Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Gov. Christie’s administration preserves Delaware Bay Wetlands

February 10, 2017 — The Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program has completed the $620,000 purchase of a wetlands area along Delaware Bay in Cumberland County that will protect habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

The DEP used $462,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program and $158,000 from the Green Acres Program to purchase 204 acres of bay wetlands and upland buffers in Maurice River Township. The land will be added to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Heislerville Wildlife Management Area.

“We are very happy to preserve this land for use by a wide variety of wildlife species, including various types of waterfowl, shorebirds, bird of prey, and wading birds,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin in a press release. “The Delaware Bay region is truly a special place, remarkable for its beauty and opportunities for diverse wildlife-related activities, including hiking, fishing, hunting and bird watching.”

Ecotourism is a growing industry in New Jersey, especially in places such as the Delaware Bay region, where nature lovers converge to watch migrations of shorebirds, birds of prey such as eagles, osprey and hawks, and even butterflies and dragonflies. The Delaware Bay region is home to the state’s largest concentration of bald eagles, and is a critical stopover for migrating shorebirds.

Read the full story at the New Jersey Herald

NOAA Fisheries Asking Boaters to Watch for Right Whales

December 2nd, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries is warning boaters to watch out for the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales.

The whales are now migrating south for the winter and to help protect them, NOAA fisheries has designated several Seasonal Management Areas along the U.S. East Coast.

In the areas, which include Block Island, the Ports of New York/New Jersey and the entrance to Delaware Bay, vessels greater than 65 feet in length must not exceed speeds of 10 knots, through April.

The purpose of the regulation is to reduce the likelihood of deaths and serious injuries to the endangered whales that result from collisions with ships.

Read the full story at Capecod.com

Harvest of horseshoe crabs for medical use up for discussion

October 25, 2016 — Interstate fishing regulators who want to get a firmer handle on how many horseshoe crabs die as part of their harvest for biomedical use are meeting this week to discuss the issue.

The crabs are harvested for their blue blood, which is used to make sure medical products aren’t contaminated. Their blood contains a chemical that can be used to detect bacteria.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted this summer to propose taking into account the death toll associated with medical harvesting when determining how many horseshoe crabs can be harvested from the Delaware Bay.

The commission is meeting on Wednesday to discuss next steps.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Population Sought by Researchers

August 19, 2016 — Researchers are looking for answers with regard to determining a horseshoe crab’s survival in the Delaware bay.

Regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission say they need to get a firmer grip on how many horseshoe crabs die in association with medical harvesting.

The crabs are harvested for their blue blood, which contains coagulogen, a chemical that can be used to detect bacteria in medical products.

Read and watch the full story at SNJ Today

Regulators study horseshoe crab survival in medical harvest

August 17, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Environmental regulators studying the harvesting of horseshoe crabs that are drained of some of their blood for biomedical use say they need to get a firmer handle on how many die as part of the process.

The crabs, which have been on earth for hundreds of millions of years and are older than dinosaurs, are harvested because their blood contains coagulogen, a chemical used to make sure medical products aren’t contaminated by bacteria. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate authority, voted this month to propose taking into account the death toll associated with medical harvesting when determining the number of horseshoe crabs that can be harvested from the Delaware Bay.

The medical harvest of horseshoe crabs is about 500,000 crabs per year. The prehistoric-looking crabs typically are taken to labs, are drained of about a third of their blood and then are released alive into the same bodies of water where they were found, a spokeswoman for the commission said on Tuesday.

It’s unclear how many of the crabs die in the process, but the estimate is about 15 percent, said Kirby Rootes-Murdy, a fishery management plan coordinator with the fisheries commission. A firmer idea of how many die is important because of the crabs’ place in ecosystems, such as their role as a food source for endangered birds, Rootes-Murdy said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Virginian-Pilot

ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Management Board Initiates Draft Addendum to Modify Adaptive Resource Management Framework for the Delaware Bay Region

August 8, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Board approved development of Draft Addendum VIII to the Horseshoe Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Draft Addendum will propose changes to the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, which is used annually to set harvest specifications for the Delaware Bay states, taking into consideration horseshoe crab abundance and red knot forage needs.

This action is in response to a recent technical review, which suggested changes to the ARM Framework, including the incorporation of mortality associated with biomedical bleeding activities into the Framework, and the exploration of options that allow for the harvest of female horseshoe crab in the Delaware Bay Region. In its review, the ARM Subcommittee suggested mortality associated with biomedical activities due to capture, handling, or post-bleeding stress and could be considered to be a form of harvest and recommended its inclusion in the Framework. This source of mortality had not been included in the ARM Framework as initially established in 2012.

The ARM Framework currently presents five harvest packages to ensure the sustainable annual harvest of horseshoe crab in the Delaware Bay Region. While the Framework can produce harvest packages that include female crab harvest, the threshold for horseshoe crab abundance precludes allowing for female harvest at this time. However, the Board expressed interest in exploring alternatives that allow for female harvest without compromising the integrity of the ARM Framework. As a result, the Draft Addendum will present alternative harvest packages which allow for female harvest. Further, the Draft Addendum will propose incorporating mortality associated with biomedical bleeding activities into the ARM Framework. The Draft Addendum will be presented to the Board for its consideration and possible approval for public comment at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in October 2016.

The ARM Framework was developed by the Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey in recognition of the relationship between horseshoe crab eggs and shorebirds in the Delaware Bay Region. The ARM predicts the optimal strategy for horseshoe crab bait harvest in the Delaware Bay Region while accounting for the need for successful red knot stopover feeding during migrations through the region.

Additionally, the Board tasked the Technical Committee with developing a proposal to test the use of alternative bait in the whelk and eel fisheries. The Board will review the proposal in October 2016. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

The Menhaden Fish – A Staple of Lewes’ Colonial Economy

June 27, 2016 — Little did we know that one fish – not even edible fed generations of Lewes Delaware seamen and their families.

The menhaden fish is a fisherman’s fish, meaning schools of 1,000 to 100,000 provide the universal food of larger fishes and attract them to their spawning grounds.

In Delaware Bay and the shallow reaches of the Atlantic Ocean, these small fishes – under fifteen inches tops – attract larger fish which made their way to many a dinner table.

More importantly, the menhaden fish, scaly, oily and fleshy, provided the oil for the colonial streetlamps and most of the colonial economy prior to the whale oil industry taking off out of New Bedford, Mass.

This kept tiny Lewes, first town in the first state, well-employed and well-off. The shipbuilding industry took off in Lewes as early as the seventeenth century, to provide small boats that launched many a fisherman’s career.

Read the full story at NPR Delaware

NOAA recovers $450K scallop survey camera lost underwater last week

May 31, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Scientists and crew members aboard a NOAA-chartered research vessel have recovered a $450,000 scallop survey camera that was lost a week ago when it apparently snagged on an underwater shipwreck southeast of Delaware Bay, a NOAA spokesperson said.

“We are pleased, relieved, and preparing to move forward with our (scallop) survey for this year,” Susan Gardner, acting deputy director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in a press release.

The Science Center owns the instrument, a habitat mapping camera known as a “HabCam.”

The camera appears to have only “minimal damage” on its exterior and is being tested by scientists, NOAA said.

Government surveys affect future catch limits for scallops, which is the highest-value species, by far, in New Bedford’s $330 million fishing industry.

Teri Frady, spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said scientists aboard the Hugh R. Sharp research vessel were conducting scallop surveys about 75 miles southeast of Delaware Bay, which separates New Jersey from Delaware, when the HabCam “separated from the tow cable and the vessel” in about 80 meters of water May 20.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

How do you get a $450,000 camera off the bottom of the sea?

May 26, 2016 — The following is excerpted from a story published today by the Boston Globe:

Shortly after dawn last Friday, the R/V Hugh R. Sharp was towing a sophisticated array of sensors and cameras along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Then suddenly, the research vessel shuddered.

Within seconds, the line went slack, and the team of scientists and volunteers realized the $450,000 camera system was lost, somewhere off the Virginia coast.

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they believe the cable connecting to the camera system, known as HabCam, snagged on the remains of the Bow Mariner, a well-known wreck in the area.

The scientists lost contact with the HabCam as a college student was piloting it. HabCam, which is about 10 feet long and weighs 3,700 pounds, was at a depth of about 240 feet, some 90 miles southeast of Delaware Bay.

The Sharp has only several weeks available in the spring to survey scallops, which last year had a catch valued at nearly $425 million, more than three-quarters of which went to fishermen in New Bedford.

Those representing fishermen said they’re deeply concerned about the prospects for this year’s survey.

“This will create uncertainty in the scallop assessment, meaning there’s a greater chance that we’ll catch too few scallops, which will be a short-term loss, or too many, which will be a long-term loss,” said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney for the Fisheries Survival Fund, a trade group that represents scallopers throughout the Northeast.

Some in the fishing industry blame NOAA for allowing a college student to pilot the HabCam. They also raised questions about whether the incident occurred as a result of problems with another NOAA ship, the Henry B. Bigelow, which required unexpected maintenance this spring that delayed its survey of groundfish stocks more than ever before.

“I’m told that because of the Bigelow fiasco, [NOAA] transferred more experienced people from the scallop survey to the groundfish survey to try to make up for lost time,” said Robert Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, a Washington-based group that represents the fishing industry.

“Since the volunteer wasn’t as experienced, and since the captain was apparently driving directly into the path of a 600-foot sunken tanker, they didn’t react quickly enough,” he added.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

$450K NOAA scallop camera snared by sunken ship; loss could affect scallop catch limits

May 25, 2016 — The following is an excerpt from a story published in the New Bedford Standard-Times today:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Researchers on a NOAA-chartered vessel lost a $450,000 camera that was being towed underwater Friday when a cable apparently snagged on a sunken ship near Delaware Bay, delaying vital scallop surveys and frustrating representatives of scallopers in the northeastern U.S.

Government surveys affect future catch limits for scallops, which is the highest-value species, by far, in New Bedford’s $330 million fishing industry.

Teri Frady, spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the Hugh R. Sharp research vessel was conducting scallop surveys about 75 miles southeast of Delaware Bay, which separates New Jersey from Delaware, when underwater equipment known as a HabCam “separated from the tow cable and the vessel” in about 80 meters of water.

“The surveying was occurring around a known wreck, that of the Bow Mariner, and it appears likely the tow cable snagged on it,” a NOAA statement said.

Frady said efforts to find the HabCam — short for “habitat camera” — will begin Wednesday, with NOAA crews using an underwater rover to search near the shipwreck.

She said NOAA expects to complete most of its planned scallop survey despite the costly mishap, by relying on dredge surveys — which scoop up portions of the sea floor — and resuming photo surveys after the lost HabCam is found and repaired, or replaced.

Frady said the lost HabCam is insured, and its $450,000 value would be roughly the cost of building a replacement.

The Washington, D.C.-based Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents more than 250 scallop vessels in the northeastern fishery, said the incident has broad implications.

“The loss of a key piece of scallop survey equipment demonstrates the need for an overhaul of how the federal government assesses the species,” said a Survival Fund statement released Tuesday.

Survival Fund attorney Drew Minkiewicz said he was “frustrated, to say the least,” by the HabCam’s loss.

“It’s an accident that shouldn’t have happened — the wreck is well-known and its location is well known, so the captain shouldn’t have been towing in that area,” Minkiewicz said. “It’s going to take them over a week, of the very limited time on the research vessel Sharp, to get back on the survey. …We’re going to lose data.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times