Saving Seafood

Ensuring a Future for Seafood in a Changing Ocean: Part 2

October 7, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

NOAA scientists have created a number of cutting-edge tools to help seafood decision-makers adapt to climate change. These tools can inform managers, municipalities, and seafood businesses as they make decisions in the coming years. Across the country, regional fisheries councils and coastal communities are leading the way.

Adapting Our Management

Observations, forecasts, and predictive models can help explain what is happening to our seafood species now and what might happen in the future. But they do not tell us what to do about it. Instead, those actions must be decided by managers representing the community of seafood stakeholders.

Exploring the Future of Fisheries through Scenario Planning

In recent years, regional U.S. fishery management councils have oriented their decision-making toward climate adaptation. To do so in an inclusive way, several councils have turned to scenario planning, a tool for thinking through possible courses of action for an uncertain future. Scenario planning exercises guide participants to imagine a suite of possibilities for future conditions. They examine not just the most likely outcomes, but also futures disrupted by unexpected or anomalous events, such as the “Blob” heat wave. Together, participants distill these possibilities into a portfolio of scenarios. Talking through these shared stories about the future can help managers and stakeholders identify robust adaptation actions that make sense for multiple scenarios.

Prompted by the shifts of many key seafood species across management boundaries, the three councils along the East Coast, along with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, teamed up to launch a joint East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning project. On the West Coast, the Pacific Fishery Management Council partnered with the Nature Conservancy to use scenario planning to explore changing fish stock availability and productivity in the California Current ecosystem. Both initiatives involve multiple stages of consulting with stakeholders, reviewing the latest science, drafting and workshopping scenarios, and assessing their implications. These efforts help the regions develop shared narratives as they consider possible responses to the challenges that lie ahead.

Read the full release here

Ensuring a Future for Seafood in a Changing Ocean: Part 1

October 7, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This October, we’re celebrating National Seafood Month by featuring (and feasting on) the bounties of our nation’s seafood industry. But we are also mindful of the challenges a changing ocean poses to the future of these harvests and all the people that bring them to us. Warming ocean temperatures, altered circulation patterns, and increasing acidity are already shifting and stressing the species we love to eat. In recent months, these climate change impacts have been especially dramatic in Alaska, leading to catastrophic declines in snow crab and Yukon River Chinook and chum salmon.

Rather than despair, people who care about the future of American seafood must be clear-eyed about the challenges we face. The inevitable changes to ocean ecosystems will require adapting our science, management, and communities to a new seafood future. The good news is that we are already taking a proactive approach to climate adaptation by working together to identify innovative solutions and equitable responses.

People across the nation are applying their talents, on-the-water experiences, and imaginations to tackle this challenge from different angles. Here’s a look at just some of the ways NOAA Fisheries and our partners are laying the groundwork for adapting our fisheries and aquaculture to a changing climate through the decades ahead.

Read the full release here

The U.S. is not harvesting as many fish as it could, driving up imports

October 5, 2022 — In 2020, the global fishing industry reached an all-time record of production worth an estimated $406 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Fish is a key source of protein, making it essential in feeding the growing world population.

In the United States, New Bedford, Massachusetts, is the country’s most valuable fishing port, bringing in a whopping $376.6 million worth of seafood in 2020.

“Fishing stocks did have a collapse in the ’90s. It changed the species that we were offering. It changed the availability. It changed the pricing,” Laura Foley Ramsden, fourth generation “fish mongress” of Foley Fish in New Bedford, told CNBC.

The collapse led to an amendment to the Magnusson-Stevens act of 1976, which is the primary law governing marine systems, and it ultimately made the U.S. into a world leader of fisheries management, outlawing overfishing and demanding population rebuilding.

Read the full article at CNBC

Amata Welcomes Administration Response That PRIMNM Will Not Be Expanded

October 5, 2022 — The following was released by Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata:

Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming a response from the Biden Administration stating that the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) will not be expanded. In a response letter to the Congresswoman’s earlier inquiry, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Martha Williams said the administration is not considering an expansion to PRIMNM.

Director Williams said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce, and the FWS, part of the Department of the Interior, are co-leads in preparing the Monument Management Plan (MMP) for the PRIMNM.

“As part of this ongoing MMP effort, FWS is not considering additional or potential expansion of the PRIMNM beyond what has already been implemented by Presidential Proclamations 8336 and 9173,” states the FWS reply.

Those presidential proclamations created PRIMNM then tripled it in size, placing over 495,000 square miles of the Pacific off limits. In her June letter to President Biden, Amata urged the administration to seek thorough local input and advice from Pacific territories, saying that American Samoa, as it is thousands of miles from Washington, D.C., “is as rural a community can be in the United States and is traditionally built around a fishing-based culture,” before noting that PRIMNM “removed fishing operations from a U.S. EEZ area that was once the size of California and is now four times that!”

Amata’s Letter to NOAA Fisheries

In other fishing news, on Wednesday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata also wrote the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries, to oppose a proposed rule, in support of Gov. Lemanu P.S. Mauga’s concerns that the rule could result in new restrictions for the U.S. fleet. [Proposed Rule and Request for Comments for “International Fisheries; Western and Central Pacific Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species; Fishing Restrictions in Purse Seine Fisheries and 2022 Longline Bigeye Catch Limit”; 87 FR 55768 (NOAA-NMFS-2022-0082; September 12, 2022) (“Proposed Rule”).]

The Governor’s September 22 letter clarifies American Samoa’s concern: “Knowing that this rule will separate U.S. EEZ days from WCPFC high seas days, and that that separation will likely result in closing the high seas where American Samoa’s US flag purse seiners operate, thereby reducing the tuna supply to our economy, I cannot support this action being proposed by NOAA,” he said.

Amata’s letter emphasizes, “As a representative of a district which is heavily reliant on fishing, I believe this rule would have a negative impact not only on the territory of American Samoa and our own economic stability, but on the rest of the United States fishing industry. I am concerned that NMFS’s proposal will contribute to the economic distress currently faced by my district due to the ongoing decline of our purse-seine fleet.”

She notes, “The rule is unnecessary for compliance with the United State obligations under the WCPFC and hinders the negotiating position of the U.S. industry in critical international access. Furthermore, it is frankly not supported by any scientific reasoning nor does it further any goals of environmental protection or fish stock conservation.”

She agreed with the concerns about the rule expressed by Governor Lemanu, as well as the American Tunaboat Association. “This proposed rule as written is not good for American Samoa and for American fisherman,” she concluded.

ALASKA: Sustainable Pacific Oyster Farming

October 3, 2022 — The following was released by the NOAA:

Alaska’s aquatic farming industry is relatively new—it only became legal in the state in 1988. Since then, the industry has flourished.

Want a meal that’s good for you and good for the planet? Pacific oysters farmed in the United States are a smart seafood choice because they are sustainably grown and harvested under state and federal regulations. Oysters provide environmental benefits by removing excess nutrients and improving water quality. They are low in saturated fat, and excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.

Pacific oysters, also called the Japanese oyster, Miyagi oyster, or Pacific cupped oyster, are sustainably farmed in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. They are the most cultivated species of oyster, originally introduced from Asia to 66 countries. They are the only non-indigenous species allowed to be imported to Alaska for cultivation. Pacific oysters take 18 to 30 months to develop to the market size of 70 to 100 grams (2.5 to 3.5 ounces; shell on) live weight. Pacific oyster growth depends on water temperature and salinity.

Read the full release here

New England Fishery Management Council hears proposals to protect right whales

October 3, 2022 — During its four-day meeting at the Beauport Hotel last week, the Newburyport-based New England Fishery Management Council heard from NOAA Fisheries officials about ways to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale with a proposed 10-knot speed limit for vessels 35 to 65 feet long, expanded seasonal speed zones, and ropeless fishing gear to prevent whales getting entangled in lobster trap lines.

Speed rules

Caroline Good, a large whale ecologist with NOAA Fisheries, presented the proposed rules aimed at reducing right whales from being struck by vessels and killed or injured.

However, the council could not come to a consensus to comment on the proposed changes.

Good said the right whale population continues to decline and is approaching extinction due to death and serious injury from entanglement with fishing gear and vessel strikes. Fewer than 350 individuals remain.

Since 2017, scientists have documented 54 right whales killed or seriously injured in U.S. and Canadian waters. Of those, according to Good’s presentation, 11 were killed due to vessel strikes and nine from entanglements.

Right whales are present in U.S. waters year-round, but in greater numbers during the late fall through early summer, Good said. They are highly vulnerable to vessel strikes due to dense vessel traffic along the East Coast.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

Atlantic sea scallops at lowest biomass in over 20 years — what that means for New Bedford

September 30, 2022 — A Scallop Survey Report presented at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting Tuesday showed the Atlantic sea scallop fishery is facing its lowest biomass in over 20 years.

From a peak of more than 250,000 metric tons in 2017, to under 100,000 in 2022.

“There has been a decline since 2018 due to a large harvest and natural mortality,” Jonathon Peros, an NEFMC staffer, told the Council. “Biomass in 2022 is the lowest since 1999.”

Throughout NEFMC jurisdiction, the survey estimated a biomass decrease of almost 30%. The Georges Bank region saw the largest drop, around 36%.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Division, scallop catch had been on an upward trajectory following its 1998 nadir of 5,564 metric tons.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

NOAA officials get an earful from Maine lobstermen over further efforts to protect right whales

September 29, 2022 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering a new round of measures aimed at reducing the risks that commercial fishing poses to the endangered North Atlantic right whale population.

Several hundred people attended a virtual meeting Tuesday evening, which NOAA officials billed as a forum to collect feedback from fishermen about possible trap limits and more seasonal closures and gear changes.

Most of the speakers were Maine lobstermen, who believe the changes will devastate their businesses and the state’s economy.

“If these things are implemented as I see, we’re going to be turned into seasonal communities,” said Jason Joyce, a fisherman from Swan’s Island. We’re not going to be year-round communities. I think it’s a shame, and honestly being a taxpayer I’m ashamed of my government for pushing this on me.”

Read the full article at Maine Public

HAWAII: Hawaiian Fishpond Kicks Off State’s First Sea Cucumber Aquaculture

September 28, 2022 — The following was released NOAA Fisheries

A crowd surrounds David Anderson as he reaches into the large bin’s water. He slowly pulls a fine mesh material out of the bin to reveal … nothing. He pulls out another section of the mesh, and there it is—a brown, pinkie-nail-sized, cylindrical blob. “It’s like a dark maggot,” an onlooker comments.

But this “dark maggot” is actually a baby loli (Hawaiian sea cucumber) whose potential belies its tiny size and appearance. Kauaʻi Sea Farms, in partnership with the Pacific American Foundation, is rearing sea cucumbers in a solar-powered hatchery at its Nomilo Loko Iʻa (Hawaiian fishpond). The goal of this NOAA grant–supported project: to cultivate loli as a high-value export product, primarily for Chinese and Japanese markets.

Read the full release here