Saving Seafood

Conservation & Environment

Officials: No Sardine Fishing Off California This Year Due to Steep Population Decline

April 17, 2019 — West coast regulators have voted unanimously to ban commercial sardine fishing for the fifth straight year after a recent evaluation of the northern Pacific stock revealed a steep decline.

The ban on commercial sardine catch spans the entire length of the U.S. West Coast. The 2019 season would have opened July 1.

A new assessment of northern Pacific sardine stocks by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates populations of the small silvery fish have declined more than 98 percent since 2006.

Not all fishermen agree with the decision to keep the sardine fishery shuttered.

Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, said NOAA’s sardine survey under-counts the fish, and that the fishermen she hears from are noticing a comeback.

“They are so frustrated because they drive by school after school after school and they can’t fish,” Pleschner-Steele said. “This is their livelihood and they have families and they are losing their jobs.

Read the full story at KQED

Seven right whale calves seen this season

April 17, 2019 — There were no known births in the 2017-2018 calving season for the North Atlantic right whale, so each new calf spotted with its mother so far in 2019 has been greeted with extra enthusiasm.

On Thursday, April 11 the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) right whale aerial survey team spotted two right whale mother/calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay, bringing the number of calves observed off Cape Cod this season to three. In all, seven calves have been seen swimming off the coast.

The mothers have been identified as EgNo 4180 and EgNo 3317.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Blue Planet: The Nature Conservancy unveils $1.6 billion bid to save the oceans

April 17, 2019 — Global non-profit The Nature Conservancy has announced a $1.6 billion plan to help save and restore the world’s oceans by selling “blue bonds” to coastal and island countries.

The Blue Bonds for Conservation initiative will refinance and restructure debt for coastal and island countries, so long as those nations committed to protecting at least 30 percent of their near-shore ocean areas, including coral reefs, mangroves, and other important ocean habitats.

In exchange for enhanced ocean protections, TNC says the Blue Bond will give nations better terms for debt repayment and support with ongoing conservation work.

Read the full story at GreenBiz

Dams still biggest impediment to Atlantic salmon recovery

April 16, 2019 — Addressing the problems caused by dams is still the biggest challenge facing the recovery of the Atlantic salmon.

That’s at the core of a presentation a federal fisheries biologist is scheduled to deliver to a regulatory board on Tuesday in Connecticut. Dan Kircheis of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be speaking to the New England Fishery Management Council during its meeting in Mystic.

Atlantic salmon were once abundant in U.S. rivers, but now they only return to a handful in Maine. They’re on the endangered species list in America. Kircheis will be talking about a recovery strategy for the fish on Tuesday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Connecticut Post

Feds Agree to Expand Habitat Protections for Northwest Orcas

April 16, 2019 — The federal government says that by October it will propose expanded habitat protections off Washington, Oregon and California for Pacific Northwest orcas.

The announcement comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which sued in 2018 to make officials move more quickly to protect the endangered orcas.

The whales spend their summers in the waters between Washington state and Canada, but about two-thirds of the year they migrate and forage for salmon off the West Coast. The conservation group said the National Marine Fisheries Service had been dragging its feet in designating “critical habitat” for the whales in those foraging and migration areas.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Baby fish have started eating plastic. We haven’t yet seen the consequences

April 15, 2019 — Not long agoI went snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean, a half mile off the southwest coast of Oahu. The flanks of the Hawaiian island are steep there, and the bottom quickly disappeared beneath us as we motored out to the site. Looking back, I could see the green slopes of the Waianae Range rising to 4,000 feet behind the beach. Normally the mountains shield the water here from the trade winds. But on that day a breeze created a light chop that nearly obscured what I had come to see: a thin, oily slick of surface water, rich in organic particles, in which newborn fish were feeding and struggling to survive their first precarious weeks.

Plunging my face into the sheen, I found myself looking inside a fish nursery: The water was dotted with life you would ordinarily never notice. Fish eggs drifted like tiny lanterns, their yolk sacs glowing in the sunlight. Fish larvae small as ladybugs darted about. A sergeant major damselfish the size of a dime appeared huge by comparison as it fluttered past. Below us, a school of 12-inch, bigeye scad—like mackerel but with enormous eyes—fed on everything that had the misfortune of being small.

My guides that day, oceanographer Jamison Gove and fish biologist Jonathan Whitney of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Honolulu, are nearly three years into a research project that aims to make sense of this chaotic scene. The larval stage is the “black box” of fisheries science: Fertilized eggs go in, and young fish come out—but what happens inside remains sketchy. The larval fish are so small and fragile they’re exceedingly difficult to study. The overwhelming majority will never become adults. Yet fish populations around the world, and the animals that eat them, depend on just how many larval fish make it, and in what condition.

Read the full story at National Geographic

Marine Mammals of Maine Founder Lynda Doughty Honored at Stranding Network Banquet

April 12, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Lynda Doughty of Marine Mammals of Maine was honored on Wednesday, April 10 by NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Programs with its David St. Aubin Award of Excellence for work with stranded seals during an Unusual Mortality Event that began in July 2018.

From July to September, Lynda and her team responded to more than 800 live and dead seals along southern and midcoast Maine, and continue to closely monitor local populations for further evidence of Phocine Distemper Virus.

Read the full story at NOAA

Rare Baby Whale Seen in Cape Cod Bay for First Time in ’19

April 11, 2019 — Surveyors say a North Atlantic right whale mother and calf have been spotted in Cape Cod Bay for the first time this season.

The whales are the focus of conservation efforts because of their declining population. There are only about 411 of the marine mammals, and they’ve suffered high mortality and poor reproduction in recent years.

The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown says the mother and calf were seen Saturday by surveyors from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Surveyors in an airplane saw them again Sunday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Fishing Gear Recovery Project Begins in Cape Cod Bay

April 8, 2019 — The Center for Coastal Studies has begun field work with area lobstermen to remove, document, and properly dispose of lost, abandoned or derelict fishing gear in Cape Cod Bay.

“Mobilizing Diverse Stakeholders to Remove Derelict Fishing Gear from Beaches & Bay” is a project funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. It takes place during the winter season, when lobster fishing is prohibited in the bay to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales who feed here.

The CCS Marine Geology Program will first conduct side-scan sonar surveys in areas identified by fishermen as locations where lost gear likely exists.

Commercial fishing vessels from each area are enlisted to recover the gear by towing grappling equipment in targeted locations.  Once returned to shore, the derelict gear will be sorted for recycling, disposal, or return to rightful owners.

“Who better to help in this effort than the fishermen who have dedicated their lives to understanding the environment?” said Demi Fox, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator.

“They have a critical desire to protect the ecosystem upon which their livelihoods depend, and we are grateful for their expertise. The NOAA Marine Debris Program appreciates the hard work of passionate partners like CCS and the fishing community.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Biologists: Killing hungry sea lions saving imperiled fish

April 5, 2019 — A plan to kill California sea lions to save an endangered run of fish on a river that cuts through Portland, Oregon, appears to be working just months after wildlife officials began euthanizing the giant marine mammals, biologists said Thursday.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began killing the sea lions in January after getting permission from federal authorities late last year. They have killed 16 so far, including three on Wednesday, said department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy.

In the same period, 2,400 steelhead fish have reached the upper Willamette River and its tributaries to spawn this spring — the most in three years and double last year’s tally, the agency said.

Less than 30 years ago, the number of steelhead making that journey was at least 15,000 a year but pollution and the construction of dams on key rivers reduced that number dramatically.

Sea lions have been eating an additional 25% of all returning steelhead at that spot in the Willamette River south of Portland, said Shaun Clements, ODFW’s senior policy analyst.

“We’ve definitely been able to reduce predation this year and provide some relief to the fish,” he said. “We’re saving considerable numbers of them.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post