Management & Regulation

September 28, 2012 — Thousands of square miles of ocean off the New England coast, off-limits to fishing for 16 to 18 years, could reopen in May to help offset the effects of anticipated drastic reductions in fishing quotas.

The New England Fishery Management Council, meeting in Plymouth, Mass., was almost unanimous in voting Thursday to include a proposal that would allow access to portions of five large closed areas as part of new regulations covering bottom-feeding fish stocks such as cod, haddock and flounder.

The council will take a final vote on the proposed update, known as Framework 48 to the groundfish management plan, Nov. 13-15 in Newport, R.I., the Cape Cod Times reports.

State and federal fishery regulators and politicians have been looking for ways to help a New England fishing industry that could see 28 percent to 94 percent of its catch, depending on the species, cut from the previous year to prevent overfishing on key stocks such as Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Commerce Department issued a disaster declaration for the Northeast groundfish fishery that could net $100 million in federal aid.

Many fishermen and regulators have pointed out that the large closings that occurred in 1994 and 1996 were done largely to reduce overfishing by providing vast areas where fish could hide, grow and spawn, the Times reported. Fishermen and council members argued that closed areas severely hampered fishing on some stocks, such as haddock, which had been rebuilt.

"We are not catching close to what we could be catching on that healthy stock," Jackie Odell of the Northeast Seafood Coalition told the council Thursday. Odell said this past year fishermen landed just 18 percent of the Georges Bank haddock quota.

 

Read the full story here

 

 

September 27, 2012 — Overruling his bureaucracy, NOAA regional administrator John Bullard on Wednesday announced a decision to shift to February and March a shutdown of the inshore gillnet fishery that was aimed at reducing harbor porpoise losses in bycatch.

The shutdown was to start Oct. 1 and last through November.

Immediate losses to three dozen vessels working out of ports from New Hampshire to along the Massachusetts Bay were projected to be $2.6 million, half that from the revenues of Gloucester-based boats, according to an economic analysis presented at the end of July by the Northeast Seafood Coalition, the region’s largest industry organization.

The move in closure dates to next year should ease the economic impact on a fleet at the center of a systemic fisheries failure, declared days ago by the Commerce Department, by allowing gillnetters access to pollock. Pollock typically come through the inshore waters of Massachusetts Bay, including Stellwagen Bank and the Gulf of Maine, in the autumn, said Richard Burgess, president of the fishing cooperative Sector III, a group of 36 Gloucester-based gillnetters.

“This is going to allow us to catch a larger proportion of our pollock quota,” said Burgess. “(Bullard) listened to the fishermen who know there are more harbor porpoises around in February and March than October and November.”

Bullard reversed his own detailed, written position of Sept. 6, which was based on the research and recommendation of the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team. Theteam includes government scientists, fishermen, academics and environmental organizations.

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

BOSTON — September 26, 2012 — The Northeast’s top federal fisheries manager announced Wednesday that he'll delay a planned shutdown of a key fishing area after fishermen warned the closure, intended to protect harbor porpoises, would devastate a segment of their industry.

John Bullard said the two-month closure in the Gulf of Maine to fishermen who use stationary nets, called gillnets, will start Feb. 1, instead of Oct. 1.

Bullard said the most recent data, beginning in 2008, indicates porpoise are more frequently entangled in fishermen’s nets during the winter. The plan to close the area in the fall had been based on historical data, he said.

‘‘Adjusting the closure to begin in February should result in fewer harbor porpoise entanglements in commercial gillnet gear, if fishing behavior is consistent with recent years,’’ Bullard said.

His decision comes after his initial refusal, announced earlier this month, to change the closure on request of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, an industry group. But Bullard agreed to reconsider after meeting with coalition leadership in Gloucester last week. The coalition estimated a $10 million loss for the industry, including the Maine, New Hampshire and Gloucester-based gillnetters most affected.

The shift comes despite a request by the Humane Society of the United States to keep the fall closure in place.

In a Sept. 10 letter to Sam Rauch, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Sharon B. Young of the Humane Society wrote that changing the closure would reward fishermen who broke rules intended to protect porpoise, and also defy federal science on the best way to protect the mammals.

‘‘Disregarding the advice of your own experts in this instance would be the essence of arbitrary and capricious decision-making,’’ she wrote.

The harbor porpoise isn’t endangered, with a population estimated between 60,000 and 90,000. But federal law allows only about 700 porpoises to be caught and killed annually, and regulators are charged with reducing that number to about 70.

 

Read the full story from Jay Lindsey of the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

 

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) Sept. 26, 2012 — In a letter delivered today to the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell urged the Council to “forestall or mitigate” upcoming cuts in the Annual Catch Limits (ACL) for the Northeast Multispecies Groundfish Fishery, and to consider implementing measures mitigating the effects of reduced ACLs. Based on estimates released this August by NOAA and the Council, ACLs in the fishery are estimated to face reductions between 45 and 73 percent.

In his letter, Mayor Mitchell asked, “that you [the NEFMC] keep the economic and social ramifications at the forefront of your discussions, and that you consider whether proposed measures that curb fishing are justified by science.” In particular, the letter states that there is, “growing lack of confidence” in the results of regional stock assessments, especially Gulf of Maine cod and yellowtail flounder. Mitchell specifically referenced a number of discrepancies surrounding these stock assessments, including that improper gear type and vessels had been used to conduct assessments, and that there were uncertainties in chosen stock assessment models and unexplained inconsistencies in stock assessment results. He notes that these issues have undermined confidence in the assessments among members of the scientific and fishing communities. In light of these uncertainties and the far-reaching consequences of possible ACL cuts, the Mayor encouraged the Council to act with caution when considering management decisions.

The mayor said he was pleased that at its August 24, 2012 meeting, the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) “discussed the concerns with the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder model and decided to recommend a range of catch options up of to 1,150 metric tons (the FY 2012 catch limit).” He stated that by “including this upper range of 1,150 metric tons for FY 2013, the SSC recognized the prudence of proceeding cautiously in the face of uncertainty in the underlying model and the impact of its decisions on fishing communities.”

The letter also informed the Council of the potentially dire economic consequences of the projected steep ACL cuts. Groundfish are responsible for $20 million in revenue for the Port of New Bedford, and one species of groundfish, yellowtail flounder, is important as bycatch to the scallop fishery, which brings in $400 million in revenue annually. Noting the recent fisheries disaster declaration by the Department of Commerce for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery, Mayor Mitchell writes, “even if Congress appropriates $100 million in aid for the New England groundfish fishery, the forecasted cuts would undoubtedly deal a devastating economic blow to New Bedford and permanently eliminate hundreds, if not thousands of jobs.” He reminded the Council of the social dislocation projected ACL cuts would cause, writing, “if the fisheries in New Bedford are shut down, they will not come back.”

 

Read the letter from Mayor Mitchell to the NEFMC here

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) Sept 25, 2012 – Recently-appointed NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard met with representatives of various Atlantic coast fisheries and elected officials last Friday in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began the meeting stating that his staff had put “hundreds of hours” into studying a request by the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC) to modify a “consequence closure” for one year before denying it, but ended the meeting agreeing to go back to the NMFS offices to review the decision based on new information provided to him during the meeting.

Last April, NOAA announced that because the number of harbor porpoise takes had exceeded a designated threshold, areas in the Gulf of Maine would be closed to gillnet fishing for the months of October and November to prevent the accidental deaths of harbor porpoises. NSC asked that the dates be amended to February 15 – March 31, 2013, and proposed a southern boundary change by using the authority granted to the Assistant Administrator in the Take Reduction Plan.

Mr. Bullard has stated that he will announce whether he has decided to change NOAA’s position Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 1:15 pm at a New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In their letter denying NSC’s request, NOAA stated, “we found a negligible conservation gain for harbor porpoises and little economic benefit for the fishermen that would be affected by the closure.” Industry leaders and representatives of elected officials who attended the meeting argued that since NOAA clearly stated that the industry proposal would not hurt harbor porpoises, and would have some benefit to fishermen, the request should have been granted.

“NOAA agreed that our proposal is at least conservation neutral,” stated NSC’s Executive Director, Jackie Odell. “Where we differ, is we think our proposal will have a significant economic benefit and they think it will have ‘little economic benefit.’ Our member fishermen have told us an October / November closure will be devastating. Shouldn’t fishermen be able to decide their economic future for themselves?”

During the meeting, Emilie Litsinger of the Environmental Defense Fund read a statement supporting the NSC, “…this proposal appears to be a win-win solution for fishermen and harbor porpoise. … Changing the consequence closure to February and March will have a conservation neutral effect on harbor porpoise interactions, while lessening the economic impact on the fishermen.” EDF also suggested, “increased observer coverage to help document porpoise interactions for these four months [to inform] future management actions.” 

In a statement released after the meeting, the NSC said, “During a tumultuous time such as this–when the Northeast groundfish fishing industry has been declared a fishery failure–all parties need to engage in a dialogue to find mutually beneficial solutions that will keep all aspects of the fishery alive.”

During the meeting, a NOAA staff member identified by Mr. Bullard as an expert on the harbor porpoise issue stated that, in order to accept the proposal, NOAA would have to revisit the time-consuming rule making process, and to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) they would “have to go in and do an environmental assessment.” However, NSC representatives pointed out that the Take Reduction Plan gives the agency authority to modify the closure with a simple notice in the Federal Register, which takes only a few days.

The same NOAA staff member also commented, “If we felt there was a conservation neutrality to [the proposal] or a gain to it, the regulation does provide [authority to change the plan]. "I think that is the discrepancy.” An NSC representative felt the NOAA staff person’s statement was in conflict with NOAA’s written response to NSC. “You are rewriting the facts, your letter states unequivocally, ‘we found a negligible conservation gain,’” the representative said.

In defending the autumn closure, the official explained, “The October/November timeframe was chosen because those are the heavily fished months… In February and March you have less effort.” An industry attorney pointed out that fishing effort is usually less in February and March because the fleet is active in the fall.  With a closure in October and November, fishing effort would likely move to the late winter and spring.

NMFS regulations require gillnet fishermen to deploy “pingers”, devices that regularly emit an audible "ping" to deter harbor porpoise from gear interactions. According to NMFS observer data, the fleet was 82.5 percent compliant with having the correct number of pingers, based on 883 observed hauls. The fleet was 92.4 percent compliant for pinger functionality based on 428 pingers tested. However, determining the functionality of pingers in the field can be difficult for both fishermen and NMFS enforcement.  To further advance pinger compliance, the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund has worked with the Australian manufacturer Future Oceans to ensure they have the manufacturing capability to deliver new technology pingers with LED indicators.  The LEDs will enable fishermen to instantly know if the pinger is functioning properly.

During the meeting, the fishermen offered to deploy twice the number of traditional pingers currently required starting October 1, and beginning in November (as soon as they can be delivered) to replace the old pingers with the required number of new generation "LED pingers" which provide a visual confirmation of pinger functionality. The Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund has offered to make new-technology LED pingers available to fishermen through favorable equipment leasing terms to enable fishermen to remain in compliance without the financial stresses of an up-front capital investment.

In a prepared statement the NSC expressed appreciation to Mr. Bullard for his “willingness to reconsider his decision based on all the new information presented to him in the meeting” The coalition also expressed appreciation to U.S. Senators Kerry, Brown, Shaheen, Ayote, Snowe, and Collins; to Congressmen Frank, Tierney, Keating, Guinta, and Michaud; to Congresswoman Pingree, Massachusetts State Senator Tarr, and the Gloucester Fisheries Commission.

Read the original request from the NSC to the NEFMC

Read the letter of support from 12 members of the US House and Senate

 

 

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) Sept. 25, 2012 — Responding to a request by the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) to reject the most recent yellowtail flounder stock assessment and adopt alternative measures for setting yellowtail quotas, NOAA officials offered a workshop sometime next year to examine the chronic problems present in a number of fisheries assessments, but offered no immediate remedies to the scientific and management issues raised by FSF.  The 2013 quota is expected to be as much as 50 percent less than the quota for 2012. The letter, sent signed by Deputy Science and Research Director Russell Brown for Acting Science and Research Director William Karp, was sent last month.

FSF did not immediately release the response. “We had several conversations with Director Karp, and hoped to negotiate an outcome resulting in action sooner than next year.” said FSF attorney Drew Minkiewicz. “Ultimately, that proved impossible.”

In their original letter, issued in July, the FSF sought to have the National Marine Fisheries Service declare that the most recent yellowtail stock assessment, “is not viable for use as a basis for catch advice,” and that alternatives to the assessment, based on data from surveys and catch indices, be devised to set yellowtail quotas. While recognizing the flawed nature of the assessment, the Science Center did not state whether or not the assessment would be rejected, only that, “the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) will take these uncertainties into account when recommending catch limits for 2013.” The FSF had noted in its letter that the Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) concluded that the assessment should not be the basis for setting catch limits, instead relying on an adjusted model to make its recommendations.

What the letter from the Northeast Science Center did propose was holding a national workshop sometime in 2013 to address the strong retrospective patterns that have emerged in several stock assessments nationwide. The retrospective pattern, which occurs when data from a new assessment contradicts the estimates of the previous assessment, is one of the FSF’s primary concerns with the yellowtail assessment, and one of the reasons it contends that the assessment in unusable for management purposes. Because the workshop would not convene until 2013, it would not be able to affect the quota for the 2013 fishing year, the original focus of the FSF’s request.

The Science Center acknowledged that yellowtail flounder are in the midst of a period of poor recruitment, which, along with fishing pressure, has led to a decline in their numbers. He promised further research into the causes of the decline, including “possible linkages with climate change and other environmental factors,” and expressed interest in cooperative research with the FSF.

 

Read the letter from the Science Center

Read the original letter from FSF to NOAA

 

 

September 25, 2012 — On September 13, The New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) approved projections made by the Council’s Scallop Plan Development Team to set the annual catch limit (ACL) for scallops in fishing year 2013 at 21,000 metric tons.

While this value is less than the previous year’s 27,000 metric ton ACL, the basis for this reduction is founded in a series of scientific survey data including that conducted via cooperative research with industry “research set aside” funds. This array of information sources distinguishes the scallop fishery from many other Atlantic fisheries.

Three independent surveys were conducted in order to assess scallop biomass: a drop camera survey conducted by the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts; another from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which combined dredge survey data with a HabCam survey also conducted by the Science Center; and dredge survey data from a Virginia Institute of Marine Science study. These surveys examined parts or all of the same stock, but relied on different methodologies. Nonetheless, they produced nearly comparable findings.

Scallop abundance has remained at historically high levels the past three years, but many within the species are currently juvenile, necessitating the lower catch limit until the many new “recruits” in the mid-Atlantic are able to grow.

Although industry members understand how the 21,000 metric ton limit was derived, there is widespread concern that current regulations may prevent the scallop fishery from landing the full 21,000 metric tons allocated to it by the NEFMC.

Unless things change, the scallop industry will only be able to catch 17,000 metric tons of the 21,000 metric tons allotted to them by the SSC because 30% of the scallop’s exploitable biomass is locked up in “Essential Fish Habitat” (EFH) closures, whose merit is a matter of dispute.

The Council originally established closures nearly 15 years ago as a means to reduce fishing mortality on groundfish. In the intervening years, habitat-related closures were overlaid on these groundfish mortality closures. But research conducted by the Council, in relation to the EFH Omnibus Amendment 2, which was established to review and revise EFH provisions, found that some of these closures are not optimally located for purposes of habitat protection. 

Unless access to these areas is granted, the scallop industry will be unable to harvest 4,000 metric tons, or $75 million dollars worth of scallops, that could otherwise be harvested in a sustainable and responsible manner.

As a point of comparison, to make clear the magnitude of the value of these potential landings to the Atlantic coast economy, the value of landings for the entire Northeast multispecies groundfish industry in 2010 was approximately $90 million.

An amendment to reassess these habitat areas is in its eighth year of consideration. It is essential that the Council take final action on this long-delayed amendment at its February meeting, as well as adjusting the ground-related element of these closures.

 

Read the Saving Seafood issue brief here

 

 

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — September 23, 2012 — The new regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service says his goal is to rebuild trust with fishermen, but fishermen are able to rattle off a litany of complaints against the federal agency and its scientists that indicate the relationship may be beyond repair.

Even after Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank on Sept. 13 announced a fishery disaster declaration for the Northeast, some local fishermen were skeptical that it would result in any real assistance for them, claiming any relief funds would likely be routed to university scientists instead.

A group of 23 senators and congressmen have written to U.S. House and Senate leadership requesting $100 million in disaster relief funding. The letter notes that new fishing limits proposed for 2013 would force a significant number of fishermen out of the business, even though they have followed all federal regulations.

John Bullard has only been on the job as administrator of the Northeast region for six weeks, but he has heard the gripes of fishermen at listening sessions up and down the coast.

Portsmouth fisherman Erik Anderson, president of the N.H. Commercial Fishermen's Association, used to be a ground fishermen but now focuses his efforts on lobstering. During an interview with Seacoast Sunday in the cabin of his F/V Kris 'N' Kev docked at the Portsmouth Fish Pier, Anderson explained why he chose to get out of gillnetting in 2006.

In 2010, the New England Fishery Management Council passed a "controversial" new measure that implemented a "catch-share" management system. Instead of being able to fish a certain number of days, fishermen were now limited by the number of pounds of fish they could catch.

Anderson said fishermen who went out and diversified when regulators were cutting their days at sea were bound by their recent histories when assigned their share of the catch and received a "smaller slice of the pie." He also said catch-shares harmed gillnetters because they have little control over which species they snare in their nets. For example, a gillnetter might have a quota of 200,000 pounds of cod but only 1,000 pounds of hake. Once he's reached his hake quota, he may also be unable to pursue cod because gillnetting is not that precise.

"It's not that surgical, as much as everybody would like it to be," he said.

Furthermore, Anderson said he felt deceived by the implementation of the catch-share system. He said the Magnuson-Stevens Act, originally passed in 1976 and which governs marine fisheries management, required that any individual fishing quota be supported by the fishermen. However, he said, regulators circumvented the requirement by providing fishermen with an option of staying within a days-at-sea system that was so prohibitive it became "intolerable" for most fishermen, Anderson said.

"There was definitely a manipulation," he said.

Catch-shares were championed by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in December 2008. She is an accomplished marine ecologist and environmental scientist who previously served as vice chairwoman of the board with the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

 

Read the full story at Seacoast Online

 

 

September 23, 2012 — Members of the regional fishing industry have made a last-ditch effort to negotiate with the National Marine Fisheries Service about a closure scheduled to begin Oct. 1, that some New Hampshire fishermen say will be the “death knell” for the industry.

Local fishermen and advocacy groups have been pleading with NMFS for months to move the closure — designed to protect harbor porpoises — to be moved to February and March instead, when more harbor porpoises have historically been taken and the economic impact on the industry would not be as severe.

Instead, the closure is planned for October/November, which local ground fishermen say is one of their busiest times.

Regional fishermen and representatives from the Northeast Seafood Coalition met with John Bullard, the new regional director for NMFS, in Gloucester, Mass., on Friday.

Bullard said he does not expect any easy decisions for fishermen and the agency anytime in the near future.

“If this one isn't an easy decision, I don't know what one is going to be,” Vito Giacalone, policy director with the Northeast Seafood Coalition, said.

He said the consensus position sent to NMFS, and supported by 12 members of the regional Congressional delegation, was an opportunity to show the industry that NMFS and the fishermen can work together.

“You should be looking at every way possible to help these fishermen survive,” Glenn Delaney of the Northeast Seafood Coalition said.

Josh Weirsma, sector manager for the New Hampshire fishing industry, expressed frustration after Friday's meeting.

“We presented a proposal that would be just as biologically protective of harbor porpoise, but for whatever reason, they've made up their mind that this October/November closure is necessary to punish the industry for this perceived noncompliance,” Weirsma said.

 

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — September 20, 2012 — Former mayor John K. Bullard, NOAA Fisheries' new Northeast regional administrator, met with fishermen Wednesday and faced a high tide of frustration.

"Here I am, six weeks into the job, trying to figure out how to help in this very difficult situation," said Bullard. " … Let me know what you think I should pay attention to."

After serving as New Bedford's mayor, Bullard was director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Sustainable Development and was immediate past president of Sea Education Association.

He said the purpose of the public meetings he is holding in his new role is to help him identify the top issues he should learn about and focus on.

The crowd of about 30 at New Bedford's Waypoint Event Center honed in on a major one: cuts in catch limits and the rationale behind them.

"When you want to know about the fish, where to get the codfish, the yellowtail … you ask me," said John Oliveira, a 45-year-old captain of the vessel "Triunfo," who has been a groundfisherman since he was a teenager.

Last month, the New England Fishery Management Council's groundfish committee projected cuts of 70 percent or more for species such as cod and haddock in the 2013 fishing year. Local fishermen have said repeatedly that they don't believe surveyors are accurately assessing the stocks.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times