Saving Seafood

Mysterious Pacific Ocean sounds identified as a type of whale—a new AI app helps track them

September 23, 2024 — A team of oceanographers and marine biologists from the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and Oregon State University has identified a mysterious noise heard in the Pacific Ocean for two decades as the sounds of Bryde’s whales.

In their study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the group identified the sound and worked with a team at Google to develop an AI application that could be used to track the ‘ movements.

The mysterious sound was first recorded in 2014, when its metallic ping was designated a “biotwang.” Since then, the sound has been recorded multiple times in multiple locations. In 2016, a team at Oregon State University found evidence that it was most likely some type of baleen whale.

Read the full article at Phys.org

US denies port privileges to foreign vessels accused of IUU fishing

September 21, 2024 — Foreign commercial fishing vessels accused of illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing by the U.S. government will be denied access to American ports beginning 10 October.

NOAA Fisheries has revoked port privileges to vessels from 17 nations under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act, a law that requires NOAA to identify nations whose fishing vessels are engaged in IUU operations or activities that result in bycatch of protected living marine resources or sharks. Once NOAA Fisheries identifies a nation as engaging in IUU fishing, it enters a two-year consultation to fix the problem. If the issue is not resolved in that period, NOAA Fisheries can issue a negative certification and a denial of port access.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Scientists unearth key clues to cuisine of resident killer whale populations

September 21, 2024 — A team led by researchers at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has uncovered key information about what resident killer whale populations are eating. Researchers had long known that resident killer whales—also known as resident orcas—prefer to hunt fish, particularly salmon. But some populations thrive, while others have struggled. Scientists have long sought to understand the role that diet plays in these divergent fates.

“Killer whales are incredibly intelligent, and learn foraging strategies from their matriarchs, who know where to find the richest prey resources in their regions,” said Amy Van Cise, UW assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, who began this study as a postdoctoral researcher with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “So we wanted to know: Does all of that social learning affect  preferences in different populations of resident killer whales, or in pods within populations?”

In a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Van Cise and her colleagues report the cuisine preferences of two resident killer whale populations: the Alaska residents and the southern residents, which reside primarily in the Salish Sea and off the coast of Washington, Oregon and northern California.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

Comparing Killer Whale Cuisine

September 20, 2024 — Scientists studied two populations of fish-eating killer whales: the Southern Residents and the southern Alaska residents. They wanted to know if these two populations of fish-eating killer whales eat different things and how their diets change throughout the year. This information will improve our conservation efforts.

The Alaska resident killer whale population appears healthy and has been growing. But Southern Resident killer whales are endangered and are one of NOAA Fisheries’ Species in the Spotlight. Decades of research have identified four major threats to their survival:

  • Vessel traffic noise and disturbance
  • Health issues linked to contaminants
  • Issues related to inbreeding
  • Limited prey availability.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

James Binniker Named New Director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement

September 20, 2024 — Mr. James Binniker has been selected as the new director of the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. In this new role, Mr. Binniker will lead the agency’s work to enforce laws that conserve and protect our nation’s protected marine resources, places, and habitats, as well as to advance actions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and promote sustainable fisheries management. Mr. Binniker will assume his new role on September 23.

As the newly appointed head of the Office of Law Enforcement, Mr. Binniker brings a strong combination of skills and experience. The office is responsible for enforcing more than 40 federal statutes over more than 3 million nautical miles of open ocean, 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline, 16 National Marine Sanctuaries, and Marine National Monuments.

“The breadth of ocean and coast NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement must cover and the number of laws they must enforce are immense; so it’s crucial that leadership continue to set priorities and pursue those enthusiastically as we strive to fulfill our sustainability and stewardship missions,” said Janet Coit, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “With James’ extensive enforcement background and incredible level of experience with marine issues nationally and internationally, he will hit the ground running—especially in our ongoing fight against illegal unregulated and unreported fishing globally.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

DOJ argues federal law allows NOAA to charge fishermen for monitors

September 19, 2024 — Out-of-pocket payments made by fishermen to federal monitors who accompany them at sea is comparable to the costs fishermen incur when they purchase new gear or equipment to comply with any other other regulations, government lawyers argue in a legal brief filed Wednesday in federal appeals court.

The brief in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Gina Raimondo, is the government’s latest volley in what has become a landmark case pitting NOAA Fisheries against a group of New Jersey herring fishermen after the Supreme Court in June rolled back a long-standing legal doctrine that gave deference to agencies like NOAA in disputes over a regulation’s interpretation.

The filing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit argues that all NOAA Fisheries regulations require industry compliance and that sometimes compliance “imposes economic costs on vessels.”

Read the full article at E&E News

US senators blame new financial management software for delayed fishery disaster funding

September 19, 2024 — A group of U.S. senators claim that a newly implemented financial management software has caused delays in the allocation of fishery disaster funds, and they want answers.

The USD 341 million (EUR 306 million) Business Application Solution was built to modernize the U.S. Department of Commerce’s financial operations, but federal lawmakers claim the software has resulted in system failures and delays, including to NOAA’s fishery disaster program.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Collaboration on St. Croix Fish Passage Projects May Create Largest Alewife Run in North America

September 19, 2024 — An 1874 map hanging in the Calais, Maine, library depicts the St. Croix, or Skutik, River flowing past the town. A spot on the river called Salmon Falls marks the location of a tribal fishing village. In 1881, the Milltown Dam was built across the river near the same site. The village—and the sea-run fish that sustained members of the Passamaquoddy People for thousands of years—disappeared. The Passamaquoddy now compose the tribal communities Sipayik and Indian Township in Maine and Skutik in New Brunswick.

This year, a major cross-border collaboration championed by the Passamaquoddy People resulted in the dismantling of the Milltown Dam, the lowermost dam on the river. It had persisted for more than 140 years. Following removal of the Milltown Dam, hundreds of thousands of alewives, a keystone species in river and ocean ecosystems, surged upriver during their annual spring migration. With further fish passage restoration, the Skutik could host North America’s largest run of alewives.

Now, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and the Maine Department of Marine Resources are focused on the next major barriers to fish passage on the river: the Woodland and Grand Falls dams. Existing 1960s-era fishways on both dams are inadequate. With $35.6 million from NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the partners will develop state-of-the-art fishways to carry six species of migratory fish over the dams.

The project includes:

  • Conducting studies to determine best designs for upstream American eel passage and downstream passage for alewives and eels at both dams
  • Designing and building multiple upstream and downstream fish passage solutions at the Woodland Dam, including a fish ladder and a fish lift
  • Designing multiple upstream and downstream fish passage solutions for the Grand Falls Dam
  • Expanding the ability of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik to participate in restoration through workforce development and job support
  • Helping the local economy by creating jobs and supporting fisheries for alewives and American eels

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Fishermen ask court to spike NOAA onboard observer program

September 18, 2024 — Two New Jersey fishermen who convinced the Supreme Court in June to toss out the Chevron doctrine, which had long buttressed federal regulatory muscle are asking an appeals court to effectively get industry-paid NOAA Fisheries monitors off their boats.

In arguments set for Nov. 4, plaintiffs in Loper Bright Enterprises Inc. v. Gina Raimondo will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to make a final ruling on the industry-funded monitoring program that was adopted by NOAA in 2020 and ceased in April 2023.

“I think we’re all hopeful that the circuit court will get to the right answer,” Ryan Mulvey, an attorney with the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and plaintiffs’ counsel, said in an interview Monday. “This entire case has been about fighting for our fishermen and small family businesses to get rid of what we thought was a really onerous regulation.”

Read the full article at E&E News

2024 Northeast Summer Ecosystem Monitoring Cruise Completed

September 17, 2024 — Our ecosystem monitoring cruises help researchers understand and predict changes in the Northeast shelf ecosystem and its fisheries throughout the year. Our core sampling provides data that help us understand ocean acidification as well as changes in:

  • Distribution and abundance of zooplankton and larval fish
  • Temperature
  • Salinity

Researchers also record observations of seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles.

We sampled 111 of 162 planned stations from August 12 to 23 aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. Sailing was delayed from the originally scheduled departure on August 9 so the vessel could replace an essential crew member on short notice. We completed 68.5 percent of our planned research activities. We dropped stations from New Jersey to North Carolina owing to delayed sailing, and focused on stations in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Southern New England.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries