Saving Seafood

Rhode Island: Narragansett Bay’s Ecology Changes Worry Fishermen

December 11, 2017 — NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — Narragansett Bay has experienced dramatic changes during the past century, from being a dumping place for sewage and industrial pollutants to a near paradise for recreational swimming and boating. But changes continue to occur, whether from the warming climate, invasive species, fluctuating wastewater effluent, or other factors.

As University of Rhode Island oceanography professor Candace Oviatt recently told an audience of fishermen, scientists and students, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an average day on Narragansett Bay. The bay is always changing. Every year is different. Whether we like it or not, the bay is going to keep changing.”

Oviatt’s comments on Dec. 6 were part of a daylong symposium sponsored by Rhode Island Sea Grant and aimed at creating a dialogue between fishermen — many of whom are worried that the bay has gotten so clean that there is little food left for fish to eat — and scientists whose research tells a sometimes confusing story of how the bay’s changing ecology might give that erroneous impression.

While most of the scientists claim their research suggests that the biomass of fish and other creatures living in Narragansett Bay has changed little through the years, almost all said the composition of species that call the bay home has changed dramatically.

A weekly fish trawl survey in two locations in the bay conducted since 1959 illustrates those changes. According to Jeremy Collie, the URI oceanography professor who directs the trawl, in the early years of the survey most of the species collected in the nets were fish and invertebrates that live on or near the bottom, such as lobster, winter flounder, tautog, cunner and hake. Those species also happen to prefer cooler water.

In recent years, the species that prefer warmer waters and that live higher in the water column have dominated the trawl surveys, including butterfish, scup and squid.

Read the full story at ecoRI

 

Rhode Island: Fishermen: Bay cleanup might be doing harm

December 7, 2017 — NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — Narragansett Bay is cleaner and clearer than it’s been in decades.

But after huge strides in treating wastewater and controlling storm runoff, some are asking a question that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago about what is arguably Rhode Island’s most valuable natural resource:

Is the Bay too clean?

Fishermen are raising the issue after seeing steep declines in numbers of flounder, lobster and other species that were once so abundant that they formed the bedrock of their industry.

It has gotten bad enough that lobsterman Al Eagles says that he and others now call the Bay “Chernobyl,” a reference to the site of the devastating Soviet-era nuclear disaster.

“We have to ask ourselves, ’What is taking place in the Bay that has changed it from a resilient bay to a dead bay?” Eagles, who has fished for 45 years, said Wednesday at an annual marine affairs forum held at the University of Rhode Island.

Lanny Dellinger, board member of the Rhode Island Lobstermen’s Association, put the blame on a tightening of restrictions on wastewater treatment plants after the historic Greenwich Bay fish kill in 2003 that over the past 10 years or so has cut in half the amount of nutrients that flows into the Bay.

“It seemed to be happening in sequence with the timing of nitrogen reductions,” Dellinger said, pointing out that such nutrients are key to the growth of phytoplankton, a critical food source for marine life. “I used to see unbelievable amounts of life, but I started to see that change in the mid-2000s.”

The men spoke at the 16th annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography in Narragansett, an event aimed at fostering discussion and developing research projects. Bruce Corliss, dean of the school, said he chose to focus on questions about the Bay’s health after a conversation with Eagles.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

 

Fishing Companies: Environmentalists Are Wrong About Menhaden Fishery

November 13, 2017 — Fishing companies are at odds with Rhode Island environmental advocacy groups over proposed changes for the menhaden fishing industry.

Changes to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden are up for a vote at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Maryland this Monday and Tuesday.

The commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board is considering a new amendment that would tie menhaden catch limits to the role they play in the ecosystem. The fish are a primary food source for larger fish, such as striped bass, marine mammals, and birds, such as osprey.

Rhode Island environmental groups support the approval of a temporary ecological-based management plan to make sure there’s enough menhaden in Narragansett Bay for predators to eat. Those temporary rules would be adjusted as more data becomes available.

Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

Rhode Island fishermen ask President Trump to deregulate commercial fishing industry

May 18, 2017 — Local fishermen are asking President Donald Trump to deregulate the commercial fishing industry, complaining that quotas are hurting their bottom lines.

A group of Rhode Island fishermen left Point Judith early Wednesday morning to sail to New London, Conn., for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation. The flotilla, joined by Rhode Island GOP National Committeewoman Lee Ann Sennick, also included fishermen from New York and Connecticut.

“It’s just a very disheartening feeling,” said Aaron Williams, the captain of the Tradition. He was one of the fishermen from Point Judith. “It’s kind of a frustrating thing to see certain species of fish that have rebounded as much as they have, and every year we keep getting stuff taken away from us.”

With signs reading “Please help us” and “Make commercial fishing great again,” the fishermen hoped to catch President Trump’s eye as he arrived at the commencement.

The group says fishing quotas and limits are unnecessary. They also say wind farms and sanctuaries greatly limit where they can practice their trade.

“We’re just trying to let [President Trump] know there is an ocean full of fish out here and the fish have been rebuilt, and we are forced to throw them over dead all day in the name of conservation,” said Brian Loftes, another commercial fisherman. “In the meantime, we’re slowly going out of business because these boats are expensive to run.”

Conservationists, however, warn that getting rid of quotas could disrupt the delicate ecosystems of the ocean.

“I think it would be devastating to the industry if we saw regulations go away,” said Michael Jarbeau, the Baykeeper at Save the Bay. His organization advocates to protect Narragansett Bay. “If there were no quotas, it’s extremely possible that we would see fish stocks become depleted,” he said.

Read the full story at WPRI

Rhode Island quota for menhaden the focus of debate

December 27, 2016 — About 30 recreational and commercial fishermen, fish processors, environmental groups (like Save the Bay) and fish managers attended Monday’s public hearing on Atlantic menhaden at the URI Bay Campus held by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The two main issues at the hearing were the use of ecosystem-based management strategies to determine stock status and allowable catch limits, and landing time frames, which would be used to determine allocation of quota.

The Atlantic menhaden plan will be the first ASMFC plan that utilizes ecosystem-based management in this fashion.

Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze, Ltd., North Kingstown (the largest producer and trader of sea-frozen fish on the East Coast) and a member of the ASMFC Atlantic menhaden Advisory Panel, said “Historically, Rhode Island has landed a lot more fish than the allocation reflects.” George Allen, representing the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (a recreational fishing association with 7,500 members), said, “Currently one state (Virginia) takes 85 percent of the catch because of the Atlantic menhaden reduction fishery. This is inequitable for the rest of the coastal states.”

Most in attendance agreed that the Atlantic menhaden allocation in the Northeast states, and specifically Rhode Island, should be enhanced to more accurately reflect historical catch over a longer period of time including the time period when landings were high due to active processing plants in the northern states. So instead of using average landings between 2009 and 2011, many at the meeting were advocating for a longer time-series average extending to include years prior to 2009 such as 1985 when more accurate bait fishery landings data became available.

However, there was much disagreement in the room when it came to determining ecological reference points in estimating how many fish would be allowed to be taken out of the water. A representative from Save the Bay said, “Atlantic menhaden have great ecological value for Narragansett Bay and we advocate for existing guidelines for forage fish species until menhaden-specific ecological reference points (ERPs) are developed by the ASMFC’s Biological and Ecological Reference Point (BERP) workgroup.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal 

Fishing Report: A new way to count fish

November 25, 2016 — Scientific surveys of fish are often done by trawling. This means towing a net and then hauling it up to count the catch. Estimates are then made about how many of each species are in a square mile. They are generally done in the same area for the same amount of time on a periodic basis.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management does trawl surveys in Narragansett Bay, the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration and a regional fisheries commission do trawl surveys too. Fish managers and scientists simply do not have the resources to do a proper job with survey trawls in our coastal waters, never mind areas outside our territorial waters (200 miles). Large tracts of the ocean are not monitored so we have no idea what fish are in the water globally, never mind how many are being taken out.

But a reliable and inexpensive way to monitor fish populations is being developed by scientists. Philip Thomsen and his team from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, are developing a a far less costly way to count fish.

The team is examining fragments of floating DNA which fish slough off in slime and scales, or excrete into the water.

A Nov. 19 Economist blog post said scientists “Hope they are able to link the quantity of this ‘environmental’ DNA to those species’ abundances, as measured by a trawl survey that took place at the same time… Given the fragmentary nature of environmental DNA, they found it easier to recognize families than species (a family, in this context, is the taxonomic level above a genus; herring, sardines and shad, for example, all belong to the family Clupeidae). The trawls picked up fish from 28 families. The team found DNA from members of 26 of these in their samples, and also detected three families that had no representatives entangled in trawl nets.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

RHODE ISLAND: More Tropical Fish Arriving in Narragansett Bay Earlier

August 18, 2016 — When a tropical fish called a crevalle jack turned up this summer in the Narragansett Bay trawl survey, which the University of Rhode Island conducts weekly, it was the first time the species was detected in the more than 50 years that the survey has taken place.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s seine survey of fish in Rhode Island waters also captured a crevalle jack this year for the first time.

While it’s unusual that both institutions would capture a fish they had never recorded in the bay before, it’s not unusual that fish from the tropics are finding their way to the Ocean State. In fact, fish from Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean have been known to turn up in local waters in late summer every year for decades. But lately they’ve been showing up earlier in the season and in larger numbers, which is raising questions among those who pay attention to such things.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about how they get here,” said Jeremy Collie, the URI oceanography professor who manages the weekly trawl survey. “Most of them aren’t particularly good swimmers, so they probably didn’t swim here. They don’t say, ‘It’s August, so let’s go on vacation to New England.’ They’re not capable of long migrations.”

Instead, fish eggs and larvae and occasionally adult fish are believed to arrive in late summer on eddies of warm water that break from the Gulf Stream. Collie said they “probably hitch a ride” on sargassum weed or other bits of seaweed that the currents carry toward Narragansett Bay.

Most of these tropical species, including spotfin butterflyfish, damselfish, short bigeye, burrfish and several varieties of grouper, don’t survive long in the region. When the water begins to get cold in November, almost all perish.

Read the full story at ecoRI

Ocean Drifters Aid University Study of Currents

June 17, 2016 — A team of scientists and teachers last month deployed a small fleet of devices off Lucy Vincent Beach in the hope of tracking their journey to Narragansett Bay. Most of the 10 devices, known as ocean drifters, sailed past Noman’s Land and across Rhode Island Sound, confirming a link between Narragansett Bay and the waters south of the Vineyard.

Chris Kincaid, a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, and his colleagues have been trying to understand circulation within Narragansett Bay, which lies about 25 miles west of Vineyard Sound. Among other things, they hope to reveal the origin of the currents, along with the critical nutrients they carry.

“We know that there is a lot of nitrogen in the bottom water of Rhode Island Sound,” Mr. Kincaid told the Gazette this week. But he said those nutrients are mostly trapped at the bottom by changes in the water density. “To get marine growth, you need nitrogen to be where the sunlight is, near the surface,” he said. “Our hypothesis is that there’s a lot of material that fuels the ecosystem that comes in this coastal current from the area of Martha’s Vineyard.”

The study has a number of applications, including the tracking of oil spills and floating garbage. But the ultimate goal is fisheries management. The study has received funding from Rhode Island Sea Grant, a partnership that includes URI and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates offshore fisheries.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Counting fish from the air

March 31, 2016 — This week, I was reminded of the outstanding Atlantic menhaden management program we have in Narragansett Bay. Monday night, George Purmont, a spotter pilot commissioned by the Marine Fisheries Division of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), spoke about his work of counting schools of Atlantic menhaden (pogies) from the air in Narragansett Bay.

At a R.I. Saltwater Anglers Association meeting, Purmont said, “When the amount of Atlantic menhaden in the Bay goes above the threshold, the Bay is open to commercial harvesting. When it falls below the threshold, the Bay is closed to Atlantic menhaden fishing.”

The program is one of the most sophisticated and effective programs of its type in the nation. Purmont said, “Flights once or twice a week give fish managers at DEM good information to manage the fishery.” The program works well for recreational fishermen to protect this forage fish, as well as for the commercial fishery, allowing the Bay to be fished when there is an abundance of fish in the Bay.

Read the full story at The Warwick Beacon

Narragansett Bay temperature extremes signal trouble below

February 6, 2016 — Aboard the Cap’n Bert — A harbor seal pokes its mottled head out of the water, soulful eyes visible above a bristly mustache, before diving back down to snatch fish from the net being winched aboard the trawler.

“Gettin’ a free meal,” Captain Tom Puckett remarks with a shake of his head.

As the otter trawl net is hoisted up on the A-frame across the boat’s stern, it’s clear that it’s nowhere close to full. But it doesn’t matter. The Cap’n Bert is not a commercial fishing trawler. It’s a research vessel owned and operated by the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

The 53-foot stern trawler is out on Narragansett Bay on this winter day carrying out its weekly ritual of testing the water temperature and other indicators and taking samples of marine life.

Doctoral student Joe Langan pulls open the net, spilling fish and shellfish unceremoniously onto the deck. He sorts the catch, just as he has done every week since September and as others have done before him, stretching back more than five decades as part of one of the oldest continuous marine research projects in the world.

From the wet and writhing pile, he picks out sea robin and skate, silver hake and red hake, rock crabs, spider crabs and lobsters — all species that are normally found in the Bay this time of year.

But when Langan gets to the bottom, he carefully picks up a flat, light-brown fish and pauses to study it.

“A Gulf Stream flounder,” he finally says. “Which should not be here.”

The little flounder is a warm-water species that shows up in May but would usually be gone by the time the temperature drops in December.

It is of course only one fish, but its presence here in the waters off Whale Rock on this January morning is yet another sign that Narragansett Bay is changing.

“And we’re seeing it happen,” Langan says.

Read the full story at Providence Journal