Management & Regulation

These outreach meetings were conducted by NOAA Fisheries Service June-July 2010.

Summary of Groundfish Amendment 16 Implementation Outreach Meetings Available for download.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Lowther, NOAA survey statistician and author/editor of Fisheries of the US 2009 discusses this year's report in which New Bedford remained the top US port for value of landings for the tenth year in a row. Gloucester is #11 in value and #10 in volume. Cape May is #5 in value. Reedville is #3 in volume.  Dr. Brian Rothschild of UMass discusses his opinion piece criticizing how sectors were implemented in New England.

Listen to the WBSM radio show from September 10, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1976 the Magnuson Stevens Act was passed with the intention of replenishing and protecting fish stocks. Over time, some fish stocks did rebound but more government regulations kept coming, telling fishermen where, when and how much to fish. In the documentary “Truth: Fishing Crisis or Government Mismanagement", fishermen state that while the regulations have resulted in replenishment of certain fish, it is past time, 34 years later, to adjust the regulations so they reflect the replenishment.

As an example of how the regulations may make sense to some, but are not realistic for the fishermen, Captain Joel Hovanesian said that if a boat is allowed only 1,000 pounds of cod a day at sea, sometimes it can haul in 10,000 pounds of cod on the first day. In order not to get fined, the fishermen then have to spend 10 days at sea to meet the artificial quota of 1,000 pounds a day before hauling the cod back to shore. This results in wasted time, more fuel and labor costs, and a lower quality product.

Read the complete story from Wicked Local.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A proposed state and federal regulation to maintain healthy fish stocks could be coming, but some local fishermen say it will put smaller boats out of business.

A new wave of regulations might soon entangle local fishermen working Long Island Sound.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council are considering a catch and trade system for fishermen, be they charter or commercial boats. The proposal would allow fishermen to buy, sell or trade catch shares and their permits. But some say the plan will squeeze smaller boats out of business.

If enacted, the initiative would mirror the current federal system which governs fishermen on the open ocean who chase ground fish; including cod, haddock, and halibut.

Read the complete story from Wilton Patch.

 

 

 

 

 

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Heather McCarty – Sept 16, 2010 – St. Paul – For generations, the Aleut fishermen of Saint Paul in the Pribilof Islands have fished for halibut from small boats in the waters of the Bering Sea surrounding their home. A traditional part of the island diet and culture, this subsistence fishery experience was the basis for the successful development of the commercial halibut fishery that is now one of the mainstays of Saint Paul's economy.

The halibut fishery is not just the economic heart of the island, it is a customary fishery of the community during the brief and beautiful Pribilof summers, with deep roots and meaning. Each year, 80 to 100 people of the community participate in the halibut fishery, from the skippers to the boat crews to the young onshore hook baiters. Commercial halibut fishing employs much of the population, and provides a perfect example of what the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program was intended to accomplish, to develop a fishery-related economy.

When the U. S. government in the early 1980's terminated the commercial fur seal harvest that had been the main source of livelihood and the economy of Saint Paul for two centuries, the local people began to develop a commercial fisheries economy to survive as a viable community. Beginning in 1983, they acquired the funding to build a boat harbor and develop a local fleet, and the Tribal Council established the first halibut processing plant to buy their catch. Large processing companies subsequently came to the Island to process crab, and also began processing halibut, adding to the substantial infrastructure that continues today to serve the North Pacific crab fleet as well as the local and outside halibut vessels.

By the time the CDQ program was put in place in 1992, many local halibut fishermen had established successful fishing operations. The fishermen's group on Saint Paul, the Central Bering Sea Fishermen's Association (CBSFA), was designated the CDQ management organization for Saint Paul. Every resident of Saint Paul over 18 years old is a member of CBSFA, and the membership elects the Board of Directors annually. The governing statute for the CDQ program, the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA), requires that 75% of the Board of Directors of a CDQ entity must be'resident fishermen.' Accordingly, all of the nine members of the current CBSFA Board, including the chairman, president and vice-president, are halibut fishermen who live in Saint Paul with their families.

The Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program was implemented by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council in 1995, creating one of the first fisheries in the United States to use a rights-based or quota-share management system. The IFQ program also allocated a set percentage of the halibut resource in close proximity to Bering Sea communities to the CDQ entities representing those communities. For example, in the halibut management Area 4C, a small section of the Bering Sea which surrounds Saint Paul and Saint George Islands, 50% of the quota was allocated to the CDQ entities. CBSFA is responsible for the CDQ portion of the local halibut fishery in Area 4C, on behalf of the Saint Paul community.

Several local halibut fishermen were also initial recipients of halibut IFQ when the program began. Other Saint Paul fishermen have purchased halibut IFQ shares through the years, and harvest this halibut along with the CDQ halibut allocated to the community. In 2010, the CBSFA CDQ halibut allocation is 690,625 pounds, and the locally-held IFQ halibut totals 269,788 pounds.

Each May, CBSFA organizes the Annual Fishermen's Meeting, at which the local fishermen themselves agree on a fishery management plan for the upcoming season. This fishery management plan sets a vessel limit which results in no individual fisherman, including CBSFA Board members, being permitted to harvest more than a certain percentage of the CDQ halibut allocation. Every local fisherman is given equal opportunity to fish for CDQ halibut.

CBSFA in 2003 established the CBSFA Halibut Cooperative to work towards achieving the highest possible ex-vessel prices paid to the fishermen. The local fleet delivers all of their CDQ halibut and most of their IFQ halibut to the Coop. Each fisherman is given an upfront-price for fish, plus a share of the profit after fish are sold. The Coop halibut is custom processed on the island, some of it made into vacuum-sealed portions of fresh fish, and marketed under a Saint Paul brand as a premium value-added product. This vertical integration of the Saint Paul halibut fishery is the culmination of almost two decades of development of this local fishery, the economic driver and the pride of the island.

One local vessel owner described his operation as employing nine local people as crewmembers and onshore baiters, with a substantial percentage of the boat's revenue going to these employees. As in other commercial fisheries, the crew is paid each season according to the amount of fish the vessel catches. These halibut fishing dollars are a significant source of income for many families and businesses in the community.

In 2008, CBSFA built and launched the F/V Saint Paul, a 58-foot vessel designed to fish for halibut, cod and crab. The vessel, operated by a CBSFA subsidiary, provides a safe platform for local fishermen to catch their halibut quota further from shore as needed, and also to develop skills in the operation of larger vessels. The Saint Paul employs five people, including three local men, harvesting cod and other species when the halibut season is over and bringing that revenue back to the Island.

CBSFA has developed a viable local halibut fleet and commercial fishery that now provides annual employment to a significant number of local residents and has become a major contributor to the Saint Paul economy. The CBSFA management, the Board of Directors and the local fishermen, believe that the successful development of the local commercial halibut fishery truly meets the purpose and intent of the CDQ program.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments submitted on behalf of the Fisheries Survival Fund regarding the proposal to establish nine “distinct population segments” (“DPS”) for loggerhead sea turtles and to change the listing status for most of the new DPSs from “threatened” to “endangered.”

These are joined by Associated Fisheries of Maine, Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Southeastern Fisheries Association, Garden State Seafood Association, and Sustainable Fisheries Coalition.

From the comments:

In addressing these questions, we incorporate the attached report prepared for the group by Dr. Trevor Kenchington, principal of Gadus Associates. This report well details the scientific deficiencies of the extinction analysis undertaken in the 2009 Status Review1 by the Loggerhead Biological Review Team (“BRT”), particularly as they relate to the key legal issue of the imminence of loggerhead turtle extinction. It also discusses deficiencies with the DPS analysis, a matter we do not address in great detail herein except to note that the proposed division of the population of loggerhead sea turtles into nine DPSs can be most charitably be described as pushing the limits of the Services’ own policy. On that basis alone, we oppose this aspect of the proposal and would strenuously object to any attempt to further divide the population into yet even smaller units.

"In summary, we question whether the proposed designation of the loggerhead population as nine individual DPSs is either appropriate or meets the congressional command that DPSs be used “sparingly.”2 However, we strongly oppose the designation of either the species as a whole or the Northwest Atlantic (“NWA”) DPS as endangered. As we will show, decades of effective regulatory measures and nesting beach and hatchling protection efforts have led to a significant rebound in the species. Certainly, all indications are that this species is comprised of millions of individuals, making extinction in any foreseeable timeframe well nigh impossible."

"More to the relevant legal point, a change in status is not warranted by the best scientific and commercial data available, which is the ESA’s primary legal criterion to which the Services must adhere in making listing determinations. See 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(1)(A). For one, the BRT never assessed the proposed species – that is, the population comprising the NWA DPS – as a whole; rather analysis focused solely on specific indices. No finding was ever made as to whether the species as it is proposed to be defined is in danger of extinction. Nor was there any analysis of the timeframe in which extinction is likely to occur, which itself is the primary factor distinguishing a threatened from an endangered species under the ESA. Thus, the primary legal standard was never addressed. Therefore, the appropriate response would be to find that there is not sufficient evidence to justify the uplisting proposal and to withdraw the proposed regulation under 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(6)(B)(ii) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), at least as to the proposed NWA DPS, and likely the proposed North Pacific Ocean DPS, as well."

Read the complete comments.

Read the report by Dr. Trevor Kenchington.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fisheries have been an important part of New Hampshire's heritage since enormous quantities of cod brought fishermen to the Isles of Shoals in the early 1600s. Now, few cod or fishermen remain, but fishing heritage is intrinsic to our regional character. New Hampshire residents and visitors still enjoy fresh seafood caught and sold by community supported fisheries and schedule vacation time for fishing and whale-watching.

At the end of this month, the New England Fishery Management Council will meet to vote on critical new management measures to monitor the Atlantic herring fishery. This meeting is important to everyone concerned with restoring the Great Bay and New Hampshire's coastal ecosystem and preserving local fishing fleets. Atlantic herring (also called sea herring) are common in the Gulf of Maine, and eaten by every predator, including the cod and haddock we eat, and the whales, seals and seabirds we watch.

In 1902, the New England herring fishery was a shore fishery: 162 million pounds were caught with pound nets, weirs and haul seines that year, and 153 million pounds were caught near shore as late as 1960. Today, less than 17 million pounds of herring are caught in coastal waters.

Read the complete story from Sea Coast Online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A law-enforcement official who abuses his power by intimidating those he regulates, who hands out disproportionate penalties to select groups, whose misconduct merits a lecture by a federal judge, who conducts personal business on company time and/or equipment — and, through it all brags openly that he is accountable to no one — would, in a sane and just world, get punished.

That means suspended without pay, perhaps demoted, perhaps even fired.

But not in the "Through-the-Looking-Glass" world of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There, he gets protected — "reassigned," rather than removed from the payroll for obvious betrayals of the public trust.

That, in brief, is the story of Andrew Cohen, who until last week was the federal fisheries police agent in charge of the Northeast region, anchored at Gloucester's NOAA headquarters in Blackburn Industrial Park.

Read the complete story from the Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Bedford's pre-eminence as the nation's most valuable commercial fishing port should provide it with a persuasive voice in any conversation about the future of commercial fishing, assuming that the industry and its advocates continue to speak loudly and with one voice on the matters that affect them most significantly.

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. It is the age of knowledge, it is the epoch of ignorance. It is a season of plenty, it is a summer of want. It is the glory of commercial fishing in New Bedford, and it is tragedy of the No. 1 fishing port in the United States.

With apologies to author Charles Dickens, it most certainly is a Tale of Two Fisheries.

This is a critical moment in the industry's history. And whether it is destined to be the best of times or the worst of times will depend on whether or not we are successful in convincing federal regulatory agencies to enact policies that strike a wise balance between environmental and human concerns.

Read the complete story from the South Coast Today [subscription site]

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – September 10, 2010 – During a visit to New Bedford on Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick addressed hundreds at the dedication of the Azorean Whaleman Gallery at the whaling museum.  Prior to that speech, speaking to reporters outside the museum, the incumbent governor noted that federal fishing regulations are needlessly stringent and NOAA has been unresponsive.

Later on Friday, standing outside the Whaling Museum, Patrick said ground fishermen are "absolutely right," when they assert that federal regulations are needlessly stringent.

"I'm very sympathetic to their points about NOAA and frankly the unresponsiveness of NOAA," Patrick said.

His office has been pressing for an increase of the catch limits for ground fish, he said.

"We'll continue to press them until we get results."

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today [subscription site].