Saving Seafood

NOAA FISHERIES: Reminder: Closed Area II Closed From August 15 – November 30

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

The Closed Area II Access Area is closed from August 15 – November 30.  Scallop vessels must be outside of the area at 0001 on August 15, 2020, and any ongoing Closed Area II trips must be terminated.  For fishing year 2020, the existing seasonal closure in Closed Area II is extended an additional 15 days to reduce bycatch of northern windowpane flounder and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.  Closed Area II will reopen on December 1, 2020, for the remainder of the 2020 fishing year and the first 60 days of fishing year 2021 (April 1, 2021 – May 30, 2021).

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Travis Ford, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9233

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

Scientists Develop Annual Forecast for the Hawaiʻi Bigeye Fishery

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Scientists in the Pacific Islands region published new research that can help predict catch rates in the Hawaiʻi longline fishery. Drs. Phoebe Woodworth-Jefcoats and Johanna Wren found that information about phytoplankton (microscopic algae) can be used to forecast catch rates for bigeye tuna. They used the size of phytoplankton to forecast catch rates for up to 4 years. This information could help advance ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Pacific Islands region.

Woodworth-Jefcoats and Wren hypothesize that the size of phytoplankton is an indicator of the quality of food for larval and juvenile bigeye tuna. While bigeye tuna don’t actually eat phytoplankton, they do eat zooplankton that eat phytoplankton. Zooplankton are tiny animals that drift with the ocean currents and are prey to many oceanic species. When there is more large phytoplankton, there is likely more large zooplankton and more high-quality food for young bigeye tuna. And when young bigeye tuna have better food, more of them survive to reach adulthood. These fish are then available for capture by the Hawaiʻi fishery.

Read the full release here

Seafood task force submits recommendations to US Trade Representative

August 6, 2020 — A task force looking at bolstering the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood industry submitted its recommendations to do just that to the U.S. Trade Representatives on Wednesday, 5 August, NOAA announced in a release on Thursday, 6 August.

A list or summary was not released. Kate Goggin, a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson, told SeafoodSource the recommendations are “an internal, deliberative document.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA cancels several more ecosystem and fishery surveys due to COVID-19

August 6, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has announced that is canceling more fishery and ecosystem surveys that were supposed to take place in 2020, citing the complications created by COVID-19.

The new survey cancellations will add to the growing list of surveys that won’t take place in 2020 due to COVID-19. Earlier this year, NOAA Fisheries cancelled five of the six large-scale research surveys scheduled to take in the waters off Alaska, along with the Atlantic sea scallop and surfclam/ocean quahog surveys, among others.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Help Endangered Whales: Slow Down in Slow Zones

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces a new “Right Whale Slow Zones” campaign asking all vessel operators to slow down or avoid areas where right whales have been detected to reduce the risk of vessel strikes to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. This effort is complementary to other NOAA vessel strike reduction efforts. It brings together sighting and acoustic detection information to inform mariners of right whale presence and encourages vessels of all sizes to slow down in areas where right whales have been detected.

We would like to thank our North Atlantic right whale Northeast U.S. Implementation Team, our partners and advisers on right whale recovery activities from Maine through Virginia, who identified this opportunity to enhance vessel strike reduction efforts using acoustic information.

Working together we can make a difference for right whales. Read more about our new campaign in our web story.

Read the full release here

Application process begins for federal fisheries relief funds

August 6, 2020 — Massachusetts is one of the first four states to have its plan approved for distributing federal fisheries relief funds and has initiated the application process for the $28 million designated for Bay State-based seafood and fishing businesses.

NOAA Fisheries approved the Massachusetts spending plan last week. On Monday, applications went out to prospective beneficiaries among aquaculture permit holders and the for-hire charter boat operators. Completed applications and appeals from aquaculture businesses must be postmarked by Aug. 21. For-hire charter operators have until Aug. 22.

Next up are commercial harvesters and seafood processors, which will receive the lion’s share of the $28 million. The Division of Marine Fisheries said the overall funding designated for processors is $13.8 million, while commercial fishermen will receive $11.8 million.

“Applications are still being finalized for the seafood processor and commercial harvest sectors, with an anticipated mailing date of mid to late August,” the state DMF stated on its website on the fisheries relief package. “DMF is delaying sending applications to seafood processors for another two weeks and commercial fishermen, the largest sector, will see their applications mailed in about three weeks.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

SEAN HORGAN: Watching the watchers

August 4, 2020 — Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: NOAA Fisheries, persisting in an increasingly bad optic and potentially dangerous policy, last week said it will begin redeploying at-sea monitors aboard Northeast groundfish vessels on Aug. 14 despite the continuing national surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. It extends the previous waiver period by two weeks.

“NOAA Fisheries has been working with the regional observer and monitor providers to enact safety protocols that match those that are in effect for vessel operators and crew during this continually evolving situation,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver said in a statement announcing the extension.

Oliver said the agency has developed national criteria for vessels to be released from monitor and observer coverage on a trip-by-trip basis. Waivers may be granted if observers or at-sea monitors are not available for the trip or the observer providers “cannot meet the safety protocols imposed by a state on commercial fishing crew or by the vessel or vessel company on the crew.”

And now the lawyers weigh in: “Within our limited authority, our efforts are intended to ensure observers and monitors are following the same safety protocols that fishermen are following,” Oliver stated.

We’re sure that makes everybody feels way safer.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA Fisheries Closes Office in U.S. Embassy Tokyo After 33 years

August 4, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries closed the representative office in the U.S. Embassy Tokyo on July 31 after 33 years due to a sharp budget cut of Silver Spring, according to the leaving official’s announcement in Tokyo.

NOAA Fisheries opened its office in 1987 in the Commercial Service of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo after establishing the U.S. EEZ and phasing out of international fleets. The mission of NOAA Tokyo was to develop the Japanese market for U.S. fishery products, such as Alaskan salmon and bottom fish. At that time Japan was the largest market for U.S. seafood, and the NOAA Tokyo office assisted many American small exporters of American lobster and sea urchin, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s triumphant entry into the market. It supported the Tokyo offices of American Seafood Company, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, and Trident Seafoods. It assisted seafood trade missions to Japan from U.S. states and native Americans. It negotiated with the Japanese government to permit the import of live oysters from Washington, Oregon, New York, and Connecticut.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NOAA Fisheries Cancels Four Fisheries and Ecosystem Surveys for 2020

August 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Summer Ecosystem Monitoring, Northern Shrimp, Autumn Bottom-Trawl, and Summer/Fall Plankton surveys cancelled for 2020

Due to the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique challenges those are creating for NOAA Fisheries, we are cancelling four research surveys off the East and Gulf Coast of the United States. The cancelled surveys include:

  • Autumn Bottom Trawl Survey (NEFSC)
  • Summer Ecosystem Monitoring Survey (NEFSC)
  • Northern Shrimp Survey (NEFSC)
  • Summer and Fall Plankton Survey (SEFSC)

These are difficult decisions for the agency as we strive to balance our need to maintain core mission responsibilities with the realities and impacts of the current health crisis. Since March, we have been rigorously analyzing various options for conducting surveys this year and are taking a survey-by-survey, risk-based approach. After much deliberation, we determined that we will not be able to move forward with these surveys while effectively minimizing risk and meeting core survey objectives.

The Cancelled Surveys

The Summer Ecosystem Monitoring Survey run out of the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center captures seasonal changes in the ocean environment, information used for multiple scientific inquiries. Over its 33-year history, some seasons have been missed and the number of annual surveys has varied, and methods have been developed to bridge these data gaps.

The Northern Shrimp Survey is conducted aboard the R/V Gloria Michelle, a 72-foot ship maintained by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. A major use of survey data is setting shrimp fishery quotas. The shrimp fishery is closed through 2021.

The Autumn Bottom Trawl Survey, also run out of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, has been conducted since 1963.  It provides crucial resource and ecosystem data, especially for fishery stock assessments. A future bottom longline survey and new work on industry-based sources of data may help mitigate data gaps.

The Summer/Fall Plankton Survey, run out of NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center covers the entire continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico region from Brownsville, Texas, to Key West, Florida. It is the only fishery independent survey available to measure the spawning capacity of the adult population of Gulf of Mexico King Mackerel and an important supplemental survey for red snapper and several other reef fish.

The Summer Ecosystem Monitoring Survey run out of the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center captures seasonal changes in the ocean environment, information used for multiple scientific inquiries. Over its 33-year history, some seasons have been missed and the number of annual surveys has varied, and methods have been developed to bridge these data gaps.

The Northern Shrimp Survey is conducted aboard the R/V Gloria Michelle, a 72-foot ship maintained by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. A major use of survey data is setting shrimp fishery quotas. The shrimp fishery is closed through 2021.

The Autumn Bottom Trawl Survey, also run out of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, has been conducted since 1963.  It provides crucial resource and ecosystem data, especially for fishery stock assessments. A future bottom longline survey and new work on industry-based sources of data may help mitigate data gaps.

The Summer/Fall Plankton Survey, run out of NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center covers the entire continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico region from Brownsville, Texas, to Key West, Florida. It is the only fishery independent survey available to measure the spawning capacity of the adult population of Gulf of Mexico King Mackerel and an important supplemental survey for red snapper and several other reef fish.

Next Steps

These cancellations follow similar difficult cancellation decisions of the ship-based work we had planned from April to July. NOAA Fisheries is continuing to assess the status of other surveys in all our regions. We are working through numerous survey scenarios relative to community pandemic safeguards and safe work practices so that we maximize the science available for fisheries management in this challenging year.

Reports raise questions regarding impact of offshore wind on seafood industry

August 4, 2020 — A pair of new reports from NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) and the Science Center for Marine Fisheries  has raised more questions about how big offshore wind projects – planned for areas of water off the coast of New England in the Northeast U.S. – will impacts the fishing industry in the region.

The science center report calls into question the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s investigations of wind energy impacts on seafood, particularly the supplement to the draft environmental impact statement (SEIS) that the bureau released on June. That supplement was intended to examine all of the potential impacts wind energy development – both current and future – could have on the surrounding area.

Read the full story at Seafood Source