Saving Seafood

Hawaiian Killer Whales Granted Critical Habitat Protection

July 25, 2018 — The federal government has officially listed the coastal areas surrounding the Hawaiian Islands as a protected, critical habitat for the endangered population of false killer whales living there.

The National Marine Fisheries Service published its long-awaited rule Tuesday on the designation of a critical habitat for the whales, which conservationists said is crucial for the “recovery” of a species once considered on the brink of extinction.

Giulia Good Stefani, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s ocean’s project, said in an interview that the designation is a victory that came “in the nick of time” for the small, unique population of whales.

“While it’s tragic that it’s taken so long, we’re thrilled they finally have critical habitat designation,” Stefani said. “We know that listed species with critical habitat [designation] do far better than those without.”

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

CHARISE JOHNSON: The newly endangered species of the Trump era is the Endangered Species Act

July 24, 2018 — The Endangered Species Act itself is currently endangered, as a result of predation by lobbyists, conservatives in Congress and President Donald Trump.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced proposed revisions that would change the way the agencies implement the Endangered Species Act – actions that could lead to the destruction of essential habitat and otherwise preventable species extinctions. And President Trump’s allies in Congress are preparing their own additional attacks on the law, pushing bills in both the House and the Senate that would demolish the scientific foundations of the law.

Speaking to the New York Times, Richard Pombo – a former member of Congress notorious for his hostility to environmental laws who is now paid to lobby for mining interests – says that the Trump administration and Congress are offering “probably the best chance that we have had in 25 years to actually make any substantial changes” in the law.

Read the full opinion piece at NBC News

Trump Administration Proposes Revamping the Endangered Species Act

July 23, 2018 — A decades-old environmental law credited with saving the American bald eagle from extinction would be reworked under a proposal the Trump administration announced Thursday.

Enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, which seeks to prevent plans and animals from becoming extinct, would be changed to make it is easier to remove species from the list of protected ones. The proposal also makes changes that speed the approval process that federal agencies are required to complete before making changes that could harm endangered species, and would weaken protections for critical habitat.

“We are proposing these improvements to produce the best conservation results for the species while reducing the regulatory burden on the American people,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Greg Sheehan, said in a statement. “One thing we heard over and over again was that ESA implementation was not consistent and often times very confusing to navigate.”

The effort underscores the ways the Trump administration is moving to change bedrock environmental laws in a manner long sought by industry. Last month the administration began the process of overhauling the National Environmental Policy Act which requires environmental reviews on projects ranging from oil fields to highways that require a federal permit. The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, has used industry guidance documents and policy memos to dial back its oversight of air pollution under the Clean Air Act.

Read the full story from Bloomberg at Yahoo! Finance

Endangered status of Atlantic sturgeon up for review

March 27, 2018 — Federal fishing regulators say they are conducting a five-year review of threatened and endangered populations of Atlantic sturgeon.

Populations of sturgeon are listed as threatened in the Gulf of Maine and endangered in New York Bight, the Chesapeake Bay and off the Carolinas and South Atlantic.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Endangered Species Act requires the agency to conduct the review to ensure the listings are still accurate. The listings are intended to be based on the best available scientific data.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said last year that a sturgeon stock assessment indicated the population is still very low compared to its historical abundance. They face threats such as climate change, ship strikes and fishing.

Sturgeon suffered overfishing in the 20th century when it was harvested for eggs for caviar.

Shortnose sturgeon are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as an endangered species throughout their range. Atlantic sturgeon are listed as five distinct population segments with those that hatch out in Gulf of Maine rivers listed as threatened, and those that hatch out in other U.S. rivers listedas endangered.

Once thought to number less than 100 in the Merrimack, the river’s shortnose sturgeon population has been on the rebound, researchers have said. Atlantic sturgeon are also found in the Merrimack, up to the Essex Dam in Lawrence.

Two distinct groups of adults, numbering more than 2,000, inhabit the river. One group includes fish born in Haverhill’s spawning grounds, while the other consists of fish born in Maine rivers such as the Kennebec and Androscoggin, which migrate to the Merrimack.

Researchers say that for much of the year, sturgeon are looking for food in the lower part of the Merrimack — from Amesbury to the Joppa Flats in Newburyport — and live there from November to March.

Haverhill is the only place in the river where sturgeon lay their eggs, and that happens in the spring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Climate change threatens coastal life as we know it

March 9, 2018 — The Gulf of Maine is getting warm — quick. From 2004–2013, sea temperatures there rose faster than almost any other location on Earth.

Why it matters: The Gulf is home to a number of endangered species, and the fisheries there bring in several billion dollars per year to the U.S. and Canada, but the Gulf’s future hangs in the balance. Researchers are scrambling to understand what the warming water means for the people and animals who rely on the ecosystem, particularly as the changes there provide a glimpse into the future of coastlines around the world.

Why it’s warming

The Gulf of Maine lies at the intersection of several major ocean currents, including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which moves dense, cold water down and toward the equator. Fresh water from melting sea ice seems to be weakening this current, which could be causing the Gulf to warm faster than other regions.

A combination of cold winters, warm summers, and dramatic tides make the Gulf one of the most productive ecosystems in the ocean. It’s a critical habitat for right whales, seabirds like puffins, humpback whales, bluefin tuna and other species.

Read the full story at Axios

 

ALASKA: Oil spill cleanup under way north of Kodiak

March 1, 2018 — A unified command has been established and efforts for clean-up operations are under way at the site of an oil spill north of Kodiak that supports northern sea otters and Steller sea lions, both of which are listed under the Endangered Species act.

Eagles, waterfowl and seabirds are likely present and Pacific halibut, Pacific cod, walleye Pollock and Pacific herring also are resent in surrounding waters, DEC officials said.

The spill reportedly happened on Feb. 26 after an abandoned building collapsed at Port William on the southern end of Shuyak Island, some 50 miles north northwest of the city of Kodiak. Estimated were that the entire contents of the bladder were released, with up to 3,000 gallons of bunker fuel spilled. The owner of the building had not been identified.

Read the full story at the Cordova Times

 

VIRGINIA: Endangered sturgeon’s return to James River could be hurdle for industry

Dominion seeking federal permit to ‘take’ protected fish after dead ones found in power plant’s water intake

November 17, 2017 — In the James River south of Richmond, endangered Atlantic sturgeon have become so common that observant spring and fall boaters are nearly guaranteed to see one breach. It’s hard to miss — a 6– or 7-foot fish exploding out of the water, as if shot from a cannon, wiggling for a split second in midair, then belly-flopping back into the river with a theatrical splash.

Long-lived and enormous — in its 60-year lifespan it can grow to 14 feet and weigh as much as 800 pounds — the Atlantic sturgeon was harvested to the brink of extinction in the late 1800s. But after a century of marginal existence, this prehistoric-looking fish, with its flat snout and rows of bony plates covering its back, is staging a steady but still fragile comeback in the Chesapeake Bay.

The sturgeon’s increased presence could complicate matters for industrial facilities that draw water from that same stretch of river. In one case, it already has.

After finding two dead sturgeon larvae and one adult in its water intake system in the fall of 2015, Dominion Virginia Power’s Chesterfield Power Station began seeking an “incidental take” permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which would allow the company to continue operating despite a potential impact to the endangered fish. In its application for the permit, Dominion estimated that up to 846 sturgeon larvae and maybe two adult fish per year could be trapped or killed in the intakes over the next decade.

The fisheries service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will determine in the coming months whether to grant Dominion’s Chesterfield plant a federal permit under an Endangered Species Act provision that allows private entities to “take” a given number of an endangered or threatened species in the process of conducting otherwise lawful operations.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Under threat of lawsuit, Maine lobstermen say Canada is failing to protect right whales

November 1, 2017 — A record number of right whale killings this summer has put environmental groups on the offensive, potentially leading to stricter regulations for Maine lobstermen, even as most of the animals turn up dead in Canadian waters.

A group of environmental organizations has notified federal officials they intend to sue if regulatory agencies fail to better protect the endangered species, following what’s believed to be one of the deadliest summers for North Atlantic right whales in centuries.

Maine lobstermen fear that a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service could result in more costly restrictions on how they fish, even though none of the 16 right whale deaths have been directly linked to the American lobster fishery. Twelve of the whale deaths occurred in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where that country’s snow crab fishery has been cited by experts as a likely factor in several of the deaths.

The remaining four were found off Cape Cod.

With this year’s deaths, the total population of North Atlantic right whales is estimated at fewer than 450.

Early this month, the four environmental organizations sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chris Oliver, head of the federal fisheries service, saying that federal regulators are violating the Endangered Species Act by not doing more to protect North Atlantic right whales. The groups specifically called on regulators to determine whether additional restrictions should be placed on the American lobster fishery in order to prevent whales from getting entangled in lobster gear.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

No salmon return to Canada river, bringing New England fears

October 30, 2017 — A conservation group’s discovery that no wild Atlantic salmon have returned to a key river in New Brunswick is prompting concern for the fish’s population health in the U.S. and eastern Canada.

The New Brunswick-based Atlantic Salmon Federation has been monitoring the Magaguadavic River for the Canadian government since 1992. The group says this year is the first time since then that no wild salmon have returned to the river to spawn.

Atlantic salmon were once abundant in rivers of New England and eastern Canada, but they’re now endangered or have disappeared in parts of both areas. The U.S.’s National Marine Fisheries Service is in the midst of reviewing the Gulf of Maine’s population, which is listed endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

About 900 wild salmon entered the river to spawn in 1983, and the fact that none returned this year is bad news for the fish’s population in Maine and Canada, said Neville Crabbe, spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

“It means for the Magaguadavic River, whatever wild salmon that existed there are now extinct,” Crabbe said. “It affects the good work being done on all the rivers.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment Indicates Slow Recovery Since Moratorium; Resource Remains Depleted

October 19, 2017 — NORFOLK, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Sturgeon Management Board reviewed the results of the 2017 Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment, which indicate the population remains depleted coastwide and at the distinct population segment (DPS) level relative to historic abundance. However, on a coastwide basis, the population appears to be recovering slowly since implementation of a complete moratorium in 1998. Despite the fishing moratorium, the population still experiences mortality from several sources but the assessment indicates that total mortality is sustainable. The “depleted” determination was used instead of “overfished” because of the many factors that contribute to the low abundance of Atlantic sturgeon, including directed and incidental fishing, habitat loss, ship strikes, and climate changes.

Atlantic sturgeon are a long lived, slow to mature, anadromous species that spend the majority of their life at sea and return to natal streams to spawn. While at sea, extensive mixing is known to occur in both ocean and inland regions. The Commission manages Atlantic sturgeon as a single stock, however, NOAA Fisheries identified five DPSs of Atlantic sturgeon based on genetic analysis as part of a 2012 Endangered Species Act listing: Gulf of Maine, New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic. Accordingly, this benchmark assessment evaluated Atlantic sturgeon on a coastwide level as well as a DPS-level when possible.

Atlantic sturgeon are not well monitored by existing fishery-independent data collection and bycatch observer programs, and landings information does not exist after 1998 due to implementation of a coastwide moratorium. Because of this, Atlantic sturgeon are considered a “data-poor” species which hindered the Stock Assessment Subcommittee’s ability to use complex statistical stock assessment models, particularly at the DPS-level. Based on the models used, the stock assessment indicated the Atlantic sturgeon population remains depleted relative to historic levels at the coastwide and DPS levels. Since the moratorium, the probability that Atlantic sturgeon abundance has increased coastwide is high and total morality experienced by the population is low. The results are more mixed at the DPS-level due to sample size and limited data, but the Gulf of Maine and Carolina DPS appear to be experiencing the highest mortality and abundance in the Gulf of Maine and Chesapeake Bay DPS is not as likely to be at a higher level since the moratorium.

The Board approved the 2017 Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Reports for management use and discussed the need to support management actions that have contributed to recovery seen to date (e.g., the moratorium, habitat restoration/protection, better bycatch monitoring) and continue to work on improving them (e.g., identifying bycatch and ship strike hotspots and ways to reduce those interactions). It is important to note there has been a tremendous amount of new information about Atlantic sturgeon collected in recent years. Although this does not resolve the issue of the lack of historical data, it certainly puts stock assessment scientists and fisheries managers on a better path going forward to continue to monitor stocks of Atlantic sturgeon and work towards its restoration.

Atlantic sturgeon are managed through Amendment 1 and Addenda I-IV to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Sturgeon. The primary goal of the amendment is to achieve stock recovery via implementation of a coastwide moratorium on Atlantic sturgeon harvest and by prohibiting the possession of Atlantic sturgeon and any parts thereof. The moratorium is to remain in effect until 20-year classes of spawning females is realized and the FMP is modified to reopen Atlantic sturgeon fisheries.

The Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment, as well as the Stock Assessment Overview (which is intended to aid media and interested stakeholders in better understanding the Commission’s stock assessment results and process), will be available the week of October 23rd on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, on the Atlantic Sturgeon webpage under stock assessment reports. For more information on the stock assessment, please contact Dr. Katie Drew, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at kdrew@asmfc.org and for more information on management, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF version of the press release can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59e8e3d9pr51AtlanticSturgeonBenchmarkStockAssmt.pdf