September 5, 2015 — CALIFORNIA — What’s blue, 80 feet long, weighs about 100 tons and is missing? A Southern California whale entangled in a fishing line.
Aircraft joined wildlife rescuers Saturday in the search for the slippery mammal in the waters off Catalina Island, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Read the full story at The New York Post
September 4, 2015 — NOAA announces more than $4.5 million in grants to states and tribes to support endangered or threatened species recovery efforts. The agency is also opening a call for 2016 proposals under this program.
The NOAA Fisheries Species Recovery Grant Program’s 2015 funding supports five new projects and the continuation of 14 multi-year projects.
September 4, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:
As part of its efforts to build resilient coastal communities and sustainable marine resources, today, NOAA announced the availability of approximately $10 million in competitive grants through the 2016 Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program. The program addresses the needs of fishing communities, and increases opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable by funding fisheries research and development projects.
Through this year’s program, emphasis is being placed on rebuilding fish stocks, maintaining and restoring healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems, and promoting the economic vitality of fishery working waterfront communities. The program is also emphasizing community-based projects to help coastal communities retool fishing fleets, shore services and port facilities into sustainable and innovative businesses.
“The Saltonstall-Kennedy Program helps fishing communities across the country keep their economies thriving by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and practices,” said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. “Funds from the program keep working waterfronts vibrant and help coastal communities with conservation and management measures. We hope to see proposals from across the nation and U.S. territories, each providing a unique approach to research and project development.”
To be considered for funding, projects should advance research in one of the following focus areas:
The 2016 deadline for proposals is November 2, 2015. Information on eligibility and application requirements can be found at www.grants.gov. Additional application instructions are available on the NOAA Fisheries website.
The Saltonstall-Kennedy Act established a fund used by the Secretary of Commerce to provide grants or cooperative agreements for fisheries research and development projects addressing aspects of U.S. fisheries, including, but not limited to harvesting, processing, marketing and associated business infrastructures. The objective of the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program is to address the needs of the fisheries and fishing communities in optimizing economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and practices.
President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act into law in July 1954, which established the fund and its annual grants. Massachusetts senators Leverett Saltonstall and John F. Kennedy, the future president, authored the Act to promote and market domestic seafood.
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — September 1, 2015 — An analysis released today by Saving Seafood examines a proposal from several environmental organizations to extend “permanent” protections to the Cashes Ledge region of the Gulf of Maine and the New England Canyons and Seamounts, by asking President Obama to declare the area a National Monument. The analysis notes that these efforts are largely duplicative of area closures already in place in this region, none of which are poised for opening. Saving Seafood further concludes that such a unilateral move would undermine the democratic and collaborative processes that to date have been highly effective in preserving and protecting the area.
Read the analysis from Saving Seafood here
The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and partners including the National Geographic Society, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council intend to ask that these areas be declared the eastern seaboard’s first Marine National Monument, according to emails sent by CLF to State House News Service. A sold out event scheduled for Wednesday, September 2 at the New England Aquarium, featuring National Geographic and the CLF, is expected to discuss this proposal. Last Friday, Maine Governor Paul LePage wrote to President Obama opposing the designation of areas within the Gulf of Maine as a national maritime monument, as reported by the Portland Press Herald.
Such a designation would be both duplicative of, and possibly damaging to, the current management of Cashes Ledge, according to the Saving Seafood analysis. Closures already in place, developed through an open, democratic and collaborative process under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, already prohibit fishing of federally managed species in the area. These prohibitions have been in place for over a decade, the analysis notes, and have been extended into the foreseeable future with the recent passage of Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The Council is actively working on extending similar protections to the New England Canyons through the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.
A petition being circulated by CLF and promoted by National Geographic notes that a “trawl could strip clear the kelp forest on Ammen Rock,” but as noted in the Saving Seafood analysis, current protections for these areas – including regulations passed as recently as June of this year – already protect areas such as Ammen Rock and the kelp forests. Saving Seafood notes that none of these areas are being considered for opening to fishing.
The Saving Seafood report also cautions against proposals to create “permanent” protections for these areas that would circumvent the process already in place to manage New England’s marine habitats. It notes that the New England Fishery Management Council has responsibility for managing Cashes Ledge and other habitat areas. Through a deliberative, consultative effort involving input from scientists, public officials, regulators, and other stakeholders, the Council has consistently protected the unique habitats on both Cashes Ledge and other areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.
According to the analysis, efforts to circumvent these procedures in pursuit of ostensibly “permanent” protections, such as a National Monument designation via the Antiquities Act, would undermine the open and democratic management process that has already resulted in the long-term protection of Cashes Ledge. Upending the regulatory process that has worked so well for so long is likely to do more harm than good, the report concludes.
Read the analysis from Saving Seafood here
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — August 29, 2015 — Scientists are gauging the health of 20 stocks of important New England commercial fish species.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will use the assessments for information needed to set annual catch limits for fishermen.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — August 31, 2015 — The following op-ed was written by Congressman William R. Keating (D – MA), and originally appeared in the Boston Globe. Congressman Keating wrote to the Globe to denounce plans to shift the costs of at-sea monitoring entirely onto New England fishermen :
For centuries, Massachusetts’ fishermen have played a vital role in our coastal economy, providing our families with food and our communities with revenue. The last decade, in particular, has again demonstrated the grit and perseverance of this historic industry, with changes in regulations, decreasing stocks, and rising fuel costs.
A comprehensive monitoring program is an important tool for collecting essential catch information for managing fisheries. At the end of the day, it is the fishermen who will benefit most from robust and thriving fisheries. However, the majority of the industry is simply unable to cover the costs.
I have worked with my colleagues in Congress and Governor Baker to urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to continue to fund the observer program and not shift the burden onto the industry. In the meantime, as discussion continues over the use of Bin 3 groundfish disaster money as an interim solution, this option should not absolve NOAA of its responsibility to deal with this issue both in the short- and long-term.
There are long-term solutions to this problem, including investing in cost-effective alternatives such as the wide-scale adoption of the use of cutting-edge technologies that allow for electronic monitoring. In the meantime, NOAA must find a way to support this historic industry and not bankrupt it with bills that they cannot afford.
Read the opinion piece from Congressman William Keating online at the Boston Globe
| August 28, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries announces that the report on the recent independent program review of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Sampling Branch is now available. Fishery monitoring is a vital part of our data collection and delivery. We take very seriously our role in ensuring its quality and our accountability to the fishermen, seafood dealers, and researchers and fishery managers who help provide the data and rely on our products. The review was conducted early this year by IC Independent Consulting. The final report and a memo outlining our planned actions in response to the findings are available on our website. |
August 27, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries is seeking comments on proposed measures for limited access herring vessels as part of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The New England Fishery Management Council recommended these measures to improve catch monitoring and address discarding in the herring fishery.
These proposed measures would require:
We have concerns with the proposed measures 1 and 2, above. We are seeking public comment on the justification for these proposed measures and whether the utility of the measures outweighs compliance and enforcement costs.
Read the proposed rule as published in the
Federal Register. Submit your comments online through regulations.gov, or send your comments by mail to:
John Bullard
Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Region
National Marine Fisheries Service
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930.
August 27, 2015 — A North Carolina seafood processor and wholesale distributor faces a felony conviction after Federal prosecutors exposed the company’s shrimp mislabelling scheme.
The prosecution also resulted in a $100,000 fine, forfeiture of more than 20,000 pounds of shrimp and three years’ probation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina joined forces to investigate and prosecute Alphin Brothers Inc., in a case that saw the company admit to falsely labelling tens of thousands of pounds of shrimp.
“This case is an example of coordinated law enforcement, both state and federal, working together with the tools they already have to crack down on fish fraud,” said Lisa Weddig, Secretary of the Better Seafood Board (BSB.)
Read the full story at The Fish Site
August 26, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:
The southeastern Bering Sea is an enormously productive ecosystem. It produces over 40% of the nation’s total annual fish catch. The pollock fishery operates here — one of the nation’s most important commercial fisheries in both annual yield and value. It is also home to an exuberant diversity of wildlife, from seabirds to seals to whales. However, as the climate changes, the species here, and the people who rely on them, will have to adapt.
To understand these changes, government and academic scientists are working together to assess their possible biological and ecological consequences. This work will provide insights that fishery managers can use to help ensure the sustainability and resiliency of this rich and dynamic ecosystem.
An Unprecedented Effort with National and Global Implications
NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Research’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the University of Washington, through the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, are taking a multi-disciplinary approach, combining physical oceanography and fisheries science, to provide abundance estimates for key fish stocks and potential management options for the future.
Scientists will produce various projections of what the Bering Sea ecosystem will look like under different climate and fishing scenarios. For instance, rising sea temperatures will likely cause some species to thrive and others to decline. Reliable predictions of these changes will allow fishermen and coastal communities to plan ahead and will help resource managers ensure that fisheries and the seafood supply remain stable over the long term.
Although this study focuses on the Bering Sea, it will generate new methods of interdisciplinary research that NOAA Fisheries hopes to replicate in other parts of the nation. Under the NOAA Fisheries Climate Strategy, staff are developing regional action plans to anticipate and respond to climate change. Information generated through this study will contribute to development of an Alaska regional action plan.
“We’re really excited about this project because it’s part of a broader effort to produce a global picture of fish productivity and best fishery management practices in a changing marine environment,” said Anne Hollowed, co-project lead and supervisory research fishery biologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
NOAA Fisheries also plans to share the results of this project with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This international body is preparing a 2021 report on the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Building Blocks in Place Making Effort Possible
Several models already exist for the region that look at climate, ocean and air circulation patterns, the ecosystem, fish stock health and the socio-economics of fishing communities and businesses.
“We plan to expand the scope of existing models by incorporating varied data and, in some cases, combining models to generate future climate scenarios,” said Andre Punt, project lead for the University of Washington.
Focus Species
Over this three-year project, scientists will use biological data for several commercially and ecologically important fish species, for which linkages exist between fish productivity and climate variability. Key species include walleye pollock, Pacific cod, arrowtooth flounder, northern rock sole and snow crab.
Scientists will try to account for what fish species eat and what eats them. In other words, they will add a range of data to the models that considers the entire food chain, from plankton through top predators like whales and humans. They will also incorporate oceanographic data such as water temperature, salinity, currents, and biogeochemistry into the models.
“It’s both exciting and daunting to see how environmental data are used in a multi-disciplinary framework. It raises new challenges for ocean and climate modeling, and opens new doors,” said Wei Cheng, a physical oceanographer from the University of Washington and NOAA affiliate with the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab participating in the project.
“We know that widespread change is coming to Alaskan marine ecosystems with the potential to affect everything from sea ice to fisheries,” said Kirstin Holsman, co-project lead and research scientist, NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “Through this coordinated, multi-pronged research effort, we can better understand what that change will look like, what uncertainty there is, and how we can adjust our management to continue the region’s legacy of sustainable fisheries under climate change.”
Read the full release from NOAA