Saving Seafood

RHODE ISLAND: NOAA Updates Recreational Fishing Policy to Reflect Climate Crisis, Increase Diversity

November 6, 2023 — Recreational fishing is an important economic driver for the Ocean State, bringing in as much as $160 million annually when you include hotel stays and restaurant, bait shop, and marina spending by visitors.

More than 80,000 Rhode Islanders fish recreationally, with an equal number of out-of-staters coming here to fish, according to the Rhode Island Environmental Monitoring Collaborative.

Warming seas, habitat loss, and changes in the movement of bait fish are impacting the state’s recreational and commercial fisheries. Atlantic bluefin tuna, a popular species commonly fished off the Ocean State coast, is one of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean species projected to be impacted by warmer waters and habitat loss.

Other iconic Rhode Island species, such as cod and lobster, have been moving north for a while. Once-abundant winter flounder is now difficult to find.

Read the full article at EcoRi News

US House, Senate jousting over FDA, NOAA funding

November 3, 2023 — The U.S. Senate passed a package of appropriations bills in late October that included funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The legislation includes key provisions for the domestic seafood industry and brings Congress one step closer to providing funding for fiscal-year 2024 and avoiding a government shutdown. Congress agreed to a last-minute deal in September to avert a partial shutdown, but that agreement expires 17 November.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Conservationists to sue NOAA Fisheries after killer whale deaths in Alaska

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.

Read the fool article at SeafoodSource

HAWAII: From Ocean to Plate: How the Longline Fishery Feeds Hawaiʻi

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.

Red Snapper Act wins approval from US House Natural Resources Committee

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Major funding packages for Gulf of Mexico fisheries research, data collection

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.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Biden administration announces USD 20 million in funding for fisheries management addressing climate change

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US bill encouraging offshore aquaculture draws opposition

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.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Atlantic Sturgeon and Climate Change: Warming Water Impacts Spawning and Development

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.

Impacts of Warming Water Temperatures

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.

HAWAII: Restorative Aquaculture for Hawaiian Kūmū

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:

  • How much the fish have grown since release
  • How far they traveled from the release point
  • How likely fishermen are to catch them

“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.”

Challenges Abound

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.

Trial and Error

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:

  • Amount of ambient light present
  • Temperature and flow of the water
  • Density of microalgae in the tank
  • Types and abundance of live zooplankton such as copepods, rotifers, or Artemia brine shrimp

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.

Moving Forward

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.