November 2, 2023 — The Center for Biological Diversity is planning to sue NOAA Fisheries following the revelation that nine killer whales have been killed during commercial fishing operations in the Bering Sea so far this year.
In October 2023, NOAA Fisheries announced that ten killer whales had been taken as bycatch by groundfish trawlers operating off the coast of Alaska. Only one of the whales survived the encounters.
November 1, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
The Pacific Islands have a long history and deep connection with the ocean and all it provides. Sustainable seafood is key to the health and well-being of both the people and the economy. The fishing and seafood industry in Hawaiʻi supports thousands of jobs and generates more than $1 billion in sales each year. This video tracks the path fish caught in the Hawaiʻi longline fishery, such as yellowfin tuna and swordfish, takes from the ocean to your plate—in the form of poke bowls, sushi, and other delicious meals.
The fleet efficiently distributes its harvest to the local seafood community—while retaining its premium quality—through the Honolulu Fish Auction. The auction is the anchor for the commercial fishing industry; it starts between midnight and 1 a.m. each day, when boats begin unloading. Hundreds of fish are carefully inspected to ensure quality and then displayed on the refrigerated auction block, and bidding begins at 5:30 a.m. Restaurants, retailers, and wholesalers bid on seafood that they know will be both fresh and high quality.
Fortunately for fans of U.S. seafood, thriving and resilient seafood communities—like the Hawaiʻi longline fishery—is the goal of NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy.
October 31, 2023 — The U.S. House’s Natural Resources Committee has voted to advance the Red Snapper Act, legislation that would limit NOAA Fisheries’ ability to close fisheries in the South Atlantic until a new red snapper survey is completed and incorporated into the stock assessment.
The legislation is the latest front in the battle between NOAA Fisheries and red snapper fishermen, the latter of whom argue that the regulators’ official stock assessment does not reflect the growing abundance of red snapper. The Red Snapper Act would prevent NOAA from implementing area closures in the South Atlantic until after the completion of the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper Count, an independent study that is set to deliver new data by 2025.
October 30, 2023 — New research initiatives with $16.8 million in RESTORE funding from the federal government will conduct collaborative ecosystem science research for use by natural resource managers in the Gulf of Mexico.
NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center is involved in two new projects.
A team of researchers will study red tide and reef fish modeling. The team will update and improve an ecosystem model of the West Florida Shelf to account for red tide mortality when assessing Gulf of Mexico reef fish. The project will develop new approaches to map red tides using satellites, and map oxygen concentrations in relation to red tides. These products will be incorporated into a fisheries ecosystem model to estimate red tide mortality on valuable commercial and recreational species.
Those estimates will be used in stock assessments and recommendations on the amount of reef fish that can be caught each year in 2024–2028.
A second project will focus on building next-generation fishery forecasting capacity. The project team will address limitations and uncertainties in the stock assessment process by developing novel model diagnostics and interim assessment methods.
“We will incorporate these new methods into active stock assessments. This will provide more efficient and reliable stock projections used to derive overfishing limits and acceptable biological catch estimates,” according to a statement from the science center.
In all, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is awarding $16.8 million to 32 organizations working across 10 projects to conduct collaborative ecosystem science research.
October 28, 2023 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and NOAA announced an additional USD 20 million (EUR 18.9 million) in funding for NOAA to assist regional fishery management councils with tackling the impact of climate change on fisheries management.
The funding, according to a release from NOAA, will be provided via the Inflation Reduction Act to support the various councils’ work on climate-related fisheries management and implementation.
October 28, 2023 — A bill introduced in the U.S. Congress designed to encourage offshore aquaculture has drawn opposition from a coalition of fishermen opposed to the practice.
The SEAfood Act would authorize NOAA to create an offshore aquaculture assessment program, establish a grant program for aquaculture centers of excellence, and order two reports on aquaculture regulations. Don’t Cage Our Oceans, a group opposed to offshore finfish farming, came out against the legislation this week, claiming offshore aquaculture allows “chemicals, diseases, and untreated waste to flow into the open ocean where it poses harms to wildlife, and fishing, and coastal communities.”
October 28, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Atlantic sturgeon inhabit rivers and coastal waters from Canada to Florida and can live for 30-60 years. The sturgeon family is the most primitive of all bony fish, with ancestors dating back to the Cretaceous period more than 120 million years ago. Atlantic sturgeon are particularly sensitive to high water temperatures, especially their eggs and juveniles. This sensitivity makes them vulnerable to warming water temperatures associated with climate change.
Beginning in the late 1800s, commercial fisheries began to harvest valuable caviar from Atlantic sturgeon. By the early 1900s, their populations had declined drastically. Recovering Atlantic sturgeon is challenged by their long generational cycles and late age of sexual maturity for reproduction. In response to historic and current challenges, NOAA Fisheries listed four distinct population segments of Atlantic sturgeon as endangered and one as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2012.
In 2023, NOAA Fisheries celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. Since it was enacted, no listed marine or anadromous species have gone extinct. However, as climate change intensifies, the recovery of listed species, like the Atlantic sturgeon and its relatives, may become more challenging. Through climate-focused research and management, NOAA Fisheries aims to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change on listed species to foster their continued recovery.
Atlantic sturgeon migrate from freshwater rivers and estuaries to the ocean as sub-adults, then return to spawn in the same rivers where they were born. Spring spawning adults move inland when temperatures warm and days are longer. Fall spawning adults move upriver in the heat of the summer to spawn as water temperatures cool in the fall. Due to climate change, the rivers and bays of the U.S. East Coast are warming earlier in the spring, and experiencing hotter peaks during the summer.
Juvenile Atlantic sturgeon prefer water temperatures between 65–72°F to develop, and they will be healthiest during years with that temperature range. Inland waters that warm faster and stay warm for longer due to climate change may limit successful spawning and threaten the survival of eggs and juveniles.
October 28, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
With their beard-like protrusions, typically reddish body, and small white patch above the base of their tail, kūmū (Hawaiian whitesaddle goatfish) are easy to spot in the wild. That is, if you can find them.
Once abundant among Hawaiʻi reefs, the kūmū population has been on a steady decline in the main Hawaiian Islands for decades. “The general consensus is that the population has been overfished and is currently experiencing overfishing,” said Spencer Davis, a researcher at Hawaiʻi Pacific Unviersity’s Oceanic Institute. But Davis and his team are hoping to help the struggling, culturally important species with restorative aquaculture.
In a NOAA Fisheries-supported project, Davis is trying to establish the techniques to raise kūmū in the Institute’s finfish hatchery. If successful, he will work with local fishermen to tag and release hatchery-raised juveniles onto the reefs around the main Hawaiian Islands.
Fishermen who catch these tagged kūmū will receive financial compensation for reporting their catch. The information they will provide include when and generally where they caught the fish, as well as the fishes’ lengths and weights.
This data will help Davis understand:
“We’re trying to see if restorative aquaculture can be applied to this species and how effective it could be,“ Davis explained. “It would take a larger-scale effort to actually make a large-scale difference in the wild population. But this is a good start to give some general ideas of the potential for restorative aquaculture.”
The kūmū aquaculture project is supported by two NOAA Fisheries Saltonstall-Kennedy Grants.
In the first 2-year grant, awarded in 2021, Oceanic Institute focused on obtaining kūmū broodstock (spawning-size fish) and developing the necessary aquaculture techniques. “There are a lot of hurdles in culturing these reef species, especially one that’s not commonly available just out in the water,” Davis said.
With help from the nonprofit Pacific Islands Fisheries Group, Davis solicited Hawaiʻi fishermen for live kūmū broodstock. But finding fishermen who knew where to get the fish and how to transport them to shore alive proved more difficult than expected. Davis initially wanted 40 broodstock before moving on to the next phase of the project, but he settled with just a few.
This next phase—getting the broodstock to spawn—was another time-consuming challenge. “It took quite a while to condition them, pamper them, and basically get them to be happy enough to spawn,” Davis said.
Kūmū spawn around sunset during winter, releasing eggs and sperm into the water for external fertilization. In Oceanic Institute’s broodstock tank, a fine mesh collected the eggs overnight. The next morning, researchers determined which eggs were viable simply by putting them all into a jar of static seawater. When left to rest, viable eggs floated and unviable eggs sank. By that afternoon, the good eggs hatched into larvae that were little more than a millimeter long.
Once hatched, kūmū larvae will spend the next 3 days surviving on their yolk sac, until they develop eyes and a mouth to start eating.
“That’s the next hurdle,” Davis said. “What do you feed them?”
Kūmū larvae are picky eaters and require specific food that changes as they progress through their larval stages. But there is no guidebook to raising goatfish in a hatchery, so the team underwent a lot of trial and error. Davis had to not only determine the right food for the larvae but also the right conditions to get them to eat. This included considering factors such as:
By the end of the first grant period, Davis was able to grow larvae into 2-week-old juveniles. But before he could continue figuring out the next steps in raising the fish, summer arrived and the broodstock stopped spawning.
For the second 2-year grant, awarded in 2023, Davis will refine the aquaculture techniques to develop healthy kūmū juveniles before moving on to the tag-and-release phase. “What we want to do in this next round of trying to raise the larvae is really key in on how sensitive they are to temperature,” he said.
Since kūmū spawn in winter, the larvae require colder water than the other fish that Oceanic Institute raises in its hatchery. Davis is building a separate system to accommodate a broader range of temperatures for kūmū. Fully understanding their temperature requirements will better inform the Institute’s kūmū-rearing techniques. It’ll also help them gauge how the species may be affected by warming ocean temperatures in the coming years.
Kūmū are only found in the Hawaiian Islands. In traditional Native Hawaiian culture, they often served as offerings to the gods when a red fish was required. They were also sometimes offered in other situations, including when a canoe was launched, during hula ceremonies, and to atone for wrongdoings. In addition to this cultural significance, kūmū is a popular species for both commercial and recreational fishermen.
If the work is successful, it could open the door for large-scale production of kūmū for fisheries restoration, cultural use, and commercial markets. What’s more, aquaculture operations around the world could potentially use the techniques that Oceanic Institute is developing to raise other goatfish species.
October 28, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
The Biden-Harris Administration is investing $60 million for NOAA Fisheries to address tribal priorities and tackle the impacts of climate change on Pacific salmon, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. Made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest climate investment in history — these funds are available for upgrades identified as tribal priorities for Columbia River Basin hatchery facilities that produce Pacific salmon through the Mitchell Act.
These funds are part of the historic $3.3 billion provided to NOAA under the Inflation Reduction Act to focus on ensuring America’s communities and economies are ready for and resilient to climate change, and build on President Biden’s Presidential Memorandum to prioritize the restoration of healthy and abundant salmon, steelhead and other native fish populations to the Columbia River Basin.
“This historic investment by the Biden-Harris Administration furthers NOAA’s efforts to help Americans — including tribes and vulnerable populations — prepare, adapt and build resilience to weather and climate events,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This new funding that was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, a key pillar of Bidenomics, is critically important because it will update hatchery facilities to continue to provide the fishing opportunities guaranteed by treaties.”
Investments will be responsive to tribal priorities, which were identified in an Inflation Reduction Act-focused tribal consultation conducted by NOAA. Since 2019, NOAA Fisheries has been working with hatchery operators in the Columbia River Basin to develop a comprehensive list of deferred maintenance and needed upgrades. The investments to advance President Biden’s ambitious conservation agenda outlined in the America the Beautiful initiative, which calls for a decade-long effort to support locally led and voluntary conservation and restoration efforts across public, private and Tribal lands and waters in order to create jobs and strengthen local economies while tackling the climate crises.
The funding will focus on shovel-ready and high-priority hatcheries that are funded with Mitchell Act grants — which include the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho — are eligible. NOAA Fisheries will distribute these hatchery funds to operators in the Columbia River Basin for deferred maintenance and repairs of hatchery facilities.
The Mitchell Act was passed by Congress in 1938 for the conservation of salmon and steelhead fishery resources in the Columbia River Basin in light of hydroelectric, irrigation and flood control development projects. It supported the establishment, operation and maintenance of hatchery facilities in the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as other fishery conservation activities. Since 1946, Congress has continued to appropriate Mitchell Act funds on an annual basis, and NOAA Fisheries has administered the Mitchell Act since 1970.
Please visit the Inflation Reduction Act website to learn about current and future funding opportunities.
October 26, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
At NOAA Fisheries, we know that a thriving, sustainable seafood sector is good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for people who eat seafood. We also recognize that the U.S. seafood industry faces unprecedented challenges from a changing climate, a recent pandemic, and ongoing disruptions to global markets.
We reaffirmed our commitment to improving the resiliency of the U.S. seafood industry with the release of our National Seafood Strategy. The strategy outlines our goals for this effort over the next five years, including fostering access to domestic markets for U.S. seafood. Getting more American seafood into American diets is a win-win solution. Supplying sustainable, nutritious seafood to feed our nation supports the financial viability of our fishing and aquaculture industries.
One way to meet the goals of the National Seafood Strategy is by working with federal partners, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Commodity Procurement Program is a long-standing USDA program that provides a valuable avenue to share the bounty of American fisheries around the country.
Since the 1930s, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has had the authority to purchase excess agricultural commodities and donate them to Americans in need. These purchases stabilize commodity prices by reducing excess supply in the market. The food donations support critical nutrition programs around the nation that feed children, students, seniors, long-term care residents, and food bank patrons.
While the USDA is traditionally concerned with land-based meat and produce, their purchasing authority can extend to wild-caught seafood as well. That’s where NOAA Fisheries plays a key role. “The USDA relies on our expertise when it comes to seafood,” said Steve Wilson, Director of the Seafood Inspection Program. “Our program provides critical advice in crafting calls for proposals, specifications for acceptable seafood products, and inspection services.”
At NOAA Fisheries, we know that a thriving, sustainable seafood sector is good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for people who eat seafood. We also recognize that the U.S. seafood industry faces unprecedented challenges from a changing climate, a recent pandemic, and ongoing disruptions to global markets.
We reaffirmed our commitment to improving the resiliency of the U.S. seafood industry with the release of our National Seafood Strategy. The strategy outlines our goals for this effort over the next five years, including fostering access to domestic markets for U.S. seafood. Getting more American seafood into American diets is a win-win solution. Supplying sustainable, nutritious seafood to feed our nation supports the financial viability of our fishing and aquaculture industries.
One way to meet the goals of the National Seafood Strategy is by working with federal partners, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Commodity Procurement Program is a long-standing USDA program that provides a valuable avenue to share the bounty of American fisheries around the country.
Since the 1930s, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has had the authority to purchase excess agricultural commodities and donate them to Americans in need. These purchases stabilize commodity prices by reducing excess supply in the market. The food donations support critical nutrition programs around the nation that feed children, students, seniors, long-term care residents, and food bank patrons.
While the USDA is traditionally concerned with land-based meat and produce, their purchasing authority can extend to wild-caught seafood as well. That’s where NOAA Fisheries plays a key role. “The USDA relies on our expertise when it comes to seafood,” said Steve Wilson, Director of the Seafood Inspection Program. “Our program provides critical advice in crafting calls for proposals, specifications for acceptable seafood products, and inspection services.”