Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Biomass of snow crab in Bering Sea grew slower than expected

September 24, 2019 — Last week’s Crab Plan Team, an advisory group to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, heard some good news about increased biomass of mature male snow crab in the US state of Alaska’s Bering Sea, but the survey showed less than what was predicted earlier this year.

The quota for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab fisheries will be set by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) in mid-October. Alaska’s crab resources are jointly managed by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the ADF&G.

There was a “smaller increase in mature male biomass (MMB) of snow crab than projected, but it is still increasing”, noted stock assessment author Cody Szuwalski of NMFS. He and other scientists recommended one of eight assessment models that would result in a preferred MMB of 111.4 metric tons, with an OFL of 54,900t, 85% higher than last year, to the plan team.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Researching and Rescuing Hawaiian Monk Seals and Green Sea Turtles

September 24, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA field biologists returned to Honolulu after 3 months at remote camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They researched and rescued some of the most iconic and endangered species in Hawaiʻi—Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles.

This year, our field biologists established protected species camps at five atolls:

  • French Frigate Shoals.

  • Laysan Island.

  • Lisianski Island.

  • Pearl and Hermes Reef.

  • Kure Atoll.

Our field teams also conducted population assessment surveys at Nihoa, Mokumanamana (Necker), and Midway Atoll.

NOAA has operated monk seal research camps at all major breeding sites for 36 years. We have maintained French Frigate Shoals turtle nesting records, which stretch back 47 years. Several of the field researchers have been around for decades. They have some of the most consistent sets of eyes and ears in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. They are able to observe changes in the ecosystem, improving our response to threats to these important species.

Read the full release here

Collins proposes reforms to support Maine lobster industry, protect whales

September 23, 2019 — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) proposed changes to federal reforms that would protect whales and support the Maine lobster industry.

Sen. Collins joined her congressional colleagues from Maine in jointly responding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) call for input to develop modifications to the proposed regulations developed by NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT).

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the NOAA TRT team, the delegation recommended measures that would help reduce right whale fatalities without threatening the lobster industry, including more Maine-specific gear markings, improved monitoring, support for the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ proposal to preserve the current regulatory exemptions line, and the state’s plan to improve data collection.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

Marine heat wave dubbed ‘Blob’ resurges in Pacific; mass deaths of sea life feared

September 23, 2019 — Across vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean extending from Hawaii north to the shores of Alaska, and southeast to near California, a new marine heat wave is underway.

This event is widely referred to as ‘‘The Blob Part Two,’’ or just another ‘‘Blob.’’ The first event, which took place from 2014 through 2016, earned that odd moniker based on its bold red appearance on maps of ocean surface temperatures.

The new incarnation already has caused coral bleaching in the Hawaiian islands and may be tied to strandings of marine mammals along the California coast. If it intensifies and seeps into deeper waters, this marine heat wave could favor another drought in California by altering the jet stream flowing across the Pacific.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Massachusetts meeting could have big consequences for US groundfish harvesters

September 23, 2019 — The financial well being of groundfish harvesters in the Northeastern US could be heavily influenced by a four-day meeting that kicks off in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Monday, the Gloucester Daily Times reports.

Wednesday is the key day, the newspaper advises. That’s when the meeting, held by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) at the Beauport Hotel, is expected to spend an entire afternoon focused on groundfish, including Amendment 23.

Passed by the NEFMC and approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Amendment 23 is to improve the accuracy of multispecies groundfish catch reporting data by setting industry-funded minimum coverages.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

UMaine Orono receives $1.6M grant for sustainable aquaculture

September 20, 2019 — The University of Maine at Orono received a $1.6 million grant to advance sustainable aquaculture in Maine.

According to a release from the university, Maine Sea Grant researchers at the University of Maine were granted the money from the NOAA National Sea Grant to lead four projects in collaboration with the aquaculture industry, management, and community partners.

“Thousands of Mainers rely on marine industries for their livelihoods, and aquaculture is a promising area for growth,” said U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King.

According to NOAA fisheries, the United States imports 85% of its seafood, which has resulted in a $14 billion trade deficit- leading to new opportunities in aquaculture to meet demands of seafood consumption.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Feds propose major habitat protections for killer whales

September 20, 2019 — U.S. protections for the waters that a group of endangered orcas call home could soon expand beyond the Seattle area to encompass much of the West Coast, from the Canadian border to central California.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a proposal Wednesday to increase the critical habitat designation for southern resident killer whales by more than sevenfold under the Endangered Species Act.

Just 73 orcas remain in the Pacific Northwest population, the lowest number in more than three decades. They’re struggling with a lack of chinook salmon, their preferred prey, as well as toxic contamination and vessel noise.

The NOAA proposal calls for an additional 15,626 square miles (40,471 square kilometers) of federally protected habitat that would run from the border with Canada, down south to Point Sur, California.

The designation means federal agencies must ensure that activities they pay for, permit or carry out do not harm the habitat, but it does not generally affect approved recreational or commercial activity such as whale watching and shipping, said Lynne Barre, NOAA Fisheries’ recovery coordinator for the whales.

Read the full story at The Associated Press

Council to review groundfish monitoring issues

September 20, 2019 — The New England Fishery Management Council will convene in Gloucester next week with an agenda that includes a groundfish monitoring measure that ultimately could determine the financial fate of the Northeast groundfish fleet.

The council is set to meet Monday through Thursday at the Beauport Hotel Gloucester. But for groundfishermen throughout the region, Wednesday is the key day.

The entire afternoon is set aside for discussing groundfish issues — including the current draft of Amendment 23, which when passed by the council and approved by NOAA Fisheries will set industry-funded monitoring coverages for the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery.

“We can’t stress enough how important it is for industry, for groundfishermen, to go to the meeting to hear what they might be facing down the road,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “Whatever is decided, they will have to pay for it eventually.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Dead whale found in LI waters was last seen caught in fishing line, NOAA says

September 20, 2019 — The North Atlantic right whale whose decomposed body was found floating in the waters off Fire Island earlier this week was seen alive last month caught up in fishing line, officials said.

Wounds likely inflicted by plastic rope confirmed he was the rare leviathan seen in the August video. Scientists had previously named him “Snake Eyes” for the twin eye-shaped scars on his head, said Philip Hamilton, a research scientist at Anderson Cabot for Ocean Life at Boston’s New England Aquarium.

The fishing line that may have ended the whale’s life — after he had swum in the Atlantic for more than four decades — ran through his mouth and possibly anchored his tail to the sea bed, Hamilton said.

Read the full story at Newsday

New Proposal for Expanded Killer Whale Critical Habitat Reflects Latest Science

September 19, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Research over the past decade has confirmed that endangered Southern Resident killer whales are truly a West Coast species. They feed on salmon as far south as California. Now NOAA Fisheries is proposing to expand their critical habitat based on information about their coastal range and habitat use.

The proposal would extend critical habitat for the whales along a roughly 1,000-mile swath of West Coast waters between the depths of 6.1 meters (20 feet) and 200 meters (about 650 feet). It would stretch from Cape Flattery, Washington, south to Point Sur, California, just south of Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay. The additional area covers roughly 15,626 square miles, or more than 10 million acres.

NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comments on the proposal.

Research documenting the Southern Residents’ use of coastal waters included collection of prey and fecal samples. Genetic analysis of the samples showed that while frequenting the West Coast the whales prey on salmon from as far south as California’s Central Valley and as far north as the Taku River in Alaska.

“We now know more clearly that that the whales rely on a diversity of salmon stocks from different rivers up and down the West Coast,” said Lynne Barre, recovery coordinator for the Southern Resident killer whales in NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. “The critical habitat proposal takes that all into account.”

Read the full release here