Saving Seafood

Oyster Restoration Investments Net Positive Returns for Economy and Environment

February 25, 2025 — A report by the North Carolina Coastal Federation shows that NOAA and our partners’ investment in oyster restoration produces almost double the amount in economic and environmental benefits. The economic report (PDF, 43 pages) found that for every $1 spent on oyster reef restoration, the state sees $1.70 in return. Independent researchers from RTI International assessed the value of restoring the 400-acre Senator Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network in Pamlico Sound.

“Investing in oyster reef restoration means investing in all of the benefits these reefs provide and the benefits of the restoration work itself,” says NOAA Marine Habitat Resource Specialist Stephanie Krug. “This report is vital in telling that story.”

Economic Benefits of Restoration

Between 2013 and 2023, NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, and local partners invested $20 million building the sanctuary network. This work:

  • Supported 143 jobs
  • Generated $34 million* in revenue for North Carolina businesses
  • Provided $8.7 million* in employee wages and benefits

*All monetary figures in 2023 dollars

“This work is a good shot in the arm for a lot of local businesses,” says Will Hollowell, Operations Manager at Stevens Towing Company of North Carolina. The local family-owned Stevens Towing transports and deploys the limestone, granite, and other materials used as a base for oyster reef restoration in the sanctuary network. During the spring and summer months, Stevens Towing employs 10 to 15 skilled contractors to carry out the work.

“There are the local quarries that supply the rock and the truck drivers that haul 43,000 tons of rock to our location. They need fuel, and they need lunch. Our tugboats burn 1,000 gallons of locally purchased fuel a day, and I buy roughly $3,000 worth of provisions and supplies every 2 weeks. That’s a good boost to these rural areas.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Alaska fisheries observers experience harassment at much higher than reported rates, study says

February 21, 2025 — Fisheries observers in Alaska face workplace harassment, intimidation and assault at much higher rates than are reported, but the true prevalence is unknown as incidents largely go unreported, according to a new multiyear study.

Observers work alongside fishing crews to document scientific fisheries data essential to fisheries management, nontargeted species harvested as bycatch, and potential law violations of commercial fisheries operations, as mandated by federal law. Observers’ assignments can be aboard vessels or onshore locations such as harbors or processing plants, and can range from a few days to several weeks at sea.

The study focused on observers working in Alaska’s North Pacific groundfish and halibut fishery, which spans from the Bering Sea, to the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska — the largest fisheries monitoring program in the United States.

“Observers find themselves labeled by industry members as ‘fish cops’ or ‘snitches,’ have been subject to intimidation, harassment, and assault (including sexual assault and rape), and have even gone missing at sea,” according to research cited in the study.

Study results estimate 45% of those who experienced harassment disclosed the issue in a given year, and that true prevalence of harassment varied from 22% to 38% of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observers each year.

Researchers with the Alaska office of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and special agents at the Alaska Office of Law Enforcement, conducted the study from 2016 to 2022. Researchers say this is the first study to estimate rates of victimization and disclosure in a fisheries observer program.

“The goal of the project was really to discover what is the true victimization rate, trying to account for that problem we have in all crimes, which is underreporting,” said Craig Faunce, a study co-author. He is a research fisheries biologist with NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

Gettin’ Jiggy Developing a New Fisheries Survey

February 21, 2025 — Offshore marine development is impacting several of our long-standing fishery-independent surveys. To maintain data continuity, support sustainable fisheries management, and continue improving and modernizing data collections/streams, we’re working with fishermen in our region to develop and test a brand new survey!

Trials and Tribulations

What goes into designing a new survey? Well, a lot of trial and error. The earliest trips, called “shake-down” trips, were dedicated to separating the theoretical from the practical. Sometimes things in theory don’t always work in practice. So, in April, October, and November 2024, we conducted shake-down trips out of Ocean City, Maryland, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. That’s when I got to see a bunch of interesting ways to test out our ideas and adapt to challenges. Here are a few of the things we worked on and tested during our shake-down trips.

One item we’re testing is automatic jigging machines. They consist of fishing reels the size of a large coffee can, a computer screen, and analog buttons. The machines have programmable options for standardization of gear deployment and retrieval including jig pattern and speed, height off the seafloor, and sensitivity to detect fish on the line.

Fine tuning the machine’s fish sensitivity was tricky. The sensitivity function tells the machine how much tension is required before the line is automatically reeled back to the surface. If we set the sensitivity too high, the machines may misinterpret the bobbing lead sinkers or fish nibbles as an actual hooked fish and reel the line up prematurely. If we set the sensitivity too low, they won’t detect small, hooked fish.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

US confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary amid uncertainty over NOAA’s future

February 20, 2025 — The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as the secretary of the Department of Commerce despite fears that the Trump administration plans to cut NOAA funding or dismantle the agency altogether.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Commerce, which oversees such agencies as NOAA, was confirmed on a 51-45 vote, with no Democrat senators supporting his nomination.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Longtime NOAA staffer acting as head of fisheries agency amid Trump transition

February 14, 2025 — Longtime NOAA staffer Emily Menashes is currently leading NOAA Fisheries amid a leadership gap following the resignation of Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Janet Coit last month.

The appointment is part of a temporary churn of leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce as leaders appointed by then U.S. President Joe Biden step down to make room for U.S. President Donald Trump’s picks. As the Biden administration came to an end in January, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad, and NOAA Fisheries head Coit all resigned, leaving the nation’s top fisheries management positions needing to be filled.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NEW JERSEY: Is NOAA’s Sandy Hook lab at risk from funding freeze? ‘Bad news for fishermen’

February 14, 2025 — NOAA’s James J. Howard Marine Sciences Lab in Sandy Hook is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal funding, Rep. Frank Pallone said this week.

Pallone, a Democrat and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said $5 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding is unavailable which is putting jobs, research and critical infrastructure at the lab at risk.

The lab’s seawater intake supply infrastructure, essential for the lab’s core function, was set to be rehabilitated using IRA funds. Pallone said the freeze means the system is in jeopardy of total failure by April when contracts for critical maintenance staff expire. He said the system must now be manually shut down each night when maintenance staff leaves.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

US House lawmakers clash over rumors of NOAA funding cuts

February 13, 2025 — Democrats in U.S. Congress are warning that rumored cuts to NOAA would endanger the agency’s ability to adequately manage the nation’s commercial fisheries.

“Last week, the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency entered NOAA facilities and accessed data and files,” U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (D-Oregon) said during a 12 February U.S. House Natural Resources Committee markup meeting. “Furthermore, NOAA employees are reporting rumors of severe budget cuts that would gut essential programs and jobs that our fishermen and our communities rely on. Basic responsibilities such as providing grants to regional fishery management councils for their operations and routine fisheries stock assessments could be delayed or canceled.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

WHOI Resets Ocean De-Acidification Test for This Summer

February 13, 2025 — With the federal government following a blueprint to deter climate research at agencies like the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a private marine research nonprofit, are hoping to forge ahead with an experiment to explore how ocean waters might be used to absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

WHOI is awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency on a permit to continue work initially scheduled for last summer off Martha’s Vineyard. It involves releasing 16,500 gallons of sodium hydroxide into the ocean to gauge its ability to improve the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

The experiment is now set to take place in an area called Wilkinson Basin, about 38 miles northeast of Provincetown. The period for public comments on the permit closes on Feb. 14.

The technique, known as ocean alkalinity enhancement, or OAE, has been the subject of laboratory experiments for decades, but this field test will be the first of its kind in U.S. waters. It aims to validate WHOI’s experiments that suggest OAE can effectively absorb carbon without harming the local environment.

A similar test that was set to take place off Martha’s Vineyard last fall was postponed when permitting was slowed by questions and additional monitoring requirements from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to an August report in the Boston Globe. By the time the WHOI researchers got the green light, the U.S. Academic Research Fleet vessel needed for the experiment was not available, according to WHOI associate scientist Adam Subhas, the principal investigator of the project.

The Provincetown Independent

North Atlantic Right Whale, Calf Spotted Off NJ as Rutgers Debuts AI Tool to Protect Endangered Species

February 13, 2025 — If recent reports of a North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother spotted in a busy shipping lane between New Jersey and New York are any indication that more are to come, an artificial intelligence tool developed by Rutgers University scientists to protect them, among other marine mammals, could quiet the offshore wind debate over how to keep the endangered species safe from harm’s way.

On Feb. 3, an aerial team from the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center spotted the right whale, identified as Accordion, named for the propeller scars on her back that resemble the instrument, and her calf, according to NOAA.

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

Department of Government Efficiency eyes NOAA

February 12, 2025 — Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring, Maryland a week ago. This earned criticism from former NOAA officials as well as members of the public.

NOAA’s mission stands to research and predict changes in the environment of the United States of America. This includes studies of weather, climate, oceans, and coasts. The organization was established in October of 1970 as part of the US Chamber of Commerce and currently contains multiple offices that help NOAA follow their mission. The National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, and more.

Read the full article at NBC Montana