Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Fish wars swirl around NC’s diminishing southern flounder

September 12, 2015 — Not the prettiest nor the most elusive of fish, the flat, oval-shaped southern flounder is nonetheless a tasty staple along the North Carolina coast, whether it’s caught by fishing rod or purchased in a seafood market or restaurant.

These days the southern flounder is making waves that reach all the way to the state capital, pitting recreational anglers against commercial operators, setting a regulatory commission’s members against one another and their staff, and prompting legislators to wade into a controversy that is the territory of the executive branch. Accusations of political threats and retaliation abound.

The controversy centers on how extensively the flounder is being over-fished. Conservationists and recreational anglers say the fish is so popular that its numbers are in danger of being depleted, and point out that the catch has dropped by 60 percent in the past 20 years. But commercial fishermen say the two groups are being alarmists and are trying to take a shortcut around the process that is in place to regulate fishing.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources notes that the smaller catch could be caused in part by stricter regulations. Commercial anglers have succeeded in convincing the environmental agency to reverse its initial support for temporary limits, and have brought a halt to the proposed rewrite of the regulations.

The stakes are large: Ninety-six percent of all the southern flounder that went into commercial markets in the United States in 2013 came from North Carolina waters. Last year, 1.7 million pounds were caught that sold to dealers for $4.8 million.

Read the full story at the The News & Observer

 

Battle brewing over flounder limits based on disputed study

August 27, 2015 — NORTH CAROLINA — Yet another clash between commercial and recreational fishing interests is coming to a showdown, this time over southern flounder and it now involves the North Carolina General Assembly.

On Aug. 20, 13 legislators, led by Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, sent a letter to Division of Environmental and Natural Resources Secretary Donald van der Vaart asking him to rescind the authority he gave to the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission to “vote on stock-reduction policies that would have grave economic consequences to commercial fishermen statewide.”

The battle over harvesting southern flounder has been percolating for the past few years. Certain recreational fishing interest groups, particularly the Coastal Conservation Association, have called for a massive reduction in catches of the fish, including a complete ban on commercial harvesting.

Things heated up even more when a DMF-commissioned stock assessment of southern flounder released in January was rejected by a peer-review panel consisting of Dr. Steve Midway of Coastal Carolina University, Erik Williams of the National Marine Fisheries Service and Genny Nesslage of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission — the latter two federal or federally chartered entities.

Dr. Louis Daniel, director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the panel cited two major flaws in the study, one “potentially surmountable” with the other “insurmountable.”

Read the full story at The Outer Banks Voice 

 

Battle brewing over flounder limits based on disputed study

August 27, 2015 — Yet another clash between commercial and recreational fishing interests is coming to a showdown, this time over southern flounder and it now involves the North Carolina General Assembly.

On Aug. 20, 13 legislators, led by Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, sent a letter to Division of Environmental and Natural Resources Secretary Donald van der Vaart asking him to rescind the authority he gave to the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission to “vote on stock-reduction policies that would have grave economic consequences to commercial fishermen statewide.”

The battle over harvesting southern flounder has been percolating for the past few years. Certain recreational fishing interest groups, particularly the Coastal Conservation Association, have called for a massive reduction in catches of the fish, including a complete ban on commercial harvesting.

 Things heated up even more when a DMF-commissioned stock assessment of southern flounder released in January was rejected by a peer-review panel consisting of Dr. Steve Midway of Coastal Carolina University, Erik Williams of the National Marine Fisheries Service and Genny Nesslage of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission — the latter two federal or federally chartered entities.
                                                          
Read the full story at the Outer Banks Voice
                                                                                    

North Carolina Fisheries Association Update for August 10, 2015

August 11, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

MFC BRIEFING BOOK AVAILABLE ONLINE

The briefing book is now available for the MFC Aug. 19-21 business meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton Raleigh Brownstone University Hotel, 1707 Hillsborough St., Raleigh. The commission is scheduled to:

  • Select and approve management measures for the southern flounder supplement
  • Receive the 2015 Stock Status Report presentation
  • Hear an update on the adaptive management measures for the blue crab fishery
  • Vote on posting information updates for the Interjursidictional and Kingfish fishery management plans online for public review
  • Approve a five-year fishery management plan schedule

NOTE: The commission will deliberate on southern flounder issue 8:30 a.m. Friday.  Please plan to attend if at all possible.

GOVERNOR MCRORY SIGNS S-374

The legislation repeals the logbook requirement for the for-hire fishing industry and prohibits the Department of Environment and Natural Resources from entering into a joint enforcement agreement with NFMS.

FACT SHEET: 2016 SUMMER FLOUNDER CATCH AND LANDINGS LIMITS

NMFS ANNOUNCES 2015 ACL FOR ATLANTIC BLUEFISH 

Annual catch limits for the 2015 bluefish fishery:

  • 2015 commercial quota: 5.241 million lb. This is a 35 percent decrease from 2014.
  • 2015 recreational harvest limit: 12.951 million lb. This is a 4.3 percent decrease.

Together, the total allowable landings for 2015 is 18.19 million lb. This is a 13.7 percent decrease from the 2014 total allowable landings.  Although the bluefish stock is not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring, the most recent stock assessment update indicates the size of the stock has declined, which triggered the reductions. In recent years, states’ landings of bluefish have been below their allocated quota, and the quota reductions may be partially mitigated by the states’ ability to transfer quota.  Read the final rule and get more information from the permit holder bulletin. 

RECREATIONAL SECTOR EXCEEDS 2015 FOR GOLDEN TILEFISH, NMFS CLOSES FISHERY

Recreational harvest of golden tilefish in South Atlantic federal waters will close 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2015. Recreational harvest in federal waters will reopen at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2016. The recreational annual catch limit for golden tilefish is 3,019 fish. Reports indicate that landings have exceeded the 2015 annual catch limit for the recreational sector for golden tilefish.

AGENCIES SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT ON RESTORING THE CAPE FEAR RIVER NEAR WILMINGTON

State and federal agencies are seeking public participation to identify opportunities to restore natural resources damaged due to decades of contamination from a former wood treatment operation near Wilmington.  The agencies will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Navassa Community Center, 338 Main St., Navassa, N.C., to describe their efforts and solicit restoration ideas from the public. Comments on the restoration scoping document will be accepted through Sept. 4, 2015.

TRADEWINDS

Last week’s email link to Maureen was incorrect.  If you’re interested in advertising for the upcoming Sept./Oct. issue – which will be distributed to thousands at Fishermen’s Village and the State Fair – you can contact her at editor@nctradewinds.com.

STATE FAIR/FISH VILLAGE

Fishermen’s Village at the N.C. Seafood Festival and the State Fair will be here before you know it.  Fishermen, we need you to come out for both events to tell your story.  No one can do it better than you.  Fishermen’s Village is Oct. 3 and the State Fair begins mid-October.  If you cannot attend, please consider donating seafood.  We will be providing samples again this year in Raleigh.  It’s a big hit and great way to show people why it’s “Got to be NC.”

REGULATION AND RULE CHANGES:

–Coral Amendment 8 in the South Atlantic Effective Aug. 17

-USCG Mandatory Dockside Inspections Required Effective Oct. 15

DEADLINES:

Aug. 26 – Green Sea Turtles ESA Uplisting Comments

Sept. 1 – SAFMC Snapper-Grouper Draft Vision Blueprint Comments

Sept. 4 – Cape Fear River Restoration Scoping Document Comments

Sept. 10 – NMFS Updated Draft Acoustic Guidelines Comments

Sept. 14 – NMFS Generic Amendment to Snapper-Grouper, Golden Crab and Dolphin-Wahoo FMPs Comments

Sept 21 at 5 p.m. – 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Research Set Aside Applications

Oct. 2 – MFC Proposed Rules Comments

MEETINGS:

If you are aware of ANY meetings that should be of interest to commercial fishing that is not on this list, please contact us so we can include it here.

 

Aug. 11-13 – Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council Meeting

Aug. 12 – Correction – SAFMC Snapper-Grouper Regulatory Amendment 16 Public Hearing, Jacksonville, NC

Aug. 13 – Correction – SAFMC Snapper-Grouper Amendment 36 Public Hearing, Morehead City

Aug. 18  at 6 p.m.– Cape Fear River Restoration Public Meeting, Navassa Community Center, 338 Main St., Navassa

Aug. 19 at 1:30 p.m. – MAFMC Spiny Dogfish Advisory Panel Meeting via webinar

 

Aug. 19-21 – Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting, Raleigh

Aug. 31-Sept.1 – ASMFC Menhaden Ecosystem Management Workshop

Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. – MFC Rules Public Hearing, DMF Central District Office, 5285 Hwy 70 W, Morehead City

PROCLAMATIONS: 

SNAPPER-GROUPER COMPLEX – RECREATIONAL PURPOSES

View a PDF of the release here

 

JERRY SCHILL: Lessons from Menhaden & More

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — July 16, 2015 — The following op-ed appeared this week in The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its author, Jerry Schill, is President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a member of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition.

In 2012 North Carolina’s General Assembly banned the purse-seining of menhaden off our coast, in part, due to a stock assessment that was less than ideal. Three years later, we find that the stock assessment was incorrect and menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.

A 2009 stock assessment claimed speckled trout had been overfished for the past 18 years leading to drastic restrictions. In 2014 we found the assessment was incorrect and speckled trout had never been overfished and overfishing had never occurred, moving the fish from the bottom category of “depleted” to the best category of “viable” in this year’s stock status report.

Twice in the last few years through the actions or recommendations by the Marine Fisheries Commission, (MFC), we banned one type of commercial fishing and restricted the other based upon bad information.

Now comes southern flounder, the most economically important commercial finfish fishery in our state. Since 1979, 28 conservation measures have been put in place in that fishery, including increased size limits and numerous gear changes and closures. Yet, the commercial landings have remained steady. Two of the three peer reviewers for the most recent flounder assessment stated it could not be used for management purposes. What in the world is going on?

After menhaden and speckled trout, is it any wonder that North Carolina Fisheries Association, (NCFA), questions the efforts of the MFC to rush into draconian measures……again?

Our position has been consistent: we believe the MFC should be working on an amendment to the fishery management plan for southern flounder. A supplement is too quick and too easy to once again make a major mistake at the expense of commercial fishing families and consumers. The supplement process avoids the public participation and the regulatory oversight that comes with an amendment. The MFC is using the supplement in an effort to avoid that oversight and push an agenda that includes a ban on large mesh gillnets. They are circumventing the process established by the General Assembly; so we have suggested that legislators apply the brakes!

It’s been suggested by some very credible sources that the MFC has violated the Open Meetings Law in this process. The process now is so skewed that Allyn Powell, a retired fisheries biologist with 30 years at the National Marine Fishereries Service Beaufort Lab, resigned from the science seat on the MFC because he felt the decisions being made were agenda-based that usurped science!

Mr. Sneed of the CCA cited the 2014 Stock Status Report that classified 15 of the 29 species of finfish managed by the state as either “of concern” or “depleted”. However, the 2015 report shows improvement with 12 of those categories, and more importantly, those listed in the top category as “viable”, went from nine to 13!

There is a segment of commercial fishermen who claim nothing is wrong with southern flounder and nothing should be done. Likewise, there are those recreational fishermen who espouse banning the nets, regardless of the data. Both are wrong. The southern flounder plan should be amended, and had the MFC made that decision back in February, they would be well along in that process.

We believe that organizations like ours should strive to assure the process is served as the General Assembly intended. We shouldn’t be using the end to justify the means. Shame on the CCA and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, who not only are very open about their wish to ban large mesh gillnets, but who have members sitting on the MFC who do their bidding.

As one who sat through hundreds of hours of meetings during the deliberations of the Moratorium Steering Committee deliberations in the 90s and attended the signing of the Fisheries Reform Act by Governor Jim Hunt in 1997, I know the legislators’ intent with the passage of that law. It was to establish a very deliberative process with extensive public input and regulatory oversight. The proposed supplement for southern flounder avoids much of that, and the MFC obviously needs some assistance in understanding its role in the process.

Read this op-ed online at The News & Observer

 

JERRY SCHILL: Facts about North Carolina fish stocks

July 13, 2015 — Regarding the June 27 Point of View “The dark side to North Carolina’s fishing heritage”: In 2012, the General Assembly banned the purse-seining of menhaden off our coast, in part due to a stock assessment that was less than ideal. Three years later, we find that the stock assessment was incorrect, and menhaden are not overfished. A 2009 stock assessment claimed speckled trout had been overfished, leading to drastic restrictions. In 2014, we found the assessment was incorrect, moving the fish from the bottom category of “depleted” to the best category of “viable” in this year’s stock status report.

Twice in the past few years through the recommendations of the Marine Fisheries Commission, we banned one type of commercial fishing and restricted the other based upon bad information. Now comes Southern flounder, the most economically important commercial finfish fishery in our state. Since 1979, 28 conservation measures have been put in place in that fishery, including increased size limits and numerous gear changes and closures. Yet the commercial landings have remained steady. Two of the three peer reviewers for the most recent flounder assessment stated it could not be used for management purposes. What is going on? After menhaden and speckled trout, is it any wonder that we question the efforts of the MFC to rush into draconian measures again?

Read the full opinion piece at The News & Observer