Saving Seafood

Ship’s ROVs to share views of marine protected areas

August 5, 2015 — The NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer began two months of dives using unmanned remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, to explore marine protected areas in the central Pacific Ocean, and anyone with an internet connection can virtually explore the deep sea with scientists and researchers from their computer or mobile device.

The ship and its crew will investigate deeper waters in and around Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

“These areas represent some of the last relatively pristine marine ecosystems on the planet,” said Holly Bamford, assistant NOAA administrator for the National Ocean Service, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of commerce for conservation and management. “NOAA explores these regions because the data and information we gather helps scientists and resource managers better understand and protect these biological, geological and cultural resources.”

The expedition team will explore the sea floor at depths of 1,300 to 16,250 feet (400 to 5,000 meters) with two ROVs, which are tethered to Okeanos Explorer. The vehicles are outfitted with multiple high-definition cameras to capture imagery which the ship will transmit back to shore. Scientists will participate virtually, guiding the expedition from shore, while the public can tune in and view the exploration in real time at oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

Read the full story at the Hawaii Tribune Herald

 

Woods Hole Science Stroll Sunday, August 9 Offers Free Family Science Activities

August 6, 2015 — Interested in touring a research vessel, seeing the submersible ALVIN and other ocean robots, or learning about research on whales and sea turtles, squid, plastics in the ocean, and climate change?

These activities are just a few of the many exhibits, demonstrations and displays to be featured by Woods Hole science organizations during the Woods Hole Science Stroll.

The free public event will be held Sunday, August 9 from 11 am to 3 pm on Water Street in Woods Hole. 

The NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow will be open for tours at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dock, with the submersible ALVIN and other WHOI ocean robots on display nearby. The WHOI Ocean Science Exhibit Center, featuring interactive ocean exhibits, will be open on School Street. Visitors can see squid and other aquatic organisms in research tanks at the Marine Biological Laboratory’s Marine Resources Center, and learn about biology, biomedicine, and environmental science research at their Visitors Center on Water Street.

Get all the details about the day’s events or get directions and more information.

Questions? 

Contact Shelley Dawicki, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, at 508-289-2252 or Shelley.Dawicki@noaa.gov.

Our view: NOAA’s unfunded mandate

August 5, 2015 — NEWBURYPORT, R.I. — It is said that fisherman can be stubborn. While there’s some truth to that, they can’t compare to the hardheadedness of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which continues to insist cash-strapped captains fork over hundreds of dollars every time the agency decides to place a monitor on their boat.

The on-board monitoring program has long been controversial, with questions raised about its effectiveness and safety. What rankles the industry most, however, is NOAA’s insistence that fishermen pay for the program out of their own pockets.

 The agency has rejected at every turn the industry’s argument that this is a classic unfunded mandate, with the $700-per-trip costs likely to bankrupt some vessel owners and force others to remain in port, even when they could be fishing.

A few days ago, NOAA Fisheries denied a request by the Newburyport-based New England Fishery Management Council to suspend the monitoring program on an emergency basis.

“This was a foreseeable problem that does not justify an emergency action,” NOAA Regional Adminstrator John K. Bullard wrote to Tom Nies, executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council.

We’re amazed NOAA has finally recognized the cost of the monitoring program is a “problem” for fishermen, even if they have no intention of helping to defray the costs.

Read the full story at The Daily News of Newburyport 

Read a letter from NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard officially rejecting the request for emergency funding

 

 

US wants struggling fishermen to pay for observers

August 4, 2015 — One was knocked overboard on a winter trip in the middle of the night, while another was handed a noose and told to hang himself. Their computers have been tossed into the sea, their bunks set up over a boat’s toilet, their water bottles tainted with tobacco spit.

The men and women who monitor the catch of New England’s once-mighty groundfishing industry, a job required by federal law to curb overfishing, have long had strained relationships with the fishermen who take them to sea.

Now, with federal funding for the controversial program set to run out this fall, the region’s long-beleaguered fishermen are being told they have to pay for the observers themselves — or they can’t fish.”

“This could be the final hit that pushes us into bankruptcy, causing the collapse of the whole fleet,” said Phil Lynch, 45, a Scituate fisherman who has persisted while the number of groundfishing boats in the region has plummeted by more than 70 percent over the past decade. “The guys still left will be gone.”

The threat to the estimated 200 boats remaining, more than half of which are based in Massachusetts, became more palpable last week when the National Marine Fisheries Service denied an emergency request from the council that oversees New England’s fishing industry to suspend the observer program. The agency said fishermen who catch cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish will have to find a way to pay for the region’s approximately 100 observers, who accompany them on about a quarter of their trips.

Fishermen insist they can’t afford to pay for the observers, especially after major cuts to their quotas. At a government-estimated cost of $710 every time an observer accompanies fishermen to sea, the program would cause most boats to operate at a loss, they say.

“They’ve set up fishermen to fail, and now they want to monitor the failure,” said Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, an advocacy group for commercial fishermen. “I believe they’re out to put us out of business.”

Read the full story from The Boston Globe

Read a letter from NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard officially rejecting the request for emergency funding

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule to Modify Lobster Area 4 Seasonal Closure

August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing a modification to the Lobster Conservation Management Area 4 seasonal closure at the recommendation of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which leads the management for American lobster.

Under the proposed rule, the Area 4 closure would be changed from February 1-March 31 to April 30-May 31.

This measure is designed to better reduce fishing effort on the Southern New England lobster stock, which is in poor condition. This area closure shift has already been implemented by states adjacent to Area 4.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register.

The comment period is open through September 4. Submit your comments online through Regulations.gov or by mailing your comments to:

John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator
NMFS,Greater Atlantic Regional Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930

Please mark the outside of the envelope: Comments on American Lobster Proposed Rule.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Revision of Maine State Waters Scallop Exemption Program

August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces a proposed rule that would allow vessels with both Maine commercial licenses and Federal Northern Gulf of Maine scallop permits to continue fishing in Maine’s state waters once the Federal total allowable catch in this area is harvested.

Maine requested this exemption as part of the Scallop State Water Exemption Program, which allows Federal permit holders to fish in the state waters scallop fishery on a more equitable basis where Federal and state laws are inconsistent.

The Program specifies that a state with a scallop fishery may be eligible for state waters exemptions from specific regulations if it has a scallop conservation program that does not jeopardize the objectives of the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP.

We have determined that Maine qualifies for this exemption, and that allowing this exemption would have no impact on the effectiveness of Federal management measures for the scallop fishery overall in this area.

Maine requested this exemption only for Northern Gulf of Maine permit holders. Limited access, individual fishing quota, and incidental scallop vessels would still be required to stop fishing for scallops in state waters of the Northern Gulf of Maine if the Federal catch allocation is reached.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, which is open for public comment through September 4.

Submit your comments online through Regulations.gov or by mail to:

John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator
NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930

Please mark the outside of the envelope: Comments on Atlantic Sea Scallop Proposed Rule.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

NOAA: At Sea Monitors Remain on Board, Likely at Cost to New England Groundfishermen

August 3, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries has denied the request by the New England Fishery Management Council in June to use emergency measures to immediately suspend at-sea monitoring for vessels in the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision, which was not unexpected, signals the federal agency intends to proceed with its plan to shift the costs of at-sea monitoring — currently absorbed by NOAA — onto the groundfish permit holders later this month. It is estimated that will cost each boat an additional $700 to $800 each time a monitor is on board.

In a letter dated July 30, NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard said the council’s request did not meet any of the criteria for emergency action.

“This was a foreseeable problem that does not justify an emergency action,” Bullard wrote to Tom Nies, executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council.

Bullard also discounted the safety element included in the underlying rationale for the council’s request, which asserted that shifting funding responsibility in mid-season could create safety issues by motivating fishermen to condense their fishing into the period when NOAA was paying for monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MASSACHUSETTS: MEETING TO DISCUSS GROUNDFISH DISASTER AID

August 2, 2015 — GLOUCESTER — Two bins down, one to go.

The distribution of the nearly $33 million in federal groundfish disaster aid has moved through the first two phases — or bins, in the parlance of NOAA Fisheries and the respective state fisheries directors — in the past year-and-a-half.

Bin 3? That’s become something of a stickier wicket.

NOAA and the fishery directors for the five coastal New England states and New York initially agreed on a formula that would use the $10 million in the third bin to address long-term issues of the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery, including a potential vessel buyout and/or permit buyback plan.

Those plans dissolved in the spring when the respective regulators and stakeholders couldn’t agree on the inordinately complex equation for developing long-term solutions for the fishery declared a federal disaster in 2012.

Now, the money has been returned to Bin 2, which means each of the six states will individually decide how to best spend their allotment from the $10 million.

Tonight, the Gloucester Fishing Commission will take a stab at coming up with what it believes to be the best option for the nearly $7 million earmarked for Massachusetts.

Read the full story at The Salem News

 

New Voluntary Right Whale Speed Restriction Zone

July 29, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries announces that a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area – DMA) has been established 13 Nautical Miles East-Southeast of Boston to protect an aggregation of 3 right whales sighted in this area on August 1.

This DMA is in effect immediately and remains in effect through August 16. Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

This DMA is bounded by the following coordinates:

 

42 38 N

41 58 N

071 15 W

070 21 W

Public invited to join NOAA on deep sea expedition of Pacific marine protected areas

July 30, 2015 — NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will begin two months of dives using unmanned remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, to explore marine protected areas in the central Pacific Ocean. Starting on Aug. 1, anyone with an internet connection can virtually explore the deep sea with scientists and researchers from their computer or mobile device.

The ship and its crew will investigate deeper waters in and around Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

“These areas represent some of the last relatively pristine marine ecosystems on the planet,” said Holly Bamford, assistant NOAA administrator for the National Ocean Service performing the duties of the assistant secretary of commerce for conservation and management. “NOAA explores these regions because the data and information we gather helps scientists and resource managers better understand and protect these biological, geological and cultural resources that we are already aware of and those we will discover in the future.”

The expedition team will explore the seafloor at depths of 1,300 to 16,250 feet (400 to 5,000 meters) with two ROVs, which are tethered toOkeanos Explorer. The vehicles are outfitted with multiple high-definition cameras to capture imagery which the ship will transmit back to shore. Scientists will participate virtually, guiding the expedition from shore, while the public can tune in and view the exploration in real time at oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

The work around Johnston Atoll will be the largest scientific effort conducted there since President Obama expanded the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in September 2014.

“These places provide invaluable habitat for corals, birds and many other species — that’s one of the reasons they’ve been protected — but we don’t know much about what’s in the deep-sea areas,” said Samantha Brooke, manager for NOAA’s Marine National Monument Program in the NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full release at NOAA