GLOUCESTER, MA – NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator (GARFO) John Bullard has recently announced he plans to retire on Jan. 5, 2018. Bullard, who took the top job in the agency’s Gloucester-based office in 2012, will leave a legacy of improved relationships with fishermen, the research community, environmentalists, local, state, and federal officials …
Category: Government Agencies
2017-2018 scallop quota RSA projects awarded
GLOUCESTER, MA – This year’s sea scallop fisheries research program (announced in March) will fund an estimated $15.32 million in projects – from 1.27 million pounds of sea scallop research set-aside (RSA) quota based on $12 per pound. NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) awarded RSA quota to 17 projects for the 2017-2018 fishing year. …
Deep-sea corals amendment readied for council;
Workshop participants seek to mitigate impacts to fishing in the areas NEWBURYPORT, MA – At its Apr. 18-20 meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council will select preferred alternatives for the draft Omnibus Deep-Sea Corals Amendment. Initiated in 2010, the amendment seeks to protect various types of deep-sea corals found on the continental slope, 20 canyons …
Fishermen participating in sampling program fill nets
BRISTOL, ME – The season for the Maine 2017 Northern Shrimp Cooperative Winter Sampling Program began here on Jan. 30. Not long after the sampling got underway, shrimp trawler fishermen Troy Benner, David Osier, and Arthur Poland Jr. were spotted in Muscongus Bay. And, on Feb. 2, Benner was spotted hauling in a net full of …
ASMFC’s Lobster Technical Committee reports on Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank stock status
ALEXANDRIA, VA – After wrestling with the Southern New England lobster stock recruitment collapse, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) American Lobster Management Board tasked its Technical Committee (TC) with identifying potential issues in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank (GOM/GBK) stock to forestall similar problems. TC Chair Kathleen Reardon reported back at ASMFC’s recent …
Final rule issued for NS1 revisions to Magnuson-Stevens
SILVER SPRING, MD – As part of an effort to streamline and clarify management guidelines, NOAA Fisheries National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) finalized changes to the guidelines for National Standards 1, 3, and 7 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The new guidelines became effective in October. The MSA, of course, governs …
NMFS to hold two November hearings…
… on draft EA for Atlantic highly migratory species management plan amendment ST. PETERSBURGS, FL – NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has released a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for public comment on the proposed Amendment 10 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan (HMS FMP) that would update the Essential …
New England council makes progress on Deep Sea Corals Omnibus Amendment
Danvers, MA – As of the Sept. 20-22 New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) meeting, two of the major delays to progress on the Deep Sea Corals Omnibus Amendment have been resolved, allowing the Plan Development Team (PDT) to move forward on the draft environmental assessment. Deep sea corals are slow-growing, fragile deep water animals …
Ocean State offshore wind farm projects …
…set standard for involving and communicating with affected fishermen NEW SHOREHAM, RI – “Whether you’re for or against it, just the scale of it leaves you in awe,” said Elizabeth Marchetti, fisheries liaison for the Deepwater Wind Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF). After a site visit to watch the fourth of five turbine towers going …
More commercial fishing vessels added to co-op research study fleet
Trend likely to expand, continue going forward WOODS HOLE, MA – NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Northeast Cooperative Research Program (NCRP) is adding an additional 10-12 commercial fishing vessels to its 37-vessel study fleet this summer. The study fleet has been in operation since 1999 serving as data collectors for physical oceanographic studies and …