Saving Seafood

Federal Officials Release Long-Term Plan For Northeast Canyons And Seamounts National Monument

June 14, 2024 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have released the final management plan for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, outlining a fifteen-year vision for the 3.1-million-acre sanctuary 130 miles off Cape Cod.

Hosting dozens of deep-sea corals and a plethora of endangered species, such as right and sei whales, the sanctuary was originally designated as the first of its kind in the Atlantic by former President Barack Obama in 2016, opening a lengthy and at-times contentious debate on the appropriate regulatory governance of the Monument.

During Obama’s, Trump’s, and Biden’s presidencies, each Administration was sued by commercial fishing or conservation interests over each administration’s support or opposition to large-scale fishing in the area.

According to the new mandate, the sanctuary will now be managed toward conserving its marine ecosystems while prohibiting commercial fishing and oil drilling, establishing proper staffing in collaboration with conservation partners, and conducting research and exploration of the Monument’s creatures and ecosystems, of which an estimated 50% of species remain undiscovered.

Read the full article at CapeCod.com

NOAA Fisheries Wins 2023 Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award

June 14, 2024 — The Council for the Conservation of Migratory Birds has presented NOAA Fisheries with the 2023 Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award. Each year, the Council recognizes projects or actions with a focus on migratory birds that are conducted by or in partnership with a federal agency. NOAA Fisheries won the 2023 award for its project Seabird Conservation Through Fishery-Based Data: The NOAA Fisheries-Oikonos Seabird Bycatch Project. The project aims to maximize the scientific value of birds taken incidentally in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

While NOAA Fisheries works diligently to minimize and mitigate bycatch in federally managed fisheries, seabirds are sometimes incidentally taken. Since 2007, NOAA Fisheries has been collaborating with Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge to gather data from seabird bycatch by conducting necropsies on carcasses instead of disposing of them. At-sea observers collect carcasses and send them to the researchers at Oikonos for data collection. Participating programs include:

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Over 160 “dazzling” whale and orca sightings reported off Massachusetts in single day

June 13, 2024 — A recent survey flight of whales off the coast of Massachusetts reported more than 160 “dazzling” sightings of seven different species, including orcas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division said researchers reported 161 whale sightings in total on the May 25 flight south of Martha’s Vineyard and southeast of Nantucket, including a rare killer whale sighting. They shared photos from the survey on Monday.

“I was in the front left bubble window of our plane, so I had a pretty good view of what was going on,” said NOAA Marine Mammal Observer Alison Ogilvie. “We were pretty excited the whole time. There was a lot of shouting and gasps from both sides of the plane. There was so much action.”

Number of whales “not unusual” this time of year

“It is not unusual that there are a lot of whales in the area this time of year,” NOAA spokesperson Teri Friady said. “But since we do not survey every day, or in the same areas every time we fly, catching such a large aggregation with such a variety of species on one of our flights is the exception rather than the rule.”

There were 93 sightings of endangered sei whales – one of the highest ever seen during a single survey flight. Also spotted were about three dozen humpback whales, fin whales, sperm whales and the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Two of the right whales were breeding females. Ogilvie says there are currently only 70 breeding females in the population.

Read the full article at CBS News

NOAA Fisheries authorizes Makah Tribe to resume gray whale hunt

June 13, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announced the final rule and decision to grant the Makah Tribe a waiver from the take prohibitions in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This waiver provides for a limited subsistence and ceremonial hunt of Eastern North Pacific gray whales in accordance with the Treaty of Neah Bay of 1855 and quotas established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This waiver authorizes the Makah Tribe to resume hunting up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over a 10-year period in U.S. waters. 

Prior to a hunt, NOAA Fisheries and the Tribe must enter into a cooperative agreement under the Whaling Convention Act, and the Tribe must apply for and receive a hunt permit. The final rule includes time and area restrictions, harvest limits, low population thresholds, restrictions on the use of gray whale parts and reporting and monitoring requirements.

“This final rule represents a major milestone in the process to return ceremonial and subsistence hunting of Eastern North Pacific gray whales to the Makah Tribe,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “The measures adopted today honor the Makah Tribe’s treaty rights and their cultural whaling tradition that dates back well over 1,000 years, and is fundamental to their identity and heritage.”

Under this final rule, there will be no change to the number of Eastern North Pacific gray whales that can be hunted under a quota first established by the IWC in 1997. The IWC quota is shared between the Makah Tribe and the Chukotkan Natives in Russia. This action will allow the Makah Tribe to use the quota which has in past years been transferred to Russia. No more than 2-3 whales may be hunted each year by the Tribe in U.S. waters. In addition, NOAA Fisheries will maintain adaptive management strategies to ensure the protection of endangered Western North Pacific gray whales and the Pacific Coast Feeding Group of Eastern North Pacific gray whales.

Earlier this year, NOAA Fisheries closed the Unusual Mortality Event for the Eastern North Pacific gray whale population, which included 690 gray whale strandings from December 17, 2018 to November 9, 2023, with peak strandings from December 2018 to December 2020. The most recent gray whale population estimate, based on counts of southbound whales during the winter of 2023/2024, is approximately 17,400 to 21,300 whales. 

Historical Background

On February 14, 2005, NOAA Fisheries received a request from the Makah Tribe for a limited waiver of the MMPA moratorium on take of Eastern North Pacific gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). The Tribe requested that NOAA Fisheries authorize a Tribal hunt in the coastal portion of the Tribe’s usual and accustomed fishing area for ceremonial and subsistence purposes, in addition to authorizing the making and sale of handicrafts created from the harvested whales. 

On April 5, 2019, NOAA Fisheries published a proposed rule to issue a waiver under the MMPA and proposed regulations governing the hunting of Eastern North Pacific gray whales by the Makah Tribe for a 10-year period. At this time, the agency also published a related notice of hearing before an administrative law judge to consider the waiver and proposed regulations. In November 2019, a public hearing led by an administrative law judge took place in Seattle, Washington. 

On September 23, 2021, the judge’s recommended decision was transmitted to NOAA Fisheries along with the hearing transcript and other required documentation. These documents — and public comments on them — informed the agency’s final decision on the Makah Tribe’s waiver request. 

More information about the Makah Tribe’s request for a limited waiver of the Marine Mammal Protection Act moratorium on take of gray whales — including a flowchart — is available on the NOAA Fisheries’ website as well as a historical chronology leading up to this milestone.

MASSACHUSETTS: More than 160 whales spotted in waters off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, NOAA reports

June 12, 2024 — More than 160 whales were spotted in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in what researchers called a “dazzling array of sightings” during a recent aerial survey.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shared pictures of the whales in a social media post on Monday. The agency said members of its North Atlantic Right Whale team reported sightings of 161 whales that comprised seven species, including 93 sei whales, “one of the highest concentrations of sei whales they’d ever seen during a single survey flight.”

The research team also reported seeing two killer whales, “which they don’t often see during this survey,” the NOAA post said. One of the killer whales was seen swimming with its dinner as a tuna dangled from its mouth.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

A biodiversity framework for U.S. MPAs must include all threats and solutions

June 11, 2024 — The following is an excerpt from an article published by Sustainable Fisheries UW:

A recently proposed method to evaluate biodiversity protection in U.S. marine waters is severely flawed and will damage U.S. interests if adopted by NOAA.

Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024, published in One Earth, only considered U.S. waters sufficiently protected if they are no-take areas, despite strong evidence that other forms of protection may be equally or more effective. The net result of Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024 is a catalog of what biota are found in no-take marine protected areas (MPAs), not an effective framework for marine biodiversity protection.

Frameworks are important tools in conservation, science, and government as they provide a standardized series of guidelines for practitioners to follow. For example, National Standard 2 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act states that conservation and management measures shall be based on “the best scientific information available.” Best available science is a framework for decision-making and management.

Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024 propose a new framework for biodiversity protection. They (correctly) begin their framework by identifying elements of marine biodiversity of concern and what metrics are available. However, they fail to identify the specific threats to each type of biodiversity—a critical flaw. Actors and organizations cannot determine what level of protection is needed without identifying those threats. For example, Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024 state: “cold-water corals harbor rich biodiversity in the deep sea but cold-water coral habitat is poorly protected in most U.S. waters.”

Yet, every known deep-water coral bed in U.S. waters is protected from bottom trawling—the most significant threat to deep-water coral. But, because fishing is allowed hundreds of feet above the coral, they are not considered “protected” by Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024.

Gignoux-Wolfsohn et al. 2024 acknowledge that they are working from a perspective that no-take fishing protected areas (FPAs) “are most effective at increasing biomass, diversity, and body size of marine life,” so the protections in place for deep-water coral don’t count in their framework because hook and line fishing is allowed in the water column, even though hook and line fishing does not affect the deep-water coral. This is the major conceptual flaw in their framework—specific threats need specific actions, not broad fishing bans.

The framework did not consider the many forms of biodiversity protection that are not no-take areas, e.g. overfishing has largely been eliminated in the United States by regulating fishing effort and catch. Bycatch has been greatly reduced by gear technology improvements such as turtle excluder devices, streamer lines to prevent seabird bycatch in longlines, and a wide range of other technical measures, which are far more effective than closing areas to fishing and simply moving boats and fishing effort elsewhere.

All of these issues are highlighted in the contrast between the measured protection in Alaska compared to the U.S. Pacific Islands. Under the framework, the Pacific Islands scored high due to large no-take areas, while Alaska scored low due to few no-take areas. Yet the large MPAs in the Pacific Islands have had little impact on biodiversity because fishing in the closed areas simply moved elsewhere. The many actions taken in Alaska including extensive bycatch reduction, strict regulation of catch, and closure of sensitive habitats to bottom contact gear have had far more benefits to biodiversity than the actions taken in the Pacific Islands.

Reality says Alaska fisheries management is among the very best in the entire world, a theoretical framework that says otherwise is operating on flawed principles.

Read the full article at Sustainable Fisheries UW

NOAA finds Alaska Chinook salmon may need to be ESA-listed

June 10, 2024 — A preliminary review by NOAA Fisheries found that Alaska Chinook salmon may need to be listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“This is an encouraging first step in what we hope will be a listing of Southeast Alaska Chinook under the Endangered Species Act,” Wild Fish Conservancy Senior Ecologist Nick Gayeski said. “Listing should provide the many at-risk Chinook populations in this region stronger protection from harm in the near term and initiate the development of scientifically credible recovery plans.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA Fisheries Announces Changes in its Alaska Survey Portfolio

June 10, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries is engaged in a multi-year effort to strategically respond to climate-driven changes in the environment, maintain operating efficiencies and modernization efforts, and mitigate shifting survey needs. We continue to balance national priorities against a challenging economic environment where the rising cost of mission execution demands strategic pivots within survey activities to ensure critical data collection needs can be met.

This year, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center will redesign and reprioritize effort in several of its surveys, while advancing the use of modern methods and technologies to more efficiently collect data and accomplish its research mission to support sustainable fisheries management. It will also suspend one survey resulting from shortfalls in cost-recovery related to losses in the economic value of the catch.

“Alaska marine ecosystems are changing and our science has to change with them,” said Robert Foy, Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director.

Over the past several years, Alaska scientists have observed extreme marine heatwaves and high variability in marine environmental conditions. This has altered fish distributions and caused structural changes in Alaska marine ecosystems.

Alaska Fisheries Science Center staff have been engaged in strategic planning over the past several months to:

  • Restructure internal operations
  • Prioritize survey efforts
  • Identify more efficient ways to collect data to support resource management decisions

These efforts are guided by the need to continue to meet thresholds of data collection and provision of scientific information.

To maintain their scientific integrity, we are re-evaluating all aspects of our research surveys including the overall design, spatial coverage, timing, and gear. We want to streamline our survey operations and identify new ways to collect critical information on fish and shellfish species.

To strengthen our ability to maintain continuity of survey operations, we reorganized our Groundfish Assessment Program into three operational survey teams. These teams better align with the three primary Large Marine Ecosystems where they primarily conduct survey operations. This realignment provides obvious points of contact to stakeholders for all bottom trawl survey regions. It also creates an operational structure that increases cross-training across teams to better address staffing needs

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

U.S. marine economy continues upward trend

June 6, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The American marine economy continued to bolster the nation in 2022 as demonstrated by increased sales and jobs, according to the most recent statistics from the annual Marine Economy Satellite Account (MESA) released by two Department of Commerce agencies — NOAA and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The marine economy contributed a total of $476 billion in economic impact in 2022, making up nearly 2% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). It generated $777 billion in sales, and supported 2.4 million jobs in 2022. MESA provides valuable insights on how the marine sector contributes to the nation’s economy. 

“A strong, sustainable marine economy helps build a greater, more Climate-Ready Nation,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “The Biden-Harris Administration and the Department of Commerce are committed to enhancing the marine economy, and helping communities and ecosystems grow and thrive.”

“These figures show how essential the Blue Economy is to American prosperity,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “The ocean and the Great Lakes are integral to the overall health of America’s economy, and they impact our lives in numerous ways.”

The largest contributors to GDP are tourism and recreation, with $163 billion; national defense and public administration, with $149 billion; and offshore minerals, with $62 billion.

The sales sectors that showed the most growth for 2022 include:
• Ship and boat building, up 14.6%;
• Coastal tourism and recreation, up 8.1%; and
• Marine transportation and warehousing, up 7%.

For the first time, MESA includes information on wind energy and alternative power generation, allowing for a greater understanding of the offshore wind industry’s importance to the nation’s economy. Wind farm construction totaled $161 million in sales, and alternative power generation totaled $10 million in sales.

MESA is in its seventh year, as NOAA and the BEA produce statistics that improve national estimates for ocean, coastal and major water bodies’ economic activity by major industry, accounting for inflation. The data comprises 10 sectors that represent businesses dependent on America’s ocean, coasts and the Great Lakes.

“This report underscores the critical need to do whatever we can to support and bolster the marine sector,” said NOAA’s National Ocean Service Assistant Administrator, Nicole LeBoeuf. “Our nation’s marine economy influences many aspects of our economic landscape and our daily lives, affecting regions far beyond our coasts.”

These data reflect a period from 2017 to 2022 and is the most comprehensive and accurate produced to date. The marine economic statistics validate previous estimates of the marine economy’s value.

The 10 sectors, ranked by sales, adjusted for inflation, and percentage change compared to the previous year:
• Tourism and recreation, $220 billion, up 8.1%.
• National defense and public administration, $194 billion, down 2.5%.
• Offshore minerals, $66 billion, down 1.3%.
• Transportation and warehousing, $56 billion, up 7%.
• Living resources, $31 billion, down 6.7%.
• Ship and boat building, $20 billion, up 14.6%.
• Coastal utilities, $15 billion, down 3.2%.
• Research and education, $12 billion, up 4%.
• Professional and technical services, $8 billion, down 5.5%.
• Marine construction, $7 billion, up 3.1%.

“We can continue building a thriving marine economy for America by investing in restoration, sustainability and working closely with stakeholders,” said NOAA Chief Economist Monica Grasso, Ph.D. “A thriving, resilient marine economy uplifts our communities and drives our nation forward.”

The report, data and other information are available at NOAA’s Digital Coast website and on the BEA Marine Economy website. MESA’s statistics reflect 2022 data, given data availability and the analysis process.

NOAA Shares Plans to Re-envision Recreational Fishing Data Collection

June 5, 2024 — Nationally coherent, regionally specific.

This is the primary goal of our current federal-state effort to re-envision the recreational fisheries data collection program.

We collect recreational fishing data from anglers through our network of surveys. These data result in estimates of recreational catch and effort. Alongside commercial, observer, and biological data, they help inform stock assessments and resulting fisheries management advice. Our aim is to provide optimal fishing opportunities while balancing the need to protect marine fisheries resources.

While our current data collection program has its strengths—including tracking long-term patterns in recreational fishing activity—we acknowledge the program’s challenges. We recognize the need to re-evaluate our approaches and strive for a new collaboratively developed vision for recreational data collection that builds on the strengths of our state and regional partners. This will produce better data and better recreational catch estimates. Alongside our partners, the involvement of the recreational fishing community is crucial to the success of this process.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries