October 22, 2019 — Harmful algae blooms that shut down fisheries and sicken people are the target of new research funding from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) across the nation.
Climate warming promises more frequent extreme El Niño events
October 22, 2019 — El Niño events cause serious shifts in weather patterns across the globe, and an important question that scientists have sought to answer is: how will climate change affect the generation of strong El Niño events? A new study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science by a team of international climate researchers led by Bin Wang of the University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), has an answer to that question. Results show that since the late 1970’s, climate change effects have shifted the El Niño onset location from the eastern Pacific to the western Pacific and caused more frequent extreme El Niño events. Continued warming over the western Pacific warm pool promises conditions that will trigger more extreme events in the future.
The team examined details of 33 El Niño events from 1901 to 2017, evaluating for each event the onset location of the warming, its evolution, and its ultimate strength. By grouping the common developmental features of the events, the team was able to identify four types of El Niño, each with distinct onset and strengthening patterns. Looking across time, they found a decided shift in behavior since the late 1970’s: all events beginning in the eastern Pacific occurred prior to that time, while all events originating in the western-central Pacific happened since then. They also found that four of five identified extreme El Niño events formed after 1970.
Wang and his co-authors focused on the factors that seemed to be controlling these shifts, including increased sea surface temperatures in the western Pacific warm pool and the easterly winds in the central Pacific, and found that with continued global warming, those factors may lead to a continued increase in frequency in extreme El Niño events.
Latest SOLI workshop offers a sneak peak into the program’s future
October 22, 2019 — Climate change represents one of the biggest threats to the success of the seafood industry, but the complexity of its impact on fisheries is a difficult concept to grasp without a formal education on the subject. The Sustainable Oceans Leadership Institute (SOLI) hopes to change that.
Kicking off in 2020, the SOLI program aims to give attendees access to scientists and local stakeholders across the globe to learn more about what affects climate change is having on their communities and way of life.
A New Marine Heat Wave Threatens Hawaii’s Reefs
October 21, 2019 — Parts of the Pacific Ocean are simmering, threatening coral reefs and livelihoods around Hawaii, and causing many to worry of worse to come.
“The ocean is very important to us,” said Ka’imi Kaupiko, who lives in Milolii, a community often called the last Hawaiian fishing village, on the Big Island. The way of life there depends on the fish provided by the reefs, reefs which are now becoming sick in the warming waters.
“It affects a lot of how we are going to survive,” Mr. Kaupiko said.
Researchers said the heat wave was reminiscent of 2014, when a hot spot that became known as the blob began forming in the Pacific. It expanded and lingered over much of the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska for years.
Both marine heat waves are “super unusual,” according to Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nearly every other marine heat wave NOAA has recorded in 40 years of satellite monitoring shrinks in comparison.
“The event in ’14-15 was maybe eight to 10 times the size of Alaska. And the current event we’re having is nearly that big,” Dr. Leising said. “And then, everything else is sort of an even further distant third or fourth.”
Florida GOP Congressmen Back Bill to Help Fisheries With Climate Change’s Impact
October 18, 2019 — This week, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., paired up with a South Carolina Democrat on a proposal to help local fisheries deal with the impact of climate change.
With Mast as the main cosponsor, U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-SC, introduced the “Climate-Ready Fisheries Act” on Tuesday.
“The Climate-Ready Fisheries Act of 2019 directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine what actions have already been taken by fishery managers to prepare for the impacts of climate change,” Mast’s office noted. “The bill also requires the GAO to identify whether any knowledge or funding gaps are hindering action and provide recommendations for how to better adapt fishery management in local communities. It also directs the GAO to offer recommendations for how Congress can enhance our nation’s science and management systems to better address climate change.”
A fish mystery solved using genetic testing
October 17, 2019 — The population of cod in the Northern Bering Sea has increased immensely since 2010, and scientists are using fish DNA to find out why.
Think of it like a genetic ancestry test, but for fish.
Until recently, pacific cod were rarely found in the Northern Bering Sea. A 2010 survey showed cod made up only three percent of the entire fish population. That’s been changing, fast.
A survey in the summer of 2017 showed that number shot up 900 percent.
Ingrid Spies is a research fisheries biologist who led the way on this research to determine whether the population spike is evidence of a growing population or of an existing population migrating from elsewhere?
One thought was that cod could have migrated from Russia or the Gulf of Alaska, where they observed cod numbers decline significantly in 2017. Scientists were able to come to a conclusive answer to the question using genetic testing.
A vast heat wave is endangering sea life in the Pacific Ocean. Is this the wave of the future?
October 17, 2019 — A vast region of unusually warm water has formed in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and scientists are worried that it could devastate sea life in the area and fuel the formation of harmful algal blooms.
The broad swath of warm water, now known as the Northeast Pacific Marine Heat Wave of 2019, was first detected in early June. Now data from weather satellites and buoys show that it measures six to seven times the size of Alaska, which spans more than 600,000 square miles.
Given its size and location, the marine heat wave rivals a similar one that arose in 2014 and persisted for two years. That heat wave, known simply as “the blob,” occupied roughly the same region of the Pacific and became known for triggering widespread die-offs of marine animals including sea birds and California sea lions.
“The moms were going out to get food, but when they couldn’t find anything, they swam off and the babies were just left dying,” Andrew Leising, an oceanographer at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, said of the sea lions and their inability to find enough squid and fish to feed on.
Climate Change Impacts on Fisheries Gains Traction in U.S. House of Representatives
October 17, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina’s coastal First District introduced the Climate-Ready Fisheries Act of 2019 yesterday, a bill addressing the impacts of climate change on the area’s fisheries. Joe Cunningham sits on the Congressional Resources Committee.
The bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Francis Rooney (R-FL), and Jared Huffman (D-CA).
Huffman, Chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee, is conducting a nationwide listening tour this fall and winter to see whether improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed and if so, what they should be. Climate change impacts on fisheries and potential budget increases to management agencies is one topic for discussion.
Cunningham’s bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look at what actions have already been taken by fishery managers, identify information gaps, provide recommendations on how to better adapt fishery management, and prepare fishing industries and communities for the impacts of climate change. It also directs the GAO to make recommendations to Congress on how to enhance the nation’s science and management systems to better address climate change.
“Lowcountry fishermen are some of the hardest working people in South Carolina, and climate change has put their way of life under direct attack. The Climate-Ready Fisheries Act gives our fishermen the tools they need to continue fishing sustainably for generations to come” said Rep. Joe Cunningham. “Ultimately, well-managed fisheries are resilient fisheries. I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to help us learn what is working, what is not, and how we can be the best possible stewards of our natural resources.”
“Healthy waterways are critical to our environment and economy—supporting the businesses in our communities that rely on fishing and tourism to thrive,” Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) said. “This bill will go a long way to protect our local fisheries and promote healthier ecosystems for generations to come.”
The situation in South Carolina’s Low Country (the southern two-thirds of the state’s coastline) may be a microcosm of impacts on fisheries from climate change around the country.
Last Monday Cunningham toured Shem Creek, homeport for many of South Carolina’s commercial fishermen. Over the last three decades, the fleet has shrunk from 70 vessels to only “a handful.”
Among the reasons for the decline are warming waters, increased hurricane activity, a significant decline in shrimp species, as well as other species that may have moved north due to warming waters.
While visiting the area, Cunningham noted, “What I learned today is back in August, the surface water temperatures here in the harbor were like 89 degrees,” he said. “The average in the past has been like 83 degrees. So a six-degree difference is huge.”
As the economy changed, some residents started businesses like an oyster hatchery to develop spawn and create new oyster reefs.
Others, like clam farmer Dave Belanger, worry about runoff from the increasing development in the Charleston area. He said there is no monitoring of herbicides and pesticides used by coastal-area property owners that result in polluted waters of the fishing grounds.
“There’s no long-term natural resource planning,” Belanger told Roll Call’s Lindsey McPherson in an article published yesterday.
“Climate change is affecting our nation’s fisheries and our adjacent oceans’ ecosystems. The Climate-Ready Fisheries Act is an important first step in assuring that we have the information we need so we are prepared to adapt our fisheries to mitigate these impacts,” said Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL).
The bill has support from Ocean Conservancy, National Audubon Society, Earthjustice, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Conservation Voters of South Carolina, Coastal Conservation League, and the Marine Fish Conservation Network.
“We already know that climate change is taking a toll on our fisheries. The big question we now face is what we can do to ensure healthy fish populations and fishing communities for generations to come, despite a changing ocean. The Climate-Ready Fisheries Act will help ensure our fisheries and fishing communities are prepared to deal with climate change by positioning Congress to address barriers and develop solutions to these growing challenges. Ocean Conservancy applauds Congressman Cunningham’s leadership on this important issue,” said Meredith Moore, Ocean Conservancy’s Fish Conservation Program Director.
This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
US bill would mandate report on NOAA, council efforts to address climate change
October 17, 2019 — A bill introduced Tuesday by US representative Joe Cunningham, a Democrat from South Carolina, would make sure climate change’s impact on fish stocks is a focal point for the Donald Trump administration and the regional fishery management councils.
HR 4679, The Climate-Ready Fisheries Act of 2019, would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit a report to Congress examining efforts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the councils and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to “prepare and adapt US fishery management for the impacts of climate change”.
The bill, introduced in the House Committee on Natural Resources, already has three cosponsors, including Florida Republicans Francis Rooney and Brian Mast. Representative Jared Huffman, chair of the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans & Wildlife, also is a cosponsor.
Anchorage talk will dive into ocean acidification’s impact on Alaska marine life
October 16, 2019 — Hundreds of fishery stakeholders and scientists will gather in Anchorage next week as the state Board of Fisheries begins its annual meeting cycle with a two-day work session.
The seven-member board sets the rules for the state’s subsistence, commercial, sport and personal use fisheries. It meets four to six times each year in various communities on a three-year rotation; this year the focus is on Kodiak and Cook Inlet.
The fish board and the public also will learn the latest on how a changing climate and off-kilter ocean chemistry are affecting some of Alaska’s most popular seafood items at an Oct. 23 talk and Q&A on ocean acidification in Alaska.
They may also be surprised to learn that only two studies have looked at salmon response to ocean acidification, and both were conducted outside Alaska.
Most of the research to date has focused specifically on crab and fish stocks, said Bob Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center at the NOAA Auke Bay lab in Juneau who will lead the Anchorage presentation.
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