Saving Seafood

Feds look at expanding habitat for world’s most endangered whales

July 13, 2022 — North Pacific right whales, the most endangered whales in the world, could gain an expanded protected habitat from Alaska to Baja California, if the feds approve after a one-year review now underway.

On Monday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries announced the review, a response to a petition filed this past March by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity and conservation group Save the North Pacific Right Whale — dedicated to increasing protections and awareness of the rare whale. They urged the federal government to revise the critical habitat designation for North Pacific right whales under the Endangered Species Act.

In 2008, the Fisheries Service issued a final rule designating about 1,175 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and 35,460 square miles in the Southeast Bering Sea as critical habitat for North Pacific right whales. But the environmentalists say two key habitats are essential for this right whale population’s survival — a migratory corridor through the Fox Islands in the Aleutian chain, including Unimak Pass, and feeding grounds near Kodiak Island.

In their petition, the groups argued the government should connect the existing critical habitats by extending the Bering Sea unit boundary westward and southward to the Fox Islands, through Unimak Pass to the edge of the continental slope, and eastward to the Kodiak Island. This change would encompass a key migratory point for whales and connect their foraging grounds, the organizations said.

Alice Kaswan, professor and associate dean at University of San Francisco School of Law, said while this announcement does not mean the agency will agree with the petition’s demands, it does indicate “the door’s open” for similar petitions.

“The agency’s willingness to grant the petition shows it’s open to conducting the additional science to determine whether the additional land or ocean really should be set aside as critical habitat,” Kaswan said. “It’s an indication that this administration has a willingness to protect endangered species.”

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Mid-depth waters off the United States East Coast are getting saltier

July 7, 2022 — A new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows a significant increase in frequency of warm saltwater intrusions from the deep ocean to the continental shelf along the Middle Atlantic Bight, which extends from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Using data collected from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service Ecosystem Monitoring program, as well as data collected from the fishing industry, the study’s results show that ocean exchange processes have greatly changed over the past 20 years in this region.

I think the reason the paper is so important is because it quantifies an ocean process changing, potentially as a direct result of ocean warming and more stratification,” said Glen Gawarkiewicz, WHOI senior scientist and paper corresponding author. “These findings could also have major shelf ecosystem implications. Given the increased frequency of mid-depth salty intrusions along the Mid-Atlantic Bight, it will be necessary to properly resolve this process in numerical simulations in order to account for salt budgets for the continental shelf and slope”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for dialogue with the fishing community, helping them recognize these mid depth intrusions once they log a profile. Then, they can use it to decide where to fish and focus the bulk of their work,” Gawarkiewicz said. “Future work is necessary to determine how the increasing frequencies of this important process may be affecting continental shelf heat and salt balances as well as broader impacts to the continental shelf ecosystem. This study is valuable in quantifying processes that may be hastening that ecosystem realignment, especially when addressing things like food insecurity.”

Read the full story at Phys.org

Captains and vessel owners are climbing the learning curve of electronic vessel trip reporting

July 7, 2022 — Among the biggest problems with effective fisheries management has always been lack of relevant data and the time lag between information retrieval and action.

One tool the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to use to close those gaps is electronic vessel trip reporting or eVTR.

Using the carrot and the stick approach, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has begun requiring many fishermen to submit vessel trip reports electronically. NMFS’s carrot is that the results may eventually benefit all, and in some fisheries recreational fishermen’s data is being added to the mix, but for small-scale fishermen, the stick of punishment for non-compliance can feel too much, especially when the failure is generated by new technologies.

While the eVTR learning curve and buggy apps create problems for some fishermen, the bigger and broader data picture that eVTR offers resource managers means that eVTR is likely here to stay. But it would appear from Facebook comments that NOAA, app developers, and fishermen need to have a conversation.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MISSISSIPPI: Senator Wicker takes on NOAA in Sun Herald Op-Ed

July 6, 2022 — U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-MS, took aim at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a July 3 op-ed for the Sun Herald.

In the op-ed, Wicker called out NOAA for proposed changes to the catch limit framework used for the Gulf of Mexico red snapper industry.

“Fishing for red snapper is a popular pastime on the Gulf Coast, one that brings together fishermen, boat makers, bait suppliers and restaurant owners,” writes Wicker. “This prosperous industry centers on three months of open fishing during the summer. To my dismay, regulators in Washington are now proposing a rule that could cut Mississippi’s season down to two weeks without any sound science.”

He writes that this is just another disappointing “raw deal” that NOAA has tried to give the state of Mississippi.

“Mississippi will not be alone in bearing the cost of NOAA’s poor methods. Anglers in Alabama stand to lose weeks if not months of their fishing season,” writes Wicker. “No state is ultimately safe from federal rules that disregard the best data. With the proposed rule now listed in the Federal Register, I would encourage all stakeholders to provide public comment on why NOAA got this wrong.”

NOAA’s public comment period ends on July 28, and the rule would take affect Jan. 1, 2023, if passed.

The proposed changes do not affect commercial ACLs, which would increase in 2023.

Read the full story at WDAM

NOAA Fisheries Invites Public Comment on New Draft Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy

June 30, 2022 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Council Family – This topic was discussed at the most recent advisory group and Council meetings. As you know, the Western Pacific Region is recognized for community development and education and training programs in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and yet have been underfunded for many years. NMFS will host four webinars – see details below. At the June 30 session, NMFS Pacific Islands Region staff will focus on Pacific Islands Regional issues and will be on hand to answer questions. We encourage you all to participate.

-Kitty Simonds

The following was originally released by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) May 6, 2022.

NOAA Fisheries shared its first-ever draft Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy and invited public comments through August 19 (*extended to August 31*). In addition to accepting written comments, we will host four webinars on the strategy, where comments will be accepted. Additional in-person meetings and opportunities to comment via phone will be announced on a rolling basis, once those plans are finalized.

“NOAA Fisheries is focused on serving all communities more equitably and effectively, and this strategy will provide the framework to do just that,” said Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries and NOAA’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, Janet Coit.

“We are committed to advancing equity and environmental justice, including equal treatment, opportunities, and environmental benefits for all people and communities, while building on continuing efforts and partnerships with underserved and underrepresented communities,” she added.

Goals and Objectives

The agency identified three overarching, long-term goals in the strategy. They are:

  • Prioritize identification, equitable treatment, and meaningful involvement of underserved communities
  • Provide equitable delivery of services
  • Prioritize equity and environmental justice in our mandated and mission work

The agency also identified six short-term objectives in the strategy. They are:

  • Provide an empowering environment within the agency to support multiple equity and environmental justice approaches at NOAA Fisheries
  • Incorporate equity and environmental justice in agency policies and plans
  • Achieve equity in research and researching equity
  • Outreach and engage equitably
  • Equitably distribute benefits
  • Ensure inclusive governance

This national strategy is the result of guidance from recent Executive Orders, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, the Department of Commerce’s Equity Action Plan, NOAA’s Climate Council and agency leadership, enthusiastic staff participation, and a clear and growing need indicated by underserved communities. The strategy also builds on our previous equity and environmental justice efforts to provide guidance for incorporating and prioritizing EEJ in ongoing and future activities in support of our mission.

“While we are making progress in addressing equity and environmental justice, we know that we have much more work to do to embed EEJ into our day-to-day efforts,” said NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, Sam Rauch, who also convened and led the agency’s EEJ Working Group. “By focusing on these goals and objectives we will provide more equitable stewardship of the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat.”

How You Can Help

NOAA Fisheries’ science, conservation, and management activities serve a diverse array of communities across the United States and territories. However, not all communities have equal opportunities and access to agency-led services. Through this call for public comment, we seek assistance in several areas, including help to identify:

  • Who the agency’s underserved communities are
  • How the agency can reduce barriers to underserved communities
  • How the agency can better incorporate equity and environmental justice into our daily activities
  • How we can improve equity in our programs and policies now, with our current resources, and in the future
  • Help evaluating whether the draft recommendations for action are on target

How to Provide Comment

You can provide comments online. You can also comment at webinars, by phone, and at in-person meetings. The webinars will be held on:

  • June 30, 2022, 1 – 3 p.m. HST, noon – 2 p.m. SST, July 1, 2022, 8 – 10 a.m. ChST 

(Visit this page and click on “Register for June 30 webinar”)**** (link corrected)

  • July 19, 2022, 10 a.m. – noon HST, 9 – 11 a.m. SST, July 20, 2022, 6 – 8 a.m. ChST

(Visit this page and click on “Register for July 19 webinar”) (link corrected)

****At this session, NMFS Pacific Islands Region staff will focus on Pacific Island Regional issues and will be on hand to answer questions.

Achieving Our Goals

To achieve our initial equity and environmental justice goals, each of the agency’s national program offices and geographic regions will incorporate EEJ into a step-down implementation plan. These plans will be specific and responsive to the needs of underserved communities and allows for the input of underserved communities. Each program, science center, and regional office will set equity and environmental justice as a Priority Area or milestone in annual strategic planning starting in 2023. And, the agency’s step-down implementation plans will include metrics describing equity and environmental justice actions. Our progress will be publicly reported annually in an EEJ Scorecard.

“To be clear, this strategy does not endorse business as usual and is not a rebranding of existing activities. Rather, this national strategy describes the path that NOAA Fisheries will take to incorporate EEJ into the vital services we provide to all stakeholders,” said Coit.

MAINE: Lobstermen frustrated by regulations after new study shows whale entanglements decline

June 30, 2022 — A new report has Maine lobstermen saying, “I told you so.”

The report says large whale entanglements dropped in 2020, including for the right whale.

Lobstermen in Maine have long argued they should not be blamed for the right whales’ population decline, which makes this new study from NOAA all the more frustrating.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Harpswell lobster boat captain Forrest Moody said. “This is what we know.”

Moody calls the new changes to the industry “life-altering.”

“There hasn’t always been evidence to prove or say what they were asking us to do but we still were, we were still made to do it,” Moody said.

Read the full story at WGME-TV

A Story About Whales & Scallops in Maine

June 29, 2022 — The number of whales entangled in fishing gear has declined recently, but the issue remains a critical threat to rare species.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, reports that there are only 340 North Atlantic right whales in the entire world right now.

So getting tangled and trapped in fishing nets, or collisions with ships in the ocean is not good.

NOAA says the decline in entanglements could be due to fewer fishing activities due to the pandemic.

Priced Scallops lately? Two years ago they were sold for about $20 a pound. Now, $25 a pound. An increase of 25%.

Blame supply and demand.

Supply is down significantly over the past few years according to the New England Fishery Management Council.

Read the full story at Q106.5

2022 NOAA Northeast Sea Scallop Survey Results

June 28, 2022 — The NOAA Fisheries Integrated Sea Scallop and Habcam Research Survey is in the books for 2022. Scientists and crew completed their work aboard the University of Delaware’s R/V Hugh R. Sharp on June 13, 2022.

The Atlantic sea scallop population is surveyed every summer by NOAA Fisheries and partnering research groups. This year those partners are the Coonamessett Farm Foundation, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology. Each partner surveys an assigned area using similar methods and a standardized survey design. Here, we are reporting results for the survey areas allocated to the NOAA Fisheries-based effort, led by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Resulting data are used for fishery stock assessments, fishery management, and biological studies. Sea scallops are one of the most valuable commercial fishery species in the nation.

Leg 1 of the survey was conducted May 14 to 23 off the Mid-Atlantic and southern Georges Bank. Researchers deployed the stereo camera and sensor system known as Habcam V4.

Leg 2 was conducted from May 25 to June 3, and Leg 3 operated from June 5 to June 13. On these legs, we deployed both Habcam V4 and a scallop dredge. The dredge is a standardized 8-foot wide New Bedford sea scallop dredge that collects sea scallops for biological analyses.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA proposes new steps to combat illegal fishing, counter forced labor in seafood supply chain

June 27, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA proposed new measures to strengthen its ability to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities and counter forced labor in the seafood supply chain. As a global leader in combating IUU fishing, NOAA employs a suite of tools to deter these activities where they may occur. The proposed changes are part of a rulemaking process that is open for public comment.

NOAA’s proposal broadens the scope of activities that can be considered under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act when identifying nations for IUU fishing, including pervasive and persistent fishing activities in waters under the jurisdiction of a nation, without authorization or in violation of that nation’s laws. In addition, fishing activities in waters beyond any national jurisdiction that involve the use of forced labor may be considered by NOAA in identifying nations for IUU fishing under the Act.

“IUU fishing undermines sustainable fisheries and healthy ocean ecosystems, threatens economic security and natural resources critical to global food security, and puts law-abiding fishers and seafood producers in the U.S. and abroad at a disadvantage,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, acting assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to strengthening the suite of tools we use to combat all forms of IUU fishing and counter the use of forced labor in the seafood supply chain.”

Working with interagency partners, NOAA also seeks to expand the information foreign fishing vessels must submit when requesting entry into U.S. ports in order to fully implement the Port State Measures Agreement. The proposed rule enables a risk assessment of incoming vessels to determine if they have engaged in IUU fishing activities as defined under the Agreement, and to decide whether to deny a vessel entry to port.

“The efforts to combat IUU fishing activities and counter forced labor are complex and a broad range of governments and management organizations are involved,” said Kelly Kryc, deputy assistant secretary for International Fisheries, NOAA. “As a major consumer, producer, and importer of seafood, the U.S. takes many steps to combat IUU fishing as a flag state, port state, market state, and in partnership with other agencies and countries around the world.”

NOAA co-leads the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing under the Maritime SAFE Act, which supports a whole-of-government approach utilizing a range of regulatory and technological tools, to counter IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security, enabling federal agencies to focus their efforts and leverage interagency coordination to maximize impact.

IUU fishing encompasses a wide variety of fishing-related activities, occurring at points along the global seafood supply chain, which may violate both national laws or responsibilities under international instruments. Learn more about NOAA’s ongoing and robust efforts to combat IUU fishing and counter forced labor.

Western Pacific Federal Managers Support Conservation Definition and Request Better Coordination with NOAA on ESA Biological Opinions

June 23, 2022 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Today, the Council requested NOAA and the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) adopt a Council Coordination Committee (CCC) area-based management subcommittee’s proposed definition of “conservation area” to identify qualifying regions in President Biden’s “30×30” initiative. The CCC represents the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils in the nation.

“The Council has a golden opportunity to support what the CCC has done, and help NOAA and the CEQ move forward with a sensible and fair definition of conservation that not only includes provisions to protect biodiversity, but also promotes wise use of fisheries,” said Will Sword, Council vice chair from American Samoa.

The Council recommends CEQ follow National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) guidelines when implementing America the Beautiful and consult state and territorial governors affected by new conservation areas. In addition, the Council will inform NOAA, the CEQ and Biden Administration that the Western Pacific Region has met 97% of the “30×30” goal to conserve 30% of all U.S. lands and waters by 2030 with its existing marine managed areas.

The Council called upon NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to include the Council in developing any reasonable and prudent measures in advance of the draft biological opinions on the Hawai‘i deep-set and American Samoa longline fisheries. The biological opinion assesses if the fisheries are likely to jeopardize the continued existence or recovery of Endangered Species Act-listed species.

A NMFS policy directive recognizes the Council’s unique role in helping the agency comply with the ESA. The Council is charged with developing fishery management regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which are approved by the Secretary of Commerce and then implemented by NMFS. Despite repeated Council requests over the past three years, NMFS has not discussed potential measures that may be needed to reduce the fisheries’ impacts on ESA-listed species.

The Council recommended setting a 2023 catch limit of 2,000 metric tons (mt) of bigeye tuna each for American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI). Each U.S. Participating Territory would have a transfer limit up to 1,500 mt to Hawai‘i-based U.S. longline vessels operating under approved specified fishing agreements with the territories. Total transfers would be limited to 3,000 mt.

The Hawai‘i longline fishery has a low impact (3% of total catch) on the Western and Central Pacific (WCPO) bigeye tuna stock. The Council recommended exploring an increase to the U.S. longline catch limit for WCPO bigeye tuna and increasing future allocation limits from the territories to Hawai‘i-based longline vessels.

In the 2021 annual report on the status of fisheries in the region, pelagic fisheries catch increased across gear types, resulting in increased revenue from high fish prices. Bottomfish fisheries in the CNMI and Guam increased substantially in catch and effort. Bottomfish catch in American Samoa waned to its lowest level over the past decade—the average yearly catch of approximately 12,000 pounds dropped to just over 2,000 pounds in 2021. Reports will be available on the Council website next week.

The Council held an equity and environmental justice (EEJ) workshop in April that brought together indigenous Council members, advisory panel members, NOAA regional staff and leaders in the Western Pacific Region. To effect EEJ momentum in our region, participants emphasized the importance of outreach and engagement, building local capacity, fostering a bottom-up approach, funding community projects, collaborating with local agencies and managing climate change impacts. Based on this workshop, the Council will provide comments on the NMFS draft EEJ strategy to identify long-standing issues in the U.S. Pacific Islands.