January 15, 2021 — A report issued by NOAA Fisheries on Friday, 15 January, 2021, shows that COVID-19 had a devastating impact on the country’s commercial fishing and recreational charter operations during the first seven months of 2020.
No U.S. region was spared, as the data shows regional landings revenue since last March fell across the board. Hawaii experienced the worst decline at 42 percent, with the Southeast reporting a 29 percent drop.
January 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today, we shared our draft Biological Opinion that examines the effects of 10 fishery management plans on threatened and endangered species in the Greater Atlantic Region and also examines the effects of the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 on these species. The purpose of sharing the draft Opinion is to allow interested parties, including the New England Fishery Management Council, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, to provide feedback on the Biological Opinion.
We are accepting feedback on the draft Biological Opinion until February 19, 2021. For more information, please read our information bulletin.
Send feedback (or questions) to: nmfs.gar.
January 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries announces a new Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone) East of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
On January 14, 2021, observers aboard Fugro Enterprise detected the presence of right whales 23 nm East of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The East of Atlantic City Slow Zone is in effect through January 29, 2021.
Mariners, please go around this area or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected. Slow Zone coordinates:
39 47 N
39 07 N
073 31 W
074 22 W
See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.
January 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Harbor porpoises have rebounded in a big way off California. Their populations have recovered dramatically since the end of state set-gillnet fisheries that years ago entangled and killed them in the nearshore waters they frequent. These coastal set-gillnet fisheries are distinct from federally-managed offshore drift-gillnet fisheries. They have been prohibited in inshore state waters for more than a decade. The new research indicates that the coastal set gillnets had taken a greater toll on harbor porpoise than previously realized.
The return of harbor porpoises reflects the first documented example of the species rebounding. It’s a bright spot for marine wildlife, the scientists write in a new assessment published in Marine Mammal Science.
“This is very good evidence that if we can eliminate the deaths in fishing nets, marine mammal populations can come back in a big way,” said Karin Forney, a research biologist with NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center who is based in Monterey Bay.
The State of California managed set-gillnet fisheries for white seabass and halibut in coastal waters off central California beginning in the 1930s. Before the 1980s, there was little solid information about the impacts of coastal set-gillnets on protected species such as marine mammals and seabirds. Harbor porpoises were vulnerable to this coastal fishery because they frequent shallow inshore waters where the nets were historically set.
The scientists estimated, based on a combination of data, that as many as 300 harbor porpoises per year may have been killed in California’s coastal set-gillnet fisheries during the 1980s. One 1994 study (PDF, 4 pages) confirmed the deaths of more than 50 harbor porpoises in Monterey Bay alone, with the authors speculating that the true number was far higher.
January 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Pelagic or forage fish species are an important source of food for marine predators in the eastern Bering Sea. This group of fish includes capelin, Pacific herring, juvenile chum salmon, juvenile pink salmon, juvenile sockeye salmon, and walleye pollock during their first year of life.
A new study by scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center shows variable effects on species distribution and abundance. It looked at several warm periods from 2002–2018 when ocean temperatures were warmer than average for four or more consecutive years.
Previous studies by NOAA Fisheries documented a northward shift in age-0 pollock, juvenile salmon, herring, and capelin during the 2002-2005 warm period relative to the 2006-2011 cool period in the eastern Bering Sea.
“However, this is the first study to look at temperature-related changes in the distribution and biomass (total average weight of all fish) of pelagic fishes over multiple warm periods,” said Ellen Yasumiishi, researcher, Alaska Fisheries Science Center and lead author for the study. “Studies like this are also important for understanding factors that may affect juvenile salmon and age-0 pollock growth, development and ability to reach maturity. As adults these fish are targeted by commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries in Alaska.”
January 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
The NOAA Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program provides funding to support applied management projects and activities to reduce bycatch. Bycatch reduction is a top priority for NOAA Fisheries, as outlined in our National Bycatch Reduction Strategy.
There are four high-priority areas for the Fiscal Year 2021:
For more information and to apply, see our funding opportunity notice.
Pre-proposal deadline is January 21, 2021
January 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Boat traffic within 400 yards of endangered Southern Resident killer whales interrupts their foraging, often leading female whales to cease feeding altogether. That is a key finding from a new analysis of data from suction-cup tags that track the whales’ movement underwater.
Previous research observed surface behavior of the killer whales in response to vessels, while the tags allow researchers to discern their behavior during extended dives underwater. This data shows that nearby vessel traffic inhibits their underwater foraging as much or more than what scientists previously documented at the surface. These new results were published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
“We found a bigger effect in females, and that effect was more often that they gave up foraging if vessels encroached on them,” said research scientist Marla Holt at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center. The analysis examined whale behavior over 3 years. It included years before and after the 2011 enactment of federal regulations limiting how close vessels can approach killer whales in Washington’s inland waters.
The outsize effect of vessel traffic on female whales “could have cascading effects on the ability to meet energetic requirements to support reproductive efforts,” the scientists reported. “This is particularly concerning in an endangered population that is in decline.”
January 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries announces a new Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone) East of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
On January 13, 2021, HDR aerial survey team detected the presence of right whales 24 nm East of Virginia Beach. The East of Virginia Beach Slow Zone is in effect through January 28, 2021.
Mariners, please go around this area or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected. Slow Zone coordinates:
37 09 N
36 29 N
075 02 W
075 52 W
See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.
January 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
We are working with the dam owners to improve fish passage for river herring and American eels on a tributary of the Kennebec River in Gardiner, Maine.
From 2014 through 2019, NOAA Fisheries staff from the Greater Atlantic Region consulted on the relicensing of the American Tissue Dam. As part of the Federal Power Act, NOAA Fisheries may require fish passage at federally licensed dams, which was the case for this dam.
In order to comply with this requirement, Kruger Energy Inc. was busy this summer and fall constructing a new and improved downstream fishway. When migrating fish pass over a notch in the dam, they will now enter a well-designed plunge pool. The pool does a better job reducing fish mortality than the old plunge pool, particularly for the small juvenile river herring.
Additional passage improvements to this project will include an eel ramp to help juvenile eels migrate upstream. A submerged pipe will help adult eels headed downstream to get up and over the dam and back down to the river channel safely. With these fish passage improvements, we are optimistic that restoration of fisheries resources in Cobboseecontee Stream can succeed.
January 12, 2021 — We here at FishOn have been absent from these pages for the past couple Mondays. Slight case of mistaken identity. Fear not, we’ve escaped. Here’s hoping you didn’t pay the ransom.
First column of the new year, so we’re still finding our footing, staying within ourselves and letting the game come to us. It’s early and it’s a long year.
There, that pretty much encapsulates the product of virtually every Opening Day interview we ever did.
One thing we know we’ll be writing about in 2021 is the plight of the North Atlantic right whales, so let’s start with them.
The end of 2020 brought a flurry of proposed protective actions from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA Fisheries that will be batted around until final rules can be enacted.
In the Bay State, DMF, among other recommendations, has proposed closing all state waters to lobstering from February to May to coincide with the right whales’ annual migration and feeding along the Massachusetts coast.
It is set to present those recommendations to the Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission on Jan. 28. That meeting initially was set for Jan. 7, but DMF was swamped with public comment to review, as seemingly every conservation group in the world except the Cross Street Irregulars weighed in.
Last Friday, DMF said the altered timeline means it won’t be able to “promulgate final regulations for Feb. 1, 2021.”
It now expects the new rules — including the closure — to go into effect between mid-February and early March.
“As a result only those waters within the Massachusetts restricted area will be closed to trap gear fishing on Feb. 1,” DMF said. “All other waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth will not be subject to a trap gear closure until a final rule is promulgated.”
Promulgate. Good word.