Management & Regulation

NEW BEDFORD — Dr. Steven Lohrenz, a University of Southern Mississippi marine scientist who served on a scientific research team responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has been tapped as the new dean of the UMass School of Marine Science and Technology.

"Dr. Lohrenz's experience as a faculty member and researcher since 1987 has prepared him exceptionally well for his leadership roles at USM and nationally," UMass Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said in announcing the appointment Wednesday.

"He is eager and enthusiastic about joining the SMAST team of scientists. We are very impressed with his ideas, his common-sense leadership approach and creative energy. He will certainly help us to bring SMAST to its next level of competitiveness and contribution."

Lohrenz received his Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Both he and his wife, Maura, who is also an MIT graduate, have strong ties to New England and SouthCoast.

In a statement, Lohrenz said, "Our marine and coastal environments are critically important to the economy and well-being of the region and the nation. SMAST has and will continue to play a key role in improving understanding and awareness of marine environments and processes, in facilitating stewardship of marine resources and in contributing to the continued growth of marine technology industries."

Read the complete story from The Standard Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The displacement of commercial fishermen through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's new regulatory policy is proceeding.

But a Gloucester gillnetter has become the first apparent casualty of the system to be forced out of business by his own colleagues within one of the catch share "sector" cooperatives.

Daniel Bubb, a Long Island native who's been fishing out of Gloucester for about a decade, was expelled last month from his sector, made up of 38 other gillnetters whose boats are Gloucester based.

Members and sector officers declined to shed light on the internal workings of the sector and the reasons behind the vote to expel Bubb, which all involved found wrenching, according to multiple interviews.

The case is unresolved, and could result in litigation, or possibly arbitration or mediation. But both sides — the fishermen in the sector and their former colleague now outside it — agree that the root cause of the events that have led to Bubb's exile is the "catch share" system, which grants the fishing sectors "shares" of a total allowable catch for each stock, with fishermen encouraged to buy, sell or trade their shares among one another, or deal to outside investors.

The net effect in working catch share systems to date has been to shift control to bigger and stronger boat operations, while driving smaller vessels out of business. Industry leaders and advocates are finding the same result already surfacing in the $60 million New England groundfishery, with tight catch limits from NOAA Fisheries further strangling the individual fishermen and their operations.

"Getting pushed into catch shares has caused my family and I to just about lose everything," Bubb wrote to NOAA on Dec. 30.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources will host two listening sessions with bluefin tuna fishermen in New England this week as part of its review of a petition to list the Atlantic bluefin tuna as an endangered species. The first meeting takes place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 6, at Mariner’s House, 11 North St., Boston (617-227-4201). The second will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 7, at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine.

Fishermen who attend the listening sessions are asked to limit their comments to the status of the bluefin stock as they see it and not to address the economic hardship that may arise from an endangered listing. A spokesperson for NMFS said the agency is not allowed to consider economic hardship as a criterion for listing something as endangered.

Questions attendees may consider include the following: What are your general impressions of the abundance and distribution of Atlantic bluefin tuna over time? If you have experienced a decline or increase in bluefin tuna catches, what do you attribute this to (abundance, distribution, availability, gear changes, regulatory effects, etc.)? Are there particular areas where you typically encounter larger numbers of bluefin tuna? If so, where are they (e.g., inshore or offshore)? Do these areas change on an annual basis? What is the average size of bluefin tuna being caught by different gear types or fisheries?

Read the complete story from Wicked Local.

 

 

 

 

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric "criminal investigator" tied to the NOAA law enforcement's notorious push against the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction is being reassigned to the enforcement office out of New Bedford.

And that city's mayor is outraged, calling the move "ill-advised," "uninformed," "insensitive" and "retaliatory."

Mayor Scott Lang's remarks, made to the Standard-Times of New Bedford and reported through the industry news site SavingsSeafood.com, come on the heels of reports last week that Susan Williams, a criminal investigator in the NOAA's Boston/Chelsea fisheries law enforcement office is in the process of being reassigned to the agency's New Bedford office, according to several sources inside and outside NOAA.

Williams played a role in an infamous prosecution of the Gloucester Auction, which, at one point, included an authorized entry by NOAA agents into the auction as documented by Gloucester police, and excessive tactics that sparked an investigation and damning report from the Department of Commerce's Inspector General's office.

However, repeated decisions now to transfer rather than fire employees involved in the abuses — including ousted NOAA police chief Dale Jones and formerly Gloucester-based NOAA prosecutor Charles Juliand — has caused the fishing industry to doubt Lubchenco's and other Obama administration officials' commitment in reforming the agency, and has raised the wrath of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress who represent coastal communities from Maine to North Carolina. The cities of Gloucester and New Bedford, the nation's oldest and highest-value oldest seaports, respectively, are also currently suing Lubchenco and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for the agency's implementation of the Obama administration's "catch share" fisheries management policy, which pushes for further consolidation of the New England groundfish fleet into the hands of the largest and wealthiest vessel owners, causing unemployment, and wreaking economic havoc in the two cities. The word that Williams is in line for reassignment to New Bedford, Lang indicated, only raises further questions regarding Lubchenco's giving serious attention to the growing NOAA enforcement scandal.

Read the complete story from the Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share program is just days away from implementation – it was originally slated to start Jan. 1.

While the new program may get a late start – the National Marine Fisheries Service announced Monday it would push the pause button for at least a few days to pull together last minute details – there’s no stopping its eventual implementation.

Oregon’s 80 trawl permit holders have already filled out mandatory applications, and are crunching numbers to see how having an individual share of the fishery – that they can catch whenever they choose – will change how their business plans pencil out.

The catch shares idea has been so highly regarded that it’s recently become a management tool of choice in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration policy book.

“Catch share programs have proven to be powerful tools to transform fisheries, making them prosperous, stable and sustainable parts of our nation’s strategy for healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems,” said Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, in November.

Read the complete story from The Daily Astorian.

 

It's a bit scary to see 2011 begin just as 2010 did — with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considering a dire new anti-fishing tactic that flies in the face of even its own positive science, yet would help chief administrator Jane Lubchenco advance her goal of driving more small, independent fishermen out of business.

And we can only hope that fishermen, waterfront business owners, and representatives of coastal congressional lawmakers so flood a series of hearings on an absurd proposal to grant the bluefin tuna "endangered species" protection that NOAA and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will have no choice but to throw this Center for Biological Diversity petition right into the trash where it belongs.

Even international data shows that the bluefin stock in the western Atlantic has been effectively been rebuilt. Indeed, the only voice loudly urging a reduced U.S. bluefin allocation at a recent Paris conference was NOAA's Lubchenco, the pseudo-scientist who refuses to consider even her own agency's stock data.

Yet NOAA is hosting hearings to actually consider whether this rebuilt stock is somehow "endangered."

Read the complete editorial from the Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated lawsuits now pending in U.S. District Court brought by fishermen, the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford, and other industry representatives are challenging the imposition of the catch share system.

As part of that suit, the plaintiffs are seeking the right to conduct "discovery" of communications and any collaboration between federal officials and environmental groups like Conservation Law Foundation , the Environmental Defense Fund and the Pew Environmental Group in crafting the catch share policy, to see if those groups had any undue influence.

But Conservation Law Foundation is seeking to block that discovery, by filing a brief against it. The simple fact that the group is trying to keep its involvement secret means it has something to hide.

It is bad enough that the catch share system will likely either drive out the small businessmen who have been the backbone of the industry or turn them into sharecroppers working under the thumb of large corporate interests. It is worse that the process used to draft the new rules was seriously flawed and based on faulty science.

Read the complete editorial from The Salem News.

 

 

 

 

 

NMFS will host a meeting of the Council Coordination Committee (CCC), consisting of the Regional Fishery Management Council chairs, vice chairs, and executive directors in January 2011. The intent of this meeting is to discuss issues of relevance to the Councils, including FY 2011 budget allocations and budget planning, Annual Catch Limits (ACLs), Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, Recreational Fishery Issues, Enforcement, Catch Shares Policy Implementation, and other topics related to implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

DATES: The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, January 11, 2011, recess at 5:30 p.m. or when business is complete; and reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 12, 2011, and adjourn by 5 p.m. or when business is complete.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Phoenix Park Hotel, 520 North Capitol Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001, telephone 1-800-824-5419, fax 202-638-4025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William D. Chappell: telephone 301-713-2337 or e-mail atWilliam.Chappell@noaa.gov; or Tara Scott: telephone 301-713-2337 or e-mail atTara.Scott@noaa.gov.

See the meeting agenda and other details at Fed Thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREWSTER, Mass. – Dec. 24, 2010 – In the finalization of Framework Adjustment 22 to the Scallop Fishery Management Plan, the New England Fisheries Management Council agreed on a measure designed to minimize interactions between scallop fishing boats and endangered sea turtles.

The measure will restrict the number of fishing trips scallop boats can make into certain fishing areas in the Mid-Atlantic that are known to be frequented by sea turtles. Each vessel is limited to one trip in these mid-Atlantic areas between June 15 and Oct. 31, the time of year when turtles are most likely be present, according to council information.

By limiting fishing effort in this manner, the measure is expected to have beneficial effects on sea turtles, but not more than minor impacts on the scallop fishery, according to council information.

Bycatch includes not only sea turtles but finfish such as yellowtail flounder, skates and monkfish, and undersized scallops. Temporary and seasonal closures and gear modifications, along with the newly imposed restrictions on the number of fishing trips a boat may take in certain areas, have been employed as techniques to reduce bycatch.

“We pretty much eliminated all sources of injury and mortality,” Smollowitz said. “The population of turtles is pretty thick and pretty heavy throughout the whole mid-Altantic.”

Read the complete story from The Village Soup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Federal fishing regulators have relaxed restrictions for gillnet fishing off New England, ruling that annual catch limits make some restrictions unnecessary and inefficient.

The changes apply mainly to boats that use gillnets in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, primarily boats out of Gloucester and Maine. Regulators said the new exemptions will make gillnet fishing more profitable and give flexibility to the boats about when and where to fish.

The dozen gillnet boats that are home-ported in New Bedford do not fish in those areas, said Rodney Avila of New Bedford, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council. Some Gloucester boats have relocated in New Bedford temporarily to catch monkfish, Avila said.

The exemptions announced this week are from rules governing the type and number of gillnets a boat may use, areas that were closed part of the year, along with certain restrictions on boats carrying each other's nets.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.