Saving Seafood

Cod fishing season to reopen in Gulf of Maine

March 24, 2021 — Federal fishing regulators are reopening the recreational fishery for cod in the Gulf of Maine for two weeks while they consider the future of the industry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday that recreational anglers and for-hire vessel operators can harvest cod from the Gulf of Maine from April 1 to April 14. They’re limited to one cod per day.

Cod fishing was once the backbone of the New England economy, but the fishery collapsed after years of overfishing and is vulnerable to environmental changes. The New England Fishery Management Council has recommended status quo measures for recreational Gulf of Maine cod fishing for the 2021 fishing year, which starts May 1.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Spiny Dogfish Eat Atlantic Cod: DNA May Provide Some Answers

November 17, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Conventional observations show that spiny dogfish in the western North Atlantic rarely eat Atlantic cod. However, some believe the rebuilding dogfish populations are limiting depleted cod numbers by competition or predation. To find out what is going on, NOAA Fisheries scientists looked to genetic testing to confirm cod presence in dogfish stomachs.

To get the samples they needed, scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center asked local fishermen for help. Commercial fishing boats from New Bedford, Gloucester, Plymouth and Newburyport in Massachusetts stepped up.  All participate in the Study Fleet, a program in the center’s Cooperative Research Branch. Spiny dogfish were collected on 15 fishing trips during normal trawling operations between May 2014 and May 2015 in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank.

“This was an excellent example of how cooperating fishing partners supplied fish for a pilot study of interest, and have helped advance this field of study,” said Richard McBride, chief of the center’s Population Biology Branch and a co-author of the study. “We were able to demonstrate that identifying cod in predator stomachs with environmental DNA works. It let us show fishermen that these innovative laboratory techniques can work on samples collected in the open ocean.”

Read the full release here

Coronavirus, added supply pushing Atlantic cod prices downward

October 5, 2020 — Atlantic cod has been a stable, steady commodity for the global seafood market in the past decade. And it will continue to serve that role in the coming years, according to a panel of cod experts assembled for a 1 October webinar, “Opportunities and Challenges in the Atlantic Cod Marketplace,” organized by Sea Data Center in cooperation with Maritech Solutions and SeafoodSource, and hosted by Sea Data Center Managing Director Anna Björk Theodorsdottir.

Global groundfish catches have been stable over the past three years, averaging 7 million metric tons (MT) each year. Of that, around 1.1 million MT has been cod, according to Finn Arne Egeness, a senior whitefish analyst at Helsinki, Finland-based Nordea Bank.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Agency Must Rebuild Atlantic Cod Stocks, Lawsuit Says

September 1, 2020 — The National Marine Fisheries Service is failing to develop a plan to rebuild Atlantic cod stocks that have been depleted by overfishing, according to a lawsuit filed in a Washington federal court.

The agency’s failure is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, under which NMFS has a mandatory duty to rebuild fisheries as quickly as possible, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read the full story at Bloomberg Law

New England cod fishery restrictions in place this spring

June 1, 2020 — Commercial fishing for Atlantic cod is limited by closures off the coast of New England this spring, federal fishing managers said.

Cod were once the subject of one of the largest fisheries in the country, but it has collapsed after years of overfishing and is much smaller than it once was. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said cod protection closures in the Gulf of Maine are taking place throughout May and June. More are scheduled in the fall.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

NEFMC SSC – Listen Live – Thursday, June 4, 2020 – Research Priorities

May 26, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet via webinar on Thursday, June 4, 2020.  The public is invited to listen live.  Here are the details.

START TIME:  10:00 a.m.
 
WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.
 
CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (415) 655-0060.  The access code is 374-434-055.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.
 
AGENDA:  The SSC will meet to:
  • Review the New England Council’s 2020-2024 research priorities, including updates identified by the Council’s committees and plan development teams, and provide recommendations on the suggested revisions;
  • Receive a presentation on the Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Peer Review report; and
  • Discuss other business as necessary.
COMMENTS:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Friday, May 29, 2020.  Address comments to Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn or Executive Director Tom Nies and email them to comments@nefmc.org.  Additional information is available in the meeting notice.
 
MATERIALS:  All documents for this meeting will be posted on the SSC meeting webpage.
 
QUESTIONS:  Contact Joan O’Leary at (978) 465-0492 ext. 101, joleary@nefmc.org or Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Peer Review Meeting, May 18-20, 2020 – Join the Webinar

May 11, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

An ad hoc sub-panel of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and outside scientists will meet May 18-20, 2020 via webinar to conduct a peer review of the Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group’s report titled:  An Interdisciplinary Review of Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) Stock Structure in the Western North Atlantic Ocean.

START TIME:  9:00 a.m. daily.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Register for the webinar HERE.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (415) 655-0052. The access code is 805-785-106.

PEER REVIEW PANEL:  The panel is made up of the following reviewers.

  • Jake Kritzer – chair
  • Yong Chen (SSC member)
  • Jeremy Collie (SSC member)
  • Richard Merrick (SSC member)
  • Ike Wirgin

WORKING GROUP TERMS OF REFERENCE:  The Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group was asked to inventory, summarize, and synthesize all relevant information to inform the most scientifically supported biological structure of Atlantic cod in U.S. waters using the following terms of reference (TORs).

  1. Inventory and summarize all relevant peer-review information about stock structure of Atlantic cod in NAFO Divisions 5 and 6 and interactions with 4X. Evaluate the relative importance of the information with respect to developing a holistic understanding of Atlantic cod stock structure.
  2. Identify and evaluate any new or existing data or information about the stock structure of Atlantic cod in NAFO Divisions 5 and 6 and interactions with 4X, and subject to a peer review by the working group. Integrate any additional information into the inventory developed in TOR 1.
  3. Using a holistic approach, synthesize all available information (TOR 1 and 2) and develop sets of possible biological stock structures and consider scientific support for each alternative. In developing alternative stock structures, consider the temporal stability of stock structure and how the available information can inform the knowledge of stock structure over time.
  4. Identify any major information gaps in data collection and the existing research with respect to cod stock structure. Develop a prioritized list of recommendations to address these gaps. Comment on the feasibility and time horizon (e.g., short-term, long-term) of the proposed research recommendations.

COMMENTS:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 14, 2020.  Address comments to Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn or Executive Director Tom Nies and email them to comments@nefmc.org.  The address for mailing comments is:  New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill #2, Newburyport, MA 01950.

 

MATERIALS:  Meeting materials are posted on the Council’s website at May 18-20, 2020 Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Peer Review.  Here is the primary Technical Memo.

QUESTIONS:  Contact Council Deputy Director Chris Kellogg at (978) 465-0492 ext. 112; ckellogg@nefmc.org, Joan O’Leary at (978) 465-0492 ext. 101, joleary@nefmc.org, or Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

Federal study surveys spawning Atlantic Cod

March 23, 2020 — Fisheries biologists used to rely on fishermen to tell them where fish were spawning and when. Fish are attracted to specific areas at certain times of the year, and fishermen find those important spawning grounds because the fishing is easy and the females come up bursting with eggs.

“Historically, researchers try to get in a good relationship with fishermen,” said Timothy Rowell, a research biologist with the passive acoustic research group at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. “They have the best local knowledge of where (the fish) are aggregating and spawning.”

Although researchers still depend on fishermen, they also use ever more sophisticated technology to help them find and study fish in the immensity of the world’s oceans. That is true of a four-year $1.3 million study of spawning fish in the sprawling blocks of ocean southeast of Block Island that are zoned to build massive offshore wind farms.

NOAA, the state Division of Marine Fisheries, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology are all participating in the study, which is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The research is focused on what may be one of the last remaining major seasonal spawning gatherings in the Northwest Atlantic, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

What lives, what dies? The role of science in the decision to cull seals to save cod

March 16, 2020 — Atlantic cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland supported one of the world’s greatest fisheries for over three centuries. Yet this seemingly inexhaustible resource is in bad shape. Some stocks are now endangered and their survival could depend on removing a key predator, the grey seal.

This raises some difficult questions: How do we determine the value of one species over another, and what is the role of science in this conundrum?

My colleagues and I in the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of British Columbia are fascinated by these questions. As an interdisciplinary group of economists, ecologists and social scientists, we commonly attribute values to animals in different ways. But determining whether to kill one animal to preserve another is less straightforward.

The collapse of the Grand Banks fisheries is considered one of the most significant failures in the history of natural resource management — akin to the ongoing degradation of the Amazon — and casts a long shadow over Canadian fisheries management.

Read the full story at The Conversation

Scientists Collecting Data on Commercial Fish Species in Wind Energy Lease Areas

March 12, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries scientists and colleagues have started a three-year study of Atlantic cod and other commercial fish species in Southern New England. Their goal is to gather baseline data to address how offshore wind development in the region could affect these animals.

An autonomous underwater glider is surveying areas in and around Cox’s Ledge. This includes the South Fork wind energy lease area south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The glider has a hydrophone to detect fish spawning sounds and an acoustic telemetry receiver to detect tagged fish. The receiver will identify location and seasonal occurrence of hotspots for key commercial and federally listed fish species.

According to project lead Sofie Van Parijs, there is little information on Atlantic cod spawning specific to Southern New England waters. Cod elsewhere are known to form large, dense spawning aggregations in predictable locations relatively close to shore, where they can be vulnerable to disturbance that might affect spawning success. Van Parijs also heads the Passive Acoustics Research Group at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

“Biological sampling will determine the population’s onset of spawning and track growth, maturity, age structure, and other life history parameters,” Van Parijs said. “This information will help inform the starting date for our glider surveys each year. We will tentatively conduct these surveys from December through March this year and for longer periods in the subsequent two years.”

Read the full release here