Saving Seafood

ISSF Adds Two Prominent NGO Scientists to Its Advisory Board

November 1, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The ISSF (International Sustainable Seafood Foundation) representing the global tuna industry does not fool around when making appointment of NGO and Sustainability scientists to its boards and committees.

The two most recent appointments are among the recognized leaders in their fields.

ISSF has appointed Dr. Tom Pickerell as chair of its Environmental Stakeholder Committee. Pickerell is the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) Global Tuna Director responsible for SFP’s tuna work program, including the global fresh and frozen tuna supply chain roundtable and canned tuna program. Before joining SFP, he worked for Seafish, where he was the Technical Director. Previous to that role, Dr. Pickerell was the Senior Science Manager for the Seafood Watch program at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Earlier, Dr. Pickerell worked at WWF UK as the Fisheries Policy Officer and at Defra, where he held a variety of different policy and strategy roles in fisheries and aquaculture.

“Dr. Pickerell’s leadership experience at some of the foremost environmental NGOs has made him an excellent resource for the ESC,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “We are honored and thankful that he and SFP are keen to increase their engagement with ISSF by assuming this leadership role.”

The second appointment was of Dr. Andrew Rosenberg to ISSF’s scientific advisory committee. Rosenberg is currently director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and outspoken advocacy organization. Rosenberg has also worked for more than 25 years with NOAA and NMFS, starting in New England. He also has had a leadership role at Conservation International. Dr. Rosenberg was a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Ocean Studies Board and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. He is a professor of natural resources and the environment at the University of New Hampshire, where he previously served as dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, and is the author of many peer-reviewed studies and reports on fisheries and ocean management.

“Dr. Rosenberg is a force to be reckoned with, and we’re honored to have him join the Scientific Advisory Committee,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “His experience in government and nonprofit leadership, research and academia make him a true triple-threat, with a combination of experience, credibility and expertise.”

The ISSF Board receives input and information from formal and informal partners — environmental stakeholders, marine scientists, fishers, and vessel owners — who share insights from the field.

The ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) comprises some of the world’s leading marine and tuna fisheries scientists. The SAC guides ISSF’s research priorities and supports its technical reports, notably the annual Status of the Stocks report and online interactive tool. ISSF’s Environmental Stakeholder Committee (ESC) includes representatives from conservation organizations. Members of the SAC and ESC volunteer to share their expertise with ISSF.

The caliber of these appointments basically shows that ISSF is serious about its mission to bring the entire global tuna supply under sustainable fishery management. Tuna, being such an international migratory species, simply cannot be managed through individual country EEZ’s, and therefore it takes a global organization to pressure the various regional ocean commissions whose jurisdiction is established by international treaty.

Prior to the ISSF, these bodies frequently made decisions based on the lowest common denominator, as any country could veto a management decision for any reason. The growth of the ISSF has begun to put science behind the managment policies, and has resulted in slow progress towards establishing harvest control rules, capacity limits, and other mechanisms to preserve the long term viability of the global tuna catch.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Startling new research finds large buildup of heat in the oceans, suggesting a faster rate of global warming

November 1, 2018 — The world’s oceans have been soaking up far more excess heat in recent decades than scientists realized, suggesting that Earth could be set to warm even faster than predicted in the years ahead, according to new research published Wednesday.

Over the past quarter-century, Earth’s oceans have retained 60 percent more heat each year than scientists previously had thought, said Laure Resplandy, a geoscientist at Princeton University who led the startling study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The difference represents an enormous amount of additional energy, originating from the sun and trapped by Earth’s atmosphere — the yearly amount representing more than eight times the world’s annual energy consumption.

In the scientific realm, the new findings help resolve long-running doubts about the rate of the warming of the oceans before 2007, when reliable measurements from devices called “Argo floats” were put to use worldwide. Before that, differing types of temperature records — and an overall lack of them — contributed to murkiness about how quickly the oceans were heating up.

The higher-than-expected amount of heat in the oceans means more heat is being retained within Earth’s climate system each year, rather than escaping into space. In essence, more heat in the oceans signals that global warming is more advanced than scientists thought.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

NOAA Appoints Dr. Robert Foy as New Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director

November 1, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA announced the appointment of Dr. Robert Foy as the new Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. In this role, he will oversee the agency’s work to monitor the health and sustainability of fish, marine mammals, and their habitats across nearly 1.5 million square miles of water surrounding Alaska. He will direct scientific research to support and sustain some of the world’s most valuable marine resources, including commercial fisheries for Alaska pollock, red king crab, and sablefish in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. He will also oversee agency research in the Aleutians, a 1,200-mile long island chain full of marine life, and in the Arctic Ocean, home to marine mammals including bowhead and beluga whales, and bearded and ringed seals.

“I am pleased to announce Bob as our new Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director,” said Dr. Cisco Werner, Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries. “With his unique expertise and strategic mindset, he will easily build on the great work already underway at the Center with a focus on advancing the Center’s fisheries and marine mammal research, and the development of new technologies.”

As Center Director, Dr. Foy will oversee nearly 500 employees and a number of facilities, including:
  • The main facility in Seattle.
  • Research laboratories in Juneau and Kodiak, Alaska, and Newport, Oregon.
  • Field stations in Little Port Walter, St. Paul Island, and St. George Island, Alaska.

Dr. Foy will assume his new role on November 11, 2018. He will work out of the Science Center’s Auke Bay Lab in Juneau.

Dr. Foy is an experienced leader and a recognized expert in Arctic and sub-Arctic issues and research. He was the director of the Alaska Center’s Kodiak Lab for the past 11 years. He has co-authored more than 60 scientific, technical, and stock assessment papers. They focused on the distribution, biomass, and physiological or ecological response of marine species to environmental forcing in the sub-Arctic and arctic regions of Alaska. He also directed the crab data collection on the annual Eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey. These data support stock assessments for 10 crab stocks valued at roughly $500 million.

Read the full release here

NOAA: Commercial Closure in Federal Waters for Atlantic Migratory Group Spanish Mackerel Northern Zone on November 4, 2018

October 31, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

WHAT/WHEN:

The commercial harvest of Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel northern zone in federal waters will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on November 4, 2018, and will re-open on March 1, 2019. The northern zone for Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel includes federal waters from North Carolina through New York. During the commercial closure, harvest or possession of Spanish mackerel in or from the northern zone federal waters is limited to the recreational bag and possession limits while the recreational sector is open, but those fish may not be sold.

WHY THIS CLOSURE IS HAPPENING:

Commercial landings are projected to reach the commercial quota for Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel northern zone. According to the accountability measure, harvest must close to prevent the quota from being exceeded.

DURING THE CLOSURE:

  • The prohibition on sale or purchase during a closure for Spanish mackerel does not apply to fish that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, November 4, 2018, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
  • During the closure, a person on board a vessel that has been issued a valid Federal commercial or charter vessel/headboat permit for coastal migratory pelagic fish may continue to retain Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel in the northern zone under the recreational bag and possession limits, as long as the recreational sector for Atlantic migratory group Spanish mackerel is open.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations. Full regulations can be found in the Federal Register or at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=38b00fbc079181f330b3d8428a1d8fea&mc=true&n=pt50.12.622&r=PART&ty=HTML#sp50.12.622.q.

SIGN UP FOR TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS – FIND OUT ABOUT IMMEDIATE OPENINGS AND CLOSURES

NOAA’s Text Message Alert Program allows you to receive important fishery related alerts via text message (SMS). Standard message & data rates may apply. You may opt-out at any time. Text alerts you may receive include:

  • Immediate fishery openings and closures
  • Any significant changes to fishing regulations that happen quickly

Sign up for one or more of the following groups:

  • Gulf of Mexico Recreational Fisheries Related Alerts
    • Text GULFRECFISH to 888777
  • Gulf of Mexico Commercial Fisheries Related Alerts
    • Text GULFCOMMFISH to 888777
  • South Atlantic Recreational Fisheries Related Alerts
    • Text SATLRECFISH to 888777
  • South Atlantic Commercial Fisheries Related Alerts
    • Text SATLCOMMFISH to 888777
  • Caribbean Fisheries Related Alerts
    • Text CARIBFISH to 888777

 

Comments Requested: 2019 Exempted Fishing Permits and Other Related Permits for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species

October 31, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries will consider issuing exempted fishing permits, scientific research permits, display permits, letters of acknowledgment, and shark research fishery permits for the research and collection of Atlantic highly migratory species in 2019.

In general, exempted fishing and related permits authorize the collection of a limited number of tunas, swordfish, billfishes, and sharks from federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of these collections is scientific data, bycatch research, public display, and to evaluate the efficacy of environmental clean-up efforts, among other things. Letters of acknowledgment will document that scientific research activity is being conducted aboard scientific research vessels. The shark research fishery assists NOAA Fisheries in collecting valuable shark life history and other scientific data required in shark stock assessments.

Generally, NOAA Fisheries receives fewer than 50 applications with most relating to scientific sampling and tagging of Atlantic highly migratory species. This will be the only public comment opportunity before NOAA Fisheries issues this type permits. We will provide additional opportunity for public comment for applications outside of this scope.

Comments:
Comments must be received on or before November 30, 2018.

Electronic submissions: nmfs.hms.efp2019@noaa.gov

U.S. Mail: Craig Cockrell, Highly Migratory Species Management Division (F/SF1), NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Permit applications and copies of the regulations pertaining to exempted fishing permits, scientific research permits, display permits, and letters of acknowledgment may also be requested from this address. Shark research fishery permit applications can be received via information found in the request for applications, expected to publish shortly.

Webinar Information:

NOAA Fisheries will host a webinar on November 14, 2018, from 2 to 4 p.m. EDT. Applicants and other interested members of the public will see a general overview of the exempt fishing permit program and have an opportunity to ask questions.

Call-in: 1-888-942-8612; passcode 6276326. We encourage you to log/dial in 15 minutes prior to the meeting.

Log-in:

https://noaaevents2.webex.com/noaaevents2/onstage/g.php?MTID=ee7c953be8b128d064d6557dbb5e5423b

password: NOAA

Requests for language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Craig Cockrell at 301-427-8503 at least 7 days prior to the meeting.

Report maps potential environmental impacts of offshore wind energy

October 31, 2018 — A four-year study of planned wind energy areas off the East Coast found that building and operating offshore wind energy arrays could affect some of the region’s most commercially valuable fish species.

The report by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was written to help the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to evaluate development plans for eight offshore wind energy leases issued by the agency.

Those areas, extending from the largest proposals to date off southern New England to North Carolina, represent just about 2.7% of what NOAA Fisheries defines as the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, according to the report. Since then four more leases have been issued, for a dozen proposed wind developments in all.

“While the extent of the WEAs (wind energy areas) may appear small in comparison with the entire system, it is the largest pre-planned anthropogenic (man-made) development in the coastal ocean in this region,” the authors note. “Further, the LME is not homogeneous, so that the effects of WEA development can potentially have impacts out of proportion to its small size.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

South Atlantic Electronic For-Hire Reporting Informational Sessions Scheduled for 2018

October 30, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

  • NOAA Fisheries is developing an electronic reporting program for permit holders who have a South Atlantic Federal charter/headboat for-hire permit for snapper-grouper, dolphin wahoo, or coastal migratory pelagics fisheries.
  • The final rule for the program has not published but these requirements are expected to be effective in 2019.
  • Once implemented, this electronic reporting program will require the owners and operators of all charter vessels issued South Atlantic Federal permits to report information about their trips and catch on a weekly basis.
  • NOAA Fisheries will be holding informational sessions on the electronic reporting program in the locations listed below.
  • During these informational sessions, NOAA Fisheries and South Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff will review the electronic reporting program requirements, including how to submit reports electronically, and where to report if you hold Federal for-hire permits in different regions.
  • All informational sessions begin at 6:00 pm with a presentation from staff. After the presentation, there will be time for questions about the program.
  • These informational sessions are not mandatory but will provide useful information about the upcoming electronic reporting program.
  • For more information about the Electronic Reporting Program, please  visit: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/et or, contact Karla Gore at (727) 824-5305 or karla.gore@noaa.gov.
Date
Location
October 30, 2018  Haddrells Point and Tackle, 885 Ben Sawyer Blvd, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464
November 1, 2018 Armstrong Science Center, Biology Classroom 1109, Library Dr, Savannah, GA 31419
November 13, 2018 Harvey Government Center, 1200 Truman Ave, Key West, FL 33040
November 15, 2018 North East Florida Marlin Association, 30 harbor Dr.  St Augustine, FL 32084
December 13, 2018 Dare County Office Rm 168 954 Marshall C. Collins Dr Manteo, NC 27954
If you cannot attend an informational session in person, webinars are scheduled for November 27, 2018, and December 13, 2018, from 6:00-7:00 pm. The links to register for the webinar can be found here:

Federal court rules against NOAA Fisheries over driftnet regulation reversal

October 30, 2018 — A federal judge last week ruled that NOAA Fisheries illegally withdrew a proposed rule that would have placed hard caps on bycatch of protected species caught in California’s swordfish drift gillnet fishery.

The decision by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in the Central District Court of California does not immediately put the caps in place. However, his order on Wednesday, 24 October, requires NOAA Fisheries to either reinstate the regulations or discuss any potential revisions with the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Two years ago, NOAA Fisheries published a proposed rule to limit the amount of bycatch in the driftnet fishery. Federal officials opened a public comment period on the recommendations approved by the PFMC. Under the plan, the fishery faced closure if four bottlenose dolphins or short-fin pilot whales suffered injuries or died as the result of an encounter with a net over a two-year period. Closure could have also happened if two fin, humpback, or sperm whales; or two leatherbacks, loggerhead, olive ridley, or green sea turtles were injured or killed in the same time span.

However, in June 2017, the agency opted to not enact the regulations, which prompted the lawsuit from Oceana the following month.

“The court’s ruling protects whales, sea turtles, and dolphins and affirms the importance of public process and the role of the Pacific Fishery Management Council in regulating West Coast fisheries,” said Mariel Combs, the NGO’s senior Pacific counsel.

California’s swordfish driftnet fishery is considered controversial because the gear often ensnares animals other than what’s targeted. According to Oceana, the mile-long nets are used by 20 vessels and those boats discarded more than 60-percent of their harvest over a 13-year span ending last year. The number of marine mammals killed in the fishery outnumber those killed by all the other Pacific and Alaska fisheries combined.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

The Cultural and Historical Importance of Atlantic Salmon in New England

October 29, 2018 — For thousands of years, Atlantic salmon – known as the King of Fish – ran almost every river northeast of the Hudson. And for decades, the first fish caught in Maine’s Penobscot River was actually presented to the president of the United States in a “first fish” ritual.

But overfishing and dams brought populations to their knees and the commercial fishery for Atlantic salmon closed seventy years ago in 1948. For most of us, the closest we’ve ever gotten to an Atlantic salmon is the farm-raised variety in the fish market.

But, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is celebrating the international year of the salmon, and the New England Aquarium is marking the occasion with a public lecture by Catherine Schmitt, author of The President’s Salmon: Restoring the King of Fish and its Home Waters; and Madonna Soctomah, former Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative with the Maine State Legislature and St. Croix International Waterway Commissioner. That’s the St. Croix River in Maine and New Brunswick, not the Caribbean island.

The Presidential “first fish” ritual started in 1912 with angler Carl Anderson. He decided that he wanted to give his fish – which was the first fish caught on opening day April 1st – to the president of the United States.

Read and listen to the full story at WCAI

 

NOAA scientists admit a gaffe on risk to whales of lobster trap lines

October 29, 2018 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Late last month, the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center released a “technical memorandum” suggesting that expensive efforts by Maine lobstermen aimed at reducing the risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales and other large whales would become entangled in vertical buoy lines had backfired.

According to the memorandum, issued just before a weeklong meeting of NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team in Providence, R.I., to consider possible changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, when the industry increased the number of traps trawled together and marked by a single buoy line, lobstermen began using stronger rope. That worsened the entanglement problem.

The memorandum seemed to offer support for calls by some conservation groups for the use of even fewer vertical buoy lines, weaker ropes and the development of a “ropeless fishery” with traps that used a remote device to release a submerged buoy when it was time to raise the gear.

In a letter addressed to NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Jon Hare, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher blasted the memorandum, expressing “significant concerns about the scientific merit” of the data and research on which it was based.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American