NEFSC Archives - Saving Seafood

North Atlantic right whale researchers spot 21 right whales south of Nantucket during winter field work

March 10, 2022 — North Atlantic right whale researchers recently spotted more than 20 right whales while exploring southern New England waters during winter field work.

For the very first time, the New England Aquarium scientists are surveying this region by boat as they try to better understand climate change impacts on this critically endangered species.

The researchers went out on the water for four days from mid-January to early March, looking for right whales about 70 miles south of Nantucket. The scientists spotted 17 individual right whales by boat, or about 5% of the population, which is estimated to be less than 350.

Aquarium scientists worked in tandem with the New England Aquarium aerial survey team, as well as with teams from the Center for Coastal Studies and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which helped navigate the boat to whale sightings. In total, the aquarium teams identified 21 unique right whales from either the air or the water.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

Webinar to outline changes to the Northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery

February 16, 2022 — The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is hosting a webinar on Thursday, Feb. 17, which will outline changes to the scallop fishery of the Northern Gulf of Maine in which many Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts fisherman participate.

Many scallopers work out of Gloucester to be closer to the fishing grounds. The new measures start April 1, and the webinar will be an educational session to make scallopers aware of the changes.

The webinar, organized by the New England Fishery Management Council, is scheduled to run from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Panelists scheduled are Jonathan Peros, scallop lead for NEFMC; Travis Ford, scallop lead for the Greater Atlantic Fisheries Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries); and Jessica Blaylock, industry-funded scallop observer program lead at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Coonamessett Farm Foundation awarded contract for at-sea monitoring training

February 15, 2022 — The following was released by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation:

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc. (CFF) located in East Falmouth, MA was recently awarded a 2-year contract through the Atlantic States Fisheries Marine Commission, in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), to provide supplemental At-Sea Monitoring training sessions. These classes are critical to increasing the groundfish monitoring coverage rate to 100%, as stipulated under Amendment 23 of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. CFF, a recognized leader in sustainable fisheries and cooperative industry research, employs highly skilled instructors on staff that will begin training at-sea monitors for at-sea deployment by the NEFSC.

The At-Sea Monitoring Groundfish Program began in 2010 when the Northeast Fisheries Management Council and NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Office finalized the creation of the sector quota management system for federally permitted groundfish vessels. There are 13 commercially viable fish stocks such as Atlantic cod, redfish, haddock, and winter flounder that are managed as part of the Northeast species complex through sector allocations. Currently, based on geographical location within federal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, there are 20 recognized stocks that make up the groundfish complex.

Employed by observer/monitor service providers, certified at-sea monitors work directly with groundfish vessel captains and crews throughout the Northeast region and serve as NOAA Fisheries contractors. They are an important and vital link between industry, stock assessment biologists, and federal managers. Monitors are instructed in species identification, with core training components related to collecting haul level catch data of kept and discarded species; verification of area fished; and gear types used. During training, monitors undergo 3 days of instruction in vessel emergency and safety with hands-on field exercises to prepare them for working aboard commercial fishing vessels that range in size from 35 and 95 feet.

With guidance from training and data quality staff at the NEFSC, CFF plans to lead several trainings during the 2022-2023 season. In class training will be led by CFF ASM trainers, Tanner Fernandes and Taylor Irwin, former monitors and observers who joined CFF in 2021 to support this program. The NEFSC will advise on the need for additional training classes and provide ongoing support to CFF throughout this contract.

Maine Forum to Host Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Webinar on February 17; Fisheries Leadership Session on March 23

February 10, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The Maine Fishermen’s Forum will be hosting two webinars of direct interest to the New England Fishery Management Council’s stakeholders. One will focus on the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) scallop fishery and the other will provide an opportunity for fishermen and other webinar participants to have an open dialogue with NOAA Fisheries leadership.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the forum’s board of directors canceled the March 2022 in-person event but made way for educational virtual seminars with remote participation by those who tune in via Zoom. Here are the details for the webinar lineup.

NORTHERN GULF OF MAINE SCALLOP FISHERY: This webinar, which is titled “Upcoming Changes to the Management of the Federal Scallop Fishery in the Northern Gulf of Maine,” will take place on Wednesday, February 17, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WHO ARE THE PANELISTS?

• Jonathon Peros, scallop lead for the New England Fishery Management Council and organizer of this webinar session;

• Travis Ford, scallop lead for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries); and

• Jessica Blaylock, industry-funded scallop observer program lead at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full release from the NEFMC

Request for Nominations: Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP)

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

The Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP) is seeking qualified candidates to serve on the panel. Current members and all interested parties are encouraged to apply. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, November 19, 2021 by 5:00 p.m.

The NTAP is a joint advisory panel of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. It is composed of Council members, as well as fishing industry, academic, and government and non-government fisheries experts who provide advice and direction on the conduct of trawl research. NTAP is supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

How To Apply

Anyone interested in applying for the NTAP may download an application by clicking here or visiting www.mafmc.org/ntap. Completed applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 19, 2021.

Questions?

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Jason Didden, Mid-Atlantic Council staff, at jdidden@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5254.

Request for Nominations: Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP)

November 1, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council & the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The NTAP is a joint advisory panel of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. It is comprised of Council members, as well as fishing industry, academic, and government and non- government fisheries experts who provide advice and direction on the conduct of trawl research. It is supported by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Additional information about the NTAP is available at http://www.mafmc.org/ntap.

The panel consists of 20 members as follows:

Two members each from the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (4 total)
Up to three fishery stakeholder representatives appointed by each Council (6 total)
Two academic and non-academic scientists appointed by each Council (4 total)
Two members from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (2 total)
Four staff members from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (4 total)

Read the full release from the NEFMC

Squid processors help new Northeast science center study

September 24, 2021 — Researchers from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center have installed a new electronic data collection system at five shortfin squid processing facilities across the region, a project that NMFS officials say will help “support good management of a burgeoning fishery.”

With a lot of squid available to measure, researchers hope this pilot project will show that processors can help increase the amount of real-time data on this relatively short-lived species.

The Squid Electronic Size Monitoring Pilot Project is new, and was developed by a team of science center researchers including:

• The Cooperative Research Branch, which specializes research with industry partners.

• The Information Technology Division, which manages and develops data and information gathering systems.

• The Population Dynamics Branch, which studies the distribution, abundance, and population dynamics of commercial species like the shortfin squid.

This team worked alongside industry to design the system. The goal is to create a standardized data stream of northern shortfin squid size and weight provided by processors. The northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus) is fast-growing and lives for less than a year. At any given time, there are multiple cohorts (groups of similarly aged squid) in the population with a wide range of body sizes and weights.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ASMFC & NOAA Fisheries Select Coonamessett Farm Foundation to Conduct Components of the At-Sea Monitoring Training Program

August 24, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), has selected the Coonamessett Farm Foundation to conduct components of the At-Sea Monitoring (ASM) Training Program for NEFSC. Training will include identifying target and bycatch species in Atlantic groundfish fisheries, collecting and reporting fisheries-dependent data following federal guidelines, and instruction in offshore safety and survival.

At-sea monitors collect data aboard commercial fishing vessels that are used to manage and monitor annual catch limits in the Northeast groundfish sectors. A sharp increase in the required ASM coverage rate (up to 100%) and observer attrition during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the need for approximately 140 new at-sea monitors. Coonamessett Farm Foundation will take on the majority of the training with support from NEFSC. ASM training by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation will start this year and extend at least through 2022.

To learn more about becoming an at-sea monitor, contact one of the companies that provides at-sea monitors to the NEFSC’s Northeast Fisheries Observer Program. A list is posted here:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/fisheries-observers/sea-monitoring-northeast

For more information on Coonamessett Farm Foundation ASM training award, please contact Tania Lewandowski (Tania.Lewandowski@noaa.gov), Tasha O’Hara (tohara@cfarm.org), or Quinn McWatters (qmcwatters@cfarm.org).

Ambrose Jearld, Jr.: Researcher, Educator, Mentor and Advocate for Diversity and Inclusion

August 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Ambrose Jearld, Jr. has spent his life around animals and water—both freshwater and seawater. He was born in 1944 into a Navy family in Annapolis, Maryland, and grew up on the family farm in Orrum, North Carolina. He attended elementary school there, but returned to Annapolis in sixth grade and graduated from Wiley H. Bates High School in 1961. He credits his high school biology teacher and the Boy Scouts for encouraging his interests in science.

He graduated from Maryland State College, now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry in 1965. He was just one course away from a double major when he graduated. “My family wanted me to go into teaching, but I wanted to do research and instead went straight into science,” he recalled recently. With a brother and sister heading to college soon, he took a few years off after college to work at “a good-paying job” as a chemist at Publicker Industries Inc. in Philadelphia.

A Fateful Meeting

Meeting Bradford Brown changed the course of Jearld’s career. Brown was a fisheries scientist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Woods Hole Laboratory from 1962 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1984. In He had taken a position as assistant leader with the newly established Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program at Oklahoma State University-Stillwater to complete his Ph.D . The Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program in the United States Geological Survey is a joint effort between federal and state governments. It is also a host university offering graduate students research opportunities in fisheries and wildlife sciences.

Brown was recruiting black graduate students to the program. He met two of Jearld’s former professors, who were also completing their Ph.D.s at OSU. They recommended he speak with Jearld. Although some people were skeptical about Jearld heading to Oklahoma given the civil rights climate in the country, Jearld accepted the full ride offer. That meant a research assistantship award that covered all expenses.

Less than a week after he arrived in Stillwater Jearld was headed to his first scientific meeting as a graduate student with Brown and three other white men whom he did not know. The 1967 meeting was for the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society in New Orleans. The meeting was part of the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners. They had to deal with the intense heat and driving hours in a packed station wagon with no air conditioning. More importantly, they had not discussed safety or how to deal with segregated facilities en route to the meeting. The trip was memorable for many reasons.

Read the full release here

Major Refresh Orients our Fishery Monitoring and Research Division Toward the Future

January 27, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Staff involved with cooperative research and fishery monitoring at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center interact daily with the fishing industry. It’s a challenging job, and an essential one: scientists and fishermen working together in areas of mutual interest improves fisheries science and management.

It’s little wonder that managing the many moving parts of this effort requires constant assessment and adaptation. The most recent effort is a major one that has resulted in a new internal structure to improve operations and maximize resources.

The ultimate goal is to ensure accurate representation of fishing activity.

“Improving integration of our efforts, modernizing our systems, and making the data we collect even more useful will enable us to have increased confidence in our science, take some of the burden off the industry, and make it easier for fishermen to access information,” said Amanda McCarty, chief of the center’s Fishery Monitoring and Research Division, which includes the fishery monitoring and cooperative research efforts.

Read the full release here