Tag Archives: NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard
NOAA At-sea monitoring suspended (for now) – To start again March 1, when boats must pay costs
NOAA Fisheries exhausted its budgeted money for at-sea monitoring of Northeast fishing sector groundfish boats on Feb. 16 and has suspended all required monitoring until the fishing industry assumes monitoring costs on March 1. The details of the suspension, which has not been publicly announced by NOAA, were contained in a Feb. 19 declaration filed by NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard in the federal lawsuit New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel of Hampton filed against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce and officials within those federal agencies. “On or about Feb. 16, the (Northeast Fisheries) Science Center became aware for the first time that recent updates did not include information for all completed trips … and that committed government funds to pay for ASMs had been exhausted,” Bullard wrote in his declaration. Read the rest here 08:06
NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard Sticks to his guns over at-sea monitoring battle
Bullard’s letter on Tuesday to NEFMC Executive Director Tom Nies followed the same rejective tone as his letter about two weeks ago that rejected the council request — also made at its June meeting — for NOAA to use its administrative authority to suspend all groundfish at-sea monitoring for the remainder of the 2015 season. “While we do have authority to make administrative adjustments to the ASM program in-season, none of the options would be consistent with the current regulatory requirements and statistical standards, and as a result, we cannot take administrative action to modify the at-sea monitoring coverage for 2015,” Read the rest here 07:55
At Sea Monitoring – “Catch accountability for the groundfish industry is not optional,” NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard
NOAA has denied the request by the New England Fishery Management Council in June to use emergency measures to immediately suspend at-sea monitoring for vessels in the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery. In a letter dated July 30, NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard said the council’s request did not meet any of the criteria for emergency action. The council’s request to suspend at-sea monitoring was viewed as long shot from the moment it was passed,,, Read the rest here 09:27
NOAA and the fishermen: Across the great divide?
The sampling remains microscopically thin, so only time will tell whether the compromise forged by the commercial fishing industry and NOAA Fisheries on the Gulf of Maine interim cod measures will stand as a template for the future. Even given that uncertainty of what lies beyond the horizon, the lack of rancor in modifying the emergency cod measures was a refreshing departure from the antagonistic tango federal regulators and the fishermen have danced in the past. Read the rest here 08:59
NOAA to reconsider emergency Gulf of Maine cod measures
The fishing sector-based proposal to remove some of the most restrictive emergency cod measures in the Gulf of Maine, initially rejected by NOAA Fisheries, is back in play. NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard rejected the sector-based proposal and all other suggested modifications to the emergency cod measures at the New England Fishery Management Council’s January meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., saying the agency had not had enough time to fully study the implications and possible benefits of the sector-based proposal. Read the rest here 10:17
Fishermen’s offer: We’ll catch fewer cod for chance at more haddock
As trades go, this isn’t exactly guns for hostages or Heathcliff Slocumb for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe. Still it’s pretty interesting. Fishermen in and other sectors, with funding assistance from the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund (GFCPF), are offering to surrender up to 60 metric tons of their annual cod catch entitlement if NOAA Fisheries will relax some of the emergency measures it instituted in November to protect Gulf of Maine cod. Read the rest here 09:53
Editorial: NOAA cod measure cannot be allowed to stand without challenge
Perhaps the scariest thing about the new “emergency measures” being imposed on Gloucester fishermen and the New England groundfishing industry is that no one seems surprised. Angry? Frustrated? Desperate? You bet — and with good reason. Read the rest here 09:23
Cod closures to sting Gloucester fleet
No one thought it was going to be good news for Gloucester. Turns out everyone was right. Bullard said the disproportionate suffering inflicted on Gloucester and other nearby groundfish ports is unavoidable to the mission of protecting the cod.“ We’re trying to absolutely shut down fishing where there are concentrations of cod, so that zero cod will be caught (in the Gulf of Maine),” Bullard said. Read the rest here 13:32
Letters signal preventative strike against NOAA fishing measures
NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard has conceded the emergency measures, which will be announced around the middle of this month, likely will include quota cuts and area closures and will have a “disproportionate” negative impact on small-boat groundfish ports such as Gloucester and Portsmouth, N.H. Read the rest here 08:01
Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association in full battle mode for the Gulf of Maine fishery – Reinforcements needed
“Right now, John Bullard is thinking about what he is going to do,” Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association told a small group of fishermen this week. “We need to remind him that people like you are going to be greatly affected by this.” “We need to make people understand that this is going to kill the industry,” she said. “This will be the last nail in the coffin and every day it’s moving closer and closer.” Read the rest here 08:50
