Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester group critical of NOAA quotas, methods

April 8, 2016 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. —  The city’s Fisheries Commission weighed in with public comments on proposed adjustments to the Northeast Fishery Management Plan, expressing concern about heavy cuts in 2016 catch quotas for some of the fishery’s most important species and frustration with the process for determining the size of fish stocks.

The commission’s comments, which significantly mirror comments generated by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition on Framework Adjustment 55, are contained in a letter to John K. Bullard, regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The commission is supportive of the Northeast Seafood Coalition comments,” Commission Chairman Mark Ring wrote to Bullard. “Notably, the concerns raised by the NSC over the catch reductions slated for the 2016 fishing season, which are based on the 2015 Operational Assessment Update.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Seafood coalition skeptical of proposed new rules

April 6, 2016 — The Northeast Seafood Coalition has submitted public comments for the proposed rules for the Northeast Fishery Management Plan that reiterate its lack of confidence in NOAA’s current system of scientific assessments for groundfish.

The comments from the Gloucester-based NSC, submitted to NOAA Fisheries before Tuesday’s deadline, question the reported status of the witch flounder stock and sets the fishing advocacy group in opposition to the proposed allowable biological catch limit of 460 metric tons or the 2016 fishing season.

“NSC expressed concern with the reported status of witch flounder during the public process,” the coalition said in its comments, which also reference the group’s “expressed concern that catch rates within the fishery are completely inconsistent with the reported stock status from the assessment.”

That concern with the methodology and accuracy of the stock assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a familiar refrain throughout the NSC comments.

“NSC has been an active participant over the years in the scientific assessments for groundfish stocks,” it said in its comments. “Direct engagement in the process, however, has made NSC leadership grow more leery of groundfish assessments.”

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times