November 15, 2024 — The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has made 32 recommendations to the federal government in its report, Reducing the Harms Caused to Canadian Fish Stocks by Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, tabled in the House of Commons on Oct. 3.
NOAA advances efforts to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas
November 15, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today, NOAA Fisheries released two draft programmatic environmental impact statements (PEIS) to support the identification of proposed Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico. The public is invited to review and submit comments on the draft statements from November 22, 2024, through February 20, 2025.
In Southern California, NOAA experts outlined up to 10 locations as proposed AOAs, with eight situated in the Santa Barbara Channel and two in Santa Monica Bay, each ranging in size from 500 to 2,000 acres and totaling up to 16,500 acres. The draft impact statement considers multiple scenarios, including the potential impacts of seaweed and shellfish aquaculture only, and the potential impacts of seaweed, shellfish and finfish.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the proposed AOAs include three locations off the coast of Texas and one off the coast of Louisiana, each ranging in size from 500 to 2,000 acres and totaling 6,500 acres. The draft impact statement analyzes five areas for various aquaculture types, including shellfish, finfish and seaweed.
“With climate change posing risks to America’s food security, aquaculture offers a pathway to grow climate resilience,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit. “Identifying areas suitable for sustainable aquaculture is a forward-looking step toward strengthening climate-smart food systems.”
The publication of the draft statements marks a major milestone in NOAA’s multi-year initiative to identify areas that may be environmentally, socially and economically viable for supporting multiple commercial aquaculture operations. Taking this step builds upon extensive scientific review, spatial planning and public engagement to ensure responsible ocean stewardship while promoting sustainable domestic aquaculture.
The location of aquaculture farms is critical to their sustainability. In support of identifying viable areas for aquaculture, NOAA invested in 19 new scientific products on topics including biosecurity and disease, genetic risk, engineering, economics, social vulnerability and the well-being of coastal communities.
The draft statements also draw from AOA atlases for Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico that provide the most comprehensive spatial analysis ever conducted for U.S. ocean areas, with more than 200 data layers covering environmental, economic, social and cultural considerations. These atlases — together with thorough scientific review and public input collected during the past four years — offer essential insights that guided the development of the draft PEIS.
NOAA is also working to identify areas in Alaska state waters. Together, these efforts could bolster U.S. food security and coastal communities in the face of a changing climate. While the identification of these areas offers valuable data for aquaculture growers, all proposed operations must still undergo the full state and federal permitting processes before beginning construction.
“Since its inception, the aquaculture opportunity area process has been rooted in science and informed by public input,” said Danielle Blacklock, director of NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture. “NOAA has made significant efforts to engage constituents each step of the way, by soliciting comments and shaping our actions to best serve the American public.”
About the public comment period
Both draft PEIS are open for public comment via the Federal Register from November 22, 2024, through February 20, 2025. Virtual public listening sessions will be held for both Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico, where the public is welcome to provide comments. Comments received will be assessed and considered by NOAA Fisheries to prepare Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements for both regions.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership: Private sector investments will be key to global fisheries management
November 15, 2024 — Increased debt loads carried by governments around the world are resulting in the need for private sector investments to fund better management of global fish stocks, according to Jim Cannon.
Speaking at the IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organization’s 2024 annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Cannon – who is the head of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, a Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.-based nonprofit that aims to ensure healthy marine ecosystems – said most countries can’t afford better management of their stocks through government funds alone.
NEW YORK: There May Be Hope Yet for Peconic Scallops
November 15, 2024 — Over the past five-plus years, Peconic Bay scallops have suffered mass die-offs blamed on an infectious parasite, but researchers at the Cornell Cooperate Extension have found a source of scientifically informed hope: genetic diversity.
Harrison Tobi, an aquaculture educator with the extension’s Bay Scallop Restoration Program, put it plainly for nonscientists: “Basically, they’re inbred in the Peconic.”
To understand the findings, Mr. Tobi discussed when the parasite was first identified in Argopecten irradians, or Peconic Bay scallops, in 2019: The “fishery collapsed by almost 99 percent,” resulting in losses of over $1 million annually since then.
“First off, it’s what we call a novel parasite, which means it was literally never discovered before,” Mr. Tobi said at the Southold laboratory. “Its genetics are brand-new to the scientific world.”
After the collapse, the Cornell Cooperative laboratory sent samples to Stony Brook University’s marine animal disease laboratory, led by Bassem Allam. “That is when we first discovered the parasite,” Mr. Tobi said.
There is no way to know how long it might have been present. “It’s like Schrodinger’s cat: We can’t really say it was or it wasn’t there because we didn’t test for it,” he said. Most likely, it had been present for some time, as it was also found in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
MASSACHUSETTS: Cuban-born net maker shares his journey from Havana to New Bedford’s working waterfront
November 15, 2024 — When he had his chance, Cuban-born net maker Miguel Sanchez escaped his home country, jumping from a Cuban fishing boat aboard a ship heading to Canada.
The young law student escaped to start a new life, far away from Cuba and its oppressive dictatorship, the only member of his family to escape.
Sanchez left Havana abruptly on March 24, 1996, before heading to Canada, arriving in Nova Scotia on April 15, 1996.
A year ago, after spending more than 20 years in Nova Scotia, he got a call to work at Reidar’s Manufacturing on the New Bedford waterfront. His skills as a net maker were in demand.
Cooke Aquaculture Responds to Conservation Law Foundation’s Threat to Sue
November 14, 2024 — The following was released by Cooke Aquaculture Inc:
Cooke Aquaculture USA, Inc. (“Cooke”) vehemently denies the generalized allegations brought forth by the Conservation Law Foundation in its November 14 notice of intent to file suit. Allegations that Cooke is violating the Clean Water Act and Maine Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for Net Pen Aquaculture are false, misleading and lack any substantiating evidence.
Cooke’s core purpose is ‘To cultivate the ocean with care, nourish the world, provide for our families, and build stronger communities’.
Cooke is proud of its contributions to Maine’s iconic seafood industry by providing a local, nutritious, affordable source of protein to consumers throughout Maine, New England and the United States. Providing food security and being a responsible player in Maine’s food-farming system are at the core of Cooke’s values.
Cooke is in full compliance with the laws set forth by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and its operating permits. Cooke’s Maine Atlantic salmon farms are routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports. These laws are designed to protect Maine waters as well as Maine’s heritage fisheries.
Cooke’s Maine Atlantic salmon farms are also routinely audited and certified by third-party sustainability organizations. Cooke was one of the early adopters of the Global Seafood Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices third-party certification program. As part of this independent, voluntary program, all of Cooke’s Maine salmon aquaculture farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills are audited against standards for environmental responsibility, social accountability, animal health and welfare, and food safety. To attain certification, facilities must be fully compliant with all clauses in the standards. Additionally, Atlantic salmon farmed in Maine is rated as a “good alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.
Finfish aquaculture has coexisted with heritage fisheries, such as lobstering, in Maine waters for more than 40 years. Lobster landings are not negatively affected by Atlantic salmon farms. In fact, lobster gear is set alongside and within aquaculture lease boundaries.
Aquaculture farming is an economic engine for Maine’s working waterfronts with Atlantic salmon aquaculture being a major source of employment for residents of Downeast Maine. Cooke employs 230 people throughout the state and celebrated its 20th anniversary of aquaculture operations in Maine this year.
Contact:
Steven Hedlund
Director of Public Affairs
Cooke Aquaculture USA, Inc. (Cooke USA)
+1 207-952-4864
steven.hedlund@cookeaqua.com
www.cookeseafood.com
Trump announces North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Department of the Interior Secretary
November 14, 2024 — The Interior Department oversees the creation and management of U.S. national monuments, including marine national monuments. The department also includes the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which manages offshore wind development. The following is excerpted from an article by Fox News:
President-elect Trump teased a “big” announcement Thursday night, sharing that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will lead the Department of the Interior.
“He’s going to be announced [Friday]…I look forward to doing the formal announcement, although this is a pretty big announcement right now, actually,” Trump said during his speech at the Americans For Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. “He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic.”
Burgum, a multi-millionaire former software company CEO turned two-term governor, launched a White House bid in June 2023.
Bergum made energy and natural resources a key part of his campaign for the GOP nomination.
After making the stage at the first two GOP presidential debates, Burgum failed to qualify for the third showdown, in autumn of last year, and he dropped out of the White House race last December. A month later, he appeared in Iowa with Trump and endorsed the former president for the GOP nomination, days ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Federal judge dismisses Alaska trawlers’ lawsuit that sought to overturn halibut limits
November 14, 2024 — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn new halibut bycatch limits on deep-sea trawlers that fish in federal waters off Alaska.
The lawsuit was filed by Groundfish Forum Inc., a Seattle-based trawl trade group, after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a rule that reduces halibut bycatch limits for many trawlers when there are fewer halibut in Alaska waters.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, in charge of implementing the rule, moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in favor of the agency on Nov. 8. Undercurrent News, a trade publication, first reported on the ruling.
NEW JERSEY: Save LBI Stays Course Despite Trump’s Promise to Kill Offshore Wind
November 14, 2024 — While President-elect Donald Trump is expected to make sweeping changes to national energy policy, including doing away with offshore wind on Day 1 of his new term, a local grassroots organization isn’t letting that news get in its way of fighting the construction of what is poised to be the country’s largest wind farm some 9 miles off the coast of Long Beach Island.
“We will be filing major lawsuits by the end of the month to invalidate at least some of those prior federal approvals,” Bob Stern, president and cofounder of Save LBI, said just days after voters returned Trump to office for a second term. “In addition, we will be seeking to have the lease area itself canceled so that new projects will not be resurrected in the future.”
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind calls for 200 turbines in a lease zone that covers about 102,124 acres and is approximately 8.7 miles off LBI at its closest point. Projects 1 and 2 include roughly 10 offshore wind substations with subsea transmission cables that could make landfall in Atlantic City to the south and Sea Girt in the north.
“You’ll see these things all over the place. They destroy everything. They’re horrible and the most expensive energy there is. They ruin the environment,” Trump told supporters at his May rally in Wildwood, about an hour south of the Island. “They kill the birds. They kill the whales.”
New England herring fishery restricted through year’s end
November 14, 2024 — Federal fishing regulators are limiting the amount of herring that fishermen can catch off New England until the end of the year. The fish is used for food and bait.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s implementing a 2,000-pound herring possession limit per trip in the inshore Gulf of Maine through Dec. 31. The inshore Gulf of Maine, known as Atlantic Herring Management Area 1A, touches coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
The agency says it’s taking the step because 92% of the catch limit in the area will have been harvested Wednesday.
The catch limit goes into effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m. Vessels that enter port before 12:01 a.m. Thursday may land and sell more than 2,000 pound of herring from Management Area 1A from that trip, provided that catch is landed in accordance with state management measures.
Also effective Thursday at 12:01 a.m., federally permitted dealers may not attempt to or purchase, receive, possess, have custody or control of, sell, barter, trade, or transfer more than 2,000 pound of herring per trip or calendar day from Area 1A.
NOAA Fisheries has declared Atlantic herring as overfished and has created a plan that will require years for the stock to rebuild.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 298
- 299
- 300
- 301
- 302
- …
- 3639
- Next Page »