Saving Seafood

Regulators vote to protect more corals in Atlantic

February 1, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council has approved a deep-sea coral protection amendment that will close a wide swath of the continental slope and canyons south of Georges Bank to almost all bottom-tending fishing gear in waters deeper than 600 meters.

The omnibus deep-sea coral amendment, approved by the council Tuesday, will protect 25,153 square miles of deep sea corals and was hailed by conservationists and environmentalists despite the fact that their alternative proposal would have protected even more area off the coast of New England.

“Today’s action is a strong step toward coral conservation, however it was unfortunate that the council did not select the stronger option that was available to them,” Gib Brogan, Oceana’s fisheries campaign manager, said in a statement. “The council missed the opportunity to approve a plan that would have truly stopped the expansion of current fishing and would have protected more corals.”

The deep-sea coral amendment, which requires NOAA Fisheries review and approval, covers 75 percent of the known corals within the designated area, 75 percent of the area’s most suitable habitat for soft corals and 85 percent of the area’s canyon slopes pitched at greater than 30 degrees.

It protects four seamounts and 20 deep-sea canyons.

If approved by NOAA Fisheries, the designated protection areas will be closed to all bottom-tending gear, including mobile gear such as trawls and dredges and all fixed gear such as traps and gillnets.

The lone exception, approved by the council, allows the Atlantic deep-sea red crab pot fishery to continue harvesting in the area.

Fishermen, however, will be able to continue fishing with bottom-tending gear from the Massachusetts coast to the designated protected areas, unless they are in areas already restricted by regulations apart from the coral amendment.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Review renews debate over first Atlantic marine national monument

August 7, 2017 — BOSTON — During his eight years in office, former President Obama protected more than 550 million acres of public land and water as national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Unlike creating a national park, which requires an act of Congress, a president can declare a national monument to protect “objects of historic or scientific interest” with a proclamation.

Critics of the monument say President Obama overstepped the powers set forth by the Antiquities Act and did not provide enough opportunity for public comment. In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order asking his Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, to conduct a review of 27 monuments created since 1996. The purpose of the review is to determine if these monument areas qualify under the terms of the act and to address concerns from the community.

Two days later, Trump signed another executive order outlining his “America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.” The plan demonstrates Trump’s vision for the exploration and production of energy on federal lands and waters to decrease America’s dependence on foreign energy.

Fishing industry’s concerns

Captain Fred Penney, a lobsterman out of Boston Harbor, believes that the monument will hurt the future of fishing in New England because the new restrictions were implemented without much input from the fishermen themselves.

“To have no regulations and have it be a free-for-all, that’s completely unacceptable, I understand that,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to see that. But what they’re doing now doesn’t seem to be it.”

Many in the industry felt fishing in the area should have been regulated under the Magnuson- Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, which created eight regional fishery management councils to maintain sustainable fisheries and habitats in the U.S.

The councils are divided up by region, including the New England, Mid-Atlantic and South- Atlantic councils on the East Coast. Each council sets regulations for certain fisheries such as limiting catch size, issuing permits and monitoring fishing equipment.

Fishermen argue the council’s lengthy public process is more transparent than a proclamation from the president and allows for more input from the community.

Jon Williams of the Atlantic Red Crab Company said the fishermen were not given much notice about meetings and the scope of the monument. He argued the area was thriving under the council’s management before the monument designation.

“We’d been in there for 40 years and if it’s… pristine now, after our presence for 40 years, why is there an emergency for the president to use an act to protect this thing?” Williams said. “Why not give it to the council and let the council do its job?”

Before the Obama administration announced the monument, the New England Fishery Management Council was working on a coral amendment that would protect deep sea corals, one of the goals of the monument. The South and Mid Atlantic Councils passed similar regulations years earlier.

 

Read the full story at The Groundtruth Project

ASMFC 2017 Spring Meeting Final Agenda and Meeting

April 26, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2017 Spring Meeting can be obtained at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-spring-meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. Please note there are two links for the American Lobster Board meeting – the first link is for the main materials and the second link is to the NEFMC’s Deep-Sea Coral Amendment. For ease of access, all Board/Section meeting documents, with the exception of the American Lobster Board materials, have been combined into one document – Main Meeting Materials. 

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of meetings. Interested parties should anticipate meetings starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning May 8th at 1:00 p.m.  and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 3:00 p.m.) on Thursday May 11th. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go tohttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/936308200287732994 to register.

As a reminder, the guidelines for submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action) are as follows: 

1.   Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included with the main meeting materials.

2.   Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday immediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be May 2, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3.   Following the Tuesday, May 2, 2017 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

NEFMC to Host Coral Workshops to Solicit Input From Active Fishermen

February 8, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is hosting two workshops to bring together active fishermen who use bottom-tending mobile and fixed gear to discuss issues related to its Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.  Advance registration is strongly encouraged.  Here are the details.

PURPOSE:  The Council is seeking guidance primarily from active fishermen who use trawls, traps or pots, gillnets, longlines, and/or dredges offshore in the Gulf of Maine and in the slope/canyon region south of Georges Bank.  The Coral Amendment contains several alternatives that are under development.  The Council is looking for:  (1) industry feedback on fishing activity within proposed coral protection zones; and (2) help in refining management area boundaries to limit impacts to fishing operations while still providing protection for corals.

WORKSHOP #1, NEW BEDFORD, MA:  Two days, beginning Monday, March 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and continuing into Tuesday, March 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, 185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA 02740.  

AGENDA #1:  The New Bedford workshop will focus on fishing activity in and around the amendment’s draft deep-sea canyon coral zones and shelf/slope broad coral zones south of Georges Bank.  Generally speaking, these zones are deeper than 150 fathoms.  NOTE — large pelagic fishermen who work in the canyon/slope region are not proposed to be impacted by the Coral Amendment.

MAP #1:  A map of the area being addressed in Workshop #1 is available at zones south of Georges Bank.

REGISTRATION #1:  New Bedford Registration Form.

WORKSHOP #2, PORTSMOUTH, NH:  Single day, Wednesday, March 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Harborside, 250 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

AGENDA #2:  The Portsmouth workshop will focus on fishermen and fishing activity in Jordan Basin and the Lindenkohl Knoll area of Georges Basin.  NOTE — proposals for the inshore areas around Outer Schoodic Ridge and Mount Desert Rock are not the intended focus of this Portsmouth gathering.

MAP #2:  A map of the area being addressed in Workshop #2 is available at Jordan and Georges Basins.

REGISTRATION #2:  Portsmouth Registration Form.

GENERAL INFORMATION:  Pre-registration is highly encouraged, even among stakeholders who have voiced an interest in attending but have yet to fill out a registration form.  Both venues have limits on room capacity, and workshop organizers plan to distribute background materials and related information to registrants in advance of each event.  Accurate head counts are important for planning purposes.  Visit the Council’s Coral Workshops webpage for full details.

QUESTIONS:  Contact Michelle Bachman, the New England Council’s habitat fishery analyst, at (978) 465-0492, ext. 120, email mbachman@nefmc.org.

Maine braces for potential closing of four areas to lobster fishing

December 6th, 2016 — The New England Fishery Management Council is debating a plan that may limit or eliminate lobster fishing in four areas off the Maine coast that host abundant colonies of deep-sea corals.

The areas in the Gulf of Maine that are being considered for protection include Mount Desert Rock, Outer Schoodic Ridge, Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll. More than 400 lobstermen fish those areas, which span about 161 miles of federal waters, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The council is considering approval of the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment, which may require gear restrictions in the protected areas. The Maine Department of Marine Resources and Maine lobstermen requested the council provide an exemption for lobster and crab fishing within the protected zones, arguing that the inshore lobster fishery is the primary economic driver for two coastal counties encompassing at least 15 harbors in Maine, but at a meeting in November, the council said it “was not prepared to completely eliminate lobster gear restrictions from consideration at this stage of the amendment process.”

Scientists only recently discovered that fragile coral habitats existed in the areas in question, and during their research, they found evidence that fishing has damaged and denuded the coral.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

New England Fishery Management Council Previews Deep-Sea Coral Amendment Analysis; Addresses Marine National Monument Overlap Issues

November 16, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council received a briefing yesterday from its Habitat Committee regarding preliminary Deep-Sea Coral Amendment analyses covering: (1) potential impacts of fishing activity on corals; and (2) available fishery effort and revenue data.

The Council also made two decisions related to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which President Obama established on Sept. 15, 2016 using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Although the President designated the monument, his proclamation directed the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, to manage the activities and species within the area under the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other federal laws.

In an Oct. 21 letter to the Council, John Bullard, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, asked the Council to amend its fishery management plans to “reflect the action of the President and implement the appropriate fishing regulations for the Marine National Monument.”

The Council discussed the request and decided not to develop its own amendment since it did not designate the monument. This means the Commerce Department will fulfill the President’s charge through a secretarial amendment.

Bullard said public hearings would be held under the secretarial action and any proposed amendments would be sent to both the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils for “consideration and comment.”

The Council also debated a motion it had postponed during its September meeting to move all proposals in the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment that overlap with the Marine National Monument to the “considered but rejected” portion of the amendment.

After considerable debate, the Council voted to keep the overlapping alternatives in place for further consideration and analysis, noting that it was important to move forward with the coral protection process it had begun before the monument was designated.

Regarding the current list of alternatives in the coral amendment, the Council did vote to add an additional option to the mix.

For background, the Council is proposing to protect corals through the development of two types of coral zones – discrete areas and broad areas, which are defined as follows.

  • “Discrete Areas” designate narrowly defined coral zones in the Gulf of Maine, for single canyons, and on individual seamounts; and
  • “Broad Areas” designate a coral zone along the entire shelf-slope region between the US/Canada Exclusive Economic Zone boundary and the New England/Mid-Atlantic Council boundary.

Broad zones are meant to prevent the expansion of fishing effort into additional deep-water habitats. The Council is considering various minimum depth contours for defining these zones.

The Council further debated whether to continue developing potential lobster trap/pot restrictions in the inshore Gulf of Maine coral zones, which are offshore the state of Maine’s waters near the Outer Schoodic Ridge area and west of Mt. Desert Rock.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources and Maine lobstermen requested that the Council provide an exemption for lobster and crab fishing within these zones, arguing that the inshore lobster fishery in this area is the primary economic driver for two Downeast Maine coastal counties encompassing at least 15 harbors.

The Council acknowledged the importance of these coral zone areas to the lobster fishery but was not prepared to completely eliminate lobster gear restrictions from consideration at this stage of the amendment process. Instead, it will continue to develop inshore Gulf of Maine coral zone alternatives that may restrict these gears but will include an option to exempt lobster trap/pot fishing.

NEFMC April/May Newsletter

May 6, 2016 — The Council Report summarizes major actions approved at NEFMC meetings or highlights items of interest.

At its April 19-21 meeting in Mystic CT, the Council approved actions related to the development of its fishery management plans. The issues involved:

  • Development of a Deep Sea Coral Amendment
  • Atlantic Herring Amendment 8
  • The Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment
  • Sea Scallops and the NGOM Area
  • EBFM
  • Spiny Dogfish
  • At-Sea Monitoring
  • Small Mesh Multispecies

Read the full newsletter as a PDF