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.
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.
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
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
Nominations are due by October 5, 2020.
September 3, 2020 — For the second straight year, $2 million has been awarded for lobster research in the Gulf of Maine. Four of the nine NOAA Sea Grant projects will be conducted by Maine organizations, totaling $559,181 in funding for Maine-based research projects.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, announced the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative funding on Thursday, saying, “This critical federal funding will build on their efforts to support the health of Maine’s lobster fishery and help ensure its continued success.”
The $2 million will support Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank American lobster research priorities, which is aimed at understanding how environmental changes are affecting American lobster in the Gulf of Maine.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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