haddock Archives - Page 11 of 19

Can you hear me? NOAA studies boat noise and fish

January 8, 2018 — NOAA scientists studying sounds made by Atlantic cod and haddock at spawning sites in the Gulf of Maine have found that vessel traffic noise is reducing the distance over which these animals can communicate with each other.

As a result, daily behavior, feeding, mating, and socializing during critical biological periods for these commercially and ecologically important fish may be altered, according to a study published in Nature Scientific Reports.

Three sites in Massachusetts Bay included two inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a region well known to whale-watchers from the Cape because whales feed in the plankton-rich bank, and one inshore south of Cape Ann. All were monitored for three months by researchers at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) laboratory in Woods Hole, and at the sanctuary offices in Scituate.

Vocalizations, such as Atlantic cod grunts and haddock knocks, were recorded by bottom-mounted instruments at each site during spawning in winter and spring.

“We looked at the hourly variation in ambient sound pressure levels and then estimated effective vocalization ranges at all three sites known to support spawning activity for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock stocks,” said Jenni Stanley, a marine research scientist in the passive acoustics group at the NEFSC and SBNMS and lead author of the study.

“Both fluctuated dramatically during the study. The sound levels appear to be largely driven by large vessel activity, and we found a signification positive correlation with the number of Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracked vessels at two of the three sites.”

AIS is an automatic tracking system, used on ships and by vessel traffic services. It provides information on a vessel, such as its unique identification number, position, course and speed, which can be displayed on a shipboard radar or electronic chart display.

Read the full story at the Wicked Local

Boat noise silencing cod, haddock love songs

December 19, 2017 — Communication among cod comes in the form of vocalized grunts. And for haddock, it’s knocks.

Now it appears that increasing traffic noise from large vessels in the Gulf of Maine may be reducing the range of communication for the two species of Atlantic groundfish, according to research by NOAA Fisheries scientists.

The study, undertaken by scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center and published in Scientific Reports, said the decline in the ability to communicate may generate widespread changes in the species’ “daily behavior, feeding, mating, and socializing during critical biological periods for these commercially and ecologically important fish.”

Cod, for instance, vocalize to attract mates and listen for predators and “not hearing those signals could potentially reduce reproductive success and survival,” according to the study.

Using bottom-mounted instruments to record the cod grunts and haddock knocks, scientists spent three months monitoring the sounds made by the two species at three separate spawning sites within the Gulf of Maine — two inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and one inshore south of Cape Ann.

“We looked at the hourly variation in ambient sound pressure levels and then estimated effective vocalization ranges at all three sites known to support spawning activity in the Gulf of Maine cod and haddock stocks,” said Jenni Stanley, a marine research scientist and lead author of the study. “Both fluctuated dramatically during the study.”

The variations of the sound levels, she said, appear to be driven by the activities of large vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Boston Globe: What’s fair in breaking up Carlos Rafael’s empire?

December 18, 2017 — Randy Cushman, a fourth generation fisherman in Maine, knows what the crimes of Carlos Rafael cost him.

Cushman fishes out of the bucolic village of Port Clyde, population 307, the sort of place many New Englanders might still associate with the region’s storied, struggling fishing industry. Last season, he had to pay $49,000 for fishing quota, most of it for American plaice, a species of groundfish commonly known as dabs. Cushman’s own allowance on the fish ran out after only four days on the water, forcing him to bargain with other fishermen for more.

Up the coast, Rafael had been catching dabs in the Gulf of Maine too. But in an elaborate criminal scheme, the New Bedford fishing tycoon, owner of about 40 vessels, was directing his captains to report dabs as other kinds of fish, often haddock, which is subject to much higher limits. Breaking the rules let Rafael evade the kind of payments that Cushman made. It also depressed prices by flooding the market with black-market fish. Worst of all, the scheme also meant fishing regulators were getting inaccurate information about how many fish Rafael’s empire was scooping out of the Atlantic, bad data that fishermen suspect distorted how scientists analyzed ocean trends, and Cushman believes skewed the way regulators set the amount each fishermen can catch before having to start paying.

“He definitely hurt my business,” Cushman said. Bottom line: “I should have ended up with more allocation on dabs,” he said.

Rafael, whose downfall came after he boasted of his scheme to undercover IRS agents posing as Russian mobsters, is now serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison. The made-for-TV story, complete with an illicit cash buyer in New York, bank accounts in Portugal, allegations of corrupt sheriff deputies, and broad hints that other players on the waterfront must have been in the know, has transfixed New England’s close-knit fishery. Rafael’s arrest has thrust arcane fisheries policies into the spotlight, touched off a political battle between Massachusetts and Maine about the future of his businesses, and raised questions about how fishing regulators can provide justice for his victims and prevent a scheme like his from infecting the fishery again. The feds have already seized some of his permits and four of his boats, but more punishments are widely expected. A spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jennifer Goebel, said the regulatory agency was considering further sanctions against Rafael but that “it’s longstanding NOAA policy not to discuss pending enforcement matters.”

Read the full editorial at the Boston Globe

Fisheries council boosts Gulf of Maine quotas for cod, haddock, pollock

December 11, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council voted to increase cod and pollock quotas for 2018, a move that is expected to benefit New England’s fishing industry.

The council passed a rule Thursday that sets new quotas and has a number of other groundfish adjustments.

The species with substantial quota increases are Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and pollock.

The biggest percentage increases all were in the Gulf of Maine, where haddock has been nearly tripled to 8,738 tons, and pollock doubled to 37,400 tons.

Cod was increased 156 percent on Georges Bank and 39 percent in the Gulf of Maine, both signs of improving health of the cod stock.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

New rules on New England’s ocean habitats expected early January

December 5, 2017 — The federal government is expected to issue new rules on how it manages the ocean habitats off of New England in early January.

The habitats are critical for commercial fishing and marine animals like whales and dolphins. The new rules are likely to have a big impact on the way fishermen harvest important species like clams, scallops, haddock and flounder. They would affect many fishermen along the Connecticut shoreline.

Read the full story at WTNH

Feds taking final comments on new ocean habitat plan

December 4, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government is closing the public comment period on a plan to change the way it manages ocean habitat off of New England.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is looking to change the way it manages the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England waters. The three areas are critical for commercial fishing operations and marine animals such as whales and dolphins.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Haven Register

US fishing rules coming to impact New England scallops, cod harvests

November 29, 2017 — The US’s National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) has released a proposal that could mean dramatic changes for the way fishing is managed off the coasts of the New England states, the Associated Press reports.

The proposed “Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment” from NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, would address the way such species as scallops and haddock are harvested in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and other areas, and how rare whales are protected.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Plan to change New England ocean stewardship up for debate

November 24, 2017 — The federal government is close to enacting new rules about New England ocean habitat that could mean dramatic changes for the way it manages the marine environment and fisheries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has been working on the rules for some 13 years and recently made them public. They would change the way the government manages the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England waters, which are critical pieces of ocean for rare whales, unique underwater canyons and commercial fishermen.

The new rules would affect the way highly valuable species such as scallops and haddock are harvested, in part because it would alter protections that prohibit fishing for species in parts of the ocean. The proposal states that its goal is to minimize “adverse effects of fishing on essential fish habitat.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

New NOAA director seems willing to work with fishing industry

November 20, 2017 — Jon Hare has just completed his first twelve months on the job as science and research director for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. And it’s a big job. But he’s still smiling.

The NEFSC manages the living marine resources of the Northeast Continental Shelf Ecosystem from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras. But Hare’s energy and enthusiasm have been equal to the task, while his willingness to listen and engage with all comers have earned him respect within NOAA and in the larger community. “It’s been a challenge but one that I’ve enjoyed,” he said, sitting down for a wide-ranging discussion at the Fishing Partnership office in New Bedford last week.

There was plenty to talk about but in this city, it begins with fish.

Among its many duties, the Science Center is responsible for conducting the groundfish surveys that determine annual catch limits for each species. Tensions with industry have ensued. Fishermen have frequently been critical of the survey’s methods and findings, convinced that cuts to their quota are a result of flawed science rather than falling stock levels.

There was not a lot of empathy from NOAA in the past but Hare has displayed his willingness to collaborate with the industry. NOAA supports a number of fishing industry-based projects, using commercial fishing vessels, to gather data that can be used to augment the government surveys.

“When any group asks me to meet with them I go. What we do affects them in their day-to-day life and that weighs on me,” he said. “I think now there is more of seeing the pros and cons of a particular piece of science. We need to value different perspectives. We should care what everyone thinks. It’s about communication.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

This fisherman is determined to fight the rising tide of government quotas

November 10, 2017 — There’s another species in the ocean that is slowly disappearing. This one doesn’t have fins, but orange waders, heavy rubber gloves, and fishing tackle. It’s the commercial fishermen. The industry in which they work, fishermen say, is being choked by unmanageable fines and regulations.

Jim Ford of Lisa Ann Fisheries is one of those still standing. Fewer and fewer boats are going out to sea, to Ford’s dismay. While there used to be dozens of draggers going out of Newburyport, he’s now the only fisherman doing it full-time — pulling a net or trawling the rocky seabed to scoop up his catch.

Ford, 47, disagrees that the sea is being depleted. One of his recent 14-hour runs yielded 1,000 pounds of gray sole (worth about $3 a pound at auction), 300 pounds of monkfish, and some flounder. On his 52-foot fiberglass boat, Lisa Ann III, Ford typically steams out at midnight for a three-hour trip to Jeffreys Ledge with two crewmen on deck and a federal observer — a third-party ombudsman — to monitor overfishing.

This government watchman, a stranger with notepad and pen — and sometimes getting seasick — has spoiled fishing excursions for Ford. The thrill of the hunt, the wild unpredictability of the wind and the waves has turned into a list of quotas, trip limits, and gear restrictions.

He hopes that “some day the marine fishery agencies will figure out there’s more cod and other fish in the ocean then they think there is now. The government doesn’t see what I see out there every day.” Still, fishing policies aside, Ford never fails to get excited when the catch sensor blinks, indicating that there’s plenty of fish in the net. “I love fishing. Otherwise, I’d put my anchor down and call it quits,” Ford said. He spoke with the Globe about why he remains hooked.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe