Saving Seafood

Researchers Probe Orca Poop for Microplastics: Part 2

May 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

How do microplastics end up in killer whale feces?

“There are two ways that the whales could ingest microplastics,” says Kim Parsons, Research Geneticist with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “They could incidentally swallow particles in sea water while eating fish, or they could ingest salmon that are themselves contaminated with microplastic particles.”

She suspects that most of the microplastics in orca poop are coming from the whales’ prey. The particles are traveling up the food chain from gut to gut, from herring to salmon to orca.

But why does it matter for orcas if their guts are full of microplastic particles and fibers?

How ingestion of microplastics affects marine mammals is both poorly understood and scientifically controversial. So the answer is, we don’t know yet, but scientists are concerned for the health of organisms at all levels of the marine food chain.

You might own a reusable water bottle advertised as being free of toxic chemical additives like bisphenol A, or BPA. Many chemicals found in microplastics are pollutants, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, phthalates, and BPA and its substitutes. Some of these chemicals are known endocrine disruptors, which means that the chemicals can disrupt an animal’s natural hormones. The chemicals may affect reproduction, growth and development, and ultimately population viability. When microplastics are moving through the whales’ digestive tract, the harmful chemicals could leach into their bodies.

Read the full release here

Protecting Fish Habitat Helps Put Food on Your Table

May 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Healthy habitats are productive habitats. They provide food and shelter for fish and help to maintain sustainable fish populations and fisheries that produce the seafood that we all love and depend on. Everyone benefits when marine habitats are protected from the effects of fishing.

Read our webstory to learn more about what we do to ensure that habitats remain healthy and productive.

Industry Spoke and We Listened: Communications Effort Focuses on Groundfish Monitoring and Amendment 23 Development

May 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries collaboratively manages U.S. fisheries with fishery management councils, fisheries commissions, and state partners. The New England Fishery Management Council is developing Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Through this amendment, the Council is evaluating the current groundfish monitoring program and considering changes to improve the monitoring system. Early discussions during the development of Amendment 23 revealed that industry members wanted more information about our current monitoring system. The groundfish monitoring system is complex, and since the at-sea monitoring program is industry-funded, changes to this program have implications for the industry. Communication is key to our work and we always strive to do a better job communicating about our programs and systems. The development of this amendment presents an opportunity for us to improve understanding about our monitoring programs. We can also help industry and other stakeholders engage in the development of Amendment 23.

Creating a Plan to Improve Communication about Monitoring and Amendment 23

In 2018, we contracted with a team of public outreach specialists from Vision Planning and Consulting, LLC (VPC). They helped us develop a strategic communications plan to improve the way we communicate about groundfish monitoring and Amendment 23. We developed the plan to ensure that members of the industry, particularly those who may not always participate in Council meetings, have the information they need to engage meaningfully in the management process.

Read the full release here

Researchers Probe Orca Poop for Microplastics: Part 1

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

You might worry about your toddler chewing on a plastic toy with toxic chemicals. Some orca researchers are beginning to worry about whales ingesting a gut full of microplastics, and what that might mean for their health.

Microplastics are everywhere. Millions of tons of plastic enter our oceans annually, and much of it breaks into tiny pieces. Microplastics are plastic particles five millimeters (about two-tenths of an inch) or smaller. They represent 92 percent of plastic pieces polluting the oceans’ surface waters. Researchers have found microplastics in all major seas and oceans. They’ve also found them in the intestinal tracts of organisms at all levels of the ocean food chain, from zooplankton to fish to marine mammals.

Some scientists are concerned that microplastics and their toxic effects are bioaccumulating in killer whales, the oceans’ top predators. Endangered Southern Resident killer whales spend much of their summers in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. Chemical contamination from pollution, particularly in young whales, is one of three primary threats to their population. Could microplastics be part of the problem?

A team of scientists with NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center (Center) and the University of Washington have started an investigation. They are looking at what microplastics the Southern Residents are ingesting, at what scale, and whether the whales are being exposed to toxic chemicals associated with microplastics.

Read the full release here

FB20-034: Request for Comments: Proposed Modifications to Atlantic King Mackerel Trip Limits in the Atlantic Southern Zone

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

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries requests comments on a proposed rule for Framework Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region (Framework Amendment 8), which if implemented, would increase the Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in federal waters off Florida.

Comments are due by June 18, 2020

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES:

The proposed rule for Framework Amendment 8 would increase the Season 2 (October-end of February) Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in Federal waters of the Atlantic Southern Zone.
For Season 2 between the Flagler/Volusia, Florida county line and the Miami-Dade/Monroe, Florida county line, the trip limit would be 100 fish.

HOW TO COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED RULE:

The comment period is open through June 18, 2020. You may submit comments by electronic submission or by postal mail. Comments sent by any other method (such as e-mail), to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA Fisheries.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 85 FR 29916, published May 19, 2020.

Electronic Submissions:  Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.

  1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D= NOAA–NMFS–2020–0074.
  2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields.
  3. Enter or attach your comments.

Mail: Submit written comments to Karla Gore, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Publishes New Resources for Amendment 23

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

We have several new guidance web pages to help stakeholders navigate the Amendment 23 process. Our Draft Environmental Statement (DEIS) participation guide explains the different ways to get involved in Amendment 23 and provide comments, and our DEIS economic analysis guide explains how businesses can read and use the economic analyses to understand how Amendment 23 may affect their operations.  For more information about these resources, read our web story explaining how industry helped us develop a plan to improve the way we communicate about Amendment 23 and the groundfish monitoring program.

Stay Up to Date

Visit our Amendment 23 web page, which is updated regularly as new resources and information about the amendment become available.

Eight Projects Selected for Saltonstall-Kennedy Program Funding in Greater Atlantic Region

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

For over 40 years, NOAA Fisheries has awarded grant funds under the Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) program to organizations nationwide working to address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.  Of the 30 projects selected nationally for 2020 funding, 8 projects were from the Greater Atlantic Region, requesting approximately $2.25 million in federal funding.

Read more in our webstory or review the list of all proposals recommended for funding.

Read the full release here

Great South Channel Habitat Management Area

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

NOAA Fisheries announces three exemption areas within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area where dredge fishing for surfclams or mussels will be allowed.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) created the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area (HMA) as part of its Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, which prohibited the use of all mobile bottom-tending fishing gear in the area. The HMA contains complex benthic habitat that is important for juvenile cod and other groundfish species, but also susceptible to the impacts of fishing.

This action allows the surfclam fishery to operate hydraulic dredge gear year-round in two small areas (McBlair and Fishing Rip) and seasonally in a third area (Old South) within the HMA. Mussel dredge fishing is also allowed in these exemption areas. These exemption areas were chosen to allow relatively limited access to some historical surfclam fishing grounds, while protecting the majority of the HMA. The three exemption areas total only 6.9 percent of the total area of the HMA, and do not include areas most clearly identified as containing complex and vulnerable habitats.

You can read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register.

Federal funds earmarked for Maryland, Virginia, Delaware fisheries hurt by coronavirus

May 15, 2020 — About $10 million in federal funding has been set aside to assist Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware fisheries hurt by the novel coronavirus.

Virginia fisheries are set to receive $4.5 million, Maryland fisheries will receive $4.1 million and Delaware fisheries will receive $1 million, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

Specifically, these funds will help address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fishing caused by COVID-19, according to NOAA.

Fishery participants eligible for funding will be able to work with their state marine fisheries management agencies, territories or tribes to apply for these funds. In order to obtain funds, a business must have experienced a revenue loss greater than 35 percent of its prior 5-year average or experienced any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fisheries

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

Update on NOAA Fisheries Observer Coverage

May 15, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has released the following updates on fisheries observer coverage requirements. The requirements are broken down by region below:

Alaska Region – The region is extending the observer waiver for vessels in the Partial Coverage Category of the North Pacific groundfish and Pacific Halibut fisheries operating from ports other than Kodiak, Alaska. This exemption does not exempt vessels using electronic monitoring, or the requirement that vessels continue to log trips in Observer Declare and Deploy System (ODDS).  This limited waiver extension is in effect from May 3, 2020 through May 31, 2020. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis for all other required fisheries.

West Coast Region – Beginning at 12:00 am on May 1, 2020, fishery observer and catch monitor coverage is again required per existing regulations for all commercial fishing vessels and first receivers in required West Coast fisheries. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis.

Pacific Island Region – Observer coverage continues in all required fisheries. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel. International observer requirements for tuna purse seine vessels have been waived by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission until May 31, 2020.

Southeast Region – Beginning at 12:00 a.m. on May 5, 2020, observer coverage will again be required per existing regulations for the following fisheries: South Atlantic Penaeid Shrimp, South Atlantic Rock Shrimp, South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper, Southeast Gillnet, Gulf of Mexico Commercial Reef Fish, Gulf of Mexico Shrimp, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Pelagic Longline, Shark Bottom Longline (Atlantic HMS), Shark Gillnet (Atlantic HMS). Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis.

Greater Atlantic Region – The region is extending the existing observer waiver exemption for all vessels issued Greater Atlantic Region permits from the requirements to carry an observer or at-sea monitor. This waiver is in effect from May 3, 2020, through May 30, 2020.