Saving Seafood

Feds’ plan to rebuild Pacific sardine numbers insufficient, judge finds

April 24, 2024 — A federal judge ruled this week in favor of environmentalists who say federal agencies did not properly implement a plan to prevent overfishing of the dwindling Pacific sardine population threatened on the West Coast for decades.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi this week partially granted a March 2023 motion for summary judgment in favor of environmentalists, saying the feds did not properly execute a plan to rebuild the Pacific sardine population and prevent overfishing by the legal deadline. However, the feds prevailed on several claims challenging how officials analyzed potential impacts on the fish population.

Oceana, a nonprofit ocean conservation and advocacy organization, challenged U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s plan to improve numbers of the small, oily fish that are a schooling feast for many ocean creatures, including protected species of salmon, tuna, sharks, sea birds, seals and sea lions.

Oceana claims that the government’s plan to increase numbers of the Pacific sardine violates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act because officials failed to set a reasonable rebuilding target or demonstrate how the plan will prevent overfishing of the sardines.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

NOAA Fisheries closes Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area

April 23, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries announced on Friday, April 20, that no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area.

The scallop regulations require that this area be closed once it is projected that 100 percent of the 2024 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken. The closure will be in effect until the end of the fishing year, March 31, 2025.

Read the full article at The Ellsworth American

ALASKA: NOAA denies emergency petition to zero out Alaska pollock fishery’s permitted king salmon bycatch

April 22, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has denied a request for emergency action to institute a cap of zero on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, which would have closed the fishery for the first half of 2024.

Group’s representing Alaska’s commercial and recreational salmon fisheries and Native Alaskan groups have clashed with the Alaska pollock sector over the cause of smaller Chinook salmon runs and actions that can be taken to reverse the decline.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Commerce Secretary Announces Fishery Resource Disaster Determinations for Multiple Salmon Fisheries in Washington and Alaska

April 22, 2024 — The Secretary of Commerce determined that a commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster occurred in these 2021 and 2022 salmon fisheries:

The determination is in response to requests from the late Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Chairman Jeromy Sullivan and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy.

Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, working with NOAA Fisheries, evaluates each fishery resource disaster request based primarily on data submitted by the requesting official. A fishery resource disaster determination must meet specific requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. For example, there must be economic impacts and an unexpected large decrease in fish stock biomass or other change. These impacts result in significant loss of access to the fishery resource resulting from specific allowable causes due to the fishery resource disaster event.

This positive determination makes these fisheries eligible for disaster assistance from NOAA Fisher. Fishery participants may also qualify for disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration. The Department of Commerce has fishery disaster assistance funding available and soon will determine the appropriate allocation for these disasters.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $206K in funding for Puget Sound fishery disaster

April 17, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced today the allocation of $206,000 to address a fishery resource disaster that occurred in the 2020 Squaxin Island Tribe’s Puget Sound fall chum salmon fishery. 

“This funding will help to address the impact of a fishery disaster which has a tremendous impact on the lives and livelihoods of members of the Squaxin Island Tribe and their community,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “With climate change further stressing our fisheries and ecosystems, it is essential that we work together to mitigate the impacts of disasters, restore fisheries and help prevent future disasters.”

Congress provided fishery resource disaster assistance funding in the 2022 and 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. NOAA Fisheries determined that this fishery is eligible to receive a funding allocation from those appropriations. These funds will improve the impacted fisheries’ long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Funds can assist the impacted fishing communities including commercial and recreational fishery participants, charter fishing businesses, and subsistence users.

NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding to this disaster. The agency also considered the Squaxin Island Tribe’s traditional uses of the fisheries resources that cannot be accounted for in commercial revenue loss alone.

“At NOAA Fisheries, we acknowledge the profound repercussions of this fishery disaster on the Squaxin Island Tribal community, its economy, and vital ceremonial and subsistence practices,” said Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “Our aspiration is that the dedicated resources can effectively bolster the ongoing recovery initiatives.”

In the coming months, NOAA Fisheries will work with the Squaxin Island Tribe to administer these disaster relief funds. Activities that can be considered for funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, vessel and fishing permit buybacks, job retraining, and more. Fishing communities and individuals affected by this disaster should work with the Squaxin Island Tribe, as appropriate. Some fishery-related businesses affected by the fishery disasters may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration.

See a summary of fishery disaster determinations, including this announcement, and learn more about fishery disaster assistance.

A timeline of the whales that have died off Virginia, NC coast this year

April 17, 2024 — In under two months, eight whales have died in and around the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

This tragic trend may be the result of human impact, according to experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

However, some activists argue that offshore wind farms are to blame.

Whatever the cause, here is a timeline of whales that have died off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts this year:

March 3: Two dead whales are spotted in Virginia Beach, and were later determined to have entanglement scars

Read the full article at WTKR

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Species most vulnerable to climate change

April 14, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries’ two new assessments of climate vulnerability for fish species and invertebrates in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic were shared at the end of 2023. While all the species assessed are projected to face significant exposure to climate-driven changes, some are expected to be much more susceptible than others.

John Quinlan, the lead author of the Gulf of Mexico assessment, shared, “These areas are projected to become substantially warmer, saltier, more acidic, and less oxygenated. This means that multiple stressors could operate across the Southeast, and we’ll need to be aware as the system shifts.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Winter Sets The Ocean’s Clocks

April 11, 2024 — Have you ever forgotten to change your clocks for Daylight Saving Time? You spend the whole day running behind or ahead—trying to catch up. Collecting EcoMon data in the winter on the Northeast continental shelf helps us set our environmental clocks. Without these data, we spend the rest of the year catching up on what has happened just below the ocean’s surface during winter.

Winter Storms Bring Spring Blooms, Too

During the relative calm of spring, summer, and fall, the ocean waters stratify into distinct layers. Although some mixing of these layers happens during any storm, winter storms tend to be more intense and more frequent.

Strong winter storms mix up even the deepest layers and deliver nutrients from the bottom to upper layers where they are available to support life. Add sunlight, and you get a spring bloom!

Because of this, the water properties that define the rest of the year are determined in winter.

Winter EcoMon was only 6 days long this year. We had two storms that impacted our sampling, including how we got to the ship. However, the days between storms were some of the calmest winter days at sea I’ve ever seen.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA wraps up forced labor initiative with Seafood Labor Summit

April 10, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries concluded a 15-month initiative designed to tackle labor issues in the seafood industry with a Seafood Labor Summit where participants identified actionable steps moving forward.

In 2022, nearly 100 people representing the U.S. government and the seafood industry came together to launch the Collaborative Accelerator for Lawful Maritime Conditions in Seafood (CALM-CS), a public-private initiative to address labor abuses in the seafood sector and promote legal and safe working conditions.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Influence of Climate on Young Salmon Provides Clues to Future of World’s Largest Sockeye Run

April 10, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The world’s largest run of sockeye salmon begins in Bristol Bay river systems that flow into the Bering Sea. There young salmon face a crucial bottleneck: they must find good food and conditions so they can store enough fat to survive their first winter at sea. Understanding how climate drives survival during this critical life stage is key to predicting future salmon returns in a rapidly changing ecosystem.

A new study explores how climate influences survival of salmon—both directly through temperature, and indirectly through cascading effects on their food. Researchers looked at shifts in distribution and abundance of juvenile sockeye salmon in the Bering Sea in relation to temperature, prey, and competitors. The 17-year study (2002–2018) encompassed warm and cool conditions. The findings will help scientists more accurately predict future change to inform sustainable management and help fishing communities prepare for the future.

“Understanding how young salmon and their prey responded to past ecosystem change gives us a clue to what will happen in the future,” said study leader Ellen Yasumiishi, NOAA Fisheries biologist, Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “We want to know what’s driving the number of salmon returns so we can give fishermen an early outlook on what to expect.”