Saving Seafood

New buoy line changes benefit whales

June 11, 2021 — Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission unanimously approved a proposed plan for new buoy line marking rules for lobster and crab fishermen. The buoy line markings proposal was first introduced to the commission in January, which took recommendations from a public hearing in May.

According to Bob Glenn, a member of the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), these markings are important for the protection of the North Atlantic right whales in Massachusetts waters. In 2020, DMF provided comments to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) saying Massachusetts should have its fisheries, specifically lobster and crab fisheries, listed separately, based on its “very conservative” management program to protect the whales. The list is usually published in September or October, which is why the buoy line markings proposal is being pushed for this year. However, the NMFS was not willing to provide a separate designation, because the gear Massachusetts fishermen use was not different enough from other states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

The Center for Coastal Studies spotted 89 right whales in March in the Cape Cod Bay area. The whales had migrated elsewhere by May 13, allowing fisheries to open a little earlier than usual. Daniel McKiernan, director of the DMF, said these whales are routinely photographed via aerial surveys within a range from Plymouth to Provincetown. McKiernan said in the past 12 years, there have been only two nonlethal, off-season entanglement cases in Massachusetts. According to a risk reduction model DMF received from NMFS called a decision support tool, the estimates say DMF’s efforts since 2015 have helped reduce marine life mortality by 85 to 95 percent.

Read the full story at MV Times

NOAA’s whale framework draws fire from fishermen, conservationists

June 9, 2021 — A framework released by the National Marine Fisheries Service last month that calls for reducing risks to the endangered North Atlantic right whale in federal fisheries has been criticized both by conservationists and lobstermen, though for different reasons.

The framework was included in the service’s long-awaited biological opinion and requires the reduction of risks to the whales by a cumulative 98 percent in the next 10 years.

The exact measures to ensure this reduction have yet to be determined and are expected later this year, but conservationists have heavily criticized the 10-year timeline, which they argue is much too slow and not in line with rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“A lot of the conservation community feel that the timeline that NOAA has laid out in the bi-op may not hold up legally,” said Zack Klyver, the director of science at Blue Planet Strategies.

Klyver and other conservationists said that under the act, the federal government is supposed to institute a plan that will get potential deaths down to almost zero annually within six months, but the fisheries service’s plan only gets there after several years.

“What they’ve suggested is they start much higher and over a 10-year period bring it down to zero,” he said.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NORTH CAROLINA: Fisheries service to hold webinars, workshops on turtle excluder devices

June 9, 2021 — Local skimmer trawl fishermen and others have several opportunities to learn more about putting turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, on their trawls.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service is offering several webinars to assist skimmer trawl fishermen with TED installation. Fishing gear specialists with the NMFS Southeast Fishery Science Center’s gear monitoring team will host question-and-answer webinar sessions and virtual workshops summarizing upcoming skimmer trawl TED requirements and assist participants with program information and compliance.

These webinars and workshops will be held at 10 a.m. on select Tuesdays and Fridays. The case sensitive password for all these webinars is “noaa.” An audio conference call will also be available at the webinar times at 415-527-5035. The event number for each webinar is the access code for each audio conference call.

Each webinar will be recorded.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Here’s what local activists, experts say you can do to protect the ocean on World Oceans Day

June 8, 2021 — The ocean covers about 70% of the planet, produces at least 50% of oxygen and absorbs about 30% of human-produced carbon dioxide, according to the United Nations. It feeds the world and is expected to employ 40 million people in ocean-based industries by 2030.

For Greater New Bedford, the Atlantic Ocean and its coastal waters are the places where boaters recreate and local fishermen catch millions of pounds of fish, promising food and paychecks for countless people. The National Marine Fisheries Service last month announced New Bedford, for the 20th consecutive year, was the nation’s top-earning port.

While the ocean continues to support many industries and communities, it is also under significant threats due to climate change and other human activities.

The ocean covers about 70% of the planet, produces at least 50% of oxygen and absorbs about 30% of human-produced carbon dioxide, according to the United Nations. It feeds the world and is expected to employ 40 million people in ocean-based industries by 2030.

For Greater New Bedford, the Atlantic Ocean and its coastal waters are the places where boaters recreate and local fishermen catch millions of pounds of fish, promising food and paychecks for countless people. The National Marine Fisheries Service last month announced New Bedford, for the 20th consecutive year, was the nation’s top-earning port.

While the ocean continues to support many industries and communities, it is also under significant threats due to climate change and other human activities.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Entanglements in fishing gear stunting growth of right whales, study finds

June 4, 2021 — Entanglements in fishing gear, which have been among the leading causes of death of North Atlantic right whales, are likely also stunting their growth and causing the critically endangered species to reproduce less often, a new study found.

The research raises questions about the findings of a major report on the species released last month by the federal government and could have a significant impact on how it regulates the lobster industry, which has been the primary source of entanglements. The population of right whales has plummeted over the past decade by a quarter, with scientists estimating that fewer than 370 remain.

The long-term study, published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, estimated that a calf born in recent years was likely, when mature, to be about 3 feet shorter in length than those born in the 1980s. Entanglements have become more of a problem for whales in recent decades, as ropes have increasingly used synthetic materials and become stronger.

“Stunting of growth is a classic sign that a species is in trouble,” said Michael Moore, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a coauthor of the study. “Smaller mothers are less capable of being successful breeders, because they have a smaller fuel tank and less lactation. That’s the biggest concern.”

He and other authors said the findings call into question a long-awaited report released last month by the National Marine Fisheries Service that found the lobster industry isn’t jeopardizing the survival of right whales. A federal judge last year ordered the agency to produce the report, known as a biological opinion, after rulingthat it had violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to reduce entanglements.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Museum To Host Conversation On Woods Hole Fisheries’ 150th Anniversary

June 4, 2021 — “Celebrating 150 Years of Science at the Woods Hole Fisheries Lab” will be the topic of Woods Hole Historical Museum’s online Conversation on Wednesday, June 9, at 7 PM with Jon Hare, science and research director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, founded as the U. Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1871, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. The Woods Hole Laboratory is the nation’s first marine research station, and is the founding laboratory of NOAA Fisheries, formally called the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Jon Hare has been the science and research director of the Woods Hole Fisheries since October 2016. He oversees science activities related to the Fisheries mission in the northeast region, including fisheries, aquaculture, protected species, habitat, and ecosystem science. He received a PhD in coastal oceanography from State University of New York Stony Brook. He was awarded a National Research Council Research Associateship in 1994 to work at NOAA’s Beaufort Laboratory and was hired by the agency in 1997.

Read the full story at The Enterprise

‘Troubling’ impact on lobster fishery seen in federal study of right whale population

June 1, 2021 — The federal government on Thursday released a new report saying the lobster fishery poses a risk to the endangered North Atlantic right whale population.

The assessment, conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, is expected to have a severe impact on the fishery. The long-term ramifications “remain troubling,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement.

The assessment calls for the fishery to reduce the potential for serious injury and death to right whales by 60% over the coming decade. Based on periodic evaluations during that time, the risk reduction target could be increased to 87% in 2030.

“The lobster fishery as we know it will not exist if this is fully implemented,” the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said in a statement. Maine is home to the nation’s largest lobster fishery, and brought in a catch of over $400 million last year despite the pandemic.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Lobster industry still waiting for precise rules from feds to protect right whales

June 1, 2021 — Maine’s lobster fishermen are anxiously waiting to learn exactly what they will have to change to meet new federal requirements to protect the endangered right whale. On Thursday, the federal agency NOAA Fisheries released their final biological opinion about the threat to right whales, saying there have to be major changes by New England fishermen so whales won’t get tangled in fishing gear and die.

Fishermen have been worrying about and waiting for federal guidelines for more than two years. They had some of their fears confirmed by the latest report from NOAA, but still are waiting to get the needed details.

The big target to protect whales is called risk reduction, primarily by cutting the number of vertical ropes in the water that connect traps to buoy.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of NOAA Fisheries, said those ropes pose a big risk of tangling right whales, so they have to be reduced 60 percent right away. How that should happen is one of the details fishermen are waiting to learn, but previous documents from NMFS suggested a primary method should be requiring longer trawls, meaning putting many more traps on each line, in addition to using sections of weaker rope that can break away if snagged by a whale.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said Maine is being unfairly penalized for whale deaths actually happening in Canada and those from whales being hit by ships at sea. She said that while lobstermen will have to follow the rules, the industry will continue to pressure NMFS to improve its data and create more fair regulations.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Salmon overtakes lobster as the nation’s most valuable catch

May 28, 2021 — Lobster isn’t number one in the nation anymore.

Salmon is now the United States’ highest-grossing, wild-caught domestic fishery, according to the latest report issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology.

The report, issued last week, shows salmon leaping from third to first, with lobster slipping to number two nationally.

In Maine, lobster still tops the charts, with no serious rivals.

“Lobster is, by far, the most valuable species harvested in Maine,” said Jeff Nichols, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The new national numbers do not reflect aquaculture-raised salmon. The data covers 2019, the most recent year with complete data. The cash values represent money paid to fishermen at the dock, not consumer retail prices.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Commercial fishermen say they are being ignored on wind power project

May 24, 2021 — For the past three decades, Town Dock fishermen and their counterparts across the Northeast have struggled to stay afloat in the face of strict regulations designed to rebuild depleted stocks of cod, flounder and other species.

Some diversified, turning to so-called underutilized species such as squid and whiting to supplement their declining income, while others retired or left for jobs on land.

But now that many of the species have rebounded and government regulators are increasing the amounts of fish they can land, the fishermen face a new threat: offshore wind power projects.

Last month members of Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, or RODA, a national coalition of fishing industry members, boycotted a meeting with a federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management task force, which is considering auctioning of 800,000 acres of New York Bight — shallow waters south of Long Island and east of New Jersey — to potential wind farm operators. RODA said its members feel they are not being listened to.

On April 6, RODA said 1,665 members of fishing communities in every U.S. coastal state submitted a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, and National Marine Fisheries Service requesting a transparent and balanced national planning process for offshore wind development.

Read the full story at Yahoo News