Saving Seafood

New Hampshire ‘AquaFort’ among 22 projects earning NOAA Sea Grant

October 26, 2018 — Researchers in New Hampshire have received federal funding to create an offshore aquaculture program that will be used to recruit fishermen in northern New England interested in raising steelhead trout and blue mussels.

Officials from the University of New Hampshire – which manages the state’s Sea Grant program – along with the state’s federal leaders announced the USD 747,673 (EUR 655,574) award last week. The grant was given to UNH for its new aquaculture program called “AquaFort.” It involves the hatching of rainbow trout in freshwater, and after eight months of development, the fish are transferred to the sea and become known as steelheads.

The university already has permits for the AquaFort site, which will be located less than two miles south of the Isle of Shoals.

“Warming ocean temperatures and invasive species have caused a decline in sea creatures such as blue mussels and steelhead trout, which has negatively impacted New Hampshire fishermen and the seafood industry,” U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) said in a statement. “By increasing seafood production through aquaculture training for fishermen and farmers, this federal grant to the University of New Hampshire will help expand economic opportunity on the Seacoast.”

The New Hampshire initiative was one of 22 projects that earned 2018 Aquaculture Research Awards grants by NOAA Sea Grant. All of the endeavors receiving a total of USD 11 million (EUR 9.6 million) will work on their projects over the next two to three years. Awardees must also receive a 50 percent match in funds from non-federal sources.

The Rhode Island Sea Grant program received USD 745,815 (EUR 654,052) to develop an online training initiative for entry-level workers that’s designed to improve worker safety and hone the skills necessary to get and keep a job in aquaculture. The training program will include a “train-the-trainer” aspect that could lead to a national deployment.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Climate change draws invasive species to the Arctic

February 27, 2018 — The Arctic is changing. Temperatures are increasing twice as fast as the global average and sea ice is retreating quicker than predicted.

It is now just a question of time before the Arctic becomes ice free in summer.

But while we humans react slowly to the problem at hand, evidence suggests that animals are on the move- on land, sea, and in the air. And in the cold Arctic, invasive species are drawn to regions where they could not previously have survived.

But invasive species pose a big problem for native animals, whose numbers can decline to the point of collapse. They also pose a threat to fisheries, with economic consequences on both a local and global scale.

In fact, our recent study showed that blue mussels have become much more common in the Arctic in recent years, just like other exotic species of bluefin tuna and killer whales.

Read the full story at Phys.org

 

Mussels Disappearing From New England Waters, Scientists Say

August 29, 2016 — New England is running out of mussels.

The Gulf of Maine’s once strong population of wild blue mussels is disappearing, scientists say. A study led by marine ecologists at the University of California at Irvine found the numbers along the gulf coastline have declined by more than 60 percent over the last 40 years.

Once covering as much as two-thirds of the gulf’s intertidal zone, mussels now cover less than 15 percent.

“It would be like losing a forest,” said biologist Cascade Sorte, who with her colleagues at the university conducted the study and recently published their findings in the Global Change Biology journal.

The Gulf of Maine stretches from Cape Cod to Canada and is a key marine environment and important to commercial fishing. Blue mussels are used in seafood dishes and worth millions to the economy of some New England states, but are also important in moving bacteria and toxins out of the water.

“It’s so disheartening to see it (the loss) in our marine habitats. We’re losing the habitats they create,” she said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News