State and Local

December 11, 2013 — Shortly after the new year, Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell and the State Division of Elections will decide whether an initiative to ban set nets off Alaska’s urban shores will go before the state’s voters.

The Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance announced their proposal one month ago, citing the declining Kenai River king run as proof that stronger conservation methods are needed in the salmon fisheries. From the AFCA perspective, that means reducing the number of king salmon intercepted by shore-bound commercial fisheries targeting sockeye salmon.

“The 210-foot-long set nets are indiscriminate killers that catch everything swimming by,” said AFCA president Joe Connors. “For AFCA, what matters is that, within urban areas, commercial set net fishing is an undeniably antiquated and predatory method of harvesting fish that wastes Alaska’s fisheries resources by indiscriminately killing or injuring large numbers of non-target species.”

Connors, who spent six years as a Cook Inlet set netter, is a retired University of Alaska Anchorage professor and owns a lodge and fishing charter service on the Kenai River.

Cook Inlet set net fisheries have faced significant restrictions in recent years as management biologists juggle both resource allocation and protection of minimum king salmon escapement. This most recent addition to that debate has drawn the attention of all user groups, as well as heated commentary from across the state.

An early November release from the Alaska Salmon Alliance criticized many points within the newly proposed initiative, deeming it a biased and inaccurate assessment of both the set net fishery and responsible conservation methods.

An ASA open forum held in Homer in November aimed to showcase the organization’s mission for collaborative management of fish resources, on this and many other issues. The forum was one of four ASA held this fall — in Palmer, Anchorage, Kenai and Homer — striving to gather a variety of fish user groups in one room for discussion.

Read the full story from the Homer Tribune

December 10, 2013 — Rhode Island is looking to help two of its New England coastal neighbors in the lawsuit to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to reverse regulations that have resulted in stinging cuts in groundfish catch limits and order the federal agency to better consider the economic impact of its regulations on fishing communities.

Rhode Island filed an amicus brief in U.S. District Court in Boston last week in support of the suit initially filed in May by Massachusetts and joined by New Hampshire in September.

The brief, while setting out material differences between Rhode Island’s fisheries and those of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, supports the view that the regulations will continue to devastate Massachusetts commercial fishermen “and most certainly will ensure that commercial fishing will no longer be the core of the Commonwealth’s economy or communities.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

December 9, 2013 — Welcome to Eel Country! Maine is one of two states where eel fishing is legal, and it's the state's second largest revenue stream, bringing in approximately $40 million this past year alone! But in this icy New England state, catching this sort of liquid gold is slippery and dangerously fast!

It all has to be done within a two-month window, so the fishermen who commit their lives to reeling in the loot (a maximum of 400 can obtain licenses) must endure all sorts of hardship, uncertainty and danger – all compounded by a lack of sleep -to turn eel fishing into COLD RIVER CASH.

On Thursday, January 2, at 10PM ET/PT, Animal Planet's COLD RIVER CASH brings viewers eight episodes of adventure and mishaps as three teams of fishermen take to the rocky riverbanks of coastal Maine to vie for an elusive but lucrative catch – baby glass eels – which are tiny cellophane-looking creatures also known as elver eels.

Read the full story at Broadway World

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [seafoodnews.com] — December 10, 2013 — NMFS said it will implement a catch sharing plan for the 2014 commercial and charter halibut fisheries in Southeast Alaska and the Central Gulf of Alaska.

The catch sharing plan was recommended by the North Pacific Management Council to replace the existing guideline harvest level management plan, which had been criticized for not preventing fishing overages when charter fishing had increased in the region in the late 1990s.

The NPMC said a catch sharing plan would provide the fisheries clear allocation levels for both the commercial and charter sectors.

“This catch sharing plan was developed through the collaborative effort and hard work of many people over several years and, despite some challenges, we are pleased to be able to meet the Council’s request for implementation in 2014,” said Dr. Jim Balsiger, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region and a member of the Council. “This plan will give managers greater precision in setting catch limits and provide more flexibility and stability in the charter harvest.”

Under the catch sharing plan, commercial and charter halibut operations will have a combined catch limit determined by the International Pacific Halibut Commission each year prior to the fishing season.

According to NMFS the plan is designed to provide halibut fishery managers with greater precision in setting halibut catch limits and management measures that are responsive to changes in halibut exploitable biomass and fishing effort. Allocations to the charter and commercial sectors will vary with changes in halibut abundance.

The catch sharing plan also aims to provide stability and flexibility in charter harvest NMFS said. One element of the plan that allows for flexibility is the “guided angler fish” program, which authorizes annual transfers of commercial halibut individual fishing quota to charter halibut permit holders to give charter anglers the opportunity to land halibut up to the limit in place for unguided anglers. For example, if unguided anglers were allowed to retain two halibut of any size per person per day, and charter anglers were limited to one halibut of a specific size per person per day, charter halibut operators could use the guided angler fish program to permit a client to harvest up to two fish of any size per day. 

A copy of the catch sharing plan is available for the region can be found here.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

December 4, 2013 — Fishermen will lose income and shrimp processors fear their industry will be harmed worldwide because of regulators’ decision Tuesday to cancel the 2014 shrimp fishing season in the Gulf of Maine in response to the species’ collapse.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to close the Gulf of Maine to shrimping after a harvest last winter that was the smallest since the last shutdown of the fishery, in 1978.

“We are screwed,” said Mel Cushman of Port Clyde, whose husband, Randy Cushman, has been fishing for shrimp and groundfish for more than 30 years. “Shrimping is half of our (yearly) income. We don’t know what we are going to do.”

North Atlantic shrimp provide a small but valuable fishery for New England fishermen, with several hundred boats going after them using nets and traps. About 85 percent to 90 percent of the annual harvest in the Gulf of Maine is typically caught by Maine boats.

This summer, a survey indicated that the northern shrimp stock was at its lowest level since the annual trawl survey began in 1984. A report released Nov. 21 by the fisheries commission’s Northern Shrimp Technical Committee concluded that the stock has collapsed.

The report recommended a moratorium on shrimping in 2014 to maximize the species’ spawning potential. It attributed the collapse in part to warming ocean temperatures.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com] — December 6, 2013 –Last month NMFS released some preliminary data on Gulf of Alaska halibut discards based on the first year of observers on the small boat halibut fleet. The numbers shocked many people, with discards extrapolated across the fleet to be as high as 20 million lbs.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission also estimates halibut discards and its estimates were far lower than those of NMFS.  For the past five years, IPHC estimated that total halibut discard mortality was around 1.874 million pounds per year.

The high numbers reported by NMFS to the council raised the question as to whether the fleet had been underreporting discards before the observer program began.

However, recent analysis by the IPHC shows that there were a number of flawed assumptions in the NMFS observer data report, and that in fact estimates of total discard mortality are not that different than those of the IPHC when these problems are corrected.

First, NMFS reported total discards, not mortality, and specifically said that they were not reporting mortality.  The conversion used for halibut mortality of discards is 0.16 for hook and line gear.   This correction means the mortality reported by NMFS would be about 3.2 million pounds – still far above the IPHC number.

However, the IPHC uses a dressed weight calculation, not live weight, so apply this calculation to NMFS figures, the mortality is reduced to 2.4 million pounds.  There is a 75% conversion factor for halibut from round weight to dressed weight.

NMFS also made a gross error in estimating the weight of discards.  The overwhelming majority of halibut discards are because they are too small – under 32 inches, which is the minimum legal size.  The average weight of these small discards is 8 to 10 lbs.  Yet NMFS used the average weight of all halibut, which is 20-25 pounds.  Correcting NMFS figures for the correct weight would result in a further substantial reduction.

Taken together these corrections will likely yield an NMFS discard mortality volume of 1.5 to 1.8 million pounds, which is fully consistent with the average discard mortality that has been calculated by the IPHC for the past five years.

There is no ‘smoking gun’ showing that the halibut fleet has excessive discards.  There discards and mortality is well within the expected range. However, it may be a long time before this impression is corrected.

 

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

December 9, 2013 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is serving as an official navigator to help its members shop for and enroll in the new health insurance marketplace.

December marks the beginning of the end of high lobster fishing season in Maine.  A time when many of the state’s roughly 5,800 lobstermen will haul in their gear and begin to dive into the new healthcare law, Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, told the Bangor Daily News.

As independent business owners, lobstermen are responsible for their own health insurance, and with the complexities of enrolling in the new Health Insurance Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, MLA, in partnership with Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS), is serving as a navigator to help lobstermen throughout the state shop and enroll in the new system.

“We wanted to be a part of this to help Maine lobstermen understand the new health law and the new requirements—to make sure that they have all the information they need about what’s available for options for health coverage so they can make the best informed decision for what they need,” said April Gilmore, MLA’s certified navigator.

Read the full story at Associations Now 

PORTLAND, Maine — December 5, 2013 — Shrimp fishermen learned their entire season has been canceled because of dwindling shrimp stocks. Meanwhile, scallop fishermen are getting record prices for their catch in this first week of the season.

It's been a mix of good news and bad news for Maine's fishing industry this week.

Shrimp fishermen learned their entire season has been canceled because of dwindling shrimp stocks. Meanwhile, scallop fishermen are getting record prices for their catch in this first week of the season.

State regulators say scallop fishermen are bringing in $13 a pound for scallops caught in Cobscook Bay in Downeast Maine.

Read the full story and watch the video at NECN

ESSEX, Mass. — December 3, 2013 — The soft-shelled backbone of this town’s economy is under attack from an old enemy, with invasive species of crabs gobbling up clams throughout Essex Bay, experts say.

There may be two invasive species threatening the deep-fried favorite of Essex, the European green crabs and the Asian shore crabs. But Essex Shellfish Constable Billie Knovack says there is especially an uptick in European green crabs in Essex, and that means fewer for clammers to reel in.

“We have a green crab invasion,” he said Tuesday.

Usually, Knovack explained, the winter kills off the crab population. But warmer waters and warmer weather — which he attributed to climate change — means more time for the crabs to hunt Essex’s soft-shelled clams.

“It’s a much more opportune environment,” he said. “If you’re a crab, this is beautiful weather,” he said in 40-degree temperatures at the town landing Tuesday.

Knovack said there are no hard numbers as to the amount of European green crabs in the Essex River or Essex Bay, but the clams are disappearing. About two to three years ago, commercial clammers were meeting their annual 250-pound clam quota; now, clammers are catching about 150 pounds each annually, he said.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

EDMUNDS, Maine — December 2, 2013 — Business was brisk for fishermen plying Denny’s Bay at the start of the late dragging season for sea urchins on Monday.

A couple of companies bought sea urchins from fishermen as they landed their catch at the boat ramp at Cobscook Bay State Park.

Prices were off compared to the same time about a year ago, but most fishermen were not arguing and were happy to exchange their catch for cash.

About a dozen pickup trucks belonging to fishermen, with boat trailers for skiffs or small vessels, were parked at the boat ramp, and about a dozen boats were moored off shore. A fairly steady flow of fishermen motored to the landing to bring in their catch, meeting buyers at the edge of the water or up in the parking lot as they pulled their trailered boats out of the water.

“It’s all right,” said Howard Robbins of Trescott, who accepted $2.85 per pound for his seven totes, said of the prices that were being offered. Filled totes can weigh anywhere from 70 to 100 pounds apiece.

Read the full story the Bangor Daily News