Saving Seafood

New England Lobster Fisheries Dip into Aquaculture

July 17, 2020 — After years of growth, lobster populations in the Gulf of Maine are declining due to warming waters, according to a study by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Fishers are looking to kelp farming to support their livelihoods and the environment.

“We have seen the lobster population just grow and grow [in past years],” Chris Townsend, a commercial fisher on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, tells Food Tank. But, he continues, “A lobster is very sensitive to temperature. As the water warms, they cannot come back to their traditional grounds where they drop their eggs off.”

The Gulf of Maine is the fastest warming body of water, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, gradual warming initially contributed to a boom in lobster populations, but warming waters, coupled with shell disease – a condition that makes lobsters susceptible to mineral loss – is already resulting in a decrease in lobster stocks.

Townsend has been working along the New England coast for 37 years. He now sells his catch to local fish markets, runs eco-tours, and continues to fish commercially. “You used to be able to go lobstering all the way down to South Jersey. Now the southern limit of lobsters is basically Rhode Island,” Townsend tells Food Tank.

Read the full story at Foodtank

Northern Right Whales Are on the Brink, and Trump Could Be Their Last Hope

July 9, 2020 — When boaters spotted a dead North Atlantic right whale off Elberon, N.J., on June 25, marine biologists quickly established the identity of the hulking gray carcass.

With only about 400 such whales left in the world, every individual is known to researchers and cataloged. This one, the six-month-old calf of whale No. 3560, had been struck several times on the head, suggesting one or possibly two vessel collisions.

On Thursday, such whales, which got their name because they float after being killed and thus were considered the “right whale” to hunt, were placed on the Red List of critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the last classification before they are gone from the wild. The task of responding will fall to an unlikely champion, President Trump, whose recent appeals for support from Maine lobstermen could clash with the task of saving the right whale.

Peter Corkeron, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium who spent nearly a decade chronicling the gruesome deaths of right whales as the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s research program for large whales, said he feared the listing would have little impact.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Rare blue whales spotted 130 miles east of Connecticut

February 27, 2020 — Blue whales have been spotted in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Connecticut shoreline.

This month, researchers from the New England Aquarium surveyed the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, according to a release from the aquarium

Within six hours, the researchers had counted 322 whales and dolphins, including two blue whales.

“As marine mammal researchers, it’s such a thrill to fly in this area and see such a great diversity of animals,” researcher Orla O’Brien said in a release.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association lists blue whales as endangered. The exact population size is not known, but there were only 440 confirmed sightings in the Atlantic Ocean between 1979 and 2009.

Read the full story at the Connecticut Post

Crab larvae off Oregon and Washington suffering shell damage from ocean acidification, new research shows

January 27, 2020 — Ocean acidification is damaging the shells of young Dungeness crab in the Northwest, an impact that scientists did not expect until much later this century, according to new research.

A study released this week in the journal Science of the Total Environment is based on a 2016 survey of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia coastal waters that examined larval Dungeness. The findings add to the concerns about the future of the Dungeness as atmospheric carbon dioxide — on the rise due to fossil-fuel combustion — is absorbed by the Pacific Ocean and increases acidification.

“If the crabs are affected already, we really need to make sure we start to pay attention to various components of the food chain before it is too late,” said Nina Bednarsek, the lead author among 13 contributing scientists. The study was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

West Coast waters acidifying two times faster than global average

January 17, 2020 — New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association shows waters off the coast of California are acidifying at twice the rate of the global average.

NOAA researchers studied sediment from the Santa Barbara Channel and using 100 years worth of microscopic shells were able to show the acidification rate was two times that of other oceans around the world.

Shellfish are the species most immediately impacted by ocean acidification. More acidic waters make it difficult for animals like, starfish, mussels, and scallops to build their shells.

Ocean acidification is simple chemical process, seawater absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and becomes more acidic. Humans have sped up the rate of ocean acidification thanks to global carbon emissions. Since the industrial revolution ocean acidity has increased by 25%, which is greater than at any other time in the last two million years.

Read the full story at KSBW

Maine lobster group re-engages with NOAA whale protection effort

October 31, 2019 — A lobster industry group in the US state of Maine has re-engaged with a federal government process to reduce risks to endangered right whales, The Center Square reported.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) said that it was encouraged by recent actions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to address the group’s concerns regarding the agency’s Take Reduction Team (TRT) process to protect right whales.

“MLA is pleased that NOAA has taken our concerns seriously,” the group said. “MLA continues to work diligently with our members and in close collaboration with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources to identify management approaches that are both effective in minimizing risk to whales and proportionate to the risk from Maine fishery gear,” the MLA said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MAINE: LePage op-ed in Wall Street Journal criticizes proposed lobstering regulations

September 9, 2019 — An opinion piece by former Gov. Paul LePage published in the Wall Street Journal criticizes federal officials for proposing restrictions on the lobstering industry that fishermen say would put them out of business.

LePage writes that the restrictions required by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association would not actually reduce the number of right whale deaths in the Gulf of Maine because, he says, “No whale deaths due to entanglements or ship strikes have been recorded in Maine waters since 1998.”

However, in September 2016, the Portland Press Herald reported that NOAA officials concluded the death of a 43-foot right whale found floating off Boothbay Harbor was most likely caused by entanglement in fishing gear ropes.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Tuna Fishermen Say Agencies Rejected Input on New Rules

April 12, 2019 — Representing large net-fishing vessels in the Pacific Ocean, the American Tunaboat Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming government fishery regulators left industry experts in the dark about a forthcoming biological opinion that could limit commercial tuna operations.

The complaint, filed by Baker Botts attorney Megan Berge in Washington, D.C., federal court, names as defendants Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS.

According to the lawsuit, NMFS is preparing a biological opinion that could impose new permit requirements and limits on tuna fishery operations in the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the American Tunaboat Association says it was denied the ability to provide input during an informal phase of the assessment process.

The fishing advocacy group claims the NMFS violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not allowing it to review any drafts or provide first-hand, expert recommendations for the developing opinion that could directly impact its members.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

How Cities Can Protect Themselves from Rising Waters

March 28, 2019 — Across the U.S., policymakers are scrambling to protect their communities from the effects of climate change.

In January, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed real-estate tax increases to fund dam and drainage system upgrades, which would help residents cope with future floods and storms. Meanwhile, a few months earlier, officials from several Florida counties agreed to work together to minimize the damage caused by rising sea levels.

Adaptation efforts like these are crucial. Four in 10 Americans live in coastal areas. and this population will surge in the coming years. Sustained flooding can cripple homes and infrastructure like roads, bridges, subways and wastewater treatment plants.

Policymakers have limited time and resources, so they should rely on the latest computer modeling and other technologies to identify and implement the most efficient adaptation strategies.

Rising water levels have already wrought havoc across the country. From 2000 to 2015, coastal “sunny day flooding,” or flooding caused by high tides rather than storms, more than doubled on the Southeast’s Atlantic coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. And it increased 75 percent on the Northeast’s coast.

Climate change is also making storms more destructive and frequent by heating up ocean waters, increasing flooding. The United States experienced its most expensive hurricane season in history in 2017; storms caused more than $300 billion in damages. Flooding and other damage from Hurricane Harvey alone forced 37,000 Texans into shelters in September 2017. Last year, Hurricane Michael caused at least 45 deaths and more than $12 billion in losses.

Read the full story at Scientific American