Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Provincetown rescue team frees entangled right whale off Cape Cod coast

August 7, 2019 — On Friday, Aug. 2 the Marine Animal Entanglement Response team (MAER) from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), in collaboration with the Northeastern Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) partially disentangled a North Atlantic right whale, one of only about 400 individuals left, east of Cape Cod.

The entangled whale was initially discovered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, on July 4, 2019 by Transport Canada. Despite a horrific entanglement, the whale was highly mobile. On July 19 it was spotted again by an aerial survey team from NEFSC and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. A response team from New England Aquarium (NEAQ) was in the area and succeeded in attaching a telemetry buoy to the whale to track its movements for disentanglement.

Over the next two weeks the whale traveled east, out of the Gulf, then south, past Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. During that time Canadian disentanglement teams made several attempts to free the animal and were able to make some cuts to its entanglement.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Scientists Are Trying to Keep Sharks From Commercial Lines

August 5, 2019 — Scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Wachapreague are doing research this summer that could result in a way for commercial fishermen to keep sharks from interfering with their fishing lines.

VIMS Eastern Shore Lab has the advantage of being right on the water and near the last undeveloped stretch of barrier islands on the East Coast.

“There is only one lab in all of Virginia that has running seawater, which you need to keep sharks,” said VIMS scientist Richard Brill.

That lab is in Wachapreague.

Read the full story at U.S. News

Our Fishing Is Driving Sharks To Extinction

August 1, 2019 — In a world so big, it may be unfathomable to think our human touch has reached every corner. Yet our mentality of overabundance has leeched and tainted even the remotest parts of our oceans. In a ground-breaking Nature report, a team of more than 150 scientists have come together to showcase just how our major high seas fishing activities impact sharks.

There are over 500 species of shark worldwide and many large ones call the open ocean home. While it may be hard for them to find food in this vast blue desert, our technology has made it so we can find large quantities of it in very little time. Fishing fleets are the biggest threat to all sharks, but especially large ones as they account for over half of all identified shark catch globally in target fisheries or as bycatch. This unsustainable trend has paved the way for declines in some population numbers, like the regional declines in abundance of shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus).  While scientists knew that sharks and fishing fleets shared the same areas, they didn’t know just how much fishing takes place in areas where sharks aggregate. This was crucial evidence needed to fight for catch limits in the high seas, where there is currently little to no management or enforcement for sharks.

Read the full story at Forbes

Global Threat to Sharks Highlighted in Nature Paper Co-Authorized by Mote Scientists

July 31, 2019 — The following was released by Mote:

A new study in the prestigious, peer-reviewed, scientific journal Nature reveals that major high seas fishing activities overlap significantly with important shark hotspots worldwide.

Study partners point out that North Atlantic blue sharks and shortfin mako – the fastest shark in the sea – have on average 76% and 62% of their space use, respectively, occupied by longline fishing  vessels each month, and even internationally protected species such as great white and porbeagle sharks are at risk of bycatch in such fisheries. The study calls attention to the danger of accelerating shark population declines and disappearance of their hotspots, along with opportunities for more sustainable management of fisheries and shark populations internationally.

The study included 150 scientists from 26 countries who combined their knowledge and data from nearly 2,000 satellite-tagged sharks. Co-authors from Mote Marine Laboratory’s Center for Shark Research have tracked white, bull, hammerhead, whale and multiple other shark species with satellite tags over decades of conservation-focused science, some in collaboration with research partner OCEARCH.

  • Read the full news release from Nature below and view the journal article here: https://rdcu.be/bLze0

Below is a statement from Dr. Robert Hueter, Director of Mote’s Center for Shark Research, who served as a study co-author along with Mote Senior Biologists Jack Morris and John Tyminski.

Read the full release here

Sharks Have Few Places To Hide From Fishing, Study Shows

July 24, 2019 — Ocean-dwelling sharks often like to hang out in areas that also get frequented by industrial fishing ships, which puts them at grave risk of being caught either for food or as bycatch.

That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature that mapped the activity of 23 shark species and fishing vessels around the globe.

Researchers tracked more than 1,500 sharks with satellite tags and combined that data with information on ship movements taken from safety technology that vessels use to avoid collisions at sea.

“Tens of millions of these pelagic sharks are being caught by industrialized fisheries in areas where there’s little or no management, and some populations have declined as a result,” says David Sims, a U.K.-based marine ecologist at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth and the University of Southampton.

Fishing vessels can catch sharks accidentally, because their long lines can extend for miles and have more than 1,000 hooks.

Read the full story at New England Public Radio

13 Environmental NGO’s Call For 100% Observer Coverage on Industrial Tuna Fishing Vessels

June 27, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A total of 13 environmental NGO’s – including Fishwise, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), Monterey Bay Aquarium, PEW Charitable Trusts and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership – are joining forces to request that Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMO) that regulate tuna fishing in the Indian, Pacific, Atlantic and Southern Oceans, require observer coverage on all industrial tuna fishing vessels.

According to these NGOs, many tuna fisheries lack independent monitoring of fishing activity. This means that illegal fishing, misreported or unreported catch, as well as bycatch of endangered, threatened and protected species, goes unseen. However, RFMOs could change that by requiring that these tuna fisheries have 100% observer coverage – whether it be human or electric.

“100% observer coverage can and must happen soon,” reads a press release from the organizations. “There are no longer credible reasons to delay. We are committed to working together to make 100% observer coverage a reality.”

As part of their effort, the NGOs are seeking support from fisheries organizations, conservation organizations, and foundations. Consumers can also join the fight by signing a petition posted on The Action Network.

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

Deck Equipment: Rise of the Machine

June 14, 2019 — Cameras start to take over for live observers on deck: What does it mean for owners and operators across the country?

Electronic monitoring programs are on the rise as a way to reduce observer costs, avoid the problems of having another person onboard, and increase data gathering. After testing and implementing several programs, NOAA is developing criteria for EM hardware producers and service providers.

“We hope to have standards by the end of the year,” says Brett Alger, electronic technologies coordinator at NMFS. “Once we lay down the framework, it could allow EM to expand greatly.” In February 2019, Alger spoke at a conference in Bangkok that explored the potentials of electronic monitoring. Presenters talked about the real-time upload, via satellite or cell signal, of video from boats, which could be reviewed by artificial intelligence. “We’re hoping to automate review,” says Alger. “We’re looking at machine learning that could identify and measure fish in a split second.”

According to Alger, the idea of monitoring things like bycatch, discards and quota by putting cameras onboard has been around for 20 years, and the Pacific whiting fishery has used electronic monitoring for 15 years. But establishing EM programs is much more complicated than just hooking up cameras and connecting them to a hard drive.

Among EM service providers, two leaders — Archipelago Marine Research and Saltwater Inc. — have broken ground with several programs around the U.S. coasts. Archipelago provides a complete package of cameras, hard drives and review services. Saltwater offers software and some hardware, and a number of services, including developing a vessel monitoring plan and video review.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Partners With Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation to Track Red King Crabs in Bristol Bay

June 3, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — NOAA is partnering with non-profit group the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation to learn more about Bristol Bay red king crab stocks.

The government organization announced this week that through their new partnership they will be researching how “recent environmental variability drives crab seasonal movements, habitat use, and interactions with groundfish trawl fisheries.” To conduct the research, NOAA and the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation will be utilizing an unmanned surface drone (Saildrone, Inc.) to track the movements of adult red king crabs in Bristol Bay.

“So little is known about where crabs are and how they move,” explained Scott Goodman of the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation. “We have only snapshots from summer surveys. This research will fill in the life history gaps to better inform the management of red king crab as both target and bycatch.”

The NOAA Kodiak Laboratory has already been placing trial tags on female red king crabs, but will begin working with fishermen this June to tag male red king crabs. The tags feature acoustic devices that transmit an ID number, as well as the bottom temperature. Once the crabs are tagged, the saildrone will be deployed in October 2019 to relocate the tagged crabs, and then again in April 2020.

According to NOAA Fisheries scientist Leah Zacher, who is leading the project, relocating the crabs in the fall will help provide information on “how crabs move onto the fishing grounds. Meanwhile, the spring tag relocation will help to “determine the locations where they are vulnerable to being caught as bycatch in trawl fisheries.”

NOAA will begin posting reports from the field beginning this June. You can follow the research on the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Science Blog here.

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

Fishery observer survey seeks answers for high turnover

May 30, 2019 — Many of Alaska’s commercial fisheries depend on observers having a place on board, but fewer than a fifth of them feel appreciated by the industry, according to a new survey.

Fishery observers sail on vessels with fishermen in federal waters and keep track of catch and bycatch and take biological samples throughout trips. Managers use this information to evaluate stocks and manage fisheries.

The job can be tough, requiring up to a month at a time on the water in rough conditions, and turnover can be high. The survey, conducted by the National Marine Fishery Service in 2016, asked 553 observers why they did the job and what their experiences have been like.

Although three-quarters of them thought the job helped them in their careers and about 69 percent said the days at sea matched their expectations, nearly half them reported being harassed. Only 20 percent said they felt valued by the fishing community, and many said they were disappointed by a lack of opportunity to learn more about science and management, according to the survey findings, published in May.

The original intent of the survey was to help improve retention. Most observers quit after a few years — the West Coast, with about 5½ years, has the longest average tenure. Alaska’s average tenure is about 4.8 years, according to the survey data. Although observers have to have some training or education before taking the job, there’s a lot they learn through experience.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Researchers push back against Hawaii shark protection bill

May 13, 2019 — Legislation meant to protect Hawaii’s shark population was altered at the 11th hour to remove the apex predators from the bill amid concerns from the scientific community.

The bill was intended to extend protections already in place for manta rays to include all rays and sharks, West Hawaii Today reported Tuesday.

It would have made it illegal to “capture, take, possess, abuse, or entangle any shark, whether alive or dead, or kill any shark, within state marine waters,” the measure said. There were exceptions for academic research, but the scientific community found them inadequate.

University of Hawaii shark researcher Kim Holland said researchers would be forced to apply for permits from Department of Land and Natural Resources personnel without scientific expertise.

“It will be virtually impossible to prove that someone is ‘knowingly’ fishing for sharks,” wrote Holland, adding state enforcement resources are already insufficient for current polices.

Holland also said the bill was too ambiguous in defining terms such as “take” and “harassment.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Star Advertiser