California Archives - Page 84 of 107

Monterey Bay fishermen working round the clock to pull in plentiful catch

April 26, 2018 — MONTEREY, Calif. — Below the surface of Monterey Bay, opalescent market squid are busily creating a new generation, laying eggs in clusters on the seafloor. And at the water’s surface, a fleet of fishing boats are ready to scoop those squid up, continuing a fishing tradition that’s well over a hundred years old.

In Monterey Harbor, a collection of at least eleven boats have been fishing for squid not far from shore since April 1, their lights visible off the coast at night. When the fishing is good, said Joe Russo, second captain and deckhand on the fishing vessel King Philip, it’s not uncommon for them to spend 24 hours a day netting tens of thousands of pounds of slippery squid with each return to shore. They continue through the spring, summer, and into early fall, if they don’t exceed the quota set by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“From noon on Sunday until noon Friday, as long as there’s fishing you might not sleep for two days,” he said, looking remarkably awake. The crew on his boat, including his father Anthony Russo (captain of the King Philip), rushed to pump the squid out of their hold on Wednesday and into big yellow tubs, each of which holds around 1,500 pounds of catch. As soon as their boat was completely unloaded, they planned to head right back out to the squid. In the meantime the elder Russo ducked inside to catch an hour-long nap.

Market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) is in many years the most productive and valuable fishery in California. This year, with cold water and plenty of food available, plentiful squid are coming into Monterey Bay. But in some years the squid catch plummets — researchers believe that changes in water temperature and food availability associated with El Niño years keep squid populations down. The animals live for less than a year and die after one reproductive effort, which means their population can be wildly variable with yearly conditions.

Read the full story at the Monterey Herald

Sharks, Dolphins, and Turtles are Turning Up in Strange Places Because of Climate Change

April 20, 2018 — Luke Halpin couldn’t believe his eyes. In the early morning hours from his spot on a research ship in the Pacific Ocean, he was seeing bottlenose dolphins. If Halpin had been on a ship off the coast of California, this wouldn’t be remarkable. But he was on a Canadian research vessel floating about 100 miles northwest of Vancouver. These dolphins had never been seen alive north of the waters off the coast of Washington state.

“My initial reaction was one of disbelief,” he told Newsweek. “But they’re an unmistakable species. They’re easy to identify.”

Halpin’s next reaction was to start counting and pull out his camera. In total, he spotted about 200 dolphins and 70 false killer whales—a very large group—that came within a few hundred feet of the ship. He and his colleagues published their observations in Marine Biodiversity Records on Thursday.

Read the full story at Newsweek

Report Assesses Mid-Atlantic Coast’s Economic Vulnerability to Climate Change

April 17, 2018 — ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean:

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) today released a first-of-its-kind report at the Mid-Atlantic scale that examines the vulnerabilities of several critical economic sectors to climate change. The report quantifies the potential impacts of threats like sea level rise, rising ocean temperatures and changes in the ocean’s chemistry to communities and businesses in 63 counties and independent cities along the coast from New York to Virginia.

The challenges are especially pronounced in the Mid-Atlantic, the most densely populated stretch of coastline in the country. The region’s waterfront is home to America’s largest city, New York; two of its busiest ports in New York/New Jersey and Hampton Roads, Virginia; and iconic beach destinations that have entertained summer tourists for generations.

The analysis considered the ramifications of both temporary flooding events and the permanent inundation of some areas that would occur if sea levels were to rise by 3 or 6 feet by the year 2100 – two scenarios that are commonly assumed by planners throughout the region. Among the findings:

Approximately 14.6 million people live in Census tracts adjacent to the ocean, Chesapeake or Delaware bays. In the 3-foot scenario, the resulting flooded area could affect 1.7 million people and in the 6-foot scenario, 2.1 million people.
Today, 912,000 housing units would be vulnerable to flooding in the 3-foot scenario and 1.1 million in the 6-foot scenario. These include 212,000 seasonal units in the 3-foot scenario and 248,000 in the 6-foot scenario.
Approximately 557,000 jobs would be vulnerable in the 3-foot scenario and 974,000 in the 6-foot scenario.

In the 3-foot scenario, Delaware has the highest average vulnerability, followed by the counties/cities of Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At six feet, New York has highest average vulnerability, followed by Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The region’s major urban centers’ vulnerability to severe disruption increases significantly if sea level rises more than 3 feet.

“No community or business in the Mid-Atlantic will be spared from the impacts of climate change,” said lead author Charles Colgan of the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. “This is not simply a threat to waterfront areas. With everything from jobs to the housing market being tightly bound to ocean-dependent industries, every coastal community, whether beachfront or further inland, has some vulnerability.”

Significant and perhaps rapid shifts in habitat brought about by climate change will challenge commercial fishing and government agencies to move quickly to adapt fishing practices and management policies. From Maine to North Carolina, a 25 percent loss of catch is possible for species affected by climate change, which would translate to a 20 percent decline in annual value.

The report offers guidance on some strategies that are effectively being employed throughout the Mid-Atlantic to adapt to climate change. For example, the report suggests governments at all levels can follow the model provided by the region’s ports, which are considering climate change in their designs as they rehabilitate or replace infrastructure. Natural defenses such as the restoration of wetlands and marsh grasses were identified as cost-effective means for addressing the threats of retreating shorelines and encroachments from coastal development.

“Natural infrastructure reduced coastal property damages by $650 million during Superstorm Sandy,” Colgan said. “In many cases, even local governments and NGOs can begin taking on these nature-based projects without the need for major grant support or government intervention.”

The report, “Climate Change Vulnerabilities in the Coastal Mid-Atlantic Region,” was prepared as part of the MARCO-led “Planning for a Changing Ocean” project, which aimed to better understand how a changing climate impacts our ocean and the Mid-Atlantic’s diverse marine ecosystems, coastal communities and economies. The project examined the implications for resilience of current trends, including increased acidification of coastal and ocean waters, the availability of offshore sand resources and shifting marine life habitats. The effort was a collaboration of MARCO and the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, made possible by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Learn more at: www.midatlanticocean.org

PFMC Opens Areas Formerly Closed to Trawling; Permanently Protects 135,000 Square Miles

April 13, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — This week the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) adopted major changes to the West Coast groundfish fishery after more than 30 meetings with industry members and ENGOs. The Council announced Wednesday that 135,000 square miles of ocean off the West Coast will be permanently protected, while a previously closed area of roughly 3,000 square miles will be reopened to commercial fishing.

“The decision demonstrates the Council’s commitment to protecting important fish habitats including rocky reefs, corals, and sponges,” said Council Chair Phil Anderson. “The decision was informed by sound science and further informed by the fishing industry and environmental community who are to be commended for their important contribution to the Council’s decision. The result provides an increase in habitat protection while providing greater opportunity for our trawl fleet to more efficiently harvest target stocks. The West Coast trawl fishery has been reduced in size and transformed into a sustainable fishery including full accountability that provides that public with high quality fish products.”

Much of the area that has been reopened was closed in 2002 — the Rockfish Conservation Area, a strip of area from the Canada to Mexico borders — to minimize catch of rockfish stocks listed as overfished at the time. While the RCA covered areas of sensitive, high value habitat like underwater cliffs, rock piles and pinnacles where several of the depleted species congregate and reproduce, it also prevented access to vast areas of sandy, soft-bottom seafloor where more plentiful target species like Dover sole and sablefish are found.

Most of those overfished rockfish stocks have since been rebuilt to sustainable population levels, which allowed for the reopening, Environmental Defense Fund said in a press release.

PFMC’s decision was backed by the EDF, as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Nature Conservancy, who worked with fishermen such as Oregon Trawl Commission Director Brad Pettinger and California Shellfish Company’s Special Projects Leader Tom Libby to compile data to identify currently unprotected areas of sensitive habitat and protected areas that could be reopened.

“This was an amazing team effort, with fishermen and environmentalists focused on the goal of opening up closed fishing grounds and carving out the areas that really need protection,” said Ralph Brown, a fisherman from Brookings, Oregon. “I’m looking forward to going back to some of my old favorite fishing grounds.”
The new closure will protect corals off the coast of California while also giving new opportunities for the bottom trawl fleet.

“This is compelling conservation because it recognizes that teamwork between conservationists and fishermen, coupled with strong science, can lead to major changes that make our West Coast groundfish industry more sustainable, resilient and profitable over the long term,” Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program West Coast Director Shems Jud said.

When the fishery adopted catch shares in 2011 discarding of bycatch dropped 80 percent and it became clear it was time to update the RCA, because the new system strongly incentivizes fishermen to avoid overfished species.

“We knew that if we could identify currently unprotected areas of sensitive habitat, including areas inside the RCA, the Council could protect those areas while opening up valuable fishing grounds,” said Jud. “We worked together to combine information from new academic studies, fisheries observer data, and modeling with fishermen’s logbooks, charts and knowledge gained from decades of combined fishing experience.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.

West Coast Salmon Seasons Set After Week of Tensions, Struggles

April 13, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — This week the Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted ocean salmon season recommendations that provide recreational and commercial opportunities for most of the Pacific coast, and achieve conservation goals for the numerous individual salmon stocks on the West Coast.

“It has been another challenging year for the Council, its advisers, fishery stakeholders and the public as we strive to balance fishing opportunities with the conservation needs we are facing on Chinook and coho salmon stocks, both north and south of Cape Falcon,” Council Executive Director Chuck Tracy said in a press release. “The Council has recommended ocean salmon seasons on the West Coast this year that provide important protections for stocks of concern, including Lower Columbia River natural fall Chinook, Puget Sound Chinook, Washington coastal coho, and Sacramento River fall Chinook.”

Fisheries in Washington and northern Oregon, referred to as “North of Falcon” due to Cape Falcon being located near Nehalem in northern Oregon, depend largely on Columbia River Chinook and coho stocks. Overall, Columbia River fall Chinook forecasts are considered low to moderate compared to the recent 10-year average. Hatchery coho stocks originating from the Columbia River together with natural stocks originating from the Queets River and Grays Harbor are expected to return at low levels resulting in very low harvest quotas, as was the case in 2017.

Washington state and tribal co-managers struggled during the week’s Council meeting to find solutions. Finally, on Tuesday, they agreed to fishing seasons that meets conservation goals for wild fish while providing fishing opportunities on healthy salmon runs.

A variety of unfavorable environmental conditions, including severe flooding in rivers and warm ocean water, have reduced the number of salmon returning to Washington’s rivers in recent years, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fish program leader Ron Warren said. In addition, the loss of quality rearing and spawning habitat continues to take a toll on salmon populations throughout the region, where some stocks are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, he said.

The overall non-Indian total allowable catch for the area is 55,000 Chinook coastwide, compared to 90,000 last year, and 47,600 marked hatchery coho, the same as last year. Fisheries are designed to provide harvest opportunity on healthy Chinook returns primarily destined for the Columbia River, while avoiding coho stocks of concern.

Non-Indian ocean commercial fisheries north of Cape Falcon include traditional, but reduced, Chinook seasons in the spring (May-June) and summer season (July through mid-September). Non-Indian ocean commercial fisheries in this area will have access to a total of 27,500 Chinook, compared to 45,000 Chinook last year, and a marked coho quota of 5,600, the same as last year.

Tribal ocean fisheries north of Cape Falcon are similar in structure to past years, with quotas that include 40,000 Chinook and 12,500 coho, the same as last year.

“It’s critical that we ensure fisheries are consistent with ongoing efforts to protect and rebuild wild salmon stocks,” Warren said in a press release. “Unfortunately, the loss of salmon habitat continues to outpace these recovery efforts.”

In California and Oregon south of Cape Falcon, will be limited, as expected, due to Klamath River and Sacramento fall Chinook and also to Oregon Coast natural coho — but some opportunities in Oregon are better this year than last.

“While this won’t be a banner year for ocean salmon fishing, overall it’s an improvement from 2017. This is particularly true for communities on the Southern Oregon coast, which were hit hard by 2017’s salmon closures,” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Deputy Fish Division Administrator Chris Kern said in a press release.

Commercial fisheries from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mt. in Oregon will open on May 4 and will and continue through Aug. 29 with intermittent closures. This area will also be open continuously in September and October, with weekly limits and a depth restriction in October.

Fisheries from Humbug Mt., Oregon, to Humboldt South Jetty, California, will be open intermittently from May through August. Monthly quotas will be in place for the Oregon portion of the Klamath Management Zone from June through August. In 2017, all Oregon commercial salmon trolling was closed south of Florence.

“I want to thank the many advisors, tribal members, agency staff, and members of the general public, who all worked hard to ensure that conservation goals for salmon stocks are met while providing fishing opportunities for communities up and down the West Coast,” Kern said.

In the California portion of the KMZ, monthly Chinook quotas will be in place from May through August. The quotas all feature landing and possession limits, and the Californian portion of this area will be open five days a week.

Between Horse Mountain and Pigeon Point, the Fort Bragg and San Francisco areas, the area will be open for a week in late July, most of August and all of September. From Pigeon Point to the Mexico border, the Chinook season will be open during the first week in May and the last two weeks of June. There will also be a season from Point Reyes to Point San Pedro (a subset of the San Francisco area), consisting of two five-day periods in October.

After the last week of tensions, Council members, state advisers and tribes did leave the meeting with a bit of positive news: a renewed commitment by Indian and non-Indian fishermen to work together for the future of salmon and salmon fishing, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission chair Lorraine Loomis said.

“No fisherman wants to catch the last salmon. We know that the ongoing loss of habitat, a population explosion of hungry seals and sea lions and the needs of endangered southern resident killer whales are the real challenges facing us today. We must work together if we are going to restore salmon to sustainable levels,” she said.

Council chairman Phil Anderson noted fishermen bear the burden of conserving these fish populations while their demise is largely out of the seafood industry’s control.

“This year’s package includes some very restrictive seasons in both commercial and recreational fisheries along the entire coast,” Anderson said. “Low abundances of Chinook and coho are in part due to the poor ocean conditions the adult fish faced as juveniles when they entered the ocean, and poor in-river habitat and water conditions.”

These recommendations will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval by May 1, 2018.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.

With Support from Chris Oliver, Pacific Council Approves Sardine Set Aside of 7000 Tons

April 12, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — On Sunday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the management measures for the West Coast sardine fishery that were recommended by the California Pacific Sardine management team. The decision provides for 7,000 Mt for all uses, allowing fishermen a reasonable set aside for incidental take.

Diane Pleschner-Steele, Executive Director California Wetfish Producers Association said “We are very thankful to the Council for applying the best available common sense in making its decision, especially in light of the concerns expressed during the recent methods review and the earlier problems voiced about last year’s sardine panel review.”

“And we are especially grateful to NOAA Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver, who took the time to address the Council in support of sustainable fishing communities, as well as resources, saying in part, ‘We have to combine that scientific underpinning with practicality and common sense.’

“This is especially topical given the ongoing forage fish discussion and its relationship to California’s historic wetfish industry, which has been the foundation of our fishing economy for more than a century. All too often, that importance is largely ignored or dismissed with pleas to ‘leave most of the fish in the water for other predators.’ Our precautionary catch rules already do that.

“In sum, a big thank you to the Council for doing the right thing for sardine fishery management and for fishing families and communities up and down the West Coast.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.

Pacific Fishery Management Council Adopts Major Changes to West Coast Groundfish Fishery

April 12, 2018 — PORTLAND, Ore. — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

On Monday the Pacific Fishery Management Council added new protections for deep sea coral areas, modified areas that protect priority bottom habitat areas for groundfish, and reopened fishing in some areas that have been closed to groundfish fishing.

The Council is required by Federal law to identify and protect important fish habitat, while balancing the needs of coastal communities and the fishing industry.

The actions span the Federal waters off the U.S. West Coast. They establish protection for over 136,000 square miles of corals, rocky reefs and undersea canyons important to over 100 groundfish species such as rockfish, flatfish, and sablefish. The new protections include 135,000 square miles of deep water habitat to protect corals off the coast of California, in depths too great for most bottom fishing activities. The actions also reopen over 3,000 square miles of historical fishing grounds that were established to reduce harvest on overfished rockfish stocks. Nearly all of those stocks have subsequently been rebuilt to sustainable population levels, and the remaining stocks are rebuilding quickly. The combination of new closures and reopenings ensures important habitat protections while allowing added fishing opportunity for the bottom trawl fleet.

“This decision demonstrates the Council’s commitment to protecting important fish habitats including rocky reefs, corals, and sponges. The decision was informed by sound science and further informed by the fishing industry and environmental community who are to be commended for their important contribution to the Council’s decision. The result provides an increase in habitat protection while providing greater opportunity for our trawl fleet to more efficiently harvest target stocks,” said Council Chair Phil Anderson. “The West Coast trawl fishery has been reduced in size and transformed into a sustainable fishery including full accountability that provides the public with high quality fish products.”

The changes were made as part of a review which the Council and NOAA Fisheries initiated seven years ago. Many of the selected changes originated in a unique collaboration of fishing industry members and environmental advocates working together.

Seth Atkinson, a collaborative group member representing the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “By listening to each other and building trust, we worked together to improve fishing opportunity and increase protection for sensitive habitat areas. We built on fishermen’s deep knowledge of the seafloor, cross-referencing it with the latest scientific data, and pulled together a package of changes that would achieve both goals. This was possible only because of fishermen’s willingness to sit down and share their knowledge.”

The decision also considered input from Federal, Tribal and State agencies, and the general public. It included extensive analysis of the biological, social, and economic effects of the actions.

Bottom trawling is the practice of using a vessel to drag a net through the water, close to the seafloor, in order to catch fish. Most groundfish trawlers off the West Coast are relatively small, family-owned vessels. Trawling differs from trolling, which uses hooks and lines and is typically used to target salmon and tuna on the West Coast.

View the release in its entirety here.

California Wetfish Group Tells Council Sardine Assessment is Badly Flawed

April 10, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Pacific Fishery Management Council will discuss sardine stock assessments at its meeting this week. The 2018 official assessment estimated that the sardine stock biomass has declined 97% since 2006.

However, the California Wetfish Association says that survey is highly flawed.

“Fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less, especially in nearshore waters. And they’ve been seeing this population spike for several years now,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA). “This stock assessment was an update that was not allowed to include any new methods and was based primarily on a single acoustic survey that reached only as far south as Morro Bay and totally missed the nearshore coastwide.”

The 2018 update assessment of 52,000 tons, down from 86,586 tons in 2017 and 106,100 tons the year before, is based on a change in methods and assumptions in estimating population size developed during an independent stock assessment review in 2017.

Scientists acknowledged that assuming the acoustic survey ‘sees’ all the fish leads to lower biomass estimates. But it’s obvious to fishermen that the survey missed a lot of fish. In fact, with different assumptions, the 2017 biomass estimate would have increased from 86,586 tons to 153,020 tons.

The thorny problem the Council faces in April is what to do with a flawed assessment that is perilously close to the 50,000-ton minimum stock size threshold that would trigger an “overfished” condition and curtail virtually all sardine fishing. (The directed fishery has been closed since 2015, but incidental harvest in other fisheries, as well as Tribal take and live bait fishing have been allowed under a precautionary annual catch limit of 8,000 tons for all uses.) Oceana has already signaled its intent to lobby for the Council to declare sardines “overfished.”

“Despite ample evidence to the contrary – most scientists agree that environmental factors play the primary role in sardine populations swings – Oceana claims that overfishing is the cause of the sardine fishery decline,” said Pleschner-Steele. “But the absolute opposite is true: fishing is a non-issue and more importantly, the sardine stock is not declining.”

The NOAA acoustic survey was based mainly on the 2017 summer acoustic trawl cruise that ran from British Columbia to Morro Bay, CA, but did not include the area south to Pt. Conception and Southern California where fishermen have reported large schools of sardines for the past three years. What’s more, this stock assessment update was based on a model that the chair of the 2017 Stock Assessment Review panel termed the “least worst” option. In part, the problem is that acoustic trawl surveys conducted by large research vessels cannot gather data in nearshore waters inside about 50 meters depth – 27 fathoms. But 70 to 80 percent of California’s sardine catch comes from nearshore waters inside the 20-fathom curve.

To document the missing fish, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and CWPA conducted a cooperative aerial survey in the Monterey / Half Moon Bay area last summer – at the same time the acoustic trawl cruise was surveying outside waters – and saw a significant body of both sardine and anchovy inside the acoustic survey nearshore limit.

The problem is this evidence has not yet been qualified for use in stock assessments. However, at the upcoming meeting, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will present the data from our nearshore aerial surveys in 2016-17. CWPA will also request that the Council approve our experimental fishery permit to help us qualify our aerial surveys as an index of nearshore abundance for future assessments.

“The bottom line is it’s vital for proper management of our fisheries that we use all available scientific data. That’s why the Council needs to take into consideration these nearshore findings when recommending sardine management measures in 2018,” said Pleschner-Steele. “CWPA along with sardine fishermen contest the 52,000-ton stock assessment and will request a new stock assessment review as soon as possible, including other indices of abundance in addition to acoustic trawl. If the Council closes the sardine fishery entirely, California’s historic wetfish industry – which until recent years produced 80 percent or more of the volume of seafood landed statewide – will suffer unnecessarily, along with the state’s entire fishing economy.”

This article originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

California Wetfish Producers Association Statement: West Coast Sardine Fishery Management Action

April 9, 2018 — The following was released by the California Wetfish Producers Association:

On Sunday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the management measures for the West Coast sardine fishery that were recommended by the CPS management team. The decision provides for 7,000 Mt for all uses, allowing fishermen a reasonable set aside for incidental take.

“We are very thankful to the Council for applying the best available common sense in making its decision, especially in light of the concerns expressed during the recent ATM methods review and the earlier problems voiced about last year’s sardine STAR panel review.

“In sum, a big thank you to the Council for doing the right thing for sardine fishery management and for fishing families and communities up and down the West Coast.”

Diane Pleschner-Steele, Executive Director

California Wetfish Producers Association

About the California Wetfish Producers Association

The California Wetfish Producers Association is a nonprofit dedicated to research and to promote sustainable Wetfish resources. More info at www.californiawetfish.org.

Will Alaska learn from salmon’s history?

April 5, 2018 — Fifteen years ago when I researched and wrote the book “King of Fish: The Thousand Year Run of Salmon,” I spent a lot of time looking at where societies got it wrong on salmon. That has made it all the more refreshing every time I have come to Alaska to enjoy a place that has gotten it right — so far. More than anywhere else in the world, Alaska has enabled its people to enjoy the rich and varied benefits that come with healthy salmon runs.

But it’s also clear to me that Alaska is at a crossroads in its salmon history. While many Alaskans can still depend on strong fisheries, the first serious signs of decline in locales across the state raise critical questions about the long-term health of Alaskan salmon. And if there’s anything to learn from the history of places where people have lived with salmon, it is to beware another “death by a thousand cuts” playing out in a blind march toward degraded habitat and dwindling runs.

Over the last 1,000 years, humans inadvertently conducted several full-scale experiments on how salmon fare when people make big changes to rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. The takeaway? A slow-motion train wreck with grim results for salmon in Great Britain and across Europe, then New England, and finally California and the Pacific Northwest.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire