Tag Archives: new-england-fishery-management-council
The National Marine Fisheries Service Unacceptable Response to the New England Groundfish Disaster – Where is the Groundfish Mitigation?
From the letter; In July 2012, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) Executive Committee met with the National Marine Fisheries Service Acting Assistant Administrator Sam Rauch, and Regional Administrator John Bullard to “brainstorm the future of groundfish in 2013 and beyond, especially mitigation alternatives for low ACLs.” Read the statement from the Associated Fisheries of Maine
A new culprit in cod decline? – Wait. What about that computer model?!!
The species of zooplankton that is one of the preferred foods of larval cod simply can’t take the heat,,,,For decades, the prevailing wisdom in fishery management was that fish stocks such as cod, haddock and flounder would reproduce in numbers sufficient to rebuild decimated populations if fishermen could simply be kept from catching too many.,,,, scientists noticed that plankton surveys showed a decline in some key zooplankton species in areas where the water had warmed. That matched up with portions of the ocean where cod, too, were not doing very well. continued@capecodonline
New Herring Regulations Proposed — Public Comments Accepted through July 18
Proposed Rule; Request for Comments; Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan link here
Massachusetts State Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed suit against NOAA – Go Martha!
BOSTON — State Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed suit against the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, charging that NOAA wrongly failed to consider the “devastating economic impact” on fishing commun
ities when it set crippling new catch limits on Gloucester and other Massachusetts fishermen. continued
NOAA concedes:sturgeon not endangered, after all
Without a stock assessment and to howls of outrage by industry and questions about the justification of the action by the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA approved a petition by the Natural Resources Defense Council 15 months ago that granted Atlantic sturgeon protection under the Endangered Species Act. Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided that its Jan. 31, 2012 action — declaring the sturgeon endangered along the entire Atlantic Coast except in the Gulf of Maine, where it was only “threatened” — was premature and may not have been necessary. continued
NOAA: Don’t take it out on monitors
Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando, a 40-year veteran, said he doesn’t mind taking out observers, as long as the government pays, because he can’t afford it. He said it frustrates him that a kid who knows almost nothing about a fishing boat can climb on his and declare it unsafe. Orlando said he hasn’t heard about increasing confrontations between observers, captains or crew, but understands why they encounter resentment among fishermen facing ruin. continued
What BS! Regulators to fishermen: Don’t blame catch observers
The request came in an open letter to fishing permit holders Thursday, a little over two weeks into a fishing year that saw the fleet take painful cuts in catch limits. Observers have reported increased verbal abuse in recent months and the letter is a reminder that such anger is misdirected, said Rip Cunningham, chair of the New England Fishery Management Council and one of the five signees of the letter. continued
I found this letter to be disingenuous ad un necessary. These people are stepping out of bounds.
In depth article: Climate Change Impacts Ripple Through Fishing Industry While Ocean Science Lags Behind
Huffington Post – With a limberness that defies his 69 years, Frank Mirarchi heaves himself over the edge of a concrete wharf and steps out onto a slack, downward sloping dock line bouncing 20 feet above the lapping waters near Scituate, Mass. continued
Gov. gets deaf ear from White House on fisheries as Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama Dummies Up!
Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, has declined to explain why the White House turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Gov. Deval Patrick for relief from what Patrick told her were “impending drastic cuts” in landings allowed the groundfishing fleet concentrated in his state. continued
BULLARD, SHELLEY, and COD: or Fish Being and Nothingness – Featured Writer Dick Grachek
“Returning Our New England Fisheries to Profitability”: “You’re doin’ a great job, Brownie” aka, Janie, Johnny, Petey. You should be proud. Mission Accomplished?
In her resignation email Lubchenco made the gravity-defying claim that she had made “notable progress” in “ending overfishing, rebuilding depleted stocks, and returning fishing to profitability”; but soon after, John Bullard “In an interview at the Times, Bullard said the telling figure was that the fleet caught only 54 percent of the allowed catch in 2012, and reasoned from that statistic that there is a dearth of inshore cod, a situation that warrants serious action to reverse.” Richard Gaines March 8, 2013 Gloucester Daily Times, “NOAA head explains stock stand”
Peter Shelley of Conservation Law Foundation explains the Cod Dilemma in a wormy little video he so humorously named “For Cod’s Sake”…..continued
Can the small family-owned boats survive or will the remaining fishermen wind up as sharecroppers for someone else’s fleet?
continued
Fish on Fridays: A ‘Day of Reckoning’ for the New England Groundfishery by Michael Conathan and a real ass kicking rebuttal
Center for American Progress – On May 1, 2013, New England’s groundfishermen began operating under a harsh new set of catch limits that will curtail fishing effort and inflict massive economic pain on an industry that’s already struggling to remain afloat. As fishermen come to grips with their new regulations, and regulators fret about the impact that their unpopular decisions will have on one of America’s most historic industries, we should take a moment to consider the fate of a similar fishery just a few hundred miles northwest. continued Link to a real slam against this foolishness by our own Dick Grachek here
Pictures of lobster boats that are supposed to represent the ground fish fleet! lol
NOAA report ignores ‘disaster’
Without acknowledging the socio-economic disaster that has befallen the Northeast groundfishery, endangering the scale of the nation’s oldest fishery and the viability of small ports like Gloucester, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Thursday released its annual status of the stocks 2012 — proclaiming “significant continued progress to “end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks.” continued
Three years into catch shares, fishing industry faces ‘Day of Reckoning’
NEW BEDFORD — Sharp new cuts in fishing quotas mark the start today of the fourth year of fishing catch shares and sector management in the Northeast, NOAA’s prescription for rebuilding fish stocks and streamlining the fishing industry. But the fishermen who now see their quotas of some fish cut by more than 70 percent, who see their livelihood evaporating before their eyes, who are losing homes to foreclosure, insist, without contradiction, that they have done everything NOAA Fisheries has asked them to do in the past three years, and years before that. sadly, continued
“Today,NOAA has responded to a declared disaster by creating a crisis.” NOAA sticks to cuts in fish limits
“Want to buy a boat?” said Orlando, who fishes from the 70-foot vessel Padre Pio. “I put it up for sale. I have no choice.” “Rather than take the true advice of the New England Fisheries Management Council, the New England states and Congress and go forward with a second Interim Rule, NOAA instead to chose deliver a ‘death’ sentence to an industry, a way of life, and local economies and communities up and down the New England coast,” Ferrante wrote in an email. “I cannot say that I am surprised, but today, we dig in and fight harder.” Damned RIGHT! continued
Summary of April 16-17 NEFMC Groundfish Committee Meeting
April 25, 2013 — The New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Groundfish Committee met on Tuesday, April 16, and Wednesday, April 17, to consider recommendations from the Council’s Closed Area Technical Team (CATT) on closed areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. Plenty of audio in this summary, and there are plenty of reasons to question the CATT’s proposals. continued
New England Fishery Management Council eyes changes, declines ‘interim’ call
The council agreed with near unanimity to motions derived by Goethel from his March 4 letter to the council which cited six peer-reviewed scientific journal articles that together, he wrote, “demonstrate that the current management program will guarantee the destruction of the groundfish fleet with negligible benefits to the fish.” (good rundown on yesterdays council meeting) continued
NOAA Responds to Massachusetts legislators on cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder: the answer is still no
Many legal observers, Members of Congress and elected officials disagree with that interpretation. Saving Seafood requested the legal opinion of the General Counsel under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department found 29 pages of written material constituting the advice, but refused to release any of them under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which exempts from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Saving Seafood continues to ask the agency to explain their legal rationale in the face of such widespread disagreement from numerous legislators and lawyers with qualifications to comment. continued
Gloucester fishing community seeks relief from catch limits – Gloucester’s historic industry. Uncertain future
A few weeks ago, second-generation commercial fisherman B.G. Brown almost gave up. He had learned how much fish he can legally catch in the coming year. The numbers were shockingly low. “I was ready to throw in the towel,” Brown told a crowd of about 40 local business people, political leaders, concerned community members, and fellow fishermen that gathered last week to discuss the uncertain future of Gloucester’s historic industry. continued
Monkfish Possession Limits Suspended in Northern Management Area — EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2013
At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, effective May 1, NOAA Fisheries will be implementing an emergency action suspending, for at least 180 days, existing monkfish possession limits for vessels issued a limited access multispecies permit and a limited access monkfish Category C or D permit that are fishing under a monkfish day-at-sea in the Northern Fishery Management Area. Monkfish are often landed while fishing for groundfish, particularly in this area. Read the Bulletin here
Webinar Invitation: “NEFMC Groundfish Committee Meeting – Closed Area Technical Team Discussion”
The New England Fishery Management Council will be live streaming the discussions scheduled to occur on the second day of its Groundfish Committee meeting to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, April 17, 2013, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Please click on the following link for a copy of the agenda and meeting materials here and registration information is here.
Fishermen questioning plan to open new areas
The proposal would open up portions of protected sections of the Gulf of Maine to commercial fishing. The plan is facing stiff opposition from parts of the fishing industry, environmentalists and conservationists. continued
As grim fishing year approaches, New England’s fishing fleet tries to deal with new catch limits – “What are people doing to help the industry?”
BOSTON – Deep cuts in catch limits will hit New England’s fishing fleet in less than three weeks, and there’s little hint any real relief is coming. But regulators and fishermen are still seeking ways to lessen a blow fishermen warn will finish them off. As time grows short, Gloucester’s Al Cottone said he and his fellow fishermen seem to be facing the future in a sort of “state of shock.” “Everyone’s in denial. They still think, you know, someone’s going to come in on their white horse and save us,” he said. “No one knows what they’re going to do,” he said. “Nobody.” continued
David Goethel – member of the New England Fishery Management Council pushes for change, current management program will guarantee the destruction of the groundfishing fleet
A scientist and member of the New England Fishery Management Council, citing multiple failures within the current system, is asked his colleagues to consider a series of radical and controversial changes in fisheries management that he asserts is in line with advanced scientific research papers and essential to the survival of the region’s fishing fleet. ”Overall,” council member David Goethel wrote in a March 3 letter to the panel’s chairman, Rip Cunningham, “these papers demonstrate that the current management program will guarantee the destruction of the groundfishing fleet with negligible benefits to the fish.” continued
RI Fishermen and Delegation seek a seat at the ASFMC table
Currently, Rhode Island is a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, which oversees groundfish such as cod, flounder, and haddock. But the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is responsible for managing squid, as well as other species like mackerel and butterfish. And while Rhode Island’s fishermen annually catch about 7 million pounds of squid, more than half of all squid landings in the Northeast, it does not currently have formal representation on the management council. continued
Warren hears from local fishermen about industry ‘under attack’
Wicked Local -“They want to get rid of the little guys, the people that know how to nurture the resource, the people who do not care about getting rich,” Welch, a Scituate fisherman, said. “We just want to provide for our families, and we want to work, and we want to employ people.” continued
Massachusetts Lawmakers press NOAA to ‘suspend’ May 1 quota cuts
Citing widespread evidence of an abundance of important commercial in shore fish stocks and a scientific study that found flaws in the modeling methods used by the government to set catch limits, a contingent of state lawmakers led by Senate President Therese Murray are urging NOAA’s top fisheries official to allow the fleet reasonable access to stocks while new studies are conducted into the vitality of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem. continued
Push for aid for fishery intensifies as budget process begins
WASHINGTON — Less than three months after an effort to provide a pool of aid to distressed fisheries across the nation died at the end of the last Congress, efforts to secure disaster relief funding for New England fishermen are heating up on Capitol Hill. continue reading
Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Management Measures for Groundfish Fishery for 2013: DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS IS APRIL 15, 2013
Editorial: Influx of cod must spark feds to delay limit cuts
But the influx of cod must be seen as bad news by those esteemed NOAA “scientists” and officials who, with the help of their closely-related environmental nonprofit spin doctors, have poured countless PR dollars and effort into spreading the false word that, indeed, the cod stocks are so diminished — especially from the Gulf of Maine — that we need to cut those fishermen’s 2013 quota by a job- and industry-killing 77 percent. continue reading
