Saving Seafood

New Jersey: Coast Guard launches search for sunken fishing boat in Sandy Hook Channel

August 26, 2015 — STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies were searching for a fishing boat that reportedly capsized off the coast of New Jersey on Tuesday evening, authorities said.

A witness notified the Coast Guard Sector New York command center that a 40-foot steel fishing trawler known as “El Jefe” had begun taking on water at around 4:30 p.m. in the Sandy Hook Channel and sunk shortly after, according to a statement issued by the Coast Guard.

Read the full story at Silive.com

 

 

Scallop Abundance Found off Southern New Jersey Coast

August 21, 2015 — There could be as much as 500 million dollars worth of scallops waiting to be harvested off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware.

“If they all grow up. It’s going to be worth a lot of money over several years,” said Dvora Hart, a mathematical biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Photo images taken by NOAA’s Habcam this spring revealed the high density of scallops located in the Elephant Trunk, a fishing ground offshore of the two states. Dvora estimates there could be as many as 7.9 billion scallops in a 1,200 square mile zone in the trunk.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Dozens of whales join fishermen off New Jersey coast

August 18, 2015 — Dozens of long finned pilot whales joined anglers fishing offshore in the 24th Annual MidAtlantic offshore fishing tournament taking place this week in Cape May.

Several pods of the whales mixed in with the fishing boats as they trolled for trophy fish in the offshore canyons.

Pilot whales are the second largest member of the dolphin family with killer whales being the largest. According to Bob Schoelkopf  founder of the  Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine said pilot whales feed mainly on squid and they travel in large groups with up to 150 individuals. Males can reach up to 25 feet and females are about 18 feet.

View the video and read the full story at Asbury Park Press

Conservationists Making Headway In Rebuilding Oyster Populations in New Jersey Barnegat Bay

July 30, 2015 — BARNEGAT BAY NJ — A team of animal conservationists have begun re-establishing the local colony of oyster in New Jersey by releasing more than a million seedlings of the shellfish, known as spat, off of Barnegat Bay.

Members of the American Littoral Society sent off around 1.5 million oyster spat in Ocean Gate, which were then taken to an artificial reef system located around a quarter-mile off of the township of Berkeley known as Good Luck Point.

The group was joined by several other volunteers on boats in taking the seedlings to the reef, where they released the oysters into Barnegat Bay before returning to shore.

The goal of the Littoral Society with the oyster colony is to improve the quality of the water in the bay through the shellfish’s natural ability to filter out impurities and pollutants in the ocean.

The group also believes that by bolstering the number of oysters found in Barnegat Bay, the creatures can help strengthen the shoreline against the effects of devastating weather occurrences such as Superstorm Sandy. The hard shells of oysters and the raise profile and irregular shape of their beds can considerably reduce the impact of storm surges waves on the bay’s shoreline.

The presence of the oyster colonies also boosts the local boating and recreational fishing industries as it provides habitats for other sea creatures such as crabs and fish.

Read the full story at the Tech Times

 

NEW JERSEY: Legislators call for less restrictive fluke quota

July 24, 2015 — As the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Science and Statistical Committee met this week to ponder quota cuts for the 2016 summer flounder season, three of New Jersey’s lawmakers called on the SSC not to make those cuts too steep.

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ, submitted a letter to the Council on Wednesday requesting less restrictive quota limits than the 25 percent recommended in a recent Council staff memo. Such a reduction wrote Pallone, “would significantly impact the recreational and commercial fisherman whose livelihoods depend on a fair summer flounder quota.”

U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker ( D-NJ) both signed the letter.

Read the full story at Asbury Park Press 

 

NEW JERSEY: Massive reduction in allowable flounder catch a possibility

July 18, 2015 — There is one topic and one topic only dominating the discussions going on at bait shops, on docks and aboard boats this past week. That is the genuine possibility of a massive reduction in next year’s allowable summer flounder catch in New Jersey. The proposal for an upwards of 43 percent slashing of the catch was disclosed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), citing overfishing and a huge decrease in the flounder stock. The decision can be challenged by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, but the final say still belong to NOAA.

This year’s quota is 18.45 million pounds, with 60 percent of that going to the commercial fleet, the rest to recreational anglers. The proposal for next year has the allowable catch down to 10.5 million pounds.

Now, if you talk to just about anyone who has fished for summer flounder this season, the last thing they will they will tell you is there is a shortage of fish. They may be undersized and have to be thrown back but finding fish is not a problem this season.

South Jersey already has what I think are overly strict flattie regulations, especially when compared with neighboring Delaware. Such a huge reduction in the number of fish you can bring back home, coupled with strict sea bass catch restrictions, quite possibly will wreck much of the state’s charter and party boat fleet. A large percentage of anglers who pay to fish in New Jersey come from Pennsylvania and if the rules make it nearly impossible to catch enough fish for dinner, the ride to Delaware ports is not much of a hardship.

Read the full story at The Mercury

 

Success of scallops gives hope to fisheries managers

July 20, 2015 — Now, as part of its scallop population survey to plan the rotating closure of dredging grounds, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has found an underwater realm nearly the size of South Jersey with at least 10 billion sea scallops – and it’s just 50 miles off the Jersey Shore.

Scallop fishermen are hoping for a sustainable harvest of 50 million pounds a year for a decade. That would ensure one of the region’s most important non-tourism industries remains robust.

The management of the scallop fishery is a great example of what’s possible when public and private interests collaborate and natural resources cooperate. It should give fisheries managers the encouragement to persevere in restoring more challenged species such as summer flounder.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

NJ/NY Boaters: Watch for Whales Close to Shore

July 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Stay safe, stay alert, and keep your distance

On Monday, an adult female humpback whale and her calf were seen close to the shore, off Sandy Hook, NJ, reportedly feeding on menhaden. 

 Asbury Park Press posted a story, with photographs of the whales against a backdrop of people on the nearby beach.

It is not unusual for humpback whales to come close to shore when they are following their food.

NOAA Fisheries asks boaters off New Jersey and in New York Harbor to keep a close eye out for these feeding whales, and to remember to follow safe viewing guidelines, which include staying 100 feet away from the whales for your safety and theirs. Humpback whales can reach lengths of 60 feet, and can weigh around 40 tons. 

In addition to the potential risk of a collision, the close proximity of a boat may cause a whale to stop feeding. All whales in U.S. waters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which makes it illegal for people to harm, injure, kill, chase, or harass whales or any other marine mammal. Harassment includes any activity that results in changes to the whales’ natural behaviors, such as feeding. Penalties for Marine Mammal Protection Act violations are fines of up to $20,000 and up to one year in prison. In addition, some whales, including humpback whales, are also protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Get more information on safe boating near whales.

 

NEW JERSEY: Christe Administration Announces $2.1 Million in Federal Grants to Help Fishing-Related Businesses Impacted by Superstorm Sandy

July 16, 2015 — The Christie Administration announced that 266 fishing-related businesses will share more than $2.1 million in federal grants to help them recover some costs resulting from damages sustained as a result of Superstorm Sandy.

The grant program focused on helping smaller businesses. Owners of bait-and-tackle shops, commercial dealers, commercial fishermen, for-hire party and charter boat operators, marinas and those involved in shell-fish aquaculture businesses were eligible to apply to the DEP for grants of up to $10,000 to help offset some of the costs of the storm on their operations.

“The DEP and our Marine Fisheries staff have worked tirelessly since Sandy to help these businesses get back on their feet,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. “Our economically vital commercial and recreational fishing industries are coming back after the devastation caused by Sandy. This grant program will help our smaller fishing-related businesses recover some of their losses.”

Grants were provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a federal fishery disaster declaration for states impacted by Sandy.

Applicants had to document a minimum of $5,000 in losses as a result of Sandy. Grants were awarded to help with repair or replacement of equipment that was not covered by other programs. Activities already paid for out-of-pocket as part of a business’ or individual’s recovery effort also were eligible.

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

 

 

NEW JERSEY: Shellfish mother lode found off Cape May

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Press of Atlantic City) — July 10, 2015 — It may be fortunate that nobody has asked Dvora Hart to count the Atlantic sea scallops recently captured by camera images off the New Jersey coast.

Hart, a mathematical biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, knows numbers. She could count that high. The problem: It would take awhile.

“Ten billion is my best guess. It’s probably conservative and it’s very preliminary,” said Hart.

It’s being called one of the biggest scallop sets ever recorded, eclipsing one in 2003 fishermen harvested for years. The estimate of 10 billion is only for the most concentrated area, scallop grounds called the Elephant Trunk just southeast of Cape May covering more than 1,500 square nautical miles. The set actually extends as far north as Long Island and Block Island and as far south as the Delmarva Peninsula. Hart is still working on the overall numbers.

“The big concentration is southern New Jersey, a little north of Cape May, down to Delaware. You start to see them at 35 meters and the highest density is 50 to 60 meters. They drop off at 70 to 80 meters,” said Hart.

NOAA’s underwater camera recorded about 4 million images off the Mid-Atlantic coast earlier this year. Each picture is one square meter of ocean floor and Hart was seeing up to 350 scallops per image. Hart, the chief scallop assessment scientist with NOAA, puts that into perspective.

“Normally we’d see one scallop per square meter, which is actually good recruitment. We had a wide range of more than 100 per square meter and several places where they were on the order of 350 per square meter. This is an extreme event. It’s pretty amazing,” said Hart.

The find is great news for the Port of Cape May, where scallops are still the No. 1 catch but recent East Coast harvest cutbacks, about 20 percent averaged over the last two years, hurt the industry.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City