Management & Regulation

August 16, 2014 — In what was likely the first time a bitter feud over fisheries quotas has been transformed into swaggering entertainment, a sneak preview Thursday of Wicked Tuna: North Vs. South was met with raucous whooping and cheers at a standing-room only gala at Pirate’s Cove.

The spinoff of the National Geographic Channel’s Wicked Tuna series was shot last winter off Hatteras and Oregon Inlet featuring Outer Banks fishermen battling “invading” Yankee watermen — who had a rough season up north — for the notoriously limited bluefin tuna quota.

The valuable bluefin is strictly regulated, but North Carolina watermen have complained for years that the allotted quota favors the northern fishermen who pursue them earlier in the year.

“They made it a geographical quota,” Greg Mayer, one of the show’s Southern captains, said before the presentation. “Basically, in North Carolina, we are screwed. It’s wrong.”

A large bluefin, prized for sushi, can be worth $10,000 or more.

Hundreds of local residents and public officials mingled over drinks and food at the marina before the big screen lit up with familiar scenes of fishing boats and sunrise over sparkling water. Many folks in the crowd were also in town for the Pirates Cove Big Game Tournament.

Read the full story at the Outer Banks Voice

ARLINGTON, Va. — August 14, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has scheduled its hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Spiny Dogfish. The details of those hearings follow.

September 2 at 6 PM
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Admiral’s Hall, 101 Academy Drive
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
Contact: Jared Silva at 617.626.1534
* MA DMF will also be seeking public comment on Striped Bass Draft Addendum IV at this hearing

September 3 at 6 PM
MA DMF Annisquam River Station
30 Emerson Avenue
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Contact: Jared Silva at 617.626.1534
* MA DMF will also be seeking public comment on Striped Bass Draft Addendum IV at this hearing
 

The Draft Addendum proposes requiring fins remain naturally attached to spiny dogfish through landing in order to ensure consistency with the Shark Conservation Act of 2010. The Act was signed into law to close loopholes in the U.S. shark finning regulations. Specifically, the Act prohibits the removal of any fins of the shark (including the tail) while at sea (with an exemption for smooth dogfish). Fins must remain naturally attached to the corresponding carcass through landing of the fish (including while aboard a fishing vessel or transferred at sea from one vessel to another).
 
Currently, the Interstate FMP allows removal of the fins of spiny dogfish at-sea as long as the corresponding carcass is retained. The wet weight of fins on-board may not exceed 5% of the dressed weight of carcasses on-board (a 5-to-95 fin-to-carcass ratio). Maine, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida already require fins to remain naturally attached to the fish through landing. The Board will review and consider final approval of the Draft Addendum at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in October 2014.
 
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/SpDogfishDraftAddendumV_PublicComment_Aug2014.pdf . Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on September 30, 2014 and should be forwarded to Marin Hawk, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or comments@asmfc.org   (Subject line: Spiny Dogfish Draft Addendum V).
 

August 13, 2014 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s spiny dogfish board last week approved changes to the fishery management plan for public comment. The draft addendum proposes requiring that fins remain naturally attached to spiny dogfish through commercial landings in order to ensure consistency with the Shark Conservation Act of 2010. Currently, the interstate fishery management plan allows removal of the fins of spiny dogfish at sea, as long as the carcass is retained.

The board also approved increasing the commercial possession limit from 4,000 to 5,000 pounds for the northern region (Maine to Connecticut) for the 2014-15 fishing season. This action will be effective Sept. 8, 2014 and is consistent with recently adopted measures for federal waters.

The marine fisheries commission also approved more conservative regulations for public comment to the interstate fishery management plan for Atlantic striped bass. The draft addendum proposes new fishing mortality reference points, as recommended by the 2013 benchmark stock assessment, and associated management measures to reduce fishing mortality to a level at or below the proposed target within three years. 

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the spiny dogfish and striped bass draft addenda, either by attending state public hearings (to be announced) or by providing written comment. Both draft addenda will be available on the commission website (www.asmfc.org) by Aug. 18. Public comment will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Sept. 30.

Read the full story from The Providence Journal

August 11, 2014 — The following was released by The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission (ASMFC):

Presentations and audio files from last week’s board/section meetings are available on the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-summer-meeting (click on the relevant link next to the board/section name). Audio files can also be accessed via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/ASMFCvideos.

August 11, 2014 — Federal fishing regulators are being pushed by a bipartisan lobby to reconsider closing Massachusetts Bay to lobstering from January to May, a move that would affect an area extending from Cape Ann’s southern coastline to Cape Cod’s northern shores.

The restrictions, which also apply to Cape Cod Bay, would close the bays to protect right and humpback whales.

The issue is just the latest point of friction between Massachusetts political leaders and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose regulations and scientific data on groundfish, including cod, have long been in dispute and blamed by many for triggering the need for an economic disaster declaration and some $33 million in federal disaster aid for the Northeast.

The lawmakers — including Senate President Therese Murray, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, and state Reps. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, and Brad Hill, the Ipswich Republican whose district includes Manchester — argue that the lobstering rule is based on bad science and will hurt the Bay State lobster industry.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker on Friday joined the bipartisan effort.

“The fishing industry of Massachusetts has been under attack from federal bureaucrats for too long and these new regulations are unacceptable,” Baker said in a prepared statement. “These new provisions will not only hurt lobstermen and their families, but also hit all of the related businesses that support the boats that leave our harbors.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — August 11, 2014 — Speaking on a WGAN news program in Maine, Jim Odlin, who owns several trawlers fishing haddock and has served a number of terms on the New England management council, suggested that he has seen times in the past when the NOAA science center has sent out a letter about a significant change in a stock different than a scheduled survey.

He also says that the industry needs more frequent surveys, and that in the past they have been whipsawed by radical changes from one survey to the next.
 
But he also cautioned "there is no assesment that is public, just a letter from the Science Center to the New England Council suggesting there is a problem, and indicating the stock is at it lowest level."
 
It is premature to jump to radical conclusions, such as there will be no cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine next year, says Odlin.
 
For example, the recreational fisheries caught 340 tons of Gulf of Maine cod, and that could be equal to the entire quota this coming year.  If a recreational fishery that fishes part of the year in fixed places can catch this much, Odlin suggests there is more cod around than the survey might show.
 
New England has had problems with NOAA survey vessels giving poor results before, says Odlin, and contrasted the surveys done in the North Pacific, which are 80% done with industry vessels chartered for the survey, so the fishing techniques are more closely matched.
 
IN any event, Odlin says, the survey will have to be reviewed, and this will not really begin until September.

This story originially appeared in SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

August 8, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Good Afternoon – A summary of the press releases, meeting  summaries, and motions from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2014 Summary Meeting is now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/SummerMeeting2014/2014SummerMeetingSummary.pdf.

Past meeting summary documents can also be found on the website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive. 

Presentations and audio files of this week’s Board and Section meetings will be available early next week at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-summer-meeting .

Press Contact: Tina Berger, 703.842.0740

August 8, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing an information collection program for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fishery. The intent would be to collect more detailed information about individuals and businesses that hold fishery quota allocation in the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog individual transferable quota programs. This action is necessary to ensure that the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has the information needed should it develop a future management action to establish an excessive share cap in this fishery.

The deadline for providing public comments on these proposed measures is September 8, 2014.
Click here to review the proposal rule and draft forms.

 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — August 7, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)

The Atlantic States  Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Eel Management Board met to consider final approval of Draft Addendum IV to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for American Eel. Draft Addendum IV proposes a suite of options to address the commercial glass, yellow, and silver eel fisheries along the Atlantic coast. Management options under consideration include glass and yellow eel quotas, a catch cap for the yellow eel fishery, and a seasonal closure and license cap for the silver eel fishery in the Delaware River in New York. The Draft Addendum also includes glass eel harvest allowances for aquaculture purposes and as credit for habitat restoration programs.

The Board reviewed public comment from state public hearings conducted along the coast and written comment submitted to the Commission. After lengthy deliberations of the extensive proposed management options and in recognition of the states’ varying interests and needs, the Board decided to postpone final action on the Draft Addendum IV. In the interim, Board will convene a subcommittee of its members to identify preferred management measures to be considered by the Board for final action at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in Mystic, Connecticut the week of October 27, 2014.

The Draft Addendum is the second phase of management action in response to the 2012 American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment indicating the American eel population in U.S. waters is depleted. Causes of decline are likely due to a combination of historical overfishing, habitat loss, food web alterations, predation, turbine mortality, environmental changes, toxins and contaminants, and disease. The stock has declined in recent decades and is currently under consideration by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. For more information, please contact Kate Taylor, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

August 6, 2014 — Many anglers and conservation groups are putting pressure on fish managers to tighten limits on recreational and commercial fishing of striped bass. Recreational fishermen who target striped bass (particularly from shore) have witnessed a sharp decline in the species. Avid shore anglers who once caught and released as many as 500 fish a year are now catching fewer than 100. The pressure for more conservation has had its impact on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages striped bass in the region.

The 2013 striped bass stock assessment released earlier this year indicates the resource in not overfished or experiencing overfishing. However, the female spawning stock biomass (SSB) has continued to decline since 2004 and is estimated at 128 million pounds, below the target of 159 million pounds.

Additionally, total fishing mortality is estimated at 0.20, a value that is between the proposed new fishing mortality threshold (0.219) and fishing mortality target (0.18).

The marine fisheries commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board approved the benchmark stock assessment for management use earlier this year. This week, the commission is considering measures to reach these new SSB and fishing mortality targets. These will likely translate into new, more restrictive, regulations.

The question is, what options commission approve for public comment? I read several of the letters the commission received from U.S. senators, fishing clubs and conservation groups prior to its meeting this week. These included 20 letters from one group, 40 from another and a petition with 1,429 signatures advocating for a reduction from two fish at 28-inch minimum size to one fish at 32-inch minimum size in 2015. Most of the petitions and letters advocated for more restrictive striped bass regulations as soon as possible.

Read the full story from the Providence Journal