Saving Seafood

10 Things You Should Know About North Atlantic Right Whales

October 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

1. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered large whale species.

Sadly, North Atlantic right whales got their name from being the “right” whales to hunt because they floated when they were killed. Their population has never recovered to pre-whaling numbers. These whales have been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1970 and have been experiencing a steady population decline for nearly a decade.

2. Survival of this species depends on no more than one whale death per year. In the past 3 years, at least 30 right whales have died.

The birth rate for right whales has been very low the past few years. Only 12 births have been observed in the three calving seasons since 2017. This is less than one-third the previous average annual birth rate for right whales. And deaths have been exceeding births, resulting in a further decline in the population.

3. Entanglement in fishing gear is still is a big issue for right whales.

More than 85 percent of right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once, and the majority (60 percent) have been entangled multiple times. Right whales mostly get caught in the lines that attach fishing gear, like lobster and crab pots or gillnets, to buoys on the surface. These lines can cut into a whale’s body, cause serious injuries, and result in infections and mortality. Even if gear is shed or disentangled, the time spent entangled can severely stress a whale, which weakens it, prevents it from feeding, and saps the energy it needs to swim and feed. Right now, we are focused on addressing the risk of entanglement in vertical lines that connect traps and pots to the surface. This is among the leading threats to right whale survival.

Read the full release here

Report to Congress 2017-2018: Recovering Threatened and Endangered Species

October 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announced the availability of the latest comprehensive report on Recovering Threatened and Endangered Species FY 2017-2018. The Endangered Species Act provides a critical safety net. We are beginning to see the success of our efforts, with a number of species recently found to be recovered, but more work needs to be done.

All of our species listed under the ESA are valuable and vulnerable. We are seeing results from the Species in the Spotlight initiative, which was initiated by the agency in 2015.

In this year’s report, we added the North Atlantic Right Whale to the Species in the Spotlight. The species is extremely endangered and fisheries gear entanglements and vessel strikes are among the leading causes of mortalities in both the U.S. and Canada. We are recognizing our Species in the Spotlight Partners for their incredible conservation efforts.

Find out the 10 Things You Should Know About North Atlantic Right Whales.

Maine lobstermen to NOAA: Whale rules need more work

October 16, 2019 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has volleyed back at NOAA Fisheries, saying it will continue pursuing “critical points” from its analysis of data used by the federal fishery regulator to determine causes of injuries or deaths to North Atlantic right whales.

The MLA’s statement also makes clear the lobster stakeholder remains committed to the take reduction team process, as well as developing a management response within the Maine fishery. This, despite withdrawing its support on Aug. 30 of the risk allocation agreement approved in April by the Large Whale Take Reduction Team.

“MLA’s goal has been and will continue to be a right whale recovery plan built on the best available science that effectively addresses all known risks to right whales from U.S. commercial fisheries and all other human causes,” the MLA stated. “Going forward, MLA will continue to insist on a science-based process informed by best available data to ensure rigorous accountability for risk to endangered whales from across the spectrum of human interactions with them.”

The statement, which follows NOAA Fisheries’ response to the initial MLA data analysis, said the lobster group will continue to push for NOAA Fisheries and other elements of the take reduction team process to address “the outsized role of Canadian fisheries in recent right whales’ serious injury and mortality.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Tide to Table: The Rise of Ocean Farmers

October 15, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

There is a growing interest in understanding where our food is coming from and in supporting local farmers. There has also been an increased focus on local fare on many menus at eateries coast to coast. In fact, the once-obscure term “locavore” is now in the dictionary and is a highlighted feature on menus. When thinking about farm-to-fork many envision rolling hills, red barns, and a farmer in overalls tending his or her flock. But what about a farmer in waders or swim trunks? Can we trade the rolling hills for blue waves and the barn for a boat? That is just what the tide-to-table farmers are hoping to do.

Aquaculture, also known as farming in water, is the fastest growing food production system in the world. In the United States, aquaculture farmers raised and harvested more than 80 million pounds of seafood in coastal waters and the open ocean. These farms can vary from seaweed production in Alaska, oyster gardens in New England, and even offshore farms in the clear waters of Hawaii.

Seafood is vital to the Hawaiian economy and culture. Fish, shellfish, and seaweeds are an important part of local diets. Seafood demand is further increased by millions of visitors who crave high-quality, fresh, and local seafood.

Blue Ocean Mariculture, the nation’s only offshore fish farm, is located just off the rocky Kona coast. It is helping provide a native Kanpachi species to meet this growing demand for seafood. “Among local species, Hawaiian Kanpachi was a clear choice for its high quality, versatility, and natural ability to hit sustainability benchmarks,” said Blue Ocean Mariculture farmer Tyler Korte.

The fish, marked by dark blue-green upper body and a lavender-tinted belly, are grown in floating pens that can be raised and lowered in the water column. The series of pens on the farm can grow around 900,000 pounds of fish a year.

Read the full release here

A Fishermen’s Perspective on Electronic Reporting

October 15, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

For 200 days of each of the past 44 years, Tony Borges has been setting out from New Bedford, Massachusetts in search of groundfish, fluke, and squid. That’s roughly 8,800 days for those of you keeping score at home. He started fishing with his father, though Borges says his father tried to dissuade him from being a fisherman. He encouraged Borges to join the U.S. Coast Guard instead.

Nevertheless, in 1977, along with his cousin, aunt, and father, he purchased the brand new FV Sao Paulo. He still owns and operates it today.

For the last seven years, Borges has also been participating in the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Study Fleet. As part of this scientific data collection program, he records haul-by-haul catch (kept and discarded) information for all species.

When I met Borges early one morning on the Sao Paulo, he was down in the engine room covered in grease. He was working on his vessel’s first complete overhaul in 40 years!

Read the full story.

Genetic Evidence Points to Rapid, Large-Scale Northward Shift of Pacific Cod During Recent Climate Changes

October 10, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

New genetic research suggests that unprecedented summer abundances of Pacific cod in the northern Bering Sea were due to escalating movement from their core habitat under recent warm conditions.

Until recently, Pacific cod were rarely encountered in the northern Bering Sea. Fishery surveys in the 1970s reported “trace amounts” of cod there. A 2010 Alaska Fisheries Science Center survey estimated that the entire northern population amounted to about 3% of the large southeastern Bering Sea stock that supported a valuable commercial fishery.

Then in 2017, the summer survey recorded dramatically higher abundances in the north: a 900-fold increase since 2010. In the same year, southeastern Bering Sea abundances were down 37% from 2016. Strikingly, the increase in the north nearly matched the decrease in the southeastern Bering Sea.

A 2018 survey revealed an even more remarkable shift: there were more cod in the northern than southeastern Bering Sea.

Read the full release here

NOAA: Overfished cod not on target to rebuild by 2024

October 10, 2019 — Cod stocks in the area remain overfished and are not on target to be rebuilt by 2024, according to new federal data. In its latest stock status for the Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod, NOAA Fisheries also reported that “overfishing is occurring” among an already-depleted population. The status is unchanged from NOAA’s 2017 assessment.

“The Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod shows a truncated size and age structure, consistent with a population experiencing high mortality,” researchers wrote in a 208-page report released Wednesday. “Additionally, there are only limited signs of incoming recruitment, continued low survey indices, and the current spatial distribution of the stock is considerably less than its historical range within the Gulf of Maine.”

The cod assessment is part of an operational assessment, updated through 2018, of 14 Northeast groundfish stocks by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Cod was identified as a stock that is experiencing overfishing, and the report categorizes eight groundfish stocks as having been overfished.

Read the full story at The Daily News

NOAA Fisheries Announces Final 2020 Golden Tilefish Commercial Fishery Specifications

October 10, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is implementing golden tilefish quotas for the 2020 fishing year that we previously announced as projected on November 7, 2017. There have been no overages in 2019, and there is no new biological information, so we are now finalizing the 2020 quotas. The quotas are the same as in 2019.

Approved measures include acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL), and total allowable landings (TAL) for the individual fishing quota (IFQ) and incidental components of the commercial fishery.

All other requirements remain the same.

 For more details, read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register today and the permit holder bulletin posted on our website.

Read the full release here

Devastating Collapse of Groundfish Fishery Forces a More Sustainable Future

October 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The groundfish fishery closures in 2002 were sweeping. Hundreds of thousands of square miles of West Coast waters shut off to the very same bottom fishing that had many fishing ports booming in the previous decade. The Secretary of Commerce declared the 2000 groundfish fishery a failure, with losses to fishermen estimated at $11 million.

The rockfish boom was going bust.

“Behind the sweeping action is a reluctant realization that the vast ocean has limits and cannot, as was long believed, provide an inexhaustible supply of fish,” the Los Angeles Times said in announcing the closures that in effect created the largest marine reserve ever off the West Coast. The closures covered most of the continental shelf, home to nearly 100 different species of rockfish.

Scientists estimated that some of those fish could take nearly a century to rebuild.

“It was devastating,” said Jason Cope, a research fish biologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle who worked on teams assessing the decline of groundfish. “It radically altered people’s expectations of their livelihood. Suddenly a future they thought was reliable turned out to be anything but.”

Read the full release here

Improving Safety Before a Trip Benefits Everyone on Commercial Fishing Vessels

October 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Ensuring a safety culture is critical to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Sampling Branch mission. The branch manages fisheries observer and monitoring programs in the Greater Atlantic region from North Carolina to Maine. Assessing observer practices and procedures is an ongoing effort. That was reflected in a summer workshop organized by the branch to evaluate the process of completing the required observer’s pre-trip vessel safety checklist.

The August workshop brought together a diverse group of professionals. The 24 people who attended have a combined 440 years of experience working with observer programs and/or commercial fishing vessels. A report on the workshop is now available.

Participants came from the U.S. Coast Guard enforcement and vessel safety offices in two districts, the fishing industry, NOAA’s National Observer Coordination office, regional observer programs, observer provider companies, and the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. There were groundfish sector managers, observers, safety trainers, and gear specialists.

“The top nine life-saving items listed in our workshop report need to be present and operable every trip,” said Amy Martins, chief of the Fisheries Sampling Branch. “Observers and fishermen have offered suggestions for improvements to the safety checklist to make it safer and more efficient for everyone, plus we all benefit by cooperative efforts and shared expert advice.”

The Fisheries Sampling Branch plans to start testing and incorporating improvements to the safety checklist process beginning in the fall of 2019 and continuing into the spring of 2020. The proposed changes developed at the workshop will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness and may be changed if safety is thought to be compromised.

Read the full release here