Saving Seafood

Humpback Whale Disentangled Off New York All Thanks to a Team Effort

July 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries was notified by the U.S. Coast Guard of a distressed humpback whale in the Ambrose Channel of New York on Monday, July 27. One of our New York stranding network partners, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS), immediately began working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) on plans to get a good look at the animal and confirm its location. AMSEAS reached out to the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown, Massachusetts, our lead authorized disentanglement partner for the area, to discuss the situation.

On Monday evening, AMSEAS went out with NYSDEC staff on one of their vessels to the location provided by the USCG. They determined the whale was still alive and able to breathe. It appeared to be anchored in place but staff could not see any entangling material.

After reviewing the initial photos from Monday, AMSEAS and NYSDEC returned to the whale on Tuesday and were able to secure better images confirming the entanglement and its configuration, which were holding the whale’s tail down. After relaying this information back to CCS and NOAA and further assessing the urgent situation, we worked together to plan for a disentanglement attempt.

On Wednesday morning, USCG verified that the whale was still anchored in the same position. CCS disentanglement staff were flown from Massachusetts to New York on a flight donated by our partners at Turtles Fly Too. By Wednesday afternoon, the disentanglement team was able to remove multiple buoys and make cuts through pieces of entangling gear around the whale’s flukes. Despite their best efforts, the whale was still anchored in place, and the team had to leave the whale when it got too dark to continue safely.

Early Thursday morning, the NYSDEC vessels with the AMSEAS and CCS teams were back on the water. The research vessel Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe, from Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, transported a team member from NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Sandy Hook lab to the whale. Working with the R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Drift Collection Vessel HAYWARD, crews used heavy equipment to secure and haul some of the heavy gear, which allowed the CCS team to make cuts that relieved pressure on the whale’s body. Around 4 p.m., final cuts were made releasing the whale from a very large and complicated entanglement.

This event demonstrated the need for a deliberate approach with patience and endurance, and the collaboration of local resources and expertise to support a skilled and experienced disentanglement team.

We are extremely grateful to all of our partners who were involved in what turned out to be one of the most complex whale entanglements we have encountered. Because of them, this whale was given a second chance at life.

Read the full story on our website, including quotes from our partners and a listing of all the organizations involved and their roles.

Read the full release here

NOAA establishes national-level criteria for observer waivers in wake of criticism

July 31, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced on 30 July that it has identified national-level observer waiver criteria, and that the redeployment of observers in the Northeast U.S. will begin 14 August.

The national criteria comes in the wake of Seafood Harvesters of America calling on NOAA Fisheries earlier this month to develop more consistent policies regarding observer waiver criteria. A letter sent by Seafood Harvesters of America called NOAA’s policy regarding at-sea coverage “inconsistent and unequal.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Awards ~$4 Million in Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grants

July 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today NOAA Fisheries announced almost $4 million of grants awarded through the FY 2020 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grants program.

These Prescott Grants support a core mission of NOAA Fisheries— the conservation and recovery of protected marine species—by helping to improve our national marine mammal stranding response capabilities. Through this program, we have provided $63.8 million over the past two decades, and our stranding network partners have provided an additional $24.8 million in matching funds, to build a strong network of over 100 trained, professional partners. These trained professionals and volunteers provide valuable environmental intelligence as they respond to marine mammals in distress, helping NOAA establish links among the health of marine mammals, coastal ecosystems, and coastal communities.

For FY 2020, NOAA Fisheries awarded 43 grants to 40 recipients in 19 states and one tribe, representing marine mammal stranding network partners from every NOAA Fisheries Region. In the Greater Atlantic Region there were 12 awards in 8 states.

Read our web story for more information about this year’s awardees.

Additionally, NOAA is announcing that the application deadline for FY 2021 Prescott grants is October 13, 2020.

NOAA Fisheries Identifies National-Level Observer Waiver Criteria; Will Begin Redeployment in Northeast

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Providing seafood to the country remains an essential function even in these extraordinary times, and adequately monitoring United States fisheries remains an essential part of that process.

To improve transparency in our approach to observer deployment, we have established national-level criteria for vessels to be waived (released) from observer or at-sea monitor coverage. Going forward, observer or monitor coverage may be waived, for both full and partial-coverage fisheries, on a trip-specific basis if one of the following two criteria are met:

(1) Observers or at-sea monitors are not available for deployment; or

(2) The observer providers cannot meet the safety protocols imposed by a state on commercial fishing crew or by the vessel or vessel company on its crew. Within our limited authority, our efforts are intended to ensure observers and monitors are following the same safety protocols that fishermen are following.

We recognize that there are differences for observer and at-sea monitor deployment across fisheries, and have heard the concerns expressed about how observer coverage varies regionally, and even within regions. Given the diversity in our fisheries, from the composition of the fleets to how the fisheries are prosecuted, regional flexibility will continue in the detailed implementation of the two waiver criteria. We believe this adaptable approach will allow us to be transparent with stakeholders as well as responsive to ever-evolving changes on the ground. We also continue to encourage the use of electronic monitoring, as appropriate, as an additional option.

On August 14, we will resume deployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the Northeast partial-coverage fisheries. We are maintaining existing observer and monitor, both at-sea and shoreside, coverage throughout our other regions. Vessels should continue to seek observer and monitor coverage waivers through their regular regional process.

NOAA Fisheries has been working with the regional observer and monitor providers to enact safety protocols that match those that are in effect for vessel operators and crew, during this continually evolving situation. The contractual relationships between industry, NOAA Fisheries, and observer providers vary by region and sometimes within a region.

Observers and monitors, at-sea and shoreside, are an essential component of commercial fishing operations and provide critical information that is necessary to keep fisheries open and to provide sustainable seafood to our nation during this time. We will continue to monitor all local public health notifications, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for updates. We are committed to the health and safety of fishermen, observers, and others while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life.

Chris Oliver
NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator

Read the announcement here

NOAA: number of US stocks on the overfishing list reach record low in 2019

July 30, 2020 — Ninety-three percent of the 321 US fishing stocks where a determination can be made are not subject to overfishing, according to figures released Tuesday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its Fisheries Economics of the United States 2019 report.

The report outlines the status of managed stocks or stock complexes in the US to determine which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.

NOAA Fisheries manages 461 stocks or stock complexes in 46 fishery management plans. Each year, it determine the status of fish stocks and stock complexes through stock assessments. Of 461 stocks and stock complexes, 321 have a known overfishing status and 244 have a known overfished status.

At the end of 2019, there were 22 stocks on the overfishing list and 46 on the overfished list.

Read the full story at IntraFish

New research plan sets the course for NOAA’s ocean acidification science

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA unveiled its new 10-year research roadmap to help the nation’s scientists, resource managers, and coastal communities address acidification of the open ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

“Ocean acidification puts the United States’ $1 billion shellfish industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk,” said Kenric Osgood, Ph.D., chief of the Marine Ecosystems Division, Office of Science and Technology at NOAA Fisheries Service. “Understanding how ocean acidification will affect marine life and the jobs and communities that depend on it is critical to a healthy ocean and blue economy.”

The research plan sets out three major objectives for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes acidification research, and includes regional chapters for coastal zones around the U.S., Great Lakes, territories – including Puerto Rico and American Samoa – and deep ocean regions. The three national research objectives are:

1) Expand and advance observing systems and technologies to improve the understanding of and ability to predict acidification trends and processes;

2) Understand the ways acidification is impacting ecologically and economically important species and the ecosystems they live in, and improve our ability to predict how these ecosystems and species may respond to acidification and other stressors; and

3) Identify and engage stakeholders and partners, assess needs, and generate products and tools that support management decisions, adaptation, and resilience to acidification.

Read the full release here

Sen. Cantwell Criticizes “Slow and Inefficient” Implementation of Fishery Disaster Relief Funding, Calls for Streamlining Process

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Today at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the top Democrat on the committee, highlighted the devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on the seafood sector and called for a streamlining of the fishery disaster process, criticizing the “slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation” of fishery disaster relief by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service.

The fisheries sector makes up 60 percent of Washington state’s 30 billion dollar maritime economy, which supports over 146,000 jobs. In her opening statement, Cantwell discussed how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the seafood industry, resulting in a decrease of $21 million in revenue for West coast fisheries—a 40 percent decline compared to the previous five-year average. In January alone, Washington Dungeness crab fishery saw a 37 percent decline in revenue from the previous year. Overall, U.S. seafood sales have dropped an estimated 95 percent this year.

“Despite this staggering economic data, many fishermen have not been able to access the COVID relief funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Main Street Lending Program, or even qualify for unemployment based on the nature of their businesses and tax structures,” Senator Cantwell said. “USDA food purchase programs have not been able to provide the support for most seafood products, and some USDA programs, including the Farmers to Families Box Program, specifically block wild caught seafood from eligibility to the program, another blow to the industry.”

“That is why I fought so hard to secure $300 million dollars for the seafood sector in the form of grants and other assistance in the CARES Act to address the loophole. Unfortunately, the industry has yet to see a single dollar of relief due to a slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation through NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.”

At the hearing, Cantwell also highlighted legislation she introduced with Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) that would streamline the fishery disaster process. “While this bill was written before COVID, it is clear even now…that this is an important aspect of what we need to be doing,” Senator Cantwell said.

Senator Cantwell has been a long-time leading advocate for fishing communities and sustainable fisheries management. In March, Cantwell secured $300 million in economic relief for fishermen suffering from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $50 million for Washington fishermen, from the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In May, Cantwell successfully ensured the release of more than $8.4 million in fishery disaster funds to Washington state communities and Tribes. Cantwell has advocated for reforms to the fisheries disaster process to ensure that small business charter fisherman are included in the Disaster Relief Recovery Act, and throughout her time in the Senate Cantwell has worked with her colleagues to help securefunding for fishing communities impacted by federally-declared disasters.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s opening statement can be found HERE and audio HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses can be found HERE and audio HERE.

Overfishing In U.S. Reaches All-Time Low, NOAA Says

July 29, 2020 — While overfishing continues to remain a serious problem globally, its rate in the U.S. has reached an all-time low, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which said the outlooks for fish populations “continue to be strong, successful and achieving long-term sustainability goals.”

KEY FACTS

  • 7% of fish stocks, populations of fish in specific areas, with a known status, were subject to overfishing in 2019, according to NOAA—the lowest rate ever reported
  • Overfishing occurs when the harvest rate for a fish stock is too high.
  • The scientific knowledge of fishing impacts has continued to improve, according to NOAA, which appears to be a major reason behind the American progress in rebuilding fisheries over the years.
  • The overall outlook for fish stocks in the U.S. is strong, according to NOAA, though the fishing industry in the U.S. and around the world has taken a hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
  • In the CARES Act, the coronavirus stimulus package signed into law in March, $300 million was set aside specifically to help the fishing community.

CRITICAL QUOTE

“It’s important we acknowledge the achievements in sustainable fisheries made in recent years by fishermen, industries, scientists, managers and conservationists across our nation. These updates are a testament to their outstanding work,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

Read the full story at Forbes

Massachusetts Lawmakers Call for Observer Waiver to Continue Past July 31

July 28, 2020 — With just days left before the redeployment of observers will begin in the Greater Atlantic Region, Massachusetts lawmakers called on NOAA Fisheries to extend the waiver of fishery observers as long as is necessary.

In a letter to NOAA leadership, the delegation asked for a delay of the at-sea monitoring requirement for the Northeast groundfish fishery citing rising cases in coastal areas in the region including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia communities.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NOAA reports indicate U.S. fisheries sustainable, robust economically

July 28, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries on 28 July released an annual report, and gave a preview of a report slated for release later this year, that both indicate U.S. fisheries are robust and in many cases improving  – both in terms of sustainability and revenue.

NOAA Fisheries has released the 2019 Status of U.S. Fisheries Report, an annual publication that outlines the status of the country’s 461 managed stocks or “stock complexes” in the U.S., to showcase which stocks are overfishing, overfished, or have been rebuilt.

Read the full story at Seafood Source