Saving Seafood

Northeast Offshore Mussel Farming Would Contribute to American Seafood Competitiveness

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

The first environmental suitability study for blue mussel culture in federal waters off New England’s shore was conducted by scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Milford Laboratory. The study revealed great potential for farming. The scientific team has continued this work, furthering the case for offshore mussel farms in a recent perspectives column in Fisheries Magazine. They have also published findings in Ocean & Coastal Management, examining the risks harmful algal blooms pose to offshore aquaculture.

The Case for Mussels

Milford’s Darien Mizuta and Gary Wikfors suggest that a New England offshore mussel farming industry would be environmentally sustainable and beneficial for food security and the economy. The United States is the world’s top importer of seafood, despite having the second largest Exclusive Economic Zone. In May, the president of the United States signed an executive order promoting American seafood competitiveness and economic growth. The order calls for increasing domestic seafood production, including making aquaculture permitting more efficient and predictable and bolstering aquaculture research.

Mussels are the top imported bivalve shellfish in the United States, currently contributing more than $102 million to the $14 billion U.S. seafood deficit. Close to Canada’s mussel-producing Prince Edward Island, New England is the import epicenter for mussel products, including fresh live mussels, frozen mussels, and prepared mussel dinners.

With advances in mussel farming in the 1990s, the United States began importing more mussels, mostly from Canada. “The success of Prince Edward Island mussel farming has created a new market for mussels in the northeast United States that is growing beyond the production capacity of PEI,” explains Wikfors, who is also the director of the Milford Laboratory, where Darien Mizuta was a postdoctoral researcher.

Read the full release here

Humpback Whale Disentangled Off New York All Thanks to a Team Effort

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

NOAA Fisheries was notified by the U.S. Coast Guard of a distressed humpback whale in the Ambrose Channel of New York on Monday, July 27. One of our New York stranding network partners, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS), immediately began working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) on plans to get a good look at the animal and confirm its location. AMSEAS reached out to the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown, Massachusetts, our lead authorized disentanglement partner for the area, to discuss the situation.

On Monday evening, AMSEAS went out with NYSDEC staff on one of their vessels to the location provided by the USCG. They determined the whale was still alive and able to breathe. It appeared to be anchored in place but staff could not see any entangling material.

After reviewing the initial photos from Monday, AMSEAS and NYSDEC returned to the whale on Tuesday and were able to secure better images confirming the entanglement and its configuration, which were holding the whale’s tail down. After relaying this information back to CCS and NOAA and further assessing the urgent situation, we worked together to plan for a disentanglement attempt.

On Wednesday morning, USCG verified that the whale was still anchored in the same position. CCS disentanglement staff were flown from Massachusetts to New York on a flight donated by our partners at Turtles Fly Too. By Wednesday afternoon, the disentanglement team was able to remove multiple buoys and make cuts through pieces of entangling gear around the whale’s flukes. Despite their best efforts, the whale was still anchored in place, and the team had to leave the whale when it got too dark to continue safely.

Early Thursday morning, the NYSDEC vessels with the AMSEAS and CCS teams were back on the water. The research vessel Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe, from Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, transported a team member from NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Sandy Hook lab to the whale. Working with the R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Drift Collection Vessel HAYWARD, crews used heavy equipment to secure and haul some of the heavy gear, which allowed the CCS team to make cuts that relieved pressure on the whale’s body. Around 4 p.m., final cuts were made releasing the whale from a very large and complicated entanglement.

This event demonstrated the need for a deliberate approach with patience and endurance, and the collaboration of local resources and expertise to support a skilled and experienced disentanglement team.

We are extremely grateful to all of our partners who were involved in what turned out to be one of the most complex whale entanglements we have encountered. Because of them, this whale was given a second chance at life.

Read the full story on our website, including quotes from our partners and a listing of all the organizations involved and their roles.

Read the full release here

University of Maryland receives $300,000 for blue crab research

July 31, 2020 — U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressman Steny H. Hoyer, all D-Md., July 27 announced $299,963 in federal funding for the University of Maryland, College Park for research into a new processing technology that could enhance the competitiveness of the domestic blue crab industry. The funding comes from the 2020 Saltonstall-Kennedy Competitive Grants Program through the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

“Few things are as iconic as the Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and its harvest is a cornerstone of Maryland’s local economies. This grant will expand the competitiveness of domestically produced crab meat in the face of intense foreign competition, and will help unlock new markets for an important Maryland industry,” said the lawmakers.

The U.S. blue crab industry has faced increasing competition from imported products, especially Venezuelan fresh pre-cooked crab, which has a longer shelf life. This has resulted in a major loss of market share for the Maryland seafood industry. This new high-pressure processing technology will extend shelf life of domestic crab products, while improving food safety and expanding market strategies among the seafood industry.

Read the full story at the Dorchester Star

NOAA establishes national-level criteria for observer waivers in wake of criticism

July 31, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced on 30 July that it has identified national-level observer waiver criteria, and that the redeployment of observers in the Northeast U.S. will begin 14 August.

The national criteria comes in the wake of Seafood Harvesters of America calling on NOAA Fisheries earlier this month to develop more consistent policies regarding observer waiver criteria. A letter sent by Seafood Harvesters of America called NOAA’s policy regarding at-sea coverage “inconsistent and unequal.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Awards ~$4 Million in Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grants

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

Today NOAA Fisheries announced almost $4 million of grants awarded through the FY 2020 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grants program.

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 $63.8 million over the past two decades, and our stranding network partners have provided an additional $24.8 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 2020, NOAA Fisheries awarded 43 grants to 40 recipients in 19 states and one tribe, representing marine mammal stranding network partners from every NOAA Fisheries Region. In the Greater Atlantic Region there were 12 awards in 8 states.

Read our web story for more information about this year’s awardees.

Additionally, NOAA is announcing that the application deadline for FY 2021 Prescott grants is October 13, 2020.

NOAA Fisheries Identifies National-Level Observer Waiver Criteria; Will Begin Redeployment in Northeast

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Providing seafood to the country remains an essential function even in these extraordinary times, and adequately monitoring United States fisheries remains an essential part of that process.

To improve transparency in our approach to observer deployment, we have established national-level criteria for vessels to be waived (released) from observer or at-sea monitor coverage. Going forward, observer or monitor coverage may be waived, for both full and partial-coverage fisheries, on a trip-specific basis if one of the following two criteria are met:

(1) Observers or at-sea monitors are not available for deployment; or

(2) The observer providers cannot meet the safety protocols imposed by a state on commercial fishing crew or by the vessel or vessel company on its crew. Within our limited authority, our efforts are intended to ensure observers and monitors are following the same safety protocols that fishermen are following.

We recognize that there are differences for observer and at-sea monitor deployment across fisheries, and have heard the concerns expressed about how observer coverage varies regionally, and even within regions. Given the diversity in our fisheries, from the composition of the fleets to how the fisheries are prosecuted, regional flexibility will continue in the detailed implementation of the two waiver criteria. We believe this adaptable approach will allow us to be transparent with stakeholders as well as responsive to ever-evolving changes on the ground. We also continue to encourage the use of electronic monitoring, as appropriate, as an additional option.

On August 14, we will resume deployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the Northeast partial-coverage fisheries. We are maintaining existing observer and monitor, both at-sea and shoreside, coverage throughout our other regions. Vessels should continue to seek observer and monitor coverage waivers through their regular regional process.

NOAA Fisheries has been working with the regional observer and monitor providers to enact safety protocols that match those that are in effect for vessel operators and crew, during this continually evolving situation. The contractual relationships between industry, NOAA Fisheries, and observer providers vary by region and sometimes within a region.

Observers and monitors, at-sea and shoreside, are an essential component of commercial fishing operations and provide critical information that is necessary to keep fisheries open and to provide sustainable seafood to our nation during this time. We will continue to monitor all local public health notifications, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for updates. We are committed to the health and safety of fishermen, observers, and others while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life.

Chris Oliver
NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator

Read the announcement here

NOAA: number of US stocks on the overfishing list reach record low in 2019

July 30, 2020 — Ninety-three percent of the 321 US fishing stocks where a determination can be made are not subject to overfishing, according to figures released Tuesday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its Fisheries Economics of the United States 2019 report.

The report outlines the status of managed stocks or stock complexes in the US to determine which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.

NOAA Fisheries manages 461 stocks or stock complexes in 46 fishery management plans. Each year, it determine the status of fish stocks and stock complexes through stock assessments. Of 461 stocks and stock complexes, 321 have a known overfishing status and 244 have a known overfished status.

At the end of 2019, there were 22 stocks on the overfishing list and 46 on the overfished list.

Read the full story at IntraFish

New research plan sets the course for NOAA’s ocean acidification science

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA unveiled its new 10-year research roadmap to help the nation’s scientists, resource managers, and coastal communities address acidification of the open ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

“Ocean acidification puts the United States’ $1 billion shellfish industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk,” said Kenric Osgood, Ph.D., chief of the Marine Ecosystems Division, Office of Science and Technology at NOAA Fisheries Service. “Understanding how ocean acidification will affect marine life and the jobs and communities that depend on it is critical to a healthy ocean and blue economy.”

The research plan sets out three major objectives for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes acidification research, and includes regional chapters for coastal zones around the U.S., Great Lakes, territories – including Puerto Rico and American Samoa – and deep ocean regions. The three national research objectives are:

1) Expand and advance observing systems and technologies to improve the understanding of and ability to predict acidification trends and processes;

2) Understand the ways acidification is impacting ecologically and economically important species and the ecosystems they live in, and improve our ability to predict how these ecosystems and species may respond to acidification and other stressors; and

3) Identify and engage stakeholders and partners, assess needs, and generate products and tools that support management decisions, adaptation, and resilience to acidification.

Read the full release here

Sen. Cantwell Criticizes “Slow and Inefficient” Implementation of Fishery Disaster Relief Funding, Calls for Streamlining Process

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Today at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the top Democrat on the committee, highlighted the devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on the seafood sector and called for a streamlining of the fishery disaster process, criticizing the “slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation” of fishery disaster relief by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service.

The fisheries sector makes up 60 percent of Washington state’s 30 billion dollar maritime economy, which supports over 146,000 jobs. In her opening statement, Cantwell discussed how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the seafood industry, resulting in a decrease of $21 million in revenue for West coast fisheries—a 40 percent decline compared to the previous five-year average. In January alone, Washington Dungeness crab fishery saw a 37 percent decline in revenue from the previous year. Overall, U.S. seafood sales have dropped an estimated 95 percent this year.

“Despite this staggering economic data, many fishermen have not been able to access the COVID relief funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Main Street Lending Program, or even qualify for unemployment based on the nature of their businesses and tax structures,” Senator Cantwell said. “USDA food purchase programs have not been able to provide the support for most seafood products, and some USDA programs, including the Farmers to Families Box Program, specifically block wild caught seafood from eligibility to the program, another blow to the industry.”

“That is why I fought so hard to secure $300 million dollars for the seafood sector in the form of grants and other assistance in the CARES Act to address the loophole. Unfortunately, the industry has yet to see a single dollar of relief due to a slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation through NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.”

At the hearing, Cantwell also highlighted legislation she introduced with Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) that would streamline the fishery disaster process. “While this bill was written before COVID, it is clear even now…that this is an important aspect of what we need to be doing,” Senator Cantwell said.

Senator Cantwell has been a long-time leading advocate for fishing communities and sustainable fisheries management. In March, Cantwell secured $300 million in economic relief for fishermen suffering from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $50 million for Washington fishermen, from the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In May, Cantwell successfully ensured the release of more than $8.4 million in fishery disaster funds to Washington state communities and Tribes. Cantwell has advocated for reforms to the fisheries disaster process to ensure that small business charter fisherman are included in the Disaster Relief Recovery Act, and throughout her time in the Senate Cantwell has worked with her colleagues to help securefunding for fishing communities impacted by federally-declared disasters.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s opening statement can be found HERE and audio HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses can be found HERE and audio HERE.

NOAA Committee: Public Engagement on Wind Development ‘Not Sufficient’; Reforms Needed

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — July 30, 2020 — NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) has offered new recommendations to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on how to improve community engagement and address other long-terms potential impacts of offshore wind development. The recommendations come as the MAFAC, which regularly provides advice to the Secretary of Commerce on marine issues, has raised concerns about the “rapid pace” of development and questions about its long-term consequences.

In its report, the MAFAC calls for, among other changes, the offshore wind development process to be reformed to allow for early, meaningful engagement from fishermen and affected communities; greater analysis of the long-term impact of wind energy projects on fish species and marine environments; and additional funding for scientific research on wind projects and surrounding habitats.

“The Committee’s work demonstrates clearly the urgent need to address the issues that have resulted from the rapid expansion of offshore wind energy development on the East Coast, and the reality that the federal government’s BOEM has initiated planning for a similar scale of development on the West Coast, Hawaii, and the Gulf of Mexico,” said MAFAC Committee Co-Chair Peter Moore, a former commercial fisherman and marine fisheries consultant. “We’re hopeful that Commerce Department leadership will closely follow the recommendations and will continue to be responsive to the needs of fishermen and coastal communities.”

The MAFAC has been developing these recommendations since last year, when a working group was formed in spring 2019 following concerns from affected groups that offshore development was moving too quickly, and that the views of coastal communities were being left out of the process. The Committee had earlier expressed its concerns in a November 2019 letter to Secretary Ross. The new report expands on these concerns and offers ways to address them in future wind development projects.

The report notes that offshore wind is poised for a massive expansion: 10 percent of the offshore shelf from Massachusetts to North Carolina is currently under some stage of consideration for development. Citing this potential expansion, MAFAC writes that they are concerned that development is “racing forward” without addressing critical scientific, economic, and engagement issues.

Among these issues is how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and other agencies deal with public engagement. The MAFAC report states current engagement efforts “have not been sufficient” in engaging fishermen and other ocean users, and as a result there is “distrust and anger based on a perceived lack of transparency and input into the planning process.”

“After months of work and research we came to the conclusion that most of the fishing industry impacted felt left out of the process, and their concerns were not being addressed. This has the potential to greatly diminish fishery revenues, and the impacts to ecosystems and habitat remains a big question,” said Mike Okoniewski, the West Coast co-chair on the MAFAC Offshore Wind Ad Hoc Working Group. “We do not wish to lose our sustainable fisheries to another sustainable resource. Nor do we want to see these projects take place without a transparent and comprehensive environmental scoping.”

Lack of information on the long-term effects of wind energy construction is another key issue highlighted in the report. Officials need a better understanding of how wind projects affect habitats, what changes will need to be made to scientific surveys to account for wind energy construction, and the cumulative impact that the construction will have on the marine environment.

“Like a pebble in a pond, these impacts are likely to ripple throughout the ecosystem and affect the lives and livelihoods of all ocean users,” the report states.

The report also raises concerns about how expanding wind energy will impact NOAA’s ability to conduct scientific surveys. Construction will potentially impact how current surveys are conducted, which may increase uncertainty in the assessment results and impact how quotas are set.

This will also create the need for new surveys to make sure that wind projects are developed appropriately and their potential impacts are measured, increasing the amount of resources that NOAA scientists and personnel need to dedicate to wind-related issues. The report labels this a “multi order-of-magnitude increase of demand on the agency’s resource base,” and warns that an increase in funding and available resources will be needed.

The full report, including all of the MAFAC’s recommendations, is available here.