Saving Seafood

Commerce Department declares four fishery disasters

July 1, 2021 — Four U.S. fisheries, from New York’s troubled bay scallops to Northwest salmon, were declared to have suffered fishery disasters in 2018-2020 by Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo this week.

The collapses affected two states, Alaska and New York, and two Tribes, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis, in Washington.

“Fisheries are essential to our communities and economy, and we want to ensure America is in a position to remain competitive on the global stage,” Secretary Raimondo in a June 29 announcement. “These determinations allow us to lend a helping hand to the fishing families and communities that have experienced very real and difficult setbacks in the last few years.”

The secretary of commerce with NMFS evaluates fishery disaster requests, based primarily on data submitted by the requesting state or tribe.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEFMC Approves 2022-2023 Scallop RSA Priorities; Initiates Framework 34; Responds to Letter on Leasing Petition

June 24, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During its June 2021 webinar meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council adopted 2022-2023 research priorities to help steer the development of the next round of projects to be funded through the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. Resource surveys were identified by the Council as the highest priority, as has been the case for several years running.

This year, the Council expanded the range of potential projects under its high priority category by:

  • Broadening the scope of research that can be proposed under the scallop biology priority; and
  • Expanding the turtle priority to cover gear research and ecological studies, which were identified as Reasonable and Prudent Measures in the new Biological Opinion for the scallop fishery

The Council also identified three categories of important general research projects, which are noted in the table below. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) is expected to publish the Notice of Funding Opportunity for 2022-2023 awards this summer. NOAA Fisheries administers the RSA award competition and oversees selected projects, as well as set-aside harvest activities. The awards are based on the Council’s identified RSA priorities.

Read the full release here

Fishing council votes to ban wire leaders for Hawaii fishery

June 24, 2021 — The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council is recommending the prohibition of wire leaders for Hawaii’s deep-set longline fishery to protect the oceanic whitetip shark, and now that the U.S. has made the move to protect the species, advocates hope that it will persuade international agencies to do the same.

The council, also known as Wespac, made the decision to ban wire leaders—and replace them with monofilament nylon leaders—during a meeting Tuesday. The move would reduce post-release injury and death to oceanic whitetip sharks, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, that get hooked on longline fishing hooks.

Wespac also recommended that all longline vessels operating under the Pacific Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan be required to remove as much trailing gear from caught sharks as possible.

The amendments will be reviewed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story from The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at Yahoo! News

Western Pacific Council Defers Action on American Samoa Bottomfish Rebuilding Plan

June 24, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council voted to defer action on the rebuilding plan for the federally managed bottomfish complex in American Samoa at its virtual meeting today in Honolulu.

In February 2020, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) informed the Council of a change in stock status for American Samoa bottomfish to overfished and experiencing overfishing. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires the Council to develop a rebuilding plan within 15 months of notification and rebuild the overfished stock within 10 years. During plan development, a new alternative of 5,000 pounds emerged that would rebuild the stock in 10 years with a 27% risk of overfishing.

While the Council opted to consider this alternative at its September 2021 meeting, members expressed their dismay that it was the best choice available. They noted the disparities in catchability between using hand-cranked reels, common among local bottomfishermen, and electric reels. Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds said that changes in fishing power through time would be a good topic for fishermen to discuss with the NMFS scientists at the data workshops planned for the fall.

Similarly, NMFS noted in February 2020 that the federally managed Guam bottomfish stock complex is overfished but not experiencing overfishing. While a new alternative emerged during the rebuilding plan development, it would only add 500 pounds while extending the rebuilding timeline by two years. The Council elected to retain the annual catch limit (ACL) of 31,000 pounds adopted at its March 2021 meeting, starting in fishing year 2022. The limit corresponds to a 41% risk of overfishing and would allow the stock to replenish in eight (8) years. This option poses the least chance of the fishery exceeding the catch limit and considers fishing community needs.

The annual average bottomfish catch over the past several years is about 27,300 pounds. An in-season accountability measure will be implemented to track catch relative to the ACL. Federal waters will be closed to bottomfishing when the ACL is projected to be reached.

Council members representing American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam voiced their continued frustration with the ongoing NMFS coral critical habitat designation process. NMFS issued the proposed rule in November 2020 and the public comment period closed in late May 2021 after multiple requests from the territories to provide additional time for review.

Seven species of corals listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) occur around American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI and the Pacific Remove Island Areas. Their habitat in U.S. waters around the territories represents less than 1% of these species’ full distribution across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Critical habitat under the ESA can only be designated in U.S. jurisdictions. The proposed designations encompass most shallow waters around the island territories.

The proposed rule’s focus on the territories prompted responses from each area’s governors, resource management agencies and legislatures. John Gourley, CNMI Council member, highlighted the common messages from all of these entities to NMFS, noting that the regions expressed their disappointment in the lack of coordination with the local resource management agencies and expertise in the development of the proposed rule.

Chelsa Muña-Brecht, Council member and Guam Department of Agriculture director, said local coral experts were not consulted to gather the best scientific information available. Council Chair Taotasi Archie Soliai added that “clearly consultation with local agencies is a necessity on these types of issues.” Corals are notoriously difficult to identify, even by experts, and there is much uncertainty about the existing records for the territories.

A March letter from NMFS Regional Administrator Michael Tosatto to the territories said his staff would work directly with local agency staff to gather relevant information to incorporate into the final coral critical habitat rule. Gourley said that no contact has been made to date.

According to the ESA, NMFS is to issue a final rule on the coral critical habitat designation by November 2021. Territories have requested the final decision to be delayed until more complete scientific information are available to provide the basis of the designation.

The Council requested that staff include critical habitat issues in a letter that will be sent to the Biden Administration regarding Executive Order 13985 that encourages comments on barriers to racial equality and underserved communities. More than 75% of the population in the Pacific Islands Region identify as indigenous, Asian American, Pacific Islander or other persons of color—all groups that fall under the EO’s definition of underserved communities that have historically been denied equitable treatment.

Prior to the beginning of the third day of the Council meeting, at 10:30 a.m. (HST) June 24, 2021, two Council-produced films will be shown about fishing and fishing management in Hawai‘i. The 18-minute film Living the Legacy: The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands documents the history of U.S. Pacific Islands fisheries, focusing on the 1920s through 2000. The 12-minute film The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands explores the two opposing ideas that the region should be either closed to all activities, or should be used, studied and managed.

The Council meeting concludes tomorrow by web conference (Webex). Instructions on connecting to Webex, agendas and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars.

Congressmen Lowenthal and Fitzpatrick Introduces Bipartisan Bill To Protect Imperiled Seabirds

June 23, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-CA):

Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), today, joined by 20 House colleagues, introduced legislation to protect imperiled seabirds from international fishing threats while increasing ongoing seabird conservation efforts in the United States and abroad.

The Albatross and Petrel Conservation Act would implement the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), an international conservation agreement that has been signed by 13 member countries since 2001 and covers 31 species of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters. Despite previous calls by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama to ratify the agreement, the Senate has yet to vote on the agreement.

“This is a critical opportunity for the United States to resume its leadership role in international conservation efforts,” Congressman Lowenthal said. “It is vital that we implement the ACAP to encourage other nations to adopt strong conservation standards and also in order to take steps to ensure that foreign fishing vessels follow international conservation measures that protect endangered seabirds.”

Many albatross and petrel species are listed among the most threatened seabirds in the world because of habitat loss and fisheries bycatch (unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing for a different species), but the U.S. has been a leader in reducing fisheries bycatch.

“Serving as good stewards of our environment and working to ensure endangered species can be protected and repopulated is something each of us are called to regardless of location, background or political ideology,” Congressman Fitzpatrick said. “This bill will help reduce habitat destruction, minimize marine debris, and slow the spread of invasive species. I’m proud to stand with my colleagues in support of this bipartisan legislation and urge others to join us in the defense of endangered species.”

The Albatross and Petrel Conservation Act ties together existing U.S. laws and statutes without substantially changing current laws in order to implement the international agreement.

The legislation would also authorize the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to implement fisheries conservation measures, increase international fisheries enforcement, restore habitat, reduce non-native species, develop educational programs, and cooperate internationally on conservation efforts.

Click here to read the full text of the bill.

NMFS enacts ocean-bottom protections for Gulf of Maine corals

June 22, 2021 — The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has enacted the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment, effectively protecting deep-sea corals in an area roughly 25,000 square miles in size.

The amendment was first approved on 20 November, 2019, after the council developed the action and the NFMS approved it. The final rule, published 21 June, implements the amendment, which prohibits the use of all bottom-tending gear – with the exception of red crab pots – along “the outer continental shelf in waters no shallower than 600 meters to the exclusive economic zone,” the final rule states.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Meet the new NMFS director: Janet Coit

June 22, 2021 — Janet Coit has been appointed the assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. She will also serve as acting assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, and deputy NOAA administrator, according to a press release from NOAA.

Coit succeeds Paul Doremus, who has been acting NMFS administrator since January. The appointment is effective immediately.

“I have worked closely with Janet Coit for many years in Rhode Island, and I am thrilled to see her expertise and skillful leadership recognized by this administration,” said Chris Brown, a Rhode Island commercial fisherman and president of the Seafood Harvesters of America. “Janet will be a thoughtful and steady NMFS AA, carefully listening to stakeholders while keeping sound science, not politics, at the heart of the agency. She won the respect of commercial fishing industry in Rhode Island, and I expect her to do the same as NMFS AA.”

Coit directed the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for more than 10 years, where she focused on improving natural resource conservation, promoting locally grown and harvested food, including seafood. She worked to improve new infrastructure for commercial and recreational fisheries and promote sustainable management of fisheries, including a new shellfish initiative.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

RHODE ISLAND: Former DEM chief Janet Coit named to lead U.S. fisheries office

June 22, 2021 — It’s a rare thing for someone to occupy a Cabinet-level position in state government under three different governors. But Janet Coit was able to do it, steering the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for a decade, the longest tenure of any director in the 44-year history of the agency.

Now, she’s set to take a set of traits — diligence, diplomacy, likeability — that she used to great effect as Rhode Island’s top environmental official to what will surely be a more challenging position on the national stage. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Coit’s former boss in the Rhode Island State House, announced the selection of Coit to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries office.

Raimondo described Coit as a source of trusted counsel while she was governor and said she will bring a wealth of experience to what’s also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Film highlights how lobster fishers could help save right whales

June 21, 2021 — David Abel sees a clear solution to the human threat posed to North Atlantic right whales, involving a rethink of the rope-based methods of lobster fishing off New England and Atlantic Canada.

The Boston Globe journalist and documentary maker, along with producer Andy Laub, laid out the vision in the film “Entangled” released this week. It portrays the tensions between environmentalists, regulators and lobster harvesters during 2019 as the whale appeared on the way to potential extinction.

Warming waters in the northeastern Atlantic have put the whales on a collision course with fishing gear in lobster and crab areas, as well as bringing the animals into shipping lanes where vessel strikes are more probable, the documentary notes.

The threats have created challenges for the National Marine Fisheries Service in the United States and the federal Fisheries Department, as they’ve have struggled to balance the vying interests of an endangered species with the need to preserve a mainstay fishery of northeastern North America’s coastal communities.

Read the full story at Canada’s National Observer

Nominations Sought for Positions on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee

June 17, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking nominations to fill vacancies on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee. MAFAC advises the Secretary of Commerce on all living marine resource matters that are the responsibility of the Department of Commerce. The Committee researches, evaluates, and provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary and NOAA on the development and implementation of agency policies that address science and regulatory programs critical to the mission and goals of the NOAA Fisheries Service.

MAFAC members are highly qualified, diverse individuals with experience across the wide spectrum of:

  • Commercial, recreational, aquaculture, and subsistence fisheries
  • Seafood industry, including processing, marketing, working waterfronts, and restaurants
  • Marine, ecosystems, or protected resources management and conservation
  • Human dimensions or social sciences associated with living marine resources.

Members may be associated with tribes and indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, academia, consumer groups, and other marine life interest groups.

Nominees should possess demonstrable expertise in one of these areas. They must also be able to fulfill the time commitments required for two in-person annual meetings, one to two virtual meetings, and between-meeting subcommittee work. Membership is balanced geographically across states and territories, ethnically, and on the basis of gender, in addition to the range of expertise and interests listed. Individuals serve for a term of 3 years and may serve a second consecutive term, if re-appointed.

Read the full release here