May 28
2011
Maps were created (view pdf) that present rankings by west coast counties according to the major “management groups” (grouping individual species codes) used in the PacFIN database in terms of ex-vessel revenue for the recent 5-year period, 2006-2010.
These management groups accord with the four Pacific Council fishery management plans (coastal pelagic species, groundfish, highly migratory species, and salmon) and four additional categories (crab, other, salmon, shellfish, and shrimp).
The data were obtained by a query grouping landings by county codes in the database. The PacFIN county codes were then matched to FIPS county codes for use in ArcGIS. (The PacFIN county table includes several codes that are not counties, e.g., “Columbia River below Bonneville Dam.”
In data preparation revenue for all these codes were grouped into a single record, which is not displayed in the figures or the table below.)
Counties were used as the geographic units for two reasons. First, counties are a useful geographic unit for producing choropleth maps. Second, grouping by county makes it easier to compare landings data to demographic data (available from the census or other sources) in future analyses.
Read the post at the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s site.
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Apr 21
2011
photo © 2006 Jeff Kubina | more info (via: Wylio)
surbon@s-t.com
April 20, 2011 12:00 AM
NEW BEDFORD — As a budget amendment blocking catch share management from spreading in America’s fisheries makes its way to President Barack Obama’s desk, new concerns have cropped up about the arrival of private brokers of fishing allocations.
The measure in the budget prohibits the Commerce Department from funding the implementation of fisheries catch share programs such as the one imposed in the Northeast one year ago. It was introduced by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and backed by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., among others.
The language in the amendment was softened somewhat in the budget deliberations. Originally, it stopped funding for even the study of new catch share systems. Now it simply prohibits their approval.
“This is a shot in the arm for fishermen and a shot across the bow of the National Marine Fisheries Service,” said Jones in a prepared statement. “The last thing our government should be doing in these economic times is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to expand programs that will put even more Americans out of work. NMFS would be wise to take heed of the opposition of fishermen, the public and the Congress to their catch shares agenda; we’re not going away.”
Catch shares and sector management are being blamed (or credited) with sharply reducing the size of the groundfish fleet in the Northeast and the rapid consolidation of catch into the top 10 percent of the boats. The measures are being challenged in federal court in a lawsuit filed by New Bedford, Gloucester and other fishing interests.
Read the rest on SouthCoastToday.com.
Apr 15
2011
April 14, 2011
STAFF WRITER
The nuclear crisis has spread fear among people all over the world, but fishermen in areas around the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant say the perception of danger is unfairly affecting their livelihoods.
Although few of their catches are contaminated with radioactive materials beyond allowable limits, buyers and consumers have refused to buy, knocking down the market prices of seafood.
“How long should we wait until the situation gets better? For days? For months?” asked Tetsuro Tsuchida, head of Kujukuri Makiami Fisheries Cooperative.
“Sardines usually sell for ¥40 per kilo. But now the price is down to about ¥15 to ¥20,” Tsuchida said.
“I want to know if we’re going to be compensated for the loss. If so, who will do it? The prefectural, or central government?” he asked.
Highly radioactive water from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant flowed into the sea until April 6. The operator also intentionally dumped about 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific to empty tanks to hold far more toxic water from the crippled reactor buildings.
Read the rest at The Japan Times.
photo © 2011 Dominic Alves | more info (via: Wylio)
Mar 9
2011
March 8, 2011
At a hearing today in front of the Senate Commerce Committee on the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Assistant NOAA Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab said that the U.S. is making good progress toward meeting the mandate to end domestic overfishing.
“We know that nearly $31 billion in sales and as many as 500,000 jobs are lost because our fisheries are not performing as well as they would if all stocks were rebuilt,” Schwaab said. “While we are turning a corner toward a brighter future for fishermen and fishing communities, many fishermen are struggling in part as a result of years of decline in fishing opportunity.”
Schwaab said that NOAA is committed to working with fishermen and communities during this period of transition.
Our nation’s fisheries have been vital to the economics and identities of our coastal communities for hundreds of years. According to the most recent estimates, U.S. commercial and saltwater recreational fisheries support almost two million jobs and generate more than $160 billion in sales.
Schwaab talked about fishery management challenges, including improving collection, analysis, and accuracy of scientific information used to manage both recreational and commercial fisheries. He indicated that NOAA Fisheries will continue to work hard with the regional fishery management councils, fishermen and the coastal communities to increase confidence in the management system and ensure productive and efficient fisheries.
Read the full story here.
Mar 3
2011
The threads of corruption infesting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and administrator Jane Lubchenco’s beloved catch share fishery management program gets wider and more varied with each passing week.
So it is a mystery why every member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation is not making every effort possible to reign in the federal fishing regulatory agency through a budget amendment aimed at freezing NOAA’s funding for expanding this job-killing national policy.
The latest example is an anonymous petition faxed to and circulated among fishermen, asking that they sign on in support the new regulatory system, which allocates fishermen “shares” of an allotted catch that be bought, sold or traded like commodities.
The system, launched in New England last May, has concentrated control of fisheries into larger, corporate hands and out of the hands of smaller, independent fishermen like those who dominate Gloucester and many other fishing communities around the country. And remember that, back in 2009, Lubchenco indicated that’s actually a state goal of her program, saying she felt the need to eliminate “a sizeable fraction” of the fishing fleet.
Now comes a contrived petition, designed to make it look like there is grassroots support for catch shares among those it is putting out of business — smaller fishermen, and those who work as boat crew members.
Read the rest of the editorial here.
Feb 25
2011
photo © 2009 Mike Baird | more info (via: Wylio)
Sun Journal Staff
The search for balance between economic and environmental concerns intensified this week over catch limits from those in both commercial and recreational fishing industries.
Key North Carolina congressional delegation members have asked U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke “to consider other well-established fishery management techniques” to help keep the industry alive.
A letter from Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., joined several senators and congressmen from other East Coast states in the request. The request came over “concern that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations catch share policy will further endanger the economic vitality of the already-struggling fishing industry and will not end overfishing.”
“The fishing industry is a crucial part of our nation’s economy, but in these tough economic times too many fishermen are struggling to provide for themselves, their families and their communities,” the letter said.
It maintains, as have fishermen speaking at recent public hearings in New Bern before the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council this year, that NOAA has “committed significant funding to encourage the adoption of catch share programs when it has not committed sufficient funds to adequately assess the stocks of our nation’s fisheries.”
Read the rest of the story here.
Feb 25
2011
By Richard Gaines Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. John Kerry has put his political weight behind the struggles of the fishing industry in its growing fight for relief from the regulatory, economic and law enforcement policies created and being carried out by the Obama administration.
photo © 2009 Center for American Progress Action Fund | more info (via: Wylio)
Expressing disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress in a year’s struggle dating to the Feb. 24, 2010, national fishermen’s rally in Washington, D.C., Kerry announced plans organize a field hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee — somewhere in Massachusetts, and no later than April.
The hearing would gather testimony for comprehensive legislation aimed at modifying the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the landmark 1976 law that governs America’s fisheries and is credited with achieving sustainable stocks and ending overfishing.
Read the rest of the story here.
Feb 24
2011
WASHINGTON – Feb. 19, 2011 (Saving Seafood) – Amendment #548 to H.R. 1 sponsored by Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) and cosponsored by Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) passed the United States House of Representatives on a recorded vote of 259-159 at 1:43 a.m.
The Amendment would prevent funds from being expended by NOAA to enact new limited access fishing programs. The Amendment, if H.R. 1 is passed by the Senate and signed into law, would prevent spending on new catch shares programs.
51 Democrats joined 208 Republicans voting in favor of the Amendment.
Read the rest of the story
here.
