August 9, 2024 — U.S. activists opposed to offshore wind development areforming a national coalition aimed at fighting projects from California to New England, according to the effort’s founder and two other organizations.
MASSACHUSETTS: Federal, state officials attend Nantucket Select Board meeting to address Vineyard Wind turbine incident
August 8, 2024 — Federal and state officials attended the Nantucket Select Board meeting on Wednesday to address ongoing concerns about the damaged wind turbine that has cast debris onto the island’s beaches since early July.
“There are still parts of the blade that are remaining on the turbine,” said Roger Martella, the chief sustainability officer of GE Vernova, the blade’s manufacturer. He estimated it to be about seven to eight percent of the mass of the blade.
Martella said that on Thursday, if weather permits, crews plan to remove that remaining part of the blade that’s currently at risk of falling into the ocean.
One resident asked if the high winds expected from Tropical Storm Debby could loosen other blades.
But Martella said that was not likely.
“The storm is not a risk for the turbines or the blades or anything like that,” Martella said during the meeting, which was livestreamed.
MASSACHUSETTS: New offshore wind projects delayed by state, including areas off Martha’s Vineyard
August 8, 2024 — It’s going to be at least another month before contenders for the state’s fourth, and largest, offshore wind procurement will be unveiled.
The state Department of Energy Resources on Tuesday indicated in a letter submitted to Department of Public Utilities Secretary Mark Marini that selection of projects will be postponed until Sept. 6. The agency’s evaluation team was originally scheduled to announce the selected bids and the start of negotiations on Aug. 7.
“The additional time is needed to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant to New England states through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program for projects to invest in regional electric infrastructure to ready the onshore transmission system for offshore wind,” the letter reads.
New regulations on lobstering delayed amid pushback from Seacoast lobstermen
August 9, 2024 — New federal regulations on the lobstering industry are being delayed after months of pushback from local lobstermen.
The rules would increase the minimum acceptable size for lobsters that can be caught and require bigger escape vents to be added to traps.
Regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission told News9 the goal of the new rules, laid out in policy called Addendum 27, are aimed at protecting the population of younger lobsters and allowing them to grow to a size where they can reproduce and be suitable for harvesting.
“We’re looking at those lobsters that are kind of forecasting that would be available to the fisheries next year,” said Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator. Plan Coordinator.
The commission voted this week to delay the start of new rules from January to July.
Starks said the number of those younger lobsters have declined in research counts in recent years, triggering the new regulations.
However, local lobstermen have cast doubt on those studies and railed against the rules laid out in Addendum 27.
Alabama senators’ red snapper legislation moves forward
August 9, 2024 — Backers of red snapper legislation advancing in the United States Senate say it could protect the United States market from illegal Mexican fishing – though its approach relies on technology that has yet to be developed.
In fact, a bill backed by three Republican senators — Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, along with Ted Cruz of Texas — is a call for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to figure out the methodology needed to create nationality field test kits for red snapper. It sets a two-year deadline.
If enacted, the legislation would give the under secretary of commerce for standards & technology and the director of the NIST, a position currently held by Laurie Locascio, a two-year deadline. It calls for the under secretary to work with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to develop a “joint standard of methodology based on chemical analysis for identifying the country of origin of red snapper.”
By the two-year deadline, the under secretary would be required to submit a report that sums up the methods developed as well as “a plan for operationalizing the methodology.” That’s clarified elsewhere as “a field kit that can be easily carried by one individual,” involves minimal processing time, and its otherwise suited to the needs of law enforcement officers in the field.
ALASKA: For Cook Inlet gillnetters, life’s not easy in the EEZ
August 8, 2024 — As Cook Inlet drift gillnetters finished their first sockeye salmon season under the joint state-federal management regime, the harvest came in at about half of what they had hoped it would be. The fish were there, they say, but scant openings in federal waters prevented their rightful share of the harvest.
The cumulative Inlet catch as of July 31 shot past the 1.7 million mark, which was ahead of the 10-year average but lagging behind the 20-year average of 3.1 million. With some fish expected to return in early August, the final harvest could hit 2 million.
Of that total, 1,319,965 sockeyes were caught in state-managed waters within three miles of the shoreline, but only 310,340 fish came from the federally-managed U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which encapsulates the majority of Cook Inlet waters beyond three miles from shore.
In the advent of the season, the industry braced for complications within the entwined management systems. For the first time in the history of the fishery, drift netters needed to procure a federal permit in addition to their state-issued, limited entry permits, and comply with federal mandates, but the bigger concern was that limited openingsinfederal waters would leave too many uncaught salmon.
Read the full article at National Fisherman
River Herring Benchmark Stock Assessment Finds Populations Remain Depleted at a Coastwide Level Though Some Rivers Show Signs of Improvement
August 8, 2024 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The River Herring Benchmark Stock Assessment finds the coastwide populations of both alewife and blueback herring (collectively referred to as river herring) are depleted relative to historic levels, with the habitat model indicating that overall productivity of both species is lower than an unfished population before the occurrence of any habitat modifications (e.g., dams or human alterations to the environment). The depleted determination was used instead of overfished and overfishing because of the many factors that have contributed to the declining abundance of river herring, which include not just directed and incidental fishing, but also habitat loss, predation, and climate change.
In terms of recent trends, there is no clear signal for either species across the coast. Even within the genetic stock-regions, trends in abundance and mortality differed from river to river, with some rivers showing increasing trends and low mortality rates, and others showing flat or declining trends and total mortality rates above the reference point. Although very few significant trends overall were detected since the adoption ofAmendment 2 in 2009, the majority of indices of abundance for both alewife and blueback herring are likely to be higher now than they were in 2009. However, half of the blueback populations and 65% of the alewife populations have a high probability of being above the total mortality reference point, indicating total mortality on adult fish was too high. Total mortality is the removal of fish from a population due to both fishing and natural causes.
The northern New England region shows more positive trends and a higher probability of abundance in the most recent years being greater than in 2009. It is unclear why that is the case, especially as the more northern regions also have higher probabilities of being above the total mortality reference point. States in the northern New England region have conducted extensive habitat restoration and dam removal, but so have states further south, and they have not seen the same degree of positive trends in run counts and indices. In addition, states in the northern stock-region have also accounted for the majority of directed catch in recent years, while states in the Mid-New England, Southern New England, and Mid-Atlantic stock-
regions have closed their fisheries. Genetic analysis indicates most of the ocean bycatch around Cape Cod and Long Island Sound was of alewife from the Southern New England stock-region and blueback herring from the Mid-Atlantic stock-region, two areas that have had more negative trends in recent years despite habitat restoration efforts and directed fishery closures.
The assessment includes two proof-of-concept approaches to develop biologically-based caps on bycatch in ocean fisheries. The data-limited methods produced estimates of bycatch caps that were lower than the current coastwide bycatch estimates and lower than the current caps in the Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel fishery. However, more work needs to be done on the data-limited bycatch cap approach, including consulting with the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils on risk levels and how to implement species-specific caps in fisheries where the bycatch monitoring includes American and hickory shad as well as river herring. The assessment also recommended exploring species distribution modeling to identify hot spots of river herring bycatch that could be avoided with time-area closures as an alternative or complement to in-season monitoring of river herring bycatch.
No management action was taken given the continued coastwide harvest moratorium for states without an approved Sustainable Fishery Management Plan, as required by Amendment 2. Additionally, the New England Fishery Management Council is early in the process of drafting Amendment 10 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, which is proposing the development of measures to reduce river herring bycatch in the federal fishery.
A more detailed description of the stock assessment results, as well as the Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, on the Shad & River Herring webpage. For more information, please contact James Boyle, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atjboyle@asmfc.org.
ASMFC Coastal Pelagics Board Approves Atlantic Cobia Addendum II
August 8, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Commission’s Coastal Pelagics Management Board approved Addendum II to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Cobia. The Addendum modifies the recreational allocation framework, allows the Board to update allocations quickly if the underlying data are revised, expands the range of data used in harvest evaluations, and allows the Board to set management measures for a longer period of time. Addendum II responds to increased cobia harvest in some Mid-Atlantic states in recent years, as well as concerns about high uncertainty associated with cobia recreational harvest estimates. All Addendum II measures are effective immediately, and will be used to set recreational measures for 2025 and beyond.
Addendum II changes both the geographic scope of the recreational allocation framework and the timeframe of data used as the basis for allocations. The Addendum changes the allocation framework from a state-by-state to a regional framework, with a northern region of Rhode Island through Virginia and a southern region of North Carolina through Georgia. The new regional allocation framework is intended to reduce uncertainty by using harvest estimates based on a larger sample size combining multiple states in a region, instead of individual state-level harvest estimates.
Each region is allocated part of the recreational quota based on each region’s percentage of the coastwide harvest in number of fish over the last ten years, combining 50% of 2014-2023 data and 50% of 2018-2023 data. Data from 2016 and 2017 are excluded due to fishery closures during those years, and data from 2020 are excluded due to COVID-19 impacts on recreational data collection. Using more recent data, as compared to previously using 2006-2015 data, accounts for changes in harvest and potential range expansion of the species in recent years.
There is a possibility that the recreational harvest estimates could be revised in the future by NOAA Fisheries, which would affect the percent allocations for each region. If the harvest estimates are revised, Addendum II allows the Board to quickly update the percent allocations via Board vote to reflect the any revisions to the data used to establish the allocations.
Each region’s percent allocation is applied to the coastwide recreational quota (currently 76,908 fish) to determine the regional harvest targets in number of fish. When a region’s harvest is compared to its target, Addendum II specifies that a rolling average of up to five years of harvest data under the same management measures will be compared to the target, instead of limiting it to a three-year average. This allows for inclusion of two additional data years to account for the variability and uncertainty of cobia harvest estimates from year to year.
Finally, Addendum II allows the Board to set specifications (e.g., coastwide total harvest quota) via Board action for up to five years, which is a longer time period than the current three years. Setting management measures for a longer period of time is intended to align management action with the availability of new stock assessment information.
Addendum II will be available in late August on the Commission website athttp://www.asmfc.org/
For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atefranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
New England scores $389M from feds for energy
August 8, 2024 — The federal government is awarding $389 million to the New England states for regional electric infrastructure upgrades.
State officials announced the funding award earlier this week, saying the Power Up New England proposal features upgrades to interconnection points in southeast Massachusetts and southeast Connecticut to prepare the region for more offshore wind power.
Atlantic Sturgeon Stock Assessment Update Shows Signs of Improvement for Coastwide Population and Mixed Results at the Distinct Population Segment Level
August 8, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic Sturgeon Stock Assessment Update finds that while the coastwide population remains depleted relative to historic levels, the population has shown signs of improvement with a significant positive trend over the time series. Further, there is a high probability that abundance in 2022 was greater than abundance in 1998 at the start of the coastwide moratorium. Total mortality is low and has a low probability of exceeding its reference point. Depleted status is used instead of overfished because many factors (such as bycatch, habitat loss and ship strikes), not just directed historical fishing, have contributed to the continued low abundance of Atlantic sturgeon.
At the individual distinct population segment (DPS) level, results are mixed. Most indices showed either a positive trend or no significant trend over the time series. The average probability that the New York Bight and Carolina DPSs indices were greater than the reference year was high, meaning it was likely that abundance in 2022 was higher than it was at the start of the mortarium. For the Gulf of Maine, Chesapeake Bay, and South Atlantic DPSs, the average probability was lower – less than 50% for all three DPSs – meaning that it was unlikely that abundance in 2022 was greater than it was at the start of the moratorium. Total mortality estimates for each DPS were higher than for the full coastwide population and the probability of exceeding the reference point was higher, partly due to the smaller sample size and higher uncertainty in the tagging model at the DPS level than at the coastwide level. For the Gulf of Maine DPS there was a greater than 50% chance that total mortality exceeded the reference point, while there was a lower probability that total mortality exceeded the reference point for the other DPSs.
Atlantic sturgeon are a challenging species to assess because datasets for this species are limited. However, progress has been made on research recommendations addressing questions about genetics, life history, abundance, and sources of mortality, and work will continue to develop better datasets to support the next benchmark assessment in 2028.
No management action was taken given the continued coastwide harvest moratorium and protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Additionally, efforts are being taken to reduce sturgeon bycatch in other directed fisheries. In April, the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils recommended their preferred alternative to NOAA Fisheries to reduce sturgeon bycatch in the federal monkfish and spiny dogfish fisheries, and a final rule is expected by the end of 2024. The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Management Board also initiated an addendum to develop options to maintain consistency with the federal action for state-permitted spiny dogfish harvesters in state waters, with the goal of reducing sturgeon bycatch.
A more detailed description of the stock assessment results can be found athttps://asmfc.org/uploads/
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