Saving Seafood

CALIFORNIA: Whither the crab? Monterey Bay pulls empty pots

January 9, 2017 — SANTA CRUZ , Calif — As a labor strike continues to dry dock their colleagues to the north, many Monterey Bay Dungeness crab fishers are pulling predominantly empty pots, despite letting them soak for as much as two weeks.

“You run a whole string and pull a bunch of blanks, you’re going to start getting eggy,” said Justin Barry, 38, a crewmember on the commercial crabber Five Stars, which is docked at the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor. “The whole thing’s belly up. We’re trying to convince our captain not to call it a season at this point.”

To make matters worse, the market price of Dungeness crab remains relatively low — from $3 to $3.25 a pound — despite the crustacean’s scarcity.

“There’s just not a whole lot of crab to buy right now,” said Hans Haveman, co-owner of H&H Fish. “We were paying as much as $5 a pound around New Year’s. I’m not even sure what I’d pay if someone brought me crab right now. I’d have to think about that.”

Vincent Pham, 40, owns two crab boats in the Santa Cruz Harbor, both named Five Stars. This week, he looked out at the wind chop whipping the ocean outside the harbor mouth.

“It’s not cheap to go out and pull empty crab pots,” said Pham. “You have to know when to say when.”

Many recreational crabbers have already pulled the plug.

Read the full story at the Santa Cruz Sentinel 

Northeast Pacific is the region producing most Marine Stewardship Council fish

December 23, 2016 — The Northeast Pacific fishing area annually produces a total of 2.6 million metric tons of certified seafood from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) sustainable fishing standard, representing 83 per cent of the total catch of the area.

The MSC certified seafood from the area — covering Northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea waters — ranks first for the percentage and includes MSC certified salmon, albacore tuna, pink shrimp, hake, halibut, sablefish, Pacific cod, and Alaska pollock fisheries.

Another North American fishing area, the Northwest Atlantic — waters from North Carolina, the US mid-Atlantic, New England, and Eastern Canada — ranked seventh globally with 32 per cent (580,000 metric tons) of the total catch being MSC certified.

This area is home to MSC certified swordfish, spiny dogfish, sea scallop, lobster, Acadian redfish, haddock, pollock, Atlantic halibut, snow crab, Northern shrimp and Arctic surf clam fisheries.

The analysis and ranking was done as part of the recently published MSC Annual Report 2015-2016, which also reported that MSC certified fisheries caught more than 9.3 million metric tons of seafood in 2015-16, representing almost 10 per cent of the total global wild caught seafood by volume.

The global volume of MSC certified catch has increased by 6 per cent since 2014-15, while the MSC certified supply chain has climbed 16 per cent over the same period.

Between April 2015 and March 2016, the number of processors, restaurants and caterers with MSC Chain of Custody grew from 2,879 to 3,334 companies, operating in 37,121 sites across 82 countries. More than 20,000 products now carry the blue MSC label and can be traced back to fisheries which meet the MSC’s world-class standard for sustainable fishing.

Commenting on the results, Brian Perkins, MSC Regional Director – Americas, said, “When people purchase MSC certified seafood, their choice supports fishermen around the world who are working hard to meet the world’s most rigorous standard for environmental sustainability.”

“While we’re proud of the MSC certified fisheries here in North America, it takes a global effort to safeguard seafood supplies for the future,” pointed out Perkins.

For her part, Christina Burridge, Executive Director, B.C. Seafood Alliance and Chair, International Association of Sustainable Fisheries, stressed that fishermen on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada are proud to be recognized by the MSC for their responsible stewardship of a renewable food resource for their countries and the world.

Read the full story at Fish & Information Services

NOAA awards $8 million for coastal resiliency investments across the nation

December 22, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries is pleased to announce $8 million in recommended funding for 11 shovel-ready coastal resiliency projects in various sites across the country. These awards are part of NOAA’s continued commitment to build resilient coastal ecosystems, communities, and economies.

“Americans who live on the coast face enormous risks when Mother Nature strikes; however, it is natural infrastructure—wetlands, marshes, floodplains, and coral reefs—that often serve as our best defense. The selected projects will restore our natural barriers and help keep people, communities, and businesses safe,” said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for Fisheries.

Six projects aim to restore critical wetlands, marshes, and floodplains in Massachusetts, California, Washington, and Hawaii, which increase resiliency and offer flood protection for homes and businesses:

  • The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation will receive $250,000 to restore floodplain connectivity in the Teanaway Community Forest which will reduce peak flows and recharge groundwater for the nearby community and enhance streams for salmon by reducing water temperatures.
  • Ducks Unlimited will receive $1.5 million to transform 710 acres of former salt evaporation ponds in South San Francisco Bay into marsh and upland habitat which will increase resiliency to sea level rise and flooding.
  • The Nature Conservancy will receive $721,095 to support coastal habitat restoration on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu through invasive species removal, native species replanting, and traditional management practices to strengthen ecological and community resilience.
  • Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe will receive $1 million to restore the tidal connection between Kilisut Harbor and Oak Bay, Washington. This effort will provide passage for endangered juvenile salmon, and enhance cultural traditions of fishing and clam digging.
  • The Redwood Community Action Agency will receive $1,091,045 in funds to support a multi-phase project to enhance Martin Slough in Northern California which will reduce flooding on surrounding public and agricultural land and improve habitat for threatened salmonids.
  • The Town of Yarmouth, Massachusetts will receive $633,044 to replace a degraded and undersized bridge on a major transportation corridor in Cape Cod and allow for restoration of the estuary to reduce flooding for property owners caused by storm surge and also improve fish passage.

Two projects focus on coral reef restoration efforts in Florida and in Hawaii to help sustain many economically-important fisheries and natural barriers to storm surge:

  • The Coral Reef Alliance will receive $842,782 to reduce the flow of water and levels of nutrients and sediment that reach nearshore coral reefs off West Maui. In applying best management practices, the project will increase these reefs’ resilience to climate changes.
  • The University of Miami will receive $521,920 to restore coral reefs across Miami Beach and Key Biscayne which will improve the resiliency of threatened staghorn and elkhorn corals to sea temperature changes.

Read the full story at Phys.org

Workshop to help seafood businesses thrive and adapt

December 21st, 2016 — The need to transition to more sustainable fisheries has become an immutable mantra, and a February workshop at Salem State University may help New England seafood businesses sharpen their business focus and their approach to investors.

The three-day workshop, scheduled for Feb. 6-8, is being organized by Carmel, California-based Fish 2.0 as a primer for New England wild-caught seafood businesses — both established and start-ups — interested in making a bigger splash in the markets in which they operate.

The workshop, sponsored by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Massport, also may serve as a launching pad into Fish 2.0’s subsequent global business-plan competition, which seems a curious merger of television’s “Shark Tank” and a networking Olympics.

“Those who attend the workshop will have the opportunity to proceed into the global competition,” said Remy Garderet, Fish 2.0’s managing director. “It’s not mandatory, but we believe it will be in their best interests to do so. But if they don’t, we believe there is still stand-alone value from the workshops.”

The Salem State workshop is designed to provide participants with a polished business pitch for investors. It also will provide them with an entry-ready application into the global competition, which will pay cash prizes for the best business strategies and provide access to an international cadre of investors.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times 

Scientists Improve Predictions of How Temperature Affects the Survival of Fish Embryos

December 7, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:

Scientists closely tracking the survival of endangered Sacramento River salmon faced a puzzle: the same high temperatures that salmon eggs survived in the laboratory appeared to kill many of the eggs in the river.

Now the scientists from NOAA Fisheries and the University of California at Santa Cruz have resolved the puzzle, realizing new insights into how egg size and water flow affect the survival of egg-laying fish. The larger the eggs, they found, the greater the water flow they need to supply them with oxygen and carry away waste.

The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Ecology Letters. NOAA Fisheries is using the findings to improve protection of fish in the Sacramento River.

“Our model, based on a literature search of laboratory studies, predicted that temperatures in the upper Sacramento River since 1996 almost never got warm enough to cause mortality of salmon embryos,” said Benjamin Martin, NOAA Fisheries researcher and lead author of the study. “But data from field studies in the Sacramento River indicated that in some years, temperature-related mortality exceeded 75 percent, for example, in 2014-2015.”

Scientists often use laboratory studies to estimate how species will respond to elevated temperatures. The results from this study reveal that fish may respond to temperature differently in the field than in the lab. Understanding the causes for this difference may help researchers improve their predictions of how temperature affects fish eggs across different environments.

“We wanted to know why these salmon eggs have a much lower thermal tolerance in the field compared to the lab,” said Martin. “We hypothesized that the reason salmon eggs die in the river is because they don’t get enough oxygen.”

External temperatures govern the biological processes of salmon eggs and the embryos inside. As the water gets warmer their metabolism increases, demanding more and more oxygen. Unlike juvenile and adult fish, eggs cannot move and don’t have a developed respiratory or circulatory system. Instead they rely on flowing water to supply oxygen and carry away waste products.

Winter-run Chinook salmon are especially challenged when it comes to warmer water temperatures because their eggs are atypically large and require more oxygen exchange. Their egg size evolved to take advantage of cold water above Shasta Dam where they once spawned. However, the salmon now spawn in the warmer Sacramento River below the dam.

After further analysis of field data, scientists found a fundamental difference between conditions in the laboratory and conditions that effect eggs in the wild.

Laboratory studies estimating the temperature tolerance of the Chinook eggs included water flowing over the eggs at about two to three times faster than salmon eggs typically experience in the wild. The faster moving water provided more oxygen to the eggs in the laboratory, allowing them to survive higher temperatures.

The researchers borrowed concepts from physics to develop a model to determine how much oxygen flowing water can supply to fish eggs, depending on its velocity. The model predicted that the slower flowing water in the river would not supply the oxygen needed for egg viability in elevated temperature conditions. Field studies found that the slower flow in the river equated to about a 3 °C difference in the temperature tolerance of eggs, exactly what the model predicted.

This new model also provides an explanation for why fish species produce larger eggs in colder water. In general, the oxygen demand of eggs is proportional to their volume, while oxygen supply is proportional to the surface area of the egg, where the oxygen diffuses into the egg from the surrounding water. The surface area to volume ratio of an egg decreases with increasing egg size, which sets a limit on how large eggs can be and still get enough oxygen to survive. Since oxygen demand increases with temperature, fish species in warm water must make smaller eggs to match oxygen demand with supply. However this model also predicts that fish can produce larger eggs in warm waters when they are in high flow environments.

The researchers compiled data on 180 fish species and found that eggs in high flow environments, such as rivers, consistently produce larger eggs than expected for a given temperature. Some fish have even adapted to produce larger eggs in warm waters by using their tail to fan water over their eggs, which comes with a significant cost in terms of energy, time and risk of predation.

One important implication of this model is that warming conditions and declines in oxygen levels in aquatic systems may create evolutionary pressure for fish to produce smaller eggs in the future.

NOAA Fisheries has incorporated the new findings into agency guidance regarding the temperatures needed to support endangered Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River.

“This science helps us understand how seemingly small changes in river conditions can make a big difference for the salmon we’re trying to protect,” said Maria Rea, Assistant Regional Administrator for the California Central Valley Office. “This is a reminder that as much as we can learn in the laboratory, we have to always check that against what we see in the wild.”

D.B. PLESCHNER: Extremists manufacture anchovy ‘crisis’ where none exists

December 5th, 2016 — When the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently reapproved the 2017 annual catch limit for the central stock of anchovy at 25,000 metric tons (mt), environmental extremists immediately cried foul.

Press releases with doomsday headlines claimed that the anchovy catch limit is now higher than the total population of fish in the sea. Environmentalists claim the anchovy resource has “collapsed” and the current catch limit is dangerously high.

But is the anchovy population really decimated, or are these alarmists simply manufacturing another anti-fishing crisis?

Their claims are based on a paper by Alec MacCall, pegging the central anchovy stock at about 18,000 mt. However, the paper analyzed egg and larval data collected over time in California Cooperative Fishery Investigations (CalCOFI) surveys, conducted in the Southern California Bight — and the conclusion is fundamentally flawed. Other scientists now acknowledge that the CalCOFI cruises do not cover the full range of anchovy, missing both Mexico and areas north of the CalCOFI survey track, as well as the nearshore, where a super-abundance of anchovy now reside, say fishermen.

The CalCOFI survey was designed to track sardine, not anchovy. It misses the nearshore biomass where age 0-1 anchovy live and huge schools of anchovy have been observed since 2013. But the MacCall analysis deliberately omitted nearshore egg-larval data. In addition, peak spawning for anchovy is February-March, but CalCOFI surveys run in January and April, as did the MacCall analysis, thus both captured only the tails of spawning.

Read the full op-ed at The Monterey Herald 

 

California wildlife agency backs deep sea protections

December 5th, 2016 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has given preliminary support to a plan to protect more than 16,000 square miles of deep ocean habitat off of Southern California, while reopening nearly 3,000 square miles of rockfish conservation area to fishing.

The plan, proposed by the marine nonprofit Oceana, was one of the alternatives that the Pacific Fishery Management Council considered as it reviewed West Coast groundfish management plans in late November.

“With the inclusion of the proposed modifications, CDFW tentatively supports Oceana’s proposal south of Point Conception,” the fish and wildlife department wrote in its comment letter to the council.

It noted, however, that the plan requires more review and input from fishermen, scientists and other interested people, and suggested minor revisions to the closure map.

“We were pretty thrilled to hear that the state of California identified that proposal that we submitted as their preferred option,” said Geoff Shester, California campaign director for Oceana. “The idea is that we’re trying to freeze the footprint, and protect areas that are not yet developed.”

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages U.S. fisheries from the edge of state waters to 200 nautical miles offshore, is updating its essential fish habitat for West Coast groundfish, including rockfish and other species.

Read the full story at The San Diego Union Tribune 

In California, Squid Is Big Business. But Good Luck Eating Local Calamari

December 1, 2016 — The following is excerpted from an NPR story published today, written by Clarissa Wei:

More than 80 percent of U.S. squid landings are exported — most of it to China. The rare percentage of that catch that stays domestically goes to Asian fresh fish markets or is used as bait.

Ironically, the lion’s share of the squid consumed in the United States is imported.

“It has to do with the American desire for a larger squid,” explains Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association. “A lot of squid that is shipped overseas stays overseas because they prefer it. They eat it over there. Our consumers typically prefer a larger squid, and so there’s just a ton of squid imported into this country that comes in at a far lower price.”

In the U.S., the squid that ends up on our dinner table is typically Patagonian squid from the Falkland Islands or Humboldt squid — a jumbo cephalopod fished predominantly in Mexico and Peru.

California market squid isn’t usually desired because of its smaller size.

“Our squid is a learning curve,” Pleschner-Steele says. “If you overcook it, it can taste like a rubber band. But in my opinion, if you do it right, it tastes more like abalone than any other squid. It’s nutty, sweet and delicate.”

All Californian fish processors are capable of dealing with squid, Pleschner-Steele says. However, it’s not a money-making operation because people aren’t willing to pay for it.

“It has to be on request,” she says. “We simply can’t compete with the cost of other imported squid. ”

Supporting the local squid industry is much more than just helping the local economy – it’s helpful from a sustainability angle as well.

Even with squid being sent on a round-trip journey across the world, the California market squid fishery has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry.

“California squid fishing fleets are one of the most energy efficient in the world because [they’re] so close to port,” Pleschner-Steele says. “Our boats can produce a ton of proteins for about six gallons of diesel fuel. … Efficiency is key.”

Further efficiency, she says, could be achieved if consumers would be keen to fork over $1.50 a pound more for California-caught and processed squid.

But the “truth is that Americans aren’t willing to pay for it,” she says. “If people were willing to pay the price, we can definitely feed the demand.”

Read the full story at NPR

Oceana Files Legal Challenge to Northern Anchovy Catch Limit

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — November 29, 2016 — Last week, environmental group Oceana filed a lawsuit alleging that a recent National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) specification rule allows commercial fishing for northern anchovy at levels that threaten the anchovy population and the marine ecosystem. The complaint was filed against the NMFS, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the District Court of Northern California.

The specification rule in question, announced October 26, 2016 under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan, set an annual catch limit (ACL) of 25,000 metric tons for the central subpopulation of anchovy. In its lawsuit, Oceana claims that the NMFS did not articulate the scientific basis for this ACL, did not base the ACL and related management measures on best available science, and did not explain how it would prevent overfishing and protect the West Coast marine ecosystem’s food web.

In doing so, Oceana claims that the rule violates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint claims that the northern anchovy population has severely declined since 2009, and that northern anchovy are “one of the most important forage species” in the California marine ecosystem.

“The Fisheries Service’s actions and failures to act have harmed Oceana’s members’ interest in rebuilding and maintaining a healthy and sustainable population of northern anchovy and a healthy ocean ecosystem,” said the lawsuit, which was filed by lawyers from Earthjustice on Oceana’s behalf. “This harm will continue in the absence of action by the Court.”

Read the full legal complaint as a PDF

CALIFORNIA: Domoic Acid Delays Dungeness Crab Season For Much Of North Coast

November 28th, 2016 — A 120-mile stretch of the Northern California coastline will not open for the commercial Dungeness crab season next week, putting North Coast crabbers in an economic bind again.

From Point Reyes south, the season is open and the crab is relatively plentiful. But with the neurotoxin domoic acid being found in crabs between Point Reyes and Eureka, that season will not open on December 1st.

It’s bad news for crabber Aaron Newman President of the Humboldt Co. Fishermen’s Marketing Association, who took a pass on the Bay Area season which opened on the 15th.

“I would only make a decision to go down there if I knew the crab quality was good. So I’d go down there and fish for a week and come back home and then fish at home,” Newman told KCBS. “But this year, I decided not to go down there because there was some question about this domoic acid issue. Now it turns out also in Oregon.”

Newman said on top of new crabbing restrictions, the weather along the North Coast has been as dangerous as he can recall in many years.

“It’s a scary winter, looks like a very scary winter for me,” Newman said.

Read the full story at CBS San Francisco