Saving Seafood

NOAA: Secretary of Commerce allocates $65 million for fishery disasters

February 27, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the allocation of $65 million to communities in Alaska, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and the Yurok Tribe (California) that suffered fishery disasters between 2017 and 2019.

“These funds help impacted fisheries recover from recent disasters and make them more resilient to future challenges,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This allocation supports the hard-working American fishing communities suffering from impacts beyond their control.”

Fisheries play a critical role for coastal economies, providing jobs for fishermen, fish processors, and other related maritime industries. However, fisheries can experience natural disaster events and other circumstances beyond the control of fishery managers, resulting in sudden and unexpected losses within the fishery and leading to serious economic impacts to those who rely on them.

NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding among the eligible disasters. NOAA Fisheries also took into consideration traditional uses that cannot be accounted for in commercial revenue loss alone.

The allocated funds can be used to help the fishing community including commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter businesses, shore-side infrastructure, and subsistence users, as well as improve the fishing ecosystem and environment. These funds will improve the long term economic and environmental sustainability of the impacted fisheries. Activities that can be considered for funding include infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, and job retraining.

In addition, some of the affected fishing communities may be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration or other Federal agencies.

MAINE: Scientists weigh in on whale risk tool

February 27, 2020 — The word is out, almost, on what a panel of independent scientists thinks about the controversial “decision support tool” used by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service last spring when it drafted proposed rules aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales and other large marine mammals from entanglement with fishing gear.

When the fisheries service made its decision last spring on how best to reduce the risk to whales, it relied on a “decision support tool” based on a poll of Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) members, rather than extensive data collected over the years, as to where the whales are found and how much interaction there has been between them and Maine lobster gear. The team includes fishermen, scientists, representatives of conservation organizations and fisheries management officials from the federal government and from every state along the Atlantic Seaboard from Maine to Florida.

Data collected by NOAA show that, since the beginning of 2017, seventy percent of right whale deaths attributable to human-related causes (21) have occurred in Canadian waters while 30 percent (nine) occurred in U.S. waters. Not all of those deaths were clearly attributable to entanglement with fishing gear. Despite the disparity, NOAA insisted that U.S. interests must take steps to reduce the risk to right whales by 50 percent and is calling on Maine lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical lines that connect traps to surface buoys they use by half.

The TRT members from Maine objected to the use of the decision support tool because it had not been subject to the “peer review” process in which an independent panel of experts determines the adequacy of the data and methods to, in this case, form the basis for new management rules.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Rare blue whales spotted 130 miles east of Connecticut

February 27, 2020 — Blue whales have been spotted in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Connecticut shoreline.

This month, researchers from the New England Aquarium surveyed the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, according to a release from the aquarium

Within six hours, the researchers had counted 322 whales and dolphins, including two blue whales.

“As marine mammal researchers, it’s such a thrill to fly in this area and see such a great diversity of animals,” researcher Orla O’Brien said in a release.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association lists blue whales as endangered. The exact population size is not known, but there were only 440 confirmed sightings in the Atlantic Ocean between 1979 and 2009.

Read the full story at the Connecticut Post

NOAA investing in Alaska’s mariculture development

February 27, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is investing resources in Alaska, a move seen helping move the state’s mariculture development forward.

The agency has appointed a Regional Office Mariculture Coordinator for the Alaska region for the first time.

Alaska’s Mariculture Initiative has a goal of building a $100-million industry in 20 years. Among Alicia Bishop’s many tasks as regional coordinator is to bring together stakeholders that will help lay the foundation for achieving that goal.

The head of the Task Force that developed the Initiative said the creation of the coordinator position for Alaska signals NOAA’s commitment to the state.

Read the full story at Aquaculture North America

Abnormally Warm Years Caused a Sea Change in Coastal Alaska Ecosystems

February 27, 2020 — Rapidly warming Alaska is already a poster child for climate change, from its vanishing sea ice to its thawing permafrost. But over the last three years, the state’s northwestern coast has experienced a series of unusual climate-related changes—remarkable even for the long-altered Pacific Arctic.

Beginning in 2017, a combination of abnormally high temperatures and unusually strong, southerly winds swept the Bering and Chukchi seas. An alarming cascade of ecological consequences ensued—record-low sea ice, shifting algae blooms, migrating fish populations and sudden seabird die-offs were just a few.

“Most of my own research is with people living in the coastal communities, so talking to them and hearing about what they’re seeing,” said Henry Huntington, an independent Alaskan researcher and consultant. “And they saw some very unusual things, and things that struck them.”

“Ridiculous” water temperatures and unstable sea ice were among the most common complaints raised in interviews with coastal residents, Huntington noted.

“Adding to that, what we’re hearing from folks on the research cruises, it just became apparent that things were really a lot different from what any of us expected,” he said.

Read the full story at Scientific American

USCG Intercepts Illegal Fishing Vessels Off Guam and Hawaii

February 27, 2020 — For the first time in eight years, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted illegal fishing vessels within American EEZ areas in the Central and Western Pacific. Fishing boat interdiction is a common task for the Coast Guard off the coast of Texas, where Mexican “lancha” fishing boats are routinely intercepted in U.S. waters, but IUU fishing by foreign vessels is almost unheard of in America’s far-flung Pacific Ocean EEZ regions.

“While we’ve seen incursions into the EEZs of partners and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing on the high seas, these are the first interdictions we’ve had in the U.S. EEZ since 2012,” said Lt. Jason Holstead of the Coast Guard’s 14th District, which is responsible for most of the Pacific from Hawaii west. “The combination of partnerships, electronic methods, and putting assets on the scene to catch violators in the act is essential to deterring IUU fishing in Oceania.”

In both cases, the Coast Guard was conducting surveillance flights in the zones off Guam and Hawaii with HC-130 aircraft crews based near Pearl Harbor. Case packages for the intercepts were forwarded to the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement for further action, and the investigations are pending.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

ALASKA: Dutch Harbor stays on top among U.S. fishing ports

February 26, 2020 — Dutch Harbor remained the top fishing port in the U.S. for the 22nd year in a row with 763 million pounds crossing the docks in 2018 valued at $182 million. And Naknek ranked as the nation’s second most valuable port for fishermen with landings worth $195 million. (Naknek also ranked No. 8 for landings at 191 million pounds.)

Empire-Venice, Louisiana, held the second spot for fish volume (569 million). The “Aleutians” was close behind (539 million), thanks to Trident’s plant at Akutan, the largest processing facility in North America. Kodiak fell to fourth place with landings dropping from 530 million pounds to 391 million in 2018.

Those are just a few of the gems in the annual Fisheries of the U.S. Report, described as “a yearbook of fishery statistics on commercial landings and values, recreational fishing, aquaculture production, imports and exports and per capita consumption” by Cisco Werner, chief scientist at NOAA Fisheries, who gave highlights to reporters Friday.

“U.S. fishermen landed 9.4 billion pounds valued at about $5.6 billion, an increase of $150 million, or 2.8% from 2017. That’s on par with recent years with economic benefits both up and down depending on the seafood supply chain,” Werner added.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

NOAA Fisheries Announces Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Quotas for 2020

February 26, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces 2020 fishing year quotas in the Atlantic mackerel, longfin squid, Illex squid, and butterfish fisheries, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This action maintains previously approved catch levels for 2020 for Illex squid, longfin squid, and butterfish, rolls over the 2019 catch level to 2020 for Atlantic mackerel, removes the initial 89 mt river herring and shad catch cap, maintains the 129 mt river herring and shad catch cap, and makes other minor adjustments to the management plan.

For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, and our permit holder bulletin.

Fisheries of the United States, 2018: New Bedford by the Numbers

February 25, 2020 — According to NOAA’s Fisheries of the United States report for 2018, New Bedford is once again the port with the highest value of seafood landed. This is the 19th consecutive year that the Massachusetts port has held the title.

For 2018, New Bedford’s value of seafood landed totaled $431 million. The port truly leads the pack when it comes to value. In the number two spot is Naknek, Alaska, with an overall value of 195 million pounds, which isn’t even half of the value of New Bedford – and Naknek lands 77 million more pounds of seafood than New Bedford.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Commercial fisheries report: Alaska salmon reigns as the top finfish in the nation

February 25, 2020 — According to NOAA’s annual report on commercial fisheries landings, production and value, the top five species in order of value are:

  • Lobster at $684 million
  • Crabs at $645 million
  • Salmon at $598 million
  • Scallops at $541 million
  • Shrimp at $496 million

Alaska produces the overwhelming majority of our nation’s wild salmon landings (more than a third of which comes from the imperiled Bristol Bay region), topping out at just over 650 million pounds of salmon worth $595 million in 2018. That means Alaska salmon alone takes that same spot as the top-value finfish in the nation.

Alaska pollock, which helped lock in Dutch Harbor as the top port by volume for the 22nd year running, is the sixth most valuable species on the list at $451 million in value for 3.4 billion pounds landed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman