Saving Seafood

Senator Doug Jones introduced bill to protect red snapper population in Gulf

November 27, 2019 — Recreational and commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico may soon have to have on board their boats devices that could help ensure the population of reef fish remain healthy for generations to come, thanks to a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Doug Jones, D-Ala.

Jones and cosponsor Sen. Bill Cassidey, R-La., introduced a bill that would require boats to carry on board venting tools and descending devices, which reduce barotrauma in reef fish, such as red snapper, a condition that kills fish when their brought to the surface rapidly from deep water. If a fish is too small, nor the correct species or over a fisherman’s limit, they release them back into the water, but without the use of these devices many of these fish die, unable to return to the deep water where they thrive.

The Direct Enhancement of Snapper Conservation and the Economy through Novel Devices (DESCEND) Act has a companion bill a companion bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Garrett Graves, R-La., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif.

Read the full story at the Alabama Political Reporter

Senators Cassidy, Jones Introduce Bill to Improve Red Snapper Numbers

November 25, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) introduced a bill earlier this week that aims to improve the health of reef fish (red snapper) populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

A common issue when catching red snapper is barotrauma, a condition that kills fish if they are caught and rapidly rough to the surface from deep water. Barotrauma kills fish because they cannot readjust to deep water upon release. Fishermen can venting tools and descending devices to reduce the impact and save fish harvested for both commercial and recreational uses.

NOAA and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are prepping an eight-year, $30 million project to further reduce barotrauma. However, current regulations prevent the Council from both requiring fishermen to use venting tools and other methods to return fish and providing federal dollars to study the issue, Senator Cassidy’s office said in a press release.

“I’ve been fishing all my life, so I know how important it is to protect Gulf species like red snapper,” Jones said. “The use of descending devices and venting tools is one way we can help maintain healthy populations of reef fish, which is crucial for the economy of Alabama and for ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy red snapper season.”

The Direct Enhancement of Snapper Conservation and the Economy through Novel Devices (DESCEND) Act would force commercial and recreational fishermen to keep descending devices onboard vessels. It would also allow the study to continue after new regulations are implemented to comply if the DESCEND Act were to become law.

“Louisiana loves to fish. We’re at risk of there not being enough red snapper for recreational and commercial fishing to continue,” Dr. Cassidy said. “This increases the number of red snapper for now and for future generations.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Plan would protect 21 coral hot spots in Gulf of Mexico

November 15, 2019 — A plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico is close to becoming a law, drawing cheers from environmental groups who believe leaving the corals alone would help vulnerable ocean ecosystems to grow.

The plan would create 21 protected areas off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Thirteen of the areas would carry new commercial fishing restrictions, and that has attracted the attention of fishing groups, who want the government to take a cautious approach.

Pew Charitable Trusts has characterized the plan as a way to protect nearly 500 square miles of slow-growing coral “hot spots,” and is championing the protection plan as a way to spare vulnerable corals from fishing gear. The proposal would prohibit gear such as bottom trawls and dredges that can disrupt the corals.

Sandra Brooke, an oceanographer and coral ecology expert at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory, said it’s important to spare the corals because of their importance to the marine environment and because they can have value for the development of new medicines.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WRAL

Gulf Oysters Are Dying, Putting a Southern Tradition at Risk

November 14, 2019 — For the people who harvest, sell, shuck and serve the bivalves, that’s a worrisome prospect: Oysters, traditionally cheap and plentiful, are more central to the restaurant and cooking culture of the Gulf Coast than to that of any other region.

“Oysters are part of who we are,” said Mr. Sunseri, whose ancestors founded P & J in 1876. His family is hoping to rent part of its production house here to a restaurant in an effort to stay afloat. If not for his good health and lack of debt, Mr. Sunseri said, “We’d be closed.”

In September, the United States Department of Commerce determined that Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were suffering “a catastrophic regional fishery disaster,” making businesses in those states eligible for federal assistance.

Louisiana normally accounts for a third of the nation’s annual oyster harvest. The current season isn’t over, but losses reported so far are so severe “that we’re likely to not remain the largest oyster producer in the United States,” said Patrick Banks, an assistant secretary in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Heavy rain and snow in the Midwest caused the Army Corps of Engineers to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway, about 33 miles northwest of New Orleans, for a record 118 days last winter and spring. The spillway protects communities near the Mississippi’s mouth from flooding by releasing water from the river and reducing pressure on the flood-control system.

But it also reduces the salinity of surrounding waters, endangering oysters, which can tolerate brackish water but can die if the salt content is too low.

The river was so high that even areas unaffected by the openings were flushed with freshwater.

Read the full story at The New York Times

US Commerce declares fishing disasters for 7 states

September 26, 2019 — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has declared fishing disasters for seven states on three coasts.

“Fishing is the cornerstone of countless coastal economies and has been a way of life for generations of Americans,” he said in a brief news release Wednesday. “This determination acknowledges the critical role fisheries play in our communities, and the risks they face from natural disasters and other causes beyond their control.”

Ross’ action makes people and businesses eligible for NOAA fisheries disaster assistance. Congress has appropriated $165 million for such help for fiscal 2019 and the Commerce Department decides allocations to eligible fisheries, the statement said.

The statement said a regional disaster occurred for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because of “extreme flooding events in the Gulf of Mexico.” Alaska and California each had multiple requests approved; one for both Georgia and South Carolina will help shrimpers and shrimp processors. An unusually cold spell in January 2018 killed the vast majority of shrimp overwintering in estuaries, Erin Weeks, spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said in an email.

Read the full story at The Star Tribune

ALABAMA: Climate and change: A different world, above and below Mobile Bay

September 4, 2019 — The salinity levels of water dictate what lives in and around it, and what doesn’t.

If there’s a lot of rain or a sudden surge of fresh water into a bay, salinity levels drop. If there’s a drought a surge of seawater from a major storm, salinity levels tend to rise. Climate change is already altering those balances.

And the changes wrought by those disruptions can be profound.

Earlier this year, heavy rains in the Midwest swelled the Mississippi River. To prevent flooding in New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway, west of the city, twice this year. That sent a torrent of fresh water into the waters off Louisiana and Mississippi, west of Biloxi – and created a disaster along the oyster reefs in the area.

Read the full story at the Montgomery Advertiser

NOAA: Request for Comments on Red Snapper Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

August 8, 2019 — The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) developed six amendments to the Fishery Management Plan for Reef Fish Resources in the Gulf of Mexico (Reef Fish FMP) to allow the five Gulf of Mexico states some management authority for private angler red snapper recreational fishing. The Council has transmitted these Amendments to NOAA Fisheries.

  • NOAA Fisheries requests your comments regarding the changes these Amendments would make to Gulf of Mexico private recreational red snapper management in federal waters. Comments are due by October 7, 2019.
  • Amendment 50A includes actions that affect all states and Amendments 50B-F analyze actions specific to each Gulf of Mexico state (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas, respectively).
  • NOAA Fisheries will also publish a proposed rule to implement these changes and will send another Fishery Bulletin to request comments at that time. Comments on both the amendment and proposed rule will be considered in the final rule.

Read the full story at Fishing Wire

NOAA Fisheries Explores Electronic Reporting as Supplemental Source of Recreational Fishing Data

July 29, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This month, NOAA Fisheries submitted a report to Congress (PDF, 19 pages) describing the Marine Recreational Information Program’s (MRIP) efforts to explore the suitability of electronic reporting as a method of collecting data from saltwater anglers.

Electronic reporting is a method of data collection that can include smartphones, tablets, and other technologies used to record, send, and store data. In some cases, electronic reporting allows samplers to use tablets instead of paper and pencil to record and submit data collected in the field. In others, electronic reporting allows anglers to record and submit data through a website or mobile device.

Electronic reporting has the potential to reduce data collection costs and improve the quality of reported information, and several states—including Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi—have adopted mandatory or voluntary angler reporting apps. But the challenges associated with using these technologies to collect data from private anglers—especially when anglers are asked to voluntarily report their data through a website or mobile app—have the potential to bias resulting estimates.

Opt-in angler reporting programs can experience low recruitment and retention rates, as well as a tendency for more avid angler to participate. To correct for these and other potential biases, independently conducted shoreside sampling must be used to confirm or correct missing or misfiled angler electronic reports. Shoreside validation is crucial, but adds cost and time to the data collection process. More research will help us understand how angler-submitted electronic data can best supplement the data the MRIP partnership collects through other means.

Read the full release here

Gulf lawmakers press US commerce secretary for disaster relief

July 25, 2019 — The letters keep pouring into U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ office from elected officials representing Gulf Coast states.

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), Steven Palazzo (R-Mississippi), Cedric Richmond (D-Louisiana), Bradley Byrne (R-Alabama), Garret Graves (R-Louisiana), and Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), each signed a letter supporting the requests submitted by the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi for fishery disaster assistance.

“The livelihoods of many in our coastal communities are dependent on a healthy marine environment, and disruptions to these ecosystems have heavy impacts on both the commercial and recreational fishing industries, including the supply chains they support,” the congressmen wrote.

Record flooding throughout the Mississippi River basin has been recorded through most of the year. For example, earlier this week the river fell below flood stage in St. Louis for the first time in 127 days, breaking a record set 26 years ago.

As the water flows south, the flooding has created devastating effects on the fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time, the Army Corps of Engineers has needed to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway, causing millions of gallons of freshwater to spill eventually into the saltwater Gulf of Mexico.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Why So Many Sharks Have Bird Feathers in Their Bellies

May 22, 2019 — Marcus Drymon wasn’t expecting a baby shark to barf up a ball of feathers onto his boat.

The shark’s presence wasn’t the weird bit: Drymon and his team of fisheries ecologists regularly assess fish populations along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, and every year, they’ll catch, weigh, tag, and release thousands of sharks. In 2010, they were doing just that for the meter-long tiger shark when it coughed up the feathers. “Being an ecologist, I scooped them up and took them back to the lab,” Drymon says.

He passed the feathers to Kevin Feldheim, a molecular biologist at the Field Museum, who analyzed the DNA within them to work out what species they belonged to. The answer: a brown thrasher, a thrush-like songbird that lives in forests. What on Earth was it doing in the belly of an oceanic apex predator?

“I had expected a laughing gull or a brown pelican,” Drymon says. “The brown thrasher was the last bird I would have expected.”

Read the full story at The Atlantic