May 23, 2016 — WOODS HOLE, Mass. — Listening to the noise of the deep sea.
That’s the intent as researchers with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, recently placed a handful of recording devices along the ocean floor from George’s Bank to New Jersey to listen to the sounds of whales, dolphins and other marine life.
It’s part of a national effort to establish a network to monitor long term changes in ocean noise.
May 18, 2016 — I was standing in my driveway one recent morning when my neighbor approached me with a dazed look of shock on his face, that reminded of something from the movie “Tremors.”
“There’s some crazy stuff going on in the river,” he said, referring to the Navesink, which runs near our homes. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
He proceeded to tell me of the incredible amount of giant bluefish he and a group of locals had caught the previous night. Menhaden, the baitfish the blues were chasing, were beaching themselves to avoid their jaws, he said.
He showed me metal wire leader that a chopper blue had bitten clear off someone’s line. Evidence of the sheer viciousness of these yellow-eyed choppers.
May 11, 2016 — Summer flounder that once amassed in North Carolina have gradually shifted about 140 miles to New Jersey—one facet of the northward migration of fish species that is upending traditional fishing patterns.
The move north has sparked debate among regulators over how to respond to changing natural resources that could affect commercial fisheries across the eastern seaboard.
For the first time, a group of researchers backed by the federal government is trying to ascertain what the northward movement means for fishermen’s income and way of life.
“Some fisherman will end up losing out and some will win big,” said Malin Pinsky, an assistant professor of ecology and evolution at Rutgers University, who is part of a team of scientists from Rutgers, Princeton University and Yale University studying the phenomenon.
Funded through a piece of a $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant, the team of scientists is examining how shifting patterns of where fish congregate is affecting commercial anglers and how they are changing their practices. They are also studying what kind of regulations may be needed to adapt to these changing realities.
For Lund’s Fisheries, for example, the northward creep has forced the company’s boats to catch the flounder in New Jersey and then spend time traveling to North Carolina, where regulations allow them to bring them on shore in more abundant quantities. When the boats travel south, the fishery can’t catch sea bass, scup and other species they may have reeled in at the same time in waters off New Jersey.
“It does cause us to drive fish around the ocean longer than we have historically. That gets factored into the cost of doing business,” said Jeff Kaelin, an executive at the company, which has facilities in Cape May, N.J., and North Carolina.
May 11, 2016 — WEST DEPTFORD, NJ — A batch of 5,000 little fish have a big battle ahead of them in West Deptford Township and hopefully they are hungry. As warm and muggy summer months approach, so does a heightened risk for the spread of dangerous mosquito transmitted viruses.
South Jersey is starting its annual war against mosquitoes with a little extra urgency.
“It’s even more important with the increase of the Zika virus coming this way and the effects that is having on human life and unborn lives,” said Gloucester County Freeholder Director, Robert M. Damminger.
The Zika virus is carried by mosquitos from a person who is infected to others. Images of the effects it has had globally are as well-known as they are heartbreaking.
May 6, 2016 — The following statement was released by Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association, following the passage of the ASMFC motion calling for the president not to declare a marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean:
“The Antiquities Act was perhaps a necessary tool to protect sensitive areas in 1906, but with our increased technological capabilities, knowledge, and an all-encompassing regulatory system, it is an unnecessary and blunt tool for 2016.
The Magnuson–Stevens Act specifically allows for any fishery management plan under the authority of any Council to protect deep-sea corals and other habitat features from physical damage from fishing gear.
It is time that the years of on-the-water experience possessed by the commercial fishing industry be acknowledged, especially in the context of this issue. The intellectual power of the regional Councils, in conjunction with the fishing industry, will result in the most meaningful protections of deep-water corals and habitat while allowing for traditional fishing activity to continue.”
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The Garden State Seafood Association is dedicated to sincere and effective representation in order to protect the interests of New Jersey fishermen and New Jersey’s fisheries dependent businesses.
May 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:
Alexandria, VA – The 2016 Weakfish Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report indicate weakfish is depleted and has been for the past 13 years. Under the new reference points, the stock is considered depleted when the stock is below a spawning stock biomass (SSB) threshold of 30% (15.17 million pounds). In 2014, SSB was 5.62 million pounds. While the assessment indicates some positive signs in the weakfish stock in the most recent years, with a slight increase in SSB and total abundance, the stock is still well below the SSB threshold.
The assessment indicates natural mortality (e.g., the rate at which fish die because of natural causes such as predation, disease, starvation) has been increasing since the mid-1990s, from approximately 0.16 in the early 1980s to an average of 0.93 from 2007-2014. Therefore, even though fishing mortality has been at low levels in recent years, the weakfish population has been experiencing very high levels of total mortality (which includes fishing mortality and natural mortality), preventing the stock from recovering.
To better address the issues impacting the weakfish resource, the Technical Committee recommends the use of total mortality (Z) benchmarks to prevent an increase in fishing pressure when natural mortality is high. The assessment proposes a total mortality target of 0.93 and threshold of 1.36. Total mortality in 2014 was 1.11, which is above the threshold but below the target, indicating that total mortality is still high but within acceptable limits. This is the first time in 13 years that Z has been below the threshold, and additional years of data are needed to determine whether estimates in Z in the most recent years will remain below the threshold.
Weakfish commercial landings have dramatically declined since the early 1980s, dropping from over 19 million pounds landed in 1982 to roughly 200,000 pounds in 2014. The majority of landings occur in North Carolina and Virginia and, since the early 1990s, the primary gear used has been gillnets. Discarding of weakfish by commercial fishermen is known to occur, especially in the mixed species trawl fishery, and the discard mortality is assumed to be 100%. Discards peaked in the 1990s but have since declined as the result of management measures and a decline in stock abundance.
Like the commercial sector, catch in the recreational fishery has declined from over 11 million pounds in 1983 to roughly 77,000 pounds in 2014. Recreational harvest has been dominated by New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Recreational discard mortality, which is assumed to be 10%, has decreased with recreational catch.
The Board accepted the stock assessment and peer review report for management use, including its proposed new reference points for both SSB and Z. Given the weakfish management program is already highly restrictive with a one fish recreational creel limit, 100 pound commercial trip limit, and 100 pound commercial bycatch limit, and the assessment showed a slight increase in SSB, the Board took no management action at this time. It directed the Technical Committee to prepare for an assessment update in two years, at which time the Board will review the results and consider possible management action.
A more detailed description of the stock assessment results is available on the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file//572b74a22016WeakfishAssessmentOverview_Final.pdf. The final assessment and peer review report will be posted to the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, by mid-May on the weakfish webpage. For more information on the stock assessment, please contact Katie Drew, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at kdrew@asmfc.org; and for more information on weakfish management, please contact Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org.
May 2, 2016 — WASHINGTON, DC — Seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean, which can hurt marine life, is no longer needed now that the Obama administration dropped plans to drill for oil and gas there, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez said in a letter joined by 16 of their Democratic colleagues.
The senators asked President Barack Obama to end plans for the Atlantic testing,
Such tests, which involve airgun blasting, “can cause the catch rates of some commercial fish species to plummet, displace fish over large areas, and broadly disrupt the feeding and breeding behaviors of whales and other marine life,” the senators wrote.
The Obama administration dropped plans to allow oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.
Other senators signing the letter included Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
April 22, 2016 — Three recreational and commercially important species are the subject of a trap survey that is being conducted on the artificial reefs now through November.
The state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and researchers from Rutgers University have deployed a series of fish traps on two reefs to focus on characterizing the seasonal and spatial changes in reef community composition and relative abundance of structure-associated species.
April 21, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
During a meeting last week in Montauk, New York the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a framework action to modify the boundary of one of the region’s two Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs). The proposed change to the Southern Scup GRA boundary is expected to increase the availability of longfin squid to small-mesh fisheries.
The GRAs were implemented in 2000 and are intended to reduce discard mortality of juvenile scup. The current GRA regulations include a Northern GRA, which is effective from November 1 through December 31, and a Southern GRA, which is effective from January 1 through March 15. Trawl vessels which fish for or possess longfin squid, black sea bass, or silver hake (also known as whiting) are required to use mesh 5 inches or larger in the GRAs during those times of the year. The scup stock has expanded substantially since the GRAs were first implemented, and analysis conducted by scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center indicate that the GRAs were partially responsible for this rebuilding.
The GRAs have been modified several times in response to requests from commercial fishermen. In recent years, advisors have recommended further modification of the GRAs to restore access to certain areas for longfin squid fishing, arguing that modifications to the GRA boundaries would not harm the scup stock
In response to an industry request, the Council initiated a framework action in 2014 to address potential changes to the scup GRAs. The framework considered a range of alternatives, including modifications to the GRA boundaries and elimination of one or both GRAs.
After a lengthy discussion of the impacts of the proposed alternatives, the Council voted to modify the boundary of the Southern Scup GRA. The proposed change, shown in Figure 1, is based on a proposal developed by members of the Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel.
“By increasing access to important fishing grounds, the Council balanced the concerns of the squid industry with the possible impacts on the scup stock,” said the Council’s Executive Director, Chris Moore. “If the modification is approved by NMFS, the Council will be working closely with NMFS to monitor scup discards to make sure that mortality of juvenile scup does not increase as a result.”
Read the release and see the chart at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
April 19, 2016 — The following was released by Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute:
Over two dozen maps now available on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal present a more detailed picture than ever before of the extent and locations of commercial fishing activities throughout the upper East Coast.
With the new “Communities at Sea” and Federal Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) map collections, Portal users can identify the ocean places upon which the Mid-Atlantic’s commercial fishing communities most depend. Specifically, these interactive maps enable users to better understand places that are most important for particular ports, specific fisheries, and gear types.
The public release of these datasets is an important step forward for ocean planning and education in the Mid-Atlantic. The maps can help focus and guide essential engagement and consultation with specific fishing communities for a range of ocean planning, permitting and management decision-making processes.
Over two years in the making, the Portal’s Communities at Sea maps (labeled in the Marine Planner mapping application as “Commercial Fishing – VTR”) were created using methodology developed by Dr. Kevin St. Martin at Rutgers University. Vessel Trip Report (VTR) and permit information were integrated to create a new database that links fishing port communities to the places at sea where they spend the most time. Produced at much higher resolution than previous VTR maps, warm and cool colors are used to represent higher and lower number of days spent fishing. Portal users can click on any point on the map to activate a pop-up window that indicates which specific communities use the area. For example, clicking on an area off the New Jersey Shore may reveal that that gillnetters from Barnegat Bay or trawlers from Ocean City fish in the selected waters.
The maps were reviewed, discussed and improved though meetings with commercial fishermen throughout the Mid-Atlantic. The Communities at Sea collection currently includes eight maps based on 2011-13 data and will be expanded this summer via a new user interface for querying and selecting from the full library of over 100 maps.
“We really appreciate the critique and advice we got from fishermen from Montauk to Virginia Beach during our map review sessions,” said Jay Odell, Technical Lead for the Portal and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Marine Program at The Nature Conservancy. “They noted some important strengths and limitations of the data and what we learned is helping to drive the development of an expanded map library that we hope to have ready for the Portal this summer.”
The Portal’s Data Catalog section summarizes some of the caveats raised by commercial fishermen. For example, the maps are based on information from recent years and may not represent fishing areas that were historically important and could be again. Also, fishing patterns are driven by complex ecological, regulatory and economic factors that can change from year to year.
The Portal’s 19 new Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) maps show areas where commercial fishing activities take place, grouped by specific regulated fishery categories (for example, scallops, herring or monkfish). These maps (labeled “Commercial Fishing – VMS”) were created by our ocean planning partners in the Northeast region using VMS data from 2006-2014. VMS data are produced by satellite technology that tracks the movements of vessels participating in several federally managed fisheries. This data is also presented in a heat map format, with cooler colors representing low activity and dark reds showing high activity.
The Communities at Sea and VMS maps can be layered together on the Portal in complementary ways to provide rich detail about the region’s fishing communities and the ocean places they depend on. Both datasets were carefully screened and aggregated by NOAA before maps were made so that the fishing activity of individual fishermen or vessels would not be revealed.
Finally, additional maps were added at the request of commercial fishing advisors to show the boundaries of some of the region’s important fishery management zones, including ocean quahogs, surf clams and scallops. Additional regulatory boundaries may be added in the future based on specific interests and requests.
To access and explore the new maps, please visit the Marine Planner page and click on the Fishing link for a dropdown menu of map layer options. Additional map options currently available in the Fishing theme include party and charter boat fishing activity, artificial reef locations and fathom lines.
Users can register for a free Portal account to start and join online map groups, draw and share their own map shapes, create and save map bookmarks and more. Please use the Portal’s feedback tab to share any comments, concerns or questions.
About the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal
The Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal is an online toolkit and resource center that consolidates available data and enables state, federal and local users to visualize and analyze ocean resources and human use information such as fishing grounds, recreational areas, shipping lanes, habitat areas, and energy sites, among others. The Portal serves as a platform to engage all stakeholders in ocean planning from the five-state Mid-Atlantic region—putting all of the essential data and state-of-the-art mapping and visualization technology into the hands of the agencies, industry, and community leaders engaged in ocean planning. The Portal is maintained by a team consisting of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School and Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, The Nature Conservancy, MARCO and other partners.