Saving Seafood

NOAA Announces Continuation of Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone

July 21, 2017 –A voluntary speed restriction zone about 15 miles south of Nantucket has been extended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division.

NOAA established the speed restriction zone last month due to the presence of three endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The voluntary speed restriction zone will be in effect through July 30.

According to researchers, there are only about 400 North Atlantic right whales still in existence.

Those who approach a right whale closer than 500 yards will be in violation of federal and state law and could lead to criminal charges.

All right whale sightings are to be reported at 1-866-755-6622.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

NOAA Fisheries Announces Continuation of Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

July 18, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

The voluntary vessel speed restriction zone south of Nantucket, MA has been extended to protected an aggregation of three right whales sighted in this area on July 16, 2017.

Mariners, please avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the area (map below). 

Nantucket, MA zone coordinates:

41 32 N

40 53 N

070 29 W

069 36 W   

This voluntary speed restriction zone is in effect through July 30. 

Find out more about all the dynamic and seasonal management areas where speed is restricted.

Learn more about how to reduce vessels strikes of whales.

You can also get recent right whale sightings and the latest acoustic detections of right whales in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston shipping lanes. Or, download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone.

Remember that approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law. Please report all right whale sightings to 866-755-NOAA (6622) 

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov

MASSACHUSETTS: Local Fishermen Applaud New NOAA Fisheries Administrator Appointment

July 14, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently announced a new assistant administrator for fisheries. The fishing community, including here on the Cape, largely applauded the nomination of Chris Oliver, who comes from the Alaska fishery.

WCAI’s Kathryn Eident talked with Cape Cod C0mmercial Fishermen’s Alliance CEO John Pappalardo to learn more about the appointment.

Read and listen to the full story at WCAI

HILDE LEE: Cod has special place in nation’s food history

July 11, 2017 — I have a certain curiosity about food, particularly seafood. I am not shy about asking, “Is the fish fresh? When did it come in?”

Thus, one day I got the definitive answer from one a man at one of our local grocery store fish counters. “Yes, the fish is fresh and we get it frozen. I only thaw out what I think will sell daily. Thus, the fish is very fresh.” Well, it may be fresh, but it was frozen. After all, we are not on the seacoast.

I like cod and the various members of the cod family — haddock, hake, pollock and Atlantic cod. The flesh of these fish is usually firm, making it ideal for a variety of dishes — broiled, baked, and stewed. Cod is also a good receiver of sauces, particularly tomato-based ones with herbs.

Just like the bison and the eagle, cod can be considered a symbol of America. It was here even before the first settlers came to New England, where cod was plentiful.

When Giovanni Caboto sailed from Bristol, England, on May 2, 1497, he, like Columbus, was searching for a western sea route to Asia. But Caboto — known as John Cabot, a Venetian navigator sponsored by King Henry VII — returned from his first voyage not with exotic spices, but tales of the sea. He told of the many fishes that could be caught simply by lowering weighted baskets into the water.

Even before Cabot’s reports of great schools of cod along the northern shores of the new continent, fishermen from Scandinavian areas had spent any years fishing the North Atlantic.

By 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold ventured south beyond Nova Scotia seeking sassafras — believed to be a cure for syphilis — but found French and Portuguese fishermen harvesting numerous fish along the Great Banks, an area 350 miles of coast south of Newfoundland. There, the cold Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream joined, creating ideal conditions for a variety of fish. Gosnold named the land, which jutted out to sea, Cape Cod.

Read the full story at The Daily Progress

GLOUCESTER TIMES: Saving a species in danger

July 11, 2017 — The revival of the right whale should be one of America’s great conservation success stories, standing alongside the grey wolf, the American bison and the bald eagle.

Once hunted to the edge of extinction, the right whale made strong strides toward recovery in recent decades, in large part due to conservation efforts. Today there are thought to be about 500 of the mammals swimming in Atlantic waters.

Recent events, however, show just how tenuous the species’ hold on survival really is, and make clear the need for continued, innovative conservation efforts. A new effort to educate recreational and competitive sailors about the dangers of vessel strikes is a step in the right direction.

Six right whales were found dead in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, late last month. Early evidence suggests two of the whales died after being struck by boats, and one after becoming entangled in lost or discarded fishing gear.

Meanwhile, fewer right whale calves have been born in recent years.

“Including the right whale killed by a ship strike in Cape Cod this past April, we have now lost seven right whales in a year where only five calves were born,” said Regina Asmutis-Silva, executive director of the Plymouth-based research and advocacy group Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “Only 20 years ago, over 500 (vaquita whales) swam in the Gulf of California but today only 30 remain because of human impacts. Where will the right whales be in 20 years if we do not make meaningful changes that reduce their threats of ship strikes and entanglements?”

Massachusetts researchers, who warned the species was in trouble last year, remain concerned.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod shellfish bed closures await lab results

July 10, 2017 — Shellfish growing areas in six towns that were closed by the state Division of Marine Fisheries on Friday remained closed Monday pending lab results of bacteriological water samples from the affected areas, according to Katie Gronendyke, spokeswoman for the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

The state closed shellfish growing areas east of the Cape Cod Canal in the towns of Sandwich, Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, Barnstable and in Lewis Bay in Yarmouth because of extreme rainfall. Shellfish beds in Sandwich are open only from November through May, according to the Sandwich Department of Natural Resources.

Friday’s rain, which accumulated up to 4 inches in two to three hours in some areas, overwhelmed roads, parking lots and storm drain systems, Gronendyke wrote in an email. The flooding can cause contaminated water to accumulate and release into coastal waters, she wrote.

The towns in which the shellfish growing areas were closed received the heaviest rainfall, she wrote.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Dogfish — it’s what’s for dinner on the Cape

July 5, 2017 — “Dogfish, you want to try the dogfish?” queried my companion as we eyed the menu at Provincetown’s Far Land on the Beach. With just $20 between us, we were wavering between sharing one $19 lobster roll, or each ordering our own $9 dogfish sandwich.

Dogfish, a small shark, was on the Memorial Day menu courtesy of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance Pier to Plate Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative promoting local, sustainably caught but relatively unknown fish.

Hungry from biking, we opted for the dogfish sandwiches. We were not disappointed.

Dusted in cornmeal and deep-fried, the white fish patty was meaty and moist without strong flavor. It didn’t flake like cod, but it was piping hot, slightly crunchy, and served on a buttery brioche roll with lettuce, tomato, and a caper basil tartar sauce. It hit the spot.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

A growing concern over great white sharks in Cape Cod

June 29, 2017 — An influx of great white shark sightings has residents and tourists worried about potential encounters in the water, especially during the heart of summer.

Senior Fisheries Biologist Dr. Greg Skomal told ABC News the increase in the great white shark population off the Massachusetts coastline is correlated to the gray seal population and that numbers are expected to rise even further.

“We’ve been studying sharks off the coast of Massachusetts for 30 years and our work with white sharks off Cape Cod is relatively recent,” Dr. Skomal said on “Good Morning America.” “The numbers we’re seeing on a relative scale are increasing, in 2014 we counted 80 individuals over the course of the summer and just last summer that went up to about 147. So there is a general increasing trend as more and more sharks recruit to the area.”

This season at least six great white shark sightings have already been reported, including a recent sighting off Wellfleet on May 9.

The National Park Service for Cape Cod has issued alerts to heed advisories at beaches to help ensure safety “particularly regarding white sharks.”

Skomal believes the influx of sharks is a direct result of the growing seal population. “We think it’s highly correlated with the growing presence of gray seals in the area. Big white sharks like to feed on gray seals. Over the course of the last 45 years, the gray seal population is a conservation success story. It has rebounded after protection was put in place in 1972 and that rebounding population now has reached levels that could be an excess of 20 to 30,000 animals in the area and white sharks are drawn to those areas to feed on them.”

Read the full story at WJBF

MASSACHUSETTS: Shark Expert Named Guest Conductor for 32nd Annual Citizens Bank Pops by the Sea

June 28, 2017 — Dr. Greg Skomal with the state Division of Marine Fisheries will be the guest conductor of this year’s Citizens Bank Pops by the Seas concert.

The 32nd annual event will be held on August 13 on the Hyannis Village Green.

Skomal will join Keith Lockhart and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a show that celebrates the Cape and the music of film composer John Williams.

Coinciding with Williams’ 85th birthday, the concert will perform scores from “Harry Potter”, “Star Wars” and “Jaws”.

“We started thinking about how we could build upon this awesome music and the history and we were thinking about Cape Cod and then we were thinking about jaws, and sharks and Greg Skomal came to mind,” said Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Executive Director Julie Wake.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Marine scientists use drifters to explore regional currents

June 27, 2017 — We know Clint Eastwood was the High Plains Drifter. And we’ve heard Bob Dylan’s tale of the Drifter’s Escape. But now the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole is employing drifters not on the plains but on the waves around Cape Cod and the Gulf of Maine.

“I’m excited about our latest drifter project,” proclaimed NMFS Oceanographer Jim Manning. “It’s one of many we’ve had and it seems like a real application for drifters. We’ve used them for a lot of fun educational purposes but our recent project in the Bay of Fundy has real purpose.”

They’ve been used with purpose in Cape Cod Bay as well. But, you might ask, what exactly is a drifter? It’s not a shiftless character begging at the kitchen door for scraps.

“It looks like an underwater kite, like a box kite,” Manning explained. “It’s a meter by a meter of cloth sails and they only thing that sticks out is a satellite transmitter. It provides us an estimate of the surface current.”

Its function is similar to that of a glass bottle with a note in it. You toss it in the ocean, it drifts somewhere, and you find out where it went.

With the old bottle you had to wait months or years until someone wrote back but a transmitter can tell you where it is today. It reveals where the surface currents are headed and can tell you where anything drifting along, like a cold-stunned sea turtle in Cape Cod Bay, or a swath of toxic algae in Maine, might wind up.

The current project Manning is excited about focuses on Alexandrium fundyense, the plankton that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning in anyone that eats a shellfish, usually a clam, that has filter fed on it. It’s the same algae that lives in the Nauset Marsh between Orleans and Eastham, and causes annual shutdowns of shellfishing harvests.

The plankton has a resting stage where it sits as cysts in the mud. When conditions are right and the water warms the cysts germinate, it swims up towards the surface and the currents carry it away. In Nauset Marsh it doesn’t go far and stays in the marsh but in the Bay of Fundy it’s carried down the coast.

“The main objective is to help numerical modelers try to simulate the ocean,” Manning said. “A couple of universities have big computer models. These models are used for a variety of things. We’ve deployed the drifters north of Grand Manan Island up in the Bay of Fundy to demonstrate how complicated the currents are. Every time we put one out it goes in a different direction.”

Read the full story at Wicked Local