Saving Seafood

California: Bill would allow crab season to close temporarily for whale entanglements

February 21, 2018 — North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire is looking to make changes to the state’s Fish and Game Code with the Fisheries Omnibus Bill, SB 1309, which he introduced Friday.

Several of the provisions in the bill would impact local fisherman and local practices. And, according to McGuire, several of the changes were introduced at the request of fishermen.

Specifically, one provision would update what McGuire called “antiquated regulations” for the Humboldt Bay anchovy fleet.

The bill would establish one 60-ton limit on anchovies taken from Humboldt Bay between May 1 and December 1 each year, rather than two 15-ton limits for specific time periods each year.

“Humboldt Bay has always been subject to its own anchovy fishery regulations,” he said. “The Fishing Omnibus Bill brings the Humboldt Bay regulation in line with the rest of the state.”

Several provisions of SB 1309 deal with the Dungeness crab fishing industry — one would allow the director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife to temporarily close a crabbing season in the event of a whale entanglement, another would create new regulations for lost crabbing gear.

“This bill would authorize the director, upon the unanimous recommendation of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, as defined, to, on an emergency basis, close Dungeness crab season in any waters due to whale entanglements, or reopen Dungeness crab season in those waters if the risk of whale entanglements has abated,” the proposed bill states.

The working group is made up of commercial and recreational fishermen, environmental organization representatives, members of the disentanglement network, and state and local agencies, according to the Ocean Protection Council website.

“Two seasons ago there was an entanglement in Monterey Bay,” McGuire said Monday. “The director of Fish and Wildlife didn’t have the authority to close crab season even though there was an entanglement. The crab fleet came to the committee and asked us to change this provision in law, which is why we are advancing this fix in the omnibus bill.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit alleging Fish and Wildlife violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing crab fishing, said McGuire’s bill does not go far enough.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

 

CALIFORNIA: State Sen. McGuire resolution urges federal aid for fisheries

August 29, 2017 — North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire has introduced a Senate resolution that addresses the ongoing salmon fisheries crisis and urges the federal government to act.

McGuire notes it’s an “unprecedented collapse” in a recent news release as the salmon population is at an all-time low. Local tribes are receiving the lowest allocations of salmon in decades and salmon fishing has been closed in some areas.

McGuire’s proposal, SJR 7, urges Congress to approve a formal disaster declaration and funding package to help the thousands who depend on the salmon industry either for their livelihood or subsistence. North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman has been working at the federal level to make that possible.

“We’re grateful to Congressman Huffman for his leadership on this important issue,” McGuire said in a statement. “He’s pushing hard, and we want to throw the full weight of the California Legislature behind the recovery and funding efforts.”

Read the full story at the Times-Standard

CALIFORNIA: Capitol Tracker: Area reps take stand on landing fee hikes

March 28, 2017 — Both of the state’s North Coast legislators, Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood, are vocal in their opposition to a proposal put forward by the governor to increase fishing landing fees.

The plan from Gov. Jerry Brown to fill a $20 million shortfall in the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife budget would increase landing fees for the state’s commercial fishing fleet. The increases would raise an additional $12.4 million.

“Currently, revenue from the commercial fish landing fees support less than one quarter of the Department’s program costs,” the budget summary states, adding that landing fees have not been adjusted for 20 years.

According to McGuire, the increase in the fees “exceeding 10,000 percent” is “simply unacceptable.”

“We have to protect and preserve California’s fisheries, and we’re deeply concerned about the future based off of threats from the federal government and the exorbitant fees being proposed by the Governor’s Office,” McGuire said in a statement.

Wood reacted similarly.

“As Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture and a member of the Assembly who represents nearly one-third of California’s coastline, I am adamantly opposed to the Governor’s proposal to increase landing fees on commercial fisheries,” Wood said in a statement.

He added that the fishing industry has not had it easy the past few years with toxic algae blooms halting the crab fishing season on the North Coast last year and salmon populations declining significantly.

“Exacerbating the financial hardships of an industry that has so recently suffered these crises in order to address the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s budget concerns is unconscionable,” Wood wrote in a letter to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, which he co-chairs.

Read the full story at The Times-Standard News

Paying Crab Fishers to Save Whales

September 28, 2016 — For years, California Dungeness crab fishers wanted to haul lost and abandoned crabbing gear out of the sea to keep it from entangling and killing whales but were forbidden by law to retrieve the free-floating lines, wire traps, and buoys, which are considered private property.

Now, with whale entanglements soaring, a bill signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown not only rewards fishers for clearing away the hazardous debris but pays for it by making owners of derelict gear buy back their equipment from the state.

The Whale Protection and Crab Gear Retrieval Act was introduced by state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, and approved overwhelmingly by both houses of the legislature. It was backed by a diverse coalition of groups, including Earthjustice, the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association, and SeaWorld.

Under the new law, which takes effect next year, Dungeness crab fishers can receive a permit to collect lost or abandoned traps after the crab season has closed. They will be paid an as-yet-unspecified bounty for each trap turned in.

Taxpayers will not foot the bill. Instead, owners of the drifting gear will pay fines based on the value of their equipment, typically several hundred dollars for a trap and its lines. Failure to buy back their gear will result in revocation of their vessel permit for the following season. Abandoned or lost gear can be traced to the owner through an identification number attached to each trap.

Read the full story at takepart

Tough Seasons for California Crabbers

August 31, 2016 — The recent crab season in California was abysmal, to say the least.

Epic neurotoxin levels found in Dungeness and rock crabs forced state officials to close fisheries for months instead of weeks, crippling one of the state’s most lucrative fishing industries and leaving fishermen in California’s Northern and Central coasts unable to make a living.

Boats loaded with new fishing gear and crab pots sat in harbors such as Bodega Bay and Monterey. Boat owners have had to lay off crewmembers, who left to find work elsewhere or collect unemployment.

In Crescent City, a small Northern California town of fewer than 8,000 people, the community has been hosting fundraisers to help struggling crabbers. The city has one of the largest landings for Dungeness crab.

Angel Cincotta, who owns the Alioto-Lazio Fish Company on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf with her two sisters, told an NBC Bay Area affiliate that they have had to assuage customers’ concerns about the product they were selling.

“Crabs are currently coming out of Washington and Alaska, out of certified clean waters, so they’re safe to eat,” she told NBC.

The neurotoxin also affected rock crab season in Santa Barbara, one of the state’s biggest ports for rock crab fishing. The rock crab season, which runs all year, was delayed for months in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

“Thousands of Californians are dependent on healthy a crab fishery, and this year we have faced a disaster,” said State Sen. Mike McGuire, chairman of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture. “Our magnificent and iconic crab fishery has gone from abundant to scarcity. And after a lousy salmon season, our fishery boats sit idle. Crabbers are struggling to make ends meet.”

Read the full story at Fishermen’s News

Dungeness crabbers likely to receive assistance

February 10, 2016 —  Gov. Jerry Brown Tuesday informed U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker via a letter that the state of California was requesting federal declarations of a fishery disaster and commercial fishery failure in response to the continued presence of unsafe levels of domoic acid in Dungeness and rock crab across the state.

The governor’s request Tuesday initiates an evaluation of a federal fishery resource disaster under the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 and a commercial fishery failure under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.

By declaring a federal disaster, affected fisheries would be able to receive economic assistance for losses incurred.

Typically a $90 million industry for the state annually, Brown estimated in his letter that the continued closures would cost $48 million in losses for Dungeness crab, and $376,000 for rock crab, based on estimated values of both species during the time period of November 2015 through June 2016.

Because the crabbing season is likely to remain delayed or closed for the remainder of the 2015-16 season, Brown predicts these estimates to only increase.

Mendocino County fisheries have also reported at least $4 million in losses, according to Tami Bartolomei, county Office of Emergency Services coordinator, who updated the Board of Supervisors during its Feb. 2 meeting. Bartolomei said she expected to keep receiving additional disaster economic worksheet claims from local fisheries that go to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

County supervisors that day authorized Bartolomei to send a letter to the state’s Office of Emergency Services requesting that Mendocino County be included on a list of other affected California counties for declaration considered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has since announced it was offering federal disaster loans to state small businesses that have suffered financial losses as a result of the crab ban. Mendocino County is among the dozens of counties on the SBA’s list of eligible areas.

North Coast Sen. Mike McGuire, also chairman of the state Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, will host another meeting Thursday as part of the 43rd annual Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum in Sacramento. The meeting was scheduled prior to Brown’s letter, and will also cover the governor’s request for crab disaster declaration.

Read the full story at the Daily Journal