Catch up with the latest news from TalkingFish.org, a blog brought to you by CLF and other organizations and individuals who want to see a sustainable fishing industry in New England and abundant fish populations for generations to come. TalkingFish.org aims to increase people’s understanding of the scientific, financial and social aspects at work in New England’s fisheries. Here’s what went on this week:

• October 3: “Senate Field Hearing on Groundfish Management this Morning” – A post in advance of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation field hearing on the first year of implementation of Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan that occurred in Boston on Monday. There are also links to articles that appeared in the news leading up to the event.
• October 5: “Focus going forward should be on making the New England Council and sector management work – not on repeating unsubstantiated arguments” – CLF’s Peter Shelley writes about his thoughts on the Senate Committee hearing and delves into the numbers behind the claim that revenues have become increasingly concentrated among the top earners in the groundfish fishery, finding that this may not actually be the case.
• October 5: “New England Council Makes a Move on Herring” – Lately, TalkingFish.org has been blogging about actions to protect river herring, an important little fish that is often caught as bycatch in the industrial midwater trawl Atlantic herring fishery. At the New England Fishery Management Council meeting last week, the Council voted to send new rules to protect river herring out for public comment.
• October 6: “Fish Talk in the News – Thursday, October 6″ – A weekly update of recent news stories that might interest TalkingFish.org readers. This week: more on the Senate Committee field hearing on fishery management, the lowdown on tainted seafood imports, fish on the menu at Portland’s Harvest on the Harbor festival, and catch share infographics.

You’ve probably never seen Atlantic menhaden on a restaurant menu, and maybe you’ve never even heard of this little fish. But Atlantic menhaden, which have been called the “most important fish in the sea,” need your help.

Atlantic menhaden (Photo credit: Phillip Jones, courtsey of South Carolina Department of Natural Resources)

Atlantic menhaden are small, oily fish that are an important food for striped bass, bluefish, tuna, whales, porpoises, seabirds, and many other wildlife – but they are also caught for use as lobster bait or in a variety of consumer products such as pet food and fish oil supplements. While menhaden used to be abundant along the east coast of the United States, overfishing has resulted in the population dropping to a historic low. A declining menhaden population is detrimental to the marine ecosystems and predators that depend on this fish and to New England’s coastal economies, whose commercial and recreational businesses rely on the fish that prey on menhaden.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a deliberative body made up of representatives from the coastal Atlantic states that coordinates the conservation and management of the states’ shared fishery resources (including menhaden), recently took an important first step to protect the menhaden population by laying out a plan to increase the number left in the ocean and preserve the marine ecosystems that depend upon this important fish. The ASMFC will meet in November to vote on the plan – so the time to make your voice heard in support of protection for menhaden is now. Click here to send a message to the ASMFC urging it to approve actions to protect menhaden from overfishing and restore the population to healthy levels.

Make your voice heard, and help us save the “most important fish in the sea.”

This morning at 9 a.m. at the State House in Boston, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a field hearing on the first year of implementation of Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan.

Amendment 16, as readers of the CLF Scoop may know, has been in effect since May 2010. While some predicted dire revenue losses under the new sector system implemented by Amendment 16, the National Marine Fisheries Service recently reported that all-species gross revenues for the groundfish fleet in the 2010 fishing year–$297.7 million–were $26.6 million more than gross revenues in the 2009 fishing year. Groundfish permit sales, an important indicator of consolidation at an organization level, were extremely low.

In a statement issued today, Peter Shelley, CLF Senior Counsel, said the following: “These outcomes show a healthy, adaptive fleet that has diversified to target multiple species beyond groundfish, and that has begun to take advantage of the added flexibility that the sector system in New England provides even in the challenging start-up year. Amendment 16 is an important step in the right direction for New England and New England’s fishermen. It should be supported in Washington, D.C., and efforts to improve the system should be spearheaded in New England as intended by Congress.”

To read the full CLF statement, click here.

Catch up with the latest news from TalkingFish.org, a blog brought to you by CLF and other organizations and individuals who want to see a sustainable fishing industry in New England and abundant fish populations for generations to come. TalkingFish.org aims to increase people’s understanding of the scientific, financial and social aspects at work in New England’s fisheries. Here’s what went on this week:

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  Read about river herring this week on TalkingFish.org! (Photo credit: Mike Laptew)

  September 26: “Care about river herring? Then pay attention this week!” – This week was a big week for river herring at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting. TalkingFish.org tells you what was on the agenda and how you can make your voice heard to support options help save river herring. Next week we’ll have some recaps of the Council meeting, so be sure to check back!

• September 30: “Fish Talk in the News – Friday, September 30″ – A weekly update of recent news stories that might interest TalkingFish.org readers. This week: NOAA released the first National Bycatch Report, the trend in seafood traceability continues, and Environmental Defense Fund wrote an opinion piece about making improvements to ensure that the sector management system works effectively for as many groundfishermen as possible.

Catch up with the latest news from TalkingFish.org, a blog brought to you by CLF and other organizations and individuals who want to see a sustainable fishing industry in New England and abundant fish populations for generations to come. TalkingFish.org aims to increase people’s understanding of the scientific, financial and social aspects at work in New England’s fisheries. Here’s what went on this week:

• September 13: “Overfishing 101: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over” – In the eleventh post in his “Overfishing 101 series,” Pew Environment Group’s Lee Crockett writes about the progress U.S. fishery management has made toward ending overfishing – but he cautions that our work is not done yet. “Plenty of hard work remains to ensure that strong catch limits are effectively implemented, enforced and adjusted to reflect the best available science over time,” Crockett writes. “Congress also will need to provide ongoing funding for data collection, monitoring and analysis. This will allow us to verify that fishing is occurring at sustainable levels and will inform us when America’s fish populations rebuild to levels that can support thriving fisheries and ocean ecosystems.”
  

• September 16: “Fish Talk in the News – Friday, September 16″ – A weekly update of recent news stories that might interest TalkingFish.org readers.

Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) released the Interim Report for Fishing Year 2010 on the Performance of the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery (May 2010-January 2011), which examines gross revenues, fishing effort, average vessel performance, distribution of revenues, and employment for the first nine months of the 2007 through 2010 fishing years. As expected under the new sector management system, which went into effect last May, the report shows an increase in gross revenues in 2010 compared to previous years. However, since the report does not take into account expenses such as vessel operating costs or the costs associated with joining a sector, the effect of sectors on net revenues in the fishery still remains to be seen.

Haddock, one of the species managed as part of the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery (Photo credit: NOAA)

Still, NOAA’s statement on the release of the report expressed optimism.  “The report provides welcome news about Northeast groundfish revenues,” said Eric Schwaab, NOAA assistant administrator for fisheries. “For example, the higher revenues occurred without exceeding this year’s groundfish catch quotas. And while many fishermen are doing better, we also know that some fishermen and businesses are not doing as well.”

The report noted that many trends observed in 2010 were continuations of trends that had been apparent since 2007 or even earlier, including declining landings, a declining number of active vessels, and increasing concentration of groundfish revenue among the top-earning vessels. Some other trends observed this year are new, and these trends are of a more positive nature, including increases in gross revenues, increases in prices of both groundfish and non-groundfish species, and increased economic performance in terms of revenue per unit effort.

As mentioned above, data from the final three months of the fishing year and data on the costs associated with the new system have yet to be incorporated into NEFSC’s analysis, so a final assessment of the first year of sectors is not currently possible. The interim report will be updated in August 2011 to take into account this additional information.

To read more about the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery and the sector system, please visit Talking Fish, a new blog created by CLF and other like-minded organizations and individuals to foster informed and productive discussion about New England’s fisheries and coastal communities.