Saving Seafood

Collaborating with Canadian Scientists on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Research

October 6, 2026 — I first met Dr. Helen Gurney-Smith in fall 2024, when Dr. Shannon Meseck and I drove just beyond the U.S.-Canada border to the St. Andrews Biological Station in New Brunswick. We went there to study larval sea scallop respiration when exposed to near-future temperature and pH. This past winter, Dr. Gurney-Smith’s research group drove south to visit us at the NOAA Fisheries Milford Lab in Connecticut. We studied how a proposed method of marine carbon dioxide sequestration may affect the single-celled phytoplankton community in the ocean.

This project was a part of a collaborative effort funded by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program to engage early-career scientists from U.S. and Canadian fisheries agencies in ocean acidification research. Brady Quinn was the co-principal investigator on this project. Quinn, along with Dr. Gurney-Smith, and Erin Miller made up the Fisheries and Oceans Canada team, while Dr. Meseck, Genevieve Bernatchez, Lauren Witick, and I represented NOAA Fisheries.

Studying the Effects of Buffering Ocean Water with Olivine

Increasing carbon dioxide dissolved in the ocean causes ocean acidification, which is a concern for ecosystems. It’s especially harmful for marine life that build calcium carbonate shells, which can degrade in seawater with lower than normal pH. There are several proposed mechanisms to help keep the pH up in the ocean, including methods to increase alkalinity, effectively buffering seawater. One method is to add a naturally occurring mineral known as olivine to high-risk areas. As olivine dissolves in seawater, it breaks down into parts that can raise the pH of the water, making it less acidic. This works much like taking an antacid for an upset stomach.

When olivine breaks down it releases several elements phytoplankton need to grow, including the trace metals magnesium and iron, along with silica. Silica is an important nutrient for the growth of some phytoplankton, called diatoms. Diatoms are an excellent food for shellfish and other small marine grazers. Similar to plants, they can make oxygen from carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, making them an integral part of marine ecosystems. These diatoms use silica to create a glass-like cell wall, and it is possible that the release of extra silica from olivine could stimulate their growth.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Endangered whale recently seen off Cape Cod may need rescue after entanglement

June 15, 2026 — A young right whale that was seen off Massachusetts two months ago may need to be rescued after it was observed in Canadian waters with fishing gear in its mouth.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said that on June 8, aerial observers spotted an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Shippagan, New Brunswick. They said if the whale is spotted again and conditions allow, “efforts will be made to remove any gear from the animal.”

The New England Aquarium said that the unnamed 5-year-old male was seen gear-free in Cape Cod Bay on April 21.

Read the full article at CBS News

Lobstermen clash with poachers during federal enforcement crisis

September 18, 2024 — Canada’s commercial lobstermen continue to express frustrations following a legal suit and further illegal fishing in southern New Brunswick. With the lack of federal fisheries officers patrolling areas, lobster poaching will not slow in the near future. Commercial fishermen fear that without more officers enforcing the Fisheries Act, which manages Canadian fisheries’ resources and regulates them, come the November lobster season, there will be nothing left to catch.

Local lobster harvesters are preparing to take matters into their own hands, patrolling the waters and removing illegal gear, a move that could potentially lead to confrontations with poachers, Amanda Johnson, executive director of the Fundy North Fishermen’s Association, told Telegraph Journal. This organization represents 150 lobster fishermen stretching from St. Stephen to Alma.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

New Brunswick’s first land-based Atlantic salmon post-smolt aquaculture facility achieves environmental approval

April 3, 2023 — The following was released by Cooke Aquaculture Inc:

Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. (KCS), of the Cooke family of companies, has received a Certification of Determination to Proceed from the New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government for the construction of its proposed $72 million land-based Atlantic salmon post-smolt aquaculture facility in Bayside, N.B. This approval is an important step achieved upon successful completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Located in the Champlain Industrial Park alongside the Passamaquoddy Bay, the new facility will be a world-class recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). KCS began planning the high-tech project in 2017 and received EIA approval earlier this year for ground source wells to supply the facility with water. Associated with this facility are two water pipeline corridors and a marine loading facility.

Gulf of Maine waters warmed to highest fall temperatures on record

January 13, 2022 — The Gulf of Maine – which has been warming faster than 96 percent of the world’s ocean areas – experienced its warmest fall surface water temperatures on record last year in what scientists tracking it call a “distinct regime shift” for the ecosystem.

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland announced its findings Wednesday in its seasonal warming report, which showed average sea surface temperatures in the gulf hit 59.9 degrees, or more than 4 degrees above the long-term average.

Last fall’s figures exceeded even those in the infamous “Northwest Atlantic Ocean heat wave” of 2012, which triggered a two-year explosion in green crabs that devoured clams and eelgrass meadows and led to the starvation of puffin chicks. That warming cycle also triggered the early shedding of Maine lobsters, which fueled armed confrontations between Canadian lobstermen and truckers trying to carry the soft-shell boon to New Brunswick processing plants at the height of Canada’s own lobstering season.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Portland Press Herald

 

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery Moves to Four Landing Days Per Week Starting November 8

November 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met November 4 via webinar to consider changes to days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October through December) following the reallocation of 1,000 metric tons (mt) from the management uncertainty buffer to the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery.

The Area 1A fishery will move to four (4) consecutive landing days per week starting November 8 at 12:01 a.m. Fishing for and possessing herring onboard prior to November 8 is allowed in accordance with published state regulations.

Estimates indicate approximately 1,083 mt of the Area 1A sub-ACL remains available to harvest, which accounts for the increase of 1,000 mt based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery, the overage from Season 1 (June through September), the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL).

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/ChangestoAtlHerringDaysOutSeason2_11_4.pdf

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the 2021 Atlantic Herring Specifications

October 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This action increases the herring Area 1A sub-ACL from 1,609 mt to 2,609 mt and the ACL from 4,128 mt to 5,128 mt for the remainder of 2021. Because herring landings in the New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 3,012 mt through October 1, NOAA Fisheries is required by the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to subtract 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and reallocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL.

For more details, read the temporary rule as published in the Federal Register today, and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Maria Fenton, Regional Office, 978-28-9196

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

As right whales surge north, one death too many

June 17, 2019 — Before the leviathan was dragged to shore, before it was found floating at sea trailing a slick of blood, the massive creature had had its run-ins with its greatest nemesis: human beings.

This North Atlantic right whale — among the most endangered species on the planet — was known by researchers as Wolverine, for three propeller cuts on its tailstock that reminded them of the trio of blades used by the comic book character of the same name. In its short life of nine years, journeying through thousands of miles of dense fishing grounds, the whale had endured at least one vessel strike and three entanglements in fishing gear.

Now, Wolverine was decomposing on a grassy beach at the northernmost tip of New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula, its large, black fins inert in the salty air, its wide fluke tangled in red rope that the Canadian Coast Guard used to haul its carcass in from the frigid waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The death of even one of the mammals poses a grave threat to the species, given how few remain. But almost as notable is that Wolverine was here at all.

Until recently, right whales were seldom seen this far north. Now about a third of the species regularly comes to feed in these frigid waters. It has proved to be a very dangerous migration.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Cooke Aquaculture sends more boats to help flooded communities

April 26, 2019 — The following was released by Cooke Aquaculture:

Cooke Aquaculture has diverted three more boats and marine staff from its Charlotte County fish farming operations to help with flood relief efforts in Grand Bay-Westfield and the City of Saint John in New Brunswick.

This is in addition to the two boats the local, family-owned company already sent to the Village of Cambridge-Narrows on the Washademoak Lake this week. The motor boats are all 21-25 feet long, equipped with safety equipment and are run by trained Cooke Aquaculture operators accompanied by local first responders.

The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO) has advised the public that water levels have yet to reach their highest levels in a number of communities along the southern regions of the St. John River basin. And that residents living near the St. John River system should continue to exercise extreme caution and remain alert to rising water levels over the coming days.

“We encourage people to follow the Emergency Measures Organization advice to avoid boating, kayaking or other water activities this time of year as currents are strong and may carry debris,” said Joel Richardson, Vice President of Public Relations with Cooke Aquaculture. “In last years flood our boats retrieved everything from half-submerged building materials, gas cans, and tires to propane tanks from the water. People should stay away from the rivers and lakes until it is safer.”