Saving Seafood

Marine biologist from the Meadowlands is restoring Florida’s coral

June 30, 2017 — Marine biologist David Vaughan and his team are reproducing coral in the lab and transplanting it along the coasts of Florida in a race against time as reefs are dying at an alarming rate. What would normally take 50 years to grow, his team can do in two or three years.

A former Rutherford resident, “Dr. Coral” earned his master’s at Farleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford and Ph.D at Rutgers in New Brunswick.

Vaughan studied Meadowlands’ ecology and grew algae to sustain shellfish at the Jersey Shore before embarking on an ambitious Florida coral reef restoration.

“At the time, we were just understanding the value of Meadowlands wetlands, but not the submerged Meadowlands,” Vaughan said.

Recruited to work for Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, Vaughan taught clam aquaculture. His attention to coral grew as the disappearance of reefs progressed with climate change. Understanding coral’s complexity is key to addressing its plight.

Coral is a plant, animal, microbe and mineral, Vaughan notes.

“Coral is an animal that has a plant inside its tissue and microbial quality on outside, producing calcium carbonate,” Vaughan said. “It’s highly intolerant to temperature changes, needs to be in 72 to 78 degrees.”

As temperatures rise, the plant living inside coral starts to produce oxygen faster. The algae produces oxygen faster, coral gets lethargic because it can’t get rid of excess oxygen fast enough.

Read the full story at NorthJersey.com

As warming sea devastates coral, Florida Keys economy will suffer

June 25, 2017 — Twenty feet under water, Nature Conservancy biologist Jennifer Stein swims over to several large corals and pulls several laminated cards from her dive belt.

“Disease,” reads one, as she gestures to a coral that exhibits white splotches. “Recent mortality,” reads another card. Along the miles of coral reef off the Florida Keys, Stein and her fellow divers have found countless examples of this essential form of ocean life facing sickness and death.

The pattern of decay is shaping up as one of the sharpest impacts of climate change in the continental United States – and a direct threat to economic activity in the Keys, a haven for diving, fishing and coastal tourism.

The debate over climate change is often framed as one that pits jobs against the need to protect the planet for future generations. In deciding to exit the Paris climate agreement and roll back domestic environmental regulations, the Trump administration said it was working to protect jobs.

But what is happening here – as the warming of the sea devastates the coral reef – is a stark example of how rising temperatures can threaten existing economies.

Read the full story from the Washington Post at the Portland Press Herald

U.S. Conference of Mayors Pass Resolution to Fight Ocean Acidification

June 26, 2017 — Today the United States Conference of Mayors approved a resolution on ocean acidification, citing the need for more research and coordination in addressing an ever-increasing threat to coastal communities. The resolution was introduced by Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

“I’m pleased to support the resolution approved today by the Conference’s Energy Committee and the Ocean Conservancy’s many efforts to highlight the threat posed by ocean acidification,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Energy Committee. “As Mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the top fishing port in the nation for the past 17 years, I understand well the threat to our fisheries and to those who rely on those fisheries to earn a living.  And I’m proud to join the many other mayors across the nation who are leading on this issue.”

The resolution states that “cities are at the forefront of preparing for, mitigating against, and responding to the consequences of changes in ocean chemistry like ocean acidification.” It encourages efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the root cause of ocean acidification, and calls on Congress to fund research assessing the vulnerability of coastal communities to its impacts.

Ocean acidification hurts the fish, shellfish, and corals that anchor the fishing and tourism industries in states as varied as Massachusetts and Florida, threatening the economy of coastal communities and businesses.  The ocean absorbs about 25 percent of carbon dioxide pollution – as a result the chemistry of the ocean is changing rapidly.

About 40 percent of the U.S. population now lives in coastal counties, and that number is growing fast. The mayor’s resolution states that leaders need better information on the threat of ocean acidification to plan for and minimize the potential harm to vulnerable communities, local businesses, and economies.

Read the full story at Ocean Conservancy

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen organize a boat parade to highlight problem of fewer fish

June 20, 2017 — Saltwater fishermen pulled their boats around the Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday to draw attention to a stalled conservation bill.

House Bill 867 is aimed at ensuring protection for what recreational anglers say are declining numbers of fish on the North Carolina coast. It would set standards for conservation and fisheries management based on scientific data, while ensuring that a “reasonable” amount of fish can be caught each year and requiring state environmental regulators to assess whether overfishing has occurred.

The bipartisan bill hasn’t been heard in any committee since it was filed in April.

The anglers issued a statement saying that a recreational fisherman from Greenville organized the parade of about two dozen boats after his friends wanted to do something to move the bill forward.

“It is time for sportsmen to speak up and demand a vote on HB 867,” Joe Albea, the fisherman, said in the statement. “It’s time for the legislators to see that the people are tired of them spending our fish and saving none of it for the future.”

A coalition of conservationists, marine manufacturers and retailers have formed N.C. Sound Economy to push for science-based policy decisions on fisheries management, according to member Bert Owens of Beaufort.

Owens stressed that the campaign is not meant to pit recreational fishermen against commercial fishermen, although there has been a pitched battle between the two interests for years.

Read the full story at The News & Observer

For fish, the good and bad of warming ocean waters

June 19, 2017 — According to a recent study published in “Progress in Oceanography,” some fish species will thrive in warmer waters — and others, not so much.

Using a detailed climate model and historical observation data, researchers at NOAA and The Nature Conservancy modeled the shifting thermal habitats of over 50 species along the Atlantic coast, from North Carolina to the Gulf of Maine.

“So it’s basically a picture of the water temperature and the depths that individual species are most commonly associated with,” says lead author Kristin Kleisner, now a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund’s Fisheries Solutions Center.

Ocean temperatures in the region are expected to increase 6.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (3.7 to 5.0 degrees Celsius) by the end of the century, according to NOAA. For many species, like summer flounder, striped bass and Atlantic croaker, researchers found warming oceans could lead to increased habitat availability.

“Those are all species that are currently caught off the more southern portions of our coastline and they’re associated with warmer waters,” Kleisner says. “And these guys might do pretty well as climate changes and new areas of suitable thermal habitat open up for them.”

Kleisner is careful to point out that the study only considered water temperature and depth in its picture of thermal habitats. Other factors like ocean acidification could change the game for lobsters, for example, which otherwise stand to gain from warming waters. “That could be a pretty big wild card,” she says.

Meanwhile, for species like Atlantic cod, Acadian redfish and others found in northern coastal areas, the study’s picture “was not so rosy,” Kleisner says. That’s not to say these species won’t find suitable water temperatures in deeper waters, or further north, she adds — but their habitats may shift out of reach for some fishermen.

Read the full story at PRI.org

Climate change puts Cape fisheries in hot water

June 19, 2017 — As the president claims that climate change is a “Chinese hoax” and members of Congress deny that it even exists, those of us who live at the ocean’s edge can testify firsthand to its effects. They include bigger storms, accelerated sea-level rise and warmer waters. On the Cape, those are game changers to a way of life. They affect the community’s character, soul, and livelihood, especially in the commercial fishery.

The biggest long-term threat to fishing in the northwest Atlantic is not excessive regulations, national marine monuments, or over-fishing – it’s hot water. Cold water species like the iconic cod, and even lobsters and northern shrimp, have to put up with living conditions so uncomfortable that they may be leaving home and heading north.

A recent issue of the journal “Science” shows that over the last 10 years, temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have increased three times faster than almost all of the Earth’s oceans. The Gulf’s southern boundary edges along Cape Cod Bay. Beginning there, Gulf surface temperatures increased four degrees between 2005 and 2013 and scientists tell us they could go even higher. That spells disaster for the Gulf’s ecosystem.

The world’s oceans absorb most of the heat humans produce, but when we deposit too much heat into the atmosphere and adjacent waters below, sea life pays the price. With nature out of balance, fisheries shift, oceans acidify, and life-sustaining oxygen levels decrease.

Especially alarming is what we are seeing at the lower levels of the food chain. As water temperatures spike, copepods are disappearing. These tiny plankton-like crustaceans anchor the Gulf’s food chain and when they leave, the chain starts to unravel from the bottom up and fish productivity suffers.

Excessive carbon dioxide emissions, one of the major causes of rapid climate change, are sapping the strength of the giant ocean conveyor belt known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — otherwise known as the AMOC. It’s a vital component of the Earth’s climate system, with a northward flow of warm tropical salty water in the upper layers of the Gulf Stream, and a southward flow of colder water in the deeper layers.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Climate Change, and Cod, Are Causing One Heck of a Lobster Boom in Maine

June 15, 2017 — Maine has had a commercial lobster industry since the 1700s, and the lobster’s place in food has changed a lot during that time.

Today, Maine is faced with an unprecedented glut of lobsters–so many that the price of lobster is on the way down. But it wasn’t always so. And it may be different tomorrow.

In the 1600s and 1700s, writes Daniel Luzer for Pacific Standard, there were so many lobsters around Massachusetts Bay Colony, for instance, that they washed up on the beach in piles two feet high. “People thought of them as trash food,” Luzer writes. The ocean bugs were regarded as food for lower-class people and convicts, and used as fertilizer at times.

That began changing in the 1800s. Lobster prices–and interest in eating lobster–began to go up and down according to price, culinary innovations (like cooking lobster alive rather than dead) and availability. A century and a half later, he writes, “lobster was firmly established as a delicacy; lobster was something movie stars ate when they went out to dinner.”

On the coast of Maine, lobster culture became a way of life. But all was not well. .In the early twentieth century, once-abundant lobster had become rare, writes the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, and “there were plenty of rumors about lobstermen turning to rum-running along the Maine coast during Prohibition days.”

According to Gwynn Guilford for Quartz, lobster stocks dwindled and the number of boats fishing lobster went up–a pattern, she writes, that looked like that of “other fisheries on the eve of collapse.” But today, Maine is in the midst of a lobster boom.

Maine now produces 80 percent of American-caught lobster, writes Justin Fox for Bloomberg View, and more than seven times the average take in a pre-2000 year.

Read the full story at Smithsonian.com

Finding Fish Habitat: There’s a Map for That

June 16, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

Say you are in charge of a town with an eroding beach. You want to bring in 500,000 cubic yards of sand to rebuild your beach. Where are you going to get the sand?

When the town of Winthrop, Massachusetts wanted to rebuild their beach, they requested a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get sand and gravel from an offshore site in Massachusetts Bay. After consulting with NOAA, the Army Corps denied the permit. The area happened to be “essential fish habitat” for 26 species of fish, including the much-prized Atlantic cod. With NOAA Habitat Conservation’s help, the Army Corps was able to point Winthrop to another source of sand that would not harm fish populations.

Every year, NOAA’s regional fisheries offices advise federal agencies on hundreds of projects, including the dredging of harbors, the filling of wetlands, the production of offshore energy, and fishing. These consultations ensure that projects funded by your tax dollars do not unwittingly damage “essential” marine habitats.

But, how does anyone know where the essential fish habitat (EFH) is?

It’s All about Location, Location, Location

This real estate mantra also applies to fish, shellfish, and other underwater creatures. Some species, like winter flounder, spawn in shallow waters with temperatures under 50°F. Others, like red crabs, spawn in depths of 200-1800 meters. Some fish need certain salinities or bottom cover, like gravel or cobble, to spawn, breed, feed, or grow (Figure 1).

The more of these small fish that survive to adulthood, the larger the populations of fish that will be available to sustain our fisheries.

To build our EFH Mapper, we first figured out where the essential fish habitats are through surveys. Then, we found out what the important parts of the habitat are – for one fish, it may be the silty bottom, while for another, the salinity or depth may be the key—and how the habitat feature could be affected by human activity. We worked with partners like the regional fishery management councils to use the best available scientific information to identify, describe, and map EFH.

Anyone who wants to do a project in the marine environment that may require a federal permit can see and download data for EFH maps. The maps also link to written descriptions for all the species and life stages managed in any of the seven NOAA Fisheries regions of the U.S.

One of the most useful features of the Mapper is a Location Query that allows a user to “drop a pin” on a specific location. The Mapper brings up a table listing all the species and life stages that are mapped at that location with descriptions for each one (Figure 3).

In the Greater Atlantic Region, our staff in the Habitat Conservation Division are continually updating the Mapper. The New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils provide information for updates to the EFH maps and text descriptions for the 37 species that they manage. We are also adding features to make it more useful to the public, such as more information on coastlines and estuaries, where salt water extends inland for miles.

Read the full release here

NOAA grant would fund study of tuna, lobster, climate change

June 12, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is recommending more than $1.3 million in federal funding for fisheries research projects in Maine.

The money would fund five projects. The largest grant of nearly $300,000 would fund a University of Maine project to evaluate the life history of yellowfin tuna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Another grant of nearly $290,000 would go to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to address the issue of “choke species” in the era of climate change. Choke species are fish with small quotas for commercial fishermen. Catching too many of them can force fishermen to shut down operations.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Alva Review-Courier

Lawmakers move to protect funding for climate change research

June 8, 2017 — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging appropriators not to cut funding from one of the federal government’s climate change research accounts.

In a letter penned by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), the members told appropriators to preserve the $25.3 million in funding for the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers.

The program, established in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration, provides climate-related research to fish and wildlife managers as a way to help them “prepare for, respond to, and reduce the negative consequences of climate extremes,” according to the letter.

The Trump administration has requested $17.3 million for the program in 2018, a $7.9 million cut from current levels.

In a letter to Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee’s Interior and Environment panel, the members said the program has “helped natural and cultural resource managers assess climate-related vulnerabilities in their local jurisdictions as a first step in enhancing preparedness.”

“We support the reputable and important work of the [Department of Interior’s] National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers,” they wrote. “We understand that their return-on-investment is large and we encourage continued stable support and full funding for the program.”

The Trump administration proposed slashing funding for several science research accounts in its 2018 budget request, which lawmakers are beginning to consider this week.

Read the full story at The Hill