Ahab's Journal

N.E. council chief seeks new probe

Fisheries official wants analysis of strained industry relationships

The chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council has asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for an independent management consultant's study and analysis of the relationships between the council, the regional executive and the federal fisheries science center at Woods Hole.

While carefully lauding the federal system of regulating fisheries — which has been under fierce attack by multiple niches of the industry and a growing chorus from Congress — John Pappalardo conceded that "our region's bureaucracy is unable to efficiently meet its expanded obligations."

Read more

NEFMC Chair requests management review of NMFS NERO, Science Center, and Council

John Pappalardo, Chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, has written to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke requesting an independent and comprehensive systems analysis and efficiency review of the Northeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Northeast Science Center, and the New England Fishery Management Council, both individually and collectively.

Read more

1,000 sign protest letter

Fishermen call for NOAA chief to revisit scallop limits

In a year of mounting physical and written protests against national fisheries policies, the latest could be the loudest — at least in the size of the protesting chorus.

No less than 1,000 scallop fishermen, retail and wholesale seafood dealers and other scallop-dependent businesses and their employees signed a letter hand-delivered Friday to the office of Jane Lubchenco, the Obama administration's steward of the oceans.

The point of the protest was the decision of the New England Fishery Management Council last month to cut back access to the scallop grounds despite the stock's undisputed health.

Read more

Pols target scallop limits

Lawmakers push Commerce chief to revisit allocation

NEW BEDFORD — Citing apparent shortcuts in routine procedures, a coalition of 16 members of Congress has urged the Secretary of Commerce to void cutbacks in the harvesting of scallops — the region's No. 1 cash species — announced last month by the New England Fishery Management Council.

The letter to Secretary Gary Locke is the latest expression of mounting frustration with the decisions of the council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates the fisheries of the nation's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The federal lawmakers — whose numbers include Congressman Barney Frank and John Tierney, House representatives for the ports of New Bedford and Gloucester, respectively — asked Locke to take immediate action by instructing the New England Fishery Management Council to revisit the original proposals in January.

The letter was signed by five senators — the two from Massachusetts, the two from New York, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire — and a total of 11 representatives from as far away as North Carolina.

Read more

New regulations putting the squeeze on scallopers

BREWSTER - There may still be scads of scallops out in the deep blue sea but new regulations could chop the numbers of fishermen and the days they can chase them.

The New England Fishery Management Council met Nov. 17 to 19 in Rhode Island and finalized a suite of new rules that chop the days at sea for big trip boats from 37 to 29, and will also eventually reduce the share to the total scallop catch allotted to the small boats that sail from Cape Cod.

“[Small boats] received 10 percent of the overall quota with the understanding that as soon as the quota was implemented it would be 5 percent because that would lead to consolidation and boats would be left out of the fishery,” explained Tom Dempsey of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association. “That was agreed upon three years ago [in Amendment 11].”

“Amendment 11 put the squeeze on small boats,” agreed Provincetown scalloper Mary Beth DePoutiloff. “We get 400 pounds a day and they squeezed us all out and the trip boats got two extra days. Now NEFMC is putting the squeeze on them.”

Read more

Fishing sectors 'set up to fail,' coalition says

Hard annual catch limits, mandated by Congress and established last month for the first time to cover the 2010 fishing season have cast a pall over industry efforts to organize viable fishing cooperatives.

And even with sectors, as the coops are known, a sizeable fraction of the small boat fleet based here is given no chance of surviving by a fleet owner and the executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, where the vast majority of the cooperatives are being organized.

"Federal law has set fisheries up to fail in New England and across the nation," the coalition said in a statement.

Read more

New Bedford scallopers fear rules would cut into profits 25 percent

NEW BEDFORD — Fishermen are projecting that this city's booming sea scallop industry will take a 25 percent revenue hit in 2010 due to proposed cuts in the scallop harvest.

Regional fisheries regulators recently voted in favor of the cuts, which they argue are necessary to ensure that scallop stocks remain at sustainable levels and do not become subject to overfishing.

The New England Fishery Management Council chose a conservative method for calculating the sustainable level of scallop harvest for the 2010 fishing season, which begins March 1. As a result, fishermen will be allowed to harvest about 16 percent of commercially sized scallops.

With recent surveys showing the scallop stock is in good condition, fishermen say they should be allowed to harvest more of the shellfish.

Read more

Limits looser for common poolers

But NMFS' chief gets more clout in revising rules

NEWPORT, R.I. — The New England Fishery Management Council has removed a powerful disincentive for fishermen who have chosen to remain outside the catch share system and instead fish independently in the common pool next year.

But the margin of the vote Wednesday night — against running the fishing clock at double time against the common poolers for time spent on the inshore grounds — was most narrow, with the recommendation from the council's Groundfish Committee rejected 8-7 with one abstention.

Moreover, the council has given Patricia Kurkul, the National Marine Fisheries Service's regional administrator, nearly limitless authority to step in to change the fishing rules as she sees fit at any time after midnight on May 1, the starting date of the fishing year that will debut a partial catch share regulatory system with fishermen working in voluntary fishing cooperatives known as sectors.

Read more

In catch limit fight, yellowtail lose out to 'cash cow' scallops

NEWPORT, R.I. — A frustrated New England Fishery Management Council yesterday found reasons to rethink the seven-year rebuilding program for yellowtail flounder.

The 10-7 vote to "initiate an action" to adjust the rebuilding strategy reflected a deeply conflicted council and was taken after hours of fruitless discussion and debate aimed at controlling the bycatch of yellowtail in the scallop fishery.

The dilemma was framed by the imminent imposition of catch limits in the groundfishery next year, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. With hard catch limits, the mixing of yellowtail in the scallop stocks brought on a conflict that had councilors exasperated for more than three hours.

Read more

How to spell relief? Herring

NEWPORT, R.I. — The herring fleet and the lobster industry, which takes the vast majority of the catch for bait, were given some small, but important relief yesterday from harsh projected cutbacks in catch limits for the next three years.

Parsing admittedly cryptic advice from its Scientific and Statistical Committee, which had projected a steep reduction in the catch of the linchpin forage fish — valued more highly by lobsters, striped bass and cod than humans — the New England Fishery Management Council agreed nearly unanimously to ease a bit off the restriction.

In September, the scientific committee had advised shaving the 145,000 metric ton catch limit to 90,000 metric tons, not because of overfishing — none is known to be occurring — but because a troubling pattern deep in the analysis of data suggests something as yet undefined might be amiss in the biomass of the stock.

 Read more

Proposed quota 'frustrating' for sustainable fishery

NEW BEDFORD — The deep and murky waters of fishery management in New England just became a little murkier for Jon Williams, CEO of the Atlantic Red Crab Company in the city.

In the middle of September, his company was awarded certification by the Marine Stewardship Council, a London-based nonprofit that seeks to influence consumers by issuing ecolabels to fisheries around the globe that it deems sustainable.

Atlantic Red Crab is the first company on the East Coast to attain Marine Stewardship Council certification, and Williams was proud to receive the recognition for a business that was also contributing new jobs and revenue to the city.

Just two weeks later, however, the New England Fishery Management Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee spoiled the party and stunned the industry by recommending that the allowable catch for 2010 be pegged at the 2007 level. The decision has left Williams perplexed because, he says, 2007 was a complete anomaly. 

Read more

Dogfish: A species in danger?

Fishermen will tell you that spiny dogfish — a hungry, aggressive species swarming nets and hooks up and down the East Coast — can take care of themselves.

But to their dismay, the plentiful small shark species that's been called everything from a pest to a plague could soon join animals such as bison and iguanas as protected international endangered species.

The European Union has sponsored the dogfish for a listing with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that could quash the already fragile market for a fish many say is devouring more commercially valuable food fish.

Read "Dogfish: A species in danger?"

Some call them spiny dogfish, fishermen call them 'plague,' and they're headed for southern New Jersey

Commercial fisherman Marty Buzas calls them the perfect predator. They may be small for a shark, the largest ones coming in at about 15 pounds, but they're brazen enough to steal fish right out of his nets.

"They're an eating machine. You name it and they eat it. The only real predator of a spiny dogfish is an octopus, and the ocean isn't exactly teeming with octopus," said Buzas.

That's one reason Buzas has chosen his side on a debate raging about the spiny dogfish shark. When he dresses them out, he finds their stomachs full of fish that are more valuable, including mackerel, squid, butterfish and weakfish.

Fishermen in New England have been complaining about a rise in populations of spiny dogfish this summer, putting a dent in the stocks of fish that are more marketable, such as cod. Some have pulled up lines of hooks and found a spiny dogfish on almost every one. Or, they find a half-eaten fish on the hook decimated by a spiny dogfish.

Read "Some call them spiny dogfish, fishermen call them 'plague,' and they're headed for southern New Jersey"

Panel admits data error on skate fishery

The New England Fishery Management Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee, newly empowered to establish catch limits, has conceded making a mistake in calculating the proposed total catch reduction in skates, a high volume food fish.

The mistake, as described in a memo from the committee Chairman, Dr. Steve Cadrin, to council executive director Paul Howard, was in plugging a "0" into an equation where a "—" for missing or blank should have gone.

The result of the data entry error was an unjustified cut of 6,817 metric tons of skate off the acceptable biological catch recommendation for the 2010-11 fishing season.

The original, erroneous calculation of the acceptable biological catch of skate was 23,826 metric tons, a volume that was 57 percent of the catch in 2007, the control year.

After the mistake was rectified, the committee recalculated and set the acceptable biological catch at 30,643 metric tons, which meant that the reduction in skate volume would be only 26 percent.

Read "Panel admits data error on skate fishery"

'Surreal' cuts in herring catch

The Herring Committee of the New England Fishery Management Council yesterday approved a motion aimed at delaying a radical cutback in the size of future herring catches, pending a benchmark assessment of the strength of the fishery which is considered strong and stable.

But the data on the fishery show a "retrospective pattern" — a term that means the presence of worrisome trends as ever-more current data is fed into the model.

Lobster fishing interests said a major cutback in herring catches could leave traps without bait, and do deep damage to the lobster industry.

"In the 20 years I've been involved in lobstering," said an official of the Corea Lobster Co., "I've never seen a greater threat to the fishery."

Read "'Surreal' cuts in herring catch"

NMFS chief seeks changes to 'common' pool limits

in a letter to the New England council last week, Patricia Kurkul, the Gloucester-based regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said "members of the fishing industry" recently contacted her about perceived flaws in the regulatory scheme written in June to govern the activities of the boats that eschew sectors with their catch shares.

The gist of the complaint is that the sectors scheduled to begin operating under catch shares next May have been awarded too little pollock, while the common poolers, under the continued effort controls based on limiting locations and days at sea, have been invited to catch pollock without the newer system's hard catch limits.

To a lesser extent, a similar imbalance in the regulation of cod was also cited.

Read "NMFS chief seeks changes to 'common' pool limits"

Catch figures suggest 'underfishing'

Figures show landings of 25% of 'allowable' fish

The New England groundfishery, poster child for over-exploitation and the subject of intricate regulations to end "overfishing," is, at the same time, an example of the opposite problem — underfishing — federal catch figures indicate.

To be sure, there are a number of stocks that are deemed "overfished" or subject to "overfishing" — official terms for harvesting pressure that erodes the long-term health of the stocks.

And because the many species of groundfish live and are caught together — cod with haddock, flounder and hake and so on — protecting the weakest stock can and does have catastrophic economic implications on the industry and the fishing communities all along the coast.

Read "Catch figures suggest 'underfishing' "

NMFS: Cut pollock catch by 67 percent

Sector fishery cooperatives, the linchpin of federal plans to protect wild fish stocks in New England, could collapse under new catch restrictions for one of the ocean's more unpredictable species, members of the industry working on the system say.

Pollock, the low-profile relative of cod often consumed anonymously in breaded cutlets and fish sticks, is dangerously overfished in the northwest Atlantic, federal scientists say, and needs to be protected with sudden, large-scale catch reductions.

According to preliminary recommendations, the reduction could represent a cut of 67 percent from last year's pollock catch.

But fishermen and boat owners say pollock is doing much better than the scientists say and the new rules could make the already uncertain transition to a quota-based catch share system — an imperative of the Obama administration and environmental groups — a disaster.

Read "NMFS: Cut pollock catch by 67 percent"

A Conversation to Envision the Social Objectives of Amendment 16

Join fishermen and other industry members, fisheries scientists and fisheries policymakers for a conversation organized by the New England Fish Forum, during which you will envision the social objectives of Amendment 16 to the Groundfish Fisheries Management Plan.

During the conversation, you will respond to the following three questions:

1. What should be the social objectives for groundfish management in Amendment 16 and beyond (regional, local, family, individual)?

2. What are you concerned/hopeful about in terms of communities, families and individuals when it comes time for Amendment 16’s implementation in May 2010? (What do you think needs clarification or planning?)

3. What types of information should be tracked to monitor the social implications of Amendment 16 and future amendments to the groundfish FMP?

Read "A Conversation to Envision the Social Objectives of Amendment 16"

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"

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"

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"

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"

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."

Read "Fisheries council faces major decision"

Poll shows public support of fisheries plan

"A public opinion survey of voters in Massachusetts and Maine found that 66 percent of those polled support a new fisheries management plan.

"What we believed and what the poll showed is that there are people who don't live near the water or go commercial fishing that have an interest in the health of fisheries," said Peter Baker, manager of Pew Environment Group's End Overfishing in New England campaign.

The environmental advocacy group sponsored the poll, which examined the public's attitude toward overfishing and Amendment 16, a proposed groundfish management plan that would establish sectors. Under sectors, groups of fishermen would be given a share of the total allowable catch set for each stock and could design their own rules for how to catch that quota." 

Read "Poll shows public support of fisheries plan"

Regulations leave local skate fishery on thin ice

"While Europeans maintain a strong craving for skate wings, managers of local fish processing plants fear the skate wing industry is in danger of collapse.

New fishing regulations, slated to take effect early next year, will reduce skate wing catch limits by about 90 percent — from 20,000 pounds per trip to 1,900 pounds per trip.

"That's pretty drastic," said Walter Barrett, general manager of Seatrade International Co. Inc., which operates scallop and fish processing plants in New Bedford."

Read "Regulations leave local skate fishery on thin ice"

New York seeks voice on panel

"U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has introduced legislation to make room for New York on the New England Fisheries Management Council, which advises federal regulators and helps set policy for fishing out of Gloucester and throughout the region.

The New York Democrat said he was moved to act by a regulatory decision to bar all catches of winter flounder, a species that represents about 80 percent of groundfish landings by the fleet of about 100 boats based in Long Island ports.

"The rule, as is, will seriously impair the Long Island fishing industry," said Schumer."

Read "New York seeks voice on panel"

Governor wants facts about fish stocks

"NEW BEDFORD — Gov. Deval Patrick wants local fishermen and scientists to do for groundfish stocks what they did for scallop stocks: produce a body of scientific evidence that will convince federal fisheries regulators that groundfish are in better shape than their own science shows.

Patrick, who visited the port Thursday to understand how federal regulations are crippling the groundfishing fleet, challenged scientists at UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology to come up with a research proposal in 30 days. Upon its receipt, he promised his staff would take an additional 30 days to look for a means of financing the research study, which would focus on the Southern New England winter flounder stock." 

Read "Governor wants facts about fish stocks"

Fish panel seeks closer eye on herring boats

"A near-unanimous New England Fishery Management Council has asked federal regulators to end the practice of allowing industrial sized, midwater herring trawlers to work without observers in a section of Georges Bank that is closed to groundfishing boats.

The concern is not about the target prey — there's plenty of herring, maybe too much, an industry group suggests — but of "bycatch," the possibility that the herring boats have landed and could continue to land too much haddock in their big nets."

Read "Fish panel seeks closer eye on herring boats"

Hogarth's impact felt among city fishermen

"During the same visit, Hogarth met with The Standard-Times editorial board and discussed the future of fisheries management.

"My goal for the U.S. fishing industry is to see that it operates more like a business and gets away from micro-management," he said.

Four years later, New England fisheries management is moving in that direction. The regional fishery council is at work on a new groundfish management plan that would provide more flexibility for fishermen than current rules. Under the sectors program, groups of fishing vessels would be given a share of the total allowable catch for different fish stocks. Fishermen could then determine for themselves when and how to catch the group's share of fish."

Read "Hogarth's impact felt among city fishermen"

Fed judge reinstates fishing regs

"However, only 3 weeks left in the life of Framework 42"

"A federal judge stepped back yesterday from his decision to override National Marine Fisheries Service regulatory policies, reinstating the harsh cutback in fishing effort in the eastern Gulf of Maine that he had suspended in January.

U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington granted NMFS' motion to dismiss a civil case brought by the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire; they argued a 2006 regulatory scheme known as Framework 42 was illegal and too restrictive."

Read "Fed judge reinstates fishing regs"

Working toward the next chapter in fishery management

"Sectors are new to most of us in the Northeast. To move from days-at-sea to sectors smoothly, the sectors must be well-designed, so that they work as intended right off the bat. Sectors must be well-understood by those who want to form one, as well as those who must track their performance and success. Transitioning away from days-at-sea effort management and to a multiple-sector fishery means multiple reporting, monitoring, and evaluation that requires a complex management infrastructure. We must be confident that this infrastructure is ready, working, and can be well maintained."

Read "Working toward the next chapter in fishery management"

Rule impact on fishery understated

"The figures used by the nation's administrator of fisheries Monday to dramatize the reduced economic harm to the New England fishing industry from a revised Interim Rule were not wrong.

But as one industry group official put it, the approach "masks" the rule's true impact."

Read "Rule impact on fishery understated"

U.S. Acts to Alter New England Fisheries

"According to Steve Murawski, director of scientific programs at the NOAA Fisheries Service, eight fisheries around the country have some kind of sector or catch share system, including the halibut fishery in Alaska and the surf clam fishery off the Middle Atlantic States. Such systems are in development in an additional 11 fisheries, Dr. Murawski said.

But New Englanders, he said, have been relatively slow to embrace the idea.

Ray Hilborn, a fisheries expert at the University of Washington, said he believed that New England fishermen would be receptive to the sector system because they would work out the details themselves. “It’s more bottom-up,” Dr. Hilborn said." "

Read "U.S. Acts to Alter New England Fisheries"
 

NOAA Commits $16 Million to Assist the Northeast Fishing Industry to Ease Transition to New Management of Groundfish

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today it will allocate $16 million of its current fiscal year 2009 budget to assist the Northeast fishing industry with the transition to management of the fishery by sectors and catch shares. On Monday, NOAA announced the interim rules to reduce overfishing and rebuild Northeast Groundfish stocks.

“We worked hard to find ways to provide quick and meaningful help to the fishing industry through increased cooperative research and assistance in setting up the infrastructure for the new management system based on sectors and catch shares,” Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said. “NOAA is committed to working with fishing communities to find long-term solutions that create sustainable and profitable fisheries.” 

Read "NOAA Commits $16 Million to Assist the Northeast Fishing Industry to Ease Transition to New Management of Groundfish"

Fishery managers reject revised NOAA report

"MYSTIC, Conn. — For the second time this year, regional fishery managers have rejected a court-ordered report, authored by their federal counterparts, that considers whether a special provision should have been applied to soften restrictive groundfishing regulations, known as Framework 42.

The two regulatory bodies — the New England Fishery Management Council and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service — have failed to reach a consensus over congressional interpretation of the provision, known as the mixed-stock exception.

The provision has been the focus of a federal lawsuit brought against NOAA Fisheries by Massachusetts and New Hampshire more than two years ago. The states contend that the economic impact of Framework 42 — which took effect in November 2006 — would have been less severe had the agency applied the mixed-stock exception. Under certain circumstances, the provision allows for overfishing of a diminished groundfish stock so that fishermen can target healthier stocks that swim in the same area."

Read "Fishery managers reject revised NOAA report" 

NMFS not following his order, judge told

"MYSTIC, Conn. — The New England Fishery Management Council stuck by its guns and those of two member states yesterday, advising a federal judge that federal regulators had failed to follow his order to consider a holistic approach to managing the fishery.

The council vote was 12-4-1 against the National Marine Fisheries Service, with Patricia Kurkul, the regional administrator, who contributed to the hour-long debate only in a monosyllabic "no," one of the four votes against the motion by David Pierce, the deputy director of marine fisheries for the state of Massachusetts.

He, along with Dave Goethel, a New Hampshire fisherman, carried the motion with a message for U.S. Judge Edward Harrington."

Read "NMFS not following his order, judge told"

NOAA Announces Interim Rules to Reduce Overfishing and Rebuild Northeast Groundfish Stocks While Balancing Economic and Conservation Concerns

"NOAA today announced interim fishing measures that protect the Northeast groundfish stocks most in trouble, while still allowing the fishing industry to target some healthy stocks as the fishery rebuilds. The new rules, which take effect May 1, balance economic and conservation concerns, and are an important step toward ending overfishing by 2010 as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

“This decision balances healthy fishing communities and sustainable fisheries,” Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said. “It builds a solid bridge to a larger, long-term solution for managing the fishery through catch shares, which will help restore the ecosystem and the economic health of the fishing communities. The system will give fishermen more of a stake in how the fishery is managed.” 

Read "NOAA Announces Interim Rules to Reduce Overfishing and Rebuild Northeast Groundfish Stocks While Balancing Economic and Conservation Concerns"

Maine’s groundfishermen struggle to survive

"Like many fishermen, Wells is hopping mad at the state of Maine, Governor Baldacci and state Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe, saying they have done nothing to protect the groundfish industry, despite repeated warnings that it was collapsing. "They had opportunities 10 years ago to take steps, and didn't," he says. "For one, we tried and tried to have a law passed recognizing commercial fishing as one of the mainstays of Maine business, but it was never a priority. It's always lobstering."

Read "Maine's groundfishermen struggle to survive"

UNH researchers studying spiny dogfish, Gulf of Maine's mini shark

"The preliminary results show that the dogfish age at maturity — typically between 10-15 years — has not changed dramatically over the last couple decades. However, the growth rate may be slowing down, so that smaller sized fish are reaching maturity at around the same age as is typical for that species in the Atlantic.

"I think this trend was initially set into motion by the fishing pressure on them in the 1990s," Bubley says. "The largest sized dogfish were harvested by fishermen, and so the smaller ones remained behind to reproduce. They passed their genes on to the next generation, causing size selection to occur where smaller fish are able to reproduce." "

Read "UNH researchers studying spiny dogfish, Gulf of Maine's mini shark"

Fishermen Head Back to Court to Ban Herring Trawlers From Groundfish Areas

Troubled by agency inaction while bycatch incidents mount, group proceeds with lawsuit

 

PORT CLYDE, MAINE – New England groundfishermen are headed back to court to ban industrial herring trawlers from critical fishing grounds.

 

Represented by the public interest law firm Earthjustice, the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association is proceeding with its lawsuit to evict the high-volume herring ships from areas identified as spawning grounds and sanctuaries for the region’s dwindling groundfish populations.

 

Judge extends eased regs for fishing

"Reminding federal fishery regulators once again of the need for due process, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Harrington yesterday extended for two weeks his previous ruling that lifted the commercial fishing regulations that count one day at sea as two in fish-rich waters.

The action was another clear slap at the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is in a fierce legal struggle with two states and a broad-based, policy-making council of industry and state officials that advises NMFS and has broken with the agency over regulatory policy."

Read "Judge extends eased regs for fishing"

Fishtown Local

"The Kurkul Circle, it seems, has totally drunk the Kool-Aid. The NMFS staff doesn't get the fact that the public has turned against them on this story — not just the fishing public, but the fair-minded, reading-the-paper public. Even a 15-1 vote by the Fishery Management Council in September against tightening the strangling regulations of Framework 42 was waved away by the Service, because the one negative vote was the one cast by The Commissar — Kurkul.

New England had its own throwdown of the Berlin Wall when Judge Edward Harrington cracked down on NMFS for failing to consider any regulations but the most draconian. Confounding the Commissar, he demanded that NMFS show more than "window dressing" respect for the fishing industry and to give "serious consideration" to allowing the increased fishing of species that have recovered."

Read "Fishtown Local" 

NMFS faces questions from leaders, fishermen

"The alliance of fishing interests and state officials that convinced a federal judge to strike down limits put on the industry by the National Marine Fishery Service has condemned an impending regulatory scheme as poor policy, based on poor science and a misread of Congress.

The Massachusetts director of marine fisheries predicted Congress would issue a "clarification" to put NMFS back on track."

Read "NMFS faces questions from leaders, fishermen" 

Fishery future's in hands of courts

"The chief regulator and authority figure, Pat Kurkul, the longtime Gloucester-based regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, found herself largely isolated and, except for her minions in the service, nearly alone in reading her mandate by Congress to restore each and every one of the stocks in the complex mix of 19 different fish species that mingle along the bottom of the great fishing grounds — and to do so even if that means suffocating the industry that would catch them.

NMFS's regional counsel, Gene Martin, put her view clearly before the council meeting here in a rolling argument over the first two days of the meeting.

"The plain language of a statute overrides any ambiguity of (Congress)," Martin said. He went on to say that "any ambiguity was cleared up by in the (2006) reauthorization (of Magnuson).

"Any overfishing of an overfished stock must end immediately," he continued. Then Martin appealed to the audience to understand his position that Kurkul and NMFS' hands were effectively tied.

"We're not pushing this; artificial timelines don't make sense," Martin said. "Congress imposed these guidelines on us, and we must abide by them." "

Read "Fishery future's in hands of courts"

 

Fish panel stands firm vs. NMFS

"NMFS formally asked the council to endorse its position that the multi-species nature of the New England fishery made it impossible to employ the "mixed-stock-exemption" and not regulate all species based on the system's weakest link.

But, urged on by David Pierce, deputy director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, the council balked.

"I'm sympathetic to NMFS, it is a conundrum," Pierce said just before the roll call. He conceded that in the Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization, Congress had sent a "mixed message."

But, Pierce said, "there is no way in the world that Congress would shut down the entire fishery to protect a single stock."

He disputed the notion that opposing NMFS' motion would harm the fishery.

"I'm not lowering the bar for anything," he said. "I will not lower bar."

Pierce went on to say, "I will not raise the bar for the fishing industry so that the boats fail" — a comment greeted with a brief outbreak of applause, a rarity at council meetings."

Read "Fish panel stands firm vs. NMFS" 

Showdown on fishing mandates

"PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The New England Fishery Management Council today opens a three-day meeting in the home state of Sen. Gregg Judd, nominated to be the next cabinet secretary for fisheries, with this region's fishery in a state of hyper uncertainty.

Over the past month, unsettling events seemed to pile up like waves in a squall.

Between the regulators in the National Marine Fisheries Service and the regulated fishing interests, the normal chasm of mistrust has become an abyss."

Read "Showdown on fishing mandates"

Ruling reaction: Feds say no to leased days at sea

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston, acting on a suit against NMFS by the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, suspended the governing regulatory Framework 42 and ordered NMFS to go back and do a better job.

NMFS's news release blamed the ruling, by U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington, for the suspension of the leasing program, which was a central component in Framework 42.

"The judge slapped the agency around," said Stephen Ouellette. "Their only remedy was to suspend the regulations (of Framework 42)." He accused NMFS of trying to punish the industry for Harrington's ruling.

"NMFS' tendency (is) to be vindictive and turn industry suits into Pyrrhic victories," he said.

Read "Ruling reaction: Feds say no to leased days at sea"

 

Judge verifies industry's view of NMFS' bogus restrictions

"NMFS' seemingly unilateral power changed Monday, thanks to U.S. District Court Judge Edward Harrington. Harrington does have the authority to stand up to NMFS, and he has at least temporarily eliminated current draconian fishing restrictions with a blistering opinion that not only suspends the so-called Framework 42 regulations, but rightfully chastises regulators for failing to abide by their own written obligations.

That's right. Finally, there is someone who recognizes the rights of humans as well as fish — and who has the legal muscle to do something about it. And NMFS — which, like its bureaucratic parent, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has ignored virtually all input from the fishing industry, let alone giving it "lip service" — should take the judge's ruling for what it is. That's an order to give long, hard consideration to a logical concept it has arrogantly pooh-poohed in the past."

Read "Judge verifies industry's view of NMFS' bogus restrictions"

 

'Nobody knows what the rules are'

"Ian Bowles, Massachusetts secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in a statement that Harrington's ruling could yield "profound benefits" for fishermen and the fishery.

The judge chastised NMFS for paying lip service to a regulatory option that could allow fishermen access to more fish while the stocks continued to recover.

It is known as the "Mixed-Stock Exception" and encourages the government to recognize that it is not obligated to regulate based on the weakest stock in the fishery. By focusing on the "weak link," NMFS' writing of Framework 42 constrained fishing for all species."

Read "'Nobody knows what the rules are'"