Saving Seafood

Stephenson Ocean Security Project Second Annual Ocean Security Forum: Keynote Address by Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA)

January 17, 2020 — JARED HUFFMAN: All right. Well, thank you for that introduction. And thanks to both CSIS and the Stephenson Foundation for convening such an important conversation.

As your morning keynote, my job is to kind of get things started, make sure everybody’s awake and alert and engaged. I could – I could do that, I guess, by leading us in some yoga or tai chi – (laughter) – but I thought I’d do something even more invigorating: tell you a little bit about the great congressional district that I represent. (Laughter.) I hope you will indulge that.

Members of Congress do this. They brag about their district, and sometimes they believe the things that they say. And in my case, how could you not? I represent a third of the California coast, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and it is a spectacular and amazing place. The iconic ocean views, the marine fisheries that support working waterfronts from Sausalito to Crescent City. I’ve got amazing pristine rivers where you’ll find me fishing for salmon and steelhead every chance I get; incredible landscapes that include old-growth redwood forest, oak woodlands, some of the finest wine country in the entire world. And if you’re into this sort of thing, I’m told that the best cannabis in America is grown right in the heart of my district, so. (Laughter.) Probably a subject for a different conference.

They won’t let me spend my entire time in this speech bragging about my district, but I do want you to know that if you need more information on where to have your next vacation we’ve got a little bit of a ringer here at CSIS. The vice president of the organization for congressional and governmental affairs is Louis Lauter. He is a native of Marin County. And if you want some information on where to take your next vacation, talk to Louis. Or if you need to be hooked up with that cannabis, talk to Louis. (Laughter.) Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Getting back to our regular scheduled program, I am here today in my role as the chair of the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife. And I want to talk to you about an issue that we’ve been investigating in my subcommittee that I think has significant global implications for the security of our country, and that issue is illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Illegal, unreported, unregulated: we refer to this as IUU fishing. So when I use that term “IUU fishing,” that’s what I’m talking about this morning.

It might surprise some of you to learn that my little environmental Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife has jurisdiction over several topics, I believe, with implications for international and security issues. I see those implications in each part of my subcommittee’s title, starting with water.

Read the full story at the Center for Strategic & International Studies

West Coast waters acidifying two times faster than global average

January 17, 2020 — New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association shows waters off the coast of California are acidifying at twice the rate of the global average.

NOAA researchers studied sediment from the Santa Barbara Channel and using 100 years worth of microscopic shells were able to show the acidification rate was two times that of other oceans around the world.

Shellfish are the species most immediately impacted by ocean acidification. More acidic waters make it difficult for animals like, starfish, mussels, and scallops to build their shells.

Ocean acidification is simple chemical process, seawater absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and becomes more acidic. Humans have sped up the rate of ocean acidification thanks to global carbon emissions. Since the industrial revolution ocean acidity has increased by 25%, which is greater than at any other time in the last two million years.

Read the full story at KSBW

Offshore wind energy watchdogs expanding to West Coast

January 17, 2020 — A fishing industry coalition dealing with offshore wind energy development has launched a West Coast venture, as a first step toward giving Pacific fishermen more voice in how those projects can be compatible with seafood production.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance announced it created a new Pacific Advisory Committee, to address Pacific fishermen’s “significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.”

The new effort aims to “improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country,” the alliance said in a statement Thursday.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

A blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean killed a million seabirds, scientists say

January 16, 2020 — As many as one million seabirds died at sea in less than 12 months in one of the largest mass die-offs in recorded history — and researchers say warm ocean waters are to blame.

The birds, a fish-eating species called the common murre, were severely emaciated and appeared to have died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016, washing up along North America’s west coast, from California to Alaska.

Now, scientists say they know what caused it: a huge section of warm ocean water in the northeast Pacific Ocean dubbed “the Blob.”

A years-long severe marine heat wave first began in 2013, and intensified during the summer of 2015 due to a powerful weather phenomenon called El Nino, which lasted through 2016.

The heat wave created the Blob — a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) stretch of ocean that was warmed by 3 to 6 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 10.8 Fahrenheit). A high-pressure ridge calmed the ocean waters — meaning heat stays in the water, without storms to help cool it down.

Read the full story at CNN

RODA Expands West Coast Fisheries Engangement with Launch of Pacific Advisory Committee

January 16, 2020 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is excited to announce the launch of a Pacific Advisory Committee, which brings RODA’s mission of improving the compatibility of new offshore development with commercial fishing to the West Coast.

As discussions of offshore wind development in the U.S. continue to progress, Pacific fishermen have expressed significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has identified 3 Call Areas off of California as areas of interest for offshore wind development. The strongest wind speeds are located along the North Coast, near the BOEM Humboldt Call Area. The other two sites, Morro Bay and Diablo Canyon, for possible development are located on the Central Coast (For more information visit the California Offshore Wind Energy Gateway). BOEM has also initiated a process for siting offshore wind projects off of Oregon, although it has not yet identified Call Areas there.

The RODA-Pacific Advisory Committee is comprised of leaders from several West Coast fisheries throughout California and Oregon. Its purpose is to improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country.

As of January 1st 2020, the RODA West Coast advisory committee consists of:

  • Mike Conroy, West Coast Fisheries Consultants
  • Hugh Link & Tim Novotny, Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission
  • Mike Okoniewski, Pacific Seafood Group
  • Noah Oppenheim, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
  • Peter Flournoy, International Law Offices of San Diego
  • Steven Scheiblauer, Marine Alliances Consulting
  • Lori Steele, West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA)
  • Susan Chambers, WCSPA and Southern Oregon Ocean Resource Coalition

Additional Pacific fishing industry organizations and representatives are invited to contact RODA for inquiries about membership.

RODA is a membership-based alliance of fishing businesses and communities that provides a “strength in numbers” approach to advocacy on issues of mutual interest to seafood harvesters, processors, and affiliated entities. It works on behalf of fishermen with regulators, offshore developers, science experts, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to proposed ocean development in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historic fishing.

About RODA

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad, membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and companies working to improve the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. It seeks to coordinate science and policy approaches, through public and private partnerships, to manage development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

NOAA Fisheries Veterans Corps Turned My Life Around

January 15, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In 2015, I was separated from the U.S. Army with a General Discharge, Under Honorable Conditions. I returned to California with no idea what I was going to do. My hopes of attending a four-year college using the Post 9-11 G.I. Bill were squashed due to the characterization of my discharge. Over the next year, I would end up dropping out of community college and getting fired from my gas station job. My life was way off track, I lacked any purpose or vision, and I was headed nowhere fast. But this rock-bottom moment led me to a job posting for the California Conservation Corps (CCC), and my life was radically transformed in the best possible way.

I joined the CCC in July of 2016 and spent my first year in the traditional Corps program. I did activities such as litter clean up, fire fuel reduction, and invasive plant removal. The work opened my eyes to a whole new world of conservation and natural resource protection, but I felt the need to learn and do more. That’s when I requested a transfer to northern California and found out about the existence of the NOAA Veterans Corps Fisheries Program. I had no idea what “fisheries” meant or that California was home to salmon, but I liked that the job description included “working independently” and “hiking through creeks.” So, I took a leap of faith and took a position in the Vet Corps working at the Ukiah CCC Center. This turned out to be the best decision that I have ever made in my life.

Improving Habitat, Counting Salmon

Over the next two years I learned more about science and conservation than I ever did in any classroom setting. I spent three months leading a crew in the installation of “large woody debris” (a fancy science term for logs) on coastal streams. This improves the quality of habitat for endangered coho salmon.

After that, I spent about six months walking through the creeks of Sonoma and Mendocino counties. I counted spawning salmon and gathering data for biologists from the Mendocino Redwood Company and the Russian River Monitoring Program. When the salmon finished spawning, I used laser survey equipment to gather data about changes in the topography of stream channels. I spent one more season doing restoration work with the CCC before I decided to branch out once more. I transferred to the NOAA Vet Corps’ most unique site in Orleans, California.

Read the full release here

Sea lions are cash cows in the Bay Area. Farther south, fishermen say, ‘Shoot ‘em’

January 13, 2020 — Sea lions are increasingly living in parallel universes along the California coast, a disparity best observed amid the noisy, stinking spectacle that rolls out daily at San Francisco’s Pier 39 shopping center.

There, hundreds of these enormous, mostly male California sea lions bark, defecate, urinate and regurgitate, but are immensely popular with tourists. As a result, the blubber boys are treated like royalty.

“The sea lions are a godsend: a natural attraction that’s phenomenal for business,” Sheila Chandor, Pier 39 harbormaster, said on a recent weekday as tourists snapped selfies against a backdrop of sea lions piled up like cordwood on docks.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Federal court stops longline fishing to protect turtles

January 8, 2020 — Longline fishing won’t be allowed off the California coast, after a federal district court suspended permits for the fishing method.

In December, the court struck down longline fishing permits that the National Marine Fisheries Service issued last spring, ruling that the service didn’t properly analyze threats to critically endangered leatherback sea turtles.

“The permits were vacated by the court, so the permits are no longer in effect,” said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit with Turtle Island Restoration Network, challenging the permits.

The National Marine Fisheries Service declined to comment on the case while it analyzes the decision, spokesman Jim Milbury said.

Read the full story at The San Diego Union-Tribune

Coastal Pelagic Species Management Team to Hold Meeting February 4-6, 2020 in La Jolla, CA

January 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) will convene a meeting of the Coastal Pelagic Species Management Team (CPSMT), February 4 through 6, 2020, in La Jolla, California.  This meeting is open to the public.

Please see the CPSMT February 4-6, 2020 meeting notice on the Council’s website for full details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Kerry Griffin at 503-820-2409; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.