Saving Seafood

What women of Sea Grant want: science is in, spin is out

September 12, 2023 — Sea Grant is one of aquaculture’s best partners in the U.S. Founded in 1966, it is a joint effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and 34 university-based programs in every coastal and Great Lakes state, plus Puerto Rico and Guam.  

In a world of lobbyists and people tied to screens, Sea Grant stands out for its commitment to unbiased science and real-life connection.

One of its greatest assets is the broad array of women in its ranks. These scientists, lawyers, public outreach experts, educators, and other specialists thrive as an exchange, providing access to science and also transferring the priorities of various stakeholders, from aquaculture producers to local residents, back to their universities. Ultimately, their goal is to support sustainable seafood production, economic growth, and environmental stewardship through research, extension, and education.

Driving innovation
Among Sea Grant’s research initiatives have been those that invest in creating new technologies that will lead aquaculture forward.  In the lab, for example, one project assessed hatchery apparatus to enhance availability of seaweed seedstock.  In the field, another designed and built an open-ocean integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) platform to grow steelhead trout, blue mussels, and sugar kelp.

Lilian Elekwachi, a PhD candidate and teaching assistant at the University of Massachusetts Boston, was selected this year for the prestigious Knauss Fellowship Program. One of 84 fellows, in February she joined the Office of System Architecture and Advanced Planning in Washington, DC, which collaborates with U.S. Government agencies, international partners, and industry to leverage technology to meet NOAA mission needs. 

Elekwachi is visiting ocean farmers nationwide to document the needs they have that technology might solve. “Each state has a unique challenge,” she said. But she sees big opportunities for technology to monitor fish health and water quality.

That was not the case in her native Nigeria, where most of the work was manual.  Still, at 24, she started a successful catfish farm where she fed, harvested, slaughtered and smoked the fish. When she returns to Massachusetts to continue her doctorate after her year-long fellowship, her goal is to perfect a hybrid solar/smoking technology that will be safe, climate-friendly, and cost-efficient.  

Read the full article at Aquaculture North America

Release of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument Draft Management Plan and Environmental Assessment

September 12, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have prepared a draft management plan and environmental assessment for the proper care and management of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, as directed by Presidential Proclamations 9496 and 10287 (September 15, 2016; October 8, 2021).

The plan defines agency management roles and responsibilities and lays out the goals, objectives, and proposed management activities for the next 15 years. The plan includes an environmental assessment to evaluate the potential impacts of implementing the proposed management actions.

The goals and objectives in the plan are derived from the Presidential Proclamations, federal mandates, and public input. The draft plan ensures transparency on management activities and addresses priority management, research, and education needs to foster stewardship of the Monument’s natural, historical, and cultural resources.

How Do I Comment?

The draft management plan and environmental assessment is available for comment on USFWS website. Information about upcoming public meetings will be available on the website as well.

We are accepting public comments on the draft management plan and environmental assessment for the Marine National Monument through October 26, 2023. The public can comment on the plan via mail or regs.gov.

Thank you for your attention to this draft plan and environmental assessment, which will guide NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in protecting and conserving resources, managing environmental threats, and better understanding the Monument ecosystems.

Protecting ‘fisheries dependent communities’

September 11, 2023 — Leigh Belanger, the fisheries outreach coordinator for Businesses for Conservation and Climate Action (BCCA), sent out an email blast on Sept. 7, advising fishermen and other stakeholders that there is still time to comment on NMFS and NOAA’s proposed revision of the guidelines for National Standards 4, 8, and 9, which guide fisheries management.

According to a BCCA letter to NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – “Current fisheries management undermines ecosystem and community health, violates NOAA’s emergent commitment to equity and environmental justice, and favors short-term economics at the expense of resource and fishery dependent communities.”

Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association represents one of several fishermen’s organizations from all over the country that have signed onto the BCCA letter. “We want to integrate NOAA’s new commitment to equity and environmental justice into the National Standard guidelines,” says Behnken

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA Issuing Biological Opinion on the Empire Wind Offshore Energy Project

September 10, 2023 — The following was released by the NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries is issuing the final Biological Opinion under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) considering the effects of the proposed Empire Wind offshore energy project off the coast of New York on threatened and endangered species.

The agency has concluded that the proposed action is likely to adversely affect, but is not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of any species of ESA-listed whales, sea turtles, or Atlantic sturgeon or destroy or adversely modify any designated critical habitat. This conclusion was based on NOAA Fisheries evaluation of BOEM’s analysis of the effects of this project on endangered and threatened species, and in consideration of  the best scientific and commercial data available. 

The proposed project includes a number of measures designed to minimize, monitor, and report effects to ESA-listed species, and additional measures are included through the Biological Opinion’s Incidental Take Statement. No serious injury or mortality of any ESA-listed whale is anticipated as a result of the proposed project. All effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.

NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources is also proposing to issue regulations and an associated Letter of Authorization pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which was evaluated through the Biological Opinion. A notice of the proposed regulations was published in April 2023.

Other authorizations or permits will be required from a number of other federal agencies. BOEM is the lead federal agency for approving the construction, operation, and decommissioning of the proposed Empire Wind offshore energy project.

We will continue working closely with BOEM and other federal agencies to ensure effects from the Empire Wind offshore energy project to NOAA Fisheries’ trust resources are minimized.

The Biological Opinion will be available online upon publication in our libraryin approximately 10 days.

Announcing the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program 2023 Awards

September 10, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has awarded approximately $2.5 million to 14 projects under the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Five of these projects are in the Greater Atlantic Region. 

Bycatch reduction is a top priority for NOAA Fisheries, as outlined in our National Bycatch Reduction Strategy. Bycatch can contribute to overfishing, can threaten endangered and threatened species and protected marine mammals, and can close fisheries, significantly impacting U.S. economic growth. This year’s projects focus on several priority bycatch issues related to a variety of species, including whales, sea birds, sharks, striped bass, and salmon.

NOAA Fisheries’ Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program has resulted in innovative technological solutions to some of the nation’s top bycatch challenges. NOAA Fisheries is proud to continue to partner with fishermen, fishery managers, industry, academia and the environmental community to avoid and minimize bycatch.

For descriptions of the funded projects please visit our website.

New NOAA report confirms widespread coral damage from Port Miami dredge

September 10, 2023 — Nearly a decade after dredging Port Miami left a swath of dead coral yet to be repaired, a new federal assessment confirms damage was far more widespread than originally reported.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report found dredging and rock chopping that pulverized the ocean bottom created a blizzard of silt that buried at least 278 acres around the reef, and likely far more. The report upholds previous findings and will be used to permit future dredging as well as long overdue repairs.

Those repairs, which should have started within a year of the dredge ending, could wind up costing Miami-Dade County hundreds of millions of dollars under a 2012 contract signed by the county.

Miami-Dade County officials said Thursday they were reviewing the report. Any estimate on costs to mitigate damage would be premature, they said.

In a statement, Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava said the county was working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on a mitigation plan to repair damage.

“I’m deeply concerned about the damage of coral colonies and committed to learning everything we can about what took place and where we go from here,” she said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Thursday it was still looking into the matter.

Read the full article at WLRN

Fishing for the Future: Technology innovations redefine expectations across the commercial fishing industry

September 10, 2023 — Keeping up with today’s technological advancements can be overwhelming on multiple levels. Many commercial fishing operations haven’t prioritized the adoption of new tools or technologies on account of the disconnect between the capabilities of certain innovations that represent how actual fishermen will be able to use them. Why would someone who has worked in the same industry for decades change their day-to-day process and utilize a tool that doesn’t seem like it was created for them?

Despite this discrepancy, utilizing new technology can help save money, time, and increase safety. While some parts of the industry have switched to cutting-edge technology to better assist sustainability and safety on and off the water, many vessels still operate with inefficient tech products. Due to the different fisheries and geography, it is almost impossible to have innovations be a one-size-fits-all situation across the country.

In 2021, the Seafood Harvesters of America, along with NOAA Fisheries scientists, Alaska Ocean Cluster, and a few other organizations, held a survey called Technological Advancement in Our Fisheries: Innovation Priorities and a Path Forward to target members of the fishing Industry to help identify and better understand technology priorities and needs. By using the survey data, they were able to look for common needs across all regions and gear types that technology could address at this survey’s scale in hopes of guiding technology investments and developments in the commercial fishing industry. Hopefully, that will also be providing business opportunities for developing products that many in fishing communities could use.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA ‘National Seafood Strategy’ looks to climate change, aquaculture, fair trade

September 7, 2023 — The National Seafood Strategy report from National Oceanic and Atmospheric focuses on climate change, global market disruptions and new ocean uses like offshore wind energy.

The paper outlines four goals. At the top, it ranks “maintain or increase sustainable U.S. wild capture production.”

Climate shifts are forcing fish populations to gradually move – such as the decline in Mid-Atlantic lobster and northward shift of black sea bass into New England waters. Ocean “heat waves” of higher water temperatures and bigger storms “are affecting access to fishing opportunities, production of seafood, and fishing to support local dietary needs, cultural traditions and tribal treaty rights,” according to a NOAA summary of the plan.

The report ranks its second goal as increasing “sustainable U.S. aquaculture production.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Updates proposed for national standards for fisheries

September 7, 2023 — Comments are due by Sept. 12 on proposed updates to federal National Standards for commercial fisheries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, specifically those standards addressing allocations, communities and bycatch.

The National Standards are guidelines for regional fishery management councils on how to interpret and balance the 10 standards as they develop fishery management plans.

The marine resource consulting firm Ocean Strategies said in a statement released on Tuesday that reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens legislation is long overdue and a gridlock in Congress is preventing stakeholders from offering critical, time sensitive input to federal fishery management through reauthorization of that legislation.

Read the full article at the Cordoba Times

New Research Predicts Effects of Marine Heatwaves on Top Ocean Predators

September 6, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Forecasts can now predict the location and onset of marine heatwaves that can disrupt marine ecosystems. Scientists say the next step is to forecast what happens to top predators that inhabit those ecosystems.

New research published in Nature Communications finds that the effects on marine predators such as sharks, tuna, and mammals vary widely and can redistribute species across international boundaries. Scientists predicted these shifts using species distribution models that account for changes in temperature and other environmental conditions.

“The goal is to provide forward-looking tools to help managers think ahead about how species could redistribute during heatwaves and how they may need to proactively adjust regulations to account for these shifts,” said Heather Welch, an affiliate researcher at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center, a project scientist at UC Santa Cruz and lead author of the new research. “Predators often support important commercial fisheries, so it’s important to understand how they respond to changes in their surroundings.”

Marine heatwaves have become a regular occurrence in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the West Coast in the last decade starting with a massive heatwave around 2014 to 2016. Some studies suggest they may become more common and severe with climate change. NOAA Fisheries is increasingly pursuing “climate-ready fisheries” by developing management strategies that can adjust to changes in ecosystems and their inhabitants.