Saving Seafood

‘Resilient’ leatherback turtles can survive fishing rope entanglements. Mostly

April 6, 2022 — Leatherback sea turtles run a gantlet of fishing lines and other human impacts during their annual migratory loop from Caribbean nesting grounds to the eastern coast of North America and back. One of the leatherback turtle’s biggest obstacles is entanglement in ropes from lobster pot traps deployed by commercial fisheries in the waters of New England. A recently published report in Endangered Species Research found that while turtles can survive entanglement if reached by rescuers, new approaches in fisheries are needed for them to survive over the long term.

“I was surprised and encouraged by how many of the cases [showed] that the turtles were able to survive these events,” said lead author Kara Dodge, from the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts, who analyzed 15 years’ worth of data collected by the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) based in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The CCS played the dual role of collecting data and coming to the rescue during turtle entanglements with its Marine Animal Entanglement Response Program. Between 2005 and 2019, the CCS saved more than 100 leatherback turtles. The world’s largest sea turtle, the leatherback, Dermochelys coriacea, is currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by fisheries, destruction of beaches and climate change.

Read the full story at Mongabay

 

New guide to help evaluate marine protected areas

September 29, 2021 — A new “MPA Guide,” resulting from a collaboration of 42 authors led by Kirsten Grorud-Colvert of Oregon State University, aims to facilitate communication and common understanding about marine protected areas.

The guide was introduced in a paper in the 10 September issue of Science magazine, “The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean.” In it, the authors review the consistency, of MPAs and propose a framework by which levels of protection can be evaluated and improved.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Tuna recovering – IUCN Red List

September 7, 2021 — The populations of four of the most commercially fished tuna species are showing signs of recovery but rising sea levels mean the Komodo dragon is now classed as endangered on the latest Red List of species at risk of extinction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that compiles the list is also stepping up monitoring of marine species such as coral and deep sea snails to see how they are impacted by climate change and threats such as deep sea mining.

“Ocean species tend to be neglected as they are under the water and people don’t really pay attention to what is happening to them,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List unit, told Reuters.

But as catch quotas and efforts to target illegal fishing showed signs of working, the outlook for tuna appears to be improving.

Atlantic bluefin tuna, a huge warm-blooded migratory predator that is prized for sushi and can sell for thousands of dollars, jumped three categories from “endangered” to “least concern” on the list, although some regional stocks remained severely depleted.

Read the full story at Reuters

Tool predicts which native fish species are most at risk from lionfish predators

August 23, 2021 — Coastal countries have between two and five years to act to protect native fish species once voracious lionfish arrive in their waters, according to a University of Alberta ecology professor who helped create a tool to predict which fish are in danger.

The lionfish, originally a popular aquarium species native only to the Pacific and Indian oceans, is now a highly  throughout the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, where they are known to consume hundreds of .

“There’s lots of concern about what their impacts will be and also which species are at risk,” said Stephanie Green, Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Global Change Ecology and Conservation in the Faculty of Science. “They’re the perfect invader.”

Read the full story at PHYS.org

North Atlantic right whales listed as ‘critically endangered’ — one step below extinction

July 16, 2020 — North Atlantic right whales are now listed as “critically endangered,” with approximately only 400 remaining, data from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium states. Given this striking plummet in population, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) relisted the species as “critically endangered” from its previous “endangered.”

The Smithsonian Magazine reports that the majority of right whale deaths over the past three years have been a result of encountering boats and fishing endeavors along the coastal U.S. and Canada. Right whales reportedly swim with their mouths open to eat, and are often fatally entangled in nets and lines cast for lobsters and fish.

“We are running out of time to save these magnificent yet very vulnerable animals,” said Vikki N. Spruill, the New England Aquarium’s president and CEO, in a prepared statement. “Whaling nearly killed right whales in the early 1900s. Science tells us that we need to take immediate and urgent steps to prevent that from happening now.”

The right whales have been suffering population declines since 2017, when there was a total of 17 confirmed dead whales between U.S. and Canadian waters. While numbers in 2018 and 2019 were not that large, an additional 13 deaths were recorded cumulatively, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries data.

Read the full story at The Hill

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Updates Classification of the North Atlantic Right Whales from Endangered to Critically Endangered

July 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently changed its Red List Category for North Atlantic right whales from Endangered to Critically Endangered. The criteria used to evaluate this change are outlined in the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, Section V. Within the United States, North Atlantic right whales are already in the highest risk category possible under both the Marine Mammal Protection Act (Strategic and Depleted) and Endangered Species Act (Endangered).

In 2019, NOAA Fisheries also added North Atlantic right whales to our Species in the Spotlight initiative, which focuses resources on the most imperiled endangered species under NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction. While IUCN Red List categories have no direct relationship to categorizations under the MMPA or ESA, NOAA Fisheries shares the IUCN’s concern for North Atlantic right whales. We continue to use our authority under the MMPA and ESA to protect and recover the species.

Read the full release here

International conservation group designates right whales as critically endangered

July 10, 2020 — In a move that puts pressure on federal officials to do more to protect the species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature on Thursday designated North Atlantic right whales as “critically endangered” on its Red List of Threatened Species, the last classification before they’re considered extinct or “gone from the wild.”

The updated status highlights the need to protect a species that is believed to have fewer than 400 animals left, with only about 85 reproductive females, environmental advocates said. The IUCN, a leading global conservation organization, found their population declined by 15 percent between 2011 and 2018 and estimated there are only about 250 mature whales left.

“The dramatic declines of species such as the North Atlantic right whale … highlight the gravity of the extinction crisis,” Jane Smart, global director of IUCN’s biodiversity conservation group, said in a statement. “The world needs to act fast to halt species’ population declines and prevent human-driven extinctions.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Smooth Handfish Extinction Marks a Sad Milestone

July 10, 2020 — For centuries humans believed the ocean was so vast that it was impossible to do it measurable harm. But we now know human activities can destroy critical marine habitats, dangerously pollute seawater and make sea environments more acidic. Overharvesting has disrupted food chains and directly pushed many ocean species into the critically endangered category—and has driven some animals, including Steller’s sea cow, into total extinction. This past March the smooth handfish, Sympterichthys unipennis, officially became the first modern-day marine fish to be declared extinct.

Handfish are a family of 14 unusual bottom-dwelling species related to deep-sea anglerfish. Unlike most other fishes, they do not have a larval phase and do not move around very much as adults; these traits make them sensitive to environmental changes, according to Graham Edgar, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania. “They spend most of their time sitting on the seabed, with an occasional flap for a few meters if they’re disturbed,” Edgar says. “As they lack a larval stage, they are unable to disperse to new locations—and consequently, handfish populations are very localized and vulnerable to threats.” In 1996, he adds, another species called the spotted handfish was the first marine fish listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

The smooth handfish was once common enough to be one of the first fish species described by European explorers in Australia. Now none has been reported in well over a century, despite frequent scientific sampling in its known range (including by Edgar and his colleagues). Red List guidelines officially define “extinct” as meaning “there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.” Edgar and the members of Australia’s National Handfish Recovery Team were forced to that conclusion earlier this year, and the Red List placed it in the extinct category. Scientists are unsure exactly what finished off the species, but others in the region are threatened by trawl fishing, pollution and climate change.

Read the full story at Scientific American

North Atlantic right whale gains official “critically endangered” classification by IUCN

July 9, 2020 — The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s recent Red List publication has indicated that the North Atlantic right whale is now officially classified as “critically endangered.”

The classification is reserved for animals that are on the brink of extinction in the wild. Currently, its estimated that only 400 right whales remain, and of those, only one-quarter are reproductive-aged females capable of producing more calves.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

How small-scale fishers are struggling amid COVID-19 crisis

May 27, 2020 — As COVID-19 affects global food systems, tremendous impacts are being felt by coastal communities and small-scale fishers, many of whom are self-employed and rely on the catch to feed their own households or local communities.

In a review published in Coastal Management, researchers explore the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on small-scale fisheries in Canada and worldwide, and provide recommendations on how to support them.

We spoke with lead author Nathan Bennett, research associate with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at UBC, and Chair of the People and the Ocean Specialist Group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about the findings.

Read the full story at PHYS.org