Management & Regulation

Supposedly, the intent of fishing regulations is to preserve a resource — to establish limits on the number of fish caught today so there will still be fish to catch on all the tomorrows to come.

The aim is — or ought to be — to maintain a sustainable fishery. And that also means a system that’s viable for the livelihood of commercial fishermen, the seafood industry and fishing communities — like ours.

Yet there continue to be signs that the National Marine Fisheries Service — the federal agency charged with regulating the fishery — seems bent more on putting fishermen out of business than on maintaining the fishery. And now there are even more signs that’s the case within the scientific research used to formulate the regulations in the first place.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The nation’s fisheries chief said yestersday that a seismic shift in New England fishery management is key to preserving the venerable industry and touted an extra $18.6 million to help make the change.

"I believe that we have an unparalleled opportunity to truly demonstrate that good, stable jobs, stable fisheries and resilient ecosystems can be achieved together," said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a speech to a gathering of fishery management councils.

Fishermen are working to switch by next year to a new "catch share" system that allocates a total allowed catch to groups of fishermen, who divide it among themselves. Today’s system tries to stop overfishing by making fishermen less efficient, including by restricting the time fishermen are allowed to spend at sea.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Commercial Fishermen of America meet in Gloucester while Regional Councils meet in Boston

The eight regional councils that set fisheries policy governing the national waters opened their annual joint meeting yesterday in Boston to exchange ideas and ponder together.

The board of directors of the Commercial Fishermen of America decided to meet in Gloucester. President of the trade group, Jimmy Ruhle said he hoped attendees at the public meeting of the board would bring about a defining moment.

"Do you want us to remain a seafood producing nation?" was how Ruhle defined the issue he hoped the meeting would wrestle with. "In the ’70s," he said, "imports were less than 30 percent," and now are about 80 percent, as most sets of figures roughly agree. "We’ve lost two-thirds of our infrastructure, boats and men as a result of action (in Congress) designed to preserve and protect the industry," he said.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The top government official for the nation’s fisheries today took a giant step in the right direction for the U.S. fishing industry and the oceans.  At a speech in Boston, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that she was creating a task force to develop a new policy on catch shares to ensure that they are fully considered when fishery management councils amend management plans.

Recent scientific studies have shown that catch shares perform dramatically better than conventionally-managed fisheries.  The bottom line is that the new policy is likely to dramatically increase the number of fisheries managed by catch shares and that’s great news for the oceans and fishermen.

In her speech, Dr. Lubchenco said that NOAA would move “forward to implement more catch share programs” and that “all of the (fishery management) councils will see increases in their allocations in the 2010 (budget) request” for catch shares.  She also announced a new task force to develop a nation-wide catch share strategy.

Read the complete story at The Environmental Defense Fund.

Top fisheries regulators are promoting catch shares as the best approach to managing the nation’s fish stocks and meeting federal requirements to end overfishing by 2010.

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told leaders of the country’s eight regional fishery management councils, who are meeting this week in Boston, that catch shares should be “actively considered for each fishery.”

“I see catch shares as the best way for many fisheries to both meet the Magnuson (Stevens Act) mandates and have healthy, profitable fisheries that are sustainable,” Dr. Jane Lubchenco said Tuesday during a meeting of the Council Coordinating Committee.

Read the complete story at South Coast Today.

In response to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s request, New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang’s Ocean and Fisheries Council has completed a plan proposing strategies to possibly mitigate days at sea reductions in southern New England and to support future advances in fisheries management.

Read the South Coast Today story: Proposed study aims to solidify flounder fishery numbers

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang’s Ocean and Fisheries Council has completed a plan proposing strategies to possibly mitigate days at sea reductions in southern New England and to support future advances in fisheries management.  

Invited by Mayor Lang, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick attended a meeting of the Ocean and Fisheries Council on April 16, 2009. The Governor listened to the concerns of commercial fishing representatives regarding current federal regulations.  The participants expressed distrust in the federal science programs that generate the information being used to manage the fisheries.  

It became apparent to the Governor that third-party research could build public confidence in management decisions while adding needed information about our fisheries resources. The audience supported the University of Massachusetts’ School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) as the entity to engage in this activity. The University’s relationship with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF) constituting the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI), provided an apprporiate partnership to address this task. 

The resulting plan was a joint effort of the Mayor’s Ocean and Fisheries Council; Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, particularly Paul Diodati and David Pierce; and the School for Marine Science and Technology, particularly Kevin Stokesbury.  Steve Cadrin of NOAA Fisheries provided valuable input.

In response to Governor Patrick’s request, the members of the planning team propose partnering with NOAA Fisheries to:    

1. Review the SNEMA winter flounder assessment;  

2. Describe modifications to the present fishing boundaries that will allow more effective fishing of the Georges Bank stocks; 

3. Examine alternative fishing strategies and gear designs to minimize catch of winter flounder while obtaining optimum yield from other stocks;  

4. Develop a survey involving fishing vessels including a monitoring program;  

5. Design a fishery management and information system to facilitate current and anticipated management.  

Read the complete strategy.

Protest organizers are trying to push a bill that is now dormant in a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee; the bill calls for more leeway in how the new restrictions are enforced. They also want regulators to reassess how fish stocks are counted. The counts are used to determine whether a species is overfished; the anglers said the science used is flawed.  Anglers have argued that more fish are out there than catch surveys indicate and that proactive measures, like creating more artificial reefs, would be enough to bring back depleted stocks. They said environmental groups have pushed "draconian" restrictions.

A protest is churning like fish schooling in the deep sea off the Southeast.

More than 2,500 saltwater anglers or supporters have signed an online petition to stop a temporary ban on offshore bottom fishing expected to start in July. The ban is one of the latest restrictions on a long list and among the first in the wake of a strict new federal law looking to stop overfishing of various popular species.

More than 40 signers of the petition met in Mount Pleasant last week to hear about ways to fight the new regulations. 

Read the complete story at The Post and Courier.