Saving Seafood

International & Trade

New Coalition to Make Big Splash for Healthy European Fisheries

OCEAN2012, a new coalition dedicated to transforming European fisheries policy to prevent over-fishing and enhance human well-being was launched yesterday. OCEAN2012 was founded by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, the Fisheries Secretariat, nef (new economics foundation), the Pew Environment Group and Seas At Risk.

"Commissioner Borg has called for a wholesale fundamental reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. OCEAN2012 is a response to that call," said Uta Bellion, director of the Pew Environment Group’s European Marine Programme and OCEAN2012 Co-ordinator. "Continuous overfishing has resulted in less productive fisheries with a loss of jobs and livelihoods. Fewer and smaller fish are being caught with greater effort required to find them. The simple fact is that without fish there can be no fishing."

"Intensive fishing in European waters has led to dramatic declines in fish populations, for example 93 percent of North Sea cod are caught before they can even spawn."

Read the complete story at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Snowe Announces NOAA Spending Plan to Assist New England Fisheries

Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today applauded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) decision to send $2.7 million to Maine of the $10 million in federal funding to assist New England fisheries which was included in the Omnibus Assistance Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-8).  In addition to allocating $1 million to establish a pilot permit banking program for Maine’s groundfishing industry, and $1.7 million to continue the groundline lobster gear exchange program, the spend plan also allocates an additional $4 million for regional groundfish assistance.

"Congress provided this $10 million to mitigate adverse impacts from new, burdensome regulations and catch reduction rules that have threatend the stability and financial well-being of thousands of New England fisherman and their families," said Snowe.  "Today’s announcement, coming on top of previous commitments of an additional $13 million in 2009 and $18.6 million in NOAA’s 2010 budget to assist the New England groundfishery’s transition from the current regulatory system, sends a strong signal that the Federal government is committed to sustaining our coastal communities."

The spend plan issued by NOAA in response to a Congressional mandate allocates $3 million to New England fishermen to help develop data reporting and fishery monitoring systems to better document catches and track fishing permit transfers as the fishery prepares for a likely transition to sector management for the 2010 fishing year.  It also provides $1 million for cooperative gear research.  Maine has been awarded $1 million to establish a pilot permit banking program to buy permits that will help retain access for Maine fishermen.  Specifically, the funds will be used to acquire multispecies limited access permits to encourage fishing opportunities throughout the state and prevent additional migration of fishing jobs to ports to the south.  Furthermore, NOAA is allocating $1.7 million to assist with the lobster gear exchange program, which will help lobstermen comply with regulations intended to reduce entanglements of endangered whales.

Read the complete story at Senator Snowe’s website.

Snowe, Collins, Michaud Blast Final Rule to List Maine’s Atlantic Salmon as Endangered

U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) made the following statement regarding today’s decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate Atlantic salmon populations from the Androscoggin River to the Dennys River, including anadromous salmon inhabiting the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers, as an endangered species.  By adding the three largest rivers in Maine, this decision will encompass nearly two-thirds of the State, changing geographic scope from its current 2,000 square miles to 19,000 square miles.

“Today’s decision to expand the endangered species listing of Atlantic salmon to encompass the massive Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Penobscot River basins turns a blind eye to the monumental efforts of the state of Maine to restore thousands of miles of ecosystem, ignores the mortality of the species at sea, and fails to specifically address the adverse economic impacts an endangered species listing of this magnitude can have on an already fragile economy. This listing could not come at a worse time for the many businesses within the protected watershed areas who are struggling amidst a global economic recession and will now have to worry about significant compliance costs,” said the lawmakers in a joint statement. “We strongly support the revival of the Atlantic Salmon to its historic levels and have consistently supported the State’s aggressive restoration strategy, and are deeply concerned that this announcement today may unfortunately prevent the collaborative efforts that have produced landmark recovery efforts.” 

“While we strongly disagree with this announcement by the federal agencies and believe it is seriously flawed, it is incumbent upon federal agencies that they provide the resources to implement the species recovery plans.  The federal agencies must expeditiously provide staff and resources to facilitate the cumbersome permitting process for Maine’s businesses, and provide long-term support for restoration activities for Maine’s long-term goal to return to a sustainable population level of Atlantic salmon.”

Read the complete press release at Congressman Michaud’s site.

US expands laws protecting Atlantic salmon

The federal government dramatically extended protection yesterday for the imperiled wild Atlantic salmon in Maine, declaring that the few remaining sportfish in the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers and their tributaries are endangered.

The move comes nine years after the federal government declared the fish – once such a part of American legend that one was delivered to the US president each year – endangered in eight Down East Maine rivers.

And, like then, the listing is promising to spark a political war, with state officials saying the decision will unnecessarily harm industries along the rivers that will have to undergo arduous environmental reviews.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

SEAFOOD.COM COMMENTARY: Gloucester Times Goes off the Deep End

The Gloucester Times, speaking for the fishing community in Gloucester, has been on the war-path against NOAA head Jane Lubchenco and NMFS.

The events of this year, including a court injunction against NMFS groundfish management, subsequently lifted, anger at cutbacks in days at sea, and unhappiness with an ongoing investigation into the Gloucester Display Auction, have caused some to have a knee jerk reaction that any regulation or enforcement action is harmful and biased against the fishing industry.

This leads to the absurdity of claiming, as one writer recently did, that the spring spawning closure, in effect for more than 20 years, was somehow responsible for low cod prices fishermen received the first week in June.

Read the complete story at Seafood.com.

NY TIMES EDITORIAL: Of Fish and Flexibility

Senator Charles Schumer has introduced a bill called The Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act. Flexibility, in this case, means bending to the will of fishermen who want to keep vacuuming up depleted fish populations before they have a chance to recover.

The bill aims to help New York fishermen whose livelihoods depend on fluke and other species. To achieve this narrow objective, however, it would poke holes in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the basic law governing fishing in federal waters. The act, strengthened by Congress in 2006, imposes ambitious timetables for rebuilding fish stocks and gives scientists a say in setting limits.

It is those sensible restrictions under which the fishermen are now chafing, and which Mr. Schumer’s bill — the companion to a House measure sponsored by Frank Pallone of New Jersey — seeks to gut.

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

See related story about flexibility bill.

Federal Agencies Protect More Gulf of Maine Atlantic Salmon to Recover Imperiled Stocks

NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today extended Endangered Species Act protection to more Atlantic salmon by adding fish in the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers and their tributaries to the endangered Gulf of Maine population first listed in 2000.

The decision is part of the ongoing effort to recover the imperiled fish, which once returned by the hundreds of thousands to most major rivers along the Northeastern U.S. and now returns in small numbers only to rivers in Maine.

“Legend has it you could once walk across these rivers on the backs of salmon,” said FWS Acting Director Rowan Gould. “Unfortunately, in most years we are able to count barely 1,000 fish returning to the Penobscot and fewer than a hundred in the other two rivers. If we are ever going to recover this iconic species so that future generations can witness the teeming runs that awed past generations, we need to protect it now throughout the Gulf of Maine.” 

Read the complete story at NOAA News.

President Obama establishes task force to create first national ocean policy

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama on Friday set up a task force to craft the first US national policy for sustainably managing the country’s oceans, drawing praise from environmentalists who said the move was long overdue.

"We are taking a more integrated and comprehensive approach to developing a national ocean policy that will guide us well into the future," Obama said in a proclamation declaring June "National Oceans Month."

The proclamation was issued along with a memorandum setting up the high-level Ocean Policy Task Force.

"Our nation’s economy relies heavily on the oceans … They support countless jobs in an array of industries including fishing, tourism and energy," the president said.

Read the AFP newswire story in full

View the presidential proclamation marking June 2009 as National Oceans Month [PDF]

Read the White House memorandum establishing the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force [PDF]