Tag Archives: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
New Regulations: Commercial troll salmon season
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in consultation with the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), the State of Oregon, the State of Washington, and fishery representatives met today via conference call and have taken the following in-season management action related to the commercial troll salmon season from the US/Canada border to Cape Falcon: Action taken,Modified the landing limit and possession limit in the area between the Queets River and Leadbetter Point from 150 to 200 Chinook per vessel per landing week (Thursday-Wednesday) from May 25 to June 21, and for the period of June 22-29 (Note that this is also the weekly maximum for all open areas combined). more, >click to read< 13:38
Government Officials Ignore Public Comment, Create New Financial Burden on Fisherman
In a letter acquired by Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute), it appears that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce have approved a controversial fishery management proposal while ignoring public comments critical of the plan. This approval also seems to have been issued before the close of a second public comment period for implementing regulations. The NOAA rulemaking is expected to seriously impact commercial fishing on the Eastern seaboard by applying costly new burdens on fishermen. >click to read<19:23
Pacific Seafood Group sues National Marine Fisheries Service – calling fishery quota restrictions illegal
California-based groundfish catcher and processor Pacific Seafood
has sued the US government seeking to overturn what they say are “illegal” regulations that threaten the company’s future. A company subsidiary, Pacific Choice Seafoods, which operates a processing plant as well as vessels that fish the Pacific Coast groundfish limited-entry trawl fishery, filed suit on Dec. 4 in a northern California federal court against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and its ultimate overseer, US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker. Read the article here 13:50
New limits and dates set for Atlantic bluefin fishing
Atlantic bluefin tuna limits are being altered. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a temporary rule in the Federal Register of Friday, May 15, 2015 changing the retention limits for the general and angling categories and announcing a new start date for the purse seine category. The new limit for the general category runs from June through August while the new limit for the angling category is in effect immediately and lasts through the end of the year. Read the rest here 14:04
NMFS Requests Commercial Fishermen Participate in HMS Research
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requests commercial shark fishermen who would like to participate in the 2015 shark research fishery and are fishing or plan to fish in the Gulf of Mexico fishing region to submit both a completed shark research fishery application and the required vessel information to the HMS Management Division by February 5, 2015. Read the rest here 16:03
PUTNAM: Harder to catch fish, bring home the bacon in New England
You don’t have to be an economist to see that the fishing industry is a big deal, particularly in New England. The actions of NMFS and NOAA are going to create a significant negative financial impact to our local fishermen, but many other businesses that support and finance the fishing industry. If you feel it is harder to put food on the table or a dollar in your savings account, what is happening in the ubiquitous fishing industry is worthy of your attention. Read the rest here
NOAA history: Commerce IG says fisheries officials illegally shredded documents in probe
An unpublished Inspector-General’s report obtained by The Examiner said officials of the Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) destroyed hundreds of documents in a “shredding party” in November 2009 “in the middle of an investigation by the Office of the Inspector-General.” NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenko has imposed a controversial regulatory plan on the New England fisheries,, Read the rest here 09:08
The West Coast Drift Net Guys Can’t Catch a Break!
This notice announces that, through rulemaking in the Federal Register, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is closing the Pacific Loggerhead Conservation Area, prohibiting fishing with large-mesh drift gillnet (DGN) gear (>14 inches mesh) off the coast of southern California east of 120º west meridian through August 31, 2014. Read more here 15:11
Another Species, Another Center for Bio Diversity Petition To Prohibit Pacific Bluefin Tuna Fishing
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the receipt of, and request public comment on a petition for rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-governmental organization, has petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce to promulgate regulations to prohibit fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna and to identify specific reference points used to determine if overfishing is occurring or if the stock is overfished. Read more here 12:27
Fisheries debate continues By Howard Delo
Over the last few weeks in this column, I mentioned how a recent speaker at a Valley chamber of commerce luncheon discussed the economic value of the sports fishing industry to the Cook Inlet area.,,,in an article entitled, “Turns out sport fisheries top commercial in total value,” that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has been “cooking the books” in a major economic report. Read more here0 07:01
At What Cost, Justice – A Pyrrhic Victory? By Sean McKeon
On November 25, 2013 Federal District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle1 ruled that Willie R. Etheridge III and Mark Cordeiro, two men from North Carolina, were not guilty of finning sharks as presumed under a federal fishing law prohibiting shark fin-to-carcasses ratios in excess of 5%. (Shark Finning Prohibition Act) The case is interesting not only because of what it produced by way of the district court’s decision, but also, and perhaps more importantly, because of the long history that ultimately spawned the government’s prosecution of these particular North Carolinians and the political environment in which it occurred.
The highly politicized agencies of the federal government are most to blame here, in this case National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and its parents National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of Commerce. For an industry accustomed to bad news and never ending harassment by the very agency established to promote and protect it, the temptation might be to view this court victory in a vacuum and attach far too much optimism to its outcome. While there is certainly cause for celebration, it is important to understand the historic underpinnings of this case and the devastating impact federal agencies often have on the private sector when left unchallenged and undisciplined by those charged with their oversight, i.e. members of Congress and, in this case, the Administrative Law Court System (ALC).
Read the article here 19:54
Lower Columbia River – Discussions under way about a possible smelt season this year, one-day-per-week sport fishery or a small commercial bobber-net test fishery
There was a time when millions of migrating Pacific smelt would jam the Lower Columbia River en route to tributaries, while thousands of sport dip-netters lined the shores to catch them by the bucket loads. By the late 1990s, these small silver-colored fish started falling off the map, and fisheries dwindled to the point where National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in spring of 2010. Smelt have been off-limits to fishermen since 2011, and that means even touching them dead or alive is a no-no. Read more@seattletimes 14:41
NMFS Announcement Puts TMGC Yellowtail Quota at 400 Metric Tons Despite Advice that Would Have Allowed More
Eyebrows were raised recently when National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) representatives announced in several forums that the agency would only approve an allocation of 400 metric tons of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, despite determinations by the more@savingseafood 07:39
SHAHEEN, AYOTTE URGE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TO RECONSIDER FISHERY DECISION
January 28, 2013 (WASHINGTON) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) are calling on the Department of Commerce to reconsider its decision to require drastic quota reductions designed to end overfishing of Gulf of Maine cod and haddock in 2013. In a joint letter, the New Hampshire Senators called on the Department of Commerce to reconsider the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) decision which threatens the survival of New Hampshire’s fishing industry and the economic well-being of its coastal communities. Read more
