Saving Seafood

Gulf of Maine Sea Scallop Surveys Planned

June 9, 2017 — Sea scallops in the Gulf of Maine will be the focus of surveys this summer, initiated by NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council.

The council needs updated scallop biomass estimates from the area to support upcoming management decisions.

At their request, NOAA Fisheries will add portions of the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to two existing surveys already planned on Georges Bank.

The additional work will be done through the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program under two current grants.

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation will survey portions of Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge with the Habcam optical imaging system, complemented by the deployment of a scallop survey dredge to collect biological samples.

The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology will conduct a high-resolution drop-camera survey of a portion of Stellwagen Bank.

These additional surveys will generate scallop biomass estimates that will be provided to the council to support the development of Gulf of Maine management measures later this year.

Research set-aside programs are unique to federal fisheries in the Greater Atlantic Region.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

In the Mid-Atlantic, nobody fishes more than New Jersey

June 9, 2017 — New Jersey is the leader in the Mid-Atlantic region when it comes to saltwater recreational fishing, according to the findings of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.

No fishermen take more trips, buy more fishing tackle or work in the industry more than fishermen do in the Garden State.

The Mid-Atlantic States in the report include Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

The report, titled Fisheries Economics of the U.S., 2015, was released in May.

Based on the report’s 2015 numbers, New Jersey’s saltwater recreational fishing industry generated the most jobs 16,100 jobs, sales at $1.8 million and took the most fishing trips at 4.3 million.

New York was next with 7,800 jobs, $874 million in sales and 3.2 million trips.

Nationally, New Jersey’s saltwater recreational fishing industry ranked 3rd in jobs created behind Florida and California, 4th in sales behind Florida, California and Texas and 3rd in trips taken behind Florida and North Carolina.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

NOAA recommends Maine fisheries research projects for $1.5M in funding

June 8, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recommended over $1.5 million in Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program funding for six fisheries research projects in Maine.

The goal of the Saltonstall-Kennedy program is to fund projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.

The program has recommended the following projects for funding; final approval is pending:

  • Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education, $278,000: Demonstrating aquaculture technologies designed to increase the supply, quality and diversification of domestic seafood: Field experiments with cultured arctic surf clams.
  • Gulf of Maine Research Institute, $288,888: Addressing the issue of “Choke” species in a changing climate.
  • Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association Lobster, $141,092: Migration and growth: Continuation and expansion of 2015 tagging effort on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine.
  • Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, $298,932: A ‘Halo’ for shellfish aquaculture: Discovering the phytoremediation potential of farmed kelp.
  • University of Maine, $299,623: Evaluating the life history and stock structure of yellowfin tuna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
  • University of Maine, $275,308: Assessing the potential for sustainability of fishing-dependent communities in coastal Maine in the face of environmental and socioeconomic change.

In a news release announcing the NOAA’s recommendations, U.S Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, characterized the projects as “key to the future of the Gulf of Maine and the thousands of Mainers who make their living from it.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Maine senators say Congress should save Sea Grant program

June 8, 2017 — Maine’s U.S. senators are signing on to a request to keep the National Sea Grant College Program funded at least at its current level.

President Trump has proposed to eliminate the program, which funds science that’s beneficial to commercial fisheries, conservation and coastal businesses. It has existed for about a half-century.

Maine Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, are joining an effort led by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy to save the program. The group is sending a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the commerce appropriations subcommittee to stress the importance of Sea Grant.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Officials negotiating extending 2017 Red Snapper season

June 7, 2017 — CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Fisheries directors from Texas and four other gulf states have been meeting with federal decision makers to decide whether or not to extend the 2017 red snapper fishing season for recreational anglers, which began June 1 and ended June 3. It lasted three days.

If extended, the longer federal season would open up more weekends this summer for recreational fishermen to pursue red snapper in the deeper, often more plentiful federal waters – which begin nine miles from the shoreline. On the other hand, it may also threaten year-round access to fishing for red snapper in state waters off Texas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allotted only three days this year for recreational anglers to fish in federal waters within the Gulf of Mexico. According to Captain Scott Hickman, who operates a charter boat in the Texas gulf, the short season is the result of high harvesting in Florida, which impacts the regulations placed on anglers in other states.

Read the full story at KRIS-TV

More federal red snapper days possible

June 7, 2017 — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is considering a plan that could lead to more fishing days for red snapper in federal waters.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is offering to add more fishing days for recreational anglers in exchange for the Gulf states agreeing to shorten their red snapper season in state waters.

“Florida would have to give days to get days,” according to an FWC press release.

Current discussion are aiming to align an expanded federal season with weekend and holidays throughout the summer. In exchange, FWC would give up some fishing days in state waters, according to the release.

These changes would apply only to private anglers. No change is being considered to the for-hire season which is open daily until July 19.

The season for private anglers ended Saturday — a mere three days. Since the announcement was made, there has been intense anger from local fisherman and a steady call for a longer season. Local politicians have sent letters to both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which regulates the fishery, and the Department of Congress asking for more days.

Read the full story at the Panama City News Herald 

Studies Hope to Shed Light on Area of Scallop Fishing Fight

June 7, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Federal fishing managers say studies are planned for an important New England scallop fishing area that’s been a source of conflict in the fishery in recent months.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s facilitating survey work in the northern Gulf of Maine this summer.

Small boats came into conflict with bigger boats in the northern Gulf of Maine this year over differences in the way the boats are managed.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News & World Report

NOAA Announces $10 Million in Funding for 41 Projects

June 6, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA: 

4 Projects Recommended  for Funding in Greater Atlantic Region

NOAA Fisheries announces more than $10 million in recommended grants through the 2017 Saltonstall-Kennedy (SK) Grant competition. 

Of the 41 projects selected nationally, 14 projects are in the Greater Atlantic Region, requesting more than $3.6 million in federal support.

The goal of the SK program is to fund projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable. 

The applications recommended for funding fall into the seven priorities identified in the FY17 solicitation:

  •     Marine Aquaculture
  •     Fishery Data Collection
  •     Techniques for Reducing Bycatch and other Adverse Impacts
  •     Adapting to Climate Change and other Long Term  Ecosystem Change
  •     Promotion, Development, and Marketing
  •     Socio-Economic Research
  •     Territorial Science

Note: At this point in the selection process, application approval and obligation is not final. An application being recommended is not an authorization to begin performance of the project, and is not a guarantee of funding. Final approval is subject to funding availability as well as final review and approval by both NOAA Grants Management Division and DOC Financial Assistance Law Division. No application is “awarded” until it has been signed by the official Grants Officer. The Grants Officer will notify successful applicants in writing when their application has been approved.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov

Sen. King tells researchers that data is the key to protecting lobster industry

June 6, 2017 — Calling proposed cuts in federal science funding “unacceptable,” U.S. Sen. Angus King told lobster researchers Monday that data is the key to protecting Maine’s most valuable fishery.

Maine’s independent senator asked the 250 biologists, oceanographers and fishery managers at a global conference on lobster biology in Portland this week to give him data on the impact of the changing sea environment on lobster, including temperature, salinity and acidification, and whether that is prompting a migration of Maine’s $533.1 million a year fishery to Canada.

“If lobsters are moving toward Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, that’s a serious practical issue that will get the attention of politicians,” he said. “It’s when you start seeing jobs go away that politicians start saying ‘Gee, we’d better do something about this.’ Are they moving, if they are why, and if they are, what’s the timing? Is it five years? Twenty years? A hundred years?”

But federal funding for scientific research is under fire. President Trump’s budget calls for a 17 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the national fisheries programs and funded almost a fifth of Maine Department of Marine Resources’ annual budget. It would eliminate the Sea Grant program, which funds research by the University of Maine’s Rick Wahle, conference co-chairman, among others.

“The lobster industry in New England is valued at close to $500 million and yet we know very little about how ocean acidification may affect this species,” Libby Jewett, NOAA’s ocean acidification director, said last fall when awarding Wahle’s team a $200,000 grant for lobster research. “These projects should help move the needle forward in our understanding and, as a result, enable broader resilience in the region.”

King said it is unlikely that Trump’s budget, containing what he considers drastic cuts in scientific funding, will pass Congress.

“The last thing we should be doing on a federal level is cutting research funding,” King said. “That is one of the most important functions of the federal government, whether it is climate change or cancer. It’s how we solve problems. To cut research, and particularly to cut research when you get the feeling that the motivation is that we don’t want to know, is unacceptable. … Congress understands this.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Hawaii coral recovery efforts progress as Trump pulls support from Paris accord

June 5, 2017 — President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord will hamper efforts to stem global warming throughout the world — the primary cause of rising ocean temperatures that pose the single greatest threat to Hawaii’s marine ecosystems.

Responsible for more CO2 emissions than any country save for China, the United States’ exit from the Paris agreement was met with dissension not only from some within Trump’s own administration but also from environmental activists, business leaders across the country and political leaders across globe.

Scientists in Hawaii also balked at Trump’s move, saying the state will not escape the subsequent ripple effect as it works to mitigate environmental impact to coral reefs on the heels of back-to-back years of coral bleaching in 2014 and 2015, the latter of which was part of the third global bleaching event in history.

“If we don’t solve the global emissions (problem) … everything that we do on reefs is substantially harder,” said Thomas Oliver, ocean acidification program manager with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. “The Paris accord so far represents the best international response we’ve ever had to deal with the problem.”

Dr. Bill Walsh, West Hawaii aquatic biologist for the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources, said concerns extend beyond a departure from the Paris agreement to the administration’s general attitude toward climate change and the federal agencies tasked with combating it.

“Even apart from the Paris accord, if the withdrawal or rather the attack of the administration on scientific organizations (like) NOAA or the Environmental Protection Agency — we work hand in hand with them,” he said. “A lot of our ability to effectively monitor the reefs over these years has been due to money the state gets directly from NOAA. We’re all sort of intertwined here.”

Walsh and Oliver each helped develop the Coral Bleaching Recovery Plan, a detailed report synthesizing input from international and local experts along with relevant scientific literature on the problem.

Released in March after roughly a year of work, the strategies the report recommends revolve around establishing networks of no-take Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Herbivore Fishery Management Areas (HFMAs).

Strategies also include spatial management of coral reef areas with inherent resiliency to bleaching or a high potential for recovery from bleaching. The final recommendation involves increased enforcement.

Read the full story at West Hawaii Today