From the #MMO - Consultation on March catch limits - a must read!

Consultation on March 2015 catch limits

The following is our provisional estimate of the catch limits that will apply for the main quota species for the under 10 metre pool for March 2015 and a guide on the anticipated catch limits on for the rest of the year.

The estimates are based on the level of quota available to us today (18 February 2015), and it is our intention to continue to seek gifts and swaps in of stocks for all of those listed below. The limits below are proposed because setting at this level should ensure that the fisheries will remain open for the whole calendar year and wherever possible factors such as seasonality and best anticipated market prices are also factored in. As it stands we are unable to monitor uptake in the over 10 metre Non Sector in the same way because there are less vessels and uptake patterns are less predictable.

We are unable to assume we can swap in stocks just because we have a good track record of doing this over previous years. It is also worth stressing that to find enough quota for the key targeted stocks it is often necessary to trade away other stocks where uptake is less than we anticipated.

We are happy to take proposals on changes to these limits to take into account local factors, but because quotas are set for a large area of coastline we have to balance the needs of each local fleet against keeping the fishery open for the full year. For your information we have included some figures to highlight some of the issues relating to key stocks.

Bottom trawling not as bad for California sea life

Bottom trawling — the fishing method of dragging open nets along the ocean floor — has been widely criticized for its potential to damage sensitive marine habitat structures. That damage may be negligible off most parts of the California coast, according to a recent study conducted by ocean scientists and published in Fishery Bulletin.

Researchers from California State University Monterey Bay, The Nature Conservancy and Pomona College found that California’s largely soft-bottom sea floor saw negligible lasting impacts from small-footrope trawling equipment.

“Surprisingly to us, we found pretty negligible effects to the sea floor and to fish habitat in these soft-bottom sediments on the continental shelf,” said Mary Gleason, lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy’s California Oceans Program.

During the three-year study, fishermen were asked to trawl patches of the ocean floor off of Morro Bay in Central California. The areas that were trawled were analyzed by underwater photos and video and compared with adjacent areas that had been left untouched.

The researchers found that, while some scour marks remained in the test patches more than a year after trawling, photos showed some smoothing was occurring.

They also found no significant differences between trawled and control plots with regards to invertebrate species.

The scientists concluded that the negligible impacts were due to the fact that California’s continental shelf mostly comprises sand and mud and not rocky coral that takes great lengths of time to form.

“Trawling in rocky areas, with long-lived corals is going to be much more damaging and have a bigger, longer lasting impact than trawling in soft bottom habitats made up of mud and sand,” Gleason said.

Gleason said that the results may provide support for changing how California’s coast is fished. Most of California’s state waters are closed to bottom trawling.

“I think one of the main messages is that bottom trawling impacts are very context dependent. It depends on the types of gear you’re using, the types of habitats being trawled and how often trawling occurs,” Gleason said.

Bottom trawling is the most effective method for catching certain types of flatfish, including species of cod and sole.

“Rather than just sort of banning trawling everywhere, we need to acknowledge that trawling is the only way to catch a lot of important seafood,” Gleason said.

Though bottom trawling can be a polarizing topic within ocean conservation circles, some environmental groups praised the study for increasing understanding of trawling’s impacts.

“It really is an advance, because that level of study and scientific rigor hadn’t been done before,” said Geoff Shester, California campaign director for Oceana. “We hope to see that be replicated in more habitats so we don’t just learn about the impacts in the place they studied, but how can we apply this in other types of areas as well.”

Shester said that the collaboration with commercial fisherman on the study and other shows projects shows the potential for responsible fishing in the future.

“By getting better science and working together, we’ve actually been able to find win-wins where we actually increase fishing opportunities while also simultaneously increasing the overall protection to sensitive marine habitats up and down the West Coast,” Shester said

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/02/17/49867/bottom-trawling-not-as-bad-for-california-sea-life/

Gap2 "Why Collaborate? A Fisher's View" - conference video excerpt.

"Why Collaborate? A Fisher's View" 

Benoît Guerin Fishing Skipper, International Consultant Port Vell, Alan Steer Fisher, UK, Mart Undrest Estonian Fishermen's Association, Paul Piscopo Fisher, Malta Jan Ingvald Andersen SFA, Norway and David Stevens from Newlyn and the whitefish trawler Crystal Sea Fishing.

The conference video begins with each of the panel members introducing themselves and why they are at the conference to talk about their collaborative work. For example, the Crystal Sea II has carried catch monitoring CCTV aboard the boat for three years.

Consultation on Options for the South Inshore and South Offshore Marine Plans-

Closing on 4 March 2015

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is currently preparing marine plans for the South Inshore and South Offshore Marine Plan Areas.

The MMO has already undertaken a number of stages of plan preparation;

· analysing the evidence,

· identifying issues,

· drafting the Vision and Objectives.

For information on the South marine planning process to date please go to the South marine plans pages on the MMO website.

The MMO is now launching consultation on draft plan Options.

The Options process focuses on the consideration of different ways of achieving the draft plan objectives and vision, to make sure that the choices made and their implications have been considered.

We have produced an Options report, explaining the options and this is available to view here.  This is an informal consultation on the Options report and it runs for four weeks from the 3 February to the 4 March 2015.

There are a number of consultation questions we would like you to address in your response:

Question 1 - Which is your preferred option? In answering this question, please note it is not possible to select a combination. However, in your response to question 3 you can tell us if you prefer a combination of the options.

Question 2 - Why do you prefer this option?

Question 3 - Would you make any changes to this option and, if so, what? Would you like to combine aspects of different options into a new option? For example, if you prefer option 1 for objective 1 but option 3 for objective 2, please tell us.

Question 4 – Do you agree with the intent of the policies? If not how would you change them?

Question 5 – Please indicate those issues you feel are out of scope (area/range/remit) (eg. those appropriate for signposting rather than marine plan policy).

Please respond to the consultation via the online consultation tool

https://www.connect.marinemanagement.org.uk/consultations/south-options

We look forward to your response.

Many thanks,

The Marine Planning Team

Her Majesty’s Government – Marine Management Organisation

Lancaster House,

Hampshire Court,

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE4 7YH.

Tel: 0191 376 2790

Web: www.gov.uk/mmo

Twitter: @the_MMO

Facebook: /MarineManagementOrganisation

No fish! No Fish! A thousand thunders man, no fish!

The heavily scoured  beach at Newlyn Green...

flown over by a flock of gulls sheltering on the Green...

nothing moving yet in the harbour,..

and not a single fish on the market this morning - apologies to George Bernard Shaw for the quote in the title - but which work of his?

Today's agenda at Gap2 - Newlyn trawler skipper David Stevens is on the panel this morning.

Interested in participatory research and sustainability in fisheries, yet couldn’t attend the GAP2 International Symposium? Have no fear! GAP2 will be live streaming portions of the Symposium via Bambuser. View GAP2′s Bambuser channel here. To set up an account and follow GAP2, please click here.

If you are interested in following our panel sessions and workshops live, please click on the video below. Have a look at our English and Spanish agendas to see what time the sessions you are interested in are being streamed.

You can use the chat in the Gap2 Bambuser channel view - not full screen view mode - use Chrome rather than Internet Explorer as the chat doesn't work in some versions. 

Biggest wave EVER?!! not quite ;-)

Despite predictions to the contrary, the biggest waves ever recorded failed to materialise on the Cornish coast this morning...

meanwhile in the Mission...

skipper Keith Dixon posts the agenda for the Gap2 conference which is being livecasted in the Mission so that fishermen can take part virtually in a fishing conference coming from Barcelona...

all quiet this morning...

though the sky looks a little wet in the Bay...

the sun streams in through the Mission windows.