Saving Seafood

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell: City would be great home for fisheries center

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — December 29, 2015 — If NOAA Fisheries should decide to move the Northeast Fisheries Science Center out of Woods Hole, Mayor Jon Mitchell said New Bedford would be just right for a new home.

Mitchell calls the city “the best place in the Northeast by far.”

For about a year, the Commerce Department, which contains NOAA, has been assessing the adequacy and the condition of the various buildings that constitute the laboratory. NOAA spokeswoman Teri Frady said repairs, renovations or replacement are all possible options and any definitive direction is still a long way off.

“This kind of facilities study is done of any project like this,” Frady said. “There’s no decision at this point. We’re mainly focusing on the study so that the Department of Commerce and NOAA have everything they need.”

For his part, Mitchell said told The Standard-Times he “raised this issue with NOAA at least a year ago, along with the federal delegation.”

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times

Statement from Paul Doremus, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations at NOAA Fisheries on Recent Press Regarding Relocation of NOAA Fisheries Woods Hole Laboratory

December 24, 2015 — The following was released from NOAA Fisheries:

On December 23, 2015, the Falmouth Enterprise published a story that NOAA “is exploring the possibility of relocating the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to a new facility outside of Woods Hole.” While the story suggests that relocation may be imminent, we are in fact very early in the process of considering how best to update the buildings and associated operations of the 54-year-old Woods Hole complex. The Enterprise story also contains statements from a Science Center employee that do not represent the views of the agency. At this point, NOAA has not made a decision to relocate the laboratory and will only pursue a recapitalization option after extensive analysis and consultations with the Administration and Congress.

Right now, NOAA is conducting a large-scale study that will evaluate all of our options for upgrading the Woods Hole complex. Studies like this are a normal business practice for long-term planning. This type of study requires the agency to evaluate multiple options to inform the overall decision-making process.

While NOAA Fisheries is fully committed to maintaining its scientific capabilities in the Northeast, the condition of that laboratory, built in 1961, will make it increasingly difficult for NOAA to continue its tradition of world-class fisheries science in the region into the future.

The current study will be completed sometime in the spring. Starting with this study, Fisheries will continue to work with NOAA and the Department of Commerce to ensure they have everything they need to evaluate our options, including information on potential community impacts, costs and benefits to our mission, and the ability for our Agency to continue to do our scientific work in the Woods Hole area.

We look forward to working further with the Administration, with Congress, and with all of our partners in the region as we evaluate our options for upgrading our facilities and providing the best long-term support for our scientific work in the Northeast.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Fisheries Center Might Move Out Of Woods Hole

December 23, 2015 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is exploring the possibility of relocating the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to a new facility outside of Woods Hole.

NOAA’s chief of research communications Teri Frady said Monday that the United States Department of Commerce, which oversees the NEFSC, has been evaluating the feasibility of the existing facility for about a year. She said a report will be completed by spring 2016 outlining options for the facility, which could include moving operations to a new building outside of Woods Hole.

The fisheries center, which operates as a research division of NOAA Fisheries, was founded by Spencer Fullerton Baird upon his appointment by President Ulysses S. Grant as the country’s first fisheries commissioner in 1871. The original facility was built on Water Street in 1885. After the facility was destroyed during Hurricane Carol, the current building was constructed in the same location in 1961.

Today, the Woods Hole branch manages operations of four other fisheries laboratories in the northeast, including those in Sandy Hook, New Jersey; Milford, Connecticut; Narragansett, Rhode Island; and Orono, Maine.

Ms. Frady said NOAA sees relocating as a way of possibly bringing all the fisheries operations together. In addition to its headquarters on Water Street, the fisheries houses its observer program on Carlson Lane, while its social sciences department operates out of leased space in the Falmouth Technology Park. The organization also operates a warehouse in Pocasset.

Read the full story at The Falmouth Enterprise

URI researchers to study climate change effect on fisheries

December 19, 2015 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have been awarded a federal grant to study the effects of climate change on Atlantic fisheries.

The state’s congressional delegation says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is giving the researchers $227,850.

Jeremy Collie, at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, is leading the team. Scientists are participating from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Narragansett Laboratory, located on URI’s Bay Campus.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC6 News

 

MAFMC Revises 2016 Spiny Dogfish Specifications

December 16, 2015 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has revised the spiny dogfish specifications that were previously recommended for the 2016 fishing year. During the December 2015 Council Meeting last week in Annapolis, Maryland, the Council approved a revised acceptable biological catch (ABC) limit of about 52 million pounds and a commercial quota of 40 million pounds. The revised commercial quota represents an increase of nearly 60% relative to the quota originally recommended for 2016. In addition, the Council approved ABCs of 51 million pounds for 2017 and 50 million pounds for 2018. 

At a previous meeting in October, the Council had recommended substantial reductions in spiny dogfish catch limits for 2016, including a 50% cut in the commercial quota, in response to the findings of the 2015 spiny dogfish stock assessment update. Although the update concluded that the stock was neither overfished nor subject to overfishing, the new estimate of stock biomass had decreased markedly. The Council’s recommendations would have reduced the commercial quota for spiny dogfish by 50% next year. 

However, the Council expressed concern that the spiny dogfish assessment update did not include any data from 2014 – the result of mechanical issues with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) trawl survey vessel – and requested that the SSC work with the NEFSC to evaluate alternative ABC-setting methods that could address this data gap. Three different methods for calculating spiny dogfish biomass were evaluated, and the SSC identified a Kalman filter as the best available approach for overcoming the missing data. 

Using the alternative approach, the SSC recommended ABCs that resulted in commercial quotas of approximately 40 million pounds for 2016, 39 million pounds for 2017, and 38 million pounds for 2018. This represents a 20% reduction in quotas from 2015 to 2016. However, landings have been below 50% of the commercial quotas for the last two full fishing years, and the reduced quota is unlikely to be constraining. 

After considering additional public comment during last week’s meeting, the Council accepted the SSC’s revised ABC recommendation and associated management measures. The New England Fishery Management Council also approved similar specifications at its December meeting for this jointly-managed species, and if approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the new measures will go into effect May 1, 2016.

Webinar/Agenda for NEFMC Meeting, Portland, ME, Dec 1-3, 2015

November 25, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold its Dec 1-3 meeting in Portland, ME. Please take a look at the details below if you would like to listen in. 

Location: For further information about the venue, check Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, ME

Meeting Materials: See the agenda here Dec 1-3, 2015 Council Meeting Agenda and meeting materials at www.nefmc.org/calendar/december-2015-council-meeting 

Webinar Registration: See https://global.gotowebinar.com/ojoin/9120951799557371650/300000000000299567 for online access to the meeting.

The webinar will be activated beginning at 8:00 a.m. each day and end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST .

Charges for Listening: There are no charges if you access the webinar via your computer. If dialing in, your normal phone charges will apply.

Dial in number: Toll: +1 (646) 307-1720

Access Code: 399-520-213

View a PDF of the Meeting Agenda

Fishermen facing huge cost to pay for at-sea monitors as federal dollars dwindle

November 11, 2015 — QUINCY, Mass.  — The Northeast Fisheries Service Center said Wednesday that money to pay for at-sea monitors on fishing vessels is almost depleted, leaving fishermen and companies that own fishing vessels to cover the cost come January.

Bringing along a monitor to watch over the daily catch will cost local fishermen more than $700 a day.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program started five years ago, but the NOAA and taxpayers picked up the tab at a total cost of $18.4 million since 2010, said Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for the Gloucester-based fisheries service said.

Frady was unable to say how many fishing boats in the state are currently mandated to have a monitor.

Marshfield fisherman Ed Barrett said the regulation affects any fishing boat working under the federal catch share program.

“No one can afford to do this,” said Barrett, who is president of the Massachusetts Bay Ground Fishermen’s Association. “There’s just not that kind of profit margin in this.”

Forced to pay $710 to bring along an approved monitor, some fishermen would actually lose money depending on the day’s catch, he added.

It was unclear Wednesday whether Congress would vote to restore funding to the program.

Read the full story at the Marshfield Mariner

 

Agenda, NEFMC Meeting, December 1-3, Portland, ME

November 11, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting on Tuesday-Thursday, December 1-3 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland, ME.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

9:00 a.m. Introductions and Announcements (Terry Stockwell, Council Chairman)

9:05 Reports on Recent Activities Council Chairman and Executive Director, NOAA Regional Administrator (Greater Atlantic Region), NOAA General Counsel, Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council liaisons, and representatives of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA Enforcement, and the Northeast Regional Ocean Council

11:15 Spiny Dogfish Report (Jason Didden, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff) Approve final action on the 2016-2018 fishery specifications and associated management measures

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 Open Period for Public Comments (Terry Stockwell) Opportunity for the public to provide brief comments on issues that are relevant to Council business but not listed on this agenda for formal discussion (speakers are asked to sign up beforehand and limit remarks to between 3-5 minutes)

1:45 Overview and Discussion of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Strategic Plan (Dr. Bill Karp, Science Director, NEFSC)

2:15 Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Report (Dr. Jake Kritzer, SSC Chair)

  • Review and approve committee recommendations for an overfishing limit (OFL) and an acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the following: Atlantic sea scallops for fishing years 2016-2017; red hake for 2016-2017; most of the groundfish stocks in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for fishing years 2016-2018;
  • Receive SSC comments on NOAA’s Ecosystem-based Fishery Management Policy

3:45 Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management (EBFM) Committee Report (John Pappalardo)

  • Receive a progress report on the development of a prototype Fishery Ecosystem Plan
  • Review and finalize NEFMC comments on NOAA’s EBFM policy

**Public scoping hearing on Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan** at 5:30 or immediately following adjournment of the Council meeting

The intent of the amendment is to establish a limited access program for the five small mesh stocks that are regulated via the NEFMC’s Groundfish Plan — two stocks of whiting (silver hake), two stocks of red hake, and one stock of offshore hake.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

8:30 a.m. Skate Committee Report (Libby Etrie) Approve final action on Framework Adjustment 3 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP); in addition to setting specifications, other measures may include possession limits and modifications to the seasonal management of the wing fishery

9:15 Thorny Skate Update (Kim Damon-Randall, NOAA Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office staff) Update on NOAA Fisheries’ follow-up activities associated with the petition to list thorny skate as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act

9:45 Groundfish Committee Report (Frank Blount)

  • Overview of the Greater Atlantic Region’s (GAR) Recreational Fishery Implementation Plan (GAR staff) Following a presentation, opportunity for the Council to develop formal comments on the plan
  • Recreational Fishery Measures, beginning at approx. 10:30 Develop final recommendations for Gulf of Maine haddock and Gulf of Maine cod recreational measures for fishing year 2016;
  • Framework Adjustment 55, beginning at approx. 11:15 Take final action on the 2016-2018 fishery specifications for 20 groundfish stocks, plus the three U.S./CA stocks for 2016 only; this framework also could include final action on multiple at-sea monitoring and other management measures

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 Groundfish Report/Framework Adjustment 55 – continue until meeting adjournment for the day

Thursday, December 3, 2015

8:30 a.m. Finalize NEFMC Management Priorities for 2016 (Executive Director Tom Nies)

10:00 Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) Briefing (ACCSP staff) Program overview and update

10:45 Research Steering Committee Report (Mark Alexander) Request Council consideration of specific research recommendations for sea scallops and monkfish

11:00 Scallop Committee Report (Mary Beth Tooley)

  • Amendment 19 to the Sea Scallop FMP Take final action on an amendment that would allow earlier implementation of the sea scallop fishery specifications (now proposed as April 1)
  • Framework Adjustment 27 Take final action on fishing year 2016 specifications and default measures for fishing year 2017

12:00 p.m. Lunch Break

1:00 Scallop Committee Report – continued

3:00 Other Business

Times listed next to the agenda items are estimates and are subject to change. The meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities Council member financial disclosure forms are available for examination at the meeting.

View a PDF of the Agenda

Climate change hurting New England cod population, study says

October 29, 2015 — The rapid warming of the waters off New England has contributed to the historic collapse of the region’s cod population and has hampered its ability to rebound, according to a study that for the first time links climate change to the iconic species’ plummeting numbers.

Between 2004 and 2013, the mean surface temperature of the Gulf of Maine — extending from Cape Cod to Cape Sable in Nova Scotia — rose a remarkable 4 degrees, which the researchers attributed to shifts in the ocean currents caused by global warming.

The study, which was released Thursday by the journal Science, offers the latest evidence of climate change — this time, affecting a species once so plentiful that fishermen used to joke that they could walk across the Atlantic on the backs of cod.

Fisheries management officials have sharply limited cod fishing in hopes of protecting the species, but they estimate the number of cod remain at as little as 3 percent of what would sustain a healthy population. The limits, in turn, have hurt fishermen.

“Managers [of the fishery] kept reducing quotas, but the cod population kept declining,” said Andrew Pershing, the study’s lead author and chief scientific officer of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland. “It turns out that warming waters were making the Gulf of Maine less hospitable for cod, and the management response was too slow to keep up with the changes.”

The institute had reported last year that the rise in temperatures in the Gulf of Maine exceeded those found in 99 percent of the world’s other large bodies of saltwater. The authors of Thursday’s study link the rapid warming to a northward shift in the Gulf Stream and changes to other major currents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

They say the warmer water coursing into the Gulf of Maine has reduced the number of new cod and led to fewer fish surviving into adulthood. Cod prefer cold water, which is why they have thrived for centuries off New England.

The precise causes for the reduced spawning are unclear, the researchers said, but they’re likely to include a decline in the availability of food for young cod, increased stress, and more hospitable conditions for predators. Cod larvae are View Story eaten by many species, including dogfish and herring; larger cod are preyed upon by seals, whose numbers have increased markedly in the region.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

NEFMC: Response to Study on Rising Water Temps in the Gulf of Maine

October 29, 2015  — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Gulf of Maine, located off northern New England and Canada, has hosted important commercial and recreational marine fisheries for centuries. In addition to existing threats from land-based pollution, marine discharges, energy development, and disturbances to habitat, a more recent problem, temperature rise, has emerged. The just-published paper in Science —Slow Adaptation in the Face of Rapid Warming Leads to the Collapse of Atlantic Cod in the Gulf of Maine — adds to the increasing body of work on this topic.

As an organization responsible for the management of fisheries in federal waters that encompass the Gulf of Maine, the New England Fishery Management Council (Council), along with partners, NOAA Fisheries and the New England states, offers comments on this paper.

  • Most importantly, climate change is a very real issue that affects fisheries in ways we are just beginning to understand and is one the Council and others must confront.
  • This particular paper presents interesting research, but as is generally the case, it is rare that any one scientific study provides “The Answer.” This one will almost certainly generate more discussion and further consideration of how fisheries management bodies might respond.
  • NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center is actively investigating climate change that could help develop possible responses. The Science paper will likely become part of the larger discussion on how to adapt and respond to climate change. During that process, it will be the subject of careful review, including testing of its assumptions and conclusions. Should they stand up to this scrutiny, the work may influence future quota-setting
  • Work is underway by the Council to look more broadly at fisheries through ecosystem-based fisheries management; those efforts may illuminate the way in which we consider this pressing threat to the productivity of fisheries in the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere.
  • More critically, the Science paper appears to presume that the Council should have anticipated the unusual temperature rise in 2012, without any explanation of how that could have been done. The current quota for Gulf of Maine cod is the lowest on record, and will almost certainly remain so in the foreseeable future. The goal at this time is to allow sustainable levels of fishing on healthy stocks, such as haddock, redfish, and pollock to continue, while creating the opportunity for cod to recover.

After reviewing the paper, Council Executive Director Tom Nies summarized his reaction to the challenges raised in the Science paper. “Fishery managers will need to adapt to the host of significant changes caused by the rapid rise in water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine; specifically, the New England Council will continue its close partnership with the scientific community in order to mount an effective response to this circumstance.”

View a PDF of the release here