Saving Seafood

New Tool Helps Fisheries Avoid Protected Species In Near Real Time

June 3, 2018 — New computer-generated daily maps will help fishermen locate the most productive fishing spots in near real time while warning them where they face the greatest risk of entangling sea turtles, marine mammals, and other protected species. Scientists developed the maps, the products of a system called EcoCast, to help reduce accidental catches of protected species in fishing nets.

Funded primarily by NASA with support from NOAA, California Sea Grant, and Stanford University, EcoCast was developed by NOAA Fisheries scientists and academic partners with input from fishermen and managers.

Using the swordfish fishery as an example, EcoCast incorporates data from tagged animals, remote sensing satellites, and fisheries observers to help predict concentrations of target species (broadbill swordfish) and three protected species (leatherback turtle, blue shark and California sea lion).

EcoCast will help fishermen, managers, scientists, and others understand in near real-time where fishing vessels have the highest probability of catching targeted species and where there is risk of catching protected species. In doing so, EcoCast aims to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries that sometimes inadvertently catch and kill sensitive species.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Forms to Coordinate Fishing Industry Action on Wind Power

June 1, 2018 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

With offshore renewable and wind energy development becoming increasingly common on the East Coast, a new alliance has formed to ensure that these developments are compatible with the existing interests of the nation’s fishing communities. The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) brings together a broad range of commercial fishermen from across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to advocate for their shared concerns over emerging offshore developments.

RODA is seeking to coordinate the efforts of the fishing industry, offshore wind development interests, and federal, state, and local governments to promote effective offshore development policies, and to support more scientific research on offshore development impacts. Current regulatory efforts to assess the impact of offshore development on fisheries have been disconnected. Past offshore projects have not adequately engaged with the fishing industry and the regional fishery management councils, leading to offshore leases being awarded to projects located in prime fishing grounds.

“The current, splintered approaches to engaging fishing communities in the offshore wind leasing process are ineffective and inefficient, and the result is that critical fishing industry expertise is not being considered,” said Anne Hawkins, legal and scientific counsel for RODA. “Fisheries need a unified effort to ensure they get the best possible offshore outcomes.”

One of RODA’s first priorities is exploring partnerships with NOAA and the Atlantic states to develop collaborative scientific research. This research would address the lack of peer-reviewed information on the effects of offshore development to fisheries and fish populations. It would also be used to inform offshore developers and regulators in planning sites, awarding leases, designing operations plans, and developing mitigation strategies.

RODA is also working with its members in the fishing industry to provide a unified voice on industry-wide issues, such as consideration of new offshore developments, to ensure that these issues are adequately addressed.

“The industry needs to speak as one,” said Robert Vanasse, communications and media advisor to RODA. “The offshore wind energy industry, and regulators at the federal, state, and local levels need to hear clearly the concerns of participants in our domestic fisheries.  We will work to foster the productive dialogue among those parties that is urgently needed and sorely lacking.

Specifically, RODA will coordinate engagement between offshore development and affected fisheries to guide the planning of future offshore development sites, and to implement effective operations and mitigation programs for existing sites. By creating a united effort from fishing communities, RODA will facilitate more informed development of shared offshore resources.

 

NOAA Announces Recreational Rules for Summer Flounder, Black Sea Bass & Scup

June 1, 2018 — HYANNIS, Mass. — NOAA Fisheries has announced the 2018 recreational rules for summer flounder, black sea bass and scup.

Federal officials are continuing “conservation equivalency” for summer flounder and have waived the recreational bag limit, minimum fish size and fishing season for the fishery. Fishermen are subject to regulations set by the state where the fish land.

Read the full story at Cape Cod

UMass professor nets $300K for scallop research

June 1, 2018 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor Kevin Stokesbury was awarded $302,091 in grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of its 2018-2019 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside program, the university announced Thursday.

Stokesbury, a professor of fisheries oceanography at the School for Marine Science & Technology, will use the funds to examine scallop populations around New England, including near the Nantucket Lightship shoals, the deep-water passage between Nantucket and Georges Bank, and select portions of the Northern Gulf of Maine. The three projects were awarded $95,721, $84,065 and $122,305, respectively.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News   

 

Hawaii: Whales entangled in debris in Hawaii get help from team of drones

June 1, 2018 — Federal rescue teams in Hawaii are now using small DJI drones to help free humpback whales caught in tangles of debris.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary has partnered with Oceans Unmanned of California to use drone technology to assist with whale entanglement response efforts off of Maui.

Oceans Unmanned, a nonprofit founded by former NOAA sanctuary manager Matt Pickett in California, released a video Wednesday offering more details on the program.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star Advertiser

 

NOAA Calls for fish grant proposals

June 1, 2018 — NOAA has opened the annual Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant competition to interested applicants despite having no idea yet how much money it will have for projects designed to help fishing communities, sustain the nation’s fisheries and expand the viability of its working waterfronts.

“We don’t know what the amount is (for distribution) because we don’t have the fiscal year 2019 budget yet,” said Susan Olsen, the Saltonstall-Kennedy manager at NOAA’s Gloucester-based Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. “We’re moving forward as if we already have funding.”

Olsen said she didn’t have any real sense of whether this year’s funding pool will be greater or less than the $10 million the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration distributed last year.

“I’m hoping it will be level-funded,” Olsen said.

The Saltonstall-Kennedy program administrators said they are seeking applications that relate to one of three priorities: promotion, development and marketing; marine aquaculture; and support for science that maximizes fishing opportunities and employment while also sustaining marine resources.

“We encourage applicants from the fishing community and applications that involve fishing community cooperation and participation,” NOAA said in its online primer on the grants program. “We will consider the extent of fishing community involvement when evaluating the potential benefit of funding a proposal.”

Applicants may request a minimum of $25,000 for their projects, but no more than $300,000.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Getting conservationists and fishers on the same page

May 31, 2018 — Historically, fisheries and the conservation community have struggled to find common ground. The tension between one’s desire to turn a profit and the other’s to preserve endangered or protected marine species that can be killed as bycatch has made it difficult to find solutions that satisfy both. Now, a new online tool developed by researchers at San Diego State University in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other universities could win support from both groups. EcoCast, developed with funding from the NASA Applied Sciences Ecological Forecasting Program, provides computer-generated maps to help fishermen target productive fishing spots while alerting them to areas likely to harbor protected species.

“This is a really different way of approaching ,” said Rebecca Lewison, a lead scientist on the project from San Diego State University and senior author of the new paper. “EcoCast pioneers a way of evaluating both conservation objectives and economic profitability. Instead of trying to shut down U.S. fisheries, EcoCast is trying to help U.S. fishermen fish smarter, allowing them to meet their set quota of target catch and avoid unwanted bycatch.”

Current protection zones for  are static, meaning authorities declare a zone off-limits to fishermen for some duration of time. But weather and oceanic conditions are ever-shifting, with species constantly moving in and out of protected areas. When protection zones are out of sync with the animals they’re designed to protect, both fisheries and conservation lose.

Read the full story at PHYS

 

NOAA Fisheries: Commercial Closure for Yellowtail Snapper in South Atlantic Federal Waters on June 5, 2018

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

WHAT/WHEN:

  • The commercial harvest of yellowtail snapper in federal waters of the South Atlantic will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, June 5, 2018. During the commercial closure, all sale or purchase of yellowtail snapper is prohibited, and harvest or possession of yellowtail snapper in or from federal waters is limited to the recreational bag and possession limits while the recreational fishery is open.

WHY THIS CLOSURE IS HAPPENING:  

  • The August 2017 through July 2018 commercial catch limit is 1,596,510 pounds whole weight. Commercial landings are projected to reach the commercial catch limit and harvest should close to prevent the catch limit from being exceeded.

AFTER THE CLOSURE:

  • The closure applies in both state and federal waters for vessels that have a federal commercial permit for South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper.
  • The August 2018 through July 2019 yellowtail snapper season in the South Atlantic will open on August 1, 2018, with a 1,596,510 pounds whole weight catch limit.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the existing regulations. Full regulations can be found in the Federal Register.

 

Liz Mitchell: In defense of observers

May 30, 2018 — I was shocked that NF would publish such an inflammatory opinion piece as the recent editorial, “A hard look at NOAA’s observer program” (Dock Talk, NF March ’18, p. 7). This kind of rhetoric only serves to divide. Observers have always unfairly been the brunt of frustrations that fishermen experience between their own self-interests and that of the National Marine Fisheries Service management.

Like it or not, these are public resources, and NMFS has a responsibility to manage these resources not just for the benefit of current fishermen, but also for future generations. The agency faces the difficult and challenging task of balancing these interests. There are numerous factors that influence how NMFS balances these interests, but observers should not become a political scapegoat when fishermen become angry with a management decision. Observers provide a critical role in collecting independent, third party data for use in stock assessments. The very reason observers came to be was to provide independent and objective data because fishermen could not be trusted to look beyond their own self-interest. Observers provide unbiased data, but it is not up to them how the agency or public uses this data. I would like to respond to several erroneous statements and mischaracterizations in this article:

  1. Observers shouldn’t have to degrade themselves by “looking for a ride.” There are many ways NMFS could support the professionalism of observers. Observers shouldn’t have to “look for a ride.” They should be randomly assigned and, yes, if you refuse, you should definitely be fined or not allowed to fish. How a vessel is chosen should not fall on the observer. For an observer to have to walk the docks at 4 in the morning is dangerous, degrading to the observer, full of bias and indicates a fly-by-night operation. Vessels should be notified by NMFS and the observer arrangements made between NMFS, the vessel and the observer provider.
  2. To protect the resource, it has to be monitored continuously. The author clearly does not understand the concept of monitoring a fishery. You can’t just go out one time and apply it to future extractions. The ocean is rapidly changing, so a continual input of what is being removed and the collection of biological life history information is needed to monitor long-term population changes. It’s critical to protecting the resource.

Read the full op-ed at National Fisherman

 

Alaska: One month into the season, Bristol Bay halibut fishermen harvest a quarter of the quota

May 30, 2018 — Bristol Bay fishermen have landed 8,700 pounds of halibut so far. This year’s quota for area 4-E is 33,900 pounds, significantly less than last year’s quota of 58,800 pounds.

“It is a reduction,” said Gary Cline, the regional fisheries director at BBEDC. “It’s basically because there appears to be less halibut abundance in the Pacific, not just in area 4-E, but stretching down to southeast and throughout the Bering Sea. And, because of this concern, the regulatory agencies have adopted a more restrictive catch limits for 2018.”

Those regulatory agencies include the National Marine Fisheries Service, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

The decrease in halibut could stem from a variety of factors, including fishing efforts, competition for the same prey by other species such as the Arrowtooth flounder, and water temperature.

Read the full story at KDLG