Management & Regulation

December 3, 2012 — As is often the case when serious resource management decisions are about to be made, conservationist see the sky as falling, and recreational anglers are quick to blame commercial angling for all their bad days of fishing. Commercial interest will no doubt want to kick the can down the road and do nothing, fearing any dramatic change in harvest could cause dire economic consequences for their employees and bottom line. They could be right.  And perhaps there are more menhaden than we think. The only real answer would come from in-depth studies taking a great deal of time, and boat loads of money—two things the ASMFC doesn’t have.

Although Omega Protein’s detractors are angry that the scientists got an audience, and frustrated that those representing an opposing view were not invited to weigh in, they have not offered a refutation to the evidence the scientists presented. Nor have conservationists  heard the end of Omega Protein. Recently the company hired Dr. James Sulikowski of the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, to conduct an aerial survey at a cost of roughly $200,000. The survey spotted 17 million menhaden in approximately 50 hours of flight time. The majority of the schools were identified in the Long Island region of New York.

Company officials readily agree that this isn’t a great deal of fish. They argue, however, that the survey was conducted over a very short period of time and covers an expansive area. Ben Landry, director of public affairs for Omega Protein, says that the company is as desirous as any other stakeholder of a healthy menhaden population: The company’s very survival depends upon it. He believes that more data could help the ASMFC make a more informed decision, which is why Omega Protein sponsored the survey. “The peer reviewers pointed out a lack of available data on the adult population in the northern range,” Landry says, “and when no other entity came up with the funding, the industry stepped up to conduct the survey.”

Researchers sampled the schools of menhaden at sea and then sent them to the National Fish and Wildlife Service for aging. According to the study of the fish sampled, all were age 3 or older. Interestingly, 75 percent of the fish sampled were age 4 (61 percent) or age 5 (14 percent), an age class of fish that the current model assumes does not exist. Company officials contend that this strongly indicates that the biomass may be far greater than the model used by the ASMFC. Omega Protein is hoping that fisheries managers will take this new data into account when they consider new harvest restrictions. (Today Omega Protein is responsible for 80 percent of the menhaden harvested commercially; the rest are landed by small independent commercial anglers.)

Omega Protein believes that the data collected by the ASMFC are flawed and under-report just how many menhaden are available for harvest. Critics in the conservation community have dismissed these concerns.  Indeed, ASMFC’s Technical Committee on Menhaden recently admitted that their data was flawed and that they discovered “retrospective patterns” in their latest assessment. These patterns suggest that the ASMFC’s latest assessment may have overestimated the rate of menhaden harvest while simultaneously underestimating the menhaden population. At a recent ASMFC hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, Ronald Lukens, Senior Fisheries Biologist for Omega Protein, testified that while not scientifically conclusive, the Omega Protein-funded study by Dr. Sulikowski indicates that the population of menhaden might be as much as two-and-a-half times larger than the ASMFC believes.

Harvest reductions that could be established by the ASMFC soon could make it harder for Omega Protein to remain a profitable business, and thus the company is eager to find alternatives to harvest reductions. The company has been roundly criticized by conservationists for pushing “industry-funded science.” None of those critics, however, has produced any evidence that would contradict Dr. Sulikowski’s initial findings. While Dr. Sulikowski’s study would need to be replicated for several years and over a larger region to be viewed as statistically valid, his findings do seem to bolster Omega Protein’s claims that the menhaden population is far larger than is generally thought.

 
Read the full story by Beau Beasley on MidCurrent

PROVIDENCE, RI — November 29, 2012 — On WPRO’s The Matt Allen Show, host Ken Pittman was joined by Omega Protein’s Director of Fishing Operations, Monty Deihl, and Jeff Kaelin, of Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey to discuss the responsible management of the menhaden resource.

As the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission considers cuts to Atlantic menhaden harvests, there remains a great deal of concern surrounding the reliability of the science surrounding the status of the stock.

Listen to the interview on WPRO here

November 19, 2012 — Roughly 150,000 herring will be swimming up Town Brook in Massachusetts to get to Billington Sea this spring.

The herring runs of Town Brook, which empties into Plymouth Harbor just 300 feet from Plymouth Rock, were an important resource for the first Americans. Both Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Tribe used them for food, and the Wampanoag also taught the Pilgrims to fertilize their crops using herring. Those crops were part of the festivities at what has become known as the first Thanksgiving.

Six dams built along Town Brook to power mills during the Industrial Era blocked the spawning migration of herring and contributed to their significant decline.  We don’t know for certain how many herring once swam Town Brook, but we do know that herring populations throughout the Eastern seaboard have fallen dramatically.  In fact, alewives and blueback herring (together known as “river herring”) have been proposed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA has been working with the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration and several non-profits to remove barriers and restore the herring that once thrived in Town Brook. The Billington Street Dam was the first to come down in 2002, and since then other dams have been modified or removed.

Read the full story from NOAA

November 20, 2012 — The Northeast Seafood Coalition issued the following statement to clarify their position on Amendment 18.

The groundfish fishery is currently faced with an overwhelming number of challenges, including massive reductions in annual catch limits (ACLs) for numerous core stocks in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank and the obligation to reduce interactions with protected species.  The management responses to these challenges threaten to destroy many fishing businesses and force far greater changes in the demographics, diversity and consolidation of our fishery than anything the sector management system ever can or will.  Consequently, the financial viability and future of this fishery is in serious jeopardy as never before.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC) believes any and all groundfish management measures must be highly sensitive to the potential for unintended consequences to all segments of this fragile fishery. NSC’s efforts have consistently focused on the need to prevent excessive shares of groundfish resources and the need to preserve fleet diversity.  Consistent with its longstanding support for family-owned businesses and a diverse fishery, NSC sponsored and designed the Northeast Fishery Sectors to be inclusive of the full diversity of fleet and community demographics that were representative of the entire groundfish fishery.  Small, medium, and large vessels each occupy key niches of the industry, and they together keep the entire industry operational.  We believe one niche without the others dooms the whole industry.

NSC has and continues to work hard to forge solutions that have help to preserve all segments of the groundfish fleet through immense stresses the industry has faced over the past decade.  Highlights of recent NSC action items include, but are not limited to:

·       Leading the effort with NOAA Fisheries to implement an Emergency Action interim rule for Gulf of Maine cod for the current fishing year, which prevented a much larger cut in the stock and thus preserved the inshore Gulf of Maine fleet;

·       Proposing a successfully implemented modification to a closure for inshore gill-net vessels, which enabled gill-net fishermen to harvest during October and November while preserving marine mammals;

·       Engaging independent, highly-respected scientists to participate in the scientific process for stock assessments such as of Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod, the winter flounder benchmark assessment, and NSC was involved in other independent scientific reviews of Atlantic sturgeon and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder;

·       Spearheading the effort to provide access to haddock for the groundfish fishery by working closely with offshore lobster fishermen who set traps in Closed Area 2 to establish an offshore lobster and groundfish mobile gear sector industry agreement, which disperses fishing effort and helps ensure offshore vessel viability;

·       Persistently and successfully pursued an in-season adjustment for Gulf of Maine winter flounder, a former “choke” species for much of the groundfish fleet, based on updated scientific evidence;

·       Actively engaging in issues related to the Georges Bank yellowtail fishery including scientific, management, and sub-ACL discussions;

·       Continuously advocating for federally funding for sector operations including monitoring funding—an essential need for the survival of the small boat fleet.

·       NSC has been the leader in the groundfish fishery’s effort to establish an inshore Gulf of Maine declaration, which has been supported by all sectors in the Northeast region.

NSC is concerned that the consideration of accumulation limits and other concepts being discussed in the context of Amendment 18 may be driven by the desire by some to ‘backfill” Amendment 16 sector management to qualify as a LAPP under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).  NSC notes that the agency has made a definitive legal determination that the sectors are not LAPPs as defined in the MSA and that sector allocations are not permanent.  With these points in mind, NSC has adopted the following position:

“It is NSC’s position that a LAPP should not be developed unless and until fishermen themselves develop and propose a LAPP through the petition process set forth in section 303A(c)(6)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), (rather than being developed from the “top-down” though a Council-initiated process), and that all elements of the Amendment 16 sector system including the allocation formula are on the table for reconsideration in that process. If Amendment 18 develops into an effort to retrofit the current Amendment 16 allocations and the sector system to qualify as a LAPP, then NSC must oppose it.”

Read the Northeast Seafood Coalition's public comments on Amendment 18

November 19, 2012 — NOAA’s regional fishery management council has decided to write a program of controls next year to protect the diversity of the groundfishing fleet between big and smaller boats and protect against monopolization of the catch share commodity trading system that has governed it since 2010.

The elevation of Amendment 18 — the ‘“fleet diversity and accumulation caps” action — to a top priority was confirmed at the end of last week’s three-day council meeting in Newport, R.I.

In support was a broad cross section of interests including a number of fishermen, NOAA’s regional administrator, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Pew Environment Group, Food & Water Watch and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance — which is based in Gloucester and helped found the Cape Ann Fresh Catch program. But one entity not supporting any potential changes is the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, the largest industry group, which represents 12 of the 17 catch share sectors or fishing cooperatives, covering more than 300 members.

”We don’t feel that the purpose and intent of Amendment 18 has been clearly defined,” Jackie Odell, executive director of the coalition, said in a telephone interview Monday.

She also questioned the motives of the advocates.

”Where were all these people (during the creation of Amendment 16 which set up the catch share commodity trading and sector system in 2009?” Odell said. “No one has described to us what the problem is,”

The system took effect in May 2010 and — combined with constrictions on landings from NOAA science center assessments and regulatory decisions to hold down allocations through the governing Magnuson-Stevens Act — has brought the groundfishery to an economic “disaster” or “failure,” according to a finding by the acting commerce secretary in September. The disaster declaration was based on two socio-economic studies and a petition by Gov. Deval Patrick in November 2011.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Read the Northeast Seafood Coalition's response here

November 15, 2012 — Herring landings in 2011 in the North and Mid-Atlantic waters amounted to about 88 percent of the allowable catch — with catches exceeding the limit only in the inshore Gulf of Maine subsection and then only slightly, NOAA Fisheries has announced.

But the agency published draft catch limits in the Federal Register for 2013, which proposes to penalize the Gulf of Maine fleet — which includes two major herring fishing businesses based in Gloucester — for excessive landings in 2011, as required by the 2006 re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

The re-authorization requires hard catch limits and accountability measures — penalties — for exceeding catch limits.

The inshore Gulf fleet will be allowed to land 25,121 metric tons in 2013, following a deduction equal to the 1,425 metric tons landed in excess of the 2011 quota.

The excess landed in 2011 was 5 percent above allocation which is the same as the deduction from the 2013 allocation.

Fishery wide, landings were 80,245 metric tons, below the 91,200 metric tons in the total allowable catch.

The herring fishery, which involves three management areas ranging from Maine to North Carolina, was allocated 91,200 metric tons for 2013, representing a fishery with vessel revenues of $22.4 million. The accountability deduction from the inshore Gulf of Maine subsection is estimated to be $400,000

The three subdivisions of the fishery are Area 1 which is split between inshore and offshore, Area 2, which covers the fishery between Massachusetts and North Carolina, and Area 3 which is limited to Georges Bank.

The herring stock complex is considered a single stock but there are inshore and offshore components, wjhich segregate during spawning and mix during feeding and migration, NOAA Fisheries reported in its Federal Register filing for comments.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

November 16, 2012 — NOAA Fisheries is proposing to set catch limits for 2013 for the summer flounder, scup and black sea bass fisheries, and for 2014 for the summer flounder and scup fisheries.

These fisheries are managed cooperatively by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is required to publish specifications for the upcoming fishing year for each species and to provide an opportunity for public comment. Comments are due within the next 15 days.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

CHATHAM, Mass. — November 15, 2012 — Sometimes the best intentions can have the worst results. So say Cape scallopers, who are worried that a new plan intended to protect important fish habitat and help restore the region's faltering fish stocks will drive them out of business.

"We were in such a thriving fishery. Getting more money (for our scallops) than we ever got. Nice size scallops, and it's almost like this habitat amendment is like a nightmare. It's like they are pulling the rug out from underneath you," said Chatham scalloper Tye Vecchione.

The New England Fishery Management Council, which draws up plans to manage the region's fish stocks, has been working on a fish habitat protection amendment for the past eight years. For six of those years, scientists sampled the ocean bottom and combed databases, matching that information with fish surveys to show where fish, lobsters, shellfish and other marine life congregate.

Much of the best fishing terrain lies in and around the Great South Channel that separates Georges Bank from the mainland, and north in the Gulf of Maine, according to the council's habitat study, and is listed as a likely site for closure or restrictions. Requiring these new habitat protection zones could be considered as an ecological trade-off for allowing fishermen access to areas currently closed to most fishing, according to the council.

The council could close some of the area to all fishing, or just to fishing with certain gear types, such as scallop dredges, which have a very damaging effect on the bottom. Or they could just lessen the effects of dredging by shortening tow lines, for instance, decreasing the area of a net that will contact the sea floor.

The habitat amendment was on the back burner, nearly forgotten, for years. It recently resurfaced as the council began debate on reopening thousands of square miles of fishing grounds that have been closed for nearly 20 years. The habitat analysis showed that there was little valuable protective bottom for fish in the so-called closed areas. There are two large areas on Georges Bank, and a third large area off Nantucket, as well as a group of smaller areas in the Gulf of Maine.

However, decisions on which new sections of the ocean to close for habitat protection and which to leave open evolved over a long time period, with many meetings, and were made without the input of the local fleet, said New England council member Tom Dempsey, policy director at the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association. The Cape fleet consists of mostly smaller vessels and fishes in waters relatively close to shore.

"Day-boat fishermen couldn't afford to go to those meetings. They became disengaged from the process," Dempsey said.

About 20 Cape vessels, employing 100 fishermen, routinely work in the Great South Channel between five and 20 miles to the southeast of Chatham. Four years ago, fishery regulators allocated 5 percent of the annual scallop quota to general category scallop vessels, dividing it among hundreds of small boats based on how much they had historically landed.

Those who didn't get a big enough portion of the quota could buy additional rights from other fishermen to catch scallops. Many in the Cape fleet did buy rights from fellow fishermen, borrowing $150,000 to $500,000 each to do so.

"I have money out on buying quota, and I would lose a lot," said scalloper Bob Keese. Unlike the big scallop vessels working out of large fishing ports such as New Bedford, which catch tens of thousands of pounds of scallops a day, the general category fleet is limited to 600 pounds each day.

Read the full story on the Cape Cod Times