Releases – September 11, 2014
The 2014 Day at the Docks community event kicks off at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, with a round table discussion of what it means to eat local, sustainable seafood as well as how consumers and the seafood industry can help protect healthy oceans and support local fishing communities.
The discussion is entitled: Talk of the Villages: Local and Underloved, and will be held at the Hatteras Village Civic Center in Hatteras, NC.
Day at the Docks was started to celebrate the “Spirit of Hatteras” when the village recovered from Hurricane Isabel in 2003 as an intact community, anchored by the commercial and charter fishermen. The daylong event being held this year on Saturday, September 20, 2014, is a confirmation of the strength of community, heritage, and living traditions of the waterman. Now in its 9th year, this has become a true celebration of the Hatteras Island way of life.
The Thursday night roundtable discussion brings together three national panelists. They are Jared Auerbach of Red’s Best in Boston, Kelly Harrell with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council in Anchorage, and Mark Marhefka from Abundant Seafood in Mount Pleasant, SC. All will share personal stories about their experiences charting innovative entrepreneurial and advocacy solutions that promote responsible seafood sourcing.
Jared Auerbach started Red’s Best in 2008 after working on fishing boats in Cape Cod and Alaska. Based at the Boston Fish Pier, the wholesale seafood distributing company developed a software platform that changes the way fishermen sell to distributors and enables restaurants and consumers to trace their seafood from boat to plate. In addition to transparency and traceability, turning chefs on to local and under-utilized species is an important part of the company’s mission.
Kelly Harrell, executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, grew up in Tidewater Virginia and has family ties to the Outer Banks. The Council is a community-based nonprofit committed to protecting the health of Alaska’s marine ecosystems and working waterfronts. Council projects include Catch of the Season, a program offering high quality, locally sourced seafood to Alaska consumers, the Young Fishermen’s Network, fostering connections and communication among young Alaska fishermen, and the Graying of the Fleet research project that is examining the barriers to sustained local participation in fisheries in the Bristol Bay and Kodiak Island regions.
A second generation fisherman, Mark Marhefka runs his boat the Amy Marie out of Shem Creek at Mt. Pleasant. In 2007 he started Abundant Seafood, transforming his fishing business. He sells his catch and that of several other captains to some of the finest restaurants in the Charleston area, reintroducing many local, sustainable species to consumers. He also runs a community-supported fisheries program for home cooks desiring weekly supplies of fresh fish.
The discussion will be moderated by Barbara Garrity-Blake and Susan West, co-managers of Coastal Voices, an Outer Banks and Down East NC, oral history project, and co-authors of ‘Fish House Opera.’
Talk of the Villages: Local and Underloved is sponsored by NC Sea Grant and the NC Watermen Foundation. For more information, visit www.dayatthedocks.org.
Given the Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River (A/R) stock of striped bass contributes minimally to the coastwide complex when compared to the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware, and Hudson stocks, Draft Addendum IV proposes it be managed by the State of North Carolina using stock-specific biological reference points. These stock-specific reference points, which have been approved by the Board, would result in a separate quota that is set to maintain F for the A/R stock at its target level. The Board tasked the Technical Committee with the continued development of Chesapeake Bay-specific reference points for future use.
The Draft Addendum can be found on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on September 30, 2014, and should be forwarded to Mike Waine, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; (703) 842-0741 (FAX) or at mwaine@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum IV). For more information, please contact Mike Waine, at mwaine@asmfc.org or (703) 842-0740.
Commercial harvest of red snapper in South Atlantic waters closed at 12:01 a.m. (local time) September 9, 2014. The 2014 commercial catch limit is 50,994 pounds gutted weight. Reports indicate that commercial landings are rapidly approaching the 2014 catch limit and harvest should close.
The operator of a vessel that has been issued a federal commercial permit for snapper-grouper and that is landing red snapper for sale must have landed and bartered, traded, or sold such red snapper prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, September 9, 2014. The prohibition on sale does not apply to sale or purchase of red snapper that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m. (local time) September 9, 2014, and held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
During the closure: (1) Sale and purchase of red snapper are prohibited; and (2) The closure applies in both state and federal waters.
This closure is necessary to protect the snapper-grouper resource.
Amendment 28 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic established the annual process to determine red snapper fishing seasons and harvest amounts. If NOAA Fisheries determines that commercial and recreational red snapper seasons can occur in 2015, an announcement will be made in a Fishery Bulletin next year.
The commercial red drum season will reopened recently in North Carolina coastal waters, with stricter harvest limits than last year.
N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel told the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission that he plans to reopen the season, which runs Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 each year, with a seven-fish per day bycatch allowance, so long as the weight of flounder, striped mullet, bluefish, or black drum on board exceeds the weight of the red drum.
The Marine Fisheries Commission voted to support Daniel’s plans.
In North Carolina, commercial fishermen are not allowed to target red drum, but when the season is open, they are allowed to retain a certain number of red drum caught incidentally when targeting other species. For the past several years, that allowance has been 10 fish and any finfish species except menhaden could serve as the target species.
This past year, the commercial red drum season closed Nov. 23 after the annual red drum commercial harvest limit was exceeded in the first months of the annual season.
As a result, most internal coastal waters have been closed to anchored large-mesh gill nets since May to avoid incidental catches of red drum. These waters will remain closed until at least Sept. 15 to allow sea turtles to move out of the area.
Additionally, in July, the state limited anchored gill net use in Albemarle and Currituck sounds and tributaries to overnight soaks to aid the state in complying with observer coverage required by a Sea Turtle Incidental Take Permit. The overnight soak requirement has been lifted as well, when a requirement for a new Estuarine Gill Net Permit takes effect.
For more information on the red drum and gill net regulations, see proclamations FF-55-2014 and M-25-2014 at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/proclamations.
In other business, the Marine Fisheries Commission:
Approved text and fiscal impact analysis for a slate of proposed rules to go to public hearing. The proposed rules include regulations to implement amendments to the Shrimp, River Herring and Bay Scallop fishery management plans and Addendum III to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel. Additional changes are proposed for ocean pier licensing and for-hire licensing and logbooks.
Voted to send a draft amendment to the Striped Mullet Fishery Management Plan out for public comment that proposes an increase in the target population biomass in recognition of their importance as prey species to many important finfish species.
Voted to send draft Strategic Habitat Area Nominations for Region 3 out for public comment.
Prior to the meeting, newly appointed commissioners Sammy Corbett (commercial industry seat) and Mike Wicker (scientist seat) and reappointed commissioner Joe Shute (recreational industry seat) were sworn in.
