Saving Seafood

Georgia Fishing Industry Now Eligible to Apply for CARES Act Financial Assistance

September 11, 2020 — Georgia is ready to distribute nearly $2 million in funds to commercial fishermen, wholesale dealers, and others in the seafood industry who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27. The CARES Act included $300 million in fisheries assistance funding, but it wasn’t until May that NOAA even released a breakdown of the funds by state, tribe and territory. With growing frustration from those affected by the pandemic, states have been working out how to distribute the federal relief aid. As SeafoodNews confirmed last month, Massachusetts announced that they were finally able to move forward with dispersing the money. And now, it seems like Georgia is ready to join them.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NOAA Announces an Increase in the Commercial Scup Quota and Possession Limit for the 2020 Winter II Period (October 1-December 31)

September 11, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

As authorized by the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan, we are transferring 4,850,963 lb of unused quota from the Winter I commercial scup fishery to the Winter II fishery. This results in a revised Winter II commercial scup quota of 8,394,299 lb.

We are also increasing the commercial scup possession limit for the Winter II season to 24,000 lb, per trip (from 12,000 lb), based on the amount of quota being rolled over from Winter I to Winter II.

When state and federal possession limits are different, fishermen with both state and federal permits are required to abide by the more restrictive of the two.

For more details, read the Federal Register notice as filed today, and the bulletin on our website.

NOAA Fisheries Awards $2.3M to Support Bycatch Reduction Projects

September 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Bycatch reduction is a top priority for NOAA Fisheries and this week the agency announced over $2.3 million in grants to support 13 projects under our Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. This year’s projects focus on priority bycatch issues related to a variety of species, including whales, turtles, sharks, sablefish, and flounders. Left unaddressed, bycatch can contribute to overfishing, can threaten endangered and threatened species and protected marine mammals, and can close fisheries, significantly impacting U.S. economic growth. Three projects in the Northeast were chosen for funding.

NOAA Fisheries’ Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program has resulted in innovative technological solutions to some of the nation’s top bycatch challenges. We are proud to continue to partner with fishermen, fishery managers, industry, and the environmental community to avoid and minimize bycatch.

For more information about this year’s recipients and selected projects visit our website.

Atlantic King Mackerel Trip Limits Double in the Atlantic Southern Zone

September 9, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries announces a final rule to implement Framework Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region (Framework Amendment 8), which increases the Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in federal waters off Florida.

Effective Date: September 9, 2020

SUMMARY OF CHANGES:

  • The rule increases the Season 2 (October-end of February) Atlantic king mackerel trip limit in Federal waters of the Atlantic Southern Zone, beginning on October 1, 2020.
  • For Season 2 between the Flagler/Volusia, Florida county line and the Miami-Dade/Monroe, Florida county line, the trip limit is 100 fish.

FORMAL FEDERAL REGISTER NAME/NUMBER: 85 FR 55592, published September 9, 2020.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

LOUISIANA: Trump administration moves forward with Gulf fish farming plan despite court decision

September 9, 2020 — Floating cages with fish by the thousands may be popping up in the Gulf of Mexico after all.

President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to start an offshore aquaculture industry in the Gulf despite a federal appeals court ruling last month that appeared to block it.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided on Aug. 3 that the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration does not have the authority to set rules for offshore fish farms. Environmental and commercial fishing groups celebrated the decision, calling it a landmark victory in a long battle to prevent aquaculture in federal waters.

But NOAA and other federal regulators say the ruling won’t halt plans they are carrying out in accordance with an executive order Trump signed in May that aims to remove regulatory barriers impeding aquaculture. The Trump administration says offshore fish farming will broaden markets for the seafood industry and help meet growing demand for fish.

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Computers Now “See” Animals on the Ocean Bottom

September 8, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s annual sea scallop research survey uses a towed sampling device called the HabCam. It collects approximately 5 million images of the ocean bottom off the Northeast United States. Scientists and volunteers then manually examine an astonishing 100,000 of these images, roughly 2 percent of the number gathered. They focus on identifying just four targets: sea scallops, fish, crabs, and whelks.

So, a wealth of data is going uncollected owing to the sheer volume available and just how labor-intensive pulling it out of images can be.

Researchers have turned toward finding ways for machines to help identify sea life in these images, faster and more efficiently than humans can. This would improve population data for sea scallops. By more thoroughly examining each image, all kinds of information about other sea life and their habitats can also be captured.

Enter Dvora Hart, an operations research analyst at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Hart has been at the forefront of estimating sea scallop populations numbers from images taken by devices like the HabCam. The upcoming 2020 sea scallop assessment will once again use improved population data collected from images.

“HabCam gives us photos of animals in their natural environment without disturbing them; however, much of the information in the images is not collected because human annotators can only mark a small percentage of the available images,” said Hart. “Automated annotators can mark all the images and, given proper training, can identify a multitude of different targets—not just sea scallops, fish, crabs and whelks.”

Hart is part of an interdisciplinary team that developed the world’s first advanced automated image analysis software for the marine environment. The Video and Image Analytics for the Marine Environment, VIAME for short, uses convolutional neural networks—a recent advance in artificial intelligence. These networks  teach computers to recognize species and features of their habitats in the images taken by the HabCam.

The work is so significant that Hart and her team won a 2019 Department of Commerce gold medal for their work. This recognition is the highest honor award offered to department employees.

Read the full release here

NOAA’s Sea Grant program announced USD 2 million in support of US lobster

September 8, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries’ Sea Grant has announced a grant of USD 2 million (EUR 1.68 million) to support the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative.

The grant is intended, according to a release from NOAA, to “address scientific and stakeholder needs associated with this important fishery.” The nine research projects earning funding are focused gaps in scientific knowledge about how the American lobster is being impacted by environmental changes.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Do River Channels Always Change When Dams Are Removed? It Depends

September 8, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Dams are constructed for many purposes, including energy generation, water supply, flood control, and recreation. Dams can also impact the environment, both when they’re built and again when they’re removed. Researchers from the University of Maine, U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA collaborated to determine what happens to the shape of rivers when a dam is removed. They found that the changes can be minimal under specific geologic and site conditions.

For more information about this study read our web story or the online journal article.

2020 Meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Consultative Committee

September 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is announcing the 2020 meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Consultative Committee. This meeting is held annually to ensure that the interests of U.S. stakeholders in the fisheries of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are adequately represented at the Annual Meeting of the Organization.  NAFO Consultative Committee members and all other interested U.S. stakeholders are invited to attend.

Date:

The meeting will be held September 9, 2020, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST.

How to Attend:

The meeting will be held virtually via Webex.  Please visit the events page for additional information.

For Additional Information Contact:

Shannah Jaburek, Regional Office,  978-282-8456

Seeking Nominations for Candidates for the Marine Mammal Atlantic Scientific Review Group

September 4, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries published a Federal Register Notice on September 3, 2020 soliciting nominations to three independent marine mammal scientific review groups.

The three independent regional scientific review groups, covering Alaska, the Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico), and the Pacific (including Hawaii), were established under section 117(d) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to provide advice on a range of marine mammal science and management issues.

We would like your assistance to identify qualified candidates for the Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico) review group. We are seeking individuals with expertise in one or more of the following priority areas (not in order of priority): Protected species conservation, wildlife management, and policy/science interface especially in the non-governmental sector; line-transect methodology, mark-recapture methods, survey design, and quantitative ecology; life history and ecology, particularly large cetaceans and delphinid species; Gulf of Mexico cetacean population dynamics; Southeast U.S. cetaceans; Northeast U.S. Large Marine Ecosystem (LME); marine mammal health, physiology, energetics, and toxicology; genetics; fishing gear and practices, particularly fisheries with marine mammal bycatch, fishery bycatch estimation, and bycatch reduction; ecosystem climate impacts; and manatees.

As you consider nominating candidates, please remember

  • A Scientific Review Group member cannot be a registered Federal lobbyist or foreign agent;
  • Service is without pay, except for reimbursable travel and related expenses; and
  • Individuals serve for a term of three years, for no more than three consecutive terms if re-appointed.

Nominations are due by October 5, 2020.