Saving Seafood

NJIT Biologist Awarded $680,000 Federal Grant to Save North-Atlantic Right Whale

August 22, 2024 — Brooke Flammang, a biologist at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has been awarded nearly $680,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a growing nationwide effort to save the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis).

NOAA Fisheries recently unveiled a more than $9 million initiative funded by the Inflation Reduction Act to support a coalition of universities, nonprofits and scientific organizations engaged in the recovery of the species, which has seen its numbers dwindle to roughly 360 individuals today due to factors ranging from climate-driven changes to its habitat, to fishing gear entanglements and vessel strikes.

As part of the collaborative effort, Flammang’s Fluid Loco Lab at NJIT will spearhead the development of non-invasive tag attachment technology to offer near real-time tracking of the species, inspired by the way certain marine life attaches to whales for their survival. The advances could improve our understanding of changes in the whales’ reproduction, distribution patterns and habitat use that have coincided with rising temperatures in its key ocean habitats in recent decades, such as the Gulf of Maine, which has warmed faster than 99% of the global ocean, according to NOAA.

Read the full article at NJIT

NOAA proposes $45 million for coastal habitat restoration and resilience projects for tribes and underserved communities as part of Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda

August 22, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is recommending more than $45 million in funding to support 27 new Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Tribes and Underserved Communities. Of this $45 million in funding, more than $20 million is recommended for federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations, and $25 million is recommended for projects that will benefit underserved communities. These funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act will advance tribes’ and underserved communities’ coastal habitat restoration and climate resilience priorities. 

“This $45 million investment, part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, will empower tribes and underserved communities on the front lines of the climate crisis to restore ecologically and culturally important coastal ecosystems and boost their resilience to climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

NOAA recommends that $20 million of this funding go to federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations who will play key roles in decision-making about habitat restoration projects, build their capacity to advance habitat restoration and climate resilience efforts and realize community and economic benefits such as jobs and training opportunities. 

This funding supports President Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative, a locally led and voluntary nation-wide effort to conserve, connect and restore at least 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This funding also advances the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal clean energy, climate and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

‘Building capacity’ is key to climate resilience
Building the capacity of local communities helps achieve a key objective of the National Climate Resilience Framework: To “equip communities with information and resources needed to assess their climate risks and develop the climate resilience solutions most appropriate for them.” 

Capacity building can encompass a number of activities, such as hiring project managers, facilitating community participation, creating foundational plans to guide restoration and developing workforce training. This work prepares communities, including decision makers, to adapt to a changing climate. For instance, several projects funded by these awards will help build capacity for Indigenous communities to maintain and transfer their Indigenous knowledge. Others will support on-the-ground restoration that can help communities address issues such as poor water quality, flooding and lack of access to green space. Some will involve building nature-based infrastructure to protect communities from threats such as erosion and sea level rise. 

“These projects demonstrate the power of community-driven habitat restoration,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “Building the capacity of tribes and underserved communities will help ensure that their needs and priorities are at the center of this work happening in their communities.”  

About NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation has a long history of conducting habitat restoration by executing large-scale competitive funding opportunities and providing expert technical assistance through the Community-based Restoration Program. The program provides technical and financial assistance to partners across the country to develop high-quality habitat restoration projects that support our nation’s fisheries. Since its start in 1996, the program has helped implement more than 2,200 coastal habitat restoration projects — restoring more than 94,000 acres of habitat for fish and opening more than 4,400 stream miles for fish passage.

More: Visit the NOAA Fisheries website to find a list of recommended projects and to learn more about habitat restoration projects funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Lawsuit claims fishery managers have failed to adequately protect Alaska’s coral gardens

August 21, 2024 — Until about 20 years ago, little was known about the abundance of colorful cold-water corals that line sections of the seafloor around Alaska.

Now an environmental group has gone to court to try to compel better protections for those once-secret gardens.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Oceana in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, accused federal fishery managers of neglecting to safeguard Gulf of Alaska corals, and the sponges that are often found with them, from damages wreaked by bottom trawling.

Bottom trawling is a practice that harvests fish with nets pulled across the seafloor.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service “ignored important obligations” to protect the Gulf of Alaska’s seafloor, under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the lawsuit said.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

Federal court strikes down biological opinion by National Marine Fisheries Service

August 21, 2024 — A 2020 biological opinion on the impact of oil and gas extraction on protected marine life in the Gulf of Mexico has been struck down by a federal court.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, an office of NOAA, produced the opinion. The court ruled the opinion is in violation of the Environmental Species Act and Administrative Procedure Act.

In 2021, five environmental organizations challenged the opinion. Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of those five organizations. Now those organizations are claiming a victory.

Joanie Steinhaus is the Ocean Program Director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network, which is one of the organizations involved in the suit. She says this has been in the works for years.

Read the full article at NBC 15

ALASKA: Southeast Alaska fishermen qualify for federal salmon disaster relief. The deadline to apply is fast approaching.

August 20, 2024 — The first deadline for Southeast Alaska fishermen to apply for relief funding from the abysmal 2020 salmon season is this Saturday, August 24.

A federal fishery disaster was declared for fisheries in the state with extraordinarily low returns.. The U.S. Department of Commerce at the time attributed those low runs to a series of marine heatwaves in the 2010’s and in 2022, the federal agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave the state of Alaska about $56 million for those losses.

Read the full article at KRBD

Feds announce funding push for ropeless fishing gear that spares rare whales

August 16, 2024 — New efforts to convert some types of commercial fishing to ropeless gear that is safer for rare whales will be supported by millions of dollars in funding, federal authorities said.

Federal fishing managers are promoting the use of ropeless gear in the lobster and crab fishing industries because of the plight of North Atlantic right whales. The whales number less than 360, and they face existential threats from entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with large ships.

The federal government is committing nearly $10 million to saving right whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Tuesday. Nearly $7 million of that will support the development of ropeless gear by providing funds to fishing industry members to assess and provide feedback on the technology, the agency said.

Lobster fishing is typically performed with traps on the ocean bottom that are connected to the surface via a vertical line. In ropeless fishing methods, fishermen use systems such an inflatable lift bag that brings the trap to the surface.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Biden announces USD 34 million to modernize NOAA Fisheries

August 16, 2024 — U.S. President Joe Biden has unveiled plans to spend USD 34 million (EUR 31 million) on modernizing NOAA Fisheries’ workforce, infrastructure, and data efforts.

“NOAA Fisheries’ short-term data-modernization efforts will drive significant long-term changes by enhancing our capacity to deliver mission-critical information, meeting survey and fishery data requirements and transition into a modern data era,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “This investment aligns with NOAA Fisheries’ existing data work, supplements appropriated funding, and supports other regional priority efforts.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Using Environmental DNA to Understand Biodiversity in a Marine National Monument

August 16, 2024 — When I tell my friends that I’m going to collect environmental DNA samples in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, their first question is always: Where is that?

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National is a highly protected area located about 130 miles east-southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It is similar in size to Connecticut. President Obama designated this area as the first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean in 2016.

NOAA shares management responsibilities with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for activities and species within the monument. It is a relatively undisturbed environment, which could be called a true ocean wilderness. The chief scientist of this research expedition, Peter Auster, is a research professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut and a senior research scientist at Mystic Aquarium. When Peter asked me if I’d be interested in sailing together to collect environmental DNA samples from the monument, I answered with an enthusiastic yes.

An interdisciplinary research group mustered aboard R/V Connecticut. Peter Auster and others scuba dove to deploy baited remote underwater video cameras to study apex predators. Meta Miner and Mael Glon from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted seabird surveys. Mary Beth Decker of Yale University used a specialized net to collect and identify gelatinous animals.

And of course, I collected seawater samples for eDNA metabarcoding analysis to study biodiversity in the monument, including fish and marine mammals.

Besides the fascinating habitat we studied, this expedition offered unique research opportunities for me.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

University study finds US could become independent of seafood imports

August 16, 2024 — A study recently published in the academic journal Ocean Sustainability has found that the U.S. is capable of achieving seafood independence and could shift away from its current reliance on imports.

The study, “Seafood independence is within reach: A multi-scale assessment of seafood self-reliance in the United States,” examined the country’s seafood supply chain and consumption habits over a span of 50 years. It found that despite the U.S. being the second-largest importer of seafood by volume in the world, the country is capable of becoming fully independent of imports.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden announces USD 9 million for North Atlantic right whale recovery

August 15, 2024 — U.S. President Joe Biden has announced USD 9 million (EUR 8.2 million) in funding for partnerships aimed at conserving North Atlantic right whales.

“North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction with approximately 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It’s imperative we advance our collective actions to help recover this species, and these partnerships will help the science and conservation community do just that.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource