Saving Seafood

D.C. court rules fisheries remain closed to help right whales

November 5, 2019 — For all the work going into North Atlantic right whale conservation in Georgia and Florida ahead of another calving season, a political and legal battle continues where the whales live and feed most of the year — off the coast of New England. Thursday, a federal district judge ruled two lobster fisheries can remain closed to protect the lives of right whales moving through the area.

The case began nearly two years ago as a set of environmental groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and the Humane Society of the United States — filed a complaint against the federal government because they disputed the finding of “no jeopardy” to right whales in the lobster fisheries, despite the finding that an average of 3.25 right whales a year would die through gillnet fishing operations.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, is working on new rules that NMFS states will provide additional protections to North Atlantic right whales in lobster fisheries, and that the rulemaking should be complete by around the middle of 2020. As such, the agency filed a motion to stay the case, which Judge James Boasberg denied.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

California commercial Dungeness crab season may be delayed

November 4, 2019 — The state may delay California’s commercial Dungeness crab season. The season, which was due to open Nov. 15 on the coast south of the Mendocino-Sonoma County line, could now begin on Nov. 23.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife made the announcement Friday in response to a settlement with an environmental group over whale entanglements in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. It will make the final decision on Nov. 4. Recreational season will begin as scheduled on Nov. 2.

Even if the eight-day delay to the commercial season happens, it should not disrupt the Bay Area tradition of cracked Dungeness crab on the Thanksgiving table, said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. However, it would cut into a peak period for the local fishing fleet, which has already lost millions of dollars when three of the last four commercial seasons were delayed because of domoic acid contamination from algal blooms.

In its 2017 lawsuit against the state over gear entanglements, Oakland’s Center for Biological Diversity claimed the state was not doing enough to prevent the deaths of endangered whales, which reached record levels in 2015 and 2016. The organization settled the lawsuit last spring, which required the state to take steps to mitigate risk of entanglement of the marine mammals. That included ending last season’s Dungeness crab season three months early, on April 15.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle

Trump Sued For Failing To Protect Hawaii’s Cauliflower Coral

October 11, 2019 — The Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday that it is suing the Trump administration for failing to protect cauliflower coral around the Hawaiian Islands.

“The bushy, shallow-water coral species has been devastated by ocean warming triggered by human-caused climate change,” according to a press release.

The warming is due to a “marine heat wave … now hitting Hawaii’s coral reefs hard, and researchers predict massive coral bleaching and death.”

The coral species is estimated to have declined by 36% from 1999 to 2012, and conditions are expected to worsen.

“Cauliflower coral is like the canary in the coal mine of our warming oceans. Marine life around Hawaii will suffer without bold actions to protect coral reefs,” said Maxx Phillips, the center’s Hawaii director. “Hawaii’s coral reefs are dying and they need our help. Letting colorful corals bleach white and die indicates an ocean becoming less bountiful and biodiverse.”

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Groups say seismic blasts are hurting belugas in Cook Inlet

October 8, 2019 — Two conservation groups want the federal government to stop allowing seismic surveying in Cook Inlet. The Cook Inletkeeper and Center for Biological Diversity said the noise is harming beluga whales.

The survey work by Hilcorp involves blasting high pressure seismic airguns into the water. The sound waves that result help map the ocean floor and point to areas where oil and gas finds are likely.

Bob Shavelson, with the Cook Inletkeeper, said studies show loud noises can harm Cook Inlet beluga whales, which are considered highly endangered. He’s also concerned about the impacts on other creatures that inhabit the area where Hilcorp is testing.

“Imagine if a heavy metal band set up under your bedroom window,” Shavelson said. “How that would be if they were pounding 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a couple months on end. You would go nuts.”

Read the full story at KTVA

Whale entanglements along West Coast drop by nearly half

September 9, 2019 — A conservation group says the number of whales entangled in crab fishing gear along the West Coast dropped by nearly half this year after a lawsuit settlement ended California’s commercial Dungeness crab season early.

The Center for Biological Diversity says preliminary data released by the National Marine Fisheries Service shows 18 whale entanglements were reported in the first eight months of this year, down from 42 reports during that same period in 2018. The majority of entangled whales were spotted off California.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Lawsuit claims Cook Inlet exploration would diminish endangered belugas

September 5, 2019 — Two environmental groups are suing the Trump administration for its decision allowing Hilcorp to disturb beluga whales as it explores Cook Inlet for offshore oil and gas.

Cook Inlet keeper is one of groups suing. Advocacy Director Bob Shavelson says seismic blasts and other exploration work would devastate a population already suffering from the effects of climate change and other factors.

“The Cook Inlet beluga whales are literally teetering on the edge of extinction,” he said. “There was a general idea that, with the halt to Native subsistence hunting in 1999, that the population would rebound. But that didn’t occur.”

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

California Whale Entanglements Halved with Shorter Crab Season

September 4, 2019 — According to data from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the rate of whale entanglements in fishing gear along the U.S. West Coast has fallen by half this year, from about 40 incidents January-August last year to 18 incidents for the same period this year. The environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity connected the improvement to a legal settlement shortening the California crab fishing season.

A lawsuit filed by the center in 2017 ultimately led to a settlement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, and the terms included ending the California crab season on April 15 instead of June 30 as scheduled.

The settlement also includes additional measures to mitigate entanglement risks. It promotes the use of ropeless gear and creates a system for assessing risks to whales and triggering area closures when necessary.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

New lawsuit seeks protection zone for Northwest orcas

August 20, 2019 — A new U.S. lawsuit filed Monday seeks to establish a whale protection zone for endangered orcas in the Pacific Northwest.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance sued NOAA Fisheries in U.S. District Court in Seattle, saying the agency has failed to act on a petition it filed in 2016.

The petition sought to bar vessels from a 10- to 12-square-mile (26- to 31-square-kilometer) area west of San Juan Island where the orcas, called southern resident killer whales, feed from April through September each year. Any vessels exempted from the ban would be required to abide by a “no wake” rule in the zone.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Environmental groups say they’ll sue over green sea turtle habitat

August 15, 2019 — The United States should designate more critical habitat for the endangered green sea turtle, according to three environmental groups that say they will sue the government to force it to declare additional protected areas.

The groups filed a formal notice of intent Tuesday to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service and Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. The plaintiffs are the Center for Biological Diversity, Sea Turtle Oversight Protection and Turtle Island Restoration Network.

The lawsuit notification comes as the Trump administration announced major changes to the enforcement and rule-making surrounding the Endangered Species Act. The new rules are to take effect 30 days after the administration publishes them in the Federal Register, but they only will impact new decisions.

Read the full story at UPI

Oregon wants to untangle whales from crab fishery

July 23, 2019 — Oregon fishery managers are changing how the state’s lucrative Dungeness crab fishery will be managed to avoid tangling whales in commercial fishing gear.

Though the changes happening this season are relatively minor for commercial fishermen, difficult discussions are on the horizon.

The number of whales entangled so far this year off Oregon, Washington state and California appears to be down compared to prior years, according to preliminary reports. But Oregon wants to avoid a lawsuit like the one brought against California by the Center for Biological Diversity. That lawsuit, over impacts to whales from commercial fishing activities, settled in March.

For now, fishery managers will eliminate a two-week postseason cleanup period in the commercial Dungeness fishery — a grace period for fishermen to clear gear out of the water. Instead, all commercial gear must be out of the water by the last day of the season on Aug. 14.

The measure, along with others, including the introduction of new buoy tags to help better identify gear, were among a list of recommendations proposed by the Oregon Whale Entanglement Working Group. The stakeholder group, which includes fishermen and industry representatives as well as researchers and fishery managers, began meeting in 2017 following several years of record-high incidents of whale entanglement.

Read the full story at The Astorian