Saving Seafood

Northeast sea scallop survey cancelled after vessel sidelined

June 27, 2023 — Officials at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center say the 2023 sea scallop survey has been cancelled because of mechanical problems on the survey vessel, the R/V Hugh R. Sharp.

Owned and operated by the University of Delaware, the Sharp has been chartered by NOAA Fisheries annually since 2008 for the survey. This year’s cruise was scheduled for May 13 to June 13, before the Sharp “encountered licensed engineering shortages and mechanical difficulties at the dock in its homeport of Lewes, Del.,” according to science center statement.

After repairs and sea trials were completed June 12, the cruise was rescheduled for June 14-21, and the Sharp departed sailed from Woods Hole, Mass., with the scientific crew on board.

“However, the ship encountered further mechanical failures at sea and returned to port on June 16, ending the NOAA cruise,” according to the science center.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Boat noise silencing cod, haddock love songs

December 19, 2017 — Communication among cod comes in the form of vocalized grunts. And for haddock, it’s knocks.

Now it appears that increasing traffic noise from large vessels in the Gulf of Maine may be reducing the range of communication for the two species of Atlantic groundfish, according to research by NOAA Fisheries scientists.

The study, undertaken by scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center and published in Scientific Reports, said the decline in the ability to communicate may generate widespread changes in the species’ “daily behavior, feeding, mating, and socializing during critical biological periods for these commercially and ecologically important fish.”

Cod, for instance, vocalize to attract mates and listen for predators and “not hearing those signals could potentially reduce reproductive success and survival,” according to the study.

Using bottom-mounted instruments to record the cod grunts and haddock knocks, scientists spent three months monitoring the sounds made by the two species at three separate spawning sites within the Gulf of Maine — two inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and one inshore south of Cape Ann.

“We looked at the hourly variation in ambient sound pressure levels and then estimated effective vocalization ranges at all three sites known to support spawning activity in the Gulf of Maine cod and haddock stocks,” said Jenni Stanley, a marine research scientist and lead author of the study. “Both fluctuated dramatically during the study.”

The variations of the sound levels, she said, appear to be driven by the activities of large vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times 

 

University scientists receive $1m grant for fisheries research

March 20, 2017 — Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST) have been awarded $1,049,044 in research funds through the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program.

Projects will address sea scallop research priorities established by the NEFMC for 2017 and 2018. Among these are resource surveys to estimate scallop biomass, projects addressing bycatch reduction, and work to improve understanding of scallop biology and recruitment.

SMAST received three awards to conduct surveys using its drop-camera array. High resolution surveys of Closed Area I, Closed II, and the Elephant Trunk will be completed, as well as a broad-scale survey in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank. The scallop survey research is led by Dr. Kevin Stokesbury.

Expanding on previous sea scallop gray-meat research, SMAST will attempt to delineate the southern range of gray-meat occurrences and assess the growth, meat weights, and reproductive potential of animals found with gray meat in scallop populations. This project, led by Dr. Daniel Georgiana, will complement ongoing lab-based research funded last year, university officials said.

Read the full story at Dartmouth Week