Saving Seafood

NOAA to boaters: Watch out for right whales

September 2, 2020 — Federal fisheries regulators are asking mariners to either go slow or find a route around an area south of Nantucket where groups of right whales have recently been spotted as the endangered mammals migrate.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it established a “dynamic management area” south of Nantucket where “an aggregation of right whales” was seen on Monday. There are estimated to be fewer than 400 right whales remaining on Earth. Boaters are encouraged to slow their vessels to 10 knots or less or to avoid the area altogether.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Reminder: Atlantic Herring Fishery Restrictions in Management Area 1A

September 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries reminds participants in the Atlantic herring fishery that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts implement fishery restrictions, including landing limits, landing days, and spawning closures, on herring landed from herring management area 1A.

Details of these fishery restrictions can be found on the Commission’s Atlantic herring webpage.

NOAA Fisheries revises seafood reporting requirements in wake of Hurricane Laura

September 2, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has announced revised reporting requirements for federal seafood dealers in portions of both Texas and Louisiana through 5 October in response to the damage caused by Hurricane Laura.

In a bulletin released 31 August, NOAA Fisheries identified several Texas counties and Louisiana parishes that will be under new reporting requirements due to the determination of “catastrophic conditions” existing in the area. Hurricane Laura hit Southwest Louisiana in the morning of 27 August, bringing with it 150-mile-per-hour winds.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pink Salmon May Benefit as Pacific Arctic Warms

September 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Pacific Arctic is undergoing a rapid transformation. As temperatures rise and sea ice melts, some species will do better than others. A new study suggests that pink salmon may be one of those species.

“Our results suggest that warming is both increasing freshwater habitat and improving early marine survival of pink salmon in the northern Bering Sea,” said Ed Farley, NOAA Fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, who led the study.

The study provides insight into the response of pink salmon to climate change. The findings are valuable information for commercial and subsistence fisheries, and fishing communities, preparing for future changes.

“Subsistence harvesters would like to know what foods may be available to them now and into the future,” Farley said.

“The importance of fish in Arctic subsistence economies cannot be overstated; they are some of the most commonly eaten foods,” said coauthor Todd Sformo, biologist at the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.

“In the past on the North Slope, salmon have been used for dog food and even considered nuisance fish when interfering with preferred species such as aanaakliq or broad whitefish in the inland rivers. Recently, there seems to be a change both qualitatively and quantitatively in the use of salmon as a main dish and for smoking.

“Participating in this study allowed me to present a subsistence perspective, learn how fellow researchers measure production dynamics, and better understand how pink salmon are responding to climate warming in the northern Bering Sea. While this research is further south than the waters surrounding the North Slope, it is a beginning of our attempt to account for potential change in subsistence fishing.”

Read the full release here

Slow Speed Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

September 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area  or DMA) south of Nantucket.

This DMA was triggered based on an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.

South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through September 15.

41 16 N
40 32 N
069 37 W
070 28 W

Read the full release here

Loggerhead Turtles Record a Passing Hurricane

September 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In early June 2011, NOAA Fisheries researchers and colleagues placed satellite tags on 26 loggerhead sea turtles in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. The tagging was part of ongoing studies of loggerhead movements and behavior. The Mid-Atlantic Bight, off the U.S. East Coast, is the coastal region from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to southern Massachusetts. A little more than 2 months later, on August 28, Hurricane Irene passed through the area, putting 18 of the tagged turtles in its direct path. The researchers were able to track changes in the turtles’ behavior coinciding with the hurricane, and found that they reacted in various ways.

“Hurricanes are some of the most intense weather events loggerheads in the mid-Atlantic experience, and we thought it was worth investigating how turtles in our dataset may be influenced by these dramatic environmental changes,” said Leah Crowe, a contract field biologist at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and lead author of the study published recently in Movement Ecology.  “It was a perfect storm situation in terms of location, timing, and oceanographic conditions. We found that the turtles responded to the changes in their habitat in different ways.”

Satellite tags attached to a turtle’s carapace, or shell, transmitted the turtles’ location and dive behavior. They also  recorded sea-surface temperatures and temperature-depth profiles for approximately 13 months. This enabled the researchers to investigate the movements of 18 juvenile and adult-sized loggerhead turtles and associated oceanographic conditions as the hurricane moved through the region.

Most of the turtles moved northward during the hurricane, aligning themselves with the surface currents — perhaps to conserve energy. Researchers observed longer dive durations after the hurricane for turtles that stayed in their pre-storm foraging areas. Some dives lasted an hour or more, compared with less than 30 minutes for a typical dive before the storm.

The turtles that left their foraging areas after the hurricane passed moved south earlier than would be expected, based on their normal seasonal movements. This change was also more than a month earlier than the typical seasonal cooling in the water column, which is also when the foraging season for loggerhead turtles ends in the Mid-Atlantic Bight.

“Loggerheads experience environmental changes in the entire water column from the surface to the bottom, including during extreme weather events,” said Crowe. “This study was an opportunistic look at turtle behavior during a hurricane. Their behavior makes loggerheads good observers of oceanographic conditions where they forage.”

Read the full release here

Trump Eyes Aquaculture Boom, but Environmentalists Dig In

August 31, 2020 — President Donald Trump wants to dramatically expand aquaculture production in the United States, but a coalition of environmentalists believes his plan would be bad for the oceans, unnecessary for food security and difficult to implement.

Trump’s bid to grow fish farming is designed to address the so-called “seafood deficit,” which refers to the fact that nine-tenths of the seafood Americans eat comes from overseas. The seafood trade gap with other countries approached $17 billion in 2017, according to one federal government report.

The president issued an executive order in May that promised broad changes in how the U.S. regulates fish farming. It included provisions to expedite the development of offshore aquaculture in deep federal waters. That sector of the industry has yet to emerge in the U.S., where most aquaculture takes place near shore where farmers grow salmon, oysters and other popular seafood items.

The Trump administration and the aquaculture industry said the order, which is being implemented now, represents common sense steps to ease the burden of rules on fish farmers. But environmental groups said it threatens to increase pollution and over-development in the ocean at a time when many consumers aren’t buying seafood.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Revised Reporting Requirements for Federal Seafood Dealers in Portions of Texas and Louisiana through October 5, 2020

August 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGE:

  • Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane on August 27, 2020.
  • NOAA Fisheries has determined that catastrophic conditions exist in the following Texas counties and Louisiana Parishes:
    • Texas:
      • Orange, Jefferson, Chambers, Harris, and Galveston
    • Louisiana:
      • Saint Tammany, Orleans, Saint Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, Saint Charles, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Saint Mary, Iberia, Vermilion, and Cameron
  • Therefore, for any federally permitted dealer in the affected area who does not have access to electronic reporting, NOAA Fisheries is authorizing, through October 5, 2020:
    • Delayed reporting of trip tickets to NOAA Fisheries; and
    • The use of paper-based reporting forms for red snapper and grouper-tilefish individual fishing quota (IFQ) participants.
    • Dealers are to report all landings through the state trip ticket program as soon as possible.

MORE INFORMATION:

  • Federal dealers in effected areas are released from the weekly reporting requirement of trip tickets to NOAA Fisheries through October 5, 2020, but must report all landings as soon as possible. For questions, contact the Fisheries Monitoring Branch: 305-361-4581.
  • The electronic systems for submitting landings and IFQ information to NOAA Fisheries will continue to be available to all dealers. Participants shall continue to use the electronic systems if it is accessible.
  • NOAA Fisheries has previously provided IFQ dealers the necessary paper forms and instructions for reporting during catastrophic conditions. Paper forms are also available upon request by calling IFQ Customer Service at the phone number listed above or by writing:
            • NOAA Fisheries
              Southeast Regional Office
              Sustainable Fisheries Division
              263 13th Avenue South
              St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505
  • The IFQ program functions available to participants in the geographic area affected by catastrophic conditions will be limited for those using the paper-based system. There will be no mechanism for transfers of IFQ shares or allocation for those using the paper-based system during catastrophic conditions.
  • Assistance in complying with the requirements of the paper-based system will be available via IFQ Customer Service 1-866-425-7627 Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
  • Regulations implementing dealer reporting and the IFQ programs provide for delayed reporting and IFQ paper-based reporting in the event of catastrophic conditions. These regulations require NOAA Fisheries to determine when the catastrophic conditions exist, the duration of the catastrophic conditions, and which participants or geographic areas are affected.
  • NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor and reevaluate the areas and duration of the catastrophic conditions. A subsequent Fishery Bulletin will be published if additional notice is needed.

Commercial Closure for Red Snapper in South Atlantic Federal Waters on September 5, 2020

August 31, 2020 — 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 5, 2020. During the commercial closure, all sale or purchase of red snapper is prohibited.

All harvest or possession of red snapper in or from federal waters is now prohibited, as the recreational fishing season is also closed for 2020.

WHY THIS CLOSURE IS HAPPENING:

The 2020 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 should close to prevent the annual catch limit from being exceeded.

AFTER THE CLOSURE:

The closure applies in both state and federal waters for vessels that have a federal commercial permit for South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper.

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. on September 5, 2020, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.

Unless specified otherwise, commercial harvest will open on July 12, 2021, for the 2021 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.

Feds shut down Gulf of Maine herring fishery to protect fish population

August 31, 2020 — A major fishery off New England will be slowed down considerably in September in an attempt to protect the fish’s population.

Atlantic herring are the target of a large fishing industry. They’re used for food as well as bait. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the inshore Gulf of Maine’s fishery for herring will be effectively shut down until Sept. 30.

The fishery is being shuttered for the month because fishermen are approaching a quota limit, the agency said. The shutdown began Aug. 23.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News