Saving Seafood

Lessons from the front line — Florida’s fight with sea level rise

March 26, 2020 — In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, many people are dreaming of Florida as a retreat from long days of self-isolation. Hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches, azure skies, shimmering oceans, teeming wilderness including barrier reefs and the Everglades, and strands of picturesque keys and islets. But this paradise is staring down a menace of its own — a rising sea level — and it’s time for a paradigm shift to help us save the Sunshine State. How that battle plays out will have huge implications for other coastal regions across the rest of the United States.

Floridians are experiencing the undeniable impacts of sea level rise firsthand on a daily basis. For Florida’s environment, the signs of danger and damage are everywhere. Saltwater is inundating the Florida Bay, exacerbating an already hyper saline ecosystem and negatively impacting fish stocks and sea grass.

Mangroves, which are estuarine trees that thrive in salty habitats, are creeping northward into the Everglades and taking over critical freshwater habitat that serves as important rookeries for birds and as nurseries for freshwater fish and reptiles such as alligators. In South Florida, rising seas stand to upset the balance between the fresh water and salt water environments, possibly reshaping the bays, wetlands and waterways of the greater Everglades ecosystem.

Read the full story at The Hill

Why marine protected areas are often not where they should be

March 26, 2020 — There’s no denying the grandeur and allure of a nature reserve or marine protected area. The concept is easy to understand: limit human activity there and marine ecosystems will thrive.

But while the number of marine protected areas is increasing, so too is the number of threatened , and the health of  is in decline.

Why? Our research shows it’s because marine protected areas are often placed where there’s already low , rather than in places with high biodiversity that need it most.

Not where they should be

Many parts of the world’s protected areas, in both terrestrial and , are placed in locations with no form of manageable human activity or development occurring, such as fishing or infrastructure. These places are often remote, such as in the centres of oceans.

And where marine protected areas have been increasing, they’re placed where pressures cannot be managed, such as areas where there is increased ocean acidification or dispersed pollution.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Understanding Ocean Changes and Climate Just Got Harder

March 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

A new study shows that two important indicators for understanding and predicting the effects of climate variability on eastern North Pacific marine ecosystems are less reliable than they were historically. This finding has important implications for fisheries and ecosystem management from Alaska to California.

Until recently, oceanographers and fishery biologists summarized and understood complex and
long-term relationships between regional fish stock productivity and ocean climate patterns using the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index (PDO) and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO).

The PDO accurately described the climate pattern north of 38 degrees N, and the NPGO described the pattern S of 38 degrees N. These two indices captured climate patterns that dominated North Pacific ecosystems for much of the 20th century.

“We were able use these indices to describe changes in collective environmental features including sea surface temperature, sea surface height, sea level pressure, salinity, chlorophyll-a, and ocean nutrients. They also helped us understand and predict changes in the productivity of species like plankton and fish that are sensitive to long-term weather patterns without having to understand specific relationships between individual species and their environment,” said Mike Litzow, NOAA fisheries oceanographer and study lead. “We could count on these indices as reliable tools to summarize this broad suite of climate-biology-relationships.”

Read the full release here

Warmest Oceans Ever Force Tuna Titan to Start Protecting Fish

March 24, 2020 — Helping the canned tuna industry cope with climate change tops an already lengthy to-do list for Darian McBain, chief sustainability officer at the Thailand company that owns the Chicken of the Sea and John West brands.

In a business long accused by activists of abusing workers and killing dolphins, McBain’s responsibilities at Thai Union Group Pcl typically focused on improving labor rights in the supply chain and reducing the abandoned fishing gear on the high seas.

“Climate change hasn’t been the No. 1 topic,” she said. “Now, the climate emergency has to be a lot stronger part of the dialogue.”

The industry hasn’t yet confronted the magnitude of the problem, McBain said.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

NOAA Fisheries Part of International Team to Study Salmon in Gulf of Alaska Under Continuing Warm Conditions

March 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries scientists are part of an international team that set sail on April 11. They are studying the impacts of continued warm ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska on Pacific salmon survival.  It has been estimated that one-third of all Pacific salmon spend the winter in the Gulf of Alaska. While reduced in size compared to previous years, the current marine heatwave affecting the Gulf remains one of the top five largest heatwaves on record in the North Pacific in the last 40 years.

“Salmon affect more people culturally, economically, and recreationally than any other fish in the world,” said Doug Mecum, Deputy Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region. “This International Year of the Salmon expedition in the Gulf of Alaska expands international salmon research on the high seas to build understanding of how a changing climate may influence salmon ocean habitats, distributions, and productivity.”

Scientists suspect young salmon that can find sufficient food and experience enhanced early marine growth are those that best survive their first winter at sea. The survival of these fish largely determines the size of subsequent adult salmon populations. So, scientists think that environmental conditions have the greatest influence on salmon survival during their first year at sea.

“We know that ocean and climate conditions play a major role in regulating salmon abundances,” said Wess Strasburger, who will serve as chief scientist on the first leg of the survey. “But we don’t have a good understanding of the mechanisms regulating salmon abundances in the ocean.”

Read the full release here

Is Climate Change Causing Sharks To Bite Humans? The D.C. Metro Thinks So

March 11, 2020 — Can taking Metro prevent shark bites? That’s the contention of an ad in stations and trains throughout the region. It’s part of a Metro public relations campaign to highlight the effects of climate change and how taking public transit can help. If you’ve seen the shark bite ads and wondered about them — you’re in good company.

“As someone who studies sharks and shark conservation, and in fact who has been involved in studies of climate change and sharks, this caught my attention,” says David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist. The ad caught his attention, he says, “because it’s nonsense.”

The ad shows a black shark fin on an orange zig-zag background. It reads: “More CO2 could lead to increased shark bites. Keep the sharks at bay. Take Metro.”

Metro’s other climate change ads are on pretty solid scientific ground. There’s one about arctic ice melting and one about extreme weather — both well known consequences of climate change. Other ads focus on more obscure impacts — how climate change is affecting wine and beer producers. Still, says Shiffman, “The agricultural consequences are fairly well documented and not controversial.”

Read the full story at WAMU

MAFMC Meeting April 7-9 in Galloway, NJ

March 10, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold its next meeting April 7-9, 2020 at Seaview, a Dolce Hotel (401 S. New York Rd, Galloway, NJ 08205, Telephone: 609-652-1800).

Agenda: A detailed meeting agenda is available here. Topics to be discussed at this meeting include:

  • Golden Tilefish 2021 – 2022 Specifications
  • Blueline Tilefish 2021 Specifications Review
  • Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment
  • 2020 Mid-Atlantic State of the Ecosystem Report
  • Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) Updates
  • Climate Change Scenario Planning
  • South Atlantic Electronic Reporting
  • Ocean Data Portals Commercial Fisheries Data Project
  • Offshore Wind Updates
  • SAFMC Citizen Science Program
  • GARFO/NEFSC Joint Strategic Plan

Meeting Materials: Briefing documents will be posted at http://www.mafmc.org/briefing/april-2020 as they become available.

Public Comments: Written comments may be submitted using the online comment form linked below or via email, mail, or fax (see this page for details). Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on March 25, 2020 to be included in the briefing book. Comments received after this date but before 5:00 p.m. on April 2, 2020 will be posted as supplemental materials on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using the online comment form linked below.

Webinar: For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest at: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/april2020.

Questions? Contact Mary Sabo, msabo@mafmc.org, (302) 518-1143.

West Coast Waters Shift Toward Productive Conditions, But Lingering Heat May “Tilt” Marine Ecosystem

March 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Burgeoning populations of anchovy and a healthy crop of California sea lion pups reflected improved productivity off parts of the West Coast in 2019. However, lingering offshore heat worked against recovery of salmon stocks and reduced fishing success, a new analysis reports.

The California Current Ecosystem Status Report explains that ocean conditions off the West Coast remain unusually variable. This has been the case since the arrival of a major marine heatwave in 2014 known as “The Blob.” NOAA Fisheries’ two West Coast laboratories, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Southwest Fisheries Science Center, issue the report each year to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

“There is not a real clear picture here,” said Chris Harvey, co-editor of the report developed by the two laboratories’ Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach. The approach integrates physical, biological, economic, and importantly social conditions of the California Current marine ecosystem into the decision-making process. “On the one hand, we have a lot of anchovy out there. On the other hand, we also have a lot of warm water. That is not usually a sign of improved productivity.”

Read the full release here

What the History of Salmon Can Tell Us About the Future of the Planet

March 5, 2020 — Mark Kurlansky has been telling the story of how humans eat, one food at a time over the last 20 years. He has published popular books including Cod, Salt, and Milk, but his 33rd book is written with a new sense of urgency.

“Of all the things that I’ve looked at over the years, I’ve never run across anything that I found scarier than the fact that the oceans are losing their carrying capacity, that the ocean is losing its ability to feed fish. That’s another way of saying that the planet is losing its ability to sustain itself,” he said. “Salmon is one avenue to talk about that.

Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate, released this week, includes a fascinating account of how these unique creatures live, sometimes navigating hundreds of miles back to their place of birth to spawn while leaping waterfalls and actively changing the color of their bodies.

“It’s just one of the most incredible animals in the animal kingdom. It’s extremely beautiful and has this incredible lifecycle that sounds like it was written by a Greek tragedy writer,” he said.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

The Ocean’s Swirling Currents Are Migrating Poleward

March 2, 2020 — Enormous, swirling gyres compose some of the world’s biggest and most important ocean currents. Found in the North and South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean, these massive, rotating currents help transport heat and nutrients around the globe.

Now, new research suggests, they seem to be on the move.

A recent study, conducted by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and the Ocean University of China, finds major ocean gyres are steadily creeping toward the poles. Since the 1980s, they’ve been migrating by about a half mile each year.

It’s already causing noticeable consequences, the researchers suggest.

For one thing, ocean gyres tend to alter the sea levels around them. Scientists have already observed a distinct band of higher-than-average sea levels in the midlatitudes, including along much of the U.S. East Coast—a phenomenon some experts have chalked up to regional warming patterns and related changes in the structure of the ocean. But the new study suggests the movement of ocean gyres may also be playing a role.

Gyres also help control the flow of heat and nutrients through the ocean. As they move, they can alter ocean ecosystems, affect certain fisheries and influence weather patterns. The study suggests the movement of gyres may already be linked to recent observed changes in the movement of hurricanes and the behavior of major atmospheric currents, like the jet streams.

Read the full story from E&E News at Scientific American