Saving Seafood

Warmer Seas Grow Hardships For US Commercial Fishing Industry

August 21, 2023 — Climate change is forcing shifts in the American fishing industry as animals, fishermen and policymakers adjust to rising sea temperatures.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said in a release earlier this week that July was the fourth-consecutive month of record-setting ocean surface temperatures. The month was also the first time the average July temperature was greater than 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average.

“Globally, July 2023 set a record for the highest monthly sea surface temperature anomaly … of any month in NOAA’s climate record,” the agency’s release said.

Shifting ocean temperatures force changes big and small for U.S. fishery. Some species benefit from warmer ocean temperatures while others suffer. While the catch isn’t significantly changing, the livelihoods of the men and women employed by the fishing industry and those in their communities are changing rapidly.

Read the full story at the International Business Times

ALASKA: New quota system to start for trawl harvests of cod in Bering Sea and Aleutians

August 21, 2023 — Commercial fishermen netting Pacific cod from the Bering Sea and Aleutians region will be working under new individual limits starting next year designed to ease pressure on harvests that regulators concluded were too rushed, too dangerous and too prone to accidentally catch untargeted fish species.

The new system will require fishers who harvest cod by trawl – the net gear that scoops up fish swimming near the bottom of the ocean – to be part of designated cooperatives that will then have assigned quota shares. The fisheries service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it has notified eligible participants and is asking for applications.

The cod-trawling program, to start next January, is the first new fishery quota system started since 2012 in federal waters off Alaska, according to NOAA Fisheries.

The Pacific cod harvest is the second-biggest commercial groundfish catch in the waters off Alaska, after pollock, according to NOAA Fisheries. The 2021 commercial harvest totaled 330.4 million pounds and was worth $86.5 million, according to NOAA Fisheries.

Read the full story at KTOO

Pilot study aims to assess fishing stock calculations

August 18, 2023 — Evan Howell, director of the Office of Science and Technology for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, facilitated an online public meeting on Monday, Aug. 7, during which he presented key findings of a pilot study conducted to evaluate potential sources of bias in NOAA Fisheries’ recreational Fishing Effort Survey questionnaire design.

“Switching the sequence of questions resulted in fewer reporting errors and recreational angler effort estimates that were 30% to 40% lower than estimates produced from the current NOAA survey design,” Howell said. “Results varied by state and fishing mode.”

The Fishing Effort Survey is a household mail survey administered from Maine to Mississippi and in Hawaii by a NOAA Fisheries’ contractor. It collects private recreational fishing trip information for each resident of a responding household.

The results of NOAA’s reassessment of how they estimate recreational effort could affect recreational harvest limits, possibly increasing some. How much of an increase would vary by region and species.

Read the full article at the Providence Journal

Biden administration announces more than USD 300 million for salmon recovery and fish passage projects

August 18, 2023 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has announced nearly USD 300 million (EUR 276 million) for salmon recovery and fish passage improvement projects.

This week, NOAA Fisheries recommended USD 106 million (EUR 98 million) in funding for 16 salmon recovery projects along the West Coast and in Alaska through the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF). At the same time, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has unveiled USD 196 million (EUR 180 million) in funding for to fix or remove 169 culvert barriers to improve fish passage.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden-Harris Administration announces $106 million in recommended funding for West Coast and Alaska salmon recovery

August 17, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced more than $106 million in recommended funding for 16 West Coast and Alaska state and tribal salmon recovery programs and projects under the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF). The funds, including $34.4 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $7.5 million under the Inflation Reduction Act, will support the recovery, conservation and resilience of Pacific salmon and steelhead in Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. This funding is part of President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda, which includes over $2 billion for fish passage investments across the country. 

Programs and projects recommended for funding will benefit four Species in the Spotlight: Central California Coast coho salmon, Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon, Southern Resident killer whales and Cook Inlet beluga whales. In addition, programs and projects recommended for funding will aid in the recovery of 28 salmon and steelhead species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as well as salmon and steelhead species that are necessary for native subsistence and tribal treaty fishing rights.

“This funding, made possible in part by President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda, provides an important opportunity to bolster salmon and steelhead recovery and invest in the communities that rely on them,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The diligent work carried out by NOAA Fisheries and partners will help ensure the funding reaches regions and fish populations where it is needed most.”

The PCSRF funds will continue expert state and tribal programs that have demonstrated success in implementing high priority and effective projects benefiting salmon populations and their habitats. The BIL and IRA funds will amplify targeted investments in communities, expand partnerships and continue building place-based climate and economic resilience. Of the 16 applicants recommended to receive funding, 11 applicants are individual tribes or tribal commission/consortia including one new tribal applicant.

“The projects recommended for funding will build on PCSRF’s long history of successful conservation and restoration efforts to recover salmon and steelhead populations,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “These awards will also provide support to Pacific Coast tribes and Alaska Natives to help sustain their communities and cultural traditions in the face of climate change.” 

Projects recommend for funding include: 

Alaska

  • The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund will support projects to maintain healthy salmon populations and restore habitats. Projects funded include the protection of water quantity and quality, land conservation, fish passage improvements, removal of invasive species, instream restoration and monitoring of salmon populations. ($6,800,000)
  • The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Consortia will support salmon population research and monitoring to better understand the complex relationships between salmon and freshwater, nearshore, and marine environments, while improving management and recovery of declined salmon populations. ($2,000,000)
  • The Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska will monitor sockeye and pink salmon escapement before contamination removal from Unalaska Lake and Iliuliuk Creek. ($1,383,000)

California

  • The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program will fund large-scale process-based habitat restoration projects for salmon and steelhead throughout the state. The projects aim to improve the spawning success of adult salmon and steelhead, and increase the health and survival of all life stages of salmon and steelhead. ($18,600,000)
  • The Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission will administer awards to its member tribes to conduct salmon and steelhead habitat restoration activities, monitoring and research. ($2,560,000)

Idaho

  • The Idaho Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund Program administered by the Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation will fund projects compatible with the Columbia Basin Collaborative sustainability goals including enhancing the availability and quality of salmon habitats and improving management practices. ($9,000,000)
  • The Coeur d’Alene Tribe will gather data to inform the full-scale feasibility of salmon reintroductions upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams by studying the downstream movement and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon. ($575,000)
  • The Shoshone Bannock Tribes will participate in fishery forecasting and in-season management of tribal fisheries on Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon; and restore and enhance Panther Creek, a tributary of the Salmon River. ($441,000)

Oregon

Washington

  • Washington’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board, through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, will continue work to recover ESA-listed salmon and support treaty fishing rights through habitat restoration and fishery monitoring efforts. ($25,500,000)
  • The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission will administer awards to coastal treaty tribes to restore and protect habitats, conduct monitoring and enable projects that will help fulfill tribal treaty fishing rights for ESA-listed salmon and steelhead. ($6,300,000) 
  • The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will study salmon reintroduction upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams in the Upper Columbia Basin, to support trapping and transporting adult salmon, and restoring native subsistence fishing. ($621,000)
  • The Cowlitz Indian Tribe will address fish passage to Cabin and Johnson Creeks within the Grays River watershed for Chinook and coho salmon, river chum and steelhead. The recovery plan identifies the Grays River subbasin as one of the most promising areas for salmon recovery among Washington coastal subbasins. ($3,610,000)

Since the program’s inception in 2000, NOAA’s PCSRF has provided more than $1.7 billion to implement more than 15,000 salmon recovery projects. Our partners have protected, restored and created nearly 1.2 million acres of salmon habitat and have made over 11,800 stream miles accessible to salmon and steelhead.

While application approvals and fund obligations are not yet final, each of these applications is being “recommended” for funding. This is not an authorization to start projects or guarantee of funding, and final decisions will be made in the coming months.

President Biden’s Investing in America agenda includes over $2 billion for fish passage investments across the country. To help support implementation of Investing in America funding for fish passage, the Federal Interagency Fish Passage Task Force was established in 2022 by collective agreement of its 13 member agencies. The purpose of the Task Force is to act as the collaborative strategic entity responsible for coordination and implementation of these funds for fish passage projects across federal agencies to make the largest positive impact possible. This announcement comes one day after the one year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action and resilience in history. 

Rising ocean temperatures could threaten sharks, tuna and other predators: Study

August 17, 2023 — By the year 2100, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico could experience a rise in temperature that could impact sharks, tuna and other predators, according to a study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), San Diego State University and NOAA Fisheries.

”What we’re seeing is this rise, a linear increase in ocean temperature,” Rebecca Lewison, a biology professor at San Diego State University, and co-author of the study, told NBC 7 Wednesday.

Using three decades of satellite and oceanographic modeling, researchers found that temperatures across these oceans could be 1-6 degrees Celsius warmer by 2100 because of climate change-driven shifts. The study, funded by NASA, has taken a deeper dive into what the future might look like in these oceans.

“By combining satellite data, like NASA’s satellite data, that we use with the information that we have on animals in the ocean, we know so much about the changes that are happening, so we don’t want to create a sort of one-size-fits-all approach,” Lewison said. “The science is really there to support dynamic management in all oceans.”

Read the full article at NBC

NOAA Fisheries Sets Management Measures for Northeast Multispecies Fishery

August 17, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries is approving updated management measures for the Northeast Multispecies fishery (Framework 65). These measures were developed by the New England Fishery Management Council and set or adjust catch limits for groundfish stocks for the 2023 fishing year (May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada.

For 2023, Framework 65 increases the catch limits for eight stocks and decreases the catch limits for eight stocks. Changes range from an increase of 180 percent for Georges Bank winter flounder to a reduction of 85 percent for Georges Bank haddock. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2022 and are intended to help prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks.

This action also implements a revised rebuilding plan for Gulf of Maine cod, and makes a temporary modification to the accountability measures for Georges Bank cod. Simultaneously, we are taking emergency action to increase the Gulf of Maine haddock quota. The emergency action will be in place for an initial period of 180 days, and we will accept public comment on the emergency action for 30 days, starting tomorrow.  We may extend the emergency action through the end of the fishing year after consideration of public comments on the action.

You can read the final rule filed in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin. Beginning tomorrow comments on the emergency action can be submitted through the online portal by searching “NOAA-NMFS-2023-0021”.

The comment period is open for 30 days. 

NOAA releases an extensive plan to boost the nation’s seafood industry

August 16, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released an extensive five-year plan to prioritize and promote the country’s commercial fishing industry last Wednesday called the National Seafood Strategy. NOAA claims that the plan will outline the direction of the United States seafood sector as well as complement other federal policies that are already in place. This is the first time NOAA has released an overall strategy aimed at addressing commercial fishing industry needs.

This strategy will outline their direction over the next five years for supporting a thriving domestic U.S. seafood economy and will enhance the resilience of the seafood sector in the face of climate change and other stressors.

NOAA’s vision will ensure:

  • U.S. seafood continues to be produced sustainably.
  • The U.S. seafood sector contributes to the nation’s climate-ready food production and to meeting critical domestic nutritional needs
  • U.S. seafood production increases to support jobs, the economy, and the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood sector
  • Supply chains and infrastructure are modernized with more value-added activity in the United States
  • Opportunities are expanded for a diverse and growing seafood workforce

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA awards USD 50 million contract for Pacific tuna and swordfish observer program

August 16, 2023 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded FLOAT Partners a five-year, USD 50 million (EUR 46 million) contract to oversee efforts to put observers on commercial fishing vessels in the Pacific Islands.

Under the contract, which is set to begin 1 September and continue into 2028, Hawai’i, U.S.A.-based FLOAT will recruit, supervise, and outfit fisheries observers as part of the Pacific Islands Region Observer Program (PIROP).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA Is Rolling Out a Plan to Radically Expand Offshore Aquaculture. Not Everyone Is Onboard.

August 16, 2023 — The cardboard gravestones read “RIP Local fisherman,” “RIP Wild Fish,” and “RIP Humpback Whales.” Assembled in response to new aquaculture sites planned off the coast of California, the gravestones were brought to the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Long Beach, California, in April by activists keen to register their discontent.

The sites pave the way for possibly dozens of new open-pen fish farms as far as three miles offshore, the future home of species that range from carp to salmon. Chief among the protesters’ concerns were entanglement of marine mammals, the expansion of dead zones caused by fish excrement, and infringement on wild fishing grounds.

Such has been the pushback to the announcement of the site plan following NOAA’s first-ever five-year strategic plan for aquaculture. The plan, released last October, outlines national goals for a thriving and sustainable domestic farmed seafood sector. Central to its aim is using science and best-practice approaches to identify areas in the U.S. suitable for development. Pro-aquaculture proponents have touted its potential to reverse a growing seafood trade deficit and provide Americans with seafood for years to come. However, not everyone sees it this way.

Opponents to the plan point to known risks, including ecological disasters like the infamous 2017 salmon spill that took place in Washington State waters when a salmon net pen collapsed, releasing roughly 300,000 Atlantic salmon in Puget Sound. The spill wreaked havoc, and scientists, environmentalists, and policymakers worried escaped salmon could spread disease or parasites to native Pacific varieties.

Accidents like these are why some governments are moving away from the practice, opponents say. Argentina, Washington State, and British Columbia recently banned net-pen salmon aquaculture. So why, then, is the U.S. moving ahead?

The goal to increase farmed seafood production in America dates back to the National Aquaculture Act of 1980 when the U.S. established aquaculture as a national policy priority. Thanks to an acceleration of scientific improvements in the field, the effort has gained momentum over the past decade.

Read the full article at Civil Eats