SB668 has been amended to create a state-level angler identification system, similar to the Hunter Identification Program run by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

This solution will allow Virginia to maintain the recreational boat license, as well as the license exemptions for piers, rental boats, senior citizens, and private shoreline. The state program will be administered through the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and will be paid for through increases of up to $5 on individual licenses, and up to $10 on boat  licenses. Instead of paying the Federal government to register, anglers with a Virginia license will be registered automatically, and anglers exempted from Virginia licensing requirements will only have to call in and obtain an identification number free of charge.

“As is the norm with compromises, this one is not perfect,” said Northam. “However, it does accomplish the goals of exempting Virginians from Federal fees and fines, and also allows us to keep the boat license, as well as all existing license exemptions.”

The legislation was introduced in response to a VMRC study that provided options on how Virginia could comply with the Federal mandate.  The data collected from the new system will improve the quantity and quality of data available to manage
fisheries sustainably, and will help prevent the kind of stock collapses that have led to massive job losses, regional economic depressions, and serious environmental effects in the past.

The bill was reported from a conference committee and passed the Senate and House of Delegates. It will now go to Governor McDonnell for his signature.

                        

The event will provide an opportunity for mariners to meet some of their local enforcement officers, ask questions and learn about new and existing regulations.

Regardless of whether mariners operate a commercial, charter, or recreational vessel; subject matter experts will be on hand to answer questions about recreational and commercial fishing, or questions about laws pertaining to safety gear.

Boaters without specific questions are invited to come and listen to the discussion or pick up information on Boating Safety, Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety, Fishing Regulations, or to come and schedule a Courtesy Marine Examination.

The following are participating agencies and agency departments:

* U.S. Coast Guard Station Chincoteague

* U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

* U.S. Park Service (NWR)

* Virginia Marine Resources Commission

* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

* U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Boating Safety Instructors and Courtesy Marine Examiners

* U.S. Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads Commercial Fishing Safety Examiners

The session will be held at Tarr Hall, in the Galley Facility, located on the base.

source: USCG press release

                        

Strickland, who will head the U.S. delegation to the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) of the 175-nation treaty, initially announced support for the proposal last October, but left open the possibility that the United States could modify its position if the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted significantly strengthened management and compliance measures during its November 2009 meeting.

“Under the leadership of NOAA, the United States entered the meeting seeking the strongest possible agreement for the conservation of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna. We recognize that the parties to ICCAT took some unprecedented steps,” said Strickland. “However, in light of the serious compliance problems that have plagued the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean fishery and the fact that the 2010 quota level adopted by ICCAT is not as low as we believe is needed, the United States continues to have serious concerns about the long-term viability of either the fish or the fishery.”

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is highly prized, especially for sashimi, and a single fish can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars. The Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock is threatened by overharvesting, which includes illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.

Current population information for the species shows it meets the biological criteria for listing in Appendix I. In the Atlantic Ocean, bluefin tuna are managed as two separate stocks, an Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, and a Western. The Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has declined steeply during the last 10 years. Based on estimated catches, scientists estimated the spawning stock biomass in 2007 to be 78,724 metric tons. This contrasts with the biomass peak of 1955, at 305,136 metric tons. The decline over the 50-year historical period ranging from 1955 to 2007 is estimated at 74.2 percent, the bulk of which (60.9 percent) took place during the last 10 years.

The Western Atlantic spawning stock has declined by 82.4 percent from 49,482 metric tons in 1970 to 8,693 metric tons in 2007.  During the past decade, the Western stock has stabilized at a very low population level. Many experts correlate this stabilization to adoption of rigorous science-based catch quotas and other management measures together with effective monitoring and enforcement. Such measures ensured strict compliance with ICCAT’s ruled by the U.S. fleet.

Strickland noted that the parties to ICCAT took positive steps at the November meeting. These steps included a commitment to set future catch levels in line with scientific advice, to shorten the fishing season, reduce fishing capacity, and close the fishery if the stocks continue to decline.  However, in light of the serious compliance problems that have plagued the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean fishery and the fact that the 2010 quota level adopted by ICCAT is not as low as needed, the United States will support the proposal to list Atlantic bluefin tuna in Appendix I at CoP15 and will work actively with Monaco and other CITES and ICCAT Parties in order to achieve positive results for bluefin tuna at CoP15 and at the 2010 ICCAT annual meeting.

If the bluefin tuna is listed under Appendix I, commercial fishermen in the United States could continue to sell western Atlantic bluefin tuna caught in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) domestically.  Fishing in the EEZ is tightly regulated in the United States to ensure that it meets the ICCAT science-based quota. The United States is both a consumer and a net importer of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Strickland indicated that the United States will explore measures to assist fishermen if international trade is restricted.

“We understand the frustration of our U.S. fishermen who have followed the scientific recommendations and regulatory provisions of ICCAT for many years while their counterparts in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean have often overfished and engaged in ineffective management,” Strickland said.  “The U.S. government is committed to working with our many international partners to continue to rebuild Atlantic bluefin tuna and ensure sustained conservation and management of the species into the future.”

A CITES-regulated species may be included in one of three appendices to the convention:

* Appendix I includes species for which it is determined that any commercial trade is detrimental to the survival of the species. Therefore, no commercial trade is allowed in Appendix-I species. Non-commercial trade in such species is allowed if it does not jeopardize the species’ survival in the wild. Permits are required for the exportation and importation of Appendix-I species.

* Appendix II includes species for which it has been determined that commercial trade may be detrimental to the survival of the species if that trade is not strictly controlled. Trade in these species is regulated through the use of export permits.

* Appendix III includes species listed by a range country that requires the assistance of other parties to ensure that exports of their native species are legal. Permits are used to control and monitor trade in native species. Any CITES party may place a native species in Appendix III.

Any listing of a species in either Appendix I or II requires approval by two-thirds of the CITES party countries that vote on the proposal.

The Conference of the Parties will be held March 13-25, 2010, in Doha, Qatar.

source: U.S. Dept. of the Interior press release

                        

“We need better science and more data-based flexibility in our fishing management regulations,” said Schumer. “Keeping our fishing stocks healthy is absolutely critical, and to accomplish this we can’t base decisions on outdated science and poor methods. The current system not only falls short of achieving this goal, but it could take the Long Island fishing community down with it in 2010,” Schumer said adding that the fishing community “needs fairness and relief from flawed survey data now.”

MRFSS uses a combination of dockside interviews and evening telephone surveys to collect recreational harvest information.  In 2005, Congress convened a special hearing to look the MRFSS methodology, which in turn led to an in-depth analysis by the National Research Council (NRC) concluding that “both the telephone and access components of the current approach have serious flaws in design or implementation and use inadequate analysis methods that need to be addressed immediately.” Pat Sullivan, the NRC committee chair and a Cornell professor, referred to MRFSS specifically as “fatally flawed.”  The findings led to an MSA mandate that NMFS work on a new survey methodology which was supposed to be online and operational by the start of 2009. Federal delays however have pushed back the start date for MRIP until this year, which means MRFSS data is still regarded as “best available science” for estimating the annual recreational harvest.

Last week, Sen. Schumer asked Kurkul to issue an across-the-board moratorium on this flawed survey data in 2010 so that black sea bass and other species like fluke and porgies are not unfairly shutdown by bad science. “Acknowledging the problems with MRFSS, a new system mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act will be coming online in the coming years,” the senator wrote, adding “it would be patently unfair to punish anglers by reducing their quota due to erroneous landings estimates produced with a broken system.  I request that NMFS dismiss future recreational overages predicted by MRFSS until the new system is fully implemented and calibrated by NOAA.”

The Recreational Fishing Alliance recently posted a seven-page paper (Fatally Flawed Science – Killing America’s Number One Outdoor Pastime) pointing out many specific problems with MRFSS and outlining NRC’s view that experiential, narrative or local information from the fishing industry, currently considered purely “anecdotal” in nature by NMFS, should actually be considered in harvest methodology.  “When no other information is available, anecdotal information may constitute the best information available,” the NRC reported in its executive summary, adding “In addition, anecdotal information may be used to help validate other sources of information and identify topics for research.”

Schumer’s letter on behalf of anglers in the New York marine district can be greatly supported in many coastal states and is backed by a recent study conducted by the Connecticut Marine Fisheries Division (Correction for Systematic Bias in Recreational Catch, Harvest and Trip Estimates from the MRFSS since the year 2000) which noted a growing discrepancy between the estimated number of saltwater anglers according to MRFSS and the estimates of saltwater anglers from the US Fish and Wildlife Surveys (USFWS) and saltwater licenses sales from several Atlantic coast states.  Authored by fisheries assessment expert Dr. Victor Crecco, the report shows that MRFSS’ 2008 saltwater angler estimates were often “three to four times higher than both the 2006 USFWS estimates and the 2008 adjusted saltwater license sales,” findings which Dr. Crecco said “strongly suggest that the MRFSS has severely overestimated the number of saltwater anglers and fishing trips particularly in recent years, and by extension, has severely inflated the true recreational catch and harvest of all finfish species.”

Schumer is urging the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to manage quotas based on sound data, and has instructed federal fisheries managers to dismiss any future overages estimated by MRFSS in order to restore some stability to coastal fishing communities.  “MRFSS has proven to be extremely dangerous on a year to year basis – especially with regard to last year’s surprising black sea bass shutdown – and this raises concerns about fully utilizing the meager summer flounder liberalization New York is entitled to in 2010,” Sen. Schumer added.

“Fishing is a Long Island tradition that has been passed down for generations and without this relief, the NMFS could potentially stick New York with another year of draconian cuts,” Schumer said. “The fishing community has made many sacrifices and stocks are improving so restricting families and others from fishing for them, based on bad data, in 2010 is just plain wrong.”

This past Saturday, Sen. Schumer visited the Freeport Recreation Center on Long Island and met with several hundred recreational fishermen at the New York Sportfishing Federation’s annual fishing expo.  “Fishing is one of our best industries in New York and you’ve been neglected for too long,” Schumer told the crowd of anglers and business owners, stressing the need to fix the Magnuson Stevens Act.  Schumer is lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1255, the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act and urged show patrons to join him in a  rally on the Capitol on February 24th while calling on “bureaucrats” to immediately fix the data collection system.

“We’ve got to change the rules here,” Schumer said to a loud applause.

To view Sen. Schumer’s letter to NOAA, visit www.joinrfa.org/Press/SchumerLetter_020910.pdf

source: RFA press release

                        

While serving as a member of the Council, Eric demonstrated a strong conservation ethic and helped the Council in its development and implementation of the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP); Framework Adjustment 1 (instituting the Research Set-Aside Program) to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish FMP, Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass FMP, Bluefish FMP, the Tilefish FMP; and, Amendments 13 to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass and Surfclam and Ocean Quahog FMPs. During his tenure on the Council, Eric served on the Demersal, Ecosystems, and Law Enforcement Committees.

source: MAFMC press release

                        

The Virginia Beach Fishing Center is sponsoring a bus to go to Washington DC on February 24th. The bus will leave the Fishing Center at 7:00am Wednesday morning and will return some time that evening. The bus is limited to 50 people. If you would like to go, there is a sign up sheet at the Fishing Center.

As per the US Capitol police, “there is no parking available for private automobiles, buses, or other vehicles on Capitol Grounds. Buses may utilize Garfield Circle, at the intersection of First Street and Maryland Avenue, S.W., and Union Station, at 50 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., to drop off passengers.” Bus companies and bus drivers can contact Union Station authorities for drop-off and parking information at 202-898-1950.

If you or your group is organizing one of these bus trips to Washington, please let your bus company know that all buses entering DC are subject to a $50 permit fee.

Visit http://dmv.dc.gov/info/trippermit.shtm for all required bus permit information.

                        

The shutdown of the signal concludes the broadcast of the U.S. domestic signal. Stations Attu and Shoal Cove, which are bound by bi-lateral agreements with Russia and Canada, will continue to broadcast their international signals until later this year. All the stations will continue to be maintained and manned as the closure of the facilities proceeds over the coming months. Decommissioning dates have yet to be set and plans for the dismantlement of the stations are in development.

Loran-C was originally developed to provide radio-navigation service for U.S. coastal waters and was later expanded to include complete coverage of the continental U.S. as well as most of Alaska. Twenty-four U.S. Loran-C stations work in partnership with Canadian and Russian

stations to provide coverage in Canadian waters and the Bering Sea. The system provided better than 0.25 nautical mile absolute accuracy for within the published areas and provided navigation, location, and timing services for both civil and military air, land and marine users. It was approved as an en route supplemental air navigation system for both Instrument Flight Rule and Visual Flight Rule operations.

The Loran-C system served the 48 continental states, their coastal areas, parts of Alaska and neighboring countries for 67 years, 8 months and 24 days.

source: USCG press release

                        

The term “catch share” encompasses a broad spectrum of fishery management systems that share a common approach: allocating a portion of a scientifically determined catch limit to a discrete set of users (i.e. individuals, groups, or communities). The MAFMC adopted the first catch share programs in the United States when it implemented an ITQ (individual transferable quota) program for the surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries in 1990. The MAFMC also recently (2009) implemented a catch share system for tilefish (IFQ – individual fishing quota).

Given the high levels of interest regarding catch share programs, the MAFMC concluded that an educational workshop dedicated to catch share issues would be beneficial for its members and partners. As the workshop is educational in nature, no management decisions will be made at the workshop to initiate catch shares in any particular fishery managed by the MAFMC.

As more information becomes available, including agenda details and background briefing documents, the Council will post these materials on its website: www.mafmc.org. Please contact the Council at 302-674-2331 or by e-mail to info@mafmc.org to clarify any details or to address any questions.

Location details: Kingsmill Conference Center, 1010 Kingsmill Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185; 800-832-5665. Kingsmill is 20 minutes from the Newport News/Williamsburg Airport (PHF) and 45 minutes from either the Norfolk, VA or Richmond, VA airports.

source MAFMC press release

                        

The 2009 Northeast Fisheries Science Center assessment update indicates that the spiny dogfish are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The 2009 spawning stock biomass is estimated to be 360 million pounds, which is 2.7 percent below the target biomass of 370 million pounds and well above the threshold of 184 million pounds. Total removals in 2008 were approximately 23.9 million pounds corresponding to an F estimate of 0.117, well below the overfishing threshold of F = 0.39 and essentially equivalent to Frebuild = 0.11. Among the sources of removals, U.S. commercial landings comprised 9.1 million pounds, Canadian commercial landings were 3.5 million pounds, and total (US and Canadian) dead discards were 10.9 million pounds, of which recreational dead discards were 228,000 pounds.

While the stock is considered rebuilt, the assessment update contains a number of caveats. These caveats include a size frequency of the female population that is concentrated between 75 and 95 cm with very few fish above 100 cm or below 70 cm; low numbers of juvenile male and female dogfish that imply that the population will fluctuate over time decreasing around 2017; a continued skewed sex ratio; and the use of assumptions about pup survivorship and selectivity of gear. After reviewing the assessment update, the Technical Committee recommended that the Board take a precautionary approach and set a quota based on Frebuild of 0.11 = 10.7 million pounds.

The Technical Committee recommended status quo possession limits at a maximum of 3,000 pounds, noting that under the 3,000 pound possession limit, target fishing mortality target rates have not been exceeded and fishermen have been able to harvest the entire quota. The Technical Committee urged that possession limits should be set at a level that minimizes discards. Discards are associated with both high and low possession limits.

The Board also approved a 33 fish possession limit for sharks in the large coastal sharks (LCS) species group (silky, tiger, blacktip, spinner, bull, lemon, nurse, scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, and smooth hammerhead sharks) for 2010. The Coastal Sharks Technical Committee recommended continuing with a 33 fish LCS possession limit in 2010 to maintain consistency between state and federal limits. For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202)289-6400 or .

source: ASMFC press release

                        

In a memo, Dr. Lubchenco directed NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer, and NOAA Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Jim Balsiger, to take a two-part approach to responding to the Jan. 21 recommendations by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General that reviewed the policies and practices of NOAA’s fisheries enforcement system. Lubchenco requested the review in June 2009 after listening to concerns of fishermen and Congress.

“I take this report very seriously and I want a comprehensive approach to addressing both the IG’s observations and the perceptions of fishermen. Fish are a public resource that should be protected through proper regulation and enforcement for the benefit of Americans, coastal economies and the marine environment. We can’t manage effectively without trust,” said Dr. Lubchenco. “Taking these steps will help us resolve the issues identified by the Inspector General and enhance our efforts to work with the fishing industry and public in a more constructive manner.”

NOAA will implement the following immediate actions:

1. Subject to compliance with applicable labor relations requirements, institute higher level reviews of proposed charging decisions, penalties, permit sanctions, and settlements to ensure consistency and predictability and to avoid the appearance of arbitrary decision making.

2. Institute a freeze on hiring criminal investigators until a work force analysis is done and approved by Dr. Lubchenco that will address the appropriate mix of criminal investigators and regulatory inspectors in the enforcement office.

3. Shift oversight of the Civil Monetary Penalties Fund (also known as the Assets Forfeiture Fund), where penalties are accrued, from NOAA’s Fisheries Service to NOAA’s comptroller.

4. Improve communications on enforcement issues, particularly in the Northeast. This will include actions that enhance understanding of fisheries regulations and transparency of enforcement actions.

5. Develop specific objectives and detailed plans for a summit on law enforcement practices to be held no later than June 30. The summit will provide a venue to develop forward thinking approaches and long-range policies for properly executing enforcement actions to protect living marine resources.

NOAA will develop, by March 21, long-term strategies that:

1. Improve data integrity and address inefficiencies of the management information systems used by the enforcement office and the enforcement attorneys, including using the Internet to increase transparency.

2. Implement standardized procedures for setting enforcement priorities that will help ensure consistency among regions while addressing regional needs. Ensure NOAA leadership has input.

3. Strengthen enforcement attorney operating procedures, prosecution of charged cases, and settlement actions. This includes revising procedural regulations and penalty schedules for consistency and clarity.

4. Implement an outreach strategy to improve relations with local fisheries communities and improve understanding of fisheries regulations and enforcement activities. This includes increasing rapport between NOAA and fishermen in order to improve communications and informal problem solving.

5. Develop a plan to review law enforcement staffing and procedures with a focus on ensuring that criminal procedures are not applied to civil offenses. Development of the plan should include appropriate independent review.

These ten initial steps are intended to begin to resolve the issues identified by the IG. NOAA will build upon these steps to develop a comprehensive plan that responds to all of the IG’s recommendations.

Dr. Lubchenco’s memo is available online at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/PDFs/IGReportMemorandum.pdf.

The IG report is available online at http://www.oig.doc.gov/oig/.

The more than 200 agents and attorneys in NOAA’s Office for Law Enforcement and the Office of the General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation are responsible for ensuring compliance with more than 35 statutes, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Endangered Species Act. Their jurisdiction covers more than three million square miles of open ocean, more than 85,000 miles of U.S. coastline, the nation’s 13 national marine sanctuaries and its marine national monuments. As part of their mission to protect our nation’s marine resources by ensuring compliance with fisheries laws and regulations, they help to protect fish stocks, marine mammals, and the marine environment, as well as the livelihoods of law-abiding commercial and recreational fishermen.

source: NOAA press release