Saving Seafood

Ropeless Science Advances, Aiming to Save Right Whales

November 1, 2019 — With the North Atlantic right whale population inching ever closer to extinction, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has awarded $350,000 in grants to help reduce large mammal bycatch in the heavily fished waters off the coasts of New England and Canada. The grants, which will go to the New England Aquarium and a research-based nonprofit called the Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society (SMELTS), were awarded last week to develop and study ropeless or breakable rope fishing technology for lobstermen and other trap fishermen. Although the technology has been in development for some time, a slew of money and research has been poured into making ropeless gear a commercial reality — especially as right whale mortalities continue to climb and many lobstermen have to halt their fishing operations due to federally-mandated area closures.

“We’re cranking on this,” said Richard Riels, an engineer with SMELTS who invented his organization’s ropeless fishing technology after seeing one too many entangled sea mammals. “I’m hoping to do more testing in the next couple of days with the grant money.”

With 30 deaths in the last three years, there are now approximately 400 right whales left in the Atlantic Ocean. According to data from NOAA, seven of the 21 deaths in Canadian waters showed evidence of gear entanglement. So did five of the nine in American waters—- meaning that nearly half of all mortalities in recent years resulted from fishing gear.

Read the full story at The Vineyard Gazette 

Maine lobster group re-engages with NOAA whale protection effort

October 31, 2019 — A lobster industry group in the US state of Maine has re-engaged with a federal government process to reduce risks to endangered right whales, The Center Square reported.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) said that it was encouraged by recent actions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to address the group’s concerns regarding the agency’s Take Reduction Team (TRT) process to protect right whales.

“MLA is pleased that NOAA has taken our concerns seriously,” the group said. “MLA continues to work diligently with our members and in close collaboration with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources to identify management approaches that are both effective in minimizing risk to whales and proportionate to the risk from Maine fishery gear,” the MLA said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Patrick C. Keliher Elected ASMFC Chair

October 30, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Today, member states of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) thanked James Gilmore of New York for an effective two-year term as Chair and elected Commissioner Patrick C. Keliher of Maine to succeed him.

“It is both a great honor and huge responsibility to be trusted to lead the Commission for the next two years. I am humbled by my fellow Commissioners’ confidence in me,” said Mr. Keliher. “While my obligation to the great State of Maine will always come first and foremost, I also recognize that Maine sits on boards for just 10 of the 27 species managed by the Commission. As Chair, I will be working with ASMFC leadership to shape the course of interstate fisheries management for more than just the Pine Tree State and will ensure substantial resources are devoted to issues of equal importance in the fisheries of the Mid- and South Atlantic states. I look forward to bolstering the Commission’s relationship with NOAA Fisheries and Congress to ensure mutual cooperation. I’d like to thank Jim Gilmore for his superb leadership over the past two years. I learned a great deal from him and will use the knowledge gained to work with newly elected Vice-chair Spud Woodward to advance the Commission’s vision of Cooperative and Sustainable Management of Atlantic Coastal Fisheries.”

Under Mr. Gilmore’s chairmanship, the Commission made important strides in furthering its strategic goals. Management accomplishment’s during the past two years include approval of plan amendments for Atlantic cobia and summer flounder, protections for spawning Atlantic herring, and approval of an addendum to end overfishing of Atlantic striped bass. The Commission’s Science Program completed benchmark assessments and peer reviews for horseshoe crab, Atlantic striped bass and northern shrimp, and made significant progress on the benchmark assessments for American lobster, American shad, and Atlantic menhaden (including the establishment of ecological reference points).

The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) continued to successfully implement state conduct of the Marine Recreational Information Program’s Access-Point Angler Intercept Survey. ACCSP also made significant advancements in technological innovations, including tablet and mobile data entry apps for dealers, commercial fishermen and the for-hire industry. During his chairmanship, Mr. Gilmore oversaw the selection of a new ACCSP Program Director, Geoff White.

The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership funded restoration projects in six states to conserve a total of 40 acres of fish habitat and provide access to over 29 river miles and 3,900 acres of spawning habitat. It also launched a redesigned website, created an online query tool for the Species-Habitat Matrix, and completed a research project to understand black sea bass habitat use in the Mid-Atlantic Bight.

A Gardiner native, Mr.  Keliher has spent much of his life in the woods and on the waters of Maine.  His experiences as a youth, fishing and lobstering with family in Casco Bay, instilled in him early on an appreciation for the importance and value of our natural resources. He has been Commissioner of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources since January 2012.

The Commission also elected Spud Woodward, Georgia’s Governor Appointee to the Commission, as its Vice-Chair.

NOAA trawl surveys estimate more cod, pollock in Bering Sea

October 29, 2019 — The results from recent US government trawl surveys of the Bering Sea are in and they estimate the biomass of pollock and Pacific cod have risen relative to previous years.

Two vessels — Alaska Knight and Vesteraalen — completed summer surveys of the eastern and northern Bering Sea from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

The AFSC said in a presentation that the trawl surveys led scientists to estimate the pollock biomass at 5.46 million metric tons for the Eastern Bering Sea, a 75% year-on-year rise and 1.17m metric tons for the Northern Bering Sea, compared to the last major survey, which was performed in 2017.

For Pacific cod, the surveys led to an increased biomass estimate of 517,000t in the Eastern Bering Sea, a 2% y-o-y rise and an estimate of 368,000t for the Northern Bering Sea, up 30% from 2017.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Genetic studies confirm Alaska cod stocks pushing north

October 25, 2019 — Biologists were shocked in 2017 when they found that the numbers of Pacific cod had risen exponentially in the northern Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. Now, researchers at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center have used genetic testing to prove that those fish, enabled by warming waters and a lack of sea ice, have moved north from the southeastern Bering Sea.

Surveys as recent as the 1970’s revealed “trace amounts” of cod in the northern Bering Sea, according to a brief released by NOAA. Major Alaska cod fisheries in the past decades have operated in the southeastern Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska, which meant management biologists conducted only sporadic bottom trawl surveys in the north.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Emails show bond between NOAA, fishermen against project

October 25, 2019 — Meghan Lapp was steamed. It was late February, and Rhode Island regulators had just finalized a mitigation plan intended to blunt an offshore wind project’s economic impact on local fishermen. Lapp, who handles government relations at a Rhode Island fishing company, viewed the plan as a farce.

“What happened last night in R.I. was an absolute roll over the fishing industry,” she wrote to two staffers at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that regulates commercial fishing.

State regulators had taken little input from fishermen on the plan, she wrote. What input they did receive did not sway them. A calamari processor told Rhode Island officials his biggest customer would likely have to source squid from China if the 84-turbine project proposed by Vineyard Wind in federal waters off Massachusetts was allowed to proceed.

Lapp’s company, Seafreeze Ltd., fishes for squid in the area and has taken a lead role in opposing the project.

“We are losing on every angle,” Lapp wrote federal officials. She later added, “I appreciate all the work you guys are doing on the offshore wind issue, and I thought particularly with regards to the squid industry that this was important to share.”

Doug Christel, a fishing policy analyst at NOAA, responded a week later. The federal agency had not been closely tracking the state process but had discussed Lapp’s concerns, he said.

“Similar to some of your comments, we feel the DEIS [draft environmental impact statement] underestimates landings from within the WDA,” he wrote, referring to the wind development area leased by Vineyard Wind from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full story at E&E News

Federal government wants your opinion on whale-watching rules to protect orcas

October 24, 2019 — The federal government is asking the public to weigh in on current and potentially new regulations for whale watching near endangered southern resident orcas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has opened a so-called scoping period for 60 days to take public comment on whether existing federal regulations adequately protect killer whales from the impacts of vessels and noise in the inland waters of Washington state, and if not, what action the agency should take.

Southern resident orcas are an endangered species and have declined to only 73 animals. They are threatened by a combination of inadequate food, pollution, and vessel noise and disturbance that makes it harder for them to hunt salmon.

NOAA’s existing rules have been eclipsed by more strict regulations imposed both by the state of Washington and interim rules in Canada that sunset after this season. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife also is launching a process under the direction of the Legislature to enact further restrictions on whale watching.

Read the full story at the The Seattle Times

Revised Effort Controls for the Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery in Period 4

October 24, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts revised effort control measures for the 2019 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery for period 4 (November and December). The Area 1A fishery will remain at zero landing days for the remainder of October as the period 3 quota has been met.

For period 4, the Area 1A fishery will move to one landing day per week starting at 6:00 p.m. on November 3 for Maine and 12:01 a.m. on November 4 for Massachusetts and New Hampshire, contingent upon a notice by NOAA Fisheries that the Area 1A sub-ACL has been adjusted. As outlined in the Atlantic herring specifications, if the New Brunswick weir fishery catch through October 1 is less than 4,000 mt, then 1,000 mt will be subtracted from the management uncertainty buffer and added to the Area 1A sub-ACL. NOAA Fisheries is currently evaluating landings data from the New Brunswick weir fishery and will make a determination in the coming weeks. If a notice by NOAA Fisheries has not been issued by 10 a.m. on October 31, the fishery will remain at zero landings until the transfer has occurred. Upon notification from NOAA Fisheries, the fishery will move to one landing day per week with a Sunday/Monday start date based on the timing of the announcement. In order to provide states enough time to notify stakeholders, the notice from NOAA Fisheries must be posted by 10 a.m. on Thursday for the fishery to move to one landing day the subsequent Sunday/Monday.

Period 4 landings will be closely monitored and the directed fishery in Area 1A will close when 92% of the sub-ACL is projected to be reached, or when 95% of the ACL for the stock-wide fishery is projected to be reached. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip on days out of the fishery.

Please note the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas remain closed through 11:59 p.m. on November 3 (vessels cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring during spawning closures).

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atkrootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF of the announcement can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5db1e21bAtlHerringDaysOutRevisedSpecifications_Oct2019.pdf

NOAA Fisheries Awards Bycatch Reduction Grant Funding

October 24, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded $1.1 million in funding for seven New England and Mid-Atlantic projects through the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

The awards support key partners in research and development of innovative approaches and strategies for reducing bycatch, bycatch mortality and post-release mortality.

The New England Aquarium was awarded $125,000 for a project to study whale release ropes as a large whale bycatch mitigation option for the lobster fishing industry.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries received $176,572 for a bycatch reduction of red hake project in the Southern New England silver hake trawl fishery.

There were also a few projects related to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, which only number around 400.

Maine Department of Marine Resources was awarded $198,018 for a project to assess the feasibility of Time Tension Line Cutter use in fixed gear fisheries to reduce entanglement risk for right whales.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com