Saving Seafood

Response paper aims to debunk the theory that bottom trawling releases as much carbon as air travel

December 2, 2023 — Bottom trawling, a fishing method that entails towing a net along the ocean floor to capture target species, does not release as much carbon as air travel, according to a response paper that sought to debunk research published in 2021 and picked up by global media outlets, including The Guardian.

The response paper, “Quantifying the carbon benefits of ending bottom trawling,” released in May 2023, claims that Sala et al. – the authors of the original research – overestimated trawling’s carbon output by two to three orders of magnitude, or 100 to 1,000 times more than they should have, in the model they used, contending that the discrepancies are due to incorrect fundamental assumptions of the carbon cycle and flawed validation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden’s clean energy agenda faces mounting headwinds

November 25, 2023 — Canceled offshore wind projects, imperiled solar factories, fading demand for electric vehicles.

A year after passage of the largest climate change legislation in U.S. history, meant to touch off a boom in American clean energy development, economic realities are fraying President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Soaring financing and materials costs, unreliable supply chains, delayed rulemaking in Washington and sluggish permitting have wrought havoc ranging from offshore wind developer Orsted’s (ORSTED.CO) project cancellations in the U.S. Northeast, to Tesla, Ford and GM’s scaled back EV manufacturing plans.

The darkening outlook for clean energy industries is tough news for Biden, whose pledge to deliver a net-zero economy by 2050 faces headwinds that the landmark Inflation Reduction Act’s billions in tax credits alone can’t resolve.

After walking into last year’s United Nations climate summit in Egypt touting the IRA as evidence of unprecedented progress in the fight against climate change, Biden is expected to skip this year’s event in Dubai amid dire warnings that the world is moving too slowly to avert the worst of global warming.

Read the full article at Reuters

Fish out of water: North American drought bakes salmon

November 23, 2023 — One after another, salmon leapt out of the water and hurtled themselves at the falls, propelled by instinct to move upriver. They, like all Pacific salmon, were born in freshwater, migrated to the ocean and were now returning as adults to their natal streams to spawn and die. But the Fraser River was running low after months of drought. At this stretch near the Bridge River Rapids in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, the water was so low in mid-October that the salmon couldn’t access their usual passage up the fish ladder. Instead, they were desperately trying to find another way over the rocks, but they couldn’t make it.

For these fish, help was at hand. For days, members and friends of the Xwísten, an Indigenous group that is part of the St’át’imc Nation and whose territory encompasses this traditional fishing spot, scooped up salmon with large dip nets, passed them hand to hand in a human chain up the rocks, and released them above the falls. In all, they moved more than 7,000 fish. Eventually machinery was brought in; an all-terrain excavator chiseled out rocks to ease the salmon’s transit over the falls, and a helicopter dropped sandbags to raise the water level near the fish ladder.

“The project to save the fish is important to not only our community but to the St’at’imc Nation and many other Nations along the Fraser River,” says Xwísten Chief Ina Williams via text. “There are many animals, four-legged and winged, that also rely on the fish.”

Read the full article at Mongabay

ALASKA: Scientists say warming seas helped cause Alaska’s snow crab crash

November 18, 2023 — When scientists estimated that more than 10 billion snow crab had disappeared from the Eastern Bering Sea between 2018 and 2021, industry stakeholders and fisheries scientists had several ideas about where they’d gone.

Some thought bycatch, disease, cannibalism, or crab fishing, while others believed it could be predation from other sea animals like Pacific cod.

But now, scientists say they’ve distinguished the most likely cause for the disappearance. The culprit is a marine heatwave between 2018 and 2019, according to a new study authored by a group of scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Mike Litzow is a co-author of the study and the director for NOAA’s Kodiak lab. He said starvation mediated by increased temperatures caused the collapse.

“Really the crab were not able to get the food they needed,” Litzow said. “They were just outstripping the resources that were available to them.” 

According to Litzow and his fellow researchers, the crab faced a number of compounding factors: First, higher temperatures meant increased metabolism so they needed more food; on top of that, there was less space for the crab to forage that food; and finally, the crab were just smaller than usual.

Researchers took data from the many possible hypotheses for the disappearance and they examined it alongside the data they have on the collapse. They examined possible mortality from a range of sources, including directed fishing from the snow crab industry as well as bitter crab syndrome — a fatal disease among crustaceans caused by parasites — and trawl bycatch.

“The take-home message is really that none of those other proposed mechanisms explains the collapse with the data we have,” Litzow said.

He said it’s tough to know what the collapse from increased ocean temperatures could mean for other species, but it’s safe to say we’ll probably see more marine heatwaves like this, and they’re likely to be bigger and more frequent, as the world continues warming.

Read the full article at KYUK

From concrete gray to ‘tutu’ green, Mass. shows off the many colors of coastal resilience

November 18, 2023 — Hurricane Carol devastated the port of New Bedford in 1954, leaving millions of dollars of damage in its wake. The fishing community couldn’t risk another blow, so business leaders decided to construct a massive barrier at the mouth of the port.

The hurricane barrier is made of 900,000 tons of stone, 20 feet high and stretches 3.5 miles across New Bedford’s port. It can protect New Bedford, Fairhaven and Acushnet from a Category 3 hurricane.

When a storm comes and the water level stops rising behind the barrier, it is “such a feeling of security,” John Bullard, the former mayor of New Bedford and president of the board of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster, told Boston Public Radio on Thursday. Bullard was 15 when the barrier was built.

Yet there are only two hurricane barriers on the East Coast — the other is in Providence. And coastal cities are facing growing threats from sea level rise and storm surge connected to climate change.

In 30 years, sea levels may be as much as 1.5 feet higher than they were in 2000. And by 2070, they may be as much as 3 feet higher, according to predictions from NOAA and Climate Ready Boston.

Read the full article at GBH

New England’s wetter, warmer future is already here

November 16, 2023 — The warmer, wetter future that climate scientists have been predicting for New England is already here.

The fifth National Climate Assessment – issued by the White House on Tuesday – includes data showing the region is seeing extreme heat on land and at sea, especially in the Gulf of Maine, and more frequent heavy rainstorms than any other region of the country.

The assessment shines a spotlight on the links between extreme weather and inland flooding, said U.S. Forest Service scientist Erin Lane, one of the authors of the Northeast chapter. Data shows the number of days when at least 2 inches of rain fell is up, but the number of 5-inch days more than doubled.

These storms can have a big impact on local communities and ecosystems, but they can also spur action.

“The stress of extreme weather is motivating climate action,” Lane said on Tuesday. “In our region, we are seeing more adaptation to build resilience, as well as inclusion of nature-based solutions and carbon emission reduction strategies as communities work toward addressing these issues.”

Rising sea levels and heavy rains are leading to floods, driving up insurance rates, and forcing towns to repair or move roads, bridges and ferry landings. Extreme weather can sometimes mean droughts and floods in succession, wreaking havoc with the growing season, spring thaws and mud season.

Read the full article at the Portland Press Herald

FLORIDA: Portia Sapp of FDACS details impact of recent storms on Florida’s aquaculture industry

November 16, 2023 — Florida’s farmland is central to the state’s identity, but Florida’s waters are home to a growing farming industry as well.

Portia Sapp is the Director of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Division of Aquaculture and Chairwoman of the FDACS Science Advisory Workgroup. She spoke to Senators about the state’s aquaculture industry, explaining its impact as well as several hurdles the still-developing sector is facing.

According to Sapp, there are about 1,000 aquaculture producers in Florida raising more than 1,500 species. Of licensed operators, 40% produce shellfish, 28% grow ornamental fish or tropical fish, and 17% focus on food fish, such as tilapia and shrimp.

The fish and other organisms grown in Florida can serve as food and bait, help conservation efforts and aid in research, among other uses.

Sapp said the aquaculture industry has grown 50-fold since 1990 and now represents about 52% of global fisheries production for protein. While growing for protein is an obvious benefit, Sapp told the Senate Agriculture Committee Tuesday that there are environmental benefits as well.

Read the full article at Florida Politics

US lawmakers introduce bill to ban most single-use plastics, with exception for seafood

November 9, 2023 — U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would ban most single-use plastic products and pause plastic production as part of a growing movement to tackle plastic pollution.

“Plastic pollution isn’t just a problem for our oceans and climate – it’s a massive environmental injustice,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman said. “Communities are overburdened with plastics’ toxic air and water emissions and the false promises of so-called chemical recycling.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Sharks might be ferocious predators, but they’re no match for warming oceans, studies say

November 9, 2023 — The ocean’s most feared but fascinating predators face increasing dangers from the world’s warming oceans, scientists found in two international studies released this week.

Both studies revealed new information about sharks that surprised scientists and added to a growing body of research raising concerns about warming oceans and the effects of human activities on ocean ecosystems.

Large sharks, tunas and other predators make far more deep dives into the ocean than previously understood, concluded a study led by Camrin Braun, an assistant scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The study also found that disruptions to ocean ecosystems from climate change and mining – without careful consideration of the risks and benefits – could threaten species at the top of the ocean food chain, harming conservation efforts and commercial fishing.

Read the full article at USA Today

Assessing Vulnerability of Fish and Invertebrates to Climate Change in the Southeast

November 6, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries published two new assessments of climate vulnerability for fish and invertebrates in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Large Marine Ecosystems. While all of the species assessed are projected to face significant exposure to climate-driven changes, some are expected to be much more susceptible than others.

Climate change is significantly impacting our global ocean ecosystems. Warming seas and changing ocean chemistry are driving changes in the distribution, abundance, life cycles, and population dynamics of marine life. These changes are already impacting businesses and communities that depend on marine resources and are expected to increase with continued changes in the planet’s climate and ocean systems.

To understand how climate change is anticipated to affect important fishery species, we initiated a series of Climate Vulnerability Assessments. Most recently, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center led assessments for both the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Large Marine Ecosystems. The reports identify fish and invertebrates that are most vulnerable to projected climate impacts, the primary drivers of these vulnerabilities, and which species are expected to be more resilient.