NOAA Fisheries Archives - Page 29 of 205

Request for Nominations: Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP)

November 3, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP) is seeking qualified candidates to serve on the panel. Current members and all interested parties are encouraged to apply. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, November 19, 2021 by 5:00 p.m.

The NTAP is a joint advisory panel of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. It is composed of Council members, as well as fishing industry, academic, and government and non-government fisheries experts who provide advice and direction on the conduct of trawl research. NTAP is supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

How To Apply

Anyone interested in applying for the NTAP may download an application by clicking here or visiting www.mafmc.org/ntap. Completed applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 19, 2021.

Questions?

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Jason Didden, Mid-Atlantic Council staff, at jdidden@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5254.

One Week Left! As of November 10, VTRs Will Be Required To Be Reported Electronically and Paper VTRs Will No Longer Be Accepted

October 3, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Beginning November 10, 2021, GARFO-permitted commercial fishing vessels will be required to have an electronic device onboard the vessel at the time of the trip and submit with that device a completed report electronically within 48 hours of the end of a trip. This also applies to vessels holding a NEFMC for-hire permit. This does not apply to vessels holding only an American lobster permit.

•Paper vessel trip reports packages will no longer be distributed by GARFO.

•We will only accept electronic VTRs for trips beginning on or after Nov 10.

•For a limited period of time after Nov 10, trips beginning prior to Nov 10 that are submitted on paper VTRs will be accepted.

•Vessel owners who submit paper VTRs for trips beginning prior to Nov 10 will be individually notified when we no longer will accept paper VTRs.

See our webpage for more information on the requirements, and use this decision tree to help you decide if you need to use eVTR.

How to Report

•GARFO, our partners, and several companies have developed applications that meet our eVTR reporting requirements. There are software apps for virtually all smart phones, tablets and computers.

•An up-to-date listing can be found on our Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting Software Options web page along with instructions on how to use GARFO’s apps and links to partner apps.

More Information and Resources

Port Agents:

•Based in offices from Maine through Virginia, Port Agents are available to provide remote and in-person eVTR app assistance to individuals or small groups throughout the region.

•You may contact a Port Agent directly, or through our Vessel Reporting Help Desk at (978) 281-9188 or nmfs.gar.reporting@noaa.gov. Contact information for Port Agents and their areas of coverage can be found here.

Webinars:

•We have held a series of instructional webinars for vessel operators.

•Recordings of these can be found on our events webpage.

Other Resources:

To keep in touch on the latest information regarding eVTR implementation and other vessel reporting topics you can sign up for our bulletins. To sign up or to update your existing subscriptions, go to our sign up page. Once you are on the sign up page follow these directions:

•Bulletins are listed under the Regional Updates subscription topic.

•Under the New England/Mid-Atlantic Updates sub-topic.

•Click the + sign to expand the list, and select eVTR and VMS updates.

•Then click submit at the bottom.

Questions?

Contact your local Port Agent.

Survivor salmon that withstand drought and ocean warming provide a lifeline for California Chinook

November 2, 2021 — In drought years and when marine heat waves warm the Pacific Ocean, late-migrating juvenile spring-run Chinook salmon of California’s Central Valley are the ultimate survivors. They are among the few salmon that survive in those difficult years and return to spawning rivers to keep their populations alive, according to a study published October 28 in Nature Climate Change.

The trouble is that this late-migrating behavior hangs on only in a few rivers where water temperatures remain cool enough for the fish to survive the summer. Today, this habitat is primarily found above barrier dams. Those fish that spend a year in their home streams as juveniles leave in the fall. They arrive in the ocean larger and more likely to survive their one to three years at sea.

Researchers led by first author Flora Cordoleani, associate project scientist with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz and NOAA Fisheries, based their findings on an analysis of the ear bones of salmon, called otoliths. These bones incorporate the distinctive isotope ratios of different Central Valley Rivers and the ocean as they grow sequential layers.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

NOAA appeals restraining order that kept offshore closure open

November 2, 2021 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has appealed a Maine judge’s order from last month that allowed traditional lobstering to continue in an area of offshore fishing grounds in the Gulf of Maine. 

Two days before 967 square miles of fishing ground was supposed to be closed to lobstering to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, Maine U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker granted the Maine Lobstering Union, Stonington-based Damon Family Lobster Co., and a Vinalhaven lobster dealer a temporary restraining order that allowed fishing in the planned closed area. 

Last week, the federal government, who had come up with the rules, appealed that restraining order, arguing that the Trenton-based union, Damon Family Lobster Co., and the third plaintiff had “utterly failed” to meet the burden needed to necessitate the halt of the closure. 

NOAA argued that the union and lobster dealers did not provide any evidence of irreparable harm and said that the National Marine Fisheries Service complied with the law and rationally based its decision on the best available science. 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Maine research institutions receive more than $660K to study the American lobster

November 1, 2021 — Maine Sea Grant staff and Maine-based researchers will advance a multimillion-dollar NOAA Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative, which announced its third round of funding.

Six newly funded research projects, three of which are led by Maine-based researchers, will address critical gaps in knowledge about how the American lobster (Homarus americanus) is being impacted by environmental change in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England. The focus of this work is based on specific language in Sea Grant’s fiscal year 2021 appropriations language.

One of the most iconic modern American fisheries, the American lobster also represents one of the largest and most valuable single species fisheries along the Atlantic coast. In 2020, the landings value of the American lobster fishery was estimated at $524.5 million in the United States, according to NOAA Fisheries, of which the Maine fishery accounted for an estimated $408 million. Within Maine, lobsters make up roughly 80 percent of the landings value of all fisheries combined. However, ecosystem shifts, food web changes and ocean acidification all present threats to the American lobster fishery.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Commercial Reopening for Red Snapper in South Atlantic Federal Waters on November 2, 2021, for Four Days

October 28, 2021 — The following was release by NOAA Fisheries:

Commercial Reopening for Red Snapper in South Atlantic Federal Waters on November 2, 2021, for Four Days

What/When:

•The commercial harvest of red snapper in South Atlantic federal waters will reopen at 12:01 a.m., local time, on November 2, 2021, and close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on November 6, 2021. During the four-day reopening, the commercial trip limit for red snapper is 75 pounds gutted weight.

Why This Reopening Is Happening:

•The 2021 commercial catch limit for red snapper is 124,815 pounds whole weight. On September 14, 2021, the commercial catch limit for the 2021 season was projected to be met, and NOAA Fisheries closed commercial harvest. However, new information indicates that the red snapper commercial catch limit was not met.

•As a reminder, recreational harvest is closed. Therefore, the recreational bag and possession limit for red snapper in or from South Atlantic federal waters is zero.

After The Reopening:

•The 2022 fishing season for the red snapper commercial sector opens at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 11, 2022, unless otherwise specified.

•The 2022 recreational season, which consists of weekends only (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), begins on the 2nd Friday in July, unless otherwise specified.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations. Full regulations can be found in the Federal Register or at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=383bc195ccbeab4fd6bec1c24905df34&node=sp50.12.622.i&rgn=div6#_top.

Sign Up for Text Message Alerts

NOAA’s Text Message Alert Program allows you to receive important fishery related alerts via text message (SMS). Standard message and data rates may apply. You may opt-out at any time. Text alerts you may receive include immediate fishery openings and closures and any significant changes to fishing regulations that happen quickly.

•Gulf of Mexico Recreational: Text GULFRECFISH

•Gulf of Mexico Commercial: Text GULFCOMMFISH

•South Atlantic Recreational: Text SATLRECFISH

•South Atlantic Commercial: Text SATLCOMMFISH

•Caribbean: Text CARIBFISH

Other Contacts

Media: Kim Amendola (727) 551-5705, Allison Garrett (727) 551-5750

New Passive Acoustic Monitoring Framework to Help Safeguard Marine Resources During Offshore Wind Development

October 28, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) have developed a new framework for monitoring underwater sounds. Published today in Frontiers in Marine Science, the guidelines are designed to help safeguard marine resources as wind energy development expands in U.S. waters.

The framework provides holistic recommendations for offshore wind stakeholders nationwide to effectively monitor and reduce the impact of wind energy projects on marine animals using passive acoustic monitoring.

Why is Passive Acoustic Monitoring Important?

Passive acoustic monitoring in aquatic environments refers to the use of underwater microphones to detect sounds from animals and the environment. These microphones can be deployed for months at a time, run non-stop, and gather data in difficult weather and light conditions. This makes them a great complement to more traditional survey methods. Scientists can also use groups of recorders to track animals as they move throughout an area.

For wind developers, passive acoustic monitoring is a valuable tool. They can use it to identify the animals in a project area and understand how a population is distributed and behaves. They can observe potential behavioral responses to construction activities and turbine operations. Monitoring systems can also be used to make real-time decisions like delaying construction or warning vessels to reduce their speed to protect nearby endangered whales and other animals.

Because of the critical information it provides, NOAA Fisheries and BOEM may require wind developers to use passive acoustic monitoring as part of project-specific permits and approvals. The data collected can be particularly useful in NOAA Fisheries’ work to safeguard protected species under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“Passive acoustic monitoring has become an effective and extensively used tool for evaluating the effects of human activities in marine environments,” said Sofie Van Parijs, passive acoustic program lead at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the paper. “As wind energy development expands in U.S. waters, this publication aims to address the need for recommendations and best practices to help industry develop robust and consistent passive acoustic mitigation plans and long-term baseline monitoring programs.”

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the 2021 Atlantic Herring Specifications

October 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This action increases the herring Area 1A sub-ACL from 1,609 mt to 2,609 mt and the ACL from 4,128 mt to 5,128 mt for the remainder of 2021. Because herring landings in the New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 3,012 mt through October 1, NOAA Fisheries is required by the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to subtract 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and reallocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL.

For more details, read the temporary rule as published in the Federal Register today, and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Maria Fenton, Regional Office, 978-28-9196

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

Biden admin to uproot Trump ‘critical habitat’ policies

October 27, 2021 — The Biden administration today moved to rescind Trump administration policies that crimped the designation of critical habitat to protect threatened or endangered species.

In a pair of long-anticipated moves, the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries proposed getting rid of a Trump-era definition of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. FWS is also proposing to end a policy that made it easier to exclude territory.

Taken together, the two proposed rule changes could significantly alter the much-litigated ESA landscape and, supporters say, enhance conservation and recovery of vulnerable animals or plants.

They will also revive the debate over practical consequences and regulatory nuts and bolts that have shadowed the ESA since the day it became law in 1973 (Greenwire, Oct. 19).

“The Endangered Species Act is one of the most important conservation tools in America and provides a safety net for species that are at risk of going extinct,” said Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz.

Read the full story at E&E News

Key Southern California Rockfish Species Survive Capture Over the Longer-term Following Release

October 26, 2021 — Deep-water rockfish reeled quickly to the surface often emerge from the water with eyes and organs bulging like alien beings—due to the sudden change in pressure—a condition known as barotrauma.

Now new research shows that if fishermen return fish to their natural depths quickly, their bodies return to normal and they can survive any ill effects. The research focused on cowcod and bocaccio, two historically overfished rockfish species caught off the coast of Southern California. They were returned to the depths using special descending devices that are now standard for many recreational fishermen.

Prior to this research and the use of descending devices, it was widely assumed that deep-dwelling rockfish could not survive catch and release due to their extensive barotrauma injuries. “We now know that these deep-dwelling rockfish species can survive,” said Nick Wegner, a research scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new research. “That is good news for the fish, and good news for the fishermen who go to the trouble of trying to release them properly.”

The research was published in ICES Journal of Marine Science. Scientists used acoustic transmitters to track released cowcod and bocaccio for up to a year on an underwater seamount approximately 40 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. They were captured at depths of 75 to 183 meters, or about 250 to 600 feet. By tracking the fish for extended periods, researchers found that most fish survived beyond 30 days. Of those fish that died, 40 percent died beyond the typical 2-day tracking window used in many fish survivorship studies.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries