Saving Seafood

Brad Warren & Julia Sanders: Washington’s Initiative 1631 will help fight ocean acidification

November 2, 2018 — We write today to announce our support for Washington’s Initiative 1631. As businesses who rely on healthy fisheries for a significant portion of our income, we believe this is a well-designed policy that offers us – and our customers – the best possible chance against an uncertain future fraught with the threats of changing ocean conditions.

It’s become clear that our fisheries need a lifeline. Here in Washington, we are experiencing the worst ocean acidification anywhere in the world. Research has firmly established the cause of this problem: emissions from burning coal, oil and gas mix into the ocean, altering its chemistry. The consequences loomed into headlines a decade ago when the oyster industry lost millions and nearly went out of business during the oyster seed crisis. Temporary and limited adaptation measures in hatcheries are keeping them in business, but in the rest of the oceans, fisheries that put dinner on billions of tables are at risk. Here in the Northwest, harvests are already being eroded and even shut down by the effects of unchecked carbon emissions.

The “warm blob,” an unprecedented marine heatwave off the West Coast, reached its height in 2015 and caused mass fatalities. In the Columbia River, a quarter-million salmon died. The largest recorded toxic algae bloom shut down the Dungeness crab fishery for months. The food web crashed, and marine creatures were spotted farther north than ever before. Sea surface temperatures never returned to their previous norm, and new research indicates another blob is forming.

Summers have become synonymous with a smoky haze from wildfires causing poor visibility and poor health – this summer the National Weather Service warned even healthy adults in some Washington areas to stay indoors due to hazardous air quality. At the same time, our iconic orca whales are starving from a lack of Chinook salmon. The Chinook in turn are suffering from a lack of the zooplankton that juveniles eat.

Research has made it clear that some of our most lucrative fisheries are vulnerable to ocean acidification: king crab, Dungeness crab, and salmon. Scientists also warm that combining stressors – like warming with ocean acidification – makes survival in the ocean all the more precarious.

Read the full op-ed at Seafood Source

 

Conservation group seeks judgement in California crab gear lawsuit

November 1, 2018 — A year after the Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit against the state of California regarding its Dungeness crab fishery, the conservation nonprofit has requested the judge in the case issue a summary judgement ruling in its favor.

A lawyer for the CBD said the organization filed the motion for summary judgement last week in the U.S. District Court’s North California District in hopes of preventing more animals from getting entangled in the crab traps set by commercial fishermen. Through July, there have been 22 whale entanglements this year, according to the group.

The federal Endangered Special Act prohibits encounters with humpback whales, blue whales, and leatherback sea turtles that could lead to injury or death, and a favorable ruling would force state officials to take action, Kristen Monsell, the center’s ocean’s program legal director, said in a statement.

“Another crab season starts (this month), creating a minefield of heavy gear that migrating whales must navigate,” she said. “We need the court to order state officials to stop causing the injury and death of endangered whales and sea turtles while managing this fishery.”

Judge Maxine M. Chesney isn’t scheduled to rule on the motion until 8 February.

Earlier this year, the state’s legislature passed an omnibus fisheries bill that called for the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife to adopt rules that take into consideration the potential risk for entanglements. Until the regulations take effect, the state could restrict fishing for Dungeness crab in certain areas where the fishery “poses a significant risk” for whales and other marine life.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

California Creates Plan to Curb Ocean Acidification

October 30, 2018 — California officials have created a plan to stop climate change from killing sea creatures and protect the state’s $45 billion ocean-based economy.

Deborah Halberstadt with the California Ocean Protection Council said the ocean is getting more acidic as it absorbs increased amounts of carbon dioxide, which can threaten species key to the fishing industry.

“With climate change we’re seeing warmer oceans. It’s actually changing the chemistry of the ocean water and making it more corrosive,” Halberstadt said. “This has the impact of potentially destroying the bottom layer of the food web.”

Concern began when oysters started dying in the Pacific Northwest.

“The animals can’t develop shells because the water is too acidic and so then they either die or become deformed,” said Halberstadt.

The state’s first California Ocean Acidification Action Plan will analyze and identify the full risk. State officials are worried about the Dungeness crab and salmon populations.

Read the full story at Capital Public Radio

California crabbers manage fallout of whale entanglements

September 12, 2018 — The future of California’s iconic Dungeness crab fishery seemed uncertain after a three-year spike in the number of whales entangled in fishing gear from 2015 to 2017. A warm-water blob, domoic acid and a coinciding of whale migrations and fishing caused by the delayed start of the Dungeness crab season spurred a record number of whales and other marine animals to become twisted in crab gear.

Few fisheries were spared entanglement issues on the Pacific Coast, but California Dungeness crab fishermen came under fire for their lines snaring the largest number of whales. Negative publicity, threats of a federal shutdown and a lawsuit in federal court made California crabbers fear the worst.

But with ocean conditions returning in the direction of normal and state legislative effort looking to head off litigation, crab fishermen can breathe easier. Still, there’s no returning to the way things were.

A fisheries omnibus bill making its way through the California Legislature, (S.B. 1309) would give the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife the ability to implement emergency closures in the Dungeness crab fishery when there’s a “significant risk” of entanglement in a specific area.

The new powers to close the fishery when there’s a threat to marine life would only be effective until November 2020 when the legislation calls for new regulations to be implemented based on the proposals of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group — consisting of commercial fishermen, state and federal biologists and NGO representatives.

The director of Fish and Wildlife would have to give 48 hours’ notice before any closure and would have to allow feedback from the crab gear working group.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Here’s how smartphones are being used to track lost fishing gear

September 5, 2018 — Cell phones are being used by fishermen to bounty hunt for lost fishing gear for pay.

California fishermen created the retrieval project last year along with the Nature Conservancy to get ropes, buoys, pots and anchors out of the water after the dungeness fishery so they wouldn’t entangle whales, and Washington and Oregon quickly followed suit.

“They are using their cell phones and its GPS to take a picture of what the gear looked like, tell when they found it, and any identifying markings on the buoy – the vessel, the ID number, and also the latitude and longitude of exactly where they found it,” said Nat Nichols, area manager for groundfish and shellfish at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game office in Kodiak. He added that gear loss rates in different fisheries can be “anywhere from 3 to 23 percent.”

Under a special permit, the West Coast bounty hunters head out two weeks after the dungeness crab fishery closes to search for derelict gear.

“Dungies tend to be in shallower water and that means there is more wave energy and the gear can get lost or rolled up on the beach. A lot of it has a tendency to move around because it’s in the tidal surge,” Nichols said.

The fishermen get paid $65 for every pot they pull up. The gear then goes back to the original owners who pay $100 per pot for its return.

Saving whales was the prime motivator for pot retrievals on the West Coast. In Alaska’s crab and pot cod fisheries, it’s ghost fishing and gear conflicts.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

West Coast Fisheries Worried El Nino Likely to Return in 2018-19

August 31, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — As salmon and tuna seasons wind down and Dungeness crabbers start thinking about the winter fishery on the West Coast, some wonder: Will El Niño return?

Recent news articles have reported a 70 percent chance of warm waters in the equatorial Pacific will affect the West Coast.

On land, that could mean a dry winter coming after a summer and fall in which smoke from wildfires filled the skies in the West. On the ocean, it could mean warmer waters that may temporarily disrupt an environment that is accustomed to cooler waters. Some fisheries could benefit months or years after an El Niño. Others — some the most commercially important — may have difficult seasons ahead.

“In summary, there is ~60 percent chance of El Niño in the Northern Hemisphere [of] fall 2018 (September-November), increasing to ~70 percent during winter 2018-19,” the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center wrote in an El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion earlier this month.

However, each El Niño and warm water period is different and creates effects to varying degrees. The extreme warm water period in 2015-16, “The Blob,” proved disastrous to Dungeness and rock crab fisheries because harmful algal blooms thrived. It also hampered the ocean survivability of coho salmon. In years past, pink shrimp populations plummeted but then bounced back after El Niño events.

“When El Niño is developing … short-term fluctuations in the near-surface winds [in the Pacific] can have substantial effects,” Emily Becker wrote on a Climate.gov blog in early August. “A period of weaker trade winds can help build El Niño’s warmer surface waters, while a period of stronger trade winds can cool the surface and impede El Niño’s growth. It appears that the trade winds are currently weakening, and may continue to do so through the next week, likely helping push things in the El Niño direction.”

Weather forecasters caution that making any predictions beyond a week to 10 days is uncertain. The Climate Prediction Center will make its next El Niño report and update in mid-September.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

North Coast crabbers haul in above average catch in 2017-18 season worth $42 million

July 5, 2018 — The North Coast had a significantly improved Dungeness crab season this year, hauling in 14.3 million of the 19.4 million pounds of Dungeness crab landed in California so far this season, according to preliminary state data provided to the Times-Standard on Tuesday.

While there were a few obstacles, Trinidad crab fisherman Mike McBrayer said Tuesday that he had a much improved season thanks to a great crew and good weather that permitted him to get out on the water more days.

“And there were crabs, and that’s always a good thing,” McBrayer said.

Preliminary catch data provided by the state shows Trinidad hauled in more than 804,000 pounds of crab worth $2.5 million and Eureka hauled in 4.5 million pounds worth $13.4 million.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist Christy Juhasz said the North Coast region — which also includes Crescent City and Fort Bragg — had an above average year for catch with 14.3 million in landings reported worth about $42 million. Humboldt County ports brought in about $16 million, according to the data.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

Oregon adopts new rules for crab

April 24, 2018 — Harmful algal blooms complicated commercial Dungeness crab seasons on the Oregon Coast for the past three seasons, threatening the viability of the state’s most valuable fishery.

Now fishery managers and industry representatives hope new rules will allow more flexibility for where and how fishing closures occur when toxin levels spike, as well as improve the state’s ability to track contaminated crab through the seafood market.

Traceability measures were put in place on a temporary basis last December. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission made the rules permanent at a meeting Friday in Astoria. The five commissioners present all voted in favor of adopting the new rules, though Commissioner Bruce Buckmaster of Astoria said he did not want to inadvertently penalize companies who already might have efficient tracking systems in place.

He supported the “intent and efforts” of the rules, though, saying, “It is of benefit to the fishing fleet, it’s a benefit to the processors.”

Representatives from West Coast seafood processing giant Pacific Seafood attended Friday’s meeting and had advocated for the ability to use the company’s existing electronic tracking system. They also did not want to have to track the date of crab landed under an evisceration order — when crab is sold with the guts removed. The company’s representatives said it could be difficult to provide these landing dates given the high volume of seafood the company handles and mixed lots with large date ranges that might be pulled out of storage.

Read the full story at the Daily Astorian

 

US seafood not included in Chinese retaliatory trade tariffs

April 2, 2018 — Seafood is not on the list of 128 US products targeted by Chinese retaliatory tariffs.

On Monday China’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) said it would be “suspending tariff concessions” on 128 US products, consisting mainly of US food and drink. Fresh and dried fruits, almonds, pistachios and wine will be subject to an additional 15% tariff. Eight other items, including frozen pork, will be subject to an additional 25% tariff.

The tariffs — announced in direct response to US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, MoC said — are effective Monday and will impact $2 billion worth of US exports to China, said the ministry.

US seafood products will not be levied additional tariffs, however, Undercurrent News can confirm.

US soyabeans – which is used in Chinese aquatic feed production — are also absent from the list, which can be viewed here on the MoC website.

Last year, the US exported $1.3bn worth of seafood to China, making China the US’ largest seafood export market, according to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

US seafood exports to China included $128.7 million worth of live and fresh lobster (HS code 030632) and $51.6m worth of frozen crab (HS code 030614), according to International Trade Center. This included $17.0m of frozen Dungeness crab (HS code 0306144030). None of these HS codes are included on the list.

Chinese tariffs on US seafood would mainly hurt fishing industries in New England, the US west coast and Alaska.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fishin’ Company leading MSC certification effort for Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery

March 14, 2018 — An agreement between the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission and The Fishin’ Company will pave the way for the Dungeness crab fishery in Oregon to seek Marine Stewardship Council certification.

The memorandum of agreement signed on 7 March will see The Fishin’ Company, a Munhall, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based  company that is a major buyer of the crab, provide financial resources and personnel to work alongside the fishery as it enters the MSC pre-assessment process.

“The Oregon Dungeness crab fishery is committed to a sustainable fishery through proven methods of management,” The Fishin’ Company Director of Sustainability Justin Baugh said. “They are focused on continuous improvement through science-based research and we believe the ODCC should be recognized for this and are excited to place our support behind them.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource