Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Herring Hearing Happening June 19

June 7, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council is holding a rare public hearing in Chatham next week to consider rules designed to protect one of the most important fish species in our waters: Atlantic herring.

The council is mulling a host of options designed to protect sea herring from overfishing by mid-water trawlers, which can scoop up entire schools in a single haul. While local boats do not take part in large-scale herring fisheries, the species is a critical food source for groundfish like cod, haddock and flounder and other species like bluefin tuna.

The hearing is set for Tuesday, June 19 at 6 p.m. at the community center, one of seven sessions being held between Maine and Pennsylvania to consider the proposed rules. Known as Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, the proposals cover two major components: a control rule to govern catch limits and proposed area closures to address localized stock depletion and user conflicts.

The control rule would guide regulators in setting long-term catch limits. Locally, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance has argued in favor of a control rule that focuses not on the commercial value of the sea herring fishery but on the role of the species in the larger ecosystem. Advocates for this approach say it will put a new emphasis on conservation while allowing regulators to consider the biological and ecological requirements of Atlantic herring stocks.

Ten alternatives are being considered for the control rule, encompassing 15 different ways that regulators could evaluate how catch levels affect the ecosystem. Regulators will also need to decide whether the control rule is implemented on a one-year variable basis or every three years with a fixed catch limit.

Read the full story at The Cape Cod Chronicle

Cape Cod researchers use robots to monitor red tide

June 4, 2018 — Leaning over the side of a small skiff in Salt Pond, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researcher David Kulis shook the excess water out of a plankton net, then emptied the contents into a water bottle.

The gold tint to the water, he said, was likely Alexandrium, single-cell algae that produce a powerful neurotoxin. When concentrated in shellfish meat that feed on algae, the toxin can paralyze respiratory muscles in humans, a condition known as paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can be fatal.

Kulis and Northeastern University intern Taylor Mannes were using the tools plankton researchers had relied on for decades: a windsock-shaped net, with fine mesh to capture the single-celled organisms, and a Niskin bottle, originally developed in 1894 for polar research to retrieve samples at discrete depths. Lowered by hand to marks on a line corresponding to various depths, its opening is closed by sliding a lead weight down the line.

But with human health and a burgeoning shellfish and aquaculture industry in the balance, red tide research has gone decidedly high-tech. Sophisticated instruments are now deployed offshore in the Gulf of Maine and at inshore sites like Salt Pond in North Eastham.

Salt Pond is a natural laboratory, said Michael Brosnahan, a red tide researcher at WHOI. It already has a native population of red tide cells that survive the harsh New England winter as hardened cysts on the bottom of the pond. The incoming tide also pushes additional cysts from the larger marsh down a narrow creek and deposits them in deeper water in the pond, beyond the reach of the outgoing tide.

Red tide algae produce food through photosynthesis, and when the cysts hatch in the spring, they swim up into sunlit waters between five feet and eight feet deep. They remain at depths below the outlet creek channel, and relatively few of the free swimming cells are swept back out into the marsh by the tide.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance to Host Herring Trawler Forum

June 4, 2018 — Members of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance will meet with federal fisheries managers later this month to discuss the impact of big mid-water trawls working of the Cape’s coast.

After decades of lamenting the trawlers’ effect on local fishing, the fishermen will be able to testify in front of managers about how the local ecosystem has suffered from the prolonged presence of the industrial-scaled boats.

They will be advocating for a buffer zone off the coast that not only protects ocean herring, but also river herring and other forage fish that are caught and discarded as bycatch.

Public officials from every Cape town, Barnstable County, and the region’s State House delegation all support a year-round buffer, as do many environmental, scientific and civic organizations.

“Of all the issues facing us as a fishing community, protecting herring and forage fish might be the most important step we could take to rebuild our fishery and revitalize our waters,” said John Pappalardo, CEO of the Fishermen’s Alliance.

“A strong call to action would be an important message for federal managers to hear.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

OPINION: Major Offshore Wind Projects Advance in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

May 25, 2018 — Commercial-scale offshore wind power may soon become a reality in New England. On May 23, Massachusetts electric distribution companies selected Vineyard Wind, a subsidiary of Avangrid Renewables, LLC, as the preferred provider of 800 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind generation to the Massachusetts power market, and Rhode Island selected Deepwater Wind as the preferred provider of 400 MW of offshore wind generation to the Rhode Island power market. Both companies propose to generate the electricity from wind projects they intend to construct on federal leases on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Massachusetts Vineyard Wind Project

In 2017, Massachusetts electricity distribution companies initiated a request for proposals (RFP) process to acquire 400-800 MW of offshore wind. The RFP process is provided for in a series of state laws (collectively known as Section 83C) requiring Massachusetts utilities to enter into long-term contracts for approximately 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy by June 30, 2027. Three companies submitted responses during the RFP process, each submitting multiple bids to provide different options.

On May 23, Vineyard Wind’s proposal to build an array of about 100 8-MW turbines (for a total capacity of approximately 800 MW), capable of supplying 5.5-6% of Massachusetts’ energy needs, won the RFP process. According to the proposal, power will be transmitted from the offshore wind facility through an undersea cable to Cape Cod, where it will tie in with existing transmission and substation infrastructure. The project also will incorporate distributed battery energy storage that would provide benefits to low-income residents and public buildings by establishing a “Resiliency and Affordability Fund” in partnership with Citizens Energy. Vineyard Wind would contribute $15 million to the fund over 15 years, with the objectives of fostering the “wide deployment of distributed battery energy storage,” providing credits to low-income ratepayers, and helping to implement energy storage and solar energy projects at public buildings.

Read the full opinion piece at The National Review

 

Lobster industry taking a hit as a result of rules protecting right whales

April 30, 2018 — New rules off the coast of New England are designed to protect endangered right whales, but as a result, the lobster industry is taking a hit.

Some lobstermen say they’re losing thousands of dollars.

For David Hobson, it’s a way of life. He’s been a commercial fisherman for 30 years, but for three months out of the year, he can’t catch lobsters due to the fishing ban in Cape Cod Bay to protect the endangered right whales.

“The business doesn’t just stop on February 1, it continues on. Bills keep rolling,” said Hobson.

Losing out on thousands of dollars, he took a part-time job to make ends meet.

Read the full story at WFXT

 

Massachusetts regulators: Lobster season will have to wait

April 27, 2018 — MARSHFIELD, Mass. — The dozens of right whales spotted off South Shore coasts since Sunday have delivered a major blow to the local fishing fleet.

The unusually large number of right whales feeding close to the shores of Marshfield and Hull and in Cape Cod Bay this week has led the state Division of Marine Fisheries to implement two emergency regulations, which will push off the start of lobster season in southern Massachusetts.

Lobstermen already have to observe a three month closure from Feb. 1 to April 30 annually in an effort to reduce the number of whales that get entangled in fishing gear during their annual migration. Now, however, boats won’t be able to hit the water until May 6 at the earliest, and a second regulation imposes a 10 knot speed limit for vessels less than 65 feet long through May 15. Right whales feed close to the surface and are vulnerable to vessel strikes.

Read the full story at the Patriot Ledger

 

New protections for right whales

April 27, 2018 — The plight of North Atlantic right whales remains at the forefront of priorities for state and federal fisheries regulators, leading them to impose new measures to protect the marine mammals as their seasonal presence grows in the waters off Massachusetts.

Within the past week, pods of the endangered whales have announced their presence with authority in the waters off the Bay State to the delight of whale enthusiasts, marine biologists and the general public.

According to the state Department of Marine Fisheries, the most recent aerial survey last week showed 100 right whales — or about 25 percent of the species’ known population — in western Cape Cod Bay.

Last weekend, a pod of about 30 right whales — whose global population has shrunk to about 450 — was spotted feeding off the coast of Marshfield. Gloucester-based whale watch boats this week also reported the presence of right whales near the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.

On Wednesday, the state Division of Marine Fisheries enacted two emergency regulations “to protect vulnerable aggregations of endangered northern right whales in Cape Cod Bay” from collisions with vessels and entanglements in fishing gear.

The measures are effective immediately.

The first emergency regulation extends trap gear closures throughout most of Cape Cod Bay to May 6 from the original ending date of April 30. The closure extension does not apply to waters north of Cape Cod on Stellwagen Bank or within the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Management Area.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Fate of the Lobster Fishery May Depend on Fate of the Right Whale

April 18, 2018 — The North Atlantic right whale was once seen as an inexhaustible natural resource. It was hunted for its oil and enriched New England. That ended one-hundred years ago, but the right whale’s numbers have never been the same. Now, the whales that are left are in direct conflict with the harvesting of another rich natural resource: lobsters.

About the time when the first crocuses start to bloom, the North Atlantic right whale comes back in numbers to feed in Cape Cod Bay, and researchers go out on the water to count them.

A research vessel from the Center for Coastal Studies is off the coast of Provincetown and coordinating with a crew in a spotter plane. There are so few whales left, the scientists can often identify individual animals.  They see two: Elf and Ruffian.

When commercial whaling ended in the 1930s, there were only about 100 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. Now that people weren’t killing them on purpose, their numbers slowly climbed, topping out at about 550 in the year 2010. Then something happened. Their numbers started to drop. But why? Their relatives, the Southern right whales, are doing fine.

Michael Moore is a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has been examining dead whales for 30 years to figure out what happened to them. Moore says, “The two pieces that make the difference between the Southern right whale’s success and the Northern Atlantic right whale’s struggle has been vessel collisions and entanglement in fixed fishing gear.”

He says, in the southern oceans there are fewer ships and less fishing gear, and that has allowed Southern right whales to grow to a population of 15,000. There are now fewer than 450 North Atlantic right whales here off the coast of New England.

Read the full story at WCAI

 

Research Ramps Up as Right Whales Return to New England

April 9, 2018 — PROVINCETOWN, Mass. –Research is underway in the waters off Cape Cod as critically endangered North Atlantic right whales return to the region in large numbers.

Teams from NOAA’s Northeastern Fisheries Science Center are tracking the animals on the water and in the air via aerial and marine survey efforts.

The right whales congregate in Cape Cod Bay in the late winter and early spring every year to feed, and this year researchers have seen an increase in the number of whales off the shore of the Cape.

“Historically we see the largest number of right whales in April, but this year we’ve already seen 50-60 in March,” said NOAA researcher Lisa Conger.

Read the full story at Cape Cod

 

The Turning Tides of New England Fisheries

April 5, 2018 — Andrew Applegate’s family has been in the fishing business since his ancestors moved from Cranbury, New Jersey, to the Sandy Hook area around 100 years ago. Along with some commercial fishing, Applegate’s father ran a couple of large party fishing boats out of Atlantic City, and through the decades the family caught whatever was available. But now, Applegate is part of a New England fishing community forced to depend on fast-changing marine species they’ve never seen in the region before, and give up on others that are dying out.

The Gulf of Maine has witnessed its cod stocks collapse but its lobster population explode. To the south, in contrast to their current success north of Cape Cod, lobsters have suffered shell-wasting disease and poor productivity down into the Mid-Atlantic. And black sea bass is being found in northern New England when 20 years ago that would’ve been unheard of, says Michael Pentony, regional head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic fisheries division. In the face of such changes, those involved in fisheries management are trying to prepare for a murky future. Reliable and more timely data paired with flexible regulations could, they hope, allow those in the business to adapt as fisheries change in the coming years.

These changes are forcing some to disregard historical knowledge gathered in logbooks by generations of fishermen who recorded where to catch certain fish at certain times of the year, says Ben Martens, the executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

“Now you just have to throw those out. They don’t work anymore. And every year is completely different from the year before,” Martens says. “Sometimes we have water that’s too warm; this year we had cooler water. We’re seeing a lot more turbulence in what’s happening in our planning and in our business stability.”

Read the full story at Ozy