Saving Seafood

West Coast Seafood Industry Eager to Discuss Climate Actions

January 28, 2021 — The following was released by the West Coast Seafood Processors Association, the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, and the Oregon Trawl Commission:

On the same day the Biden Administration announced the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, the fishing and seafood industry welcomed President Biden’s commitment to healthy oceans and inclusion of the industry as a key stakeholder group to discussions about conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Fishermen and seafood processors are the backbone of many coastal communities, ensuring the stability of thousands of local seafood jobs coastwide. West Coast fisheries, including groundfish, pink shrimp, Dungeness crab, salmon, albacore tuna and Pacific hake, represent some of the best examples of sustainable fisheries management in the world. They emphasize a transparent stakeholder-driven process through both the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and state fishery management agencies.

“We appreciate that President Biden has committed to a science-based process with meaningful stakeholder engagement,” West Coast Seafood Processors Association Executive Director Lori Steele said. “Thankfully, our Council process already provides us this very solid foundation. We are looking forward to continuing to work with our Council partners, and we stand ready to engage with the Biden Administration to ensure the long-term health of our oceans.”

Read the full release here

RODA statement on considerations for the Biden Administration from the fishing industry and coastal communities

January 28, 2021 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The United States commercial fishing industry is united around the common goals of protecting our traditional fishing communities, maintaining domestic food security, and leading with evidence-based decision making during an era of rapidly changing ocean use. We are encouraged by the new Administration’s commitment to inclusivity and environmental science. We look forward to improving partnerships between lawmakers, policymakers, and fisheries experts to protect and promote this low-environmental impact protein source, which leads the world in sustainability through the rigorous fisheries management and conservation requirements of the Magnuson Stevens Act.

It is imperative that our elected officials support and adopt policies to minimize and mitigate the effects of climate change; the strategies to do so must equally address the pressing issues of food production, ecosystem health, and preserving cultural heritage. As evidenced by his Agency nominations and recent Executive Order on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” we are encouraged that the President is taking a measured approach. We applaud leadership and processes that underscore the value of science-based collaboration with members of small communities who are most impacted by natural resource management decisions.

Offshore Renewable Energy Development

The Administration has made clear its commitment to address climate change, which is a matter of critical importance to seafood harvesters adapting to the effects of ecosystem changes every day. The rapid advancement of large offshore wind energy facilities to meet climate goals places our nation at the dawn of a new era of ocean industrialization. While mitigating carbon emissions is urgent and necessary, so is protecting and prioritizing domestic sourcing of sustainable, affordable, and healthy protein. This necessitates evaluating the most efficient means of reducing atmospheric carbon while minimizing impacts to biodiversity and the economy.

Fishing communities stand ready and willing to incorporate their unique expertise in the country’s transition to renewable energy but there must be meaningful ways for them to do so. Three key topics must be addressed to ensure responsible planning for the unprecedented demands that are anticipated to be placed on our oceans.

1. Improving regional research efforts and scientific understanding of offshore infrastructure projects

Development of the Outer Continental Shelf should only be done in a purposeful planned manner utilizing the best available science. Our scientific understanding of impacts from offshore wind energy development is improving, but there is far more unknown about how development will alter the physical, biological, economic and social dimensions of the marine environment.

Evidence-based planning is necessary to understand and minimize impacts, and currently that does not exist for the proposed scale of development to proceed responsibly. For commercial fishermen, it is extremely worrisome to see the push for a new industry that jeopardizes a sustainable and historic one without rigorous scientific due diligence. Such diligence must apply to transparent information about the environmental and economic effects associated with the entire offshore renewable energy supply chain, from mining rare earth minerals for battery components to turbine production to maritime traffic to decommissioning.

Currently, there is no balancing of priorities in offshore renewable energy permitting decisions. Promises to achieve production targets for offshore wind energy based solely on climate goals will significantly impact other public needs such as food production, tourism, and national security. Such targets, if adopted, must be accompanied by a comprehensive roadmap for evaluating tradeoffs and should not be pursued before the creation of balanced multi-use ocean plans. These must include funding for environmental research and compensatory mitigation for impacted sectors.

2. Enhanced interstate coordination and a clear delineation of authorities within federal agencies

Some of the biggest challenges around offshore renewable energy development are due to a lack of consistency in the leasing and planning processes, nonexistent or inconsistent engagement opportunities, and poor integration between planning and permitting authorities.

Regional issues associated with environmental and fisheries impacts require appropriate federal oversight. The current approach results in widespread duplication of efforts, inconsistency and inequity, misplaced interstate competition, and overall unpredictability. To help address the lack of coordination of regional research, RODA co-founded the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance with federal and state entities, offshore wind energy developers, and expert fisheries scientists to serve as a trusted regional coordinating entity. The Administration should reward the collaboration on this innovative public-private partnership and utilize it as a resource for improved coordination.

Responsibilities for the various federal agencies involved is often unclear. A clarification of the roles for these entities is urgently needed and regulatory authority should be returned to agencies with most expertise in the relevant aspects of environmental review.

We look forward to an incoming Commerce Secretary who can bring her expertise and knowledge of coordinating numerous federal, state and local agencies, as well as community members and regional partners together through her experience with the Block Island Wind Farm. As governor, Ms. Raimondo witnessed first hand the time and dedication required for effective collaboration and the complex links of offshore wind energy with the U.S. economy.

3. Facilitation of industry to industry cooperation

As users who will inevitably share the ocean space, regulations, and potential workforce, it is paramount that industry to industry cooperation improves between offshore wind energy development and fishing. Currently this is very difficult to achieve and would benefit from regulatory incentives or direct federal involvement.

RODA has worked to bring industries together through its Joint Industry Task Force and fishing industry leaders are committed to direct engagement when assured those efforts can bear fruit. Small collaborative projects and communication have added value to the process, but not enough resources have been committed to truly catalyze the industries working together in a meaningful way. Absent resources and in a regulatory atmosphere that strongly favors one party, progress is difficult. To be effective, support must be directed to fisheries-driven efforts, not just wind-organized ones. Similarly, some wind developers have expended far more effort than others to work with affected communities in good faith. Incentives to do so must be greatly expanded.

“30×30”

The Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity must extend to implementation of science-based recommendations for conservation and environmental protection. We are encouraged by the Administration’s commitment to collect input from stakeholders in the “30×30” provisions included in the Executive Order on climate change, which implements a goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. waters by 2030. We echo the concern expressed by fishing communities and scientists across the country that arbitrary closures, or targets for the total area of closures, based on political negotiations rather than science could have greater negative impacts to ocean conservation than no closures at all.

For conservation measures to be beneficial, they must be carefully designed for specific outcomes such as enhancing ecosystem production, protecting sensitive habitat, or preserving fish spawning activity. The public and transparent fishery management council process is the appropriate way to ensure the best available science determines such design.  We must also be mindful that for a vast majority of Americans, the only access they have to the marine resources in U.S. oceans is a direct result of the U.S. fishing industry.  The Executive Order clearly states environmental and economic justice are important considerations in developing programs and policies. Reducing our abilities to provide U.S. seafood to disadvantaged communities would not further environmental and economic justice.

Support for the Buy American Initiative

The Biden Administration should champion the U.S. commercial fishing industry, which complies with a multitude of regulations to provide renewable protein to Americans across the country. U.S. fisheries are among the most sustainable around the world and constitute one of the lowest-carbon methods of food production. Too often we hear public misconceptions that wild harvest fisheries are on the verge of extinction or utilize destructive practices, but that is not true for U.S. based fisheries. Domestic fisheries are the most strictly regulated in the world and have rebounded extraordinarily from overfishing decades ago; failing to recognize their success only pushes consumers toward seafood from other markets with much looser environmental oversight. The coastal communities across the nation that support our fishing heritage must be protected and celebrated.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and staggering unemployment rates, efforts to promote jobs should be maximized across all maritime sectors and ensure that any new coastal uses benefit the U.S. economy and Americans. RODA calls on the Biden administration to work with fishing companies and crews, offshore wind supply chains, unions, and workforce development programs to create robust mechanisms that create and maintain jobs across all maritime trades.

Complementary to this, offshore wind energy development should be the poster industry for the President’s “Buy American” initiative. Current infrastructure in the U.S. does not support the manufacturing or installation of offshore wind turbine components and thus energy development companies are poised to purchase from foreign countries. For example, GE Renewable Energy, a main supplier of wind turbines and turbine parts, recently opened a new offshore wind and development center in China. The Administration should support American labor by requiring turbines, monopiles and blades be manufactured here in the U.S., ensuring that they meet our world-class environmental standards.

As small business owners reliant upon a healthy U.S. environment, our members look forward to working with the President’s appointments for the Secretaries of Commerce, Interior, and Labor. Their experience working with small communities, including coastal and fishing communities, will prove vital as we tackle some of the biggest issues facing our nation. We also look forward to working with the entire Administration on protecting and promoting sustainable U.S. seafood. RODA is committed to helping our members stay on the water and will continue to advocate for protecting the important heritage of the fishing industry and coastal communities across the country.

Biden’s “30 by 30” order could close-off 30 percent of US ocean to fishing

January 27, 2021 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced on 27 January that the president plans to sign an executive order that commits to a “30 by 30” goal first envisioned in the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act that was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

The “30 by 30” plan aims to commit 30 percent of lands and oceans to conservation by 2030, which in the House version of the bill entails a complete ban on “commercial extractive use” in areas of the ocean conserved. The planned executive order, according to a White House statement, is intended to “tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Beware ’30×30′ in federal climate bill

January 27, 2021 — 30×30, a major provision in the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act that would ban all commercial fishing in at least 30 percent of U.S. oceans by 2030, has drawn widespread opposition by fishermen and fisheries scientists since it was introduced in the House of Representatives last year. In a letter to Congress last November, over 800 participants in the U.S. seafood economy wrote that 30×30 “would undermine our nation’s world-class system of fisheries management.” 

In an open letter to Congress last December, a group of fisheries scientists wrote that 30×30 “is not based on the best scientific information available” and “will decrease flexibility of the fishery management system to adapt to climate change.” 

The following is excerpted from an article by Doreen Leggett, communications officer at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, published by Wicked Local:

Commercial fishermen rely on the sea and are often more aware of the changing ocean environment than anyone else.

Take fisherman Kurt Martin of Orleans. For close to three decades he has kept daily logs of everything from where he fishes to weather conditions, water temperatures and depth.

A few things stand out: Fog that was virtually synonymous with Chatham is becoming a rarity, summer ocean temperatures have increased about 10 degrees and walking around an iced-in Pleasant Bay come Christmas is a distant memory.

Meanwhile, the lobster fishery south of the Cape is much diminished while Canada’s is growing as warmer water pushes north. Martin said the lobster fishery on the Cape is “stable” now.

“But we are basically on the edge of disaster. We can definitely see the trend of the shift being made.”

Climate change has pushed commercial fishermen to change their business plans, the way they fish, what they fish for, even their home ports. But when far-reaching climate legislation was drafted and filed in the House of Representatives last year (by a representative from Arizona), fishermen were shut out of the conversations. They may be shut out of their fishing grounds as well.

There are many positives in the 300-page bill, but one section would harm fishing communities across the nation, hamstring buy-local movements, increase seafood imports, and complicate efforts to combat climate change.

The initiative, dubbed 30×30, a focal point in the House version of the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, would require “protection” of at least 30 percent of U.S. oceans by 2030 by banning “all commercial extractive use” in broad swaths of the ocean, circumventing the country’s sustainable fishery management process. (Specific areas have not yet been identified.)

Read the full article at Wicked Local

Webinar Invite: New Research to Identify Climate-vulnerable Stock Assessments

January 26, 2021 — The following was released by Lenfest Ocean Program:

Please join us on Friday, January 29, at 1pm ET for a webinar on “New Research to Identify Climate-vulnerable Stock Assessments”. The webinar will be recorded. Please do forward this invite to other colleagues who may be interested. Webinar registration and project details are below.

Project Background

Regional Fisheries Management Councils rely on stock assessments to help set catch limits. However, climate change can impact the ability to accurately assess a fish stock. For example, it can change a fish stock’s recruitment and natural mortality rates, a species’ range and distribution, and overall stock productivity. In order to support long-term sustainable fisheries management, there is a need to understand which stock assessments are at greatest risk from climate change and how to integrate risk into the stock assessment process. The Lenfest Ocean Program is supporting Dr. Olaf Jensen, University of Wisconsin, to lead a team of researchers to identify and prioritize fish and invertebrate populations that are at greatest risk of stock assessment failure due to climate change.

This project is an outcome of the Lenfest Ocean Program Ideas Lab, a workshop held in October 2019 to identify research priorities for shifting marine species. Learn more here.

Register for the webinar here.

Learn more about the project on our website.

Research Team

  • Olaf Jensen, University of Wisconsin- Madison
  • John Weidenmann, Rutgers University
  • Chip Collier, South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council
  • Roger Mann, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
  • Kathy Mills, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
  • Vince Saba, NOAA Fisheries
  • Rujia Bi, University of Wisconsin

Study documents ‘climate shock’ to Dungeness crab fishery

January 8, 2021 — The North Pacific marine heat wave of 2014 to 2016 and subsequent algae bloom severely tested California fishing communities dependent on Dungeness crab – and demonstrated how they could adapt to sudden climate changes, according to a new study by West Coast scientists.

The bloom produced high levels of the biotoxin domoic acid, forcing a delay in the 2015-2016 crab season when “roughly two-thirds of all vessels stopped fishing temporarily while others switched to different fisheries or moved to more favorable locations,” according to a summary from Oregon State University, where researchers worked with colleagues at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

The study used network analysis to examine impacts from the season delays across fisheries, and understand how seven affected fishing communities responded, according to James Watson, one of the study’s co-authors and an assistant professor at OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Dungeness Crab Fishing Industry Response to Climate Shock

January 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Fishermen contend with regulations, natural disasters, and the ups and downs of the stocks they fish, along with many other changes. As a result, fishing communities are quite resilient. That is, they can withstand, recover from, and adapt to change.

But how much pressure can they stand? The 2014–2016 North Pacific marine heatwave, known as the Blob, led to a harmful algal bloom of unprecedented scale. It necessitated substantial delays in the opening of the 2015–16 U.S. West Coast Dungeness crab fishery. The fishery is vital to West Coast communities. It produces around 26 percent of all annual fishing revenue and supports more than 30 percent of all commercial fishing vessels.

Understanding Impacts from Climate Shocks

Previous studies have documented the devastating economic impacts from the 2015–16 event on Dungeness crab fishermen. Members of affected coastal communities attest that these socioeconomic effects rippled through associated industries and coastal communities. But can changes in fishing practices in response to this significant climate shock be quantified?

“We wanted to examine the extent to which the Dungeness crab fishery delays affected participation in other fisheries, and the duration of those changes,” said Mary Fisher, a doctoral student at the University of Washington. Fisher did the work as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Internship Program Fellow at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

Fisher and her colleagues at NOAA Fisheries, University of Washington, and Oregon State University studied the impacts on more than 2,500 vessels across seven California fishing communities. The researchers wanted to see how a climate-related shock (like the heatwave and associated harmful algal bloom) can impact communities’ use of ocean resources.

Read the full release here

Directly and Indirectly, Humans Contributing to Most Orca Deaths

December 3, 2020 — New research shows that humans are taking a greater toll on killer whale populations than previously believed. Between pollution, overfishing and impacts with vessels — it doesn’t look good for the majestic, endangered creatures.

The most common human-related causes of death include infectious disease, malnutrition, congenital defects induced by chemical pollution, blunt force trauma from boat strikes and ingested fish hooks. These cases represent otherwise preventable deaths that can likely be reduced through further research and effort.

Researchers looked at blubber thickness and body length to determine an orca’s overall body condition. Not surprisingly, mature orcas tended to be healthiest prior to death and most often died from bacterial infections, emaciation and injuries caused by boat strikes, whereas calves were more likely to die from infectious disease, malnutrition or congenital defects and were typically healthy before their deaths. Understanding these interactions with humans is critical to ongoing management and conservation efforts for over 55,000 orcas worldwide.

Lead author Dr. Stephen Raverty from Canada’s Ministry of Agriculture and his team looked at pathology reports for 53 individuals stranded between 2001 and 2017, which revealed human activity to be a significant cause of death for orcas across every age group. The researchers published their findings Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

The simple food that fights climate change

December 3, 2020 — Simmering in pots around the world is a food that could spark a revolution. Most of us have probably eaten it at some point, but it’s an overlooked part of our diet. This natural source of protein is laden with essential nutrients that could fulfil the dietary needs of nearly one billion people in the most vulnerable populations on the planet. It could be a viable alternative to intensively-farmed meats such as beef. And it comes with smorgasbord of environmental and sociological gains.

The animals that are the source of this food require no feeding, need no antibiotics or agrochemicals to farm. And they actively sequester carbon. They can even protect fragile ecosystems by cleaning the water they live in. Welcome to the remarkable and unglamorous world of the bivalve.

This biological corner of our oceanic ecology is not as attention-grabbing as fish or mesmerising as a deep-sea octopus. Instead it includes the evolutionarily simpler family of shell-dwelling creatures consisting of mussels, clams, oysters and scallops. These hinge shelled molluscs have quietly embraced the lower reaches of the food chain as filter feeders, sustaining themselves on microscopic organic matter present in the waters of their immediate environment.

Their lowly status, however, perhaps means their potential has been largely overlooked. But as the world attempts to find ways of feeding a growing population with less environmental impact, many experts believe we may need to make these shellfish a larger part of our diet.

“Bivalves have the remarkable potential to provide people with food that is not only environmentally sustainable but also nutrient dense,” says David Willer, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Read the full story at BBC

‘Salmon’ author pans Patagonia’s anti-fish farm activism

December 1, 2020 — Mark Kurlansky, the New York Times bestselling author of “Salmon”, is urging anti-fish farm activists to work with salmon farmers and boost the production of affordable and sustainable seafood from the oceans.

In an interview with SeaWestNews, Kurlansky said replacing sea farms with land-based operations, as the activists are demanding in British Columbia, is not a good idea because it will exacerbate climate change and substantially increase Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions.

“Land based farming greatly increases energy use and the carbon footprint…I do not think that is a good idea,” said Kurlansky, who spent five years researching his book, which was published by Patagonia, the outdoor clothing conglomerate, which ironically supports activism to stop ocean-based fish farming.

“Farming salmon in the oceans has almost no carbon footprint…almost all of the energy used, apart from packaging the food, is provided by the natural force of the ocean…so you will be taking a low energy industry and turning it into a high energy industry,” he said.

“I would certainly not want to see all fish farms move on land, and I also would not want to see all ocean fish farming stopped, because I think it has a good contribution and it is a supply of affordable protein. That is not something to turn your back on.”

Read the full story at SeaWest News