Saving Seafood

Reinstated: Slow Speed Zone Southeast of Atlantic City to Protect Right Whales

December 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is reinstating a Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone), southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey

This Slow Zone was in effect November 20-December 5, when the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute acoustic monitoring buoy detected right whales southeast of Atlantic City. The buoy detected right whales again on December 7.

Mariners, please go around this area or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected.

Southeast of Atlantic City Slow Zone is in effect through December 22 for waters bounded by:

39 25 N
38 44 N
073 44 W
074 36 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here

Plenty of fish in the sea? Scientists can now count them using DNA

December 7, 2020 — One liter of ocean water can not only unlock the recent presence of dozens of species — it can also reveal the relative number of these fish.

According to the most extensive comparison of its kind, the relative abundance of DNA from different species found from ocean water samples taken off the coast of New Jersey correlates well with the data gathered by the more expensive and destructive technique of bottom trawling.

“It’s really going to be a game change for ocean science, with many applications,” said Mark Stoeckle, an environmental genetics researcher at Rockefeller University in New York City. He added that as DNA analysis becomes cheaper and more accurate, analyzing environmental DNA could be used for everything from tracking fluctuations in fish stocks due to fishing operations, to cataloguing the effects of climate change on species diversity and abundance.

Read the full story at ABC News

New Jersey growers deliver 240,000 oysters for reef restoration

December 4, 2020 — In a year of brutal downturns in demand, struggling oyster growers have one faint bright spot: A $2 million national initiative to buy 5 million surplus oysters for use in habitat restoration projects.

On Thursday 240,000 of those shellfish were barged to a reef in Little Egg Harbor for planting on the Tuckerton Reef site. Growers converged the day before at the Parsons Mariculture dock in Tuckerton, N.J., meeting with owner Dale Parsons and Bill Shadel, coastal project manager for The Nature Conservancy.

In October the group announced it was starting the Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration (SOAR) initiative, a two-year program to extend $2 million in payments to oyster farmers, support more than 100 shellfish companies and preserve over 200 industry jobs in northern New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Washington state.

Oysters purchased in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts will be replanted to rebuild 27 acres of native shellfish reefs on 20 restoration sites around the coasts.

The program is “benefitting the ecosystem and giving us a boost,” said Tommy Burke, who operates his Sloop Point Oyster Farms in upper Barnegat Bay.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New Jersey Releases Offshore Wind Strategic Plan

October 29, 2020 — The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved and published online the New Jersey Offshore Wind Strategic Plan on Sept. 9. The 500-plus-page document is the state’s comprehensive map for achieving 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035. It makes recommendations on establishing an offshore wind industry that achieves net economic benefits while also protecting the environment, commercial and recreational fishing interests, and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

While developing the state’s offshore wind resources, the state Department of Environmental Protection is tasked with identifying and prioritizing the research and monitoring the industry with ongoing habitat surveys as well as fish and wildlife studies.

Chief to the success of the industry is the offshore wind renewable energy certificate (OREC) funding mechanism, the method by which New Jersey ratepayers will fund offshore wind projects and how revenues from these projects will be refunded and delivered to ratepayers. OREC funding mechanism rules mandate that the OREC price reflect the total capital and operating costs for an offshore wind project, offset by any state or federal tax or production credits and any other subsidies or grants, as approved by the board.

Read the full story at The Sand Piper

Black Sea Bass Sensitive to Ocean Noise in Wind Energy Development Areas

October 27, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Scientists looking at the effects of underwater pile driving and construction noise on sea life have found that black sea bass can hear these sounds. The noise may interfere with their natural behavior.

Their study is the first to look at the impact of ocean noise on this fish species. It found that younger fish were more sensitive to sounds than older fish. The frequencies at which the fish are most sensitive to sound directly overlap with frequencies of human-produced noise pollution. This noise comes from activities like shipping and the underwater construction required for offshore wind farms.

“No one knew for sure how much black sea bass can hear and how that changes as they age,” said Beth Phelan, a fishery biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s laboratory at Sandy Hook, New Jersey and a co-author of the study. “We do know that black sea bass are attracted to underwater structures, and have anecdotal information that they move away from noise. We had to first determine the range of sounds they can hear by giving them a type of hearing test, much like we do to humans.”

Black sea bass are a commercially and recreationally important fish in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, the coastal region from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to southern New England. Wind farms planned in the region overlap with current black sea bass habitat, exposing fish to construction and operational noises. Pile driving, for example, produces sounds that might stress fish, impacting their choice of habitat, feeding, social interaction and reproduction.

Read the full release here

NEW JERSEY: New CEO vows Ørsted will fulfill jobs promises with offshore wind farm

October 26, 2020 — Ørsted Offshore North America, the Danish company that won the right to build an offshore wind farm about 12 miles southeast of Atlantic City in the Atlantic Ocean, has a new leader with New Jersey roots.

David Hardy, a 49-year-old American and Navy veteran, said Thursday he will make sure the company fulfills all of its promises to create jobs in offshore wind equipment manufacturing and supply chain services.

Hardy was born in the Fort Monmouth/Eatontown area of Monmouth County, but moved around the country growing up as his father was in the military.

He has replaced Thomas Brostrøm, the Dane who has been with the company 11 years and led its U.S. offshore wind efforts since 2015. Brostrøm will soon move back to Europe to become the leader of a global energy company, according to Ørsted.

Hardy has spoken to State Senate President Steve Sweeney about Sweeney’s concerns that Ørsted hasn’t worked fast enough to set up manufacturing and supply chain businesses in New Jersey.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: Wind Conference Goes Virtual

October 26, 2020 — Hundreds attended the first in a series of virtual open houses about a wind farm off New Jersey’s southern coast, which proponents expect to be the start of a new clean energy industry in the region.  

Construction is expected to begin in the early 2020s, with the first project expected to provide power to a half-million New Jersey homes.   

The event was held remotely because of the pandemic. Kris Ohleth, senior stakeholder relations manager for Ørsted, the Danish company that won the contract for the first round of wind farm construction, in New Jersey, said they would’ve preferred to meet with the public face to face, but said that option is not practical.  

Participants in the Oct. 20 event signed up in advance and were emailed a link to the conference room. Before the event started, the link led to an image of a conference room much like any in the world, down to the lines of white folding chairs at a podium set at the front of the room.  

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

New Jersey fishing industry to receive $11 million in pandemic relief funding

October 19, 2020 — The fishing industry in New Jersey will soon receive an economic boost in the form of grant money from the state’s government, legislators announced.

New Jersey will put $11.3 million in federal fisheries relief towards commercial and recreational fishing businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Money will be provided to businesses in the form of grants using funds allocated to the state as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

Fishing businesses that have seen their revenue decline by at least 35% will be able to apply, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, DEP Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe and Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday.

Read the full story at The Philly Voice

New Jersey puts out $11.2 million in covid-19 fishing aid

October 16, 2020 — The state of New Jersey is making $11.2 million in financial aid available to commercial and recreational fishing businesses that have seen their income plummet during the covid-19 public health emergency, Gov. Phil Murphy and state environmental commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced Thursday.

The funding is available as grants to eligible businesses that document a 35 percent loss in revenues as a result of the pandemic. As the Garden State’s share, the funding is from a $300 million allocation for fishing industries in coastal states provided by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“Fishing is an integral part of New Jersey’s identity and a critical component of our economy,” Murphy said in announcing the grants. “This grant program will help these businesses recover losses they have incurred during very difficult times. And we can all play a role in supporting New Jersey’s fishing industry by buying from local seafood suppliers and enjoying fishing through charter boat operations and bait and tackle shops.”

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Fisheries Administration will review applications and administer financial assistance to eligible business. An online application process will start Monday, October 19, 2020, through DEP’s electronic grants management system, NJDEP SAGE at https://njdepsage.intelligrants.com

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New Jersey gains CARES Act spend plan approval

October 13, 2020 — New Jersey has become the latest state to get approval for its CARES Act spend plan, opening up USD 11.1 million (EUR 9.6 million) in funds for the purpose of offsetting fishery losses from COVID-19.

Several other states have also received CARES Act spend plan approval, which was released in May. In total, USD 300 million (EUR 255.6 million) has been made available to states, territories, and tribes in the U.S. for the purpose of aiding aspects of the seafood industry in the wake of COVID-19 related losses.

Read the full story at Seafood Source