Saving Seafood

Study Shows Climate Change Could Be Altering the Marine Food Web

September 28, 2021 — Climate change is redistributing biodiversity globally, and distributional shifts of organisms often follow the speed and direction of environmental changes. Research by scientists at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) reveals that this phenomenon is affecting where large marine mammals are distributed relative to their prey species, which could have important implications for marine food web dynamics. Their findings are published in Scientific Reports.

Marine mammals (endotherms), such as whales and dolphins, are often assumed to shift their movements and distribution in response to warming waters more slowly than their ectothermic prey, such as fish and squid, whose growth and productivity is directly impacted by water temperature. Since marine mammals are large, highly mobile and occur across wide geographic ranges, distributional shifts in these species are difficult to quantify. In this study, data from fisheries bycatch and stranding events is used to examine changes in the distribution of long-finned pilot whales and their prey relative to climate velocity in a rapidly warming region of the Northwest Atlantic.

Read the full story from Stony Brook University

 

NMFS funding $2.2 million for bycatch reduction projects

September 17, 2021 — NMFS funding $2.2 million for bycatch reduction projects. Federal officials announced $2.2 million in funding is being awarded to partners around the U.S. to support innovative research through the NMFS Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

Incidental bycatch of non-target fish, protected marine mammals and sea turtles “can have significant biological, economic, and social impacts,” NMFS said in announcing the awards.

“Preventing and reducing bycatch is a shared goal of fisheries managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community. Working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats we’ve developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation’s fisheries.”

At the top of this year’s list are projects to develop so-called ropeless gear for the Northeast lobster and other fixed-gear fisheries, to reduce entanglement incidents with the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale population, recently estimated to number less than 400 animals.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Potential Groundfish Sector Monitoring Providers

September 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

If your company is not currently an approved at-sea monitoring (ASM) and/or electronic monitoring (EM) provider and you would like to provide monitoring services to groundfish sectors in fishing year 2022 (May 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023), you must submit an application by October 15, 2021.  Companies already approved to provide ASM or EM services in fishing years 2021 and 2022 do not need to apply again in order to provide those services in 2022.  Companies not already approved to provide either ASM or EM services in fishing years 2021 and 2022 need to apply for approval for the respective service in 2022.

Applications must include a cover letter and the information and statements identified in the regulations at 50 CFR 648.87(b)(4).  In your cover letter, please specify whether you are interested in providing ASM services, EM services, or both.  Companies interested in providing both ASM and EM services must develop separate ASM and EM deployment plans to meet the service provider performance standards (§ 648.87(b)(4)(ii)(A)).

We will review your application in accordance with the third-party monitoring provider standards (§ 648.87(b)(4) and (5)).  Please review the regulations describing ASM and EM provider and operational standards carefully, including the requirements for signed statements.  Approvals will cover fishing year 2022, and final decisions will be published in the Federal Register.  There will be a future opportunity to apply for a two-year approval for fishing years 2023 and 2024.

Please use Kiteworks, a secure file-sharing service, to submit the requested documents by October 15, 2021, to Claire Fitz-Gerald and Kyle Molton.  If you need help creating a Kiteworks account, please contact Claire Fitz-Gerald for assistance. The bulletin announcement can be found here.

 

NOAA Fisheries Will Announce Over $3.7 Million of Grants Awarded Through the FY 2021 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grants Program

September 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

These Prescott Grants support a core mission of NOAA Fisheries— the conservation and recovery of protected marine species—by helping to improve our national marine mammal stranding response capabilities. Through this program, we have provided $67.5 million over the past two decades, and our stranding network partners have provided, at minimum, an additional $28.3 million in matching funds, to build a strong network of over 100 trained, professional partners. These trained professionals and volunteers provide valuable environmental intelligence as they respond to marine mammals in distress, helping NOAA establish links among the health of marine mammals, coastal ecosystems, and coastal communities.

For FY 2021, NOAA Fisheries awarded 55 grants to 50 recipients in 19 states and one tribe, representing marine mammal stranding network partners from every NOAA Fisheries Region. Additional information about this successful program can be found here.

Regional breakdown of the FY 2021 Prescott Grant awards (detailed table below):

  • Greater Atlantic Region: 11 awards (total $913,262)
  • Southeast Region: 10 awards (total $675,124)
  • West Coast Region: 21 awards (total $1,223,913)
  • Alaska Region: 4 awards (total $243,070)
  • Pacific Islands Region: 2 awards (total $195,000)
  • National: 7 awards (total $465,102) are for projects that meet national research or services needs (diagnostics, tagging, etc.) across regions.

Additionally, NOAA is announcing that the application deadline for FY 2022 Prescott grants is October 13, 2021.

 

$14.7 Million NOAA Marine Debris Grant Includes Mid-Atlantic Projects

September 13, 2021 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is tackling the growing issue of marine debris, funding cleanup and research projects nationwide. A $7.3 million grant is matched to a total of $14.7 million—which will make 25 different projects possible, including some in the Bay region.

Of the funding, about $1.4 million will support five marine debris research projects, including one in Maryland and one in Delaware. The grantees will “investigate and identify the critical input pathways for marine debris introduction into the coastal zone,” NOAA says.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

 

Red Snapper Season Closes in South Atlantic Federal Waters on September 14

September 13, 2021 — A NOAA bulletin confirmed that the commercial harvest of red snapper in federal waters of the South Atlantic will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on September 14, 2021.

During the closure, the sale or purchase of red snapper is prohibited. The harvest/possession of red snapper in or from South Atlantic federal waters is now prohibited, as the recreational fishing season is also closed for 2021.

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule to Implement the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment

September 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries proposes measures for Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), as adopted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The purpose of this comprehensive amendment is to update the FMP with the best scientific information available and to respond to changes in the fishery over time. Specifically, this action proposes to:

  • Update the Bluefish FMP goals and objectives from those that were initially established in 1991, to better reflect the current fishery.
  • Re-allocate bluefish quota between fishery sectors; allocating 14 percent to the commercial fishery and 86 percent to the recreational fishery.
  • Re-allocate bluefish commercial quota to the states from Maine to Florida based on recent 10 years of landings data including a 0.1-percent minimum default allocation. This change in commercial allocation to the states would be phased in equally over a period of seven years, so each state would only experience 1/7th percent of the change in allocation until 2028.
  • Implement a 7-year rebuilding plan.
  • Revise the sector quota transfer measures to allow quota to be transferred in either direction (from commercial to recreational sector or vice versa), with a revised maximum transfer cap of 10-percent of the acceptable biological catch.
  • Revise how management uncertainty is accounted for in the specifications process. Currently, the fishery-level annual catch limit may be reduced by a buffer to account for sources of management uncertainty before quota is allocated to the fishery sectors. This amendment proposes that management uncertainty to be applied separately within each sector, after the sector split.

For more information, read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. 

The comment period is open through October 13, 2021.

 

Bipartisan group of 151 Maine legislators call on Biden to rescind new lobster fishing regulations

September 10, 2021 — State legislators have submitted a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that his administration take steps to immediately rescind new regulations on lobster fishing.

The new regulations, which are intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, were announced on Aug. 30 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Maine lawmakers are now asking federal agencies to re-engage with the state of Maine to find a different path forward. Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, a lobster fisherman, initiated the letter. It includes signatures from 151 Republican, Democrat, and Independent state legislators from across Maine.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

Commercial Closure for Red Snapper in South Atlantic Federal Waters on September 14, 2021

September 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What/When:

  • The commercial harvest of red snapper in federal waters of the South Atlantic will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on September 14, 2021. During the commercial closure, all sale or purchase of red snapper is prohibited.
  • All harvest or possession of red snapper in or from South Atlantic federal waters is now prohibited, as the recreational fishing season is also closed for 2021.

Why This Closure is Happening:

  • The commercial catch limit is 124,815 pounds whole weight. Commercial landings are projected to reach the commercial catch limit. According to the accountability measure, harvest must close to prevent the commercial catch limit from being exceeded.

After the Closure:

  • The closure applies in both state and federal waters for vessels that have a federal commercial or charter vessel/headboat permit for South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper, regardless of where such fish are harvested or possessed, i.e.,in state or federal waters.
  • The prohibition on sale or purchase during a closure for red snapper does not apply to fish that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, on September 14, 2021, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • Unless specified otherwise, commercial harvest will open on July 11, 2022, for the 2022 commercial fishing season.

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#se50.12.622_1193.