Saving Seafood

$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

Lost NOAA Camera Proves Federal Scallop Surveys Should Not Rely on Just One Vessel or Piece of Equipment

May 24, 2016 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

WASHINGTON — The loss of a key piece of scallop survey equipment demonstrates the need for an overhaul of how the federal government assesses the species. The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which represents the majority of the limited access scallop fleet, calls for reforms to how scallop surveys are conducted to prevent such an incident from derailing surveys in the future.

For the past several years, the New England Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) has chartered the Research Vessel (R/V) Hugh R. Sharp to conduct the Federal scallop survey. NEFSC employees work with the crew of the vessel to conduct dredge surveys and tow the HabCam IV habitat camera to take photos of the ocean bottom. Because the R/V Hugh R. Sharp is part of a university consortium, it must be chartered at significant expense and is only available for a limited number of days.

Last Thursday, May 19, 2016, while on the current scallop survey, the NEFSC crew lost the HabCam when it separated from the vessel. According to initial reports, it was inadvertently driven into the side of a known and charted shipwreck while being operated by a volunteer, losing at least a week of valuable sea time. Several knowledgeable sources have suggested that there could be as much as $100,000 in damage. Accordingly, the researchers must return to port to acquire a remote operated vehicle, which they will use to attempt to find the lost HabCam.

FSF has argued for years that the R/V Hugh R. Sharp is too expensive, and the federal survey should not rely on just one vessel or piece of equipment. FSF has urged the NEFSC to charter commercial fishing vessels at a fraction of the cost of the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. It would thus be able to survey more locations at the same cost, and no longer be reliant on one vessel and one piece of equipment.

The HabCam is an expensive piece of equipment. If the researchers do not find the HabCam, the cost of replacement and an incomplete Federal scallop survey will significantly impact the scallop fishery. Even if the researchers do find the HabCam, valuable days at sea will be wasted, leading to a reduction in the amount of seabed that the survey will be able to sample. This is likely to produce less accurate assessments of the scallop population.

Read the release here

Atlantic Scallop Survey Halted Due to Lost HABCAM; Recovery Planned

May 23, 2016 — The following is from an email distributed this afternoon by the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center on behalf of Dr. Bill Karp:

“The R/V Hugh R. Sharp was underway on Friday, May 20 conducting the NEFSC Atlantic sea scallop survey about 75 nm southeast of the entrance to Delaware Bay in 80 meters of water when the survey instrument known as the HABCAM separated from the tow cable and the vessel. We are planning several approaches for recovery, and those efforts should get underway on Wednesday May 25.  The surveying was occurring around a charted wreck, that of the Bow Mariner, and it appears likely the tow cable snagged on it, although this is not yet confirmed.”

“Despite this set-back, we expect to complete most of the planned work, which involves both a dredge and the HABCAM.  If we are unable to use a HABCAM, the gap is most likely to be in HABCAM coverage for the Mid-Atlantic.  We are working now to ensure that dredge sampling is unaffected and to maximize what we can capture using a recovered and repaired HABCAM 4, and/or another HABCAM.”