Saving Seafood

NEFMC June 28-30, 2022 Hybrid Meeting – Listen Live, View Documents

June 21, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day hybrid meeting from Tuesday, June 28 through Thursday, June 30, 2022.  This will be an in-person meeting in Portland, ME, coupled with a webinar option for individuals who cannot or prefer not to attend in person.

COVID PROTOCOLS:  The Council continues to follow all public safety measures related to COVID-19 and intends to do so for this meeting.  Please participate remotely if you are experiencing COVID symptoms or do not feel well.  Updates will be posted on the meeting webpage as needed.

START TIME:  9:00 a.m. each day.  The webinar will end shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

HUDSON CANYON:  Under Other Business on Thursday, June 30, 2022, the Council will receive a presentation from the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries on NOAA’s initiation of the scoping process to consider designating a national marine sanctuary in the Hudson Canyon area.  The Council will discuss and approve scoping comments, which are due August 8, 2022.

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITIES:  The Council wants to hear from you.  Here’s how you can let the Council know what you think.

  • WRITE A LETTER:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 23, 2022.  Please note that written comments mustaddress items listed on the agenda for this meeting.
  • TALK TO THE COUNCIL:  You’ll be able to address the Council directly through two different avenues:
  1. By commenting on motions at the discretion of the Council chair (if commenting remotely, raise your hand on the webinar and unmute yourself when called upon); and
  2. By speaking during the open period for public comment.  Here are the Guidelines for Providing Public Comment.
  • OPEN PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT:  On Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 2:45 p.m., the Council will offer the public an opportunity to provide comments on issues relevant to Council business but not listed on this agenda.  Given the Council’s busy meeting schedule, we ask that you limit remarks to 3-5 minutes.
    • SIGN UP:  Interested in speaking?  If attending in person, fill out the sign-up sheet on the table at the entrance to the Council meeting room.  To speak remotely, email Janice Plante at jplante@nefmc.org to get on the list.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

  • Here are instructions in the Remote Participation Guide for successfully joining and participating in the webinar.
  • THIS IS KEY!  If you want to speak during opportunities for public comment, you need to: (1) register for the webinar; and (2) actually “join” the webinar.  People who call in by telephone without joining the webinar will be in listen-only mode.  Those who take both steps – register and then join the webinar – will see the meeting screen and be able to click on a “raise hand” button, which will let the meeting organizer know you want to be unmuted to speak.
  • We have a Help Desk in case you get stuck joining the webinar or have trouble along the way.  Phone numbers are listed on the Help Desk Poster, or just email helpdesk@nefmc.org and we’ll get right back to you.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone without joining the webinar, dial +1 (562) 247-8422.  The access code is 308-632-643.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.  Remember, you will not be able to speak if you do not first join the webinar as described above.  This phone number provides a “listen-only” option without the webinar component.

AGENDA:  All meeting materials and the agenda are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC June 28-30, 2022 meeting.  Additional documents will be posted as they become available.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

COUNCIL MEETING QUESTIONS:  Anyone with questions prior to or during the Council meeting should contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

Letter: Act brings fishermen back to grant process

June 16, 2022 — The president just signed a bill, passed by the Senate and House, regarding Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant funds.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer select those who apply. This bill will create an advisory panel as there was in 1954. The American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act brings back the board of experts, with members chosen regionally and across all sectors of the fishing industry, to bring fishermen back into the process of identifying needs and funding priorities. Up to now NOAA has had complete control [over who] would receive these funds.

Read the full letter at the Gloucester Times

Celebrating Pride Month with NOAA Fisheries

June 15, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries is proud to join the nation in recognizing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ (LGBTQ+) Pride Month to commemorate the many contributions of LGBTQ+ colleagues. This celebration throughout June is held to increase the awareness of LGBTQ+ history and contributions of individuals who are a part of this community.

Explore the features below to learn more about a new employee resource group created to provide a safe space for all. Get a closer look at the work of staff members throughout the country who help achieve our mission of ensuring sustainable fisheries and conserving marine species for future generations.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

New restrictions on ships to protect whales coming soon

June 10, 2022 — Federal authorities spent the past few years analyzing rules for the shipping industry and are now close to releasing fresh guidelines to help protect a vanishing species of whale.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been reviewing the speed regulations it uses to protect North Atlantic right whales, and according to spokesperson Allison Ferreira, the agency will publish new proposed rules within the coming weeks. A public comment process would follow.

Environmentalists have long pushed for stricter shipping rules to protect the whales, which number less than 340 and are vulnerable to collisions with large ships. They’ve fallen in population in recent years due to high mortality and poor reproduction.

Read the full story at ABC News

Biden proposes making underwater canyon off New York a marine sanctuary

June 9, 2022 — Long ago, the retreat of ice age glaciers carved one of the largest underwater canyons in the world into the seabed about 100 miles from New York City. Now, hundreds of species live there, including sperm whales, sea turtles and deep-sea corals.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it intends to designate the area a new national marine sanctuary, which would give it some of the same protections afforded to national parks.

The Hudson Canyon — spanning nearly 7½ miles wide and more than two miles deep in some places — rivals the Grand Canyon in scale. The push to add it to the National Marine Sanctuary System reflects the Biden administration’s broader effort to safeguard critical habitat threatened by development and global warming by conserving 30 percent of the nation’s land and waters by 2030.

“A sanctuary near one of the most densely populated areas of the Northeast U.S. would connect diverse communities across the region to the ocean and the canyon in new and different ways,” Rick Spinrad, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said in a statement. “As someone who grew up in New York City and went on to a career in ocean science, I am excited about how this amazing underwater environment can inspire shared interest in conserving our ocean.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

New federal regulations on lobster fishing in effect, aimed at protecting endangered whale species

June 9, 2022 — Statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show less than 350 endangered North Atlantic Right Whales still exist. The new regulations that went into effect for fishermen on May 1 aim to help those numbers increase.

Besides closures – which dictate specific areas in federal and state waters where fishermen cannot fish during certain times of the year due to whale activity – it also includes the need for using weak rope that breaks on contact.

Fishermen also have to mark gear so if it does get wrapped around a whale, it can be identified.

“This is actually weak rope, but I actually have to have a one-foot green mark on it,” Rob Martin said. Martin has been lobster fishing in these waters off Cape Cod in Massachusetts for more than four decades.

He said changing the rope and following the new regulations takes time.

“It’s a lot of man-hours to do,” Martin said.

Read the full story at ABC 7 Denver

Lobster industry and lawmakers await court decision to determine legality of new restrictions

June 8, 2022 — Maine and Massachusetts harvest more than 90% of the American lobsters sold in the U.S. and most lobstermen and New England lawmakers want to keep it that way.

Over the past year, a dispute over new federal regulations on Maine’s lobster industry, intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, have become heated as Maine’s lobster industry fights to protect the livelihoods of its workforce.

Mike Sargent, who became the captain of his own boat at 15, told Spectrum News Maine that things haven’t been too bad since the restrictions went into effect in May.

“Yes, it’s an added expense and something I’ll look into as I rewrite my business model for this year and for years in the future. But, it’s not a deal breaker yet,” said Sargent, who grew up in Milbridge and is now part of an advocacy campaign called Lobster from Maine.

The 29-year-old is worried, however, that if regulations adopted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2021 are ruled lawful by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, that more expensive and stricter regulations could follow.

Read the full story at Spectrum News 1

Biden pitches Atlantic coast ‘Grand Canyon’ as marine sanctuary

June 8, 2022 — The White House today endorsed designating the Atlantic coast’s largest undersea canyon as one of the nation’s next underwater parks, but stopped short of enacting immediate protections that could guard the “ecological hotspot” from commercial fishing, energy development or other threats.

The Biden administration announced it will begin the process for safeguarding the Hudson Canyon — which sits 100 miles off the coasts of New York and New Jersey and rivals the Grand Canyon in scale — in a series of actions to mark today’s World Oceans Day.

In addition to kicking off the designation of a new national marine sanctuary, the White House vowed to develop a “whole-of-government Ocean Climate Action Plan” on ocean-based climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

NOAA will oversee the designation process for the Hudson Canyon, which would become part of an existing group of 15 underwater parks that includes both freshwater and ocean sites.

But that process, which includes public comment, the drafting of environmental impact statements and management plans, and potential rulemaking, is not a swift one, with a final decision taking two to three years.

Bob Vanasse, executive director of industry group Saving Seafood, praised the decision to utilize the sanctuaries act rather than take executive action.

“I appreciate that they are using the Marine Sanctuaries Act to do this, which allows input from affected ocean users and will allow for actual science to be considered, which is exactly why we objected to and continue to object to the marine monument designation,” Vanasse said, referring to the ongoing legal battle over the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts site (E&E News PM, Oct. 8, 2021).

Last fall, Biden restored commercial fishing prohibitions to the Atlantic Ocean monument that former President Donald Trump had struck down in 2020.

Read the full story at E&E News

 

$25.2 million for emergency coastal resilience

June 6, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Communications:

Contact

Jennie Lyons, jennie.lyons@noaa.gov, 202-603-9372

Rob Blumenthal, rob.blumenthal@nfwf.org, 202-857-0166

June 6, 2022

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in partnership with NOAA, today announced $25.2 million in grants to help coastal communities affected by hurricanes and wildfires in 2020 or 2021 increase their resilience to future natural disasters. The new grants will leverage $4.9 million in additional funding to generate a total conservation impact of $30.1 million.

Sixteen projects will help communities better withstand natural disasters and recover more quickly afterwards, all while improving habitat for fish and wildlife. Restoring and protecting natural systems will help protect coastal communities from the impacts of storms, floods, sea-level rise inundation, erosion and wildfires.

“Coastal communities around the country are feeling the effects of climate change in profound ways,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator. “These grants are strategic investments designed to help communities become more resilient in the face of persistent change and will help build a Climate-Ready Nation.”

“The projects funded through this program showcase the interconnectedness of coastal habitats and human communities in the face of a changing climate,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “With this funding, natural systems will play a key part in bolstering these areas against future natural disasters, benefiting both people and wildlife.”

Congress granted the funding through the FY 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. NFWF is leveraging these funds with additional support from the Bezos Earth Fund.

Projects selected are employing a number of different nature-based activities that support wildlife such as wetland habitat restoration, living shoreline construction, dam removal and wildfire fuels reduction. Communities across 10 states will benefit from this work, and, when fully implemented, these projects will also benefit over 60,000 acres of habitat.

This grant slate represents the second slate of Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund projects administered by NFWF in partnership with NOAA, the first having been awarded in 2020 in response to the storms and wildfires of 2018.

Grant projects will take place in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey and New York.

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 6,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $7.4 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.

About the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Climate, weather and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources. See how NOAA science, services and stewardship benefit your community: Visit noaa.gov for our latest news and features, and join us on social media.

 

NOAA seeks input on Gulf of Mexico aquaculture sites, including 3 off Florida

June 6, 2022 — When a Hawaii-based aquaculture business proposed a demonstration fish farm project in federal waters off of Sarasota County in 2019, residents along the Gulf Coast voiced concerns about potential environmental impacts — including its potential to exacerbate red tide blooms.

Now, the federal government is considering allowing commercial aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico — including areas offshore of Collier, Sarasota and Pinellas counties — and is seeking public input as it crafts an assessment of impacts from the sites.

The first of three virtual public meetings on the proposal is scheduled for June 8. Written comments will be accepted through Aug. 1.

Read the full story at the Sarasota Herald-Tribute