Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: Commercial Fishing Boat Runs Aground in Montauk

November 28th, 2016 — A 55-foot commercial a commercial fishing dragger, the Miss Scarlett, based in New London, Conn., ran aground on the beach along Navy Road in Montauk at about 6 a.m. Sunday near high tide.

There were no injuries reported. The crew of the Miss Scarlett remained onboard the stranded vessel until they were picked up by a skiff from another boat around noon.

The stranded vessel, which was located just west of the Port Royal, became a destination for families who flocked to the beach to take pictures of it throughout the morning.

According to the Coast Guard, the boat will be pulled off the beach by salvage vessels if found sound enough once the turbulent waters subside.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

NEW YORK: Why researchers think humpback whale swam up the Hudson

November 22, 2016 — The whale spotted in the Hudson River Thursday in Friday was likely led there by food, the head of a local whale research group said.

Photos of the humpback whale showed it “lunge feeding,” said Paul Sieswerda, president of Gotham Whale.

“That’s when they come up and break the surface and consume these bait balls of menhaden,” he said.

Predators drive menhaden, sometimes known as bunker fish, into tight balls. This allows whales to open their mouths and eat them all at once.

Read the full story at NJ.com

NEW YORK: Acoustic buoy now detecting rare, endangered whales in New York Bight

November 17, 2016 — An acoustic buoy recently deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) New York Aquarium is making its first near real-time detections of two rare great whale species in the New York Bight, including the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.

On November 14th, the hi-tech buoy named “Melville” detected the telltale “up call” of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world’s highly endangered whale species that numbers only 500 individual animals. It is the second detection of a North Atlantic right whale made by the buoy since October 26th. The acoustic buoy made another rare find on October 31st with the detection of a sei whale, a species that grows up to 65 feet in length and is rarely observed in New York waters.

North Atlantic right whales are particularly vulnerable to getting hit by ships, so any information on the whereabouts of these animals along the coast is important. Researchers from WCS and WHOI report that the North Atlantic right whale detected on October 26th was outside of the New York Harbor Seasonal Management Area (SMA), one of a series of zones along the eastern seaboard established to protect the slow-swimming whales with boat speed restrictions during their migration periods. Vessel speed restrictions for the mid-Atlantic seasonal management areas—including the SMA in New York Bight—runs between November 1st and April 30th.

“Having the ability to detect North Atlantic right whales and other species rarely seen in New York waters is extremely important given their endangered status,” said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum of WCS’s Ocean Giants Program and co-lead of the WCS New York Aquarium-WHOI project. “In particular, our ability to detect North Atlantic right whales in this area near the shipping lanes but outside these seasonal management areas will hopefully help with efforts to safeguard this highly endangered species in the New York Bight.

Read the full story at Phys.org

Can North Carolina’s Local Seafood Movement Help Save its Fishermen?

November 16, 2016 — North Carolina’s commercial fishermen—who work primarily in independent, small-scale operations—landed 66 million pounds of fish last year, but rather than ending up on North Carolina plates, the majority was whisked out of state to markets where it could fetch a higher price.

“I think more New Yorkers eat North Carolina seafood than North Carolinians,” says Ann Simpson, who grew up in a small town on the coast and currently directs North Carolina Catch, a partnership of smaller organizations working to strengthen the state’s local seafood economy.

To fill the void created by the export of its catch, North Carolina—like most states—ships in seafood from abroad. Today, around 90 percent of the seafood Americans eat has been imported from places like China, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Ecuador, and the average fish travels more than 5,400 miles between the landing dock and point of sale.

“People come to the coast looking for fresh seafood, and for the most part, they’re getting seafood from halfway around the world, which they’re eating in a local setting,” says Noelle Boucquey, assistant professor of environmental studies at Eckerd College, who studied North Carolina’s fisheries while at Duke University. Patronize a vendor at the Outer Banks Seafood Festival in Nags Head, and you’ll face the same conundrum.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

NEW YORK: Thousands of dead fish clogged a New York canal. Why?

November 16, 2016 — Residents of Hampton Bays, N.Y., awoke Monday morning to find their local canal clogged with tens of thousands of silvery, dead fish. The bodies were packed together so tightly that it looked as though you could walk across them, one man told the local news channel News12. The air was thick with their noxious smell.

This was a classic fish kill — a massive die-off that occurs when too many fish are in a body of water with too little oxygen. Under ordinary circumstances, fish extract oxygen that has been dissolved in water as it filters through their gills. When the amount of dissolved oxygen is insufficient, the fish become hypoxic — they suffocate and die.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued a statement saying the closing of locks at Shinnecock Canal early Monday inadvertently trapped a large school of Atlantic menhaden — small silvery fish also known as bunker — in the canal. The school of normally saltwater fish had probably been chased into the canal by predators.

“They chased them in here, but unfortunately the locks are closed so it’s just a dead end, they can’t get out,” Chris Paparo, a lab manager at Stony Brook University Marine Sciences Center, told the New York Daily News. “And with the sheer number of fish in here, it just sucks the oxygen out of the water and they suffocate.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Bourdain Says It’s Ok to Eat Fish on Mondays Now, But Maybe Skip the Mussels

November 14th, 2016 — The year 2000 was such a different time. Palm pilots were the future. Survivor made its television debut. The country was feeling deeply divided after a highly contested and close presidential race. (Err, ignore that last one.)

Either way, a lot has changed in 16 years. Case in point? Anthony Bourdain.

The mega-celebrity author/TV host/food personality first rose to prominence in the year 2000 when his New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In the Culinary Underbelly painted an honest, if less-than-rosy, picture of the cutthroat food service industry in New York City.

Among all the wisdom and anecdotes he shared in his first book however, the one that most people probably remember best was this thoughtful piece of advice: Don’t eat fish on Mondays.

Bourdain reasoned that because fish markets don’t make deliveries on the weekends, there’s a better-than-not chance that when you order that filet at a restaurant on Monday, it’s not as fresh as it could be.

Now however, Bourdain has changed his tune. In a Tech insider video, Bourdain lays out his argument in favor of ordering fish on Mondays, citing the big changes in the restaurant scene, consumer tastes, and suppliers over the last sixteen years.

Still, he says, “I’m not suggesting that you go to, you know, Monday at the local fake Irish pub—they’re running a mussels special. Maybe that’s still not such a great idea.”

But overall, as he puts it “it’s a better world. You know, we have higher standards. We know more about food. We expect more of our food.” He goes on to add, “The market has had to respond to that, it can’t get away with serving us the crap they used to.”

Read the full story at Bravo 

Rebound seen for popular lobster bait fishery

November 9th, 2016 — Commercial fishermen can breathe a sigh a relief, as interstate fishing regulators say that the population of menhaden, a fish only topped by herring as the most popular type of bait for Maine’s lobster industry, continues to be healthy.

According to the Associated Press, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is reporting that menhaden fishery isn’t experiencing overfishing and continues to reproduce at a healthy rate. Atlantic Menhaden Board Chairman Robert Ballou added that the healthy population levels will give regulators a chance to reevaluate how to manage the fishery, which is typically worth more than $100 million annually, the AP reported.

The good news about the menhaden population comes on the heels of Maine’s menhaden fishery being closed by regulators for a week and a half in August, following reports that the annual landings quota for Maine, Rhode Island and New York, had been exceeded.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Opening day results point to disappointing scallop season

November 8, 2016 — On the first day of Peconic Bay scallop season Monday, local fishermen and seafood retailers were lamenting what they called a rough start out on the water.  

While the windy weather was a factor in reaching some of the better spots, baymen said they mostly just weren’t finding the sort of volume they normally encounter on opening day.

The results so far indicate you won’t find bay scallops on too many restaurant menus this year or for very long.

“It will be a short and sweet season,” said Southold Fish Market owner Charlie Manwaring, who only had five bushels at his store by 1 p.m. Monday. “We’re going to have scallops, but it’s not going to be what it has been the last few years.”

By 3 p.m. Mr. Manwaring reported having 30 bushels, less than a quarter of what he had at the same time on opening day 2015, which was also considered a slow start.

Things weren’t much different a little farther west on Main Road at Braun’s Seafood in Cutchogue, where manager Keith Reda said there “seems to be a lot less scallops” than usual.

Read the full story at the Suffolk Times

New York set for offshore wind after environmental review

November 3, 2016 — WASHINGTON– Areas off the New York coast will be open for offshore wind energy bidders, but some area is reserved because of ecological concerns, the U.S. government said.

The U.S. Interior Department, in coordination with its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said it would open 79,350 acres off the coast of New York up for a commercial wind energy lease sale. About 1,780 acres was removed because of environmental concerns associated with a subsea feature known as the Cholera Bank.

“In a comment letter, the National Marine Fisheries Service identified the Cholera Bank feature as a sensitive habitat to be avoided for the placement of structures,” an Interior Department stated read. “As a result of this removal, the revised lease area will be approximately two percent smaller than the lease area considered in the proposed sale notice.”

For oil and gas, the Interior Department this year revised lease plans to include 10 potential sales in the Gulf of Mexico and three for offshore Alaska. Initial considerations for lease sales in the Atlantic were removed because of “current market dynamics, strong local opposition and conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses,” the department said.

The U.S. Defense Department said there may be areas in the original proposal for the Atlantic that may not be compatible with defense operations and interests.

Wind energy development up and down the New England coast has been met with opposition from preservationists worried about the potential threat to coastal habitats and aesthetics.

Read the full story at UPI

Interior Department to Auction Over 79,000 Acres Offshore New York for Wind Energy Development

November 1, 2016 — Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announces that 79,350 acres offshore New York will be offered in a December 15 commercial wind lease sale.

“This announcement not only marks another milestone for the U.S. offshore wind energy program, but also demonstrates how our collaborative efforts with state, local and private sector partners can advance a clean energy future in the United States,” said Secretary Jewell. “Industry interest remains strong with more than a dozen qualified bidders as we take another step closer to harnessing the enormous potential of offshore wind energy for Atlantic coastal communities.”

The New York Wind Energy Area starts approximately 11.5 nautical miles (nm) from Jones Beach, NY. From its western edge, the area extends approximately 24 nm southeast at its longest portion. The lease area consists of five full Outer Continental Shelf blocks and 143 sub-blocks. A map of the lease area can be found here.

“New York is a critical component in building a robust U.S. offshore wind industry,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper. “The process to develop and refine the New York lease area, as well as the online auction, reflects the deep commitment BOEM has to listening and responding to stakeholders and ensuring that all voices are heard as we forge a path to a clean energy future.”

To date, BOEM has awarded eleven commercial wind leases, including nine through the competitive lease sale process. These lease sales have generated more than $16 million in winning bids for more than a million acres in federal waters.

After reviewing comments received on the Environmental Assessment, BOEM removed about 1,780 acres from the lease area due to environmental concerns regarding a seafloor feature known as the Cholera Bank. In a comment letter, the National Marine Fisheries Service identified the Cholera Bank feature as a sensitive habitat to be avoided for the placement of structures. As a result of this removal, the revised lease area will be approximately two percent smaller than the lease area considered in the Proposed Sale Notice.

Read the full story at Ocean News & Technology