Saving Seafood

Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee Meeting

June 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) will meet on July 12-14. This year, TRAC will consider the assessment for Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder, an update of biological and fishery indicators for Eastern Georges Bank Haddock and Atlantic Cod, an overview of the data limited methods tool (DLMtool) application to Atlantic Cod and the subsequent advice, and an update for Allocation Shares. Results of the 2021 TRAC assessment meeting will be reported to management agencies in both countries.

If you wish to attend, please confirm your participation at the meeting via MS Teams with your respective TRAC co-chair Tara Trinko Lake (U.S. Co-chair) or Tara McIntyre (Canadian Co-chair) by Monday, July 5th.

About TRAC

TRAC was established in 1998 to peer review assessments of transboundary fishery resources in the Georges Bank area, in order to ensure that the management efforts of both Canada and the United States of America, pursued either independently or cooperatively, are founded on a common understanding of fishery resource status.

Number of overfished stocks in US on the decline

May 21, 2021 — The number of US fisheries deemed “overfished” declined in 2019, with 22 stocks subject to overfishing versus 2018’s status of 26 stocks — a sign some rebuilding efforts are showing results.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Report to Congress on the Status of US Fisheries, released Thursday, surveys fisheries in US territorial waters annually to determine the status of stocks deemed troubled under NOAA’s management guidelines.

In its report, NOAA designates fisheries under excessive pressure as either “overfished” or subject to “overfishing.”

Read the full story at IntraFish

NOAA Fisheries Sets Fishing Year 2021 Management Measures for the Common Pool Groundfish Fishery

April 21, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective May 1

We are setting common pool possession and trip limits to ensure that the common pool groundfish fishery is able to fully utilize its available quotas. Effective on May 1, these possession and trip limits were developed based on the common pool sub-Annual Catch Limits set by Framework Adjustment 59 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. We also considered preliminary 2021 sector rosters, expected common pool participation, common pool fishing activity in previous fishing years, and that Framework 61 is still being considered for approval. During the fishing year, we will monitor common pool catches, and will adjust common pool management measures, as necessary.

Additionally, Northeast multispecies vessels may not target yellowtail flounder within the Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder/Haddock Special Access Program (SAP) in fishing year 2021. Northeast multispecies vessels are not allowed to fish in this SAP using flounder trawl nets, but may fish in this SAP to target haddock with a haddock separator trawl, a Ruhle trawl, or hook gear. This SAP is open from August 1, 2021, through January 31, 2022.

Lastly, the Regular B Days-at-Sea (DAS) program is closed for fishing year 2021. During this closure, Northeast multispecies vessels may not declare or use regular B DAS.

For more details, read the notice as filed in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin.

Read the full release here

Home-Based Researchers Keep 10-Year Study Afloat During Pandemic

April 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Even without a pandemic, figuring out the number of eggs a fish will lay during its spawning season is a difficult task. While this information is important to fishery biologists, long-term data are scarce. That hampers researchers ability to answer a fundamental question important for fishery managers: What affects the ability of marine fish, and fish populations, to replace themselves in an open ocean? The pandemic made answering this question even more difficult—but our researchers persevered.

“Many marine fish produce hundreds of thousands to millions of eggs per female per year, the survival of which determines the future abundance of a population,” said Mark Wuenschel, a fish biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Wuenschel is leading a long-term study on “fecundity”—a term for reproductive potential—in two commercial flatfish species, winter flounder and yellowtail flounder. “We had to have enough samples, and we had to work out the methodology to do it.”       

Annual fecundity — in this case, measured by the number of eggs — varies and depends on the size, age, and condition of the female fish. Environmental variables, such as temperature and available prey, also affect the growth, condition, and reproduction of the females. Like many things in life, timing is everything. To study fecundity, female fish have to be collected at just the right time from the right locations, and in large numbers. Then, lots of eggs need to be counted.

Enter Emilee Tholke and Yvonna Press, both center biologists who work with Wuenschel. They were granted access to their lab one day a week under specific safety protocols. They prepared egg samples and captured images of the eggs using a high-resolution camera with a macro lens and a microscope. Images were stored on a flash drive or transferred to a shared network file.

Then, working from home, each analyzed the images and entered the results into a shared database. Working from home not only kept the egg counts going, but ensured that critical sampling would continue, and prevented a back-log of sample processing work. This year’s effort completes a 10-year time-series of sampling, image analysis, and fecundity estimates for winter and yellowtail flounders.

Read the full release here

NOAA FISHERIES: Reminder: Closed Area II Closed From August 15 – November 30

August 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Closed Area II Access Area is closed from August 15 – November 30.  Scallop vessels must be outside of the area at 0001 on August 15, 2020, and any ongoing Closed Area II trips must be terminated.  For fishing year 2020, the existing seasonal closure in Closed Area II is extended an additional 15 days to reduce bycatch of northern windowpane flounder and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.  Closed Area II will reopen on December 1, 2020, for the remainder of the 2020 fishing year and the first 60 days of fishing year 2021 (April 1, 2021 – May 30, 2021).

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Travis Ford, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9233

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

NOAA: number of US stocks on the overfishing list reach record low in 2019

July 30, 2020 — Ninety-three percent of the 321 US fishing stocks where a determination can be made are not subject to overfishing, according to figures released Tuesday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its Fisheries Economics of the United States 2019 report.

The report outlines the status of managed stocks or stock complexes in the US to determine which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.

NOAA Fisheries manages 461 stocks or stock complexes in 46 fishery management plans. Each year, it determine the status of fish stocks and stock complexes through stock assessments. Of 461 stocks and stock complexes, 321 have a known overfishing status and 244 have a known overfished status.

At the end of 2019, there were 22 stocks on the overfishing list and 46 on the overfished list.

Read the full story at IntraFish

NOAA reports indicate U.S. fisheries sustainable, robust economically

July 28, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries on 28 July released an annual report, and gave a preview of a report slated for release later this year, that both indicate U.S. fisheries are robust and in many cases improving  – both in terms of sustainability and revenue.

NOAA Fisheries has released the 2019 Status of U.S. Fisheries Report, an annual publication that outlines the status of the country’s 461 managed stocks or “stock complexes” in the U.S., to showcase which stocks are overfishing, overfished, or have been rebuilt.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Sets Northeast Multispecies Measures for the 2020 Fishing Year

April 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are setting common pool possession and trip limits to ensure that the common pool fishery is able to fully utilize its available quotas. Effective on May 1, these possession and trip limits were developed based on the common pool sub-Annual Catch Limits set by Framework Adjustment 58 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. We also considered preliminary 2020 sector rosters, expected common pool participation, and common pool fishing activity in previous fishing years. During the fishing year, we will monitor common pool catches, and, will adjust common pool management measures as necessary.

Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder/Haddock Special Access Program

Northeast multispecies vessels may not target yellowtail flounder within the Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder/Haddock Special Access Program (SAP) in fishing year 2020. Northeast multispecies vessels are not allowed to fish in this SAP using flounder trawl nets, but may fish in this SAP in 2020 to target haddock with a haddock separator trawl, a Ruhle trawl, or hook gear. This SAP is open from August 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021.

Regular B Days-at-Sea Program

The Regular B Days-at-Sea (DAS) program is closed for fishing year 2020.  During this closure, Northeast multispecies vessels may not declare or use Regular B DAS.

More Information

For more details, read the notice and the permit holder bulletin.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Transfer of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Quota from Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery to Groundfish Fishery

April 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are transferring unused quota of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic sea scallop fishery to the commercial groundfish fishery.

If we expect the scallop fishery to catch less than 90 percent of its Georges Bank or Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, we are authorized to reduce the scallop fishery quota for these yellowtail flounder stocks to the amount projected to be caught, and increase the groundfish fishery quota by the same amount. This adjustment helps achieve optimum yield for both fisheries, while still protecting from an overage of the annual catch limits.

Based on the current projections, the scallop fishery is expected to catch 13 percent of its allocation of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, and 11 percent of its Georges Bank yellowtail allocation.

Effective today, we are transferring 13.1 mt of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery, and 15.2 mt of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder through the end of the 2019 fishing year (April 30, 2020).

For more information, read the rule as filed today in the Federal Register.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the Inseason Possession and Trip Limit Increases for the Common Pool Groundfish Fishery

March 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective today, the common pool possession and trip limits for Georges Bank (GB) cod, Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod, GOM haddock, Cape Cod(CC)/GOM yellowtail flounder, American plaice, and witch flounder are increased, as summarized in the table below. These increases are in effect through the end of the fishing year on April 30, 2020.

For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, and our permit holder bulletin.

Read the full release here