Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Shortage Of Oysters And Quahogs Expected In The Next Few Years

October 16, 2020 — The number of quahogs and oysters in Falmouth waters will drop precipitously in upcoming years as a result of the pandemic and a lack of manpower needed to manage the shellfish.

The normal 2020 shellfish growing efforts by the Falmouth Marine and Environmental Services department was canceled as the town took social distancing precautions. R. Charles Martinsen III, deputy director of Falmouth’s MES department, estimates there will be a loss of 750,000 to 1 million oysters and a couple million fewer quahogs in years to come.

“We will start to see the loss on recreational oysters in the fall of 2021,” Mr. Martinsen said, based on the animals’ growth cycle. Future recreational oyster propagation will continue as planned in the 2021 growing year.

“Quahogs take an extra year to grow, so that loss is expected for 2022 in both the commercial and recreational shellfishing area. The harvestable oysters were grown last year, and harvestable quahogs were propagated two to three years ago,” he said.

The legal minimum size for oysters is 3 inches in length. The legal minimum harvest size for quahogs is a 1-inch thickness at the hinge.

Read the full story at The Falmouth Enterprise

MASSACHUSETTS: Falmouth and New Bedford Battle Across Buzzards Bay for NOAA Headquarters

October 15, 2018 — A dispute across Buzzards Bay may break out between Falmouth and the City of New Bedford.

The Falmouth Board of Selectmen has been working to keep the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Other elected officials in the area have also been lobbying for NOAA to keep the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole for weeks.

In late September, Falmouth selectmen teamed up with Barnstable County state representatives and state senators, area chambers of commerce, directors from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Woods Hole Research Center to pen a letter to the federal agency urging them to stay put in the small section of Falmouth.

Operations Chief of the NOAA Fisheries Science Center Garth Smelser responded to that letter, and met with Falmouth and Barnstable County officials on Friday to discuss the possible move.

“For almost 150 years we’ve been studying fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds and the marine environments that sustain them, and right here in Barnstable County we have over 300 employees and contractors that complete that work. The Fisheries Commission started right here in our community. We’ve been doing wonderful marine science for those 150 years,” Smelser told elected officials. “Yes, we are very proud of our presence in Woods Hole, but we’re much bigger than just Woods Hole. We have 225 federal staff and 165 contract staff spread around the east coast from Orono, Maine all the way down to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The majority of our folks are centered in Woods Hole, but we’re just as proud of our other people.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Falmouth researchers discover new information about whale songs

November 7, 2016 — A group of Falmouth-based researchers has gained new insight into the songs of the humpback whale.

When a whale sings, physical vibrations can be felt around the animal. A team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that these vibrations, known as particle velocity, can be felt much farther away than originally thought.

“Particle velocity is kind of the long bass that you feel when a car is approaching you. You can hear the sound far away, but you can also feel the vibration,” said Aran Mooney, a Woods Hole biologist. “But sound doesn’t travel as well in air as it does in water.”

In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, the Woods Hole team detailed their findings from studying a group of humpback whales off the coast of Maui. Mooney said they measured vibrations from about 200 meters away from the whales, but believe they could be felt as far as one kilometer away.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Scientists to meet with public about overfished flounder

July 11, 2016 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — Scientists will meet with fishermen and the public about the future of a flounder species that regulators say suffers from overfishing.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole will hold the meeting at 10 a.m. July 26 to talk about witch flounder, a popular food fish caught off New England. Federal regulators say the witch flounder is overfished.

The scientists will answer questions relating to an upcoming assessment of the witch flounder stock. They will also take comments from the public.

The catch of witch flounder has fallen from more than 6.4 million pounds in 2004 to a little more than 1.2 million pounds in 2014. Scientists say that’s still too much because the fish’s reproductive rates have been lower than expected.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA Eyes Possible Move from Woods Hole

May 27, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is zeroing in on a new home for its Northeast Fisheries Science Center, a mainstay in the culture and economy of Woods Hole. The federal agency said last week that it has narrowed its search to Barnstable County, which includes all of the Cape, and would keep the center closer to research partners in the area.

NOAA began assessing its Woods Hole complex more than a year ago, in light of dwindling office and laboratory space and other concerns. As a first step, a feasibility study is expected to be completed this summer or fall, although a final decision about whether and where to relocate is likely years down the road.

But NOAA representative Teri Frady told the Gazette that the process is moving forward.

“The analysis thus far has reviewed many locations across the region and based on needs and partnerships, Barnstable County has been selected as the best fit for a potential facility re-capitalization,” she said in an email.

The original list had included New Bedford, Narragansett, R.I., and Groton, Conn. In recent months since the plans emerged, officials in New Bedford and elsewhere have lobbied for NOAA to come to their towns, while the Falmouth selectmen have pleaded for the science center to stay put.

But it may not be as simple as picking up and leaving, said Bill Karp, the center’s director of science and research.

“There are a number of different options on the table,” Mr. Karp told the Gazette. “One possibility is that we would maintain some presence on the waterfront in Woods Hole, and then have a second facility upland. But there is a lot of moving parts to this.”

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Sale of sea scallops to fund research on loggerhead turtles

April 12, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Organizations in five states will receive more than $15 million for marine science research projects funded by the sale of sea scallops.

One of the projects seeks to understand the impacts of sea scallop fishing on loggerhead sea turtles through the use of satellite tagging. Coonamessett Farm Foundation Inc. of Falmouth, Massachusetts, is the lead investigating organization on that effort.

Recipients of the grants are located in Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia. They range from universities and educational organizations to commercial fishing businesses.

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

MASSACHUSETTS: Push on to move science center to fishing hub of New Bedford

April 5, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The federal government is considering renovating one of the oldest and most influential marine science centers in the country, prompting some to lobby for the facility to relocate across the bay to New Bedford, the nation’s commercial fishing hub.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has been in the Falmouth village of Woods Hole since 1871. The current home was built in the 1960s and is surrounded by younger scientific organizations.

New Bedford is about 15 miles northwest of Woods Hole across Buzzards Bay but about 40 miles when traveling by land.

The federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering a renovation plan for the science center, which is aging, crowded and short on laboratory space. A consortium of local and state officials from the New Bedford area is lobbying for the center to move to the historic city, which is the country’s top ranking fishing port in dollar value.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Boston Herald

RON SMOLOWITZ: Working the system makes the system unworkable

April 4, 2016 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — As the owner of Coonamessett Farm in Falmouth and a partner at the Woods Hole Oyster Co., I spend as much time navigating regulatory hurdles as I do tending the farm or going to sea. Many farmers and fishermen have similar fights with overbearing bureaucracy, something likely to become more common as the noose of government regulations tightens.

The most recent regulatory push in Massachusetts is to ban the farming of caged chickens. I theoretically stand to benefit from this, as my free-ranged eggs would increase in value. But this doesn’t consider the regulatory system that will be imposed on my farm to ensure compliance. My farm currently allows visitors to pick their own eggs, an activity that kids enjoy but that will be illegal, I’m sure, under any regulations. The federal Food Safety Modernization Act, a result of food safety advocates working the system in Washington, continues to evolve as the Food and Drug Administration encounters hurdles to its enforcement. In some respects it resembles the farm animal protection initiative being advocated in Massachusetts, but it targets every crop on the farm. Looking at the FDA’s guidelines, I don’t think I can find a workaround to keep farming and sell to the public. I certainly won’t be able to allow the public on the farm or be allowed to keep my farm animals, given concerns about the proximity of animal dung to farm crops.

Things aren’t much better out at sea. I do a substantial amount of research for the scallop industry, and sustainability is the key reason scallop management is a continued successes. Through a system of rotational management, certain zones are fished while others are left off-limits to allow them to repopulate. Much as with farmland, this system allows the resources to remain sustainable.

Read the full column at the Cape Cod Times