Saving Seafood

Over 160 “dazzling” whale and orca sightings reported off Massachusetts in single day

June 13, 2024 — A recent survey flight of whales off the coast of Massachusetts reported more than 160 “dazzling” sightings of seven different species, including orcas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division said researchers reported 161 whale sightings in total on the May 25 flight south of Martha’s Vineyard and southeast of Nantucket, including a rare killer whale sighting. They shared photos from the survey on Monday.

“I was in the front left bubble window of our plane, so I had a pretty good view of what was going on,” said NOAA Marine Mammal Observer Alison Ogilvie. “We were pretty excited the whole time. There was a lot of shouting and gasps from both sides of the plane. There was so much action.”

Number of whales “not unusual” this time of year

“It is not unusual that there are a lot of whales in the area this time of year,” NOAA spokesperson Teri Friady said. “But since we do not survey every day, or in the same areas every time we fly, catching such a large aggregation with such a variety of species on one of our flights is the exception rather than the rule.”

There were 93 sightings of endangered sei whales – one of the highest ever seen during a single survey flight. Also spotted were about three dozen humpback whales, fin whales, sperm whales and the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Two of the right whales were breeding females. Ogilvie says there are currently only 70 breeding females in the population.

Read the full article at CBS News

MASSACHUSETTS: More than 160 whales spotted in waters off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, NOAA reports

June 12, 2024 — More than 160 whales were spotted in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in what researchers called a “dazzling array of sightings” during a recent aerial survey.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shared pictures of the whales in a social media post on Monday. The agency said members of its North Atlantic Right Whale team reported sightings of 161 whales that comprised seven species, including 93 sei whales, “one of the highest concentrations of sei whales they’d ever seen during a single survey flight.”

The research team also reported seeing two killer whales, “which they don’t often see during this survey,” the NOAA post said. One of the killer whales was seen swimming with its dinner as a tuna dangled from its mouth.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

Biden releases management plan for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument

June 5, 2024 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has released its final management plan for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

“I applaud the release of the final management plan, a critical and giant stride by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS] and NOAA to realizing the potential for stewarding our interactions with, teaching about, and studying the inner workings of this ocean wilderness,” Mystic Aquarium Senior Research Scientist Peter Auster said in a statement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Safe to reproduce: horseshoe crabs enjoy new protections on local beaches

June 3, 2024 — At Stage Harbor in Chatham, Derek Perry, the state’s horseshoe crab biologist, walks the shoreline, counting how many horseshoe crabs fall within a 25-square-meter area.

It’s not an easy task, especially when the males in the group are clamoring to reach the limpet-and-seaweed encrusted females. But after a few moments, he’s satisfied with the count.

“That’s 67 crabs in a five-by-five-square-meter quadrat,” Perry said. “So it’s a fair number.”

Of them, 61 are male, and each is trying to latch onto one of the six females in the area. According to Perry, it’s pretty easy to identify the sex of a horseshoe crab at a distance, because the females are 30% bigger, and the males form a “conga line” behind them.

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen and Scientists See a Fishery in Flux

May 30, 2024 — This year, May 15 marked the beginning of the lobster fishing season on the Outer Cape. The fishery is not an insignificant one here. There are 42 fishermen on the Outer Cape who collectively land about 830,000 pounds of lobster every year, according to data on the Mass. Lobstermen’s Association website. This represents about 5 percent of the Massachusetts fishery.

While overall the fishery seems stable, some lobstermen are seeing changes that have them worried about its future. Scientists are looking into what role the changing climate may be playing in those changes, but they don’t have definitive answers.

“It’s horrible,” said Mike Rego, a lobsterman and owner of the F/V Miss Lilly who operates out of Provincetown. “Last year was the worst year I ever had.”

Dana Pazolt, another Provincetown lobsterman who owns the F/V Black Sheep, said that the last four years have been slim for lobsters around the Outer Cape. “You’ve got to hunt for them,” he said. “I can’t tell you why that is.”

The surface waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming at a rate of about one degree per decade, faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Meanwhile, in other areas, warming has already had an effect — it played a major role in causing the collapse of the lobster fishery in Long Island Sound in 1999.

Lobsters do appear to be shifting their range north. From 1985 to 2016, Maine experienced a 650-percent increase in its lobster population, according to data from the Maine Dept. of Marine Resources. This may be due in part to the decline in Atlantic cod, a lobster predator, but it is also likely due to warming temperatures making lobster conditions more favorable farther north.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent 

MASSACHUSETTS: For Bendiksen family, ‘Sea Stories’ are stories of their lives

May 30, 2024 — In the Bendiksen family kitchen, framed photos of the fishing boats they have owned hang on the wall. For Captain Reidar Bendiksen and his wife, Kirsten, these boats are like family members.

The most cherished memories of the Bendiksens’ lives — the day they first met, the births of their children — are deeply intertwined with the fishing industry.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford’s fishing heritage is online, thanks to this archivist and ‘history detective’

May 29, 2024 — Retired engineer John Ryan spent hours and hours at the hurricane barrier taking thousands of photographs of fishing vessels going in and out of New Bedford Harbor.

When his family found thousands of slides and photographs among his things after his death, they didn’t know what to do with them. When co-curator Phil Mello learned of this, he suggested the family take them to the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

When archivist Connor Gaudet started his position at the Fishing Heritage Center, his priority was to get Ryan’s photograph collection in its new online database

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: After second dock collapse, troubles on New Bedford waterfront

May 28, 2024 — On April 26, a nearly 500-foot stretch of dock owned by top executives at Eastern Fisheries collapsed into the New Bedford harbor. It was the second such collapse in just six months — the first of which hospitalized two workers and has since caused significant challenges for some businesses operating at the port.

The sudden dock collapses have left waterfront business owners and city officials asking: what are the causes, who is responsible, and is it safe to operate heavy machinery on the busy but dilapidated northern wharf?

The city says the aging port needs an overhaul. It’s a challenging feat. Facing the costs, the Port Authority has sold some properties in recent years, transferring the burden of expensive repairs to the companies that use the infrastructure. But the patchwork of public and private properties along the northern wharf makes it difficult to carry out one comprehensive overhaul.

“This latest incident highlights the need for long-term solutions to aging infrastructure at different points in the port. Such solutions will require time and significant outside funding,” Gordon Carr, director of the New Bedford Port Authority, wrote in a statement to The Light. “The Port Authority continues to take its role in such an effort seriously and will support businesses and property owners in pursuing these solutions as we are able.”

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

NOAA states endangered North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction after another dies off the coast of Massachusetts

May 21, 2024 — In a recent update, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries have issued a warning.

The organization states that the endangered North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction. An Unusual Mortality Event was declared for North Atlantic right whales in 2017, and currently includes 139 individuals (40 dead, 34 seriously injured, and 65 sub lethally injured or ill). The primary causes of the UME, according to the NOAA are entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes in both U.S. and Canadian waters, which are long-standing threats to the recovery of the species.

In the same warning, the NOAA issued an update believing that a right whale off the coast of Massachusetts is dead.

Read the full article at Fall River Reporter

MASSACHUSETTS: What belongs on New Bedford State Pier? Here is what’s proposed.

May 14, 2024– A new “boat-to-table” seafood restaurant proposed for State Pier would employ 125 at peak season and bring thousands of people downtown.

That’s according to Servedwell Hospitality owner Steve Silverstein, who is proposing the new 6,500-square-foot restaurant that would seat 300, and feature roof-deck dining and two bars.

It would represent a $5 million investment by Servedwell Hospitality.

Silverstein made one of the seven presentations Monday night of what’s being proposed for the eight-acre State Pier’s redevelopment.

Meeting was held at New Bedford Whaling Museum

The meeting at the New Bedford Whaling Museum was hosted by MassDevelopment, the state’s development finance agency and land bank, which manages the state-owned property.

A MassDevelopment review committee will review the proposals and make recommendations.

The committee could recommend accepting the proposals in total or partially – none of which are mutually exclusive – or reject them all. Leases for successful RFPS could run up to 35 years.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times