Saving Seafood

Here’s why seafood prices are soaring this summer

August 6, 2021 — After experiencing broad declines last year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the fishing and seafood sectors are still floundering due to the effects of supply chain issues, worker shortages and renewed consumer demand.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries wrote at the beginning of the year that coronavirus contributed to an “almost immediate” impact on seafood sector sales including lost sales at most aquaculture, aquaponics, and allied businesses and charter fishing operations.

Now, chefs and restaurant owners are speaking out on why pandemic woes have led to higher prices for their customers.

According to SeafoodSource, premium items are being taken off menus across the country because the delicacies are too hard or expensive to source.

Read the full story at Fox News

An uptick in industrial aquaculture in Maine has some lobster – and fishermen hot under the collar

August 6, 2021 — With international and domestic corporations aiming to set up in its waters, the state of Maine is bullish on aquaculture’s potential.

And no wonder, considering that it’s managed to triple its annual aquaculture sales revenue between 2007 and 2017, to almost $138 million.

High-profile privately funded ventures have lately been converging on this corner of the North Atlantic. Millions in Shopify dollars and venture capital are backing Running Tide, a Portland, Maine-based oyster operation, in its bid to figure out how to use kelp as a carbon offset. Norwegian-owned American Aquafarms wants to raise 120 acres of salmon in Frenchman Bay, and other large Canadian and Dutch finfish aquaculture companies are moving into the region. Maine is collaborating with several states to build a national seaweed hub and, with $1.2 million from a 2019 NOAA Sea Grant, is opening its own aquaculture hub to support various sea-based farming industries.

This bustle, though, has raised the hackles of lobstermen and -women represented by grassroots Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) organization. They say large-scale aquaculture corporations are intent on “privatizing” the public ocean, in the process displacing locals who’ve fished these waters for years and endangering their livelihoods. They feel considerably less optimistic about the burst of interest in aquafarming in their local waters—and in particular, about the expanded terms of the leases that accommodate these operations; a single entity can now hold 1,000 acres, up from a limit of 300 in 2006, and the duration of those leases doubled, from a decade to 20 years, in 2017.

Read the full story at The Counter

Coast Guard Hosting NY Bight Port Study Public Meetings

August 6, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

From June 29, 2020, through June 28, 2021, the Coast Guard conducted the Northern New York Bight Port Access Route Study (NNYBPARS) and is requesting public comments on a draft version of the study report. The goal of the study is to evaluate the adequacy of existing vessel routing measures and determine whether additional vessel routing measures are necessary for port approaches to New York and New Jersey and international and domestic transit areas in the First District area of responsibility.

The First Coast Guard District will host three in-person public meetings starting next week and invites the public to provide oral comments.

  • U.S. Coast Guard Station Point Judith Boathouse, Narraganset, RI
    August 10 at 4 p.m. EST
  • Montauk Fire District, Montauk, NY
    August 24 at 4 p.m. EST
  • Portuguese Holy Ghost Society, Stonington, CT
    August 25 at 4 p.m. EST

Meeting details can be accessed here.

Comments on Study Due August 30, 2021

The First Coast Guard District will consider all comments and material received on or before August 30, 2021. To submit your comment online, go to this link on Regulations.Gov and then click “Comment.”

Questions?

Contact Craig Lapiejko, Waterways Management at the First Coast Guard District, (617) 223-8351

NOAA announces higher-than-forecasted Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”

August 5, 2021 — NOAA announced on Tuesday, 3 August that its scientists have determined the size of this year’s “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico to be more than 6,300 square miles, a figure that’s both above the recent average and well above what officials initially forecasted in June.

The “dead zone” is term applied to the hypoxic zone that is annually established in the Gulf of Mexico. Fed by agricultural runoff, the Mississippi River dumps nutrient-rich water into the gulf, leading to algae growth during the spring and summer months. As that dies and sinks to the bottom, bacteria decay the algae but also consume oxygen in the process, resulting in an area of the ocean that is considered unsustainable for marine life.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Connecticut official says “menhaden are most abundant fish in the sea”

August 4, 2021 — It’s the time of year when fish abound in the region’s rivers, lakes and Long Island Sound, and also a time when some fish are dying.

While it’s an annual event, die-offs of menhaden, or bunkers, is most likely larger this year because of all the rain the state had in July, according to David Molnar, senior marine fisheries biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Another factor is that because of fish management, “menhaden are at an all-time high abundance. They are the most abundant fish in the sea,” he said.

Bunker serve as food for larger fish, ospreys and whales, as well as fertilizers, animal feed and bait for crab and lobster, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

They are saltwater fish but all the rain has reduced the salinity in the rivers, Molnar said. “Typically, the saltwater wedge in the Connecticut River can go all the way to Haddam,” he said. Now, it’s fresh water all the way to the breakwater.

At Shoreline towns such as Lyme, “as far as you can see are schools of menhaden,” Molnar said. “It’s an amazing sight. There are thousands and thousands of them.”

But in Guilford, for example, the problem in the West River, which Molnar called “a beautiful system, good water quality,” is that too many fish crowd in, creating school-induced hypoxia. “As the water temperature increases, they consume all the oxygen” and become stressed. Then, “diseases and parasites that they harbor” are able to flourish, killing even more fish.

Molnar said the bunker have been swimming in the West River since May, but the heavy rains in July brought too much fresh water, pushing the salt water out. “This is the third-wettest July in 100 years. That’s a lot of water,” Molnar said.

Read the full story at the New Haven Register

Monterey Bay and parts of Big Sur added to expanded killer whale protection

August 4, 2021 — The federal government Monday expanded its critical habitat area for the endangered southern killer whale population that now includes all of Monterey Bay and a portion of the waters off the Big Sur coast.

The new critical habitat designation also added a large portion of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary down to Point Sur, about 25 miles south of Monterey. The new designation takes effect on Sept. 1.

The demise of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, calls the Southern Resident population of killer whales is the result of a number of factors, including the lack of its primary food source: chinook salmon

Read the full story at Mercury News

Higher Vessel Speeds Offset Salmon Abundance for Endangered Orcas, Reducing Chance of Catching Prey

August 4, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Increased abundance of salmon in the inland waters of the Salish Sea increased the odds of endangered Southern Resident killer whales capturing salmon as prey, but increased speeds of nearby boats did just the opposite, according to new research findings.

The research was led by NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center. It found that the orcas descended more slowly, and took longer dives to capture prey, when nearby boats had navigational sonar switched on. The sonar from private and commercial vessels directly overlaps the main sound frequencies the whales use to hunt. This may mask the whales’ signals and force them to expend more energy to catch prey.

“That suggests that it may prolong their effort to dive in search of prey, which like all marine mammals they have to do on a breath hold—so they can stay underwater only so long,” said Marla Holt, research wildlife biologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new research. Researchers used suction-cup tags that record whale movements and sound to track and analyze their behavior and use of sound to hunt.

Earlier research found that the faster nearby vessels traveled, the greater noise the endangered killer whales experienced. That could help explain why higher speeds of nearby vessels were associated with reduced odds of the whales capturing prey. Faster vessels might also seem more unpredictable to the whales, possibly distracting them as they close in on prey, Holt said.

“Consequences of reduced food intake include negative impacts on the whales’ ability to meet their energetic requirements to support key life functions, including growth and reproduction,” the scientists wrote in the new research paper published in the journal Marine Environmental Research.

Read the full release here

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ larger than normal, NOAA says

August 4, 2021 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is warning that the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone” is larger than average, with about 4 million acres of water potentially uninhabitable to fish and other marine life.

The agency said in a Tuesday report that for the past five years, the average hypoxic zone, or area with little to no oxygen where marine life easily dies, has been 5,380 square miles.

In 2021, this area is about 6,334 square miles, about 2.8 times larger than the 2035 target set by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, better known as the Hypoxia Task Force.

Read the full story at The Hill

New ‘slow zone’ to protect rare whales off Massachusetts

August 4, 2021 — The federal government has announced a new voluntary speed restriction zone to try to protect rare whales off the Massachusetts coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the new “slow zone” is located southeast of Nantucket and began on Aug. 1. It’s in effect through Aug. 16.

The zone is designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360.

The agency is asking mariners to route around the area entirely or transit through it at 10 knots (11.5 miles per hour) or less.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Lobster Trap Transfer Period Open August 1 – September 30

August 3, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Lobster Trap Transfer Period Open August 1 – September 30

The Lobster Trap Transfer Program allows permit holders the annual flexibility to buy and sell trap allocations for Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2, 3, and the Outer Cape. The application period for fishing year 2022 is now open.

Applications must be submitted between August 1 and September 30. Approved transfers will take effect May 1, 2022.  A detailed guide about the program, transfer applications, and individual trap allocations is available on our website.

Questions?

Regulatory Questions:  Contact the Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9315

Application and Process Questions:  Contact the Analysis and Program Support Division, 978-282-8483

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103