Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Gov. Moore requesting federal assistance in protecting the Chesapeake Bay from invasive fish species

March 19, 2023 — Governor Wes Moore is federal assistance for the Chesapeake Bay, amid concerns of an increase in invasive fish species, the Governor’s office said Thursday.

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the population and value of Maryland’s most important commercial fish has decreased since 2012, which hurts the state economy.

Although a direct connection to invasive species is not confirmed, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is concerned about the high density of invasive fish like blue catfish, which may negatively affect native species by competing for space and food.

“You’ll never eradicate them, but you gotta get them down under control. They’re here to stay,” Maryland Watermen’s Association President Robert T. Brown said. “Mother Nature is always going to give you some type of balance. We do not like the balance we’re getting. It’s going the wrong way.”

In the past decade, harvest and value of native species in the Chesapeake Bay all declined. During the same time, numbers of invasive blue catfish and snakehead soared.

Read the full article at CBS News

House committee kills bill banning menhaden reduction fishery in Chesapeake Bay

January 19, 2023 — Legislative attempts to put a two-year moratorium on the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and expand the time period during which state officials can change the fishery regulations died Wednesday in committee.

The House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted to kill a bill from Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, that would have shut down the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay for two years while the Virginia Marine Resources Commission conducted a study on its impacts.

Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, was absent from the meeting.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

The heat is on: Warming water threatens aquatic life in Chesapeake Bay region

January 19, 2023 — Warming water is threatening to undo decades of efforts aimed at improving aquatic habitat in the Chesapeake region, from headwater streams to the open water of the Bay itself.

The increasing water temperatures, which threaten species like brook trout and striped bass, are already offsetting some of the habitat benefits of the multibillion-dollar Bay restoration effort, a new report warns. Worse, some actions taken to reduce pollution are actually contributing to warmer, more stressful, stream conditions for fish.

“We’re behind the eight ball right now in considering this in our major policies,” said Rich Batiuk, a former senior science official with the state-federal Bay Program partnership, who helped organize a 2022 workshop focused on the region’s rising water temperatures.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

“Tough News”: CBF’s Bay Health Grade Remains At D+

January 6, 2023 — The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) just released its State of the Bay report, which comes out every two years. The overall score for 2022 remained unchanged from 2020’s grade at a D-plus—not the result the foundation was hoping for.

The State of the Bay report looks at 13 indicators within the categories of pollution, habitat and fisheries. Each indicator gets a score, and together they provide an overall score out of 100. A score of 70 would mean a fully-restored Bay has been achieved; a 100 is the Bay’s condition before European settlers arrived in the 1600s.

This year, the score remained a 32/100. Three indicators improved, three worsened, and the remaining seven were unchanged.

Phosphorus levels came down, but overall water clarity worsened. Nitrogen, toxics, and dissolved oxygen indicators were unchanged from 2020.

CBF says one of the biggest places where Bay restoration efforts are struggling is agriculture pollution. Urban and suburban runoff are also increasing due to land development, increased stormwater from climate change, and “inconsistent enforcement by government agencies,” CBF says.

In one sign of hope, the Bay’s dead zone in the 2022 season was the 10th-smallest since the states began tracking it 38 years ago. And the Bay region has seen more farm conservation funding from the federal government and the states that should reduce nitrogen and phosphorous.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program recently acknowledged that the Bay states aren’t going to reach the 2025 “pollution diet” goals set back in 2010.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine 

Chesapeake Bay blue crab harvest hits record low

October 28, 2022 — New crab fishing restrictions have been put in place for the Chesapeake Bay in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic after surveys found that the bay’s crab population is at an historic low.

Results from a bay-wide blue crab dredge survey showed a continued downturn in juvenile crab recruitment and a record low year of total blue crab abundance. The total abundance declined from 282 million in 2021 to 227 million crabs in 2022. That’s the lowest abundance estimate in the 33-year history of the winter dredge survey. The last all-time high of 852 million crabs was reported in 1993.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: ‘Going to be tough’: Fishermen sound off on expanded speed limits to protect right whales

October 25, 2022 — A proposal of expanded speed limit areas along the East Coast to protect right whales and their calves had Ocean City fishermen crying foul in a Thursday meeting with Rep. Andy Harris, R-1st-Md.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is proposing a federal rule that would expand the current 10 knot speed restrictions on boats 65 feet and longer to include all boats 35 feet and longer.

The rule would also expand the speed restriction zone from current right whale calving areas to the entire East Coast, from Massachusetts to Florida.

“Instead of decision makers getting educated on (our job), we’re just told to do something with no steps in place to explain why,” said Jacob Wainglass, a charter fisherman in Ocean City. “Where we fish is no short trip. It’s anywhere from 50 to 90 miles where we’re going. So when you add in those (speed limits), that is three quarters of a day just in transit and it’s not practical for us. Our days as fishermen are already long enough.”

Read the full article at delmarva now.

Striped bass spawning a mixed bag in Bay again this year, surveys show

October 25, 2022 — Striped bass, struggling to rebound from overfishing, had another year of sub-par spawning success in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay, new survey results show.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported Thursday that its annual trawl survey of juvenile striped bass yielded 3.6 little fish per net haul. That’s a slight improvement over last year’s results but far below the long-term average of 11.3 per sample.

Striped bass, also known as rockfish, are one of the most popular sport and commercial fish in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East coast.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

Chesapeake Bay Dead Zone Smaller Than Previous Years Due To Mild May Temperatures

June 29, 2022 — Researchers are predicting this summer’s dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay will be smaller than the long-term average taken between 1985 and 2021, according to environmental staff.

The change in size is due to the below-average amount of water entering the bay from the watershed’s tributaries this past spring, Chesapeake Bay Program staff said.

Program staff made the announcement alongside researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the University of Michigan, and U.S. Geological Survey.

Decreased nutrient and sediment pollution from jurisdictions within the watershed also contributed to the smaller dead zone, staff said.

The dead zones consist of areas of low oxygen, known as hypoxic regions. This is where there are dissolved oxygen concentrations of less than two milligrams per liter— primarily caused by excess nutrient pollution flowing into the bay, staff said.

Read the full story at CBS Baltimore

Simulator Helps Researchers Envision Commercial Offshore Wind Farm In Maryland

June 29, 2022 — It won’t be long before offshore wind is powering homes in Maryland, but with so few examples of completed wind farms in the United States, it’s hard to fully imagine what a completed project will look like. 

That’s why Ørsted, a Danish power company, and the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Linthicum Heights teamed up to create the Mid-Atlantic’s first offshore wind farm simulator, bringing these massive projects to life. 

“This is a brand-new industry here in the United States, said Brady Walker, Ørsted’s Head of Government Relations for Maryland and Delaware, “There is not a commercial-scale wind farm in operation here right now. “ 

That will soon change, as companies like Ørsted continue to develop projects in our own backyard. Skipjack Wind, off the coast of Delaware and Maryland, will generate enough clean renewable energy to power about 300,000 homes and businesses on the Delmarva peninsula. 

“For Maryland’s first offshore wind farm – a really impactful commercial utility-scale offshore wind farm,” Walker said.

Read the full story at CBS Baltimore

 

Fishermen concerned about wind turbines being built off Ocean City coast

June 22, 2022 — A federal agency will begin a series of public hearings Tuesday on the planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is looking at potential environmental impacts and what measures can be taken to reduce them.

Members of the commercial fishing industry have concerns with wind turbines being built on their fishing grounds.

Ted Smith has fished for conch off the coast of Ocean City for 20 years, setting out to sea before dawn. His shortest days are 12 hours long and there’s no time off. He fishes in storms, heat, rain and ice. Smith said fishing and family are the most important things in his life.

“To wake up in the morning and to know that I am to get in this boat and drive out that inlet and the sun is going to come up and I am going to be able to go to work, other than being a father, probably (is) one of the best feelings in my life,” Smith said.

Smith tosses 250 conch pots onto the ocean bottom each trip. Conchs are snail-like creatures that live on the bottom of the ocean. Considered a delicacy by the Chinese, they can fetch up to $4.50 a pound. Smith’s goal is to catch 1,000 pounds each trip. He considers his six-figure salary a modest living, supporting his wife and four children.

Read the full story at WBAL-TV