Saving Seafood

What’s tangling up the humpback whales? A food chain snarled by climate change

January 27, 2020 — Karin Forney still remembers when an unusual number of humpback whales started showing up in Monterey Bay a few winters ago. She could see them out her window — so close to the surf that kayakers could literally paddle up to them.

But with this delightful arrival came an alarming number of humpbacks getting entangled in fishing gear that cut into their flesh and often led to death. This sudden crisis confounded scientists, fishermen and animal rights groups.

“We went from virtually no humpback whale entanglements to one every other week — and then during peak, in the spring of 2016 … we were basically on call every single day,” said Forney, an applied marine ecologist at the NOAA Fisheries who scrambled to help the rescue efforts.

“The whales just kept coming.”

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

New Online Course Provides Guidance on How the On-Water Community Can Help Free Entangled Whales in Hawai’i Waters

January 15, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Entanglement in ropes, nets, and other marine debris is a major threat to the humpbacks and other large whales of Hawai‘i. But attempting to free an entangled, multi-ton whale is inherently dangerous. Due to the risks to whales and humans alike, only trained, well-equipped responders are authorized to engage in large whale disentanglement efforts.

Most often, however, fishermen, tour boat operators, and whale researchers are the ones to first come across the entangled animals. These “first responders” assist NOAA’s Hawai‘i Marine Mammal Response Network with reporting, monitoring, and assessment efforts.

We recognize this vital assistance and the need to better prepare first responders for the task. So, we teamed up with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to develop a new online training course that outlines the first responder roles of large whale entanglement responses.

“Commercial and recreational fishermen are an untapped resource who could provide a much broader and stronger foundation for entanglement response networks given the right training,” said Tom Dempsey, Oceans Program Director at TNC. “It makes sense to develop a training course for them since they want to be a part of the solution, and they are often onsite when entanglements occur.”

Past efforts have shown that authorized response is the best way to help entangled whales. At the same time, it provides valuable information towards reducing the threat of entanglement to whales. Yet, members of the on-water community who come across an entangled whale can—and do—play a vital role in the response. Specifically, they report, collect information, and monitor the whale from a safe and legal distance until trained teams arrive. By knowing what information to collect, and by taking and sharing photos with the disentanglement team, boaters can help marine mammal responders. With their help, these responders—who have more advanced training, can understand the extent of the entanglement before mounting a response. This enables them to respond with the appropriate gear and strategy.

“Without these efforts in large whale response, we would not be able to save seriously entangled whales, and we would miss opportunities to learn about the impacts of entanglements,” said Ann Garrett, Assistant Regional Administrator of the NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in the Pacific Islands. “This allows us to implement management strategies that continue to protect them.”

Read the full release here

Southeast Alaska fishermen unite against designating critical habitat for humpback whales

January 14, 2020 — Fishermen from different gear groups united against a proposed federal rule to designate Southeast Alaska as critical habitat for humpback whales. Many of the fishermen voiced their opposition during a three-hour meeting hosted by the National Marine Fisheries Service in Petersburg, Jan. 6, 2020.

About 60 people crowded into the Petersburg borough assembly chambers and others overflowed into the hallway. Most were fishermen from Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan. A group from Ketchikan also testified by phone.

They had the same message for the federal government. They don’t want Southeast labeled critical habitat for whales.

“It bothers all of us and I think it’s wrong,” said Chris Guggenbickler, a commercial gillnetter from Wrangell.

The meeting was run by Lisa Manning, with the National Marine Fisheries Service or NMFS. She spent about an hour trying to convince the crowd that a critical habitat designation would not affect commercial fisheries.

Read the full story at KTOO

Federal managers extend comment period for humpback whale critical habitat decision

November 25, 2019 — A comment period over designating critical habitat for some of the humpback whales that swim off Alaska’s coastline is being extended by the federal government.

Coastal waters from southern California to the Aleutian Islands could be listed as habitat critical to sustaining three distinct populations of humpback whales. The move by the National Marine Fisheries Service could require future consultation for activities that are permitted, funded or carried out by a federal agency.

“Critical habitat really affects federal actions,” NMFS endangered species act national listing coordinator Lisa Manning explained.  “It’s not something that affects everything that takes place within those areas that everyone’s seeing on the map. The regulatory effect of critical habitat is it requires federal action agencies to make sure their actions don’t adversely affect or destroy the critical habitat.”

Those activities could include vessel traffic, aquaculture, clean water permitting, in-water construction, alternative energy development and work permitted by the U.S. Forest Service on the Tongass National Forest. Manning says there are also indirect impacts possible that the agency has analyzed in documents available on the agency’s website. For instance, the agency’s analysis states the designation may impact how the state of Alaska manages commercial fisheries for herring, a food for the whales.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Federal habitats to protect whales would reach to Alaska

November 12, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed creating critical habitat sites to protect humpback whales that will extend to waters off Alaska, officials said.

The habitats are focused on the feeding areas of groups of humpback whales and include the area off Juneau, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday.

A critical habitat does not establish a sanctuary or preserve, said Lisa Manning, an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the fisheries service. Manning conducted a public presentation about critical habitats at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau last week.

“It does not affect recreational activities. It does not affect private lands,” Manning said. “It only affects federal activities.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times

NOAA proposes humpback whale habitat protections

November 11, 2019 — NOAA’s fisheries division, the National Marine Fisheries Service, has proposed creating a number of critical habitat sites ranging from the Channel Islands in southern California to the Bering Sea, including the waters off Juneau.

The critical habitats, created with the aim of protecting the feeding areas of three separate groups of humpback whales, or Megaptera novaeangliae, will not affect anything except for federal agencies seeking to use those waters for other purposes, said Lisa Manning, an official with NOAA. Her presentation to the public on the proposed habitats was held at University of Alaska Southeast on Thursday evening, and was attended by more than 30 people.

“A critical habitat does not establish a sanctuary or preserve. It does not affect recreational activities. It does not affect private lands,” Manning said. “It only affects federal activities.”

The proposed habitats, which cover 175,182 square nautical miles in total, are the traditional feeding areas of three of the 14 major humpback whale distinct population segments (DPS), Manning said. The three groups that come to Alaska and California to summer and feed spend the rest of their time west of Mexico, west of Central America and east of Taiwan respectively. These three groups are currently threatened, and protecting their feeding areas may help them to regain their footing, Manning said. Some of these groups may number 2,000 whales or less.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

ALASKA: Petersburg assembly to ask for hearing on humpback whale critical habitat

October 25, 2019 — Petersburg’s borough assembly Monday voted to seek a hearing in the Southeast Alaska community for proposed habitat protection for some of the humpback whales that frequent the region.

The National Marine Fisheries Service published a federal register notice Oct. 9 for a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for some populations of humpback whales. Those include whales listed as threatened that winter in Mexico and spend part of their year in Southeast Alaska.

Assembly member Bob Lynn thought the rule could have wide impacts starting with crabbers and gillnetters.

“I really do believe we need to have a meeting in Petersburg, let them describe what effects that has on our population,” Lynn said. “I’m very adamant we need to do that because it’s not very specific. But it also affects power lines, it affects a lot of our businesses here in town in addition, like our fishery processors and a few other folks too.”

The mayor and assembly were in agreement on this topic. Assembly member Jeff Meucci also wanted to request a hearing here.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Humpback whale population on the rise after near miss with extinction

October 22, 2019 — Intense pressure from the whaling industry in the 20th century saw the western South Atlantic population of humpbacks diminish to only 450 whales. It is estimated that 25,000 whales were caught over approximately 12 years in the early 1900s.

Protections were put in place in the 1960s as scientists noticed worldwide that populations were declining. In the mid-1980s, the International Whaling Commission issued a moratorium on all commercial whaling, offering further safeguards for the struggling population.

A new study co-authored by Grant Adams, John Best and André Punt from the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences shows the western South Atlantic humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) population has grown to 25,000. Researchers believe this new estimate is now close to pre-whaling numbers.

The findings were published Oct. 16 in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Read the full story at Science Daily

California crab fishermen are testing “ropeless” gear to save whales—and themselves

September 4, 2019 — After decades of whaling decimated their population, humpback whale populations off the West Coast are finally recovering. Hundreds of them now make their way up and down the coast each year, migrating from tropical breeding grounds in Mexico and Central America to feeding areas further north. For the most part, humpback whales—known for their melodic songs, athletic leaps through the air, and altruistic behavior towards other marine mammals—make this journey unhindered, as they did for centuries of their evolutionary history.

But in recent years, a new threat has emerged along the West Coast: From November through mid-July, tens of thousands of deadly ropes hang in the water column, connecting buoys at the surface with crab traps on the seafloor, designed to harvest Metacarcinus magister, aka Dungeness crab.

A curious humpback might become entangled while playing around with fishing gear or rolling around in it, as the mammals are known to do with kelp. Probably more often, they may become entangled while feeding, which they do by making underwater, open-mouthed lunges to collect krill or small fish. Fishing line can get caught up in the cetaceans’ baleen teeth and restrict their ability to feed. Ropes can gradually saw through tissue, causing lacerations and ultimately death by infection. Whales that don’t manage to break free on their own or get cut free by professional disentanglers immediately may drown or die slowly through exhaustion or starvation.

Read the full story at The New Food Economy

Federal officials urge boaters to be cautious about right, humpback whales

August 9th, 2019 — Watch out for the whales.

The fisheries division of the NOAA for the New England region on Friday tweeted out that “Humpback #whales are showing up all along our coasts! Please keep everyone safe and follow the law by giving them space to behave naturally.”

The regulators urged boaters to keep their vessels at least 100 feet from the whales, or 600 feet “if other boats are around. Space prevents accidental collisions and helps you adhere to the law.”

North Atlantic right whales need even more room. “Please note: North Atlantic right whales require 500 yards of space,” the NOAA tweeted.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe