Tag Archives: National Marine Fisheries Service
California drift gill nets escape legislative ban; new technology promises to reduce bycatch
Local fishers have won a hard-fought battle against environmentalists working to ban the use of controversial gill nets, which are notorious for snagging unintended victims in their underwater synthetic webs. A bill in the state Legislature that would have likely shut down a local swordfish and thresher shark drift gill net fishery failed its first committee hearing despite widespread support from ocean and environmental advocates. Read more here 15:04
Commerce IG Releases Catch Share Investigation Report, Announces Observer Program Audit
Attached please find the final report of our review of NOAAs management of Catch Share programs. This is the third report in a multiple-phase review of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Fishery Management Councils (FMC). The objective of the review was to evaluate the sufficiency of NOAA’s implementation and monitoring of a selection of catch share programs developed by FMCs. For the six programs reviewed, the report identified several issues: here
Notice: Audit of the National Marine Fisheries Service Observer Program here 16:49
20 Years Ago: Commercial-Fishing Halt Is Urged for Georges Bank
While some fishing could continue, the council, the New England Fishery Management Council, directed its staff to come up with measures that would reduce the catch of cod, haddock and yellowtail flounder, the principal species sought on the Georges Bank, to as close to zero as practical. Read more here 08:06
After record lows, herring stock is now healthier, living longer
After years of lobbying and litigation by local fishermen and environmental groups, the fisheries service and the New England Fishery Management Council are considering regulations to make sure the offshore herring fleet isn’t also catching river herring, but the majority of their runs remain dammed or neglected. A 2001-2002 survey looked at 215 Massachusetts coastal waterways and found 380 blockages, including dams, that kept fish from spawning grounds. The same survey found that almost half the 175 structures intended to get fish past dams were not functioning. Read more here 09:13
Guest View: Cause for optimism at NEFMC meeting
Thank you for the report on the Center for Sustainable Fisheries’ proposal that the New England Fisheries Management Council and National Marine Fisheries Service implement an intensive, industry-based, collaborative sampling program focusing on increasing data collection and reducing stock-assessment uncertainty (“Fishery council declines yellowtail proposal,” April 26). Read more here 07:16
Proposal targets herring trawlers
Herring trawlers will have to stop fishing and end the fishing trip if they lower their nets and dump bycatch, such as a haddock and alewife, according to new rules being recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council. portlandpress Read more here 11:07
LETTER: Snapper Plentiful – Bob Zales
As the world knows by now, thanks to the Environmental Defense Fund and 20 commercial fishermen (that includes at least 5 charter boat owners who own red snapper IFQs) the current projected recreational red snapper season will be a maximum 11 days. newsherald.com Read more here 15:11
Marine observer program now in hands of federal judge
Bycatch accounting in the North Pacific and the costs of the revised marine observer program implemented in 2013 are at the core of a lawsuit now in the hands of an Alaska U.S. District Court judge. Judge H. Russel Holland heard oral argument from The Boat Company, Fixed Gear Alliance and federal defendants regarding the observer program at an April 16 hearing. Read more here 16:02
Challenge to marine observer program to be heard April 16
Oral argument in the lawsuit over the revised federal marine observer program will be heard April 16 in Alaska U.S. District Court. Judge H. Russel Holland will hear from The Boat Company, Fixed Gear Alliance and the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the program at the hearing in Anchorage. Read more here 17:54
Coakley lawsuit vs. NOAA thrown out – Judge recounted NOAA’s slick Bigelow/ Albatross transition!
Coakley took aim at the scientific data used by NOAA fisheries to set the allocations, charging that NOAA rejected an industry offer to conduct surveys that might have been at odds with NOAA’s official findings. But the court held that NOAA is under no obligation to go beyond the best available evidence to the best possible evidence. Read more here 14:36
Gulf Grouper Group Gropes for Stable Sustainable Quota
Madera Beach is home to some of the whitest sand along the Gulf Coast. It is also home to some of the best fishing, both recreational and commercial, especially Gulf Grouper. Read more here 12:48
Center for Biological Diversity Legal Petition Seeks Ban on Pacific Bluefin Tuna Fishing
SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a legal petition urging the National Marine Fisheries Service to prohibit fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna, which has suffered a 96 percent decline since large-scale fishing began. Read more here 08:20
Ruling rejects Massachusetts and New Hampshire challenges over science, economic impact
“In our brief, we cited Justice (Antonin) Scalia’s view that an amount of deference is a permission slip for an arrogation of power,” said Brian Rothschild, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Sustainable Fisheries, which joined the state of Rhode Island in filing amicus briefs on behalf of the plaintiffs. “The problem is that in cases like this, judges are left with really difficult technical decisions. That’s the reason for the deference.” Read more here 07:35
Time to rethink fishery management?
Fishery management traditionally has focused on fishing pressure, the removal of animals from a population with nets, lines and traps, as the only statistic worth using in the regulatory equation. The rationale is simple, at least in theory: If the landings in a fishery drop, it’s assumed that the population has declined. Read more here PBN.com 07:12
Red Snapper Season in Jeopardy
Local fisherman are worried there may not be a snapper season this year or next. The concerns come after a federal court ruled the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has the authorities to close off federal waters. Read more here 11:48
The End of the U.S. Shrimping Industry – Execution by Electrocution? Public comments end 3/31/14
In 2010, WildEarth Guardians petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list the lesser electric ray (also commonly called the Caribbean electric ray) under the ESA, but that petition was denied in a 90-day finding in March 2011. If the lesser electric ray is listed under the ESA, it could mean the end of shrimp fishing as we know it throughout the ray’s range, which includes all the Gulf states, as well as states along the east coast from Florida to North Carolina. Read more here thegoodcatchblog 23:17
National Marine Fisheries Service violated law – Federal Ruling on Allocation Favors Gulf Commercial Red Snapper Fishermen
Federal Ruling on Allocation Favors Gulf Commercial Red Snapper Fishermen A federal ruling has been handed down that the U.S. government violated the law by failing to properly manage the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper fishery. Read more here 16:16
Recreational Fishing and Boating Community Calls on Congress to Revamp Marine Fisheries Management
“Congress should establish a national policy to promote saltwater recreational fishing,” said Mike Nussman, president and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association. “In addition, Congress must open the ‘rusted-shut’ door of marine fisheries allocation to achieve the greatest benefit to the nation.”A Vision for Managing America’s Saltwater Recreational Fisheries identifies six key policies that would achieve the commission’s vision. Those recommendations primarily focus on the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Read more here 09:33
Coastal Conservation Association says commercial fishermen exaggerating how many sea turtles impacted by recreational fishing.
While plaintiffs (the NCFA and CCFA) imply that state hook-and-line fishermen accounted for 45 percent of sea turtle interactions according to 2013 North Carolina Sea Turtle Strandings and Salvage Network (STSSN) information, the actual STSSN data show that state recreational fishermen accounted for no more than 25 percent of fishing gear interactions with sea turtles and 4 percent of gear-caused sea turtle fatalities,” the CCA stated. Read more here carolinacoastonline 15:00
State targets NOAA science, tactics in its most recent filing of its lawsuit against federal fishing regulators.
The National Marine Fisheries Service used sub-standard methods of data collection and violated the rule of federal law when it failed to consider alternatives to its preferred catch limits or how those alternatives would affect fishing communities, Massachusetts has charged in its most recent filing of its lawsuit against federal fishing regulators. Read more here 01:07
Weather slows halibut opener, first prices similar to 2013
Commercial halibut fishers began targeting 16.7 million pounds of quota March 8, but bad weather kept many off the fishing grounds. Individual fishing quota, or IFQ, holders will take the majority of the Alaska commercial catch limit, about 15.9 million pounds, with Community Development Quota landings from the Bering Sea areas making up the remainder of the catch. Read more here 13:36
Judge orders Oregon hatchery to release fewer fish
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A judge has ordered federal fish managers in Oregon to release fewer young salmon into the Sandy River this year to ensure that hatchery fish don’t harm wild fish – but has left other hatchery operations intact. Read more here 12:23
Ludger (Lu) W. Dochtermann, Kodiak, AK Responds to NOAA TIGHTENS HALIBUT BYCATCH LIMITS FOR GULF OF ALASKA GROUNDFISH FISHERIES.
To: Dr. James W. Balsiger, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region, & United States Commissioner, International Pacific Halibut Commission.
Dear Jim: While NOAA puts a public spokesperson name on the news release for Amendment 95, let’s face facts — you are the Alaska administrator, and a voting member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Accordingly, your news release was considered insensitive and not well received by disappointed GOA hook and line halibut fishermen: on line with other pro-trawler actions by the NPFMC and NMFS/NOAA. Amendment 95 is not fair and equitable in practice. You and the agency and NPFMC are not doing what is feasible, not obeying the UN FAO precautionary principle, not balancing the economic impact among sectors, not doing what is best for overall national benefit and not serving USA consumers. Read more here 14:30
Alaska joins Hawaii to have central North Pacific humpbacks struck from endangered list
California Salmon forecasts favorable, despite drought uncertainty
Predictions for a robust king salmon haul buoyed California fishermen assembled Wednesday for a preseason meeting with state and federal regulators, even if forecasts fell short of last year’s projection. Read more here pressdemocrat.com 09:01
Status quo reigns with New England Fisheries Management Council
DANVERS — Tuesday morning had morphed into afternoon and then on toward the evening — not that anybody attending the New England Fisheries Management Council meeting inside the artificial gloaming of the DoubleTree Hotel’s grand ballroom had the slightest idea of what time it was. Read more here 03:37
Oceana groundfish monitoring challenge fails
The government need not face claims that the amended New England fishery program leaves groundfish vulnerable to overfishing, a federal judge ruled. Fishery management plans establish catch thresholds and “outline procedures for monitoring commercial fishing,” under the oversight of the National Marine Fisheries Service, according to the Tuesday ruling. Read more@courthousenews 12:44
National Marine Fisheries Service to tighten rope rules for lobster fishermen
In 2009, federal regulators set their sights on groundlines that linked lobster traps on the ocean bottom. In 2014, it’s the vertical lines lobstermen use to connect their traps to surface buoys that federal officials say need to be more tightly regulated in order to protect whales from entanglements. Read more@BDN 12:15
Fishing orgs ask for $1.2 million in sea lion lawsuit costs
The Alaska Seafood Cooperative, The Groundfish Forum and the Freezer Longline Coalition filed motions Feb. 13 asking the federal government to reimburse them $1,208,409.87 for their attorney fees and costs in bringing the suit forward and arguing their case. The National Marine Fisheries Service severely restricted fishing for Atka mackerel, pollock and Pacific cod in the western Aleutian Islands to protect the western distinct population segment of Steller sea lions. Read more@alaskajournal 20:39
Feds enforcing Endangered Species Act keep data behind policies hidden from public
Federal agencies administering the Endangered Species Act often issue justifications for their actions that are filled with badly flawed or even fabricated data, according to a congressional report being released today. A related problem, according to the report, is that “most of the federal agencies that administer ESA are unable to make basic and legitimate data” underlying their policies and procedures available to the public, as required by law. Read more@washexaminer 07:32
