Saving Seafood

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 

Will Klamath River Salmon Thrive Again After Dams Are Gone?

November 23, 2016 — Year after year, volunteers return to tributaries of the Klamath River, just like the fish they’re trying to help do the same thing.

Jimmy Peterson, a fisheries project coordinator for the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, places rocks and stones to make fish passages in Fort Goff Creek, 60 miles up from the river’s mouth on California’s North Coast.

“This creek has extremely awesome habitat up top here,” Peterson says. “Extremely awesome.”

Then he translates: “The water stays really cold and there’s plenty of nice spawning gravel that go up fairly far into the watershed. There’s not a lot of human activity up there either, so it’s fairly untouched.”

Scientists estimate that a century ago, hundreds of thousands of coho may have run up the Klamath’s streams and tributaries. Now it’s a few thousand. Federal and private grants fund the council’s work, helping coho access “extremely awesome” habitat because coho are threatened with extinction.

Dams aren’t the only reason salmon, trout and other fish need help on the Klamath. But they are a big one. The promise of dam removal is free passage for fish up to cooler spots and native headwaters. And the Klamath River, near California’s northern border, may become the next big western river to see that happen. Federal energy regulators are considering a plan that would open hundreds of miles of the Klamath to the potential of the largest river restoration in U.S. history.

Read the full story at KQED

California’s Coastal Ecosystem and Fisheries Are in the Grip of a Huge Climate Disruption

November 1, 2016 — In the shallow waters off Elk, in Mendocino County, a crew from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife dived recently to survey the area’s urchin and abalone populations. Instead of slipping beneath a canopy of leafy bull kelp, which normally darkens the ocean floor like a forest, they found a barren landscape like something out of “The Lorax.”

A single large abalone scaled a bare kelp stalk, hunting a scrap to eat, while urchins clustered atop stark gray stone that is normally striped in colorful seaweed.

“When the urchins are starving and are desperate, they will the leave the reef as bare rock,” said Cynthia Catton, an environmental scientist with Fish and Wildlife. Warm seawater has prevented the growth of kelp, the invertebrates’ main food source, so the urchins aren’t developing normally; the spiky shells of many are nearly empty. As a result, North Coast sea urchin divers have brought in only one-tenth of their normal haul this year.

The plight of urchins, abalones and the kelp forest is just one example of an extensive ongoing disruption of California’s coastal ecosystem — and the fisheries that depend on it — after several years of unusually warm ocean conditions and drought. Earlier this month, The Chronicle reported that scientists have discovered evidence in San Francisco Bay and its estuary of what is being called the planet’s sixth mass extinction, affecting species including chinook salmon and delta smelt.

Baby salmon are dying by the millions in drought-warmed rivers while en route to the ocean. Young oysters are being deformed or killed by ocean acidification. The Pacific sardine population has crashed, and both sardines and squid are migrating to unusual new places. And Dungeness crab was devastated last year by an unprecedented toxic algal bloom that delayed the opening of its season for four months.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

Why It’s Harder Than You’d Think to Serve Local Seafood in California

November 1, 2016 — In a nation where 90 percent of the seafood consumed is imported from foreign countries, Mitch’s Seafood in San Diego is rarity. The menu is mostly made up of a fish from local fishermen and, with the exception of clams and mussels, everything is wild-caught.

“We get as much from Southern California as we can; and then being right here on the border and having a personal experience with Baja California, I consider [fish from there] local, too,” Mitch Conniff, the owner, says.

On an October evening, the menu might feature big eye tuna, calamari, halibut, swordfish, and cabrilla from San Diego. Conniff usually sources from half a dozen fishermen in San Diego, many of whom are his close friends and relatives. White shrimp comes from Mazatlan in Mexico and gold spot bass hails from San Carlos in California. Spiny lobster caught in California—95 percent of which is typically exported to China—is on the menu as well.

It’s a diverse catch that is surprisingly affordable, considering how the prices of certain species of local California seafood have been made insanely expensive because of Chinese demand.

Last year, the California spiny lobster retailed close to $30 a pound. That is an astronomical figure compared to the retail price of Maine lobster, which was around $9 a pound for wholesale. Maine lobster accounts for 90 percent of the United States lobster market.

Read the full story at VICE