April 14, 2016 — The results of a survey of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population suggest a good summer for local crabs.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says its annual dredge survey in Maryland and Virginia shows there are more than 550 million blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, the fourth highest level in two decades.
That number is a 35 percent increase in the crab population compared with last year, which was a 38 percent increase over 2014’s results.
April 8, 2016 — The Board of Public Works today granted approval for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to move forward with the Bloede Dam removal project. The department and its partners have been working for several years on a comprehensive, cost-effective plan to remove the public safety hazard and fish obstruction on the Patapsco River in Patapsco Valley State Park.
“After approximately five years of very thorough and thoughtful planning, in consultation with affected stakeholders, we are thrilled that the wheels are officially in motion to remove Bloede Dam,” Natural Resources Assistant Secretary Daryl Anthony said. “This project is testament to the power of partnership. American Rivers, along with our federal, state and county partners, have been instrumental in helping us to secure funding, work with the community and other stakeholders, and identify the technical resources necessary to enhance the Patapsco River.”
Today’s approval authorizes procurement authority to the department, as well as the transferring of funds to the department for dam removal, and $1 million in general-obligation bonds to fund an agreement with American Rivers for construction management.
April 5, 2016 — State fisheries managers use science-backed information to determine how many striped bass, blue crabs and menhaden can be caught each season without damaging the overall health of each species.
But not the Chesapeake Bay’s oysters.
A bill passed by the Maryland Senate and pending before the House would require University of Maryland scientists to establish harvest limits that ensure a sustainable catch for years to come. Representatives of the seafood industry are branding the measure as costly and unnecessary.
The bill’s supporters, however, say Maryland’s oyster population is being overfished, pointing to estimates that it is 1 percent of its historic size.
“We’ve learned the hard way that nature, especially with these oysters, is not inexhaustible,” said Bill Goldsborough, a fisheries scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “So this attitude, this disregard for science, led to the depletion of this valuable resource and the unstable boom-and-bust pattern of fishery that we see today.”
Maryland’s oyster haul plummeted from an all-time high of 15 million bushels in the 1880s to 26,000 bushels in 2004. After surpassing 100,000 for several years, the total harvest rocketed above 300,000 in 2013 and 2014. Researchers attribute the jump to hearty reproduction in 2010 and 2012.
The size of oyster catch this season, which officially ended Thursday, is expected to be lower again, reflecting poorer reproduction in subsequent years.
MARYLAND – March 22, 2016 — Seeking to counter a shortage of oyster habitat in the Chesapeake Bay, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is renewing a controversial bid to dredge old shells that have built up over centuries from an ancient reef southeast of Baltimore. Reviving a plan abandoned in 2009, the DNR has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to take 5 million bushels of shells from Man-O-War shoal just beyond the mouth of the Patapsco River. Ultimately, though, the state wants to barge away 30 million bushels, or about a third of the 456-acre reef.
The shells are needed to replace or augment oyster reefs worn down by harvesting and buried under an accumulation of silt, the DNR said. State officials said they would use much of the dredged shell in future large-scale, restoration projects. Some would also go to help the public fishery, though and to assist oyster farmers growing bivalves on leased plots of the Bay and its tributaries.
But the DNR’s request is drawing flak from conservationists, fishermen and even some watermen who might benefit.
MARYLAND – March 22, 2016 –A new group has emerged to speak for the seafood industry in contentious Chesapeake Bay fisheries issues, and it’s already being heard in Maryland on oyster restoration.
The Delmarva Fisheries Association formed last year with the stated intent of bringing together watermen, restaurant owners, packing houses, oyster farmers and boat captains.
Capt. Robert Newberry, the association’s president and founder, used to oyster in the Upper Bay and is now a charter boat captain and a hunting guide. He said he wanted to form a group that would unite the seafood industry.
One of their first priorities, he said, was getting Maryland’s governor to take a closer look at the oyster reef construction project in the Tred Avon, which is part of an effort to restore bivalves in three of the state’s tributaries that will cost tens of millions of dollars. All three have been designated sanctuaries, off-limits to commercial harvesting.
February 19, 2016 — Scientists have long puzzled over what drives the reproductive success of Atlantic menhaden, a tiny but critical East Coast fish.
A new study, published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science and supported by the Lenfest Ocean Program, provides a partial answer: An oceanic climate cycle known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, or AMO.
The finding is likely to be useful in improving the way scientists assess the species and the way managers set catch limits.
Menhaden is a small, oily fish that provides food for striped bass, bluefish, and several other species, as well as bait for fishermen.
It also is the target of the largest fishery on the East Coast, which is centred in Virginia and catches menhaden for use in nutritional supplements, animal feed, and fertilizer.
Setting catch limits has proved challenging, in part because no one has been able to say what drives recruitment—a technical term for how many young fish are produced. Recruitment largely determines how much fishing a population can sustain.
Tom Miller of the University of Maryland, and one of the authors of the study, explained that it is very difficult to understand and manage this stock.
To address this, the researchers used a statistical model designed for disorderly data like those on the abundance of young menhaden. They considered 16 factors that might be driving that abundance, including climatic cycles, intensity of fishing, temperature, salinity, and predator abundance.
February 4, 2016— The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Draft Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes changes to the incidental bycatch limits for non-trap gear (e.g., otter trawls, gillnets) and non-lobster trap gear (e.g., fish, crab, and whelk pots). For non-trap gear, the Draft Addendum includes options to maintain, increase, or eliminate the bycatch limit, while options for non-lobster traps include establishing bycatch limits of varying size or maintaining no limit on these gears. The intent of the Draft Addendum is to cap incidental landings of Jonah crab while ensuring the inclusion of current participants in the Jonah crab fishery.
The FMP currently prescribes a 200 crab per calendar day/500 crab per trip incidental bycatch limit for non-trap gear; however, concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of these limits. Data submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries illustrate while 97-99% of trips from 2010 through 2014 were within the current limit, there were several trips above the limit. Furthermore, current bycatch landings were sufficiently low, accounting for approximately 0.1% of total landings.
Bycatch limits for non-lobster trap gear were added as a second issue for consideration in the Draft Addendum to address concerns regarding the lack of effort controls on non-lobster traps and the potential for trap proliferation. Data submitted by NOAA Fisheries show between May 1, 2013 and August 31, 2015, 194 trips landed Jonah crab with whelk pots, crab pots, and fish pots. Of these, 80 trips landed 100 crab or fewer and 115 trips landed 200 crab or fewer. Approximately 45 trips landed between 200 and 500 crab and 40 trips landed more than 450 crab. Landings from Maryland show between 2012 and 2015, 33 trips landed Jonah crab with fish pots. All of these trips were under 200 pounds. Reports also indicated from 2014-2015, 36 trips landed Jonah crab with whelk pots. Average landings per trip with whelk pots were under 500 pounds; however, there is concern that these whelk pot landings may in fact be rock crab, a closely related species which is often misreported as Jonah crab.
It is anticipated the states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Maryland will be conducting public hearings on the Draft Addendum. The details of those hearings will be released in a subsequent press release. The Draft Addendum will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org(under Public Input) by February 10th. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on April 1, 2016 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at mware@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum I).
January 7, 2016 — STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Southern New Jersey anglers gave hearty support this week to a plan that would boost fluke fishing in the Delaware Bay.
A crowd of about 50 anglers showed up at the Thursday night meeting here at the municipal building on East Bay Avenue to give opinions on 2016 regulations for black sea bass, scup and fluke, which is also called summer flounder.
The most important question of the night was whether to support Option 2B of the fluke plan that would allow the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay to compete with Delaware. This support now goes to the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council when it makes decisions on 2016 fluke regulations in March.
The 2015 regulations for the New Jersey side of the bay included a minimum fish size of 18 inches, five fish per day, and a 128-day season.
In Delaware, Maryland and Virginia anglers were allowed a 16-inch fish, four fish a day and enjoyed a 365-day season. Option 2B would allow the New Jersey side to have a 17-inch fish, four fish a day and the 128-day season. It’s not equal to Delaware, but it is closer to parity.
December 26, 2015 — On the banks of the Potomac River, construction cranes that look like metal dinosaurs tower over Southwest Washington. They swivel in all directions, delivering concrete and other heavy material to workers building a large development behind a steel-and-concrete wall that holds back the water.
Within two years, the Wharf will begin emerging as a playground of trendy apartments, shops and entertainment venues. But below the river’s surface, animals that depend on vegetation in the water may continue to struggle, marine scientists say.
The Wharf is part of the great wall of the Chesapeake Bay. Because of development along the bay and its rivers, vast swaths of soft shorelines have been turned into stone. The spread of what scientists call “the armored shore” is depriving young fish, crabs and other organisms of food and shelter. And it is yet another reason why life in the bay is disappearing, according to new research funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Houses, offices, bike paths, marinas — and walls built to protect them from erosion and rising sea levels — are replacing marshy shores, uprooting plants that young fish, crabs and other organisms use for food.
Read the full story at The Washington Post
December 9, 2015 — The following was released by the Marine Resource Education Program:
The 2016 series for the Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) kicks off in Norfolk, VA next month. “If you are someone with an investment in healthy fisheries,” says John Williamson, F/V Sea keeper, National Coalition of Fishing Communities member, and co-founder of MREP, “then the Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) is for you.”
Organized and delivered by members of the fishing community, in partnership with NMFS, the Fishery Management Councils, ASMFC and research institutions, MREP brings together fishermen, scientists, managers, and other marine resource professionals to share professional expertise in a neutral setting. The curriculum offers insights into fishery science and stock assessments, delivered in plain English; participants learn the when, where and how to effectively engage in the fishery management process.
2016 workshop schedule:
For more information and to submit an online application: www.gmri.org/MREP-NEapply
To submit an application by phone, call Patty Collins, Gulf of Maine Research Institute (207) 228-1625.
Lodging, meals and travel expenses are covered for MREP participants. Qualifying commercial fishermen are eligible for an additional $125/day reimbursement for vessel tie-up costs.
Seating is limited, apply today.
For more information about MREP curriculum and goals please contact:
John Williamson (207) 939-7055 john@seakeeper.net
Mary Beth Tooley (207) 837-3537 mbtooley@live.com
Alexa Dayton (207) 228-1645 adayton@gmri.org
“As good as the science is it could be better. Fishermen’s information is key to improving stock assessments.” – MREP participant
“When you know what’s going on, you can make better decisions for the future.” – MREP participant