Management & Regulation

May 21, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):

Last week’s board/section presentations and audio files can be found on the 2014 Spring Meeting page (http://www.asmfc.org/home/2014-spring-meeting) under the respective boards and sections. For reimbursable participants following is a link to the travel reimbursement form – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/ASMFCElectronicTravelVoucher_Excel097_03-012314.xls. Please submit completed forms and scanned receipts toaccounting@asmfc.org.

May 15, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is seeking applicants for one alternate seat on its advisory council. The council ensures public participation in sanctuary management and provides advice to the sanctuary superintendent.

“Each of the members brings a unique perspective to the council based on their long experience in the New England area,” said Craig MacDonald, sanctuary superintendent. “Since its establishment, the council has played a vital role in advising the sanctuary and NOAA on critical issues. We are very pleased that council members offer their considerable talents to help us manage the resources of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.”

The sanctuary is accepting applications for the following seat: mobile gear commercial fishing (alternate).

Candidates are selected based on their expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying, community and professional affiliations, and views regarding the protection and management of marine resources. Applicants who are chosen as members should expect to serve a three-year term.

The advisory council consists of 36 non-governmental primary and alternate members representing a variety of public interest groups. It also includes six governmental seats representing Massachusetts Environmental Police; Coastal Zone Management; Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries; New England Fisheries Management Council; NOAA Fisheries; and U.S. Coast Guard.

Applications are due by June 30. To receive an application kit or for further information please contact Elizabeth Stokes via e-mail at Elizabeth.Stokes@noaa.gov; by phone at 781-545-8026 x201; or by mail at 175 Edward Foster Road, Scituate, MA 02066. Application kits can also be downloaded from the sanctuary’s website at http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/.

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary encompasses 842 square miles of ocean, stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Renowned for its biological diversity and remarkable productivity, the sanctuary is famous as a whale watching destination and supports a rich assortment of marine life, including marine mammals, seabirds, fishes and marine invertebrates. The sanctuary’s position astride the historic shipping routes and fishing grounds for Massachusetts’ oldest ports also makes it a repository for shipwrecks representing several hundred years of maritime transport.

Read the release here

May 19, 2014 — A US fisheries commission has set the total allowable catch for Atlantic menhaden at 169,092 metric tons for 2014.

That is barely 1,000t below last year’s TAC of 170,800t.

Last year’s catches came in at 2.8% below the TAC, at 166,077t, excluding by-catch.

The TAC (detailed below by state) was announced by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic menhaden management board.

The figures show that the first year of the two-year Atlantic menhaden Amendment 2 implementation is showing positive results, said the commission.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News 

 

May 16, 2014 — In late 2012, Virginia and other Atlantic states adopted the first coast-wide catch limit for menhaden in a historic effort to save the "most important fish in the sea" from years of overfishing.

Now a year into the cap, a national environmental group is touting its success, while the only menhaden fishery left on the Atlantic is complaining that, although Virginia is meeting its harvest obligations, other states are unfairly ignoring theirs.

Jeff Young at The Pew Charitable Trusts says new ASMFC figures show a 25 percent drop in overall catch, which he calls "good environmental news" that leaves "about 300 million more menhaden swimming in the Atlantic."

"And more good news: The sky did not fall," Young said in a release. "Last year the company that's most dependent on the menhaden catch made record profits. Apparently, environmental progress does not have to mean economic pain."

His reference was to Omega Protein Inc., which operates the only menhaden rendering plant left on the East Coast. In March, Omega announced a record gross profit of $82.8 million at the end of 2013, compared to $42.1 million for the same period the year before.

On its website, the company credits that increase primarily to higher sales prices for its fish meal and fish oil, which it produces by grinding and boiling down the oily, bony menhaden at its Reedville plant.

Menhaden are largely inedible for humans, but are vital as a food source for blue crabs, predator fish and waterfowl, as a bait fish and as a filter-feeder to help clean up waterways such as the Chesapeake Bay.

But Omega spokesman Ben Landry complains that even as Virginia abided by its total allowable catch limit last year, other states "far exceeded" theirs. In an opinion piece that appeared Wednesday on the industry site Seafoodnews.com, Landry singled out New York, Maryland, Delaware, the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, Florida and Rhode Island.

Read the full story at the Newport News Daily Press

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

NOAA is seeking nominations to fill ten vacancies on the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee for 2014. The Committee advises the Departments of Commerce and the Interior on the development and implementation of a national system of marine protected areas to connect and strengthen the nation's MPA programs.  In particular, nominations for representatives of ocean industries, commercial and recreational fishing, Tribal and/or Pacific Islanders, State coastal or ocean agencies, natural and social science, cultural resource management, non-consumptive uses and conservation interests are sought by May 30, 2014. 
 
Nominations should provide: (1) The nominee's full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information; (2) the nominee's area(s) of expertise;(3) a short description of his/her qualifications relative to the kinds of advice being solicited, and (4) a resume or CV not to exceed four pages in length. Nominations may choose to include letters of support (no more than three) describing the nominee's qualifications and interest in serving on the Committee. Self-nominations are accepted, and emailed nominations are preferred.
 
Nominations should be sent to Nicole.capps@noaa.gov.
 
For more information, see http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/fac/membership/

 

May 12, 2014 — Worried by recent declines in the numbers of Maryland's state fish, Atlantic states fisheries regulators are weighing slashing the annual striped bass catch by up to one-third next year all along the East Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay.

The proposal, to be aired Tuesday before the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, comes six months after a study found the striped bass population verging on being overfished and the number of spawning female fish likely to slip to unsustainable levels soon if no action is taken.

"We're thrilled," said Tony Friedrich, executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland, which has long pressed regulators to curtail the catch. "I don't know anyone who doesn't think the stock is in trouble."

A catch reduction of that size would hit Maryland's watermen hard, though, especially since their mainstay of crabbing appears likely to be poor again this year, based on a recent survey.

"It's called being regulated out of business," said Robert T. Brown Sr., president of the Maryland Watermen's Association. He contended that "there's no shortage of fish."

Striped bass, also known as rockfish, are the bay's premier fish, with Maryland's commercial landings worth $7 million in 2012, the most recent year for such figures. The bay is a prime nursery for the fish, which migrate as far north as New England.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun 

 

 

May 9, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces proposed 2014 recreational measures for the summer flounder, scup and black sea bass fisheries. The proposed measures include:

– A regional management approach for summer flounder for 2014, that is intended to minimize differences in recreational measures for anglers fishing in the same waters;
– A 9-inch minimum size, 30-fish possession limit, and an open season from January 1-December 31 for scup; and
– A 12.5-inch minimum size, 15-fish possession limit, and open seasons of May 19-September 18 and October 18-December 31 for black sea bass.

For more information, you can view the proposed rule by clicking here. 

Public comments will be accepted through May 27th.

 

May 9, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing a number of new measures for the scallop fishery for the 2014 fishing year under Framework 25 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The proposed measures include:

– revised catch limits that would allow pounds that went unharvested in the Closed Area I Access Area in 2012 and 2013 to be landed in a future year;
– development of Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic windowpane flounder accountability measures; and
– a measure that would provide full-time scallop vessels the option to exchange their allocated Delmarva Access Area trip for 5 Days-At-Sea.

Public comments on these measure will be accepted through May 27th.  For a copy of the Federal Register notice describing this action, click here.

May 10, 2014 — The nation’s chief fisheries law was enacted in 1976 in a climate of alarm: the oceans were losing fish faster than they could reproduce, and most of the diminishing harvests were being scooped up by an armada of Soviet and Japanese factory trawlers.

In response, Congress passed the legislation now commonly called the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It asserted exclusive American fishing rights out to 200 miles from shore. It also entrusted the federal government to protect Alaska pollock, Atlantic haddock and hundreds of other stocks from overfishing and to guard the water’s bounty for perpetuity.

Today, the fight to ensure sustainable fisheries has turned entirely domestic.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act expired last September. Republicans in the House Natural Resources Committee and Democrats in the Senate Commerce Committee have released separate bills to update the 2006 reauthorization.

The dueling drafts have split fishing factions by coastlines. Bering Sea crabbers and West Coast commercial groundfish harvesters, for instance, want the law’s conservation measures left largely intact.

But some of their counterparts in New England and the Gulf of Mexico are demanding key changes. The collapse or overexploitation of such iconic stocks as cod and red snapper have battered their livelihoods and curtailed sport fishing, and the fishermen want more elastic mandates on overfishing and on rebuilding depleted fish populations.

Meanwhile, recreational anglers, a sizable economic force, are pressing harder than ever to amend the law to secure longer, predictable fishing seasons and permission to hook bigger trophy fish.

The schism has hardened despite — or because of — the fact that U.S. fisheries on the whole are rebounding from catastrophic overfishing that pushed some species to possible extinction.

In 2006, “overfishing was so endemic everyone realized we needed to take measurable steps,” said George Geiger, former chairman the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional councils responsible for overseeing the law.

“There is much more acrimony associated with this reauthorization.”

Read the full story from The Seattle Times

May 9, 2014 — From Washington to California, the 2014 salmon season is officially open. Chinook and coho are the salmon species most targeted in the ocean fisheries, and this season's forecast looks to be as promising as last – welcome news for salmon fishermen. Scientists project that 3.2 million Chinook and 2.5 million coho salmon will return to the waters off Washington, Oregon, and California this year. The numbers add up to a 2014 season akin to 2013, with minor modifications in some areas.

North of Cape Falcon, forecasts indicate stronger Chinook and coho returns than 2013. Hatchery stocks in the Columbia River, for example, look to be especially promising. This translates into higher quotas. Total allowable catch for Chinook will be 26% higher than last year and hatchery coho quotas are 147% higher. This strong return year is likely attributed to good ocean conditions for these cohorts, as well as favorable passage when they migrated through the Columbia River as juveniles in 2010-2013.

Smaller returns are forecast south of Cape Falcon, resulting in limited fishing opportunity for certain stocks and regions. The Klamath River fall Chinook stock forecast is down 59% from 2013 – ocean abundance this year is expected to be 299,300, compared to 727,700 in 2013. This forecast is well within the range of expectations, as salmon exhibit considerable variation from year to year and fall Chinook returns to the Klamath River were unusually high in 2012 and 2013. The Sacramento River fall Chinook stock forecast also is down this year. In 2013, forecasts indicated ocean abundance of Sacramento River fall Chinook to be 834,200, and this year we anticipate 634,700 fish, a decline of 24%.

Commercial and recreational fishing regulations vary by fishery and area. They establish specific fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, as well as minimum lengths for salmon harvested. These management measures are established through an annual process by which the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), to which NOAA Fisheries is party, sets forth fishing regimes that balance resource conservation with harvest opportunity. Management measures each year are designed to protect vulnerable salmon stocks, which results in harvest constraints for some fisheries.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire