Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Sets Management Measures for Northeast Multispecies

July 27, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective Today

We are approving the previously proposed Framework 61 developed by the New England Fishery Management Council that sets or adjusts catch limits for groundfish stocks for the 2021 fishing year (May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2022), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. For 2021, Framework 61 decreases six stock quotas, and increases four stock quotas compared to 2020. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2020 and are intended to help prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks.

This action also revises the status determination criteria for Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic winter flounder, implements a revised rebuilding plan for white hake, and implements a universal exemption to allow sectors to target redfish.

Read the final rule as published in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule: Framework 61 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

June 24, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are seeking public comment on an action developed by the New England Fishery Management Council that would set or adjust catch limits for groundfish stocks for the 2021 fishing year (May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2022), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. For 2021, Framework 61 would decrease six stock quotas, and increase four stock quotas compared to 2020. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2020 and are intended to help prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks.

This action would also revise the status determination criteria for Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic winter flounder, implement a revised rebuilding plan for white hake, and implement a universal exemption for sectors to target redfish.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal.

The comment period is open through 07-09-2021.

Feds: White hake, winter flounder overfished

July 30, 2020 — Gulf of Maine white hake, Georges Bank winter flounder and Atlantic Coast bluefish have been added to a list of fish stocks considered “overfishered,” according to a federal government report.

The report, released Tuesday, also said that the list of fish stocks subject to overfishing in the U.S. fell to an all-time low in 2019.

The National Marine Fisheries Service tracks the health of species that U.S. fishermen seek for commercial and recreational fishing. The agency places stocks on its overfishing list when the rate of catch is too big.

The agency determined that only 22 of 321 fishing stocks were subject to overfishing last year, the agency said on Tuesday. Fish stocks are sub-populations of fish species that typically live in a geographic area.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Blue Harvest inks deal to acquire 35 Rafael groundfish vessels for $25m

November 26, 2019 — One of the most anticipated forced sell-offs in the history of US commercial fishing – the unloading of Carlos Rafael’s fleet in New Bedford, Massachusetts — looks to be on the verge of completion.

Blue Harvest Fisheries, a US scallop and groundfish supplier backed by New York City-based private equity Bregal Partners, has signed a purchase agreement to buy at least 35 vessels and skiffs and all of their associated permits from Carlos Rafael for nearly $25 million, documents obtained by Undercurrent News confirm.

The deal includes millions of pounds of quota for at least eight types of fish in the Northeast multispecies fishery, including cod, haddock, American plaice, witch flounder, yellowtail flounder, redfish, white hake, and pollock.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

There are plenty of fish in the sea. Why do we eat so few?

May 7, 2019 — The waters off New England teem with a wide range of species, from scup, white hake, and mackerel to whelk, surf clams, and peekytoe crab. But despite this abundance, just a small handful of regionally available species dominate the marketplace—mostly lobster, scallops, and cod. Why don’t supermarket shelves better mirror the diversity of local waters?

That question is the subject of a new survey of fish and shellfish diversity in grocery stores and specialty markets in New England. The study, published on Monday by Eating with the Ecosystem, a nonprofit that promotes local and sustainable seafood harvesting in the Northeast, looks for “symmetry”: namely, the balance between the creatures found in nearby waters and the products found in the seafood section. For now, the study found, that proportion is greatly out of whack.

The report is based on the shopping experiences of 86 citizen scientists, who collected data over a six-month period of time. Each week, participants were randomly assigned four species from a list of 52 species commonly found in the waterways where New England fishers harvest their catch. They were instructed to seek their targets out at up to three markets, bring one home, cook out, and rate their experience. Basically, it was adult hide-and-seek but with pollock and sea urchins instead of people.

Read the full story at The New Food Economy

Little hope in latest evaluations of codfish

October 23, 2017 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — The completed operational assessments to help determine 2018-2020 groundfish quotas do not appear to be any more optimistic about the state of Gulf of Maine cod than those that effectively shuttered the fishery in the fall of 2014.

The New England Fishery Management Council’s science and statistical committee is set to meet Monday and Tuesday in Boston to review the assessments for 19 groundfish species and finalize its catch recommendations to the full council.

According to committee documents, the operational assessments show the respective stocks of eight species — Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank haddock, redfish, white hake, windowpane flounder, pollock, Georges Bank winter flounder and American plaice — to be abundant and healthy.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times