Saving Seafood

In fight over right whales and lobster fishery, all sides want to know more about the whales’ activities off Maine

June 28, 2021 — The historic migration patterns of endangered North Atlantic right whales have been changing over the past decade, possibly due to climate change. Federal regulators, meanwhile, are considering drastic measures to protect the whales against deadly entanglement in fishing gear and rope.

So, the question of where and when the whales are swimming in relation to Maine’s lobster fishery is gaining urgency. Now, new efforts are underway to pinpoint their travel habits.

Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created a new website that maps almost two decades of work to detect whales off the east coast, via “passive acoustic” recorders set on buoys, on submerged platforms, and on underwater gliders that can zig and zag around the Gulf of Maine for months at a time.

“We’re seeing that you are getting whales. They are calling,” said Genevieve Davis, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

NOAA sets sail to study endangered smalltooth sawfish

June 28, 2021 — Federal researchers are back in the waters near Southwest Florida to tag and study endangered smalltooth sawfish.

Scientist Andrea Kroetz, with the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, and Research Biologist John Carlson, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, returned to the Everglades and 10,000 Islands area to monitor the population and habitat use of juvenile smalltooth sawfish.

Carlson said the research is two-fold. Since sawfish are listed under the Endangered Species act, the team has been monitoring the population since 2008 to get an idea if the species is recovering.

“The other aspect is habitat use,” Carlson said. “We’re trying to gather more information to better define what features sawfish use when they’re juveniles.”

Smalltooth sawfish can grow up to 17 feet long and were historically common off Florida’s coastline, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website says. Populations declined, however, because of overfishing.

Read the full story at the Naples Daily News

NOAA Releases Animated Video to Shine Spotlight on Endangered Atlantic Salmon

June 28, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries has partnered with Puckerbrush Animation to create a new animated video about Atlantic salmon and the threats that have led to their endangered listing.

The video is part of NOAA’s “Species in the Spotlight” series, which highlights nine species that are considered the most at risk of extinction in the near future. Besides Atlantic salmon, NOAA’s “Species in the Spotlight” series also includes Central California Coast coho, Cook Inlet beluga, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Pacific Leatherback, North Atlantic Right Whale, Sacramento River Winter-Run Chinook Salmon, Southern Resident Killer Whale, and White Abalone.

Read the full story at Seafood News

US maritime economy grew at a pace double the entire national GDP in 2019

June 28, 2021 — The nation’s maritime economy grew at pace that nearly doubled the growth of the entire U.S. GDP in 2019.

GDP stands for gross domestic product and reflects the total market value of all finished goods and services in a specific time frame. It is used to estimate the size of an economy and its growth rate – a sort of comprehensive scorecard of a country’s economic health.

A first-ever report released this month by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that the so-called “blue economy” grew by 4.2% and generated nearly $400 billion to the GDP.

Along with the oceans, the report includes the Great Lakes and looks at the contributions from shoreside businesses. Those businesses generated almost $666 billion in sales in 2019 and supported 2.4 million jobs.

Commercial fishing, including aquaculture, contributed $27 billion making it the sixth-largest segment of the blue economy.

The top marine economic activity in 2019 was tourism and recreation, including coastal trips and travel, and offshore boating and fishing. That accounted for 35.3% of gross output totaling $235 billion.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2021 Regional Fishery Management Council Appointments

June 28, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries announced 2021 regional fishery management council appointments on June 28. The Administration broke down the appointments by region. Find the full list of appointments below.

New England Council

2021 appointees will fill four obligatory seats for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and one at-large seat:

Mark Alexander (Connecticut), Geoffrey Smith (Maine), Michael Pierdinock (Massachusetts) and Eric Reid (Rhode Island) *.

The At-large seat will belong to Kristin ‘Togue’ Brawn (Maine).

Read the full story at Seafood News

Reminder: NOAA Fisheries Offers Webinars to Assist Skimmer Trawl Fishermen with Turtle Excluder Device (TEDs) Installation

June 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Key Message:

Fishing gear specialists with NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fishery Science Center’s Gear Monitoring Team will host question and answer webinar sessions and a virtual workshop summarizing upcoming skimmer trawl Turtle Excluder Device (TED) requirements and assist participants with program information and compliance.  To date NOAA Fisheries has offered three TED Tuesday webinars and two Friday virtual workshops, but there are several more opportunities to join us for more information on the Turtle Excluder Device rule and to see how to install a TED.

When:

  • The webinars are scheduled twice a month on Tuesday mornings starting at 9:00 AM through 10:30 AM CST. Webinars are scheduled for July 13, and July 27, 2021.
  • In addition, virtual workshops will be held one Friday a month starting at 9:00 AM through 10:30 AM CST. The last virtual workshop is scheduled for July 30, 2021. The full schedule and registration information are listed below.

TED Tuesday Webinars:

Friday Virtual Workshop

Additional Information:

  • NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Harvesting and Engineering Branch staff will host the webinars and virtual workshops to summarize upcoming TED requirements scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2021 for skimmer trawl vessels 40 ft or greater in length.
  • Tuesday webinars will provide a comprehensive summary of the new regulations, gear requirements, and research results. Question and answer sessions will be conducted at the end of each webinar.
  • Virtual workshops will also summarize regulations and gear requirements, but will have longer question and answer sessions focused on technical aspects of TED construction, installation, and handling. During these workshops, model TEDs will be available to aid gear specialists in answering questions and illustrating technical details of TED construction and measurements.
  • These webinars and workshops are for anyone with an interest in the new TED requirements for skimmer trawls and specifically for any Southeast captains, owners, or crew of skimmer trawl vessels that are 40 ft or greater in length that will be impacted by the regulation.
  • This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

Read the full release here

Track Whale Detections With This Interactive Map

June 25, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center have created a new data mapping tool to help people understand when and where large whales occur off the East Coast.

The underlying data include detections made by underwater listening devices — called hydrophones — operated from stationary platforms, such as bottom-mounted moorings and surface buoys. They were also made by mobile platforms like Slocum gliders and towed hydrophone arrays. The map includes sounds made by sei, fin, blue, humpback and North Atlantic right whales from 2004 to the present.

“Our goal was to provide all the archived data we have, plus data from collaborators, in one place and make it easy for managers, stakeholders and scientists to access it themselves and explore the data in a format that would be helpful,” said Sofie Van Parijs, one of the creators and lead of the center’s passive acoustics research group. “We hope to add in data collected by the wind industry, and invite other researchers and sources of this type of data to share what they have with us to make this dataset as comprehensive as possible.”

Those interested in contributing to the data can contact the developers at nmfs.pacmdata@noaa.gov.

Recent additions to the dataset include all beaked whales, sperm whales, and dwarf and pygmy sperm whales (Kogia species) detected from 2013 to the present. Current recording locations range from the waters of the western North Atlantic, off Greenland, to the Caribbean Sea.

Data about each detection is incorporated into the mapping tool, including:

  • Location
  • Season
  • Number of deployments of that recording gear
  • Number of recorded days and detections
  • Type of detection: definite, possible, no detection, or data collected but not yet analyzed.

Read the full release here

Commercial Harvest of King Mackerel in Federal Waters of the Gulf of Mexico Northern Zone Will Close on June 28, 2021

June 25, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What/When:

  • Commercial harvest of king mackerel in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Northern Zone (depicted in map below) will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on June 28, 2021.
  • Commercial harvest will reopen at 12:01 a.m., local time, on October 1, 2021.

Why This Closure Is Happening:

  • The 2020/2021 commercial quota for the Gulf Northern Zone is 493,200 pounds.
  • Updated landings data indicate that commercial harvest of king mackerel in this zone has exceeded its quota.
  • In accordance with the regulations NOAA Fisheries is required to close harvest for a species when the quota has been met or is projected to be met.

During The Closure:

  • No commercial fisherman may keep for sale king mackerel in or from the closed Northern Zone after 12:01 a.m., local time, on June 28, 2021.
  • The prohibition on sale or purchase does not apply to trade in king mackerel that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold before 12:01 a.m., local time, June 28, 2021, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • Persons aboard commercial vessels with a federal king mackerel permit may fish for and retain the recreational bag and possession limit of king mackerel during the open recreational season, even if commercial fishing for this species is closed in this zone or others.

Read the full release here

New Atlantic Salmon Animation Released

June 25, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries and Maine-based animation team, Puckerbrush Animation, recently partnered to create a new digital animation that talks about Atlantic salmon and the threats that have led to their endangered listing.

Atlantic salmon are part of our Species in the Spotlight initiative, which highlights our most imperiled species to focus attention and resources towards actions that we and our partners can take to bring them back from the brink of extinction.

Learn about the various threats facing Atlantic salmon, including climate change, and about what you can do to help protect and restore Atlantic salmon, and their ecosystems in this animated video.

Read the full release here

Commercial Closure in Federal Waters for Atlantic Migratory Group Spanish Mackerel Northern Zone on June 28, 2021

June 24, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What/When:

The commercial harvest of Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel (Atlantic Spanish mackerel) northern zone will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on June 28, 2021 and will re-open on March 1, 2022.  The northern zone for Atlantic Spanish mackerel includes federal waters from North Carolina through New York.  During the commercial closure, harvest or possession of Atlantic Spanish mackerel in or from the northern zone is limited to the recreational bag and possession limits while the recreational sector is open, but those fish may not be sold.

Why This Closure Is Happening:

  • The commercial quota for Atlantic Spanish mackerel in the northern zone for the March 2021 through February 2022 fishing year is 662,670 lbs.
  • Commercial landings are projected to reach the commercial quota for Atlantic Spanish mackerel in the northern zone. According to the accountability measure, harvest must close to prevent the quota from being exceeded.

During the Closure:

  • The prohibition on sale or purchase during a commercial closure for Atlantic Spanish mackerel in the northern zone does not apply to fish that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, June 28, 2021, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • During the closure, a person on board a vessel that has been issued a valid federal commercial permit for coastal migratory pelagic fish may continue to retain Atlantic Spanish mackerel in the northern zone under the recreational bag and possession limits, as long as the recreational sector for Atlantic Spanish mackerel is open.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations.  Full regulations can be found in the Federal Register or at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=38b00fbc079181f330b3d8428a1d8fea&mc=true&n=pt50.12.622&r=PART&ty=HTML#sp50.12.622.q.