Saving Seafood

Conservation & Environment

Where’s the ‘spiral?’: NOAA chief’s fishery comment raises questions

In her national pitch for catch shares, oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco lauded the rights-based system for its capacity to transform fishing-based economic systems in chronic decline.

There are "many in a downward spiral," she said.

Lubchenco did not elaborate in her hour-long teleconference last week.

But yesterday, in response to an inquiry, Monica Allen, a public affairs specialist with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, said the "downward spiral" phrase was not meant to describe the ocean ecosystems that are harvested, but rather the communities that do the harvesting.

Allen cited New England as one of the regions suffering from a chronic economic downward spiral.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Senate Commerce Committee approves International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act

The following was released by the office of Senator Olympia Snowe on Dec. 17, 2009: WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee today approved S. 2856, the International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), which would strengthen management of groundfish stocks between the United States and Canada. Both passed the Committee by unanimous consent.

Senator Snowe called the Commerce Committee’s bipartisan approval of the legislation "a strong step forward in establishing sustainable, science-based management of our Nation’s ocean resources." The Senator continued "The International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act would emphasize that the U.S.-Canada Transboudary Resource Sharing Understanding is an international agreement for the purposes of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, thereby granting fisheries managers badly-needed leeway to successfully negotiate allowable catch limits for yellowtail flounder with the Canadians. Absent the provisions in this legislation, our groundfishermen and scallopers would be at a severe competitive disadvantage.”

Summary of the Snowe legislation:

S. 2856 –The Magnuson Act permits fisheries managed under “international agreements” to have rebuilding periods that extend beyond the 10-year timeline that domestic stocks are subject to. However, the U.S. Department of State has stated the bilateral “understanding” between the U.S. and Canada fails to meet the criteria to be considered an “international agreement.” This ruling has hindered U.S. negotiations with Canada, as the 10-year timeline does not exist in Canadian law. Although Canada manages its stocks to maintain a rebuilding trajectory, their catch limits often far exceed those in the United States. The Snowe initiative would close this loophole and clarify that the U.S.-Canada Understanding should be considered an international agreement, allowing groundfish stocks to be managed effectively and sustainable for the benefit of U.S. and Canadian fishermen and consumers without jeopardizing the long-term viability of fish stocks. The Snowe initiative would close this loophole and clarify that the U.S.-Canada Understanding should be considered an international agreement, allowing groundfish stocks to be managed effectively and sustainable for the benefit of U.S. and Canadian fishermen and consumers without jeopardizing the long-term viability of fish stocks.  

NOAA Announces Proposed Northeast Groundfish Management Measures

NOAA today announced details of proposed measures developed by the New England Fishery Management Council intended to end overfishing and continue the rebuilding of Northeast groundfish. There will be a 30-day public comment period on the measures. The new rules, if approved, would be effective May 1.

The proposed measures would enable all limited access groundfish permit holders to create groups or “sectors” that would get a share of the year’s allowable catch, based on the historic landings of their members. They also would develop their own rules for allocating that catch among the sector members. Those not in a sector would continue to be able to fish a set number of days per year in a common pool.

These sectors would be an integral part of a catch share program for Northeast groundfish.

Read the NOAA announcement in full

 

 

An Assessment of the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Economic Impact Report

Georgetown Economics of Washington, DC has conducted an assessment of the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Economic Impact Report with regard to the effects anticipated from the recent scallop regulation recommendations under Framework 21.

The New England Fisheries Management Council’s (“NEFMC”) Economic Impact Study of the allocation alternatives presented under Framework 21 to the Fisheries Management Plan(“FW21”) gives too much weight to the “estimated” long-term economic benefits projected for each alternative. NEFMC’s benefit calculations do not adequately take into account the uncertainty associated with the assumptions that underlie its projections.

There is considerable risk that the NEFMC’s assumptions about future values of scallop allotments, fishing mortality, ex-vessel prices, and trip costs, which form the foundation of the NEFMC’s projections, will not be realized. Because the uncertainty associated with these projections grows exponentially over time, the comparison of the economic benefits of the allocation alternatives given in FW21[1] should be made over a shorter period. The three-year period from 2010 to 2012 is the longest timeframe for comparison that is economically meaningful. Alternately, the projections of economic benefits after 2012 can be re-weighted in the present value benefit calculations so as to adequately reflect the uncertainty of the calculations made for later years. A short term comparison shows that the No Closure F=.24 option (“NCLF24”) gives a higher cumulative present value of producer profits than the No Closure F=.20 option (“NCLF20”).

Read the complete report from Georgetown Economics [PDF]

 

 

Rare tuna? Fishermen protest proposed CITES listing for bluefin tuna

Fish buyer Robert Fitzpatrick of Magura America Inc. has seen the demand for tuna plummet in high-end restaurants in Manhattan.

“With one customer I typically sell 35 or 40 fish a year,” said Chatham’s Fitzpatrick. “[This year,] I sold them two.”

With more than five million Atlantic bluefin tuna in the ocean,Fitzpatrick finds it hard to believe, but his white tablecloth marketis drying up because people say the fish are on the verge of extinction.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said.

The reason for the suspension of reality, he and others say, isbecause of a coordinated campaign by several environmental groups.Their marketing has prompted many to feel guilty about eating the sleekfish.

But the situation could get worse.

Read the complete story at Wicked Local.

EU agrees on 2010 fish catch quotas

The European Union cut the catch quotas for cod and banned the fishing of certain endangered sharks in 2010 but opened a key fishing ground to produce a larger catch of anchovies.

The move by the EU fishing ministers was criticized Wednesday by environmentalists, who said that despite some of the cuts, the fish stocks are in a state of "permanent over-exploitation."

There has been a steep drop in fish stocks over the past 30 years and EU fishing ministers historically have ignored scientific advice in favor of higher quotas.

Scientists have estimated that in the 1970s there were more than 250,000 tons of cod in fishing grounds in the North Sea, the eastern English Channel and Scandinavia’s Skagerrak strait. In recent years, however, stocks have dropped to 50,000 tons.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

WBZ-Boston: Fishermen Hurting Due to Regulations

WBZ-TV Boston's Jonathan Elias presents a two-part series on fishing regulations in New England.  WBZ describes fishing as an iconic symbol of New England and its heritage, but some fishermen say they are in trouble.

In Part 1, Jonathan Elias observes that fishermen are trying to live by the rules, but in the process they are losing good fish, losing time, and not making as much money as they used to.  It's a risky business, both from the elements, but also from the government restrictions.  Observing a fisherman disposing of excess catch, Jonathan Elias asks about rules that require fishermen to throw good fish overboard where only birds and crabs will eat them.

In Gloucester, fishing is a family business, handed down from generation to generation, "but with all the rules and regulations, they say that is coming to an end".

In Part 2,  fishermen say their livelihoods are on the line and they blame the Federal Government.  Some say enforcement even for minor violations go way too far.  WBZ looks at the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, which the station describes as a "popular target for Federal Agents".

WBZ's Jonathan Elias observes Federal enforcement practices, which sometimes file charges four or five years after the alleged violations as being like "you getting caught cheating in 10th grade, but I don't come to you until you are a freshman in college…"  NOAA deputy special agent Timothy Donovan says they can't "turn a case over overnight."

Agent Donovan insists that "…the inspiration isn't maybe we can write a few tickets and collect that money."  But Massachusetts Attorney General and Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate Martha Coakley expressed concern that NOAA's motivation for overzealous enforcement might be that NMFS keeps all the civil fines that fishermen pay.   She stated  "I think it deserves a really full inquiry… The last thing the fishing industry needs is unfair enforcement by a federal agency."

Watch Part 1 on Regulation

Watch Part 2 on Enforcement

 

 

New regulations putting the squeeze on scallopers

There may still be scads of scallops out in the deep blue sea but new regulations could chop the numbers of fishermen and the days they can chase them.

The New England Fishery Management Council met Nov. 17 to 19 in Rhode Island and finalized a suite of new rules that chop the days at sea for big trip boats from 37 to 29, and will also eventually reduce the share to the total scallop catch allotted to the small boats that sail from Cape Cod.

“[Small boats] received 10 percent of the overall quota with the understanding that as soon as the quota was implemented it would be 5 percent because that would lead to consolidation and boats would be left out of the fishery,” explained Tom Dempsey of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association. “That was agreed upon three years ago [in Amendment 11].”

Read the complete story at Wicked Local.

OPINION: Catch share policy, allocations accelerate need for fed changes

It barely seemed like news last week when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made its announcement of a "draft policy" to regulate America's fisheries based on fishermen's catch shares. Since Jane Lubchenco, a Pew fellow and former vice chairwoman of Environmental Defense, was first confirmed as NOAA's new chief administrator last spring, it's been obvious her primary push was for regulatory reform through "catch shares." And the New England Fishery Management Council bought it hook, line and sinker, approving a May 1, 2010 launch date that still stands despite cries of foul from the fishing industry, even warnings from the Pew Environment Group, which has urged NOAA to "go slow" in implementing catch share programs — which are in place in some U.S. fisheries and spawning concern over their local economic impact.

The NOAA announcement should, however, turn up the heat on two other important fronts. It has put the pressure squarely on the New England council to make New England's catch share plan viable by coming up with reasonable catch allocations that recognize studies showing many of the fish stocks have recovered or are effectively recovering. And it accelerates the need for lawmakers to push for changes within — perhaps even enforcement of — the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which includes provisions to consider the impact of regulation on fishing communities.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.