Saving Seafood

NSF announces new long-term ecological research sites off Alaska, New England coasts

March 9, 2017 — National Science Foundation (NSF) grants will support two new Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. Scientists will conduct research along the Northeast U.S. continental shelf and in the northern Gulf of Alaska, regions known for productive fisheries and abundant marine resources.

The new LTER sites were each awarded $5.6 million over five years, adding to 25 existing LTER sites in ecosystems including the open ocean, coral reefs, deserts and grasslands. The complex food webs in these regions are affected by human activities, short-term environmental variability and long-term ecosystem changes.

“The new LTER sites will bring new locations, technologies and scientists to the challenge of understanding our coastal oceans,” says Rick Murray, director of NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. “The sites are in areas where there’s much recreational and commercial fishing, and both sites are in the midst of significant environmental changes.”

Read the full story at EurakAlert

Idea to cut NASA’s role in climate science could be major loss for Maine, scientists say

November 29, 2016 — Maine scientists are decrying the assertion by a senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump that the new administration will eliminate or dramatically scale back NASA’s climate research.

The scientists say the elimination of the agency’s earth science programs would be catastrophic for climate science research in Maine, impairing their ability to detect and analyze effects on fisheries, forests and agriculture. Maine is a hub of climate research – especially as it relates to the oceans – and the work relies on data collected by NASA satellites and processed by the agency’s experts.

“If we lose these data sets and capabilities, that will be a major loss to us being able to monitor and track changes here in Maine and in other areas that impact us,” said Andrew Thomas, a professor of oceanography at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences, which receives more than one-sixth of its research funds from NASA. “Basically, you’re chopping off one of your arms and saying, ‘Carry on.’ ” The school’s Satellite Data Lab is using NASA data to analyze effects of melting ice in the Gulf of Alaska and to monitor marine algae production in the California Current.

Bob Walker, a former Pennsylvania congressman who serves as Trump’s space policy adviser, said in interviews last week that the administration would realign NASA’s budget, prioritizing exploration of “deep space” over space-based observations of Earth, which he has previously characterized as “politically correct environmental monitoring.” Earth observations would instead be made by the National Science Foundation or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, two much smaller agencies with little experience or expertise in space-based climate monitoring.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Announces Funding for Four New Research Projects Impacting Fisheries Management

October 26, 2016 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

WILLIAMSBURG, VA — The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) is sponsored by the Industry & University Cooperative Research Program (I/UCRC) of the National Science Foundation. I/UCRC programs bring participants from industry, government, and other organizations in need of science-based solutions into contact with academic scientists capable of providing that expertise. The SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board is composed of members from the shellfish industry, commercial and recreational finfish interests and government agencies such as the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. The organizational structure provided by the Center permits members to control the science agenda in exchange for financial support. The SCeMFiS mission utilizes academic and fisheries resources to address urgent scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries.

SCeMFiS develops methods, tools and analytical approaches to maximize sustainable fisheries and reduce uncertainty in abundance estimates. SCeMFiS university partners, University of Southern Mississippi (lead institution), and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary are the academic sites. Collaborating scientists who provide specific expertise in finfish, shellfish, and marine mammal research, come from a wide range of academic institutions including Cornell University, Rutgers University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and University of Washington.

The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) of SCeMFiS has allocated $139,000 in funding for three new research projects and a continuing involvement with the marine mammal assessment process during the Fall IAB Meeting held October 13-14, 2016 in Williamsburg, Virginia (see http://scemfis.org/research.html for a list of research projects underway). The new initiatives are:

  • Biostatistical and fishery-dependent sampling of Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias), Phase II,
  • A meta-analysis of the impact of forage fish abundance on predator productivity, and
  • Design of a cooperative winter pelagic survey for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) in the Mid-Atlantic.

Currently, there is a growing need for the diverse services that SCeMFiS can provide to industry which has prompted a steady increase in their fishing industry partners. These services include immediate access to science expertise for stock assessment issues, rapid response to research priorities, and representation on stock assessment teams within the various fisheries management councils.

SCeMFiS members identify target species of interest, provide research leading to improvements in models and assessment designs to quantify stock status and develop reference points, determine economic and societal impacts of changes within the fishing industry, and fill critical knowledge gaps in fisheries science. The Center’s research projects are intended to validate and quantify benefits for a sustainable harvest of finfish and shellfish while trying to maintain ecological stability.

“Collaborative research that involves the industry, science and management community is our goal and is crucial to our collective success,” says Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director, Garden State Seafood Association. Funding this October emphasizes research on forage fish. “The management of important forage fish species, like Atlantic menhaden and chub mackerel is challenged by concerns that managers are not leaving enough of these fish in the water to provide necessary ‘ecosystem services’.   We are supporting research that balances this view with the opportunity to manage forage fish species to the benefit of coastal communities and the Nation, on a sustainable basis. Providing for the future needs of humans in the system also demands rigorous scientific inquiry. One of SCeMFiS’ core missions is to reduce uncertainties in marine fisheries stock assessment in the region, which directly leads to ensuring robust sustainable fisheries.”, says Jeff Kaelin, SCeMFiS chair and government relations coordinator for Lund’s Fisheries, Inc., a family-owned, vertically-integrated seafood company located in Cape May, New Jersey.

What is the importance of SCeMFiS? Economics. The fishing industry needs urgent answers to maintain the livelihood of many port towns along the coast. However, Tom Murray of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science writes that this importance goes much further. He states, “Commercial fishery product landings begin the product development, processing and distribution changes which create additional economic value and impacts beyond the initial landed value and economic impact.” In other words, the fishing industry is the catalyst to generate economic value not only in fishing ports but throughout a range of economic sectors including transportation, food services, and supporting manufacturing and financial services. Science in support of sustainable fisheries is a critical component underpinning this economic engine.

The IAB will review each of their funded projects at its next meeting that will be held April 26-27, 2017 in Ocean Springs Mississippi at the Gulf Coast Research Lab, University of Southern Mississippi. Learn more about SCeMFiS at http://www.SCeMFiS.org.

See the full release here

With shellfish bait in short supply, alternative being tested

September 26th, 2016 — Lobster and crab fishermen have baited traps with dead herring for generations, but an effort to find a synthetic substitute for forage fish is nearing fruition just as the little fish are in short supply, threatening livelihoods in a lucrative industry.

With about $1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, a small company has developed “OrganoBait,” a hockey puck-shaped product packed with an artificial attractant crabs and lobsters love.

Commercial fishermen have long experimented with alternative baits. They have tried other fish species, processed slabs of horseshoe crab, even cow hide and pigs feet. Some products remain on the market; many have gone quickly.

No one has made commercially successful synthetic bait, and even animal-based alternatives don’t always gain market acceptance, said Bob Bayer, a professor of veterinary science at the University of Maine who studies lobsters and has worked on attractants for 30 years.

“If somebody comes up with a good one, it will be used,” Bayer said. “If it’s effective and cost-effective.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Providence Journal 

Changing Migration Patterns Upend East Coast Fishing Industry

May 11, 2016 — Summer flounder that once amassed in North Carolina have gradually shifted about 140 miles to New Jersey—one facet of the northward migration of fish species that is upending traditional fishing patterns.

The move north has sparked debate among regulators over how to respond to changing natural resources that could affect commercial fisheries across the eastern seaboard.

For the first time, a group of researchers backed by the federal government is trying to ascertain what the northward movement means for fishermen’s income and way of life.

“Some fisherman will end up losing out and some will win big,” said Malin Pinsky, an assistant professor of ecology and evolution at Rutgers University, who is part of a team of scientists from Rutgers, Princeton University and Yale University studying the phenomenon.

Funded through a piece of a $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant, the team of scientists is examining how shifting patterns of where fish congregate is affecting commercial anglers and how they are changing their practices. They are also studying what kind of regulations may be needed to adapt to these changing realities.

For Lund’s Fisheries, for example, the northward creep has forced the company’s boats to catch the flounder in New Jersey and then spend time traveling to North Carolina, where regulations allow them to bring them on shore in more abundant quantities. When the boats travel south, the fishery can’t catch sea bass, scup and other species they may have reeled in at the same time in waters off New Jersey.

“It does cause us to drive fish around the ocean longer than we have historically. That gets factored into the cost of doing business,” said Jeff Kaelin, an executive at the company, which has facilities in Cape May, N.J., and North Carolina.

Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal

Woods Hole Report: Climate, weather and the economy

October 31, 2015 — The coastal ocean and its fisheries have played a huge role in the cultural and economic development of Cape Cod. Yet recent changes in the atmosphere and deep ocean threaten the natural rhythms that govern the ecosystems of the shallow waters surrounding Cape Cod.

One factor affecting the coastal ocean in the northeastern United States is a change in the motions of the atmospheric jet stream. We felt the effects during the past winter, which was exceptionally cold and snowy. In recent years, the north-south movements of the jet stream have been increasing. However, the eastward motion has been stalling, resulting in more persistent weather patterns – cold or warm – that affect the temperature distribution in the coastal ocean.

In early 2015, the jet stream dipped well southward of its normal position and stalled, bringing a steady burst of storms moving along the coast and cooling the coastal ocean. By contrast, the jet stream remained well north of its normal wintertime position in the winter of 2011-2012 so that warm air remained over New England for much of the winter. As a result, spring water temperatures were much warmer than usual, 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal over a six-month period, and as high as 10 degrees Fahrenheit for short time periods.

Research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found temperatures of continental shelf waters in 2012 off New England were the highest they’ve been in 150 years of measurements.

Read the full story at The Metrowest Daily News

 

 

Fishing groups ask court to halt Atlantic Ocean seismic testing

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. (AP) — July 1, 2015 — Five fishing groups are asking a federal court to stop a research program that blasts the ocean floor with sound waves, arguing it’s disturbing marine life off the coast of New Jersey.

The lawsuit filed Friday seeks a halt to the program being carried out by Rutgers University, the University of Texas and the National Science Foundation.

The project uses sound waves to study sediment on the ocean floor dating back 60 million years to see how sea level rise has changed the coastline, and better plan for storms like Superstorm Sandy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at My9 New Jersey