Tag Archives: new-england-fishery-management-council
New England Fishery Management Council newsletter
Click here to read the actions and announcements following the last council meeting. 17:17:
New England Fishery Management Council reject expanded protections for herring
In a decision lauded by state regulators and decried by environmentalists, federal regulators ruled this week that a plan to extend greater conservation efforts to river herring is not necessary at this time. There is a need for more data to assess river herring and shad stocks, but the factors affecting the species include water quality and fish passage, which are difficult to address through federal management plans, said Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the state Department of Marine Resources. Read the rest here 14:25
Habitat Hearings over, New England Fishery Management Council tackles options
Federal regulators are deciding the scope of a management plan for thousands of square miles of fishing grounds off New England that has deeply divided fishermen and conservationists. The 
is working on the long-awaited plan for federal waters from Maine to Rhode Island. It includes a host of options including opening areas closed to fishing and adding new restrictions to open areas. Read the rest here 09:11
Conflict looms over effort to reopen protected Gulf of Maine fishing ground
Under the “preferred option” being considered by the council, the more than 500-square-mile closure zone would shrink by roughly 70 percent. All mobile “bottom-tending” fishing gear – such as draggers and trawlers that can disturb the sea floor – would remain banned around Ammen Rock and most of the ledge proper. But fishermen could resume targeting haddock, cod, pollock and other groundfish in surrounding mudflats that the council deemed “less vulnerable to accumulating adverse effects.” Read the rest here 08:10
Mystery fish halts Cape May Harbor dredging
Marina owners and commercial fishing docks in the Port of Cape May are banding together to fight a winter-time ban on dredging designed to protect a fish that doesn’t seem to even exist here. “I’ve never seen a here. I’ve tried. I went fishing for them three times and never caught one,” said Bob Lubberman, owner of a marina here at Schellenger’s Landing. Read the rest here 22:00
Fight looming over New England fishing territory
Scientists awaiting a long-anticipated fishery management plan in New England waters are concerned federal regulators won’t take aggressive enough steps to protect the habitat. The New England Fishery Management Council has been working for several years on a for federal waters from Maine to Rhode Island and is considering a host of options to balance conservation with commercial fishing interests. Read the rest here 11:31
Our View: Quinn would serve New Bedford, Fishery Council well
We would urge the secretary to appoint New Bedford scalloper Charlie Quinn to the post, filling the seat vacated by Tom Dempsey. Quinn has been scalloping for decades, dragging with his own boat since the age of 18, and has seen the scallop fishery under bad management, good management and great management. The secretary has two other candidates to consider, but Quinn’s experience and intellect make him the right fit for the council, which is responsible for conservation and management of fishery resources off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Read the rest here 10:51
Potential closures for scallop fishery – may be affected by the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2
Scallopers still may be affected by the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 when it goes into effect next year. While lobster gear currently is not included in the list of gear potentially affected by the amendment, the possibility remains open that this could change as a result of public input and any supporting scientific information. The Council plans to work with the , NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the coastal states in the Northeast on this issue. Read the rest here 14:37
New Bedford Fishermen dislike options for NEFMC’s Draft Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 management plan
NEW BEDFORD — Fishermen spoke up against additional habitat protection options presented by the New England Fishery Management Council to update its fishery management plans during a hearing at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on Tuesday to solicit comments on its Draft Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, including its . Read the rest here 08:39
Cod prohobition imperils deep-sea fishing charter businesses
Gibson said the ban on cod possession probably will remain for two years and could last a generation if cod stocks don’t recover. In recent years, a ban on cod possession lasted only a few months. During those months, business dropped by half, said Tim Tower, who runs Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit. “They said, ‘We won’t be going out fishing again until we can keep cod,’” Tower said. Read more here 22:52
How does the government count the fish? Questions of Validity
There are a lot of fish in the sea. How to count them? It is, surprisingly, one of the hottest questions in New England public life these days. Scientists and environmentalists have offered broad rebuttals to Baker and the fishermen in the news media, often blaming the problem on decades of overfishing. But there has been little detailed discussion of how the federal government actually counts fish and how reliable its numbers are. Read the rest here 08:36:11
Gulf of Maine Cod: “It’s more hysteria that seems to be driving management right now, and not thoughtful approaches to meeting the law,”
After an emergency move by federal officials last week to close commercial and recreational cod fishing in parts of the Gulf of Maine, the is in Newport this week mapping out a long-term plan for fishermen throughout the region. Video, and Read the rest here 12:31
Regulators Reject Lobster Restrictions in Gulf of Maine Cod Spawning Areas
The 
was considering a proposal to prohibit lobster gear from those areas out of concern over unintentional cod by-catch. (Other gears allowed in spawning areas are mid water trawl gear, and recreational fishing gear.) Read the rest here 18:51
New England Fishery Management Council cuts Gulf of Maine cod quota. AGAIN!
The New England Fishery Management Council voted to reduce the total allowable cod catch limit from 1,550 to 386 metric tons. Read the rest here 08:04
Mass Governor Elect Baker wants broader input on cod regulations
Questioning the federal estimates used to essentially ban commercial cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine, Governor-elect Charlie Baker said it is time for other scientists to have a say. Baker and Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr, who represents Gloucester, said Massachusetts must do its own analysis of what is happening with the cod population in,,, Read the rest here 12:23
Gloucester to take brunt of new NOAA fishing hits
The port of Gloucester and its sector-based commercial fishermen could be crushed under emergency measures NOAA Fisheries is considering for Gulf of Maine cod, potentially losing as much as one-quarter of all groundfish revenues, according to a NOAA economic report. The ultimate revenue loss will be contingent on how far NOAA cuts the Gulf of Maine cod quota as part of the emergency measures to combat what the agency has described as the continued decimation of the area’s cod stock. Read the rest here 12:52
New England Fishery Management Council punts – Officials struggle to find cod fix
With the federal government now drawing up emergency measures to address a cod disaster in waters from Maine to Rhode Island, the New England Fishery Management Council approved two plans in the hope that one of them would provide a longer term solution to the problem. But it was more like throwing water on the fire after the barn’s burned down as both of them included closing down large areas of inshore fishing grounds for much of the year. Another alternative essentially prohibits any Gulf of Maine cod landings at all by commercial or recreational fishermen.,,, Read the rest here 10:10
NEFMC fails to tackle cod problem – “We’re losing the rest of that value to protect one stock that is highly romanticized,”
Josh Wiersma, who manages two New Hampshire fishing sectors with 14 fishing vessels, said fishermen get $100 million a year catching groundfish species like cod, haddock and flounders, but only $5 million of that comes from cod. His fishermen, he said, have been able to make a living catching other species like Pollock, redfish and hake. “We don’t think cod is more valuable, but apparently the council is willing to shut down everything we built,” he said. Read the rest here 09:50
Emergency plan on cod fishing off of New England sought from federal regulators
The National Marine Fisheries Service expects to implement emergency measures in November aimed at stemming cod fish decline in the Gulf of Maine. The fisheries service is crafting the measures at the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, which asked for them at its meeting in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Wednesday. The measures will apply to the current fishing year, which ends April 30 Read the rest here 08:43
COD: OFFICIALS SAY FISHERMEN, REGULATORS SHARE BLAME
Back in July 2012, John Bullard was the newly minted Northeast regional director for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Soon after he took the reins, Bullard anguished over quota cuts of 77 percent for Gulf of Maine cod and 55 percent for Georges Bank cod, deemed necessary to rebuild those failing stocks. Read the rest here 09:41
Cod threat: Closures, ban in mix
The full New England Fishery Management Council for managing Gulf of Maine cod when it meets this week for the first time since the release of the unscheduled and dire stock assessment that showed the state of the species worsening rather than improving. Read the rest here 09:22
New England Fishery Management Council’s Groundfish Oversight Committee want emergency measures to conserve cod
The federal New England Fishery Management Council’s Groundfish Oversight Committee recommended a battery of changes, including one restriction that would prohibit fishing by private recreational and charter boats in the spawning closure areas. The committee also recommended new prohibitions on some commercial groundfishing vessels, and requested a review of the extent of cod bycatch in the lobster fishery. Read the rest here 22:53
The First Indicator – Looking Back. The 2nd indicator, looking forward.
Let me say first off, no one ever accused me of being smart, not even me. I learned at an early age what a stupid son of a bitch was, and I learned it the hard way.,, “This is pretty dire,” said Russell Brown, deputy science and research director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the branch of NOAA that did the research. Warning! Savory language ahead. Not to be read if offended easily! Read more here 09:06
Decline of Gulf of Maine cod leaves regulators a tough task
The Gulf of Maine cod population has continued to drop despite decades of catch restrictions, according to preliminary results of a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study. Exact causes are unknown, but they likely include warming of the oceans and continued overfishing, marine scientists said. <Read more here> 08:11
North Bound Fluke migration puts regulators in gear
As Summer Flounder, or fluke, migrate northward away from the past population center off North Carolina, fisheries regulators have taken the first steps toward reworking the rules to cope with industry and political pressure. <Read more here> 06:47
2 for the Price of One from El Globo! Gulf of Maine’s cod stock falling, study says – Gulf of Maine Cod Stock at All-Time Low
The cod population in the Gulf of Maine is plummeting more steeply than previously thought, according a new assessment by the federal agency that monitors the fishing industry. Underwater surveys conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that the iconic species has dwindled to as little as 3 percent of what it would take to sustain a healthy population. Read more here Gulf of Maine Cod Stock at All-Time Low Read more here 16:15
Tom Nies: Erroneous Oceana report ignores efforts of local fishermen
The New England Fishery Management Council takes a different position from the one expressed in the July 1 editorial (“Frightening waste of fish”), as well as those reported in recent publications about wasteful fisheries bycatch and the related costs to fishermen and society. Read more here Saving Seafood analysis here 11:47
Reopening Cashes – In a briny preserve, fish and controversy thrive
This prospect — even if the most sensitive areas remain protected — has infuriated environmental advocates, who worry about harming the ledge’s unique biodiversity and further damaging already dramatically reduced cod populations. Vito Giacalone says fishermen are “just looking for some common sense.” Read more here 11:54
Who knew? Rhode Island is King of squid; More pounds are brought to shore than any other seafood
Squid is to Rhode Island what lobster is to Maine; cod is to Massachusetts. “Fifteen years ago, you didn’t see calamari on the menu,” says Glenn Goodwin, co-owner of Seafreeze in North Kingstown, a seafood freezing facility. “Now you see it everywhere. It was a low-cost item that was plentiful. It took some time for people to try it.” Read more here 14:02
Fishermen take heart in herring rules, while “The herring industry has been set up to fail,”
CHATHAM — Relatively few people in New England eat sea herring, but a lot of the fish they love to eat, do. That’s why local fishermen are cheering two decisions by federal regulators this week that they hope will have a positive effect on cod, haddock, tuna and other important commercial species Read more here 08:10
