent the second most valuable commercial fishery in Maine after lobster, with elver fishermen statewide earning a total of $32.9 million in revenue for their elver landings in 2013.

Read the full story from the Bangor Daily News

October 24, 2014 — The fishery is near its allowable catch limit, but such a closure permits incidental landings by vessels.

Federal fisheries regulators are shutting down the in-shore Atlantic herring fishery in the Gulf of Maine, effective 1 a.m. Sunday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates the fishery has exceeded 92 percent of the total allowable catch allocated to Management Area 1A, historically the primary source of fresh herring bait for the lobster industry. The area stretches from the tip of Cape Cod to the U.S.-Canadian border.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald

 

October 23, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):

Final meeting materials for the Commission’s American Eel Management Board (Working Group Recommendations on Draft Addendum IV) and Greater Atlantic Fisheries Regional Office Strategic Planning Workshop (Draft Strategic Plan) have been posted at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-Annual-Meeting. Direct links to those materials can also be found below:
 
American Eel Working Group Recommendations –http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Annual2014/AmEel_WG_MemoOct2014_Revised.pdf
 
GARFO Draft Strategic Plan –http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Annual2014/GARFO_DraftStrategicPlan.pdf

 

October 22, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental meeting materials for the Commission's 73rd Annual Meeting have been posted at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-Annual-Meeting for the following Boards (click on "Supplemental Material" following each relevant board header to access information).
 
Atlantic Herring Section – Draft Amendment 3 for Public Comment
 
Winter Flounder Management Board – Technical Committee Report on the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Winter Flounder Stock and Recommendations for 2015 Fishing Year; Advisory Panel Report on the Winter Flounder Fisheries
 
American Eel Management Board – Technical Committee Response to Board Tasks (Please Note: The Working Group Memo on Draft Addendum IV Recommendations for Board Consideration will posted on the Annual Meeting page tomorrow afternoon; an email will announcement its availability)
 
American Lobster Management Board – Cancer Crab FMP Guidance and Draft 2013 FMP Review
 
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board – Summer Flounder, Black Sea Bass, and Scup Recreational Harvest Update through Wave 4 and Advisory Panel Nominations
 
Business Session – 2014 Action Plan Progress and Federal Legislative Tracking Sheet
 
Executive Committee – Memo on State Delegation Participation in management Board/Section Meetings
 
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Advisory Panel Recommendations on Draft Addendum IV; Summary of All Public Comment of Draft Addendum IV; All Written Public Comment; and General Public Comment to the Board
 
Commissioner Workshop on Fisheries Socioeconomics – Take-away Points
 
Spiny Dogfish Management Board – Revised 2014 FMP Review; State Compliance Reports; and Rhode Island Alternative Management Proposal
 
ISFMP Policy Board – ACFHP Update and Quarterly Update on 2014 Atlantic Menhaden Benchmark Stock Assessment Progress
 
For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Annual2014/SupplementalCombined.pdf.  This document includes supplemental materials for the following boards/committees: Atlantic Herring Section; Winter Flounder Board; American Eel Board; American Lobster Board; Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board; Business Session; Executive Committee; Commissioner Workshop on Fisheries Socioeconomics; Spiny Dogfish Board; and ISFMP Policy Board. Due to its file size the supplemental materials for the Atlantic Striped Bass Board have NOT been included in the combined file. It as well as the other individual meeting supplemental materials can be accessed individually by Board/Committee/Workshop within the agenda. Some documents may be large, so please be patient downloading.
 
As a reminder, Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 8:00 a.m. on October 27th, continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:15 p.m.) on October 30th.  The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. To register for the webinar, please go to https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/256839182. Board/section summaries, presentations, and audio files will be posted to this page the week of November 3rd.

PRESS CONTACT, TINA BERGER, 703.842.0740

October 17, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

! just wanted to take a moment to call to your attention that nominations are being sought for appointments to two new task forces of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) to support its advisory work for the Secretary of Commerce on living marine resource matters.

One task force will focus on climate and marine resources issues and the other on aquaculture issues.

The deadline for nominations is November 17, 2014. For more details, please visit the MAFAC website here.

If you have any questions, please contact Heidi Lovett at Heidi.Lovett@noaa.gov.
Thank you,
 
Laurel Bryant
Chief, External Affairs
NOAA Fisheries Communications

 

October 18, 2014 — Slowly, but inexorably, the battle for the Gulf of Maine fishery is being joined, as the specter of emergency measures looms in the wake of this summer’s unscheduled assessment that showed nothing short of Armageddon being visited on the region’s cod stock.

The measures, which fishermen almost uniformly now believe will shutter the area to all groundfishing at least until the dawning of the 2015 season next May 1 and perhaps much longer, are expected to be announced by NOAA Fisheries sometime in November.

Not willing to just sit and wait, some Gloucester fishermen and fishing advocates are mobilizing to put human faces and human voices to the struggle, hoping to create a narrative that goes beyond discussions of quota and biomass and the other oft-indecipherable trappings of fisheries management.

The plan is simple: Every fisherman and the owner of affiliated shoreside business in Gloucester — and perhaps beyond — will be asked to write a letter to NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard detailing the dire impact the expected measures will have on them and their families.

“Right now, John Bullard is thinking about what he is going to do,” Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association told a small group of fishermen this week. “We need to remind him that people like you are going to be greatly affected by this.”

While other advocates such as the Northeast Seafood Coalition having been waging the battle in the scientific arena to dispute the science and process used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to arrive at the dire cod forecast, Sanfilippo’s campaign is more of grassroots quest to capture the soul of public opinion.

“We need to make people understand that this is going to kill the industry,” she said. “This will be the last nail in the coffin and every day it’s moving closer and closer.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

October 16, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's 73rd Annual Meeting can be obtained at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-Annual-Meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of meetings. Interested parties should anticipate meetings starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

For ease of access, meeting materials for all the Boards/Sections and the Socioeconomic Workshop have combined into one PDF (http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Annual2014/CombinedFiles.pdf). This PDF does not include ACCSP Coordinating Council, ACCSP Executive Committee, ACFHP Steering Committee, Management & Science Committee, Law Enforcement Committee and Habitat Committee materials. These documents as well as all other meeting materials can be accessed individually by Board/Committee within the agenda. Some documents may be large, so please be patient downloading. Supplemental materials will be posted to the website next Wednesday, October 22nd.

Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 8:00 a.m. on October 27th, continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:15 p.m.) on October 30th.  The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. To register for the webinar, please go to https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/256839182.

October 9, 2014 — Bycatch occurs when fishing operations discard fish or interact with marine mammals, seabirds, or sea turtles and can have significant biological, economic, and social impacts on fisheries. Reducing bycatch is a priority for NOAA Fisheries and is a key component in the efforts to end overfishing in the United States under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. To work toward reductions in bycatch nationwide, the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) helps identify and foster the development of innovative technological solutions to bycatch issues in our nation’s fisheries. The BREP provides funds critical to key non-federal partners for developing technological solutions and investigating changes in fishing practices designed to minimize bycatch of fish and protected species and minimize bycatch injury and mortality.

The 2013 BREP Report to Congress highlights outcomes and management applications of projects funded with $2.44 million in FY2012 in four priority areas:

– Reducing protected species bycatch
– Reducing post-release mortality
– Improving fishing practices
– Developing innovative technologies

The project summaries below provide more detail on the projects funded with the 2012 grants that are being implemented across the country.

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Peggy Parker — Oct 16, 2014 — Fisheries managers from two states are meeting today to determine if and how the Pacific whiting fishery can continue in the face of unexpectedly high bycatch of dark blotched rockfish and chinook salmon.

An announcement is expected today to restrict the fleet from fishing within a 100-fathom line to protect chinook salmon, likely the same genetic stock as the huge Columbia River run this year.
 
The “lightning strike” of dark blotched rockfish was as unexpected as it was huge. The mothership sector of the Pacific whiting fleet caught four and a half metric tons of rockfish in two hours last Saturday, triggering an immediate and voluntary closure.
 
The fleet still has over 21,000 mt of Pacific whiting quota uncaught. Translated to value for the harvesters and processors, industry sources put the value at over $10 million.
 
Brent Paine, of United Catcher Boats has been working with NMFS to keep the Pacific whiting fishery open. NMFS has the authority to transfer uncaught bycatch of dark blotched rockfish to the whiting sector from other sectors. This year’s incidental catch of dark blotched rockfish in the west coast shrimp trawl fishery has been extremely low.
 
“We’ve asked for 3 metric tons of dark blotched rockfish," Paine explains. "If NMFS can make that transfer, we think we can harvest the 21,000 metric tons of whiting left in the water."
 
The soft cap on chinook salmon has also been reached by all three Pacific whiting sectors: motherships, catcher processors, and the shoreside fleet.
 
Under chinook salmon’s status on the Endangered Species Act, once 11,000 fish have been incidentally caught in the whiting fishery, a “biological consultation” is triggered. That number is not an absolute or hard cap, but requires additional management tools to avoid further catches. The biological consultation has happened once before in the last two decades, and moving the fleet offshore was a solution that worked.
 
Yesterday, biologists and managers from Pacific States Marine Fisheries arrived in Seattle to meet with NOAA Sustainable Fisheries Division to determine next steps. An announcement is expected this afternoon.

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

October 15, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Missed yesterday's tweet chat on the first federally permitted mussel aquaculture project in Federal waters?  Not a problem. Read a summary of the discussion here .

At the end of this story,  you can also find links to other tweet chats that you may have missed on sea turtles and skates.