Ahab's Journal

Fishing catch shares suddenly become hot 'commodities'

Investment execs had head start on New England industry future

 "Two months before the Environmental Defense Fund achieved a political policy triumph with the vote last week to transform the New England groundfishery from a commonly held resource into negotiable commodities, a bullish EDF executive was urging institutional investors to buy these catch shares.

EDF vice president David Festa's projection was a 400 percent return on the investment, based on what he said was recent experiences with the imposition of catch shares in other fisheries.

A consultant to EDF spoke of returns of 10 or even 20 times investment.

"It's not telecom money, but it's real money," Festa advised a small but influential private audience of mutual and hedge fund managers and ENGO — or environmental non-government organization — officials at an April 28 panel on "Innovative Funding for Sustainable Fisheries and Oceans."

The panel was part of the 2009 Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, "the largest gathering of capital markets in North America," according to Jennifer Manfrî, communications director for the non-profit, think tank. The institute is a public-private partnership created by Michael Milken, the financial innovator who helped create junk bonds in the 1970s, that directs private capital into investments that serve the advisors' sense of the public interest.

Investor interest in the New England groundfishery was noticeably and recently on the uptick even before the New England Fishery Management Council last week voted nearly unanimously for an industrial re-engineering that would cap total fish catch and divide the total allowable catch into shares to be distributed to permits that are aggregated into business cooperatives known as sectors.

But  , unlike the 90-minute analysis of investment opportunities in new catch share fisheries before the influentials in Los Angeles in April, the four-day meeting in Portland that ratified the catch share system produced not a peep about the capital investment implications of what Festa called a "paradigm shift" in the approach to managing the bounty of the sea."

Read "Fishing catch shares suddenly become hot 'commodities' "

Southern Flounder Meeting in Manteo August 6

MOREHEAD CITY – Several advisory committees to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will discuss possible interim rules for southern flounder at meetings scheduled for August.

 

NEW QUOTA SYSTEM CALLED AN ELABORATE THEFT OF PUBLIC FISHERY RESOURCES

From the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations:

Far from the coast and the affected communities, the Pacific Fishery Management Council last Thursday in Spokane approved its groundfish “catch share” plan (Amendment 20) for the west coast trawl fleet.  The plan allocates most of the available west coast groundfish stocks to a fleet of 120 or fewer trawl vessel owners.

PACIFIC COAST GROUNDFISH BUYBACK PROGRAM STRUGGLES WITH REPAYMENT

From Pacific Coast federation of Fishermen's Associations:

PCFFA has received a memo on the status of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Buyback Program.  On 1 March 2004, NMFS dispersed $35,662,471 to fishermen who agreed to surrender fishing privileges in exchange for cash payments under the program.  The program was designed to reduce fleet capacity and targeted the following fisheries:

Groundfish

,

CA

Dungeness Crab, OR Dungeness Crab, WA Dungeness Crab, CA Pink Shrimp, OR Pink Shrimp, and WA Pink Shrimp. 

GRADES IMPROVE FOR FOUR SPECIES ON STOCK STATUS REPORT

But status of king mackerel, croaker, and spotted seat trout fall.

 

MOREHEAD CITY – The stock status of four species improved in this year’s North Carolina Stock Status Report of Important Coastal Fisheries.

 

Spotted Sea Trout Meeting in Manteo July 16

MOREHEAD CITY – Several advisory committees to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will discuss possible interim rules for spotted seatrout at meetings scheduled for July.

 

Yukon fishermen ignore closure, catch kings

" “We were ready to make a statement. We were ready to send a message to the fishery managers, to the governor, and to big business – meaning the trawl fishery. That you waste, you know, you’re allowed to waste all this fish. We only take a small fraction of the runs,” said Nick P. Andrew Jr., a Marshall fisherman and member of the Ohagamuit tribal government.

He's talking about the belief among many Yukon River fishermen that they have to sacrifice their king salmon seasons while the Bering Sea pollock fleet wastes tens of thousands of salmon a year.

It was Andrew who described the protest fishing trip to the Tundra Drums. He was one of six fishermen who went out Friday night and caught 100 kings – at a time when the state says no one is supposed to be subsistence fishing in that part of the river.

“I’m one of the most wanted people on the river," he said today.

“Law enforcement came out yesterday and asked questions," Andrew said at one point. "We developed amnesia. Let me put it that way." "

Read "Yukon fishermen ignore closure, catch kings"

Merger of MFC and WRC; Common Sense and Fiscal Responsibility Demand Action

From the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group:

"Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin both commissioned efficiency studies when they were elected Governor in an attempt to improve the way state government delivered services. One of the conclusions of both studies was that the WRC and MFC should be merged to save significant funds and to improve efficiency.

Most coastal states have merged Marine and Fresh Water Fish and Wildlife agencies. The reasons are powerful and obvious."

Read "MFC and WRC; Common Sense and Fiscal Responsibility Demand Action"

Gloucester should learn to look across the Annisquam bridge - there is a big world out there

"I like to cut down trees.  Give me someone else’s forest, a chain saw, and no need to look at the property again for 50 years, and I will do just fine, for the one year I can sell the timber.  But the idea that somehow fishing is exempt from any limits is simply wrong.  And yet, the attitude reflected again and again is that the enemy is the regulation - not recognizing that the world has changed.

After the 200 mile limit got rid of the Russian fleet off New England, capital investment, encouraged by the government, poured into the industry and the capacity of the fleet exploded.  Fish finding sonar, GPS, Autopilots, rock hopper gear - suddenly anyone with a map and a memory could catch more fish than the old time high liners. 

With no plan to make things better, the economic fallout of the collapse has hit many individual families, who are no longer fishing.  Others, without access to investment partners or money to buy or lease licenses, have not been able to grow their business.  But some others have managed to be quite successful in the New England fishery for decades, running multiple boats.   In our system, we allow good businesses to thrive, and poor ones to fail.  Why should fishing be different.

Far from being a death knell, catch shares are a system that puts a firm foundation under fishing businesses.  The good ones will take advantage and thrive.  The poor ones will actually have an asset they can use to sell out -  not a trivial matter."

 

Read "Gloucester should learn to look across the Annisquam bridge - there is a big world out there"

Local boats struggle to compete against lower-priced imports

"GEORGETOWN -- Fresh fish in a variety of shapes and colors slap the deck at Independent Seafood. Nearby, shrimp boats sit abandoned or tied to the dock, with no plans for going out for the day.

While the fish and shrimp around Georgetown County are plentiful, those working on the dock say that times are tough in the commercial fishing industry, due to the rising cost of fuel, the low price paid for their product and foreign competition.

Fish were "jumping in the boat," this week, but the prices paid for the pound remain low compared to previous years, according to local commercial fishermen."

Read "Local boats struggle to compete against lower-priced imports"

Research vessel's high numbers of juvenile turtles good sign for species

Abundance surveys find more juvenile turtles, which means efforts to increase the survival rate of the protected reptiles make a difference.

"BRUNSWICK - Since 2000, the crew of the Research Vessel Georgia Bulldog has purposely done what most try to avoid.

They have caught sea turtles.

Funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the scientists aboard the Bulldog conduct abundance surveys of the protected turtles, said Mike Arendt, the principal investigator for the Marine Resource Division of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources."

Read "Research vessel's high numbers of juvenile turtles good sign for species"

Regulators angle for feedback on tuna quotas

"As part of a public outreach to fishermen on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration held a meeting on Thursday in Manteo to gather comments on potential changes in regulations.

Fishery managers are looking at ways to better use available quotas and at the possibility of implementing a catch share system for bluefin, sharks and swordfish. They are also seeking suggestions on improvements in the permitting system and ways to reduce bycatch - species caught unintentionally." 

Read "Regulators angle for feedback on tuna quotas" 

Praise for fishery changes comes from the inside

"The congratulations that rained down on the fishery's rule makers' decision last week to privatize the bounty of the sea into negotiable "catch shares" for permitholders were, in essence, self-congratulations by those close to the process.

But their sentiment was not universally shared, with one member of the New England Fishery Management Council openly saying the final product of last week's landmark meetings gives preferential treatment to a group of Cape Cod fishermen, even as fishermen in Gloucester and elsewhere remain wary of the new system."

Read "Praise for fishery changes comes from the inside"

Congress tackles new safety laws for fishing fleet

"Congress this year may impose new construction standards on the nation's fishing vessels, require training of skippers and mandate Coast Guard inspections in what would be the first major overhaul of the safety laws that regulate the nation's deadliest occupation.

The big push for new safety legislation comes from a Midwestern congressman, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., whose district is far from the major fishing ports. Oberstar chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which this month approved new regulation of the fishing industry."

Read "Congress tackles new safety laws for fishing fleet"

CFA requests expanded cooperative research opportunities

Commercial Fishermen of America asks NOAA Administrator Lubchenco to expand cooperative research programs.

Read the letter here: Download CFA Lubchenco re Research 0609

Navy says sonar impact on endangered whales negligible at planned training site off Florida

"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Navy believes sonar in a planned training range for submarine warfare off the coast of north Florida will not disturb calving by endangered North Atlantic right whales, it said in an environmental impact statement Friday.

Environmentalists reacted with disappointment that the Navy plans to go ahead with development of its Undersea Warfare Training Center in Atlantic waters 75 miles off the coast of Mayport."

Read "Navy says sonar impact on endangered whales negligible at planned training site off Florida"
 

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou IFQs?

When the Individual Fishermen's Quota system was being debated in Alaska there was a massive effort to placate crew, and some concerned skippers, that crew would be taken care of. There was no provision anywhere in the statutes to recognize thousands of career fishermen's rights to future participation, because they weren't an all-seeing, all-powerful boat OWNER.

The National Marine Fisheries Service traveled around Alaska assuring everyone that the crews would be the beneficiaries of a tens of millions of dollars "Displaced Fishermen's Fund." If there was such a pot of money to get those NMFS guys so fired up it sure disappeared fast. If you Google search that fund now and it directs you to the state labor department. And everyone knows, except for maybe the folk who pulled this bait and switch, that fishermen are 'independent contractors' in the eyes of the IRS and not eligible for state assistance.

It was told by one fisherman in Kodiak who was keeping track, that 80% of the 'jobs at sea' went away when catch shares/IFQs came to town. I remember the days just prior to this, in the ports in Alaska, when the bars would be hopping and the economic multiplier effect was more like a mosquito hatch on the tundra in June. Was overcapitalization occurring in the harvesting sector? Maybe, but nobody was going bust. All this robustness came to a screeching halt when halibut and black cod IFQs came in on top of Limited Entry in the salmon fisheries.

Experts call on government to protect herring

"More than 100 fishing, conservation, science and faith-based organizations signed a letter sent Tuesday to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce calling for emergency action to protect river herring caught offshore.

"River herring play an important role in the ecosystem as prey for predator fish, marine mammals and seabirds," Brooks Mountcastle, mid-Atlantic representative for the Marine Fish Conservation Network, said in a statement. "Failing to act would mean more than the loss of a species, but a loss of profound cultural and historical significance for many coastal communities."  "

Read "Experts call on government to protect herring"

Walter Jones asks NOAA to ensure US retains swordfish and bluefin quotas

Here's the Joint House-Senate letter to NOAA led by Congressman Jones on the House side and signed by 7 Senators and 8 House members, requesting action on a number of items related to the agency’s regulation of Highly Migratory Species (i.e. swordfish and bluefin tuna).

Download HMS ltr to NOAA FINAL 6.15

Agents investigate shrimp packager

"State and federal fisheries agents served a criminal search warrant at an Independence shrimp processing plant Thursday in an investigation into illegal repackaging of foreign shrimp as domestic product, investigators said.

Dating back to February, the investigation involves several states in the northern Gulf of Mexico region and already has resulted in five or six criminal search warrants being served elsewhere, federal fisheries investigator Steve Campbell said.

Those searches helped lead investigators to the DoRan Seafood LLC plant in Independence, said Campbell, special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Law Enforcement."

Read "Agents investigate shrimp packager"

Make my day, Flipper: Pesky dolphins under siege

"PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Miles offshore, a fight is raging between angry anglers armed with guns and bombs and bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals popularized in movies and TV shows like "Flipper."

Boat captains say dolphins, known for their toothy grins and playfulness, are growing increasingly aggressive in their quest for food, with some taking fish right off the hook — something that rarely happened just a few years ago.

In response, fishermen are pulling out everything from pipe bombs to .357-caliber Magnum pistols to fend them off — and breaking a federal law against harming the sea mammals.

The head of a national fishing organization, Bob Zales II, said the problem of bottlenose dolphins stealing fish has gotten "tremendously worse" in the last year. So have stories of retaliation by angry boat captains and ordinary anglers, who are paying hundreds of dollars for even short fishing trips because of high fuel prices."

Read "Make my day, Flipper: Pesky dolphins under siege"

Walter Jones Requests Investigation of NOAA Law Enforcement

The letter is also signed by Senators Burr and Hagan and 6 other NC House members.

Read the letter here: Download Letter to NOAA-6-25-09

Secretary of Commerce Names 30 to Fishery Management Councils

The Commerce Department today announced the appointment of 30 new and returning members to the eight regional fishery management councils – important partners with NOAA's Fisheries Service in determining how ocean fisheries are managed. 

Read "Secretary of Commerce Names 30 to Fishery Management Councils"

Fishery sorts out catch shares' future

"PORTLAND, Maine — In a feat of industrial engineering undertaken in the name of conservation, the New England Fishery Management Council completed work yesterday on a new system of commercial fishing to replace the one that has evolved and been adapted along the coast here for nearly 400 years.

The historic transformation, a volume of changes known as Amendment 16, introduces negotiable catch shares for fishermen and a semi-self governing harvesting cooperatives known as sectors.

Propelling the experiment is an article of faith, especially among professional environmentalists, that the changes will reduce the amount of fish that wind up as bycatch discards, and quicken the pace of ecological recovery for the damaged old fishery of the Northwestern Atlantic.

The new system seems destined to relegate the small family fishing boat to an economic eddy."

Read "Fishery sorts out catch shares' future"

CFA Letter to Commerce Secretary Locke

Commercial Fishermen of America weighs in on Magnuson, trade policies, cooperative research, habitat protection, and fisheries policy in this letter to Secretary Locke.

"The importance of the 400 year old commercial fishing industry to the United States economy cannot be overstated. It was a hunger for cod that drew the earliest European settlers to North America and helped to establish commercial fishing as America’s oldest industry. To this day, commercial fishermen continue to deliver a high quality, wholesome source of protein for US consumers and our many trade partners."

Click here to read the full letter: Download CFA to Sec Locke 0609

Third of open ocean sharks face extinction: study

"PARIS (AFP) – A third of the world's open water sharks -- including the great white and hammerhead -- face extinction, according to a major conservation survey released Thursday.

Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Collapsing shark populations have already severely disrupted at least two coastal marine ecosystems, and could trigger even more severe consequences in the high seas, marine biologists warned at the same time."

Read "Third of open ocean sharks face extinction: study"

Groundfish industry faces sea change with new management system

Some say the plan will increase efficiency and profits; others fear the cost of monitoring will be too high.

"PORTLAND — New England fishery managers on Wednesday moved toward a system of assigning catch shares in hopes of rescuing the region's commercial fishing fleet.

The new approach, which could be finalized this morning, would be a historic shift for the 400-year-old groundfish industry.

"If we stick with what we got now, we're done. So we might as well try something new," said Glen Libby, a fisherman from Port Clyde.

Not everyone is thrilled with the new plan, though.

Jim Kendall, a former New England Fishery Management Council member from New Bedford, Mass., called it false hope for the industry.

"When a man is overboard and drowning, he'll reach for anything you throw him, and I think you're throwing him an anchor," Kendall said."

Read "Groundfish industry faces sea change with new management system"

RFA Testifies Before House Resources Subcommittee Tells Congress Recreational Fishing Activities Must Be Protected

On June 18, Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) Executive Director Jim Donofrio testified before the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, chaired by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU).  The hearing was convened to review H.R. 21 a bill which would establish a new national policy for our oceans.  The RFA was the only recreational fishing organization invited to testify before the Congressional Committee.  
 
Introduced by Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), H.R. 21 is meant to strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration while establishing a national and regional ocean governance structure, and for other purposes. According to the RFA, H.R. 21 would add undue bureaucracy to the fisheries management process, to the eventual exclusion of fishermen.  Donofrio told House members that the RFA continues to have substantial objections to sections of the bill, and cautioned that any new ocean policies mandated by Congress should not overstep the basic tenets of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. 

Program is good step in promoting local food

"Seafood from Brunswick County will be marked with a Brunswick Catch logo and restaurants and retailers will promote the brand, as well.

It assures folks that the seafood is local and fresh, helps support our economy, and has less of a negative impact on the environment since minimal shipping is required.

Brunswick County already is known for its Calabash seafood, and hopefully the Brunswick Catch will, well . . . catch on.

It would be nice to look past the Taiwan shrimp at the seafood market and instead ask for Brunswick Catch."

Read "Program is good step in promoting local food"

Catch-share fishing needs work

"A federal government fisheries panel is meeting in Portland, Maine, this week. That panel, the New England Fisheries Management Council, will vote on what is either the most creative and innovative change in how our groundfish are managed, or, perhaps, the next in a long line of blunders in government oversight which will change the shape of ports like ours forever.

Regrettably, although the advocates of the new plan, known as "Amendment 16," convey the confidence of a Red Sox fan in April, the critical details of this dramatic new system of regulating fishermen will actually be determined after we buy the plan and take it for a test drive. That, in my view, is a policy model that leaves a lot of unknowns for what is such an important environmental and economic issue for New England.

The so-called "catch share" program sounds elegant and simple in its basic description. The former fishery management approach of the federal government relied upon restricting commercial fishermen in their effort by limiting days at sea and the kind of equipment that was used. Under the catch-share program, all of that would change to focus on the total allowable catch of fish within species.

Quotas would be set each year for a species catch, and fishermen organized into self-managed groups would work together to reach the quota of fish allowed for them. The result, according to the studies and lobbying that has been funded by a number of private groups, employs all the buzzwords anyone could hope for. The fisheries become sustainable, fishery habitat improves, communities are protected, and fish stocks are rebuilt.

Surely, given the mixed results of federal fishery management over the past decades, some caution is called for. Amendment 16 will send many fishermen and smaller ports to the sidelines; in other words, they will lose their jobs. There will be winners and losers, and the advocates of Amendment 16 have done little or nothing to point out that the system that is chosen for allocating catch shares will determine who will thrive in the new world of federal regulation and who will be abandoned."

Read "Catch-share fishing needs work"

Letter from CFA President Jim Ruhle - June 12, 2009

Dear Fellow Commercial Fishermen:

 

   The Board of Directors of Commercial Fishermen of America, (CFA) met in Gloucester, MA, May 20-21, 2009.  The decision of the board was to become actively engaged in the process of ending the mismanagement of our nation’s fisheries by NMFS.   The board believes that any attempt to work with the agency would be non-productive.  It was the position of the board that to become effective in saving our industry, we need to get our message to our elected officials nationwide.

As president of CFA, I spent all of this past week in Washington, DC during Capitol Hill Oceans Week.  I attended a number of presentations and had an opportunity on several occasions to speak about lost production of seafood and the loss of jobs and infrastructure due not to the lack of fish resources but to a lack of flexibility in current regulations due to the misinterpretation of the intent of Congress by NMFS.

Tampa Bay fish investigation leads to action

"WASHINGTON -- A key member of a U.S. Senate panel is drafting legislation to plug a hole in government oversight that allows seafood merchants to routinely rip off customers by substituting cheap fish for more expensive fillets.

The effort by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to reel in such fish fraud comes after a Scripps Television Station Group's investigation found the practice to be pervasive in restaurants in four cities: Kansas City, Mo.; Phoenix; Baltimore and Tampa, Fla.

Snowe said she wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which currently inspects only 2 percent of imported seafood, to ratchet up its checks."

Read "Tampa Bay fish investigation leads to action"

Desperate Maine lobstermen sell from trucks, homes

"SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — Lobsterman Greg Turner keeps a sandwich-board sign at the end of his driveway that advertises fresh lobster for sale from his garage, an attempt to claw for a few extra dollars by reaching buyers directly.

With prices stuck on low and expected to fall further this summer, he's skirting the traditional sales route by cutting out the dealers who usually sell lobster catches to retailers, restaurants, processors and other buyers.

Prices for lobster plunged last year to levels not seen in 20 years, leading Turner and a growing number of other lobstermen to sell from the backs of pickup trucks, from garages, and even on Craigslist. By going directly to consumers, lobstermen say they can make roughly $1 more per pound than what they get from lobster dealers."

Read "Desperate Maine lobstermen sell from trucks, homes"

Fishing industry today faces transition

"The beauty of catch shares varies with the telling.

As of yesterday, the Web search of "catch shares in New England" offered the browser no less than 648,000 separate entries, most infused with a faith that they will fix what's wrong with the fishery. The first entry — by the lead agent for reorganizing the New England fishery into a catch share system — is that of the powerhouse Environmental Defense Fund.

It expresses evangelical confidence that "catch shares help revive fishing communities by giving fishermen an incentive to conserve fish."

Oh, were it only so simple, many others say.

At the end of the process, the once-public resource is expected to be essentially privatized and commodified, leaving the catch share as a negotiable asset. In that sense, some fishing will change from a competitive challenge into a governmentally granted private privilege."

Read "Fishing industry today faces transition" 

NOAA Announces Catch Share Task Force Members

NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco today appointed members to a new Catch Share Task Force, which will assist NOAA and the regional fishery management councils as they consider and implement catch-share management programs. This initiative furthers NOAA’s commitment to the long-term prosperity of

America

’s commercial and recreational fishermen, and to ensuring healthy, productive and resilient oceans.        

 

            Monica Medina, senior advisor to the NOAA administrator, will lead the task force.

No one wins if lobstering becomes a legal battle

An attempt to use the law to force fishermen to sell to dealers is highly unwise

"Like farmers hawking their produce at farmstands or local farmers' markets, lobstermen have been carting their catch to local street corners and parking lots to see if they can get $5 from passers-by instead of $4 at the local distributor.

That $1, say analysts, can be the difference between staying afloat and sinking into a sea of red ink. But wholesalers, who have large investments in equipment and take their own risks in marketing a perishable product, are naturally upset.

A few have even asked the Legislature to make it illegal for fishermen to sell their own catch. Such a move, however, flies so strongly against the freedom-loving Maine spirit that it's hard to believe it would ever pass."

Read "No one wins if lobstering becomes a legal battle"

Island Fishermen Plead Case for Sectors

"With the future of the groundfish industry at stake, five Islanders plan to attend a three-day summit in Portland, Me., this week where a new management system that aims to rebuild stocks and make fishing profitable again will be considered.

The meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council opens today and runs through Thursday. The council is expected to vote on establishing a new sector system for catching groundfish, including cod, haddock and the many flounders that were once abundant in New England waters.

If the sector system is adopted, the Vineyard is expected to be a key player with its own sector, one of 17 in New England."

Read "Island Fishermen Plead Case for Sectors"

RFA To President Obama - Just Say "No" To Catch Shares

New Quota Scheme "Flies In The Face Of The Public Trust Doctrine"

Washington DC - In an official letter dated June 12, 2009, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) Board of Directors and Executive Director have asked President Obama to maintain traditional recreational fishing access consistent with the public trust doctrine, while also allowing fishing and the rebuilding of coastal fisheries to occur simultaneously.  "Although we have seen no formal position from your administration regarding recreational catch shares, we are concerned that the environmental groups are seeking to kill our open access tradition with little thought to impact such actions will have on coastal communities and individual freedoms," the letter said. 

Policy transparency key to saving world’s fisheries

The sustainability of fisheries depends on the transparency with which coastal states incorporate scientific advice into policies, reports a study published in the journal PlosBiology.

 

A new study provides the first global evaluation of how management practices influence fisheries’ sustainability. The study assessed the effectiveness of the world’s fisheries management regimes using evaluations by nearly 1,200 fisheries experts and analyzing these in combination with data on the sustainability of fisheries catches. The results indicated that most fisheries management regimes are lagging far behind standards set by international organizations, and that the conversion of scientific advice into policy, through a participatory and transparent process, plays the most critical role in determining the sustainability of fisheries.

How to get Carolina's Freshest Seafood

"These Crystal Coast restaurants and watermen dish up local seafood"

Southern Living magazine features story about Carteret Catch.

Download Southern Living 7.09 a

Download Southern Living 7.09 b

The spiny dogfish: a fish for the recession

"Every late June/early July, Maine's coast is just the right temperature for the spiny dogfish. These long, flat sharks, with their pointed snouts and white bellies, cruise the ocean's sandy, muddy floor, feasting on young ground fish.

While all the young cod, halibut, haddock and flounder (to name a few) try to grow; it's this far less popular shark, the spiny dogfish that proliferates. "These dogfish are pretty much everywhere," says Jeff White, commercial fisherman based in York. "And you can't expect the other stocks to be rebuilt while simultaneously rebuilding their predators."

To add insult to injury, there's no sizeable financial glory in selling the spiny dogfish, which George Parr, of Upstream Trucking of Portland, describes as "dominating the ecosystem."

Nevertheless, while the spiny dogfish may sell for chump change, it does merit top rank as the recession fish of the month. In these days of furloughs, layoffs and foreclosures, while fishermen may not make a living catching dogfish, selling this shark means a little extra cash on the side, coming at a time when every penny counts. Last summer, for example, many struggling lobstermen diversified their seafood portfolio by simply setting gill nets to catch dogfish-If nothing else, the dogfish profits covered last summer's high price of gas." 

Read "The spiny dogfish: a fish for the recession"

Seafood co-op hopes to revitalize fishing town

"OAK HILL -- The bags of hard-shell clams inside the small, chilled display case are more than a potential meal in this town.

Piled in a yellow mesh sack at a little U.S. 1 shop, anglers pass by them in the bait and tackle store on their way to the Mosquito Lagoon. Along the road, a statue of a cliche bearded fisherman in yellow rain gear stares into the town that never recovered from the state gill-net ban, which put dozens of families out of work.

Although the shop resides in a place without a stoplight or successful industry, there is seafood and hope inside.

Grown in the waters of the Mosquito Lagoon, the clams are harvested and graded by Joe Ludwig right on shore, then delivered to the little bait shop, headquarters of the fledgling Oak Hill Seafood Co-op."

Read "Seafood co-op hopes to revitalize fishing town"

Norway fish farms thrive under ecologists' watchful eye

"OEYGARDEN, Norway (AFP) — Tucked away in the corner of an enchanting fjord, 600,000 baby trout frolick in underwater cages as they wait their turn to end up on dinner plates: fish farming is booming in Norway, under the watchful eye of environmentalists.

In Oeygarden near the western Norwegian town of Bergen, the Blom family's fish farm consists of a building constructed on the water and three submerged basins where the fish are raised.

It is just one of the 800 fish farms dotting the coastline in the Scandinavian country, where three times more salmon and trout are produced than meat.

But while fish farming helps ease the pressure that industrial fishing is putting on the planet's fish stocks, it is not without its own slew of problems.

Farmed fish that escape, rampant illnesses and a debate over feed have tarnished the reputation of a sector whose exports totalled 2.5 billion euros (3.5 billion dollars) in Norway last year."Read "Norway fish farms thrive under ecologists' watchful eye"

Eating local seafood is healthy and helps many

"Simply put, N.H. Seafood Fresh and Local is a great idea.

Led by local fisherman and industry advocate Eric Anderson, this new initiative aims to improve markets for local fishermen; get fresh, local fish in Seacoast restaurants and fish stores; and give much-needed support to fishermen, who have been fighting hard for decades just to survive."

Read "Eating local seafood is healthy and helps many"

Alaska has ready supply of feed for farmed fish

KODIAK -- The United States is about to spend $50 million in stimulus money on fish food to help fish farmers hit by a 50 percent increase in feed prices last year. According to The Associated Press, the money could "provide algae to nourish clam and oyster larvae along the Pacific coast, fill the bellies of tilapia in Arizona and feed catfish, trout and game fish in the Mi dwest and South."

Read "Alaska has ready supply of feed for farmed fish"

New Survey: Fishermen Oppose Controversial Management Plan

Gulf of Mexico Fishermen Vote Against IFQ Plan, Food & Water Watch Finds

"Prior to approving the plan, the Fishery Management Council was required by law to conduct a referendum of existing commercial grouper and tilefish fishermen.  However, the referendum was designed so that the only fishermen allowed to vote were those who had an active or renewable commercial Gulf of Mexico reef fish permit, with combined average annual grouper and tilefish landings of at least 8,000 lbs during the 1999-2004 period. The original referendum excluded approximately 69 percent of current permitholders in the Gulf—the majority of fishermen whose livelihoods would be affected should the plan be implemented. Only those fishermen who were most likely to directly benefit from the management program could vote.  Not surprisingly, the measure passed overwhelmingly. However, the results of the new re-referendum show that this outcome likely would have been vastly different had all permitholders been included."

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Fisheries council faces major decision

"After years of hard work, a monumental vote next week could finally put fish and fishermen on a path toward a brighter future.

Cape Cod is currently home to an innovative fishing system that allows groups of fishermen to manage their annual catch cooperatively as part of a "Sector." On Wednesday, the governing body for New England's fisheries will weigh whether to expand that system to a majority of the region's fleet fishing for cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish stocks, in recognition of the tremendous success of the Cape Cod-based Georges Bank sectors.

The decision of the New England Fisheries Management Council has the potential to turn around the region's failing fisheries, increasing profits for fishermen and local fishing communities, and rebuilding New England's once abundant groundfish stocks. But there's also a significant risk that the success of the new system could be undermined if the council doesn't approve a fair and equitable system that holds all fishermen accountable for their catch."

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Ocean Rescue

"Most of the world’s important commercial fish species have been declining for years. Nearly one-fourth are unable, essentially, to reproduce. The biggest cause of the deterioration in ocean health — bigger than climate change or pollution — is overfishing. American fisheries are in better shape than most but not by much.

A more immediate measure of the administration’s commitment is the steps it is taking to meet a 2006 Congressional mandate to end overfishing in America’s coastal waters by 2011. The most important of these is an effort led by Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist who runs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Her mission is to persuade America’s fishermen to broadly adopt a market-based approach known as “catch shares” to manage their fisheries sustainably."

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Device on Nets May Protect Sea Turtles

"BOURNE, Mass. (AP) — Fishery managers trying to protect rare sea turtles from dying in fishing nets have chosen a Cape Cod company to build a device that they think can help balance turtle protection with profitable fishing.

The device is a 7-inch silver cylinder that attaches to fishing nets and records how long they stay underwater. Time is crucial if the nets, dragged behind trawlers, snare a turtle. Federal research indicates that the vast majority of sea turtles survive entanglement, but only if the net is pulled up in less than 50 minutes."

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Inspector General's probe will have initial local focus

"On the same day federal fishery operatives executed a public relations campaign to create the impression the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction was being closed for 10 days, an Inspector General released his plan to investigate law enforcement practices — a probe stemming in large part from the auction case.

In a Friday memo sent to Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Todd Zinser, Inspector General for the Department of Commerce, said he was responding to her request for "a nationwide" review of policies and practices of NOAA's investigatory and litigation offices.

But in a telephone interview yesterday, Lisa Allen, IG's chief of staff, advised against reading the "nationwide" reference literally."   

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