Saving Seafood

NASA Data Helps Map Tiny Plankton That Feed Giant Right Whales

May 7, 2025 — In the waters off New England, one of Earth’s rarest mammals swims slowly, mouth agape. The North Atlantic right whale filters clouds of tiny reddish zooplankton — called Calanus finmarchicus — from the sea. These zooplankton, no bigger than grains of rice, are the whale’s lifeline. Only about 370 of these massive creatures remain.

For decades, tracking the tiny plankton meant sending research vessels out in the ocean, towing nets and counting samples by hand. Now, scientists are looking from above instead.

Using NASA satellite data, researchers found a way to detect Calanus swarms at the ocean surface in the Gulf of Maine, picking up on the animals’ natural red pigment. This early-stage approach, described in a new study, may help researchers better estimate where the copepods gather, and where whales might follow.

Tracking the zooplankton from space could aid both the whales and maritime industries. By predicting where these mammals are likely to feed, researchers and marine resource managers hope to reduce deadly vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements — two major threats to the species. Knowing the feeding patterns could also help shipping and fishing industries operate more efficiently.

Read the full story at NASA

Rising Temperatures Are Scrambling the Base of the Ocean Food Web

March 3, 2025 — Humans are living in a plankton world. These minuscule organisms are spread across the oceans, covering nearly three-quarters of the planet, and are among the most abundant forms of life on Earth.

But a warming world is throwing plankton into disarray and threatening the entire marine food chain that is built on them.

A year ago, NASA launched a satellite that provided the most detailed view yet of the diversity and distribution of phytoplankton. Its insights should help scientists understand the changing dynamics of life in the ocean.

“Do you like breathing? Do you like eating? If your answer is yes for either of them, then you care about phytoplankton,” said Jeremy Werdell, the lead scientist for the satellite program, called PACE, which stands for “Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem.”

Historically, research from ships has captured limited snapshots in time, offering only glimpses of the ever-changing oceans. The advent of satellites gave a fuller picture, but one still limited, like looking through glasses with a green filter.

“You know it’s a garden, you know it’s pretty, you know it’s plants, but you don’t know which plants,” explained Ivona Cetinic, a NASA oceanographer. The PACE satellite effectively removes the filter and finally reveals all the colors of the garden, she said. “It’s like seeing all the flowers of the ocean.”

These flowers are phytoplankton, tiny aquatic algae and bacteria that photosynthesize to live directly off energy from the sun. They are eaten by zooplankton, the smallest animals of the ocean, which, in turn, feed fish and larger creatures.

It may seem implausible that a satellite orbiting high above the planet’s surface could make out microscopic organisms. But different phytoplankton have unique ways of scattering and absorbing light. PACE measures the whole spectrum of visible color and slightly beyond, from ultraviolet to near infrared, allowing scientists to identify different kinds of phytoplankton. Older satellites measured limited colors and could only reveal how much phytoplankton was underneath them, not what kind.

Phytoplankton form the foundation of the marine food chain, and climate change is shaking that foundation.

Read the full article at the Pulitzer Center

NASA-funded Study: Gulf of Maine’s Phytoplankton Productivity Down 65%

June 8, 2022 — The Gulf of Maine is growing increasingly warm and salty, due to ocean currents pushing warm water into the gulf from the Northwest Atlantic, according to a new NASA-funded study. These temperature and salinity changes have led to a substantial decrease in the productivity of phytoplankton that serve as the basis of the marine food web. Specifically, phytoplankton are about 65% less productive in the Gulf of Maine than they were two decades ago, scientists at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, report in new results published today.

The Gulf of Maine helps fuel New England’s marine ecosystems and economy. Like plants on land, phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use photosynthesis to grow, and then become a food source for other organisms. Disruptions to their productivity can lead to adverse effects on the region’s fisheries and the communities that depend on them.

“Phytoplankton are at the base of the marine food web on which all of life in the ocean depends, so it’s incredibly [significant] that its productivity has decreased,” says William Balch, the Bigelow Laboratory scientist who led the study. “A drop [of] 65% will undoubtedly have an effect on the carbon flowing through the marine food web, through phytoplankton-eating zooplankton and up to fish and apex predators.”

Read the full story from NASA

How marine heat waves in Hawaii have ripple effects all the way to Arizona

May 12, 2022 — In 2019, about 4,600 miles from Arizona, a marine heat wave cranked up the temperature in the waters around Hawaii. For several sweltering summer months, a low pressure system sat over the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California and led to decreased cooling winds and sea surface temperatures 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.

Scientists called it “The Blob 2.0.” The original “Blob” developed in 2013 as a strange pool of warm water off the coast of Alaska, then quickly expanded all the way to Mexico in a meteorological phenomenon that lingered until early 2016 and “was so persistent and unusual that it initially defied explanation,” according to NASA.

Marine life suffered in both “Blob” events. In the mid-2010s heat wave, higher ocean temperatures fueled the growth of less-nutritious types of algae. Populations of salmon and other important fish species plummeted, straining the Pacific fishing industry. Fin whales and sea otters started washing up dead while baby seals starved on shore for all to see. And nobody quite knew what was going on.

Read the full story at AZCentral

 

Committee Approves FY2020 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill

October 3, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Yesterday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) Fiscal Year 2020 Appropriations bill. Committee member Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) secured a range of initiatives to improve research and technology in the Arctic, strengthen public safety in rural Alaska, and ensure Alaska’s fisheries continue to thrive. This legislation, which funds the U.S. Department of Commerce and Justice, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other agencies, now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

“I continue to hear from Alaskans about the need for improving public safety, especially in rural communities. I’m proud the Committee was able to come together to find bipartisan solutions to build on my ongoing efforts to address the high rates of violence experienced in far too many of Alaska’s communities,” said Senator Murkowski. “Alaska’s world-class fisheries are a fundamental part of our state’s culture and the lifeblood of our economy. The work we’ve done to recover and protect Alaska’s wild salmon stocks and to ensure our fisheries remain the most abundant and sustainably managed in the nation is so important. We’ve also invested significant federal resources into research initiatives to strengthen our ability to respond to natural disasters, help us more fully understand the impacts of climate change, and protect our marine environments—all significant items for a state like Alaska.”

With maximum input from Alaskans, Senator Murkowski has helped steer the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) budget in a manner that sustains the research and scientific investments needed to manage Alaska’s resources properly and responsibly. This bill includes language directing NOAA’s National Ocean Service to submit a plan to conduct comprehensive coastal survey work in Alaska, including information gaps and estimated costs. In an effort to improve travel and safety for mariners throughout Alaska’s waters, the bill also includes language that provides funding to ensure 80 percent data availability for the National Data Buoy Center’s buoy network and directs NOAA to include a schedule for restoring existing data buoy operability, and its strategy to minimize outages.

Senator Murkowski pushed to establish federal funding and frameworks to improve American’s ability to understand and have a say on our developing priorities in the Arctic Region. This legislation includes $8.3 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as language directing the NSF to consider the impact of the opening of the two transarctic sea routes and the proximity to deep-water U.S. ports. The bill also includes $160 million for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), which includes $6 million to help us better understand the complex and rapidly changing Arctic region. Building on previous efforts, the bill also contains language to address Hydrographic Survey Priorities in the Arctic.

Public Safety

Senator Murkowski has been working hard to improve public safety in Alaska, including in Alaska’s rural communities. In crafting this bill, she advocated for the largest possible Victims of Crime Act Fund (VOCA) set-aside for Native Communities who disproportionately face violence and often have extremely limited access to services and helped secure $497.5 million for Violence Against Women Prevention and prosecution programs. The bill also includes $38 million for state and local law enforcement and Tribal assistance and $245 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, an initiative to increase the number of police officers and ensure they are properly trained, that Murkowski has long-supported.

Fisheries

Alaska’s commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries are at the heart of coastal Alaska and the economic livelihood for tens of thousands of Alaskans who are employed in the industry. In support of Alaska’s seafood

industry, Murkowski helped secure $65 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund which helps maintains Pacific Salmon populations and supports both the recovery and protection of all declining stocks. $34.5 million, an increase of $19 million, is also included for salmon management activities, including implementing the Pacific Salmon Treaty terms across the Northwest states.

The bill also includes an amendment by Senator Murkowski and her colleagues to direct increased funding for Fisheries Data Collections, Surveys and Assessments to maintain historic survey coverage in Alaska and the Pacific, a significant provision for areas where fish distribution is changing due to climate change, including Alaska where survey coverage has been on the verge of being eliminated.

Oceans & Coastlines

Senator Murkowski helped secure various priorities to keep our oceans and shorelines healthy and to capitalize on the world’s quickly growing ocean economy. Also, $7 million is provided for the North Pacific Observer Program, which plays a critical role in the management and conservation of the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and Gulf of Alaska. $12 million is included in the funding bill to help understand the growing impacts of ocean acidification on our ocean resources and coastal communities. The funding bill includes $75 million for the National Sea Grant Program which focuses on outreach activities, education, and research that will support the growing coastal community utilization of key Sea Grant services within their numerous focus areas.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Satellite images show red tide hugging Florida’s Space Coast

October 24, 2018 — Red tide is so widespread that NASA can see it from space, in large colorful plumes that jut off the Space Coast.

Satellite images from this past Saturday, enhanced by a Melbourne Beach marine biologist, show high chlorophyll levels — further evidence of red tide’s scourge here.

Tests last week confirmed high red tide levels in Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach. And beachgoers continue to sense the algae’s airborne toxin in their itchy throats and see its toll in the sporadic dead fish washing up on the beach.

But where red tide flows next is anyone’s guess.

“I am uncertain about the apparent pool off Cape Canaveral, but I heard that red tide has been found off Ponce Inlet, so there is a good chance that the pool off Cape Canaveral is red tide,” Mitch Roffer, a marine biologists and fishing conditions forecaster, said via email.

Roffer used data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite. He found Saturday’s ocean color imagery showed “pools” of what appears to be chlorophyll stretching off Cape Canaveral, Melbourne, Cocoa and south to Fort Pierce and Port St Lucie.

Read the full story at Florida Today

 

New Tool Helps Fisheries Avoid Protected Species In Near Real Time

June 3, 2018 — New computer-generated daily maps will help fishermen locate the most productive fishing spots in near real time while warning them where they face the greatest risk of entangling sea turtles, marine mammals, and other protected species. Scientists developed the maps, the products of a system called EcoCast, to help reduce accidental catches of protected species in fishing nets.

Funded primarily by NASA with support from NOAA, California Sea Grant, and Stanford University, EcoCast was developed by NOAA Fisheries scientists and academic partners with input from fishermen and managers.

Using the swordfish fishery as an example, EcoCast incorporates data from tagged animals, remote sensing satellites, and fisheries observers to help predict concentrations of target species (broadbill swordfish) and three protected species (leatherback turtle, blue shark and California sea lion).

EcoCast will help fishermen, managers, scientists, and others understand in near real-time where fishing vessels have the highest probability of catching targeted species and where there is risk of catching protected species. In doing so, EcoCast aims to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries that sometimes inadvertently catch and kill sensitive species.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

Getting conservationists and fishers on the same page

May 31, 2018 — Historically, fisheries and the conservation community have struggled to find common ground. The tension between one’s desire to turn a profit and the other’s to preserve endangered or protected marine species that can be killed as bycatch has made it difficult to find solutions that satisfy both. Now, a new online tool developed by researchers at San Diego State University in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other universities could win support from both groups. EcoCast, developed with funding from the NASA Applied Sciences Ecological Forecasting Program, provides computer-generated maps to help fishermen target productive fishing spots while alerting them to areas likely to harbor protected species.

“This is a really different way of approaching ,” said Rebecca Lewison, a lead scientist on the project from San Diego State University and senior author of the new paper. “EcoCast pioneers a way of evaluating both conservation objectives and economic profitability. Instead of trying to shut down U.S. fisheries, EcoCast is trying to help U.S. fishermen fish smarter, allowing them to meet their set quota of target catch and avoid unwanted bycatch.”

Current protection zones for  are static, meaning authorities declare a zone off-limits to fishermen for some duration of time. But weather and oceanic conditions are ever-shifting, with species constantly moving in and out of protected areas. When protection zones are out of sync with the animals they’re designed to protect, both fisheries and conservation lose.

Read the full story at PHYS

 

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, A Preview Of What Might Be In Store For Mass. Barrier Beaches

August 9, 2017 — The first truly global disaster resulting from climate change may come from rising sea levels.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change has projected sea level rise of 1 to 3 feet by the end of the century, and more recent estimates by NASA and other scientists have projected a rise of up to 8 feet.

In Massachusetts, the rising sea will mean more frequent flooding, more severe storms, and dramatic change.

It’s a problem we will share with every coastal community on every continent. A bit farther down the Atlantic Coast, there’s a place that’s on a faster track to where we too may be headed.

‘These Beaches Are Doomed’

Leonardo Da Vinci wrote that “water is the driving force of all nature.”

Fascinated by great storms and terrible floods, DaVinci would have loved the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Nearly 200 miles of low-lying, shifting sand islands link into a high energy system of waves and storms.

“These beaches are doomed,” says Orrin Pilkey, a professor at Duke University and an octogenarian prophet. “The buildings are doomed too.”

Traveling through a shanty town of triple-decker McMansions on stilts, motels and condos too close to the sea, we stop in the town of Nags Head. Pilkey predicts catastrophe in vacationland.

“The future is one of retreat,” Pilkey says. “It’s the only way to save the beach. It’s the only way to save the buildings.”

Read and listen to the full story at WBUR

Idea to cut NASA’s role in climate science could be major loss for Maine, scientists say

November 29, 2016 — Maine scientists are decrying the assertion by a senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump that the new administration will eliminate or dramatically scale back NASA’s climate research.

The scientists say the elimination of the agency’s earth science programs would be catastrophic for climate science research in Maine, impairing their ability to detect and analyze effects on fisheries, forests and agriculture. Maine is a hub of climate research – especially as it relates to the oceans – and the work relies on data collected by NASA satellites and processed by the agency’s experts.

“If we lose these data sets and capabilities, that will be a major loss to us being able to monitor and track changes here in Maine and in other areas that impact us,” said Andrew Thomas, a professor of oceanography at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences, which receives more than one-sixth of its research funds from NASA. “Basically, you’re chopping off one of your arms and saying, ‘Carry on.’ ” The school’s Satellite Data Lab is using NASA data to analyze effects of melting ice in the Gulf of Alaska and to monitor marine algae production in the California Current.

Bob Walker, a former Pennsylvania congressman who serves as Trump’s space policy adviser, said in interviews last week that the administration would realign NASA’s budget, prioritizing exploration of “deep space” over space-based observations of Earth, which he has previously characterized as “politically correct environmental monitoring.” Earth observations would instead be made by the National Science Foundation or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, two much smaller agencies with little experience or expertise in space-based climate monitoring.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald