November 25, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded USD 9 million (EUR 8.6 million) for academic research designed to help Pacific salmon populations recover.
Most of the money – USD 7.5 million (EUR 7.2 million) – was awarded to the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Systems at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). University staff will partner with NOAA scientists through the Fisheries Collaborative Program to conduct research in support of salmon recovery.
November 22, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has been deploying observers onto U.S. fishing vessels for the past three decades as part of the Pacific Islands Region Observer Program. Observers collect data on fishermen’s effort and catch, as well as incidental, or unintentional, interactions with protected species like sea turtles and marine mammals. But the program wouldn’t be where it is today without the pioneering observers from the first class of graduates in 1994. We recently sat down with Tonya Wick, the region’s first official observer, to look back on the program’s early days.
After graduating from the University of California, Davis, I found a job as a wine chemist at a winery in Oregon. (I had taken some viticulture jobs during my undergraduate coursework.) But I was still trying to find my dream job in fisheries. I had applied to the Peace Corps to work in their aquaculture program in Africa. I also found the Hawaiʻi observer job announcement working for NOAA Fisheries. Observing sounded challenging and pretty cool.
Oddly enough, I still have the original observer job recruitment notice from 1993! The observer job title was for a biological science technician, GS-5, based in Honolulu. At the time, the requirement was either 1 year of experience in fisheries at a GS-4 level, or 4 years of education above the high school level leading to a bachelor’s degree with major study in biology, chemistry, statistics, physics or mathematics. The announcement also details such things as “live and sleep in cramped quarters,” “no showers,” “does not have separate facilities for women,” “trips are 1 to 8 weeks in duration,” “operate in the open ocean in all weather and sea conditions,” etc. And, I might add, no radio contact and no cell phones back in 1994. I knew what I was getting into and loved the idea. Looking back it was the experience of a lifetime.
I attended a 3-week training course with 14 other trainees (there were three other women) in Honolulu at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in February 1994. At the end of the course, we had to take a 2-hour long final exam. After the exam, the instructors announced, “We hate to report someone got 100 percent!” They were referring to me and followed up, “because you got a 100 on the exam, you’ll be the first to go out: observer #1, trip 1.”
I was part of an all-Vietnamese crew that I believe was fishing for tuna. A day or two before we left, my supervisor, Tom Shearer, and I went down to the docks. We visited the first vessel that was randomly chosen to take an observer (observer 0001) to introduce me to the captain (Captain Andy—nicest guy ever). As we were talking, they broke the news that I (a woman) was in fact the observer… He dramatically pretended to faint—as women were bad luck at sea—but it was actually kind of funny. In the end, the 28-day fishing trip went very well. They caught a lot of fish, so I was then considered good luck! It was a good experience for my first time. They were so welcoming. It was also the first time I saw sperm whales, as we motored by Molokaʻi. That trip set the stage for it being promising for us to get data on sea turtles.
The funding for the observers came from the Endangered Species Act, so we were there primarily to collect data on bycatch of sea turtles. We collected data on more than just interactions with protected species, though. We collected data on setting and retrieving the longline gear. During haulback, we documented the number of hooks set, catch by species, and life history data on individual species (for example, swordfish, tuna, and all protected species). We also tagged sea turtles and performed marine mammal scans while the gear was soaking or when we were motoring to haulback positions.
We motored 10 days north to swordfish fishing grounds on one longline trip. As we were motoring, a pod of hundreds of Pacific white-sided dolphins, mixed with Northern right whale dolphins, surrounded our boat for hours. One fur seal was also there and rode the bow of our fishing vessels. It was like the fur seal thought he was a dolphin! It was amazing how long that huge pod stayed alongside our vessel—quite a sight to see.
I’ve been on vessels with amenities, and others that had no showers or a toilet. I always shared a room with the crew. Sometimes there may have been a little bit of a language barrier but that didn’t bother me at all. I even tried to learn some basic Vietnamese.
November 21, 2024 — For the 25th consecutive year, Dutch Harbor, AK, and New Bedford, MA, ranked as the top U.S. fishing ports for volume and value in 2022.
Nationwide, commercial landings that year were 8.4 billion pounds valued at $5.9 billion, down by 2.6 percent and 11 percent ($632 million), respectively.
Those are two of the top takeaways from the annual Fisheries of the United States report released this month by NOAA Fisheries. The data show a downward press almost across the board from Covid-driven impacts as the global pandemic waned in 2022.
The easy-to-read, 23-page report provides a national snapshot of U.S. commercial fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing, imports and exports, market trends, and per capita consumption.
November 21, 2024 — As a tiny Puget Sound Chinook salmon fry, your job is to eat as much as possible and avoid predators. You need to grow strong so you can survive the ocean and one day return to spawn. But what if heavy flows flush you from your river into salt water before you’re ready? Or, what if you can’t find quality habitat in your home watershed? You cross your fins and hope you can find a pocket estuary.
Pocket estuaries are where shorelines are protected from waves, allowing salt marsh to grow, and are often fed by freshwater streams. They serve as nurseries for juvenile salmon that leave their home rivers. However, most pocket estuaries, like other salmon habitat in the Puget Sound, have been degraded and filled in for development and agriculture. This poses a serious threat to the recovery of the threatened Puget Sound Chinook.
With funding from NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation, the Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) and many partners are restoring the Similk pocket estuary for Skagit River Chinook. In 2023 and 2024, the Cooperative was awarded $5.8 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for salmon habitat restoration work in Washington State. NOAA has supported restoration work on the Skagit River and other locations in Puget Sound for decades.
November 20, 2024 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls European green crabs one of the most invasive marine species in the world. They are widely blamed for the collapse of the softshell clam industry on the East Coast. Now, the species has been wreaking havoc up the west coast of North America.
“We’re kind of on the front lines with the invasion here,” said Ian Hudson. Hudson coordinates the Metlakatla Indian Community’s green crab program.
Metlakatla is the southernmost community in Southeast Alaska. Locals there had been worried about green crabs for years. The tiny, invasive crabs were first found in San Francisco in 1989 and have been marching north ever since. States like Oregon and Washington have spent millions of dollars trying to protect their lucrative shellfish industries but still, green crab populations there are booming.
November 20, 2024 — NOAA and its Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) are seeking seafood sector representatives to join the newly established Ocean Acidification Advisory Board.
The 25-member advisory board was created to advise the U.S. government’s Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification (IWG-OA). The board will review and provide recommendations on the working group’s reports and strategic research plan while advising it on best practices for data management. The board is also charged with maintaining mechanisms for engagement with Tribal governments.
November 19, 2024 — After one of the longest red snapper seasons in more than a decade, the red snapper federal for-hire season is reopening again.
Although it may be good for a little extra business, Destin charter boat captains are not so sure it will be good for the fishery.
“I think it was a nice gesture, if that’s what you want to call it, and I’m sure it will generate a few trips for some boats, which is great,” said Capt. Justin Destin of the Un Reel. “But I’m more concerned with the well-being of the population of red snapper in our area. There’s a reason we are not catching our quota during the longest season we’ve had in years. More days is not the answer.”
Federal for-hire boats just finished an 88-day red snapper season, June 1 to Aug. 28.
According to a news release from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, “NOAA Fisheries determined that the red snapper recreational federal for-hire annual catch target was not reached during the open season.”
November 19, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has updated its guidance for purchasing salmon products, incorporating new requirements from NOAA Fisheries’ Seafood Inspection Program as well as other changes.
The updates were issued through the department’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Supplement 507 document, which outlines the government’s requirements for purchasing salmon products for the country’s National School Lunch Program and other federal nutrition programs. AMS posted its Final Supplement 507 for salmon products 7 November, replacing the previous documentation issued in 2021.
November 18, 2024 — The volume and value of America’s commercial fishing industry both fell according to newly released federal figures, though members of the industry said the decline was to be expected following a recent spike in supply.
The catch at U.S. ports in the 50 states fell 2.6% to 8.4 billion pounds in 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Fisheries of the United States” report, which the agency released this month. The same report said the catch was worth $5.9 billion at the docks in 2022, the most recent year with available statistics, and that was a drop of 11%.
America also ate a little bit less seafood in 2022, as per capita consumption fell about 3% to 19.8 pounds in 2022, the report said. However, 2021 was a historically high year for seafood consumption, and the supply of available seafood surged, said Gavin Gibbons, chief strategy officer with the National Fisheries Institute in Reston, Virginia.
November 18, 2024 — Sebastian Belle is the executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, and the president of the board of directors of the National Aquaculture Association.
Prior to joining the Maine Aquaculture Association, Belle was the U.S. state of Maine’s state aquaculture coordinator, working for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He has also served on NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee and on the board of directors of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, The Island Institute, and the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center.
The recent announcement by Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) that they intend to sue Cooke Aquaculture is a surprise given the fact that they worked closely with the salmon farmers to develop the very standards they indicate they are going to sue over.
Perhaps this is a case of staff turnover and lack of institutional memory? Or is it yet another example of big city, opportunist law firms trying to cash in on citizen lawsuits?