Saving Seafood

Mote teams up to research sharks and other migratory species

November 5, 2019 — Mote Marine Laboratory is bringing its long history of shark expertise to a new consortium studying highly migratory species, thanks to new funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant program. The Pelagic Ecosystem Research Consortium (PERC) will have a goal of improving stock assessment, management and sustainability of highly migratory species, such as tuna, swordfish and sharks, in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. PERC is being led by the University of Maine, with partners from Mote Marine Laboratory, Nova Southeastern University and Auburn University.

The PERC award was one of three competitive grants totaling $2 million, awarded through the 2019 Sea Grant Highly Migratory Species Research Initiative. More information about the national initiative is on the NOAA Fisheries website. This new Sea Grant initiative was championed by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who together recognized the national need for this research.

PERC will conduct projects in five areas of research focused on bycatch reduction, increased understanding of life history, post-release mortality and other objectives for multiple species of highly migratory fish in the Northwest Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Comprehensive information on the life history of highly migratory species is lacking, including data on age, growth, indices of abundance, reproduction, post-release and natural mortality, infectious disease, anthropogenic disturbance, habitat utilization/migratory behavior and stock structure.

Read the full story at Longboat Key News

D.C. court rules fisheries remain closed to help right whales

November 5, 2019 — For all the work going into North Atlantic right whale conservation in Georgia and Florida ahead of another calving season, a political and legal battle continues where the whales live and feed most of the year — off the coast of New England. Thursday, a federal district judge ruled two lobster fisheries can remain closed to protect the lives of right whales moving through the area.

The case began nearly two years ago as a set of environmental groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and the Humane Society of the United States — filed a complaint against the federal government because they disputed the finding of “no jeopardy” to right whales in the lobster fisheries, despite the finding that an average of 3.25 right whales a year would die through gillnet fishing operations.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, is working on new rules that NMFS states will provide additional protections to North Atlantic right whales in lobster fisheries, and that the rulemaking should be complete by around the middle of 2020. As such, the agency filed a motion to stay the case, which Judge James Boasberg denied.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

Uncle Sam wants you to eat more shark

November 5, 2019 — The following was released by The New Food Economy:

Late last month, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) sent out a newsletter featuring a potentially surprising piece of advice: For a sustainable source of protein, try eating shark sometime. NMFS is an arm of the federal science agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and it’s responsible for protecting fish populations and their ocean habitats.

“While overfishing has greatly depleted some shark populations overseas, U.S. shark fisheries are some of the most sustainable in the world,” it read. I did a double take, racking my memory for the last time I saw shark as an option at the grocery store or on a restaurant menu. The press release seemed to run contrary to my general sense that shark populations were in jeopardy everywhere.

In August, for example, scientists warned that levels of the popular shortfin mako shark in the Atlantic ocean—for which NMFS has catch limits—are so overfished that they would require until 2045 to fully recover, even if a total harvesting ban was enacted. In July, the Animal Welfare Institute published its annual directory of restaurants whose menus include dishes made from shark fin, rising demand for which contributes to declining shark stocks. And in 2013, researchers issued this dire warning: Commercial fisheries kill approximately 100 million sharks every year, far faster than the rate at which sharks can repopulate.

Read the full story at The New Food Economy

NOAA Fisheries Reopens Comment Period for Proposed Dredge Exemption Areas in the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area

November 5, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The New England Fishery Management Council requested the comment period be reopened due to concerns that an error in a URL in the proposed rule may have prevented some individuals from submitting comments. We are reopening the comment period through November 18, 2019, and including the correct URL should ensure all interested parties are able to comment on the proposed action.

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on proposed measures for three exemption areas within the Great South Channel Habitat Management Area (HMA) where dredge fishing for surfclams or mussels would be allowed.

The New England Fishery Management Council created the Great South Channel HMA as part of its Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, which prohibited the use of all mobile bottom-tending fishing gear in the area. The HMA contains complex benthic habitat that is important for juvenile cod and other groundfish species, but also susceptible to the impacts of fishing.

This action would allow the surfclam fishery to operate hydraulic dredge gear year-round in two small areas (McBlair and Fishing Rip) and seasonally in a third area (Old South) within the HMA. Mussel dredge fishing would also be allowed in these exemption areas.

These exemption areas were chosen to allow relatively limited access to some historical surfclam fishing grounds, while protecting the majority of the HMA. The three exemption areas total only 6.9 percent of the total area of the HMA, and do not include areas most clearly identified as containing complex and vulnerable habitats.

Read the full release here

Agencies still looking for answers in marine mammal die-off

November 4, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service is still trying to figure out what is causing marine mammals to die at high rates in Alaska.

In September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an unusual mortality event for three types of seals in the Arctic, including bearded, ringed and spotted seals in the Bering and Chukchi seas.

“Our normal stranding numbers for ice seals is about 20 to 30 a year,” said NOAA Marine Biologist Barbara Mahoney. “So we are dealing with more than five times the dead animals that we’ve had in the past.”

But it isn’t just seals.

In May, NOAA declared an unusual mortality event for gray whales along the West Coast from Mexico to Alaska. As of Sept. 30, the agency reported a total of 121 dead gray whales in 2019.

Read the full story at KTVA

Gillnet Fishing: Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship Closure Areas

November 4, 2019 — On October 28, 2019, Federal District Court Judge James E. Boasberg issued an Order and Opinion on a lawsuit challenging a portion of the New England Fishery Management Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2.

The Order prohibits NOAA Fisheries from allowing gillnet fishing in the former Nantucket Lightship Groundfish and the Closed Area I Groundfish Closure Areas, until such time as NOAA Fisheries has fully complied with requirements of the Endangered Species Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, consistent with the Opinion.

NOAA Fisheries is studying the Opinion and will put regulations in place as soon as possible to comply with the Order to close the areas to gillnet fishing until further notice.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

When a Right Whale Dies

November 4, 2019 — Around 3 p.m. on September 16, 2019, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) received a call about a very decomposed whale carcass. It was floating about 4 miles south of Fire Island Inlet of Long Island, New York. Dead whales floating in the waters off Long Island have been a fairly common occurrence over the last few years, mostly humpback and minke whales. When AMSEAS reported the call to us at NOAA Fisheries, we were prepared to assist with what has now sadly become somewhat routine response planning.

Day 1: Mobilizing the Response

Response planning involves a series of coordination calls. We need to:

  • Make arrangements to tow the carcass to a beach (usually public but not crowded).

  • Arrange heavy equipment (front loaders, backhoes) to help position the carcass.

  • Secure the carcass from tides and possible souvenir hunters.

  • Assemble a team to take measurements and samples (necropsy team).

  • Handle media and bystander inquiries.

  • Plan for the disposal of the carcass—usually deep beach burial, but sometimes other options are considered.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries 

Can crab and fish in Alaska adapt to more acidic oceans? Scientists aim to find out.

November 1, 2019 — Researchers are looking for ways that crab and fish in Alaska may be able to adapt to more acidic ocean water.

With carbon dioxide levels rising on the planet, ocean water absorbs some of that CO2 and water becomes more acidic. That change is already impacting a variety of sea creatures.

Members of the Alaska Ocean Acidification Network gave an update to Alaska’s Board of Fisheries and a public presentation on the topic in Anchorage in October. The network is a group of researchers, managers, and stakeholders interested in the looming problem.

“It’s not that there hasn’t been variability in the amount of carbon dioxide. It’s not that this hasn’t happened before,” said Robert Foy, director of NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “It’s the speed at which it is happening during our lifetime and whether or not the animals and plants in the ocean are able to adapt fast enough given the speed at which it’s occurring.”

Read the full story Alaska Public Media

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