Tag Archives: National Marine Fisheries Service
Judge agrees to short extension in Steller sea lion case
A federal district court judge agreed to allow extra time in the lawsuit over the National Marine Fisheries Service environmental impact statement about Steller sea lion protections in the Aleutian Islands. Read more@alaskajournal 11:48
Enviro Suit alleges National Marine Fisheries Service ignored ‘best available science’ in sonar ruling. what…wha..
Hmm “Best Available Science”? The National Marine Fisheries Service violated federal law when it authorized the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises off Hawaii and California through 2018, an environmental group said in a lawsuit filed Monday. Read more@latimes 14:45
Federal Judge Ancer Haggerty: Protect wild fish from hatchery operations
PORTLAND, Ore. — A judge has ordered federal fish managers to do more to ensure that hatchery fish don’t harm wild salmon and steelhead on the Sandy River this year. Federal Judge Ancer Haggerty’s ruling could jeopardize the release of hundreds of thousands of juvenile fish from the Sandy Hatchery this spring — and mean fewer fish returning to the river for anglers to catch between 2015 and 2017, the Oregonian reported today. Read [email protected] 21:19
Eileen Sobeck named assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service
Today, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, acting NOAA administrator, appointed Eileen Sobeck as assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries National Marine Fisheries Service. (They just can’t seem to get this right!) Read [email protected]> 13:40
Proposed rules call for more reporting by seafood dealers to help fisheries
Beaufort County seafood dealers may have to do more paperwork in 2014 due to proposed changes in federal reporting requirements. The biggest change would require dealers to report their purchases from fishermen every week instead of every two weeks. While not excited by more red tape, Beaufort County dealers have been largely receptive to the proposed changes, which could help the fish that provide their livelihood. Read more@islandpackett 11:49
Hey! How ’bout that? federal agency planning to measure economic impact of fishing businesses!
Notices posted in the Federal Register show the National Marine Fisheries Service plans to survey U.S. seafood processors and bait-and-tackle shops during 2014. The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports survey data will be incorporated into impact statements produced by the federal government before an action is taken. Read more@ktuu 20:01
Opinion: NMFS Rule Recognizes that Fish Need Habitat, and if they don’t we’ll sue the sh!t out of ’em!
Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued the final regulation regarding commercial fishing access to the longstanding protected habitat areas in the Gulf of Maine, southern New England, and Georges Bank. In May of this year, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) sued NMFS over a related proposal to allow new fishing in over 5000 square miles of protected ocean habitat areas in New England. CLF brought the lawsuit due to a strong concern more@talkingfish 17:23
Gang Green is a dangerous, overwhelming power. That power lock must be broken – Big Green’s well-financed hold on fisheries policy
![environmental-watchdog[1]](https://fisherynation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/environmental-watchdog11.jpg)
For more than a decade, the National Marine Fisheries Service has devoured fishing fleets while Big Green’s money octopus prods the feds by waving grant-eating enviros in its tentacles, causing them to hook the public’s attention with mindless frenzy against “overfishing.” Biologist Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — who resigned in February — was arguably the brainiest and most viciously crass NOAA administrator ever. Members of Congress called for her resignation for destroying fishing fleets in struggling coastal communities using Big Green’s brutal “catch shares” rationing program, and for tolerating fisherman fines enforced by corrupt federal cops. Before NOAA, the Packard Foundation gave Lubchenco’s Aldo Leopold Leadership Program $2.1 million to enable scientists to lead politicians and the public with scientific-technical control of public policy. Nils Stolpe, veteran executive, consultant, and advocate for the commercial fishing community, sorted those numbers from Internal Revenue Service Form 990 reports and posted the result on his FishNet USA website. The Washington Examiner used Stolpe’s findings to construct the diagram. more@washingtonexaminer 07:02
The Big Green Money Machine – how anti-fishing activists are taking over NOAA click here
Gloucesterman haunted by urge to go to sea, loss of vessel
Joe Orlando still wakes up in the night, when the wind is whistling, and wonders if he should go down to the Gloucester House and make sure the Padre Pio’s lines are secure. There still are days when the longtime Gloucester fisherman, as if lured by something invisible and irresistible, finds himself heading toward the dock to check on his boat. “I say to myself, ‘What am I doing’?” Orlando said. He is doing what he’s done for the past 30 years, what he’s done since he bought the 65-foot steel fishing boat in 1983 in partnership with his sister Angela Sanfilippo and her husband John. There’s only problem: Orlando no longer owns the Padre Pio. more@gdt 01:58
Tom Dempsey Fails to Shut down the Mid Water Fleet – Cape fishermen fail to get emergency haddock rules in place
“This is about haddock,” said Tom Dempsey, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council who is also the policy director for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance in Chatham. (No it ain’t) more@capecodtimes Meet Tom Dempsey – “I think the Cape and Islands has a very different perspective on a lot of issues.” 10:49
Fisheries council balks at ban on herring trawling more@bostonglobe
Poachers: Jefferson Parish fishermen plead guilty in Plaquemines to red snapper violations
Four Jefferson Parish fishers fishermen pleaded guilty this week in Plaquemines Parish to red snapper violations. They admitted to intentionally concealing fish that were over their red snapper limit or undersized. more@nola 11:33
National Marine Fisheries Service New Navy whale rules under scrutiny – NRDC: Feds Give Navy Green Light to Kill Whales and Dolphins
“In a Bizzaro-World move, with these rules the agency charged with protecting whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals gives its stamp of approval to Navy training and testing activities that will harm millions of marine mammals, killing many,” the Natural Resources Defense Council stated in a blog post. more@utsandiego 21:57 Feds Give Navy Green Light to Kill Whales and Dolphins NRDC link
NOAA Announces Partial Approval of Amendment 14 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan
On November 7, 2013, NOAA – National Marine Fisheries Service, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce, partially approved Amendment 14 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. For the rundown, click here 21:24
Recreational Fishermen Hire Earthjustice to Sue National Marine Fisheries Service to Protect River Herring and Shad from Industrial Trawlers
Recreational fishing groups have filed a lawsuit in the D.C. District Court challenging a decision by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to terminate a plan to protect river herring and shad in the Atlantic Ocean. more@enewspf 10:33
New queen conch harvest limits in effect off St. Croix
The new commercial trip limit is 200 queen conch per vessel per day, according to the Southeast Regional Office of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. more@virginislandsdailynews 10:34
National Marine Fisheries Service proposes rules to protect bluefin tuna
Under the proposal, the NMFS would sharply cut back the number of bluefin tuna that individual fishing vessels are allowed to capture accidentally, setting a quota for each boat and requiring fishermen to include the bluefin they discard at sea under that cap. The NMFS also would change the long-standing formula by which it calculates the number of pounds of bluefin tuna that a long-liner may legally bring to shore for sale. more@wapo 09:21
Parasite depletes wild shrimp haul off southeast Atlantic coast
Experts said they believe black gill disease, caused by a tiny parasite, contributed to a die-off of white shrimp between August and October, typically the prime catch season. The disease does not kill shrimp directly but hurts their endurance and makes them more vulnerable to predators. [email protected] 16:59
NOAA seeks more electronic fish reports
NOAA has opened up electronic vessel trip reporting to all Northeast region fisheries, potentially offering a more efficient means for fishermen to submit trip information on catch, gear, discards, areas fished and a host of other details required by the National Marine Fisheries Service. 07:44
All Northeast Fishing Vessels Authorized to go Paperless by National Marine Fisheries Service
Fisheries officials said participants must use one of two approved software applications – FLDRS or FACTS – that NOAA Fisheries NMFS have confirmed as capable of meeting technical requirements for reporting trip data, such as information about catch, gear used, and areas fished. Filing reports electronically is voluntary. more info here 14:21
Judge: National Marine Fisheries Service erred in bluefish limits
ST. CROIX – A federal judge has ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to redo a portion of a biological opinion that was part of the process in setting annual catch limits for bluefish – also called parrotfish – in federal Caribbean waters. more@virginislanddaily 13:26
Bering Sea crabbers feel like they’ve been ‘rammed’ by Congress
The scheduled opening of the Bristol Bay red king crab season Tuesday could be delayed because of the shutdown of federal agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service’s RAM program, which issues individual fishing quota permits. “We’re pretty concerned about it,” said crab fishermen’s representative Jake Jacobsen of the Inter Cooperative Exchange. “We can’t set pots until we have an IFQ permit on board the vessel.” He hopes the RAM staff in Juneau will soon be “unfurloughed.” more@bristolbaytimes 14:13
Lifting the Ban: After 20 years, Georges Bank clam beds reopen
The National Marine Fisheries Service banned dragging for clams and other molluscan shellfish in Georges Bank in 1990, when state and federal officials found a spike in toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can be lethal. Fifteen years later, the agency barred clamming in an additional 15,000 square miles of seabed between much of the Massachusetts coast and Georges Bank when a massive bloom of single-celled algae that carries the toxins extended from northern Maine to Nantucket. more@bostonglobe 13:15
Alaska’s Multi-Million Dollar Commercial Crab Fishery Faces Federal Shutdown Delays
Alaska’s multi-million dollar commercial crab fishing season faces delays if a federal government shutdown is not resolved soon, because National Marine Fisheries Service biologists won’t be able to issue individual fishing and processing quotas. The fisheries are set to open on Oct. 15. more@fishermensnews 15:49
How Government shutdown will Affect NOAA Emloyees and other agency’s
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, based in Silver Spring, will lose about half of its staff in the face of a shutdown. According to a recent Commerce Department document outlining its shutdown plan, roughly 6,600 NOAA employees would stay on the job. Most of those workers would come from the National Weather Service, which is required to continue functioning because its work can identify “imminent threats to protect life and property.” In addition, about 500 employees from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates and enforces laws related to marine wildlife, would also stay on the job. However, even with those exceptions, approximately 5,400 NOAA employees — about 45 percent of the agency’s workforce — would be sent home. more@thedailyrecord 20:18 4 comments
NMFS is harming efforts to ban the sale of shark fins Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States.
Absolute foolishness– The Shark Conservation Act of 2010 was designed as a statutory shield to protect the world’s troubled shark populations. Any sensible person would deduce this. Few could have anticipated, however, that the National Marine Fisheries Service would pervert the act and use it as a regulatory spear against millions of sharks, against conservation and against common sense. more@wapo 03:56
New policies, and a court ruling, protect whales from ships in SF Bay and along the Pacific coast from the US Navy.
Whales, dolphins, and marine mammals in the San Francisco Bay and along the California coast could be better protected by a federal court ruling on US Navy exercises and new policies being put in place to prevent whales from being struck by ships. US District Court Judge Nandor Vadas issued a ruling late yesterday (Wed/25) finding that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, sea lions, seals, and porpoises from Navy training exercises along the Pacific coast. It requires the agency to reconsider permits and whether they violated the Endangered Species Act. more@sfbg 16:13
Closure Notice: Aggregated Large Coastal Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Blacknose Shark, and Non-Blacknose Small Coastal Shark Management Groups in the Atlantic Region
The National Marine Fisheries Service is closing the commercial aggregated large coastal shark, hammerhead shark, blacknose shark, and non-blacknose small coastal shark management groups in the Atlantic region as of 11:30pm local time September 30, 2013. This inseason action filed in the Federal Register on September 25, 2013, will publish on September 30, 2013, and will become EFFECTIVE on MONDAY, September 30, 2013. For more information, please see the attached notice or go to the HMS Division website here 17:09
Another Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit against NMFS? – Maybe they should be charged total cost if they lose
SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service for the agency’s failure to act on a petition to protect the orange clownfish — featured in the movie Finding Nemo — and seven species of damselfish under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. These reef fish face severe threats from climate change, ocean acidification and the marine aquarium trade. more@treefrogland 15:25
Will the World Adopt Sustainable Longline Fishing Practices?
The United States is the world leader in innovations to reduce longlining bycatch of birds, but we haven’t come nearly as far with protections for non-target fish and sea turtles. Many other nations don’t use mitigation for any kind of bycatch. Largely as a result, about half of the world’s petrels and most of the albatrosses are threatened with extinction. more@audubonmagazine 19:55
Rocky Barker: A quick guide to the salmon-dam debate
The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tribal, state and other biologists to test higher spill — water that doesn’t go through power-generating turbines — at the eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers is a continuation of a long debate among scientists. So what are the biologists proposing? more@idahostatesman 07:38
