Saving Seafood

Aquarium to host public input session on plan for national marine monument

December 3, 2022 — Mystic Aquarium will host one of two live public sessions seeking input on a management plan for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument on Tuesday, Dec. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hold the mandated public engagement session as the first of seven steps to develop the Monument Management Plan.

The plan will oversee the long-term care and preservation of the monument, designated by President Barak Obama in 2016.

Read the full article at The Day

Offshore Wind – Not Maine Lobstering – Threatening Endangered Right Whales: Bloomberg

December 3, 2022 — Previously unseen government documents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have revealed that the off-shore wind industry poses a severe threat to endangered right whales.

The documents, obtained by Bloomberg via Freedom of Information Act request, will provide ammunition to lobstermen and elected officials as they fight burdensome federal regulations on Maine’s most prized fishery.

Sean Hayes, the chief of the protected species branch at NOAA’s National Northeast Fisheries Science Center, explained the threat wind turbine construction and operation presents to the endangered mammals in a May 13 letter to to officials with the federal Interior Department.

“Additional noise, vessel traffic and habitat modifications due to offshore wind development will likely cause added stress that could result in additional population consequences to a species that is already experiencing rapid decline,” Hayes said in his letter, according to Bloomberg.

Read the full article at Maine Wire

2022 Fall Bottom Trawl Survey Completed in Northeast

December 3, 2022 — On November 16, Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff finished the 2022 fall bottom trawl survey aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. Those aboard conducted resource survey tows and temperature and salinity sampling at 308 of 377 planned stations (82 percent completion). They sampled for plankton at 95 of 116 planned stations (82 percent completion).

This year’s fall survey occurred in three legs, moving from south to north. The survey got underway on September 10 and concluded on November 15. Multiple cases of COVID-19 resulted in the loss of 14 sea days during the first two legs of the survey.

The Henry B. Bigelow supports a variety of marine research. However, this multispecies bottom-trawl survey is the most important of its missions for monitoring the region’s fishery resources.

Temperature and salinity profiles collected during the survey help link fish distribution to physical oceanographic conditions. Ichthyoplankton (larval fish and eggs) collected help with understanding spawning distributions and with estimating changes in fish abundance. Zooplankton (tiny animals and immature stages of some larger ones) collected tell researchers about the ocean food web. They are used to construct models that support ecosystem-based fisheries management.

This long-running survey monitors fishery stock abundance and distribution on the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to the Scotian Shelf. Data collected include fish age, length, weight, sex, maturity and food habits information. These are critical inputs to regional fish stock assessments helping to inform fishery management decisions by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils as well as Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

The bottom of the Bering and Chukchi seas could become too warm for some important species

December 1, 2022 — There is danger lurking on the floor of the Bering and Chukchi seas for mussels, snails, clams, worms and other cold-water invertebrates, according to a new study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists.

If climate change continues its current trajectory, the Bering and Chukchi seafloor areas will be too warm for those creatures by the end of the century.

In turn, that means trouble for walruses and other marine species. Snails and mussels are particularly important to commercially harvested fish like halibut and yellowfin sole, along with being prey for the Pacific walruses that gather in the summer in the northern Bering and southern Chukchi seas. The Bering Sea is part of the North Pacific Ocean south of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia, while the Chukchi Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean just north of the strait.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

FLORIDA: FWC not on board with NOAA’s proposed right whale-related vessel speed restrictions

December 1, 2022 — Scientists believe there are fewer than 340 total North Atlantic right whales remaining.

New rules drawn up to protect North Atlantic right whales in their southern calving grounds picked up opposition from charter boat captains, port operations and now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

A 10-knot vessel speed rule was in effect for areas where right whales transit, but it was for vessels 65 feet or longer. The new rule drops the length to 35 feet, with the speed zone in effect Nov. 15-April 15 each calving season.

“The issues here are strikes from boats killing the right whales, and fishing entanglements,” FWC Executive Director Eric Sutton said during the Commission’s meetings in Panama City. “There’s no doubt that the right whales are critically endangered, and there’s no doubt that boat strikes are one of the leading causes.”

Read the full article at Florida Politics

How ORCA can help NOAA Fisheries observers

December 1, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries observers  face a daunting task on commercial fishing vessels to do their job and record key data as the crew hauls in catch. Project ORCA may change this soon… and ORCA 2 is coming next.

The killer whale, also known as orca, is the ocean’s top predator. There is another ORCA, though, the Onboard Record Collection Application project – or ORCA for short – that will reign supreme by making paper forms obsolete for observers on commercial fishing vessels, as they transition to a tablet for instantly and accurately enter the vital data they collect .

The project is an initiative of the West Coast Region Observer Program (WCROP) which also has the support of the Pacific Islands Region Observer Program ((PIROP)), and the Pacific Fisheries Information Network to Develop Electronic Reporting for Pelagic HMS Fisheries Observers.

The joint project goal to develop electronic reporting (ER) for HMS fisheries observers (e.g., drift gillnet, setnet, deep-set buoy, and longline) is a focus area of the HMS PSG. The WCROP and PIROP place NOAA Fisheries-trained observers aboard fishing vessels with the primary focus of monitoring the incidental take of protected species, and additionally to record details on fishing activity, gear configuration, as well as the catch and disposition of target and non-target fish.

Recording key data on commercial fishing vessels is often a daunting task for NOAA Fisheries observers, who need to do their job as the boat rocks and the wind blows hard, while shuffling through different waterproof paper forms, to register different details. That’s about to change, though, as observers on the West Coast are transitioning from paper forms to a more efficient and accurate tablet-based system.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA, NFWF to award $136 million for coastal resilience

November 30, 2022 — NOAA and The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will award a record amount to support natural infrastructure projects in 29 states and U.S. territories. This investment in coastal resilience will fund projects that will help communities prepare for increasing coastal flooding and more intense storms, while improving thousands of acres of coastal habitats.

WHO

NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. NFWF Chief Conservation Officer Holly Bamford, Ph.D. Shell USA Chelsey Martin, Washington State Dept of Transportation  Cassidy Lejeune, Ducks Unlimited  Eric Sparks, Mississippi State University    WHEN 

Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 12:00 p.m. CST   

WHERE 

In-person: Hilton New Orleans, River Room (Two Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA, 70130)  Virtual option: click here to register – https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5axFsbohQl67d-DzqLgHOw   The press conference will take place during the 2022 Coastal and Estuarine Summitoffsite link hosted by Restore America’s Estuaries.   

BACKGROUND 

The National Coastal Resilience Fundoffsite link invests in conservation projects that restore or expand natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, forests, coastal rivers and floodplains, and barrier islands that minimize the impacts of storms and other naturally occurring events on nearby communities. The National Coastal Resilience Fund is a partnership between NFWF, NOAA, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Shell USA, TransRe and Oxy, with additional funding this year from the Bezos Earth Fund. NFWF launched the National Coastal Resilience Fund in 2018, in partnership with NOAA and joined initially by Shell USA and TransRe

NOAA scientists propose more protection for right whales in offshore wind area

November 30, 2022 — The following is an excerpt from an article published by the New Bedford Light:

As America’s offshore wind industry gets ready to launch new clean energy projects off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, conservationists and federal scientists have communicated worries over how the installations could harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale, now numbering an estimated 340.

In light of these potential threats, a federal scientist proposed a “conservation buffer” zone — or area of no wind turbines — of about 10 nautical miles adjacent to the Nantucket shoals and seemingly overlapping with offshore wind development planned in southern New England.

Sean Hayes, chief of the protected species branch at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the letter’s signatory, proposed the buffer zone in a letter this spring to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) — the lead regulator for offshore wind development. According to maps of the wind lease areas, the proposed 20-kilometer buffer beginning at an area called the “30-meter isobath” in the shoals appears to overlap with an eastern portion of the Massachusetts-Rhode Island wind energy area.

Scientists in a 2022 New England Aquarium-led study found an increasing trend of right whales in the waters off of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket during all seasons (instead of just in the winter and spring) and cited climate change as a possible driver with a warming ocean shifting the whales’ feeding and migration patterns.

NOAA Fisheries submitted a public comment to BOEM for the Mayflower Wind project several months before Hayes’ letter (sent in May of this year) that included a similar proposal. While not explicitly mentioning a conservation buffer zone, it recommended BOEM in its environmental impact statement (EIS) include a project alternative of no turbines in a portion of the lease.

“We recommend BOEM evaluate in the EIS an alternative that limits the portion of the lease where [wind turbine generators] can be installed, which would result in no [wind turbine generators] in the northern portion of the lease area,” said the comment letter. “This alternative would reduce project overlap with some of the highest documented densities of North Atlantic right whale aggregations in the lease area…”

The 800-megawatt Mayflower Wind project is currently under review by BOEM. Asked if the company is planning to establish turbine-free areas in the lease as a potential mitigating measure for the right whales, Daniel Hubbard, director of external affairs and general counsel for Mayflower Wind, said by email that they are reviewing information and that “as the permitting process progresses, as with all material presented, we will take it into consideration.”

Research has found turbines will likely affect tidal currents and the water column in which zooplankton (right whales’ food) are found. Whales require dense collections of zooplankton, and any disruptions to that could have “significant energetic and population consequences,” Hayes wrote, particularly for their winter feeding area.

“It’s like the perfect storm of what could go wrong,” said Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).

Fuller said the area in and around the New England waters where wind development is set to take place was poorly surveyed for right whales before the federal government identified it for multiple energy leases. In recent years, aerial surveys have shown it’s become a year-round foraging habitat for the whales.

Through federal authorizations, the government limits how many individuals of a given species can be incidentally (not intentionally) harassed, disturbed or injured by an activity. Commercial fishing is an existing industry that has operated with such authorizations, which are now being reviewed and given to wind developers.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Light

Forcing fishermen to pay for the privilege of being monitored

November 30, 2022 — Imagine you live somewhere in small-town America where residents routinely exceed the posted speed limits. To address this problem, the town council votes to require a police officer to ride along with each member of the community every time they venture out in an automobile.

The purpose of the new program is to make sure the speed limits are obeyed. Anyone caught speeding is fined to pay for the program. It sounds like a win-win for everyone, but there’s a problem: The people who designed the program underestimated how much it would cost — there being a fair number of people in the town who go places by car — but overestimated the amount of money it would bring in from fines assessed on people caught driving above the posted limits.

Read the full article at The Washington Times

NOAA Fisheries Announces Revised 2022 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Target for Groundfish Sector Fishery

November 29, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces that for the remainder of fishing year 2022 (through April 30, 2023), sectors will be required to have human at-sea monitors on 80 percent of all vessel trips subject to the groundfish sector monitoring program (referred to as at-sea monitoring), a reduction from the 99-percent target implemented May 1, 2022. The coverage rate changed based on the specific direction in how the funds enacted in FY22 could be spent. This does not change the review rates for electronic monitoring video footage.

We will continue to reimburse 100 percent of sector at-sea monitoring costs, including electronic monitoring. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will continue to administer the reimbursement program for fishing year 2022.

For more information, please read our bulletin online.