Saving Seafood

Climate change is robbing Pacific islands of another resource: Tuna

February 19, 2025 — Fourteen Pacific island nations will receive $107 million to adapt their tuna-dependent economies as climate change pushes the fish farther from their shores, the Green Climate Fund announced Tuesday.

The fund’s largest grant-only project to date, the money will be used to create an advanced warning system to enable Pacific island nations to track changes in tuna migration and potentially pursue compensation when warming waters drive the fish from these countries’ exclusive economic zones.

“These are the countries that contribute the least to the climate crisis and now are going to lose a resource that they have collectively stewarded better than any other ocean basin,” said Jack Kittinger, senior vice president at Conservation International, the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit environmental organization that led the research behind the grant. “This is the ultimate climate justice issue.”

Read the full article at The Washington Post

WHOI Resets Ocean De-Acidification Test for This Summer

February 13, 2025 — With the federal government following a blueprint to deter climate research at agencies like the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a private marine research nonprofit, are hoping to forge ahead with an experiment to explore how ocean waters might be used to absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

WHOI is awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency on a permit to continue work initially scheduled for last summer off Martha’s Vineyard. It involves releasing 16,500 gallons of sodium hydroxide into the ocean to gauge its ability to improve the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

The experiment is now set to take place in an area called Wilkinson Basin, about 38 miles northeast of Provincetown. The period for public comments on the permit closes on Feb. 14.

The technique, known as ocean alkalinity enhancement, or OAE, has been the subject of laboratory experiments for decades, but this field test will be the first of its kind in U.S. waters. It aims to validate WHOI’s experiments that suggest OAE can effectively absorb carbon without harming the local environment.

A similar test that was set to take place off Martha’s Vineyard last fall was postponed when permitting was slowed by questions and additional monitoring requirements from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to an August report in the Boston Globe. By the time the WHOI researchers got the green light, the U.S. Academic Research Fleet vessel needed for the experiment was not available, according to WHOI associate scientist Adam Subhas, the principal investigator of the project.

The Provincetown Independent

Economically, culturally important marine species vulnerable to changing climate, new study shows

February 13, 2025 — Dungeness crab, Pacific herring, and red abalone are among the marine species most vulnerable to the changing climate’s effect on California’s coastal waters, a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers finds. In a paper published on February  in the journal PLOS Climate, the team seeks to help the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in its efforts to develop and implement climate-ready fisheries management strategies that adapt to challenges such as rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation.

The study, “A Collaborative Climate Vulnerability Assessment of California Marine Fishery Species,” was led by Timothy Frawley, an assistant project scientist at UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences, and Mikaela Provost, an assistant professor in UC Davis’s Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. The study was done in close collaboration with CDFW, fisheries scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and individuals from the Nature Conservancy and California Ocean Protection Council.

“The results are striking,” Frawley said. “Some of California’s most economically and culturally important fisheries are assessed as being among the most vulnerable to projected future environmental changes.”

Read the full article at UC Santa Cruz

Plenty of Space to Flex on Mussel Beach

February 10, 2025 — The presence of freshwater mussels is indicative of high water quality and a healthy ecosystem. Their absence tells a different story, and the latter is the more-familiar tale in southern New England. Their populations in this three-state region have been degraded by a long history of damming and pollution.

University of Rhode Island research associate Elizabeth Herron noted these overlooked creatures are a critical part of the region’s aquatic systems.

“They help reduce nutrients and algae by filtering out things. They can reduce things like bacteria, so they’re important,” said the program coordinator for URI Watershed Watch. “They’re an important food source. I have a dock on a pond, and I can tell you every spring, when we put the dock back out, there’s a giant pile of empty, freshwater mussel clams that the muskrats feasted on over the winter.”

These bivalves are sometimes called “livers of the river,” because they filter particles such as algae, E.coli, and fungi out of the water. They also provide habitat for other invertebrates and fish, and they deposit nutrients into the benthic layer for other creatures to eat.

Read the full article at ecoRI

VIRGINIA: Halftime at the General Assembly: Here’s the environmental legislation that made it through so far

February 6, 2025 — Proposals approved so far touch on topics including “virtual power plants,” data centers and environmental justice.

Virginia lawmakers are quickly moving through this year’s General Assembly session.

Tuesday marked “crossover” day, meaning all bills that made it through the House of Delegates are now sent to the Senate, and vice versa.

Dozens of proposed bills impact the future of the Commonwealth’s climate, environment and energy policy. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at where they stand.

Read the full article at WHRO

ALASKA: Aleut community pivots from fishing to research, education as climate change threatens its economy

February 3, 2025 — As warming waters threaten traditional fishing economies in the Bering Sea, the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI) is building a new future focused on research and higher education.

Plummeting populations of snow crab and halibut in the Bering Sea have cost ACSPI roughly $2.7 million a year in lost harvest revenue, according to the tribe’s president, John Melovidov. The federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the losses will worsen, with a 2024 report projecting the conditions supporting snow crab are 200 times more likely to disappear compared to the pre-industrial era.

“Fishing isn’t always what it used to be,” Melovidov told Tribal Business News. “Outlooks aren’t so great, but we can’t sit here and hope that things come back. We have to do something different.”

The community has begun diversifying its fishing-based economy through partnerships. In July 2024, ACSPI signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Iḷisaġvik College, an Iñupiaq tribal college on Alaska’s North Slope, to establish a satellite campus and research station on the island. The agreement builds on a partnership that began with workforce training in 2018 and expanded to MOAs in 2022 and 2023 that focused on educational opportunities and dual-credit programs for high school students.

Read the full article at Tribalism Business News

Guiding the shift to low-carbon fishing

January 23, 2025 — Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry unveiled a groundbreaking set of publications under the banner of A Transition to a Low Carbon Fishing Fleet.

Led by members of the fishing industry itself, the research showcases the value of community-centered approaches to solving the climate crisis and makes the case that those most affected by climate impacts should have authorship of the solutions that define the energy transition.

Built on two years of research and engagement with fishermen across Alaska, the West Coast, and New England, the publications outline ambitious yet practical strategies and policies for positioning the fishing fleet to thrive in a low-carbon future. Vital to coastal economies and sustainable food systems, wild seafood harvest already has one of the lowest carbon footprints among protein sources and plays an essential role in national food security. But maritime clean energy solutions lag behind the innovation taking place on land, making it unclear what the future holds for this hard-to-decarbonize sector.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump tasks congressman with writing executive order he could issue to halt offshore wind

January 17, 2025 — President-elect Donald Trump tasked a New Jersey congressman and vocal critic of offshore wind with writing an executive order he could issue to halt wind energy projects.

Offshore wind is a major part of transitioning to an electric grid powered entirely by sources that don’t emit carbon dioxide when generating electricity. The power sector is responsible for nearly a third of the nation’s planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to end the offshore wind industry as soon as he returned to the White House. He wants to boost production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, which cause climate change, in order for the U.S. to have the lowest-cost energy and electricity of any nation in the world, he says.

Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said he spoke with Trump by phone about a month ago and urged him to act on his campaign promise.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

NEFMC Solicits Contractor Proposals to Support Work on Climate-Resilient Fisheries Initiatives

January 16, 2025 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council is issuing three separate requests for proposals (RFPs) to support projects that address climate-resilient fisheries through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: The application deadline for all proposals is February 21, 2025.

WHAT ARE THE PROJECTS: The three RFPs are independent of each other but all aim to support the Council’s work in advancing fishery management under changing ocean conditions as follows.

  • Developing a Holistic Strategic Plan for Climate-Resilient New England Fisheries Management: The contractor will develop a holistic strategic plan to guide Council activities for climate-resilient fisheries management. The strategic plan will include a detailed implementation roadmap and performance metrics to ensure near-term and long-term Council activities are responsive to climate change and the risks and challenges within and across fishery management plans. Details are outlined in the RFP.
  • Portfolio Approach to Inform New England Fisheries Management: This project involves an evaluation of applying portfolio theory to inform climate-resilient fisheries management in New England. The contractor will focus on identifying harvest portfolios, including species managed on the East Coast, which may result in increased revenue and reduce the risk of foregone yield. Results from the portfolio analysis will be used to inform management approaches that increase flexibility, including possible changes to permit regulations and restrictions. Details are outlined in the RFP.
  • Evaluating the Council’s New Risk Policy and Development of Groundfish ABC Control Rules: The contractor will focus on integrating the Council’s revised Risk Policy with the groundfish acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule.  The Council has initiated efforts to modify the current groundfish ABC control rule already. Details are outlined in the RFP.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: Interested professionals are encouraged to submit a letter of interest, current resume or CV, examples of similar work completed for other organizations or publications, and budget with expected expenses. Address materials to: Cate O’Keefe, NEFMC, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA  01950.

  • Email submissions are highly encouraged. Send to cokeefe@nefmc.org.
  • Questions about any of the requests for proposals should be addressed to Cate O’Keefe at cokeefe@nefmc.org.

In New England, climate change is moving fast. The fishing industry is not

January 15, 2025 — About 20 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Bill Amaru steers his fishing boat, Paladin, toward a school of summer flounder. Amaru cuts the motor, and crew members drop lines in the water.

For a minute, all is quiet.

Then the rods tug, the reels turn, and soon the deck is flopping with flounder.

Amaru hauls in a big one. “That’s a nice fish,” he says, tossing it into a cooler. “Probably about 2 pounds.”

Then he adds: “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.” The crew chuckles. Amaru smiles and casts his line back into the sea.

Self-deprecating dad jokes aside, Amaru knows these waters. He’s been a commercial fisherman for more than 50 years — no small feat in a tough industry. And his expert eye sees the ocean changing. The most obvious shift: The water is warming and attracting different species of fish.

“Nothing is weird anymore out here,” he said. “Tropical is getting to be fairly common.”

The shifting species could bring new opportunities for fishermen. But the changes are coming so fast, the industry is struggling to keep up. Scientists, regulators and fishermen are all scrambling to adjust to a new reality.

The New England seafood industry generates more than $20 billion in sales each year and employs more than a quarter million people.

It’s also embedded in the history and character of many coastal communities, and the fabric of many families. Amaru’s son and grandson are both full-time commercial fishermen. He worries about their futures.

Read the full article at wbur