Saving Seafood

Whales are dying along East Coast—and scientists are racing to understand why

March 14, 2019 — On a blustery winter afternoon off the coast of Virginia Beach, people are pressing forward on the bow of the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center’s whale watching boat as a dorsal fin breaks the surface. Cameras click in staccato for a second or two before the humpback whale dives to feed again.

The relatively small dorsal fin belies the humpback’s size. Calves weigh about a ton. Adults can grow heavier than a yellow school bus loaded with kindergarten students. Few things that swim in the sea can break their bones.

A mile to the north, however, by the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a massive cargo ship is pushing south toward the whales. On this Saturday in late January, these humpbacks are swimming in traffic in the shipping channel that leads vessels to and from some of America’s busiest ports. These shipping vessels are one of the few true physical threats to humpback whales.

“Those big ships, they’re churning up the water and the fish are coming through and that’s what the whales are going for,” says Mark Sedaca, captain of the 65-foot Atlantic Explorer on this whale watching trip.

Read the full story at National Geographic

Ghost gear a growing threat

November 26, 2018 — KAPAA, HI — There’s more haunting the humpback whale migration from Alaska to breeding grounds in Hawaii than shipwrecks — ghost gear also litters the 6,000-mile journey.

These lost or abandoned nets, lines and traps can get caught on migrating whales and other marine animals, causing drag and exhausting them or cutting into their bodies after becoming wrapped around tails or fins.

Dozens of organizations worldwide work to reduce ghost gear in the ocean and Surfrider Kauai has spent the last two years partnering with federal, state and nonprofit organizations to remove more than 369,393 pounds of marine debris from circulation.

The Hawaii Nei Marine Debris Removal Project just wrapped up and, since 2016 team members and volunteers have conducted 137 community cleanup events and 668 derelict net recovery patrols to remove line, plastic, nets and other debris from Hawaii oceans.

Read the full story at The Garden Island

Entangled: Making The Sea Safer For Whales

November 1, 2017 — More than 30 times this year, the federal government has received reports of whales tangled in fishing gear along the West Coast. Sometimes the whales manage to wriggle free. Other times you see heart-rending pictures on the news or a rescue mission.

The culprit often involves Dungeness crab pot lines. Now Oregon crabbers are working with marine scientists to make the seas safer for whales and to avoid a black mark on their brand.

Bob Eder has fished commercially out of Newport, Oregon for decades.

“Over 45 years of pulling crab pots—I think I’ve probably hauled in close to a million—I’ve never encountered an entangled whale,” he said.

‘We want to be proactive’

Eder often sees whales at sea and recognizes just one bad outcome blamed on fishing gear could be all it takes to cause a PR nightmare. Whale numbers are up, but so are sightings of humpback whales, gray whales and the odd blue whale entangled in fishing lines and buoys—especially in California.

“We want to get out ahead of it. We want to be proactive,” Eder said. “We don’t want to be sued by the Center for Biological Diversity. We want to see what we can do to mitigate the situation.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is an environmental group and it did just sue the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The group wants a federal judge to order the state regulator to make crab fishermen do more to avoid harm to endangered whales.

Crab traps themselves are not the problem, but rather the heavy-duty ropes stretching from the seafloor to one or more buoys at the surface. Whales can snag a fin or a tail and get all tangled up if there’s too much slack in the vertical line or excess floating on the surface.

“They normally don’t come in where our gear is,” Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission Executive Director Hugh Link said. “But when we get warmer water and the feed comes in closer to shore, then we have an issue.”

Link and Eder are two members of a work group of crabbers, marine biologists and government agency and nonprofit representatives. They’ve been meeting in Oregon since March.

A grant from NOAA Fisheries launched what is known as the Oregon Whale Entanglement Work Group, which is facilitated and now supported by Oregon Sea Grant. Washington state crabbers and other interested parties plan to meet in Montesano on November 8 to hear an update on whale entanglements and discuss whether the Washington-based/the local fleet should launch a proactive work group too.

The work group agreed to distribute a flyer to crab boat operators ahead of the season opener next month with best practices for setting and tending gear. Oregon and Washington also have programs to retrieve lost or derelict fishing gear. The work group next plans to survey the fleet about potential season modifications and area closures to keep whales away from gauntlets of ropes.

Read the full story at KUOW

 

Hope After Tragedy: New Stranded Marine Mammal Plan Coming After Humpback Whale Euthanized

February 7, 2017 — Hope was born from tragedy at a community meeting to discuss the stranding, and eventual euthanization of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay that left hearts broken and fueled residents to ignite a fire for change.

More than 100 residents turned out Tuesday at a community meeting organized to present information related to the November 2016 stranding of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay, which took place at Brookhaven Town Hall in Farmingville.

“We were really pleased to see such a strong turnout and to hear from so many people. We look forward to working with the passionate Long Island community and our local stranding partners to develop new resources and new capacity for marine mammal stranding response,” said Jennifer Goebel, media relations, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Westhampton Patch

NEW YORK: Community Meeting On Stranded Humpback Whale Takes Place Tuesday

February 6, 2017 — An agenda has been released for Tuesday’s community meeting organized to present information related to the November 2016 stranding of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region division, a community meeting will take place on Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Brookhaven Town Hall, located at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville.

The meeting is free and open to the public. The goal, organizers say, is to “provide an overview of the incident, lessons learned, and plans for future responses in New York for community members. Panelists will also receive comments and questions from the community.”

The agenda will include a welcome from Congressman Lee Zeldin’s staff, presentations, an event timeline, history and challenges of large whale response, a discussion of humpback whale biology and an overview of current research initiatives, lessons learned and an overview of planning initiatives and new collaborations, and comments, questions and answers with panel members.

Read the full story at the Westhampton Patch 

Whale visit good sign for healthier Hudson

December 5th, 2016 — When a humpback whale swam all the way to the George Washington Bridge last month, it became a brief media spectacle, with the creature’s massive tail breaching the Hudson River while skyscrapers loomed in the background.

But for some,  the whale’s presence also signaled that the Hudson is slowly coming back from decades of pollution. The waterway is indeed healthier than it has  been since scientists began recording its demise a century ago from sewage, street runoff and industrial pollution, all of which have been curbed substantially in recent decades.

“People need to change their perception of these waters,” said Debbie Mans, executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, a clean water advocacy group. “It has taken a lot of time, but it has slowly improved.”

Most experts think the whale, nicknamed Gotham, was  probably drawn up the Hudson in late November by schools of small bait fish called menhaden, or bunker, whose numbers along the Eastern Seaboard have soared in recent years.

Cleaner waters allows plankton to flourish closer to shore. That, in turn, provides a food source for fish like menhaden. And whales like nothing more than to munch on menhaden.

The fish have been so abundant this summer and autumn in the Hudson that Tom Lake, a consulting naturalist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said he saw schools of the fish 128 miles north of Bayonne.

Read the full story at The Record 

NEW YORK: Why researchers think humpback whale swam up the Hudson

November 22, 2016 — The whale spotted in the Hudson River Thursday in Friday was likely led there by food, the head of a local whale research group said.

Photos of the humpback whale showed it “lunge feeding,” said Paul Sieswerda, president of Gotham Whale.

“That’s when they come up and break the surface and consume these bait balls of menhaden,” he said.

Predators drive menhaden, sometimes known as bunker fish, into tight balls. This allows whales to open their mouths and eat them all at once.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Whales, sea turtles, seals: The unintended catch of abandoned fishing gear

September 29, 2016 — There are less than 500 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. And now, one less: This weekend, one of the 45-ton creatures was found dead off the coast of Maine, completely entangled in fishing line — head, flippers and all.

This was not an isolated incident.

In late June, an endangered blue whale wrapped in fishing gear was seen struggling off the coast of Dana Point in Southern California. Rescuers were unable to extricate it before it swam away. And earlier this month, rescuers unsuccessfully tried to free an entangled humpback whale near Newport. Spotters say they believe the humpback eventually found its way free of most of the gear, though they’re unsure if there’s anything still trapped in its mouth.

While any kind of fishing gear can be lost or abandoned at sea, gillnets, crab pots and traps are the most common types that continue to “ghost fish” — entrapping marine animals like whales, seals, sea lions and sea turtles.

Last year, the West Coast saw 61 whale entanglements — a record number that is nonetheless likely to be broken this year. So far in 2016, there have been 60 reports of entanglements as of late September. Why it’s happening is unclear. Researchers say there’s more derelict gear in the water today, and more reported sightings, but population numbers and migratory patterns of whales have also shifted.

What happens when a whale becomes entangled is grim.

“The gear is really, really heavy and when a whale comes in contact with it, it thrashes around to shed the gear,” says Kristen Monsell, attorney, Center for Biological Diversity. Sometimes that works; sometimes it entangles the whale even further.

Read the full story at SCPR

MAINE: Marine officials investigate dead whale

RYE, Maine — Crowds gathered Monday morning to witness a 45-foot humpback whale that washed onto rocks outside of Rye Harbor State Park and Foss Beach. Marine investigators quickly identified the whale as an 18-year-old female named Snow Plow.

The whale, which lay on its back, was guessed to have been dead for days before the tides pushed it to shore.

Fisherman had reported seeing the corpse floating 20 miles out at sea Sunday.

“A once in a lifetime experience!” said Rye resident Denise Levin after witnessing her first beached whale. Levin has been living in the area for almost 50 years and had never seen a whale so close.

Marine scientists responded to the scene and were working to determine the cause of death and scientists said a necropsy would be necessary to determine the cause definitively.

Jooke Robbins, senior scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies, said it would be unusual if Snow Plow had died of natural causes at her age.

Diane Schulte of the Blue Ocean Society was able to identify Snow Plow, who had been observed by scientists since she was a calf in 1998 in the southern Gulf of Maine.

Snow Plow’s mother, Fern, is still alive and was seen as recently as two days ago in the Gulf of Maine, Robbins said.

“There’s no obvious signs for reasons of why the animal is deceased,” said Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh. State officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service have already determined that the cause of death was most likely not caused by a boat or entanglement in fishing line.

Mike Henry, a special agent for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said it will remain to be seen if a necropsy will be conducted.

See the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

Fishermen free humpback whale from tangled net off New Jersey

May 24, 2016 — BRICK, N.J., — A group of fishermen rescued a humpback whale tangled in fishing gear off the coast of northern Ocean County in New Jersey.

Fisherman Sal Gatto posted a video to Facebook showing the whale slowly swimming off Saturday after the boat’s crew cut through ropes and nets to rescue the 40-foot sea creature from some abandoned fishing equipment.

“I was out looking for some bass during the early morning and spotted a 40 foot humpback whale tangled in a large fish net with rope near the Manasquan Inlet,” Gatto told JSHN.com.

Read the full story at UPI