Saving Seafood

Restoring Pocket Estuaries Key to Puget Sound Chinook Recovery in Washington

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.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

ALASKA: A statewide task force is trying to stop the spread of highly invasive green crabs in Southeast Alaska — and they need your help

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.

Read the full article at KRBD

NOAA launches Ocean Acidification Advisory Board, seeks seafood sector representatives

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Red snapper reopens for federal for-hire permitted boats. Is this good for the fishery?

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.”

Read the full article at The Destin Log

USDA releases new requirements for government salmon purchases

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Report finds that America is catching and eating a little less fish

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.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Op-ed: In suing Cooke, Conservation Law Foundation has a short memory

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?

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA advances efforts to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas

November 15, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries released two draft programmatic environmental impact statements (PEIS) to support the identification of proposed Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico. The public is invited to review and submit comments on the draft statements from November 22, 2024, through February 20, 2025.

In Southern California, NOAA experts outlined up to 10 locations as proposed AOAs, with eight situated in the Santa Barbara Channel and two in Santa Monica Bay, each ranging in size from 500 to 2,000 acres and totaling up to 16,500 acres. The draft impact statement considers multiple scenarios, including the potential impacts of seaweed and shellfish aquaculture only, and the potential impacts of seaweed, shellfish and finfish.

In the Gulf of Mexico, the proposed AOAs include three locations off the coast of Texas and one off the coast of Louisiana, each ranging in size from 500 to 2,000 acres and totaling 6,500 acres. The draft impact statement analyzes five areas for various aquaculture types, including shellfish, finfish and seaweed.

“With climate change posing risks to America’s food security, aquaculture offers a pathway to grow climate resilience,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit. “Identifying areas suitable for sustainable aquaculture is a forward-looking step toward strengthening climate-smart food systems.” 

The publication of the draft statements marks a major milestone in NOAA’s multi-year initiative to identify areas that may be environmentally, socially and economically viable for supporting multiple commercial aquaculture operations. Taking this step builds upon extensive scientific review, spatial planning and public engagement to ensure responsible ocean stewardship while promoting sustainable domestic aquaculture. 

The location of aquaculture farms is critical to their sustainability. In support of identifying viable areas for aquaculture, NOAA invested in 19 new scientific products on topics including biosecurity and disease, genetic risk, engineering, economics, social vulnerability and the well-being of coastal communities. 

The draft statements also draw from AOA atlases for Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico that provide the most comprehensive spatial analysis ever conducted for U.S. ocean areas, with more than 200 data layers covering environmental, economic, social and cultural considerations. These atlases — together with thorough scientific review and public input collected during the past four years — offer essential insights that guided the development of the draft PEIS. 

NOAA is also working to identify areas in Alaska state waters. Together, these efforts could bolster U.S. food security and coastal communities in the face of a changing climate. While the identification of these areas offers valuable data for aquaculture growers, all proposed operations must still undergo the full state and federal permitting processes before beginning construction. 

“Since its inception, the aquaculture opportunity area process has been rooted in science and informed by public input,” said Danielle Blacklock, director of NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture. “NOAA has made significant efforts to engage constituents each step of the way, by soliciting comments and shaping our actions to best serve the American public.”

About the public comment period

Both draft PEIS are open for public comment via the Federal Register from November 22, 2024, through February 20, 2025. Virtual public listening sessions will be held for both Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico, where the public is welcome to provide comments. Comments received will be assessed and considered by NOAA Fisheries to prepare Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements for both regions. 

More information on the draft PEIS for Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico is available on the NOAA website.

Researchers start estimating fish biomass using DNA

November 15, 2024 — Researchers looking to estimate biomass of multiple Alaska fish species say it is now possible to estimate fish biomass for more than one species at the same time using environmental DNA found in sea water.

In a report released by NOAA Fisheries on Oct. 31, Kimberly Ledger – a research biologist with the Auke Bay Laboratories of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study – said researchers had learned they could accurately quantify species composition and estimate biomass for different species of cod and pollock at the same time using eDNA.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

Breathing in Climate Change: International Collaboration to Study Sea Scallops in a Changing Environment

November 14, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In September 2024, my colleague Shannon Meseck and I took a road trip up north to Canada, to visit a research lab in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The St. Andrews Biological Station is a part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian equivalent to NOAA Fisheries. Though the oldest of Canada’s Atlantic research facilities, the lab features state-of-the-art seawater systems with capacity to do climate and aquatic research.

This project was a transboundary collaboration with climate scientist Helen Gurney-Smith to study climate change stressors on Atlantic sea scallop larvae. It was funded by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program. The larval period, typically the first 3 weeks of a sea scallop’s life, is particularly challenging for bivalve shellfish because they are planktonic, or free-floating in the water column. During this period, larvae are subject to heavy predation and are transported through ocean currents. The water they are exposed to is constantly changing with environmental conditions, and pulses of warm and/or low pH water are becoming more common with climate change.

One way we can test how larvae respond to changes in environmental conditions is by measuring their respiration rate. As with all animals, sea scallops breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The oxygen they breathe is dissolved in seawater, and we can measure the drop in the oxygen concentration of that water over time with specialized equipment known as respiration chambers. Changes in respiration rate indicate physiological stress. We hypothesized that respiration rate may change when sea scallop larvae are exposed to non-ideal seawater conditions.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries