Saving Seafood

Save LBI files notice of intent to sue Atlantic Shores to halt offshore wind project

October 9, 2024 — Citizens group Save Long Beach Island has notified federal agencies of its intent to sue offshore wind developer Atlantic Shores under the Endangered Species Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Act.

The notices give the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 60 days to resolve issues raised in the filings before the group pursues litigation, according to a news release from Save LBI.

An Atlantic Shores spokesperson said the company cannot comment on active litigation.

Read the full article at the The Press of Atlantic City

NOAA releases biological opinion suggesting salmon fishing can continue in Southeast Alaska

October 8, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has released documentation that will allow salmon fishing to continue in Southeast Alaska more than a year after a judge attempted to shut down commercial salmon harvesting.

In May 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled that a 2019 biological opinion used to authorize commercial salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska was flawed because it did not adequately consider how fishing would impact southern resident killer whales. In his opinion, the judge removed the fishery’s so-called take statement authorization, effectively ending any commercial salmon fishing operations in the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Territory not included in NOAA’s “Fisheries of the United States” annual report

October 8, 2024 — The director of the Department of Marine & Wildlife Resources, Taotasi Archie Soliai has written to the Deputy Ass’t Administrator for Regulatory Programs of NOAA, Samuel Rauch III on his concerns about American Samoa not being included in NOAA’s “Fisheries of the United States” Annual Report, pointing to “a longstanding pattern of marginalization for our community.”

DMWR director’s concerns comes on the heels of the 200th Meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council held in Honolulu, last month, where an Indigenous Committee to provide recommendations to federal authorities on cultural fishing rights and related issues was established.

Read the full article at Samoa News

NOAA Fisheries releases implementation plan for National Seafood Strategy

October 7, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has unveiled its plan for implementing the United States’ first National Seafood Strategy, a document the agency released last year to guide the federal government’s efforts to support the domestic seafood sector.

“The Implementation Plan is where the rubber meets the road,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It outlines the specific actions to achieve the goals we laid out in the strategy to support our nation’s seafood sector and the benefits it provides.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

NOAA confirms link between Maine lobster fishing and right whale death

October 4, 2024 — NOAA investigators have for the first time confirmed a link between the death of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and the Maine lobster industry.

The whale, right whale #5120, was found dead off the coast of Massachusetts in January 2024, and a necropsy in February found it was entangled in gear with markings that NOAA said were consistent with rope used in Maine state water trap/pot buoy lines used for lobster fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US appeals court removes regional fishery management councils’ pocket veto powers

October 4, 2024 — A U.S. appeals court has ruled that regional fishery management councils can no longer exercise pocket vetoes, meaning that they cannot selectively enforce decisions made by NOAA Fisheries or the office of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

The ruling is a partial victory for commercial fishers Raymond Lofstad and Gus Lovgren, who sued the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council for how it divvied up catch allocations of summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass between commercial and recreational fishermen in 2022.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

AI transforms scallop stock assessments for greater accuracy

October 3, 2024 — Artificial Intelligence and machine learning help researchers take a giant step toward more accurate stock assessments.

Since the early 2000s, New England and Mid-Atlantic scallop fisheries have been managed sustainably through temporary area closures and periodic harvests by vessels limited to seven-person crews. This sound management depends on accurate numbers, and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) relies on data drawn from different sources for its Atlantic sea scallop stock assessments. “We get data from Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, and others says Teri Frady, communications chief at NOAA Fisheries. But Frady is particularly interested in new AI-augmented data coming from the work of Dvora Hart at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center—NEFSC—in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. “I’m always interested in what Dvora is doing,” says Frady.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Final Step in Klamath River Dam Removal Opens Path for Returning Salmon

October 3, 2024 — Heavy equipment removed the final obstacle separating the Klamath River from the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday. The reconnected river was turbid but remained safe for fish after crews took steps to avoid erosion and impacts to water quality.

“These final dam removal steps set the stage for salmon to return to reclaimed habitat and expand their population recovery,” said Jim Simondet, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region Klamath Branch Supervisor.

NOAA Fisheries analyzed the impacts of dam removal on Endangered Species Act-listed species in a biological opinion. That analysis found that the short-term impacts, such as the potential effects of sediment in the water on salmon, would be outweighed by the much greater long-term benefits as river ecosystem processes return at a landscape scale. The project will reopen more than 400 miles of habitat to salmon, steelhead, and lamprey.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

NOAA officials confirm fishing gear led to death of endangered right whale off New England coast

October 3, 2024 — Federal investigators said Maine fishing gear is to blame for the death of an endangered right whale.

Maine lobstermen said they’re sad to hear about the whale’s death, but they also fear new regulations will endanger their livelihoods. The female right whale was found dead near Martha’s Vineyard in January.

This death and investigation come as new lobster fishing regulations are up for debate.

One lobsterman said fishing without using a rope isn’t that simple and it would cost significantly more.

“It’s been an ongoing battle for a number of years. We have taken and modified our gear over the years to reduce the amount of rope that we use in the water, so the industry has done a lot that it’s been asked of,” John Drouin, a lobsterman, said.

Read the full article at WMUR

Exploring ropeless gear for sustainable lobster fishing

October 1, 2024 — On Thursday, August 29, 2024, NOAA Fisheries hosted a webinar looking at the future of ropeless, or pop-up, gear for the New England lobster fishery. NOAA’s Jennifer S. Goebel pointed out that the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team had recommended that large swaths of the Gulf of Maine and waters south of Cape Cod be subject to emergency closures and open to fishing with ropeless gear only.

Goebel noted, however, that the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries are currently in compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act; “the recommendations from the team were put on hold.” Goebel cited other legislation that calls for innovation in the adoption of gear technology as justification for efforts aimed at developing ropeless gear. “That seems to support the development of ropeless gear,” Goebel said, before outlining a 4-year plan to develop the technology and have final rules in place.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman