Saving Seafood

What Fish Fat Can Tell About the Value of Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Habitat

September 22, 2021 — Rockfish have an affinity for structure, whether it is created by rocks, corals, or sponges. But do deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems offer benefits beyond structure? Are fish in these habitats more productive?

A new NOAA Fisheries study is the first to look at the relationship between fish condition and reproductive success in a variety of habitats, focusing on deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems. As part of the study, scientists are developing methods to accurately assess rockfish condition by measuring fat content. For rockfish in Alaska, fat means healthy.

The study looked at the most commercially important rockfish in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands: northern rockfish and Pacific ocean perch. Samples are being collected during 2021–2022 Alaska Fisheries Science Center bottom trawl surveys.

The research addresses a priority of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council: understanding the importance of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems to commercially valuable fish.

“Developing a feasible method to accurately measure fish condition across  Alaska waters during annual surveys will provide a wealth of data to help us understand how habitat influences fish productivity. That knowledge will also help us track how climate change is affecting the ecosystem,” said study leader Christina Conrath, NOAA Fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

The new project is part of NOAA’s Alaska Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Initiative, which is supported by the Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program. The initiative was established to provide the scientific data needed to inform management and protection of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems in Alaska. Discoveries made previously and under this initiative have greatly advanced our knowledge of corals and sponges and their role in Alaska marine ecosystems.

Rockfish in Alaska waters are frequently found in coral and sponge habitat. Previous Alaska Fisheries Science Center research found that rockfish densities were highest in structurally complex habitat. But that research showed no evidence that structure created by corals and sponges was more important than that formed by rocks.

“We know that rockfish get value from structure. But we don’t really have evidence yet that coral and sponge habitat offers benefits beyond structure,” Conrath said. “We’re exploring that.”

Read the full story from NOAA

 

SAFMC Approves Expansion of Shrimp Fishery Access Area Adjacent to Deepwater Coral

September 20, 2021 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

It has been seven years since expansion of the northern end of the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) was approved by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Designed to provide additional protection for the rare, slow growing, deepwater Oculina coral found off the central east coast of Florida, the expansion also included historic fishing grounds for the economically important rock shrimp fishery, shutting off access along the eastern boundary. The initial Oculina Coral HAPC, established in 1984, was the first deepwater coral protected area in the U. S., and its boundaries were developed in cooperation with the rock shrimp industry. Vessel Monitoring Systems have been in place since 2003 for the fishery. Following expansion of the Coral HAPC in 2014, the Council assured rock shrimp fishermen that the area would be reviewed to determine if the historic trawling areas could be reopened. During its quarterly meeting this week, members of the Council voted to approve Coral Amendment 10 to establish the rock shrimp fishery access area. The amendment must be approved by the Secretary of Commerce before the measures are implemented.

The decision to reopen the fishery access area, a narrow strip along the eastern edge of the Coral HAPC measuring approximately 22-square miles, was not without controversy. Over the years, the Oculina Bank has suffered extensive habitat damage due to mobile fishing gear (trawls and dredges) and anchoring. Council members considered recommendations from its advisory panels and received public comment both in support of and against the rock shrimp fishery access area.

Letters in support of the fishery access area included those from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, fishing industry leaders, and a former Council member. Coral biologists, scientists, and environmental groups were among those who expressed concerns that reopening the trawling area could damage existing coral habitat, noting the negative impacts of sediment from trawling activities. “We’ve heard from both sides on this issue and sincerely appreciate all of the letters and public comment received,” said Council Chair, Mel Bell. “After exploring options, including additional mapping and bottom surveys, we felt it important to move forward with this amendment.” If approved by the Secretary, the new regulations would become effective in 2022.

Red Snapper

Discussion of Red Snapper management continued to focus on the challenge of dealing with the increasing number of fish that are released throughout the year as the stock continues to rebuild, and the estimated number of released fish that don’t survive. In June 2021, the Council received the results of the most recent stock assessment for Red Snapper, which indicated that the stock is not yet rebuilt and experiencing overfishing. According to the stock assessment, released fish account for 90% of the fishing mortality for Red Snapper in the South Atlantic.

After receiving a report from its Scientific and Statistical Committee at this week’s meeting, the Council agreed to immediately look at actions to help reduce the number Red Snapper killed by discarding. Measures to be considered include gear modifications (single hook rigs, larger hooks, leader modifications, natural bait prohibition), consideration of a slot limit, increased outreach on best fishing practices, and data collection through the Council’s Citizen Science Project, SAFMC Release. The Council also requested a Research Track stock assessment be conducted for Red Snapper at the next available opportunity. Council members acknowledged the need to consider the multi-species snapper grouper fishery as a whole and will form a work group to lead a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach to reduce discards and increase landed yield across the entire snapper grouper fishery.

As required, the Council will also begin an amendment to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan to revise management parameters for Red Snapper based on the latest stock assessment and recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee. The amendment will incorporate the results of the MSE project and consider additional actions for the snapper grouper fishery to address widespread fishery issues such as discard losses. The Council will receive input from its Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel and continue work during its December 2021 meeting.

The race to rescue Florida’s diseased corals

August 30, 2021 — On any given day, aquarist Sara Stevens whips up a slurry of plankton, amino acids and other powdered nutrients to feed a voracious group of rescued corals. Using a turkey baster, she blasts the cloudy concoction over each colony made up of thousands of individual organisms called polyps, watching as their tiny tentacles slowly extend and envelop the meal. For the especially carnivorous ones housed at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colo., she hand-feeds them full-bodied krill.

This ritual is just one part of the painstaking care Stevens and other aquarists across the country have been giving to a group of corals rescued from disease-ridden waters in Florida. Their future depends on it.

Since 2014, a mysterious illness known as stony coral tissue loss disease has plagued Florida’s reef tract, killing off nearly half the state’s hard corals, whose rigid limestone skeletons provide the architectural backbone of the largest bank reef in the continental United States. By 2018, it became clear that without drastic intervention, these corals would face imminent localized extinction.

“We couldn’t sit back and watch these corals disappear,” said Stephanie Schopmeyer, a coral ecologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

To save them, scientists devised a plan to remove the most vulnerable species from their natural habitat and create a land-based gene bank that would serve as a modern day ark for the animals. They knew that to succeed, time was of the essence and collaboration was key. What followed was an unprecedented effort, in which dozens of federal and state organizations, universities, zoos and aquariums joined forces to rescue thousands of Florida’s endangered corals.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

HAWAII: Marine debris team joins the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project to remove fishing nets from coral reefs

August 30, 2021 — NOAA and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project partner to remove derelict fishing nets from coral reefs across the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Scientists and divers from NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center are teaming up with divers from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project for a 30-day mission to remove marine debris from the islands and atolls within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

The team departed Honolulu on the M/V Imua on Tuesday. We expect the ship to return with more than 110,000 pounds of derelict fishing gear and other marine debris at the end of September.

The 2021 marine debris removal mission will focus on surveying for and removing marine debris from coral reefs and coastal environments. They will be working on Kamole (Laysan Island), Kamokuokamohoali‘i (Maro Reef), Kapou (Lisianski Island), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), Holaniku (Kure Atoll), and Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll).

Read the full story at KITV

SAFMC September 2021 Meeting to be Held via Webinar

August 30, 2021 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation and increasing transmission rates in the region, the September 13-17, 2021meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will be held via webinar. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Charleston, South Carolina.

Briefing book materials for the September meeting are now available from the Council’s website along with an online public comment form. The meeting materials include agendas and overviews for each committee meeting throughout the week along with meetings of the Full Council. Presentations and supporting documents are also included.

Council members will discuss federal management measures affecting:

  • Establishment of an allowable fishing area for the Rock Shrimp fishery along the western boundary of the Oculina Bank Coral Habitat Area of Particular Concern off the east coast of Florida (Coral Amendment 10)
  • Management measures for Red Porgy, Greater Amberjack, Snowy Grouper, and Yellowtail Snapper
  • Catch level recommendations for Red Snapper
  • Information on the current “two-for-one” federal permit requirement for the commercial snapper grouper fishery

The meeting webinar begins Monday, September 13, 2021 with a meeting of the Full Council at 1 p.m. Meetings of the Council’s committees will continue through the week, concluding with a meeting of the Full Council on Friday, September 17th.

Public Comment Session – Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
The Council will accept public comment on agenda items during this time. Public hearing comments will also be accepted for Snapper Grouper Amendment 50 addressing proposed management measures for Red Porgy.

Unless otherwise indicated, the meeting is open to the public via webinar. Registration is required. Register now and receive reminders as the meeting date approaches.

Meeting materials, the online public comment form and additional meeting information are all now available at: https://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/.

‘Sticky questions’ raised by study on coral reefs

August 12, 2021 — A new UBC study on the impact of climate change on coral reefs is raising sticky questions about conservation.

It found coral in more polluted and high traffic water handled extreme heat events better than a more remote, untouched reef.

The new study, conducted with researchers from the Republic of Kiribati’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resource Development, focused on two atolls in the Central Pacific, located 59 kilometers apart.

“Because of El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which causes ocean temperatures to fluctuate along the equator from year-to-year, these  experience heat stress more often than reefs in other parts of the world,” says the study’s lead author Sara Cannon, a Ph.D. student at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the department of geography.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Multi-Year Effort to Observe Seafloor Habitats and Learn More about Deep-sea Corals and Sponges in Alaska

August 10, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

To learn more about deep-sea communities in the sub-Arctic waters of Alaska, NOAA Fisheries is implementing a four-year science initiative. Research teams will collect new information that will contribute to the management and protection of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems throughout Alaska.

Corals and sponges are found throughout Alaska’s rich marine waters—the Aleutian Islands have some of the densest and most diverse coral and sponge communities in the world. However, their full geographic extent is still unknown.

This is due in part to the vastness of Alaska’s exclusive economic zone. These offshore waters encompass an area greater than the combined EEZ of all the other U.S. continental states. As a result, approximately 72 percent of Alaska’s waters have yet to be thoroughly mapped with sonar.

“It’s really important that we conduct this research now. So much of the sub-Arctic and Arctic is changing due to climate change and we know so little about these seafloor communities and valuable fish and crab habitats,” said Jerry Hoff, the lead scientist for this effort, who is based at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full release here

NOAA’s Exploration and Research Efforts Inform Management Decisions for Deep-Sea Coral Communities

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program is participating virtually in NOAA Ocean Exploration’s current expedition to map and explore the New England and Corner Rise seamounts in the high seas (or international waters) of the North Atlantic. Equipped with a remotely operated vehicle and telepresence technology, the team aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer transmits video data in real time to shore-based scientists who help to guide the exploration and contribute their expertise during dives.

The data collected from NOAA’s deep-sea exploration and research efforts improve our scientific understanding of the diversity and distribution of deep-sea coral communities. This information will guide future exploration activities in the region. It will also aid resource managers in developing and evaluating management options for these valuable habitats—on which U.S. fisheries and communities depend.

Seamounts Are Habitat for Deep-Sea Corals

The New England and Corner Rise seamounts form chains of rocky underwater islands. During the expedition, researchers have found an abundance of corals and sponges on the slopes of most seamounts. While diving on the Rockaway Seamount at a depth of approximately 2.6 miles (4,200 meters)—one of the deepest dives ever conducted in the region—the team observed a greater abundance of corals and sponge life than expected. These particular seamount chains may be hot spots of biological diversity for deep-sea corals and sponges.

Deep-sea corals and sponges create structurally complex habitats that support rich and vibrant communities of other species. Most deep-sea corals grow extremely slowly, and if damaged, they may take centuries to recover, if they recover at all. Deep-sea coral communities are vulnerable to damage from certain fishing gear, some energy exploration and development, cable deployment, and other activities that disturb the seafloor. Of the human activities that threaten deep-sea coral habitat, seafloor trawling is widely considered to have the greatest potential for damage. The Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organization has recognized the New England and Corner Rise seamounts as vulnerable marine ecosystems and closed them to bottom fishing.

Read the full release here

New coral protections off New England take effect this month

July 19, 2021 — New coral protections are scheduled to take effect in the waters off New England later this month.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has published new rules designed to protect corals on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Those are two key commercial fishing areas off the New England coast.

The new protections take effect on July 26. One of the new rules establishes the Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area, which is located on the outer continental shelf in New England waters.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Reminder: Coral Protection Areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine

July 12, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On June 25,  NOAA Fisheries published a final rule to designate coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine.  This action becomes effective on July 26.

This action:

  • Establishes the Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area. This area is on the outer continental shelf in New England waters. It complements the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area established by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in January 2017.
  • Prohibits bottom-tending commercial fishing gear (with the exception of red crab pot gear) in the Georges Bank Coral Protection Area to protect deep-sea corals.
  • Designates the Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge Coral Protection Areas in the Gulf of Maine. Vessels are prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in these areas. Vessels are still able to fish for lobster in these areas using trap gear.
  • Designates the Jordan Basin Dedicated Habitat Research Area in the Gulf of Maine as a dedicated habitat research area.

Read the full release here