NOAA Fisheries Archives - Page 204 of 207

Trustees Propose Comprehensive Restoration Plan for the Gulf of Mexico

October 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Because of potential relevance to Atlantic highly migratory species fisheries and constituents, we want to make you aware of the announcement below from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees.

The Trustees have proposed a comprehensive, integrated, ecosystem restoration plan for the Gulf of Mexico. The draft plan is based on our thorough assessment of impacts to the Gulf’s natural resources-and the services they provide-following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The draft plan would allocate up to $8.8 billion allocated for natural resource injuries under a proposed settlement with BP. We have proposed to accept this settlement, which would resolve BP’s liability for natural resource injuries stemming from the spill.

The draft plan would allocate funds to meet five restoration goals, and 13 restoration types designed to meet these goals. The restoration types address a broad range of impacts at both regional and local scales. Together, these efforts will restore wildlife and habitat and increase recreational opportunities in the Gulf.

The five goals of the draft plan are to: 1) restore and conserve habitat; 2) restore water quality; 3) replenish and protect living coastal and marine resources; 4) provide and enhance recreational opportunities; and 5) provide for monitoring, adaptive management, and administrative oversight to support restoration implementation.

The 13 proposed restoration types are:

1. Wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats

2. Habitat projects on federally managed lands

3. Nutrient reduction

4. Water quality

5. Fish and water column invertebrates

6. Sturgeon

7. Submerged aquatic vegetation

8. Oysters

9. Sea turtles

10. Marine mammals

11. Birds

12. Mesophotic and benthic (lowlight and ocean floor) communities

13. Provide and enhance recreational opportunities

In proposing this plan to address the ecosystem-level injuries caused by this spill, we considered both the potential environmental benefits and impacts. The plan does not identify specific projects for each restoration type, but lays out a framework for developing future project-specific restoration plans. The public will have the opportunity to comment on these subsequent restoration plans.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is available for public review and comment through December 4, 2015. We will hold eight public meetings where you will be able to provide comments on the draft plan and the proposed settlement with BP.

MAINE: NOAA Allows State Waters Scallop Exemption Program

October 6, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Through a final rule published today, scallop vessels holding both Northern Gulf of Maine Federal permits and Maine commercial licenses may fish inside Maine state waters, even if the Federal Northern Gulf of Maine fishery is closed.

Maine requested this exemption as part of the Scallop State Water Exemption Program, which allows Federal permit holders to be exempted from a few specific regulations when fishing in a state waters scallop fishery where the state’s program does not jeopardize the objectives of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan.

This rule goes into effect on November 6.

This exemption will benefit approximately 40 Federal Northern Gulf of Maine permit holders.

Read the rule as filed in Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

Atlantic Sea Scallop. Credit: NOAA

Fishways Connect Habitats and Support Coastal Communities

October 6, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

By Sean McDermott, Greater Atlantic Region, Habitat Conservation Division

Have you ever seen a fish ladder or a fish lift? Do you know how one works? For many people the answer to both is “no.” If you live along the coast or on a river, there may even be a fish ladder or lift near you. Why do fish need these devices?

Migratory fish such as sea lamprey, rainbow smelt, American shad, alewife and blueback herring live and grow in the ocean and return to rivers to spawn. They arrive in coastal rivers every spring, with some rivers seeing millions of fish. After spawning, they return to the sea. Then, in the fall, millions of young fish make their way from river to sea. These fish become prey, or bait fish, supporting popular commercial and recreational fisheries. Stripers, Atlantic cod, and bluefish, to name a few, rely on these migratory fish for food. In addition, marine mammals also prey on these fish.

Fish Versus Dams: A Centuries-Old Battle

Harvest of sea-run migratory fish once provided an important food source for Native Americans and colonial settlers. Rivers also provided travel routes, and hydro-mechanical power for development of agricultural and industrial technology. As technology developed, the construction of dams for navigation and hydro-mechanical power spread, blocking the migration of those sea-run fish. The conflict between dam-building industrialists and commercial fishers led to the “Shad Wars” from 1780 to the late 1800s, with warring parties shooting guns and cannons at each other and destroying weirs and dams, all in the pursuit of the best fishing spots.

In the end, dams rose and migratory fish populations fell, taking with them the economic and cultural traditions they once supported. Populations of several species are now at all-time lows. Three species (Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sturgeon, and shortnose sturgeon) are listed under the Endangered Species Act, and four others (rainbow smelt, alewife, blueback herring, and American eel) are either species of concern or have been petitioned for listing under the Act.

Read the rest of the story on our website.

Read more stories from our Habitat Conservation Division.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

An Alaskan steeppass is typically designed for small dams. The ability to reduce energy within the chute allows the steeppass to be built at a higher angle. Photo credit: Sean McDermott, NOAA.

2016/2017 Monkfish RSA Federal Funding Opportunity

October 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

Dear Interested Parties:

For those who may not have heard, NOAA Fisheries is soliciting monkfish research proposals to use 500 Monkfish Days-at-Sea per year that have been set-aside by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils to fund monkfish research through the 2016 Monkfish Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. Proceeds generated from the sale of monkfish harvested during a “set-aside day-at-sea” will be used to fund research activities and compensate vessels that participate in research activities and/or harvest monkfish while fishing under an RSA day-at-sea.

The deadline for receipt of the proposals is November 16, 2015. Please read the attachment for more detailed information or, if you have questions, contact Cheryl A. Corbett, Cooperative Programs Specialist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 or at 508-495-2070, or cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov. Her fax number is 508-495-2004.

Read the full announcement from NOAA here

Many Young Fish Moving North with Adults as Climate Changes

October 2, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Numerous studies in the Northeast U.S. have shown that adult marine fish distributions are changing, but few studies have looked at the early life stages of those adult fish to see what is happening to them over time. A new study by NOAA Fisheries researchers has some answers, finding that distributions of young stages and the timing of the life cycle of many fish species are also changing.

Most marine fish have complex life histories with distinct stages, much like frogs. Marine fish spawn small planktonic eggs, approximately 1/20 of an inch in diameter, that move at the whim of ocean currents. These eggs hatch into larvae that have non-functional guts, un-pigmented eyes, and often don’t yet have a mouth. Over a period of weeks to months, while drifting in the ocean, larvae develop and grow until they reach a point where they transition into juveniles recognizable as a fish. This complex life history is similar to that of frogs, which grow from eggs to tadpoles to adult frogs.

The distribution of larvae in the sea is determined by where adult fish reproduce and by currents that move these small early life stages around the ocean. In a study published September 23 in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center used long-term survey data to compare the distributions of larvae between two decades, from 1977-1987 and from 1999-2008. They also used long-term survey data to compare distributions of adult fish over the same time period.

Read the full release from NOAA fisheries

NOAA to pay for at-sea monitors through November

October 1, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries will continue bearing the cost for at-sea monitoring of Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels at least through the end of November, three months past the target date the agency initially set for the expense to shift to permit holders.

This extension — the second in as many months — is based on the same rationale as the first: with fishermen producing fewer fishing days because of slashed quotas and area closures, the money the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration budgeted for at-sea monitoring for at least 24 percent of total fishing days is lasting longer than the agency expected.

NOAA initially said the money for at-sea monitoring — which runs to about $710 per vessel per day — would run out around Aug. 31 and then the responsibility for paying for the legally mandated at-sea monitoring would have to be borne by the fishermen.

In early August, NOAA said decreased effort by the fleet had reduced monitoring expenditures enough for the money to last through Oct. 31. Now that same reduction in fishing effort has given the fleet another month-long reprieve, but it has not solved the long-term dilemma of how to pay for the at-sea monitoring.

The issue certainly is not going away.

NOAA is adamant that it expects permit holders to ultimately assume the cost of monitoring, while fishermen flatly state that the additional expense — heaped upon already miniscule, if non-existent, profit margins — simply will sink the fleet.

In late July, NOAA flatly rejected the request of the New England Fishery Management Council to use its emergency powers to remove all at-sea monitors from groundfish boats for the remainder of the 2015 fishing season.

Instead, NOAA, as well as the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, advanced the idea that the cost of monitoring be covered by some portion of the $6.9 million remaining in the Bay State’s third phase, or Bin 3, of the federal fishing disaster assistance.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Many Young Fish Moving North with Adults as Climate Changes

October 2, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Read the whole story on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s website.

Questions? Contact Shelley Dawicki, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, at Shelley.Dawicki@noaa.gov or 508-495-2378.

NOAA delays new fees that fishermen say will kill industry

October 1, 2015 — HAMPTON, N.H. — New costs New Hampshire fishermen say will end their industry for good have been delayed by one month, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials announced this week.

NOAA said this summer fishermen would have to begin paying roughly $700 per day for 24 percent of their fishing days starting Nov. 1, covering the cost of at-sea monitors to observe fishermen’s compliance with regulations. That November deadline is now pushed to Dec. 1, NOAA spokesperson Jennifer Goebel said. NOAA currently pays for the at-sea monitoring.

Fishermen have said the costs are too much for them to bear, as they don’t gross $700 in a single day. The costs also come as fishing regulations on cod have diminished the commercial fleet to just nine active vessels, many having left the business completely.

Hampton fisherman David Goethel said the delay is good news, but not good enough to remove the threat of ending the New Hampshire fishery. He said he believes NOAA will eventually force the fishermen to pay for the monitors.

NOAA Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator John Bullard said his agency has delayed shifting the payment to the industry because the budget has allowed it to do so, but that it would eventually need to stop funding the at-sea monitoring program.

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

NOAA Fisheries Awards More Than $2.5 million for Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program

October 1, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to 16 projects under our Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

Working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats, NOAA Fisheries has developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation’s fisheries.

As just one piece of NOAA Fisheries’ larger national strategy, the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program helps identify and foster the development of innovative technological solutions to increase collaborative research and partnerships for innovation.

NOAA Fisheries is proud to continue to partner with fishery managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community to avoid and minimize bycatch.

In the Greater Atlantic Region, four projects received grants:

University of New England

Project Title: Quantifying and reducing post-release mortality for dusky sharks discarded in the commercial pelagic longline fishery

The Research Foundation for the State University of New York

Project Title: Development of an Analytical Tool to Allow Fishermen to Reduce Bycatch of Short-Finned Pilot Whales in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

New England Aquarium Corporation

Project Title: Identifying bottom trawl bycatch hotspots and capture-and-handling practices to reduce the incidental mortality of an overfished Species of Concern

— the Thorny Skate — in the Gulf of Maine

University of New England

Project Title: Determining the post-release mortality rate and best capture-and-handling methods for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) discarded in Gulf of Maine lobster industry

Visit our website to learn more about the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program and our other bycatch efforts.

Questions? Contact Kris Gamble, NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries, at 301-427-8509 or Kris.Gamble@noaa.gov.

Introduced in November 2014, the BREP grant-funded collapsable-wing pot allows West Coast fishermen to catch lingcod, but exclude protected Pacific rockfish. Credit: NOAA

NOAA Fisheries to Keep Recreational Gulf of Maine Haddock Regs in Place

September 29, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries requested public comments on an interim final rule that reduced the minimum fish size for Gulf of Maine haddock from 21 inches to 17 inches.

We received 43 comments, but none provided justification for changing the interim final rule. Thus, the current GOM haddock recreational measures will remain in effect for the remained of the 2015 fishing year (through April 30, 2016).

Get more information and answers to some of the issues raised by the commenters.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.