Saving Seafood

2019 Species Recovery Grant Awardees Announced

August 8, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA announces the award of $6.5 million to states and tribes through its Species Recovery Grant Program. These grants promote the recovery of species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

$3.8 million will support 15 new awards to 11 states and 2 federally recognized tribes. Another $2.7 million will support the continuation of 17 multi-year projects that were approved in prior grant cycles.

States and tribes play an essential role in conserving and recovering species. Threatened or endangered species under NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction may spend all or part of their lifecycle in state waters. Successfully conserving these species depends largely on working cooperatively with states and tribes. This year’s funding supports our state and tribal partners in a range of activities, such as:

  • Reducing or removing significant sources of mortality and injury.
  • Assessing and monitoring species status and trends.
  • Engaging the public in conservation of Endangered Species Act-listed species.

Read the full release here

Latest stab at Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization excludes stickiest provision

July 15, 2019 — The Magnuson-Stevens (MSA) reauthorization bill that Alaska Republican Don Young and New Jersey Democrat Jeff Van Drew introduced last week in the US House of Representatives may have a higher mountain to climb in the 116th Congress than it did in the 115th, but it’ll be doing the hike with at least one major weight off its back.

The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act (H.R. 3697)  does not contain controversial language that would assert that MSA is the top federal statutory authority over the management of the fisheries, giving it power over the Antiquities Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, confirms a review of the bill by Undercurrent News with the help of sources.

That was the language originally contained in HR 200, the bill introduced by Young in January 2017. Following much consternation, especially by ocean conservation groups, the Alaska lawmaker put forth an amendment to have it stricken before receiving a final 222- 93 vote to approve the legislation in July 2018.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

River herring will not be added to endangered species list

June 19, 2019 — The federal government says two species of herring are not at risk of going extinct, and will not be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the government has finished a review of the status of alewife and blueback herring and decided against designating the fish as endangered or threatened.

The fish live on the East Coast and are an important piece of the food chain.

On Cape Ann, the river herring return to the fish run next the West Gloucester water treatment plant off Essex Avenue from the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Little River in the spring. From the river, the alewives swim to the Lily Pond spawning area to begin another life cycle for the important species.

The fish are counted each spring, usually about 2,000, in what is the largest visual count by volunteers in the state.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Environmental Group Sues Over Ice Seal Habitat Decision

June 17, 2019 — An environmental group sued the Trump administration Thursday for failing to designate critical habitat for two species of seals that rely on sea ice off Alaska’s northwest coast.

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service for not designating critical habitat for threatened ringed and bearded seals. Agency spokeswoman Julie Speegle said by email the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Designation of critical habitat for a threatened species is required by the Endangered Species Act a year after a listing. Federal agencies that authorize activities such as oil drilling within critical habitat must consult with wildlife managers to determine if threatened species will be affected.

Center for Biological Diversity attorney Emily Jeffers, who drafted the lawsuit, said by phone from Oakland, California, that additional protections are needed for ringed and bearded seals, which already are losing habitat because of climate warming.

“It’s where the rubber hits the roads in terms of actual protections,” she said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Courthouse News Service

Possible whale-protection strategies? Lobster trap reductions, more traps on one line

June 6, 2019 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources is in the midst of a first round of meetings with the lobster industry, to discuss strategies to cope with an expected 50% cut in the number of “endlines” in the water.

Endlines are the vertical lines that connect lobster traps that are on the ocean bottom with a buoy at the sea surface. The buoy identifies where the traps are, and the vertical lines are used to haul up the traps.

The agency is holding the meetings with Maine’s seven Lobster Management Zone Councils during June to facilitate the development of a proposal that meets targets established by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team for protecting right whales, according to an agency news release.

The team has recommended broad measures for Maine that include removing 50% of vertical lines from the Gulf of Maine and the use of weak rope in the top of remaining vertical lines. The measures put forward by the team are driven by federal laws designed to protect whales. The laws are the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Special Events for Endangered Species Day

May 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Endangered Species Day is an annual celebration and opportunity for people to learn about endangered and threatened species and what we can all do to help them.

Always held on the third Friday in May, Endangered Species Day is on May 17 this year. The Endangered Species Act protects these vulnerable animals. Through conservation and recovery programs, we work to rebuild the populations to healthy levels.

NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center participate in several Endangered Species Day events, listed below.

Through our programs, we hope to increase knowledge and understanding of protected marine species/species of concern from Maine to Virginia, as well as the Endangered Species Act  and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

For more information, please visit our Endangered Species Day website.

Read the full release here

Salmon-eating sea lions targeted at Columbia River dam

May 6, 2019 — More California sea lions preying on imperiled salmon in the Columbia River below a hydroelectric project on the Oregon-Washington border are being killed under a revised policy, federal authorities said Friday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service made public reduced criteria for removing sea lions at Bonneville Dam about 145 miles (235 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean.

The new guidelines that went into effect April 17 permit any California sea lion seen in the area on five occasions or seen eating a fish to be put on a list for lethal removal.

The former criteria required both those marks to be met. Officials say 10 sea lions have been killed so far this year, most as a result of the policy change.

Robert Anderson, the agency’s marine mammal program manager, said the Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force decided to make the change after dissatisfaction with current efforts. A study found the change could increase the number of sea lions killed by 66 percent.

Officials are authorized to remove 92 California sea lions annually from the area, but have never come close to that number. Meanwhile, billions of dollars have been spent in Idaho, Oregon and Washington to save 13 species of Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Canadian-U.S. Lobstermen’s Town Meeting: U.S. and Canadian lobstermen have a whale of a problem

April 17, 2019 — Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher sure knows how to quiet a room.

On April 5, about 100 members of the U.S. and Maine lobster industry — fishermen, dealers, scientists, and regulators — gathered for the 15th Canadian-U.S. Lobstermen’s Town Meeting at the Westin Portland Harborview Hotel in Portland. There they heard Keliher announce that he’d just received an email from NOAA Fisheries announcing that, in order to protect endangered right whales, “the U.S. fishery will likely have to be reduced 60 to 80 percent.”

It’s a testament to the cardiac health of Maine and Canadian lobstermen that the statement didn’t produce a mass heart attack, especially since it came during a discussion of what fishing restrictions might be imposed by NOAA Fisheries this spring to meet the demands of the federal Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection acts.

What almost everyone in the room heard, though, wasn’t all that Keliher said. Thanks to a snafu with the microphone, the audience missed the beginning of the NOAA statement that said “whale mortalities” from U.S. fisheries would have to be reduced by “60 to 80 percent,” not the fisheries themselves.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

State of Alaska petitions federal government to delist Arctic ringed seals under the Endangered Species Act

April 9, 2019 — In the latest chapter of an ongoing debate over the status of Arctic ringed seals, the state of Alaska has petitioned the federal government to take the seals off the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Ringed seals were added to the list back in 2012 because their sea ice habitat is expected to decline significantly in the coming years as the Arctic warms. A species can be designated “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act if it’s likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future through much of its range.

But in its petition, the state says that new research and re-analysis of prior data shows that ringed seals are doing well despite documented sea ice loss, and are likely to adapt to changing habitat conditions.

“They’re the most abundant marine mammal in the Arctic, there’s millions of them, and they’re a very resilient marine mammal as far as we can tell,” said Chris Krenz, the wildlife science coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Krenz said that the “threatened” designation could create hindrances for oil and gas development, as well as for subsistence hunters.

Three North Slope entities are listed as partners in the state’s petition: the North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope.

Subsistence hunting is generally exempt from restrictions under the Endangered Species Act, although the government can put regulations in place if they find that a hunt materially and negatively affects a species protected by the act. There are currently no such regulations for ringed seals, and federal government officials say there are no plans to put any in place.

Read the full story at KTOO

Summary of Action Items for the 177th Meeting of the WPRFMC

April 9, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The 177th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will convene April 12, 2019, via teleconference. The Council will consider and may take action on the issues summarized below, including any public comments on them. Written public comments should be received by the Council’s executive director by 5 p.m. (Hawai’i time), April 10, 2019, by postal mail, fax or email as indicated below. Opportunities to present oral public comment will be provided during the 177th Council meeting.

1. Managing Loggerhead and Leatherback Sea Turtle Interactions in the Hawai’i-Based Shallow-Set Longline Fishery

The Council at its 173rd Meeting in June 2018 recommended amending the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) to establish a management framework for the Hawai`i shallow-set longline fishery that consists of 1) annual limits on the number North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions consistent with the anticipated level of annual interactions that is set forth in the current valid Biological Opinion (BiOp) and 2) individual trip interaction limits for loggerhead and leatherback turtles. The Council also recommended specifications under the framework as follows: 1) annual limits of 37 North Pacific loggerhead and 21 leatherback turtles; and 2) individual trip limit of 5 North Pacific loggerhead turtles.

The Council’s recommendation for specifying the loggerhead and leatherback turtle annual limits was based on the anticipated level of interactions analyzed in the Biological Evaluation (BE) initiating reconsultation of the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation process. As part of its recommendation, the Council noted that it would review its recommendation if the new BiOp from the ongoing consultation results in a jeopardy decision or otherwise results in a different incidental take statement for North Pacific loggerheads or leatherbacks. The new BiOp was originally scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2018, but the draft was not completed in time for the October SSC and Council meeting. Following the October meetings, PIRO set a new timeline to deliver the draft BiOp by January 31, 2019, and a final BiOp by February 28, 2019. Due to the federal government shutdown, draft BiOp timeline was further delayed to March 25, 2019.

At its October 2018 meeting, the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) received a presentation from the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) on the population viability analysis (PVA) for loggerhead and leatherback turtles prepared for the ongoing Section 7 consultation. The modeling was conducted in response to a request by the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) Protected Resources Division for the purpose of examining the long-term viability of the species. PVA results indicate that the North Pacific loggerhead population has a mean estimated population growth rate of 2.4%, while the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population has a mean estimated population growth rate of -5.3%. The growth rates reflect long-term population trends based on nesting beach data representing approximately 52% of the North Pacific loggerhead turtle population and approximately 85% of the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population.

The Council at its 174th Meeting in October 2018 reviewed the Approach to the Assessment for the Biological Opinion and considered the SSC’s report regarding the PVA. The Council recommended convening an interim Council meeting, if needed, to review draft BiOp and consider any revisions to June 2018 recommendations based on the BiOp, and stated that it will reconsider a specification of leatherback individual trip limits if necessary.

The Council convened its 175th Meeting on December 17, 2018, to consider final action on additional mitigation measures for the Western Pacific leatherback turtles in advance of the draft BiOp completion, taking into consideration the results of the PVA model indicating a continuing long-term declining trend of the population. The Council deferred action until the draft Biological Opinion and more complete information on the impacts of the fishery on the Western Pacific leatherback turtles are available to fully inform the Council decision.

At its 177th Meeting, the Council will review its recommendations on the management framework from the 173rd Meeting for consistency with the draft BiOp and may consider taking final action on the management framework.

Read the full release here