Saving Seafood

States Begin Work on Second Round of COVID-19 Funds as Some First Round Funds Falter

May 17, 2021 — Last year’s $300 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding was intended to help fishermen, processors and tribes as the COVID-19 virus disrupted markets, displaced workers and generally created havoc around the globe.

But some of that funding has yet to be distributed, even as a second round of federal funding is pending. An additional $255 million in fisheries assistance funding was provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and announced by NMFS in late March.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Feds raise protections for North Atlantic right whales, but sea turtles may suffer

May 17, 2021 — North Atlantic right whales have gained protections and sea turtles are more imperiled under a new federal calendar for harbor dredging that came to light May 14 in a federal lawsuit that seeks to protect sea turtles.

The entire calendar for dredging at some seaports along the East Coast has been modified in an effort to increase protections for North American right whales, according to a federal report with the new calendar. This species has been reduced to a population of some 360 animals.

The change allows harbors to be dredged in warmer months in North Carolina and continuing south through Georgia and Florida, to the islands of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dredging is routine maintenance and typically involves vacuuming up debris that has filled a shipping channel and impedes ships as they use a port. The process has a history of harming certain sea life.

Read the full story at The Saporta Report

Submission Deadline for Proposals to Conduct Components of the At-Sea Monitoring Training Program Extended to May 24, 2021

May 13, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), is extending the submission deadline for proposals to conduct components of the At-Sea Monitoring (ASM) Training Program for the NEFSC. The deadline is extended until May 24, 2021 (previously May 19, 2021). The complete Request for Proposals (RFP) can be found here. For more information, please contact Deke Tompkins at dtompkins@asmfc.org.

NMFS reports right whales increasing use of New England offshore wind areas

May 7, 2021 — Endangered northern right whales that have been arriving earlier in spring and staying longer around Cape Cod have also expanded their presence south and west of Nantucket Shoals, into areas planned for large-scale development of offshore wind power, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Scientists from the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducting surveillance flights spotted 57 fight whales March 30 off southeast New England, in and around wind energy areas that have been leased to developers by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

NMFS officials said those whales included three mother-calf pairs – results from what experts have called the most successful calving season in years for the highly endangered species, with 17 young reported and nine mother-calf pairs sighted in Northeast waters in recent weeks. The entire population was last estimated to number around 366 animals.

Right whales typically appear in Cape Cod Bay during the spring, but in recent years they have been showing up sooner and lingering longer, according to a summary released April 15 by NMFS.

A small portion of the whale population, mostly pregnant females, migrates to waters off Georgia and northern Florida for the winter calving season, according to marine mammal researcher Tim Cole who leads the NEFSC whale survey team.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Feds start review of endangered Southern Resident orcas

April 27, 2021 — NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service says it’s starting a five-year status review of the Southern Resident orcas.

NOAA Fisheries published a notice in the Federal Register about the status review last week, The Skagit Valley Herald reported. The whales were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups — called J, K and L pods — that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s into the 70s.

The orcas, also called killer whales, live along the West Coast and frequent the Salish Sea.

Since 2005, the orca population has decreased from 88 orcas to a recent low of 72, according to the Center for Whale Research and NOAA Fisheries. As of February, the population was estimated at 75 with some recently identified calves.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

NMFS Publishes Finale Rule on Humpback Whales Pacific Ocean Habitat

April 26, 2021 — Pacific Ocean humpback whales gained more protection this week as the National Marine Fisheries Service designated more than 115,000 square nautical miles as critical habitat.

The final rule covers three threatened or endangered populations of humpbacks: the Western North Pacific distinct population segment (endangered), the Central America DPS (endangered), and the Mexico DPS (threatened).

Read the full story at Seafood News

ASMFC Seeks Proposals to Conduct Components of the At-Sea Monitoring Training Program

April 19, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to conduct components of the At-Sea Monitoring (ASM) Training Program for the NEFSC.

NMFS is required to collect biological and compliance data aboard U.S. domestic fishing vessels, data which cannot be obtained at the dock or on research vessels. Specifically, NMFS observer data is essential to reliably estimating catch and bycatch, and in helping to implement programs to reduce bycatch. A sharp increase to the coverage rate (up to 100%) for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery in Fishing Year 2022 and observer attrition during the 2020 fishing year have resulted in the need for approximately 140 new at-sea monitors.

The Awardee shall provide and retain the necessary qualified personnel, materials, equipment, services, and facilities to conduct components of the ASM training for NEFSC. The Awardee shall conduct approximately 4-6 trainings per year. The training will be conducted as a collaborative effort between NMFS and the Awardee; where some components of the training will be conducted by the Awardee and some training components will be conducted by NMFS.

Applicants seeking to apply to the RFP must submit, as a single file, an electronic proposal by email no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on May 19, 2021. Please see the RFP for complete proposal details, qualifying requirements, and submission instructions. The RFP is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/RFPs/AtSeaMonitorTrainingRFP_April2021.pdf.

For more information, please contact Deke Tompkins at dtompkins@asmfc.org or 313.303.2623.

Pacific Council Rejects Sardine Stock Projection; Approves Reduced Fishing Levels for 2021

April 15, 2021 — In a surprising turn, the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee rejected a Southwest Fisheries Science Center catch-only sardine biomass projection when the Council met this week.

NMFS field surveys were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no real directed fishery in the U.S. has been conducted on sardines since 2015. The catch-only projection was supposed to be the basis for the fishery’s management measures for the season from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

Read the full story at Seafood News

RODA Urges BOEM: ‘Don’t Forget Fishermen’ Amid Offshore Wind Development Process

April 9, 2021 — Fishing communities across the east coast of the United States submitted a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) again asking for a “transparent and balanced” nationwide planning process for offshore wind development.

“Ahead of the Record of Decision for the Vineyard Wind I project, which would be the first commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in U.S. federal waters, the signers request that BOEM adopt reasonable and consistently requested fisheries mitigation measures for the project if it is approved,” the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) wrote in a release.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NMFS switching Northeast fishermen to electronic reporting; new policy to reimburse electronic monitoring

April 9, 2021 — NMFS and the Northeast fishing fleet will shift to fully electronic catch reporting this fall for most commercial and for-hire fishing vessels, says the agency’s Greater Atlantic regional office.

It’s the end of the traditional paper logbooks distributed by the agency, where officials say the new system via digital devices “will increase reporting efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of the fisheries data we use to manage fish stocks in our region.”

In an April 5 announcement promoting the system, NMFS quotes “early adopters” who have been using the electronic reports.

Ryan Kelly, owner/operator of the Seaquestor II out of Barnegat Light, N.J., has been reporting electronically for several years using his iPhone and the NMFS iOS Fish Online app.

Read the full story at National Fisherman