Saving Seafood

Endangered right whales seeing catastrophic die-off in New England, Canadian waters

The deaths of dozens of whales may be the result of a migration to less-protected areas because of lack of food in the Gulf of Maine.

August 15, 2017 — The North Atlantic right whale, the world’s second most endangered marine mammal, is having a catastrophic year in the waters off New England and Atlantic Canada, and scientists from Maine to Newfoundland are scrambling to figure out why.

At least a dozen right whales have been found dead this summer in the worst die-off researchers have recorded, a disastrous development for a species with a worldwide population of about 500.

“Just imagine you put 500 dollars in the bank, and every time you put five in, the bank takes 15 out,” says Moira Brown, a right whale researcher with the New England Aquarium who is based in Campobello Island, New Brunswick. “This is a species that has not been doing well, even before we had all the dead whales this summer.”

Canadian authorities have documented 12 dead whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence since June 7, though it’s possible that two carcasses that weren’t recovered after their initial sighting were counted twice. Two more of the rare, slow-moving whales were found dead off Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, bringing this summer’s mortality to between 12 and 14 whales, more than 3 percent of their total population.

Humans appear to have been the immediate cause of at least some of the deaths. Necropsy results have been issued for just four of the whales found off Canada, showing one had become entangled in snow crab fishing gear and three were apparently struck by ships.

The whales deaths have prompted Canadian officials to impose emergency restrictionson shipping and snow crab fishermen in parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence – the vast body of water bounded by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador and eastern Quebec – and an urgent effort by researchers to figure out what happened.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Warming Waters, Looming Crisis

It’s no fluke: Fish populations are on the move, chasing cooler marine temperatures. At Rutgers, scientists track their alarming migrations.

August 11, 2017 — In Malin Pinsky’s lab, they keep the unicorn blood in the fridge. It sits alongside dozens of small, white boxes, each containing a snippet of fin or other tissue from the clownfish and summer flounder that, together, may help Pinsky and his colleagues determine the answer to a critical question about the world’s changing oceans. In fact, the unicorn blood—so dubbed by lab manager Michelle Stuart because, Pinsky explains, “it’s expensive and it works magic”—is actually a stew of enzymes used to purify DNA from those fish samples.

The DNA helps Pinsky and his team at Rutgers University in New Brunswick track the movement of fish species over time. What they are finding is likely to have major implications for the commercial and recreational fishing industries in New Jersey and around the world.

For decades, scientists have observed a northward shift in the ranges of many land-based animals in response to a warming climate, among them birds and butterflies. In addition, some mountain-dwelling species, like the pika, a cousin of the rabbit native to the Western United States, have moved to higher altitudes, chasing the cooler temperatures to which they have adapted over millions of years of evolution. Among these observations are scattered reports of the same thing happening in warming ocean waters.

As a marine biologist, Pinsky had read the reports. Concerned about how widespread the changes might be, he and his colleagues ran the first stage of an ongoing research project from 2011 to 2013. The results were startling. “Not only are many species of marine animals, from cod to flounder to lobster, moving to new locations,” says Pinsky, “but it’s happening very rapidly, and it’s affecting a wide range of fisheries, both commercial and recreational.”

Analyzing data collected annually by the National Marine Fisheries Service and its partners, Pinsky’s lab launched the website OceanAdapt, which charts the changing ranges of a wide variety of marine species, regionally and nationally. The site’s graphs depict changes in latitude and sea depth. On a species-by-species basis, those changes are not particularly striking; it’s long been known that fish move around a lot from year to year. But when considering the marine life community as a whole, one observes an indisputable trend northward and downward (to greater depths).

Read the full story at New Jersey Monthly

U.S. putting whale rescue efforts on hold after Canadian fisherman is killed

July 17, 2017 — The U.S. is suspending whale rescue efforts after a Canadian fisherman died last week during one such mission.

Joe Howlett, founder of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, was killed Monday while helping to free a North Atlantic right whale off the coast of New Brunswick. Mackie Green, captain of the rescue group, told the Canadian Press the team had actually succeeded in freeing the animal when “some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip,” striking Howlett.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is now “suspending all large whale entanglement response activities nationally until further notice, in order to review our own emergency response protocols in light of this event,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement.

Read the full story at USA Today

Canada’s largest herring fishery achieves MSC certification

November 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

TORONTO — The Canada 4VWX purse seine herring fishery in the Bay of Fundy area is the third and largest Canadian herring fishery to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as sustainable and well managed.  Herring products from the purse seine vessels and processing companies based in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick can now carry the blue MSC label to inform customers the fishery meets a global standard for sustainability.

Meeting the world’s most recognized standard for sustainability

To achieve MSC certification the 4VWX purse seine herring fishery demonstrated that it meets a high bar of sustainability set by the MSC Fishery Standard.  Widely recognized as the world’s most credible and robust standard for sustainable fishing, the MSC Standard is founded on three principles: a healthy fish stock, protection of the surrounding marine ecosystem, and effective fishery management.

“We are proud of the work our fishery has undertaken together with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to maintain the health of this important Canadian resource” says Roger Stirling, President of the Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia, the client representative for the 4VWX herring fishery. “As one of the longest-running commercial fisheries in Canada the herring fishery and associated processing companies have demonstrated the ability to sustain the resource.  The MSC certification now allows us to clearly signal the fishery’s sustainability to global markets.

A ‘clean’ fishery with local and global markets

Purse seining produces very low bycatch levels when harvesting the dense schools of herring that form during specific seasons.  The fishing vessels harvest at night and return to shore for immediate processing.  Annual catch for this fishery is 50,000 metric tonnes.

In addition to providing employment for fishers, herring plants in the local area employ hundreds of people in coastal communities and significantly contribute to the rural and coastal economy in the area.

A versatile fish, 4VWX herring is destined for primary markets around the world where it is sold in various forms like frozen fillets (Europe and North America), marinated and sauced canned products (Europe), smoked (kippers, in North America), canned (global), roe (Japan) and bait (Canada, for MSC certified lobster fisheries).

Jay Lugar, Program Director for MSC in Canada adds: “We congratulate the Bay of Fundy purse seine herring industry on achieving MSC certification.  The fishery consistently generates employment in the local community while working diligently to protect herring stocks that also play an important role in the ecosystem as food for other fish and mammals.  MSC is very pleased to see this long-standing industry take the sustainability message to global markets.” 

Continued improvement

As part of the MSC Theory of Change, MSC certification requires annual audits by an independent certifier to ensure that each fishery retains its status while also implementing improvements, allowing it to progress toward an even higher level of sustainability. To help the 4VWX herring stock sustain its role in the ecosystem, the fishery has committed to meet improvement goals with respect to biomass levels.

Assessment process

The assessment against the MSC Fisheries Standard was conducted by Acoura Marine, an accredited, third-party certification body, in a robust, scientific, transparent process that considered all available information presented by all fishery participants and stakeholders with an interest in the fishery.

Surging Demand for Lobster Meat Changing Canadian Processing Patterns

August 26, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS —  If there was one thing lobster processors were thinking about during the first part of this year’s lobster season, it was lobster meat.

Surging foodservice demand for lobster meat is changing lobster processing patterns, both in Canada and the US.

The government of PEI recently released a summary of the May-June lobster season.  Volume was down 13.5%, to 23.5 million pounds, vs. 27.2 million pounds last year.  But the landed value was $148 million, an increase of 22% from the spring 2015 season.   The average ex-vessel price in Canadian dollars was $6.30, based on these figures.

So the season was characterized by a slower pace of landings and a higher raw material cost.  This combination supported processors’ move to pack lobster meat.

New Brunswick processors say that both CK (claw leg) and CKL (claw leg knuckle) meat is moving as fast as they can produce it.

One packer, when asked what was supporting the strong demand said “we think it really has to do with the US consumer absorbing the increased cost on core volume meat items like lobster rolls while continuing to purchase at a similar rate to last year. Some of the portion sizes may have been reduced (last year’s 6oz roll is now a 4oz) but overall velocity is there. ”

Another processor commented that Chefs are being more creative in using lobster meat as an ingredient, and they have adapted to high prices and are keeping lobster items on the menu due to their popularity.

“Many items made from other proteins (chicken, beef, pork etc) are now being recreated with lobster.  It’s likely that additional meat volume is being absorbed in this category.”

Lobster meat imports to the US have been the highest in years, with each month of 2016 exceeding the volume of any of the past four years.

The warmer temperatures and an early start to the season meant that May lobster meat imports were up ten-fold, from 216,000 pounds in 2015, to 2.23 million pounds in 2016.

However, US market prices have not moderated.

The run up in lobster meat prices that began last summer is showing no signs yet of moderating.  Furthermore, the spread between meat and 4 oz American tail prices has never been higher.

In this situation, it is natural that meat production will surge.  One place it may be coming from is live lobster.  Live lobster imports to the US from Canada were down 50% in June from the prior year, at only 6 million pounds, vs. 13 million the year before.  Some of this is the late season opening last year, but some of it also is likely a switch from live lobster to meat processing.  Canadian live lobster exports to China appear to be higher this year also, so the increased volume is not coming from any slowdown in sales to China.

The same pressures are being felt on the US side of the border, where a significant lobster processing industry has developed.  This week, the Mazzetta Co. announced they were suspending fresh fish production in their Gloucester plant to focus exclusively on lobster.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

MAINE: Herring shortage may affect the price of lobster

July 7, 2016 — Usually a Maine lobsterman can choose to either fish or cut bait, but as the result of a herring shortage, neither may be an option for awhile. Local lobster co-op managers say fishermen may have to pay more for imported frozen bait from New Brunswick until the herring spawning season ends and stocks return to normal levels off the Georges Bank. In the meantime, new state harvest restrictions for herring fishermen also may be implemented.

Inside the lobstermen’s co-op in Corea, a small Down East fishing village, the phone is ringing off the hook. Some are lobster dealers contacting co-op manager Warren Polk about prices, but more want to know about the availability of bait. And in Corea, Polk is doing a little bit better than others in that department.

“I got a load of frozen bait in this morning out of Canada,” Polk said.

Maine lobstermen prefer the herring that is caught in the Gulf of Maine and from the Georges Bank off Massachusetts. But herring fishermen are not catching the small silver-colored fish in significant numbers. The herring fishery is limited to a little more than 19,000 metric tons through the harvest season that ends in September.

Maine fishermen who fish closer to shore are concerned that some of their larger out-of-state competitors may come here and deplete the local resource if they can’t find the herring they need off the Georges Bank.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public Broadcasting

Elaine Jones Receives Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment Visionary Award

June 24, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

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Elaine Jones is presented the 2016 Visionary Award by Don Hudson of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment.

Elaine Jones, the Department of Marine Resources’ Director of Education has received the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment’s 2016 Visionary Award.

The annual award recognizes innovation, creativity, and commitment to protecting the marine environment. Recipients may work in the fields of environmental science, education, conservation or policy. They may be engaged in projects that involve public awareness, grassroots action, or business/manufacturing practices.

Jones was presented the award during the organization’s annual meeting on June 7th in Fredericton New Brunswick.

Jones, who has led the Maine Department of Marine Resources Education Division since 1991, was recognized for her work developing programs for Maine students, teachers and residents, along with designing and constructing the Maine State Aquarium, which attracts about 40,000 visitors every summer.

Jones was also honored for spearheading efforts to secure Burnt Island for the Department and restoring the Burnt Island Light Station into an educational and recreational facility unequaled in New England. In 2003 she initiated a living history program on site that attracts thousands of people every summer.

The award also recognized Jones’ efforts to conduct outreach programs to schools and colleges around the State, supplying classroom aquarium systems with marine animals, working on educational programs with the Marine Patrol as “Officer SALTY”, and establishing aquarium based internships for students at the University of New England, University of Maine at Orono and University of Maine at Farmington.

“This is a well-deserved award for Elaine,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. “She is a visionary leader for Maine students, educators and residents, guiding and supporting their appreciation of Maine’s marine environment.”

“I accepted the award on behalf of a lot of DMR people who have assisted me along the way. They are all unsung heroes,” said Jones.

The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment is a regional partnership among Gulf jurisdictions in the United States and Canada that works to protect and enhance environmental quality.