Saving Seafood

Protecting Coastal Blue Carbon through Habitat Conservation

February 8, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Coastal habitats like salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds provide us with countless benefits, from nursery grounds for fish to protection from storms. They also play an important role in addressing climate change by removing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing them. The NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation works to protect and restore these important coastal habitats and the climate benefits they provide.

What is Coastal Blue Carbon?

Coastal blue carbon is carbon that is stored in coastal habitats like salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds.

Just like forests on land, coastal habitats capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, both in plants and in the soil. But compared to forests, coastal habitats do so on a much larger scale. Research shows that mangroves and salt marshes remove (sequester) carbon from the atmosphere at a rate 10 times greater than tropical forests. They also store three to five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests. This is because most coastal blue carbon is stored in the soil, rather than in above-ground plants.

Coastal blue carbon habitats are also sometimes referred to as “carbon sinks,” because they sequester more carbon than they release. They also hold on to it for long periods of time. Carbon found in coastal soils is often hundreds or thousands of years old.

Read the full release here

Closure for the Commercial Golden Tilefish Longline Component in South Atlantic Federal Waters on February 10, 2021

February 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

WHAT/WHEN:

The commercial longline component for golden tilefish in federal waters of the South Atlantic will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on February 10, 2021.  The closure applies to all harvest or possession of golden tilefish with longline fishing gear.

WHY THIS CLOSURE IS HAPPENING:

  • Only golden tilefish longline endorsement holders are allowed to harvest golden tilefish with longline fishing gear.
  • The 2021 commercial catch limit for the golden tilefish longline component is 248,805 pounds gutted weight. NOAA Fisheries predicts this catch limit will be reached by February 10, 2021, and according to the accountability measure, harvest must close to prevent the catch limit from being exceeded.

DURING AND AFTER THE CLOSURE:

  • Golden tilefish harvested with longline fishing gear may not be sold or purchased after the closure. The prohibition on sale or purchase during the closure does not apply to fish that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, on February 10, 2021, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • During the longline closure, a vessel with a golden tilefish longline endorsement may not commercially harvest golden tilefish using hook-and-line fishing gear, and is limited to the golden tilefish recreational bag and possession limits when the recreational sector is open, without regard to where the golden tilefish was harvested (i.e. in state or federal waters).
  • A vessel that does not have a longline endorsement, but has a commercial South Atlantic snapper-grouper unlimited permit, may commercially harvest golden tilefish with hook-and-line fishing gear until the hook-and-line catch limit is reached.
  • The commercial longline component for golden tilefish in federal waters of the South Atlantic will open at 12:01 a.m., local time, on January 1, 2022.

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.

Surface Slicks are Pelagic Nurseries for Diverse Ocean Fauna

February 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

To survive the open ocean, freshly hatched tiny fish larvae must find food, avoid predators, and navigate ocean currents. Their experiences during these great ocean odysseys have long been a mystery, until now. We have discovered that a surprisingly dense and diverse array of marine animals find refuge in so-called “surface slicks” during early life. To view an immersive, interactive version of this story, check out our story map: Hidden World Just Below the Surface.

Surface slicks are home to the larvae of at least 112 marine fish species, including commercially and ecologically important fish such as mahi-mahi, jacks, and billfish. Serving as makeshift nursery habitats, surface slicks are meandering lines of smooth surface water that collect plankton and shelter-providing debris. They are formed from the convergence of ocean currents, tides, and variations in the seafloor.

“These ‘bioslicks’ form an interconnected superhighway of rich nursery habitat that accumulate and attract thousands of young fish, along with dense concentrations of food and shelter,” says Dr. Jonathan Whitney, a research marine ecologist for NOAA and lead author of the study, published today in Scientific Reports. “The fact that surface slicks host such a large proportion of larvae, along with the resources they need to survive, tells us they are critical for the replenishment of adult fish populations.”

That  larvae hosted in slick nurseries grow up and radiate out into neighboring ecosystems. There, they join adult fish populations from shallow coral reefs to the open ocean to the bottom of the deep sea.

What’s more, many forage (prey) fish, like flying fish, spend their larval and juvenile life stages in surface slicks. “These biological hotspots provide more food at the base of the food chain that amplifies energy up to top predators,” says study co-author Dr. Jamison Gove, a research oceanographer for NOAA. “This ultimately enhances fisheries and ecosystem productivity.”

Read the full release here

NEFMC Votes to Submit Groundfish Framework 61 with Universal Sector Exemption for Redfish

February 5, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council voted on January 26, 2021 to include a universal sector exemption for redfish in Framework Adjustment 61 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. If approved by NOAA Fisheries, the exemption would allow groundfish sector vessels to target redfish with 5.5-inch codend mesh within a larger Redfish Exemption Area in the future than was available in the 2020 fishing year.

Following this decision, the Council voted to submit Framework 61 to NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) for review and implementation. The target implementation date is May 1, 2021, the start of the new fishing year.

The Council signed off on all other Framework 61 measures, including 2021-2023 specifications for groundfish stocks based on updated assessment information, during its December 2020 meeting. A recap is available here.

Read the full release here

They should be heading north, but whale and her calf are going south. Scientists worried

February 2, 2021 — The coasts off Northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are the only known spots in the ocean where North Atlantic right whales give birth to their calves. After birth, the mother and calf usually swim north to New England.

But a right whale that recently gave birth to a calf is heading in the wrong direction, according to federal marine scientists.

The 12-year-old adult and her baby were first seen off Amelia Island near Jacksonville on Jan. 21. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are concerned because the pair was next spotted last Wednesday, Jan. 27, much farther south near the Lake Worth Inlet just north of West Palm Beach in South Florida.

“In this case, the pair is heading south, into areas they normally don’t go, making it important for people to be on the lookout for them,” said Allison Garret, spokeswoman with NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full story at The Bradenton Herald

Oceana takes government to court again over anchovy limits

February 2, 2021 — Oceana continues to challenge the U.S. government over federal catch limits on anchovy the organization claims ignore scientific advice.

In a statement on Monday, 1 February, the environmental conservation group announced it has filed two legal actions to support what it calls “science-based management” of the northern anchovy stock. The organization has taken NOAA Fisheries to court over anchovy catch limits multiple times over the past few years, and alleged in 2019 that it had failed to protect the anchovy stock in Northern California.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New whale species discovered in the Gulf of Mexico — and it’s endangered

February 1, 2021 — A new species of baleen whale has been identified in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a paper earlier this month in Marine Mammal Science explaining that a whale previously thought to be a subspecies of the Bryde’s whale is actually a new species entirely.

Bryde’s whales live in the warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and are closely related to the blue and humpback whale.

Patricia Rosel, a research geneticist with NOAA Fisheries who led the study, said genetic data gathered from the newly discovered species in the early 2000s hinted at a divergent evolutionary lineage, but more concrete evidence came after researchers were able to examine the skull of the species that washed up on a Florida beach in 2019.

Read the full story at The Hill

NOAA Fisheries to Hold Public Hearings on Proposed Critical Habitat for Ringed and Bearded Seals

February 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Public comments accepted through March 9, 2021

NOAA Fisheries will hold three public hearings on proposed rules to designate critical habitat in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population segment of bearded seals under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA Fisheries opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposed rules when they were published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2021. The proposed critical habitat in the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas provides sea ice conditions that are essential for ringed and bearded seal pupping, nursing, basking, and molting, as well as primary prey resources to support these seals. For bearded seals, the proposed critical habitat also provides acoustic conditions that allow for effective communication for breeding purposes.

Read more.

New Slow Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

February 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction) to protect right whales.

On January 31, 2021, a New England Aquarium aerial survey team detected the presence of right whales 15nm south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The South of Nantucket, Massachusetts Slow Zone is in effect through February 15, 2021. 

Mariners, please go around this slow zone or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

41 23 N
40 40 N
069 39 W
070 35 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here

Partners Provide Critical Support in Unprecedented Year for Alaska Research and Fisheries Management

January 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Each year, NOAA Fisheries scientists compile information from a variety of sources to produce and update annual indicators of ecosystem status in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. Data and information are provided by federal, state, academic, non-government organizations, private companies, and local community partners across Alaska. Collected data complement NOAA Fisheries’ own research.

However, in 2020 several key NOAA research surveys were cancelled. Collaboration, increased engagement by community and research partners, and creative thinking on the part of some NOAA scientists helped fill critical information gaps. As a result, the annual Ecosystem Status Reports still could be produced.

“Around 143 individuals contributed to the three Ecosystem Status Reports we produced this year,” said Elizabeth Sidden, editor of the Eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Status Report and a scientist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “The success of this continuing effort to provide valuable ecosystem context to better understand factors contributing to fish stock fluctuations hinges on these partnerships. We couldn’t do this without the help of fellow researchers and local communities along with our staff contributions.”

One example of the kind of information provided by partners this year in all regions is seabird data. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S. FWS) was unable to conduct field research due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Coastal community members, tribal governments, and state and university partners provided information on seabird dynamics for the Bering Sea region. U.S. FWS biologists then synthesized that data. In the Gulf of Alaska, they provided opportunistic observations that were incorporated into the Ecosystem Status Report along with other information from non-profits, The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) and U.S. Geological Survey.  Seabird biology and ecology are bellwethers of environmental change, which is one of the reasons they are important ecosystem indicators.

NOAA scientists also identified other sources of information to develop ecosystem indicators in 2020.  For instance, they used satellite data to measure sea surface temperatures in the Bering Sea since they weren’t able to collect these data during annual research surveys. They also were able to process and analyze data collected from previous years of surveys.

Read the full release here