Saving Seafood

Low-Cost Technology Helps Connect Fishermen and Students to Science

June 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Northeast Fisheries Science Center oceanographer Jim Manning has spent more than 35 years studying the ocean. He has sought ways to test ocean circulation models with direct observations and helped others use the data collected for a variety of needs.

Collaborations and partnerships have developed along the way. One of his earliest collaborative projects is the Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps, or eMOLT. The program was initiated by Manning and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in 1995, when he handed a fisherman a temperature probe. Since 2001, when it officially began, and to this day about 50 lobstermen have been installing temperature sensors on their traps. The program is now administered by the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation.

Through the years, eMOLT has expanded to include other gear types like trawls, scallop dredges, and longlines. It remains devoted to monitoring the physical environment of the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England shelf. More than 100 fishermen along the New England coast have worked with Manning and his colleagues in the center’s Oceans and Climate Branch. Together they have developed low-cost strategies to measure physical conditions, primarily bottom temperature, of interest to them and their livelihoods.

“Our primary goal is to supply fishermen with the latest in low-cost instrumentation so they can maintain continuous time series of physical variables throughout their fishing grounds,” Manning said of eMOLT.

Read the full release here

What is Nearshore Habitat and Why Does it Matter to Orcas?

June 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

There is an especially valuable environment in Puget Sound made up of the beaches, bluffs, inlets, and river deltas: the nearshore. Nearshore habitat matters to Southern Resident killer whales because their primary prey, Chinook salmon, need them to grow and find safety when they are young. Unfortunately, we have been losing these habitats in Puget Sound to industrial and residential development and agriculture.

Southern Resident Killer Whales eat salmon, primarily Chinook salmon. The whales search out and rely upon the ever-changing abundance of many different Chinook salmon runs up and down the Pacific Coast. Puget Sound Chinook salmon are one of the most important of these for the Southern Residents’ recovery. Puget Sound Chinook salmon, however, are themselves threatened with extinction.

Killer whales eat Chinook salmon when the fish have grown into adults three years old and weighing close to 30 pounds. The salmon are headed back from the ocean through Puget Sound to their home rivers to lay their eggs. To make it to adulthood, though, these fish need to survive their adolescence as “juveniles” or “fry.” That’s where the nearshore zone comes in.

Tiny young Chinook salmon emerge from the gravel where they hatched from eggs in the rivers of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea—the Skagit, Elwha, Nisqually, and others. Then the young fish follow one of several different strategies to grow as juveniles before heading out to the ocean. They can rear in the river and freshwater floodplains or head downstream to the great tidal river deltas. They can also head all the way out into Puget Sound looking for safety along the shore in pocket estuaries, kelp and eelgrass beds, coastal creeks, or lagoons.

Read the full release here

Partnerships Improve the 2020 Atlantic Surfclam Stock Assessment

June 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Atlantic surfclams live at depths between 20 and 35 meters, with an optimal temperature range of 16 to 22o C. They are managed as one stock, with two biologically distinct areas. Surfclams in the northern area on Georges Bank are faster growing than southern surfclams, and the populations don’t mix.

Thirty years ago, southern surfclams grew faster than they do now, and lived in shallower waters. They were also bigger than the surfclams on Georges Bank. Now, these dynamics are reversed. Surfclams in the southern areas have moved to deeper waters, and grow more slowly, to a smaller maximum size. These population changes have been observed by fishermen, noted in their logbooks, and appear in research survey data.

In recent assessments, scientists treated the two areas separately, each with its own assessment model. This time, there is one model with two areas. Dan Hennen, lead surfclam assessment scientist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, developed this model. He collaborated closely with the surfclam industry and academic partners, like the Science Center for Marine Fisheries, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.

Working together led to a two-area model, which better deals with the challenges of a population with changing dynamics. Understanding how growth is changing led to better diagnostic behavior in our model. This gives fisheries managers more confidence that it accurately reflects what is going on in the population.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries ending Northeast observer waivers, preparing to restart program

June 23, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Fisheries Sampling Branch is preparing for a 1 July restart of the Northeast Observer Program.

NOAA Fisheries first announced on 20 March that it was waiving observer requirements in light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak. That initial waiver was extended on 29 May, with a planned restart date of 1 July.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: UPDATE: Moulton calls for extension of monitor waiver

June 19, 2020 — Two Massachusetts congressmen are urging NOAA Fisheries to extend the waiver that removed at-sea monitors from commercial fishing vessels in the Northeast fisheries as a continued protection against the COVID-19 virus.

In a letter to Neil Jacobs, an acting undersecretary at the Department of Commerce, U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Bill Keating said a continuation of the at-sea monitor waiver is “critical to both protect the health and welfare of fishermen who are working to sustain their operations and to maintain our region’s seafood supply during the continued COVID-19 pandemic.”

On March 24, NOAA Fisheries implemented the at-sea monitor waiver and took the observers off the boats. It has extended the waiver at least twice. Moulton said the agency informed his office on June 12 that the waiver would be withdrawn, possibly as early as July 1, and at-sea monitors would return to assigned vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Hawaiʻi Scientists Bring Cutting-edge Analyses to the Stock Assessment of the Uku Snapper

June 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The ukupalu snapper, more commonly known as “uku,” is a popular fish among commercial and recreational fishermen in Hawaiʻi. They live at depths of 60 to 650 feet, and fishermen typically catch them using deep handlines with baited hooks. Fisheries harvest around 240,000 pounds of uku every year. Commercial fisheries catch around 109,000 pounds and recreational fisheries catch an estimated 131,000 pounds. Fishermen commonly consume them at home or sell them to restaurants where their clear, firm flesh and delicate taste make them a popular dish. Uku can be baked, steamed, or simply served fresh as sashimi.

Scientists first assessed the Hawaiʻi uku population along with 27 other reef fish in 2017. They used a relatively simple assessment model based on the average length of uku in the catch in recent years. This assessment determined that overfishing was not occurring for uku, but this simple model resulted in much uncertainty. It could not determine if the stock was overfished.

“Overfishing” means people are catching too many fish. This is different from “overfished,” which means there are not enough fish in the sea. If overfishing occurs for too long, a stock will eventually become overfished.

Read the full release here

Retention Limit of Aggregated Large Coastal Shark and Hammerhead Shark Management Groups increase to 55 Sharks per Trip

June 19, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

NOAA Fisheries has increased the retention limit for the commercial aggregated large coastal shark (LCS) and hammerhead shark management groups (see Appendix 1 next page) for directed shark limited access permit holders in the Atlantic region from 36 to 55 sharks per vessel per trip effective June 19, 2020. The retention limit will remain at 55 LCS other than sandbar sharks per vessel per trip in the Atlantic region through the rest of the 2020 fishing season or until NOAA Fisheries announces another adjustment to the retention limit or a fishery closure via the Federal Register.

As agreed upon by the Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board, the Commission will follow NOAA Fisheries for in-season changes to the commercial retention limit, therefore, no more than 55 sharks per vessel per trip may be retained from the aggregated LCS and hammerhead management groups by a state licensed fishermen effective June 19, 2020.

The Federal Register will be published on June 22 athttps://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/22/2020-13373/atlantic-highly-migratory-species-commercial-aggregated-large-coastal-shark-and-hammerhead-shark. Shark landings can be found at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/atlantic-highly-migratory-species/2020-atlantic-shark-commercial-fishery-landings-and-retention.

Please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0723 orkrootes-murdy@asmfc.org for more information.

A PDF of the announcement can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5eed1303AdjustedCommericalRetentionLimits_June2020_1.pdf.

 

Correction to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Framework 32 Bulletin

June 18, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The bulletin for Framework 32 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan stated that vessels were prohibited from transiting the Closed Area II-Southwest and Extension Closed Area. This was an error. Although the Closed Area II-Southwest and Extension area is closed to scallop fishing, a vessel may transit the area as long as its gear is properly stowed.

Please see the updated bulletin and map.

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2020 Recreational Rules for Summer Flounder

June 17, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are finalizing “conservation equivalency” for the summer flounder fishery. We have waived the federal recreational bag limit, minimum fish size, and fishing season for summer flounder. Fishermen are subject to regulations in the state where they land. Please contact your state for information on summer flounder recreational rules.

Read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register today.

Read the full release here

Sound Strategy: Hunting with the Southern Residents, Part 1

June 15, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This is the time of year when boats multiply on the inland waters of Washington as more people get outdoors for the summer. It is also the time when many long for a precious chance to see the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

Boats generate noise, though, which—combined with the boat traffic itself—is considered one of the main threats to the Southern Residents. It can interfere with the whales’ use of echolocation, a form of sonar they use to find the Chinook salmon they favor as prey. Regardless of how many salmon might be available, noise can make it harder for the whales to find them.

That can be particularly costly for the Southern Residents because salmon do not gather in schools as some fish do. The whales must find each one individually—painstakingly hunting one fish at a time.

Read the full release here