Saving Seafood

Environmentalists propose Mainers farm quahogs to beat pests

October 28, 2019 — Few things are as embedded in Maine’s culture – or its mud – as clams, and an environmental group thinks the key to saving the shellfish might be growing a different kind of bivalve along the state’s coast.

Manomet, based in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is proposing the shellfish shift as a way to beat predators that plague Maine’s clam diggers. Seafood lovers have sought Maine’s softshell clams in chowders and clam rolls for decades, but wild harvesters are collecting fewer of those clams, in part because of the spread of crabs and worms that prey on them.

Manomet thinks the answer might lie in the aquaculture of quahogs, which are a harder species of clam associated more with Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The group is working with four shellfish farmers along the Maine coast to grow quahogs, study the results and bring the bivalves to market.

“Wouldn’t it make sense to branch out and do this new species? One of the things that attracted us to quahogs was they seem to be less susceptible to predation from green crabs and marine worms,” said Marissa McMahan, marine fisheries division director for Manomet, referencing a pair of pests that eat softshell clams.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Sens. Ed Markey and Dan Sullivan introduce bipartisan bill to boost ocean health

October 28, 2019 — Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska on Friday introduced the Ocean, Coastal and Estuarine Acidification Necessitates (OCEAN) Research Act, which boosts investment in research that could improve ocean health and protect the seafood industry.

The senators said in a news release Friday that the bill would lead to greater research and monitoring of ocean acidification, which occurs as a consequence of carbon dioxide forming acids when dissolved in seawater. The process harms shellfish, coral reefs and other marine life essential for healthy ecosystems and coastal economies.

In coastal areas, acidification may interact with warming waters, harmful algal blooms and low-oxygen “dead zones” with severe impacts. Southern Massachusetts and Narragansett Bay have been identified as “acidification hotspots,” jeopardizing the $500 million-plus Massachusetts shellfish industry.

The bipartisan bill introduced Friday would reauthorize the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act, which lapsed in 2012 and provided funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation. The bill calls for engaging with coastal communities and the seafood industry through an advisory board and research grants.

Read the full story at MassLive

Genetic studies confirm Alaska cod stocks pushing north

October 25, 2019 — Biologists were shocked in 2017 when they found that the numbers of Pacific cod had risen exponentially in the northern Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. Now, researchers at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center have used genetic testing to prove that those fish, enabled by warming waters and a lack of sea ice, have moved north from the southeastern Bering Sea.

Surveys as recent as the 1970’s revealed “trace amounts” of cod in the northern Bering Sea, according to a brief released by NOAA. Major Alaska cod fisheries in the past decades have operated in the southeastern Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska, which meant management biologists conducted only sporadic bottom trawl surveys in the north.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Emails show bond between NOAA, fishermen against project

October 25, 2019 — Meghan Lapp was steamed. It was late February, and Rhode Island regulators had just finalized a mitigation plan intended to blunt an offshore wind project’s economic impact on local fishermen. Lapp, who handles government relations at a Rhode Island fishing company, viewed the plan as a farce.

“What happened last night in R.I. was an absolute roll over the fishing industry,” she wrote to two staffers at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that regulates commercial fishing.

State regulators had taken little input from fishermen on the plan, she wrote. What input they did receive did not sway them. A calamari processor told Rhode Island officials his biggest customer would likely have to source squid from China if the 84-turbine project proposed by Vineyard Wind in federal waters off Massachusetts was allowed to proceed.

Lapp’s company, Seafreeze Ltd., fishes for squid in the area and has taken a lead role in opposing the project.

“We are losing on every angle,” Lapp wrote federal officials. She later added, “I appreciate all the work you guys are doing on the offshore wind issue, and I thought particularly with regards to the squid industry that this was important to share.”

Doug Christel, a fishing policy analyst at NOAA, responded a week later. The federal agency had not been closely tracking the state process but had discussed Lapp’s concerns, he said.

“Similar to some of your comments, we feel the DEIS [draft environmental impact statement] underestimates landings from within the WDA,” he wrote, referring to the wind development area leased by Vineyard Wind from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full story at E&E News

Federal government wants your opinion on whale-watching rules to protect orcas

October 24, 2019 — The federal government is asking the public to weigh in on current and potentially new regulations for whale watching near endangered southern resident orcas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has opened a so-called scoping period for 60 days to take public comment on whether existing federal regulations adequately protect killer whales from the impacts of vessels and noise in the inland waters of Washington state, and if not, what action the agency should take.

Southern resident orcas are an endangered species and have declined to only 73 animals. They are threatened by a combination of inadequate food, pollution, and vessel noise and disturbance that makes it harder for them to hunt salmon.

NOAA’s existing rules have been eclipsed by more strict regulations imposed both by the state of Washington and interim rules in Canada that sunset after this season. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife also is launching a process under the direction of the Legislature to enact further restrictions on whale watching.

Read the full story at the The Seattle Times

Revised Effort Controls for the Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery in Period 4

October 24, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts revised effort control measures for the 2019 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery for period 4 (November and December). The Area 1A fishery will remain at zero landing days for the remainder of October as the period 3 quota has been met.

For period 4, the Area 1A fishery will move to one landing day per week starting at 6:00 p.m. on November 3 for Maine and 12:01 a.m. on November 4 for Massachusetts and New Hampshire, contingent upon a notice by NOAA Fisheries that the Area 1A sub-ACL has been adjusted. As outlined in the Atlantic herring specifications, if the New Brunswick weir fishery catch through October 1 is less than 4,000 mt, then 1,000 mt will be subtracted from the management uncertainty buffer and added to the Area 1A sub-ACL. NOAA Fisheries is currently evaluating landings data from the New Brunswick weir fishery and will make a determination in the coming weeks. If a notice by NOAA Fisheries has not been issued by 10 a.m. on October 31, the fishery will remain at zero landings until the transfer has occurred. Upon notification from NOAA Fisheries, the fishery will move to one landing day per week with a Sunday/Monday start date based on the timing of the announcement. In order to provide states enough time to notify stakeholders, the notice from NOAA Fisheries must be posted by 10 a.m. on Thursday for the fishery to move to one landing day the subsequent Sunday/Monday.

Period 4 landings will be closely monitored and the directed fishery in Area 1A will close when 92% of the sub-ACL is projected to be reached, or when 95% of the ACL for the stock-wide fishery is projected to be reached. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip on days out of the fishery.

Please note the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas remain closed through 11:59 p.m. on November 3 (vessels cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring during spawning closures).

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atkrootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF of the announcement can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5db1e21bAtlHerringDaysOutRevisedSpecifications_Oct2019.pdf

NOAA Fisheries Awards Bycatch Reduction Grant Funding

October 24, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded $1.1 million in funding for seven New England and Mid-Atlantic projects through the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

The awards support key partners in research and development of innovative approaches and strategies for reducing bycatch, bycatch mortality and post-release mortality.

The New England Aquarium was awarded $125,000 for a project to study whale release ropes as a large whale bycatch mitigation option for the lobster fishing industry.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries received $176,572 for a bycatch reduction of red hake project in the Southern New England silver hake trawl fishery.

There were also a few projects related to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, which only number around 400.

Maine Department of Marine Resources was awarded $198,018 for a project to assess the feasibility of Time Tension Line Cutter use in fixed gear fisheries to reduce entanglement risk for right whales.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Competing for space on the increasingly crowded ocean

October 23, 2019 — Oceans cover nearly three-quarters of the Earth, and it’s getting crowded out on the water.

Energy, shipping, fishing and conservation groups all need space to operate on the world’s oceans, and are bumping up against each other more frequently. All agree the competition is going to increase in coming years.

A conference Tuesday at New Jersey’s Monmouth University brought together industry and environmental groups, who agreed that communication and coordination are essential to sharing the ocean.

“Ocean activity is on the rise, and it’s exponential,” said Timothy Gallaudet, deputy administration of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a retired rear admiral with the Navy. “There has been 400% growth in ocean activity over the last 25 years.”

Bethann Rooney, a deputy director with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, predicted that the combined port of New York and Newark, New Jersey, second in size only to Los Angeles, will see its cargo volume double or triple over the next 30 years.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Star Tribune

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region Commends Work of Washington State’s Killer Whale Task Force

October 22, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region commends Governor Inslee for convening the Task Force on Southern Resident Killer Whales and the Task Force co-chairs, members, and working groups for crafting a broad package of recovery recommendations for this signature Washington species. As a member of the Task Force and the Federal lead for recovery, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region appreciated the opportunity to discuss this critical issue through a robust public process and looks forward to pursuing actions together that will support recovery of Southern Resident killer whales and their salmon prey.

The Task Force recommendations supplement and complement NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 Recovery Plan for Southern Residents with thoughtful and effective actions that address the three main threats to the whales: lack of prey, vessel traffic and noise, and contaminants. The Task Force recommendations also draw from and support the long-term recovery programs for Chinook salmon, the primary prey for the whales. NOAA Fisheries has helped lay groundwork for some of the recommendations through research on each of the threats and critical grant programs, such as the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund which supports habitat restoration and Endangered Species Act grants which fund enforcement of vessel regulations by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Governor’s Task Force has helped focus public attention and energy on Southern Resident recovery when it is so urgently needed. We look forward to continuing this important collaboration with the State, tribes, Task Force, and public to implement these recommendations as soon as possible.

Read the full release here