Saving Seafood

Biden-Harris Administration announces $2.6 billion framework through Investing in America agenda to protect coastal communities and restore marine resources

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

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce unveiled a $2.6 billion framework to invest in coastal resilience through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). As part of the President’s Investing in America Agenda this initiative will support communities and people on the frontlines of climate change, dedicating nearly $400 million specifically for Tribal priorities and benefiting coastal and Great Lakes communities nationwide with an emphasis on environmental justice. Additional investments from the IRA will improve weather and climate data and services, support the Biden-Harris Administration’s America the Beautiful conservation initiative, and strengthen NOAA’s fleet of research airplanes and ships that are used to study and collect data about the ocean and atmosphere. 

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we are making the most significant direct investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “As part of our more than $2.6 billion investment in regional coastal resiliency and conservation projects, we will be dedicating $390 million directly to Tribal priorities for habitat restoration and bolstering fish populations, and supplying crucial funding to ensure our coastal communities are better prepared for the effects of climate change.”

The historic $2.6 billion investment in climate resilience and coastal communities will help ensure communities, especially Tribes and vulnerable populations, have the resources and support needed to prepare, adapt and build resilience to weather and climate events as well as strengthen workforce development, marine resources, nature-based solutions, conservation, regional partnerships and Tribal priorities. The IRA funds will complement the investments already outlined in the nearly $3 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding, including the $562 million in Climate-Ready Coasts awards announced in April.

“This massive investment will go a long way in helping NOAA prepare communities for natural disasters and more effectively address the environmental and economic impacts to help millions recover from these events,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary Don Graves. “It’s no mistake that NOAA finds its home in the Commerce Department, where we remain fully committed to its mission.”

The $2.6 billion in climate investments will support coastal communities’ resilience to changing climate conditions through funding and technical assistance for capacity building, transformational projects that help protect communities from storms and flooding, the creation of quality climate-related jobs and improved delivery of climate services to communities and businesses. These programs include:

  • Climate Resilience Regional Challenge ($575 million): NOAA will fund a new competitive grant program that will invest in holistic, collaborative approaches to coastal resilience at regional scales. This will include two funding tracks: Regional Collaborative Building and Strategy Development, and Implementation of Resilience and Adaptation Actions. Details will be available in early summer.
  • Tribal Priorities ($390 million): NOAA will provide funding specifically for tribes to support habitat restoration, fish passage, capacity building, science, fish hatcheries and Pacific salmon. A summary of Tribal comments can be found here.
  • Climate-Ready Fisheries ($349 million): NOAA will support projects to conserve fisheries and protected species in coastal regions around the country. This work will enable NOAA to build dynamic fisheries management systems that incorporate climate and ecosystem environmental data to support management decisions.
  • Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerators ($100 million): NOAA will fund a new competitive business accelerator program to fill a critical unmet market need. These accelerators will support businesses with coastal and ocean-based resilience products and services related to NOAA’s mission as they navigate commercialization pathways. These businesses will help communities prepare for, adapt to and build resilience to changing climate conditions. Details will be available in early summer. NOAA will also advance existing resilience-related funding opportunities, through programs such as the National Oceanographic Partnership Program and Ocean Technology Partnership program.
  • Climate-Ready Workforce ($60 million): NOAA will meet the emerging and existing needs of employers by placing workers in high quality jobs that enhance climate resilience. Funding will also aid training and support services that will help American workers advance their careers and implement climate resilience efforts within public and private sectors. Details on this new competition will be available in early summer. 

The framework for the $2.6 billion also includes additional funding for high-quality project applications received through BIL competitions, non-competitive funding for the Integrated Ocean Observing System, support for marine and Great Lakes sanctuary designations, Technical Assistance to states, localities, tribes, and other partners and funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. The second round of BIL Climate-Ready Coasts Notices of Funding Opportunities are expected this summer.

“We are investing in America and empowering communities to understand and take action to address their risks to climate change and ensure they continue to thrive now and in the future,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “We can’t do it alone and look forward to engaging partners, building resilience and supporting conservation with this funding.”

The IRA allocated $3.3 billion to NOAA, including the initiatives described above and $200 million that will support improvements in NOAA’s climate and data services, including: 

  • Creating industry proving grounds to collaboratively research, develop and test tailored climate data products and services for the private sector, including the insurance, reinsurance and health industries.
  • Funding, improving, and expanding existing NOAA programs that advance climate information, services and adaptation capacity and build equitable climate resilience such as the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), the Climate Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI), Climate Adaptation Partnerships/Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CAP/RISA), the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and others.
  • Improving forward-looking projections, data assimilation, numerical weather prediction skill and models in order to improve the prediction of climate and weather extremes on oceans and ecosystems, and delivering climate projections needed to inform decision making.
  • Expediting the assessment and development of next generation Phased Array Radar capabilities to make severe weather warnings more accurate.  

NOAA’s remaining IRA funding will also support critical infrastructure improvements for NOAA facilities that are essential to NOAA’s mission, including:

  • The Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Washington.
  • The Sandy Hook Lab in New Jersey.
  • Piers in Newport, Rhode Island, and Charleston, South Carolina.
  • Construction of two charting and mapping research vessels, as well as critical mid-life repairs for NOAA Fisheries survey vessels.
  • High-performance computing capacity.
  • Acquisition of a second G550 ‘hurricane hunter’ aircraft.
  • Facilities projects at multiple national marine sanctuaries, including at the Monterey Bay, Stellwagen Bank, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale, Greater Farallones, Mallows Bay and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuaries.

Tracking Climate-Driven Shifts in Fish Populations Across International Boundaries

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

As the ocean warms, marine fish are on the move—beyond their traditional habitats and across international boundaries. Understanding these patterns of movement is essential to predicting change and managing climate-resilient fisheries.

A new collaborative NOAA Fisheries study looks at patterns of movement by multiple fish species across the entire Bering Sea shelf over decades. Alaska Fisheries Science Center scientists collaborated with Russian scientists to combine data from the eastern, western, and northern Bering Sea shelf. An innovative analysis distilled dominant patterns of fish movement over time from these data. The research advances our understanding of how the ecosystem is responding to climate change.

“International collaboration is likely going to become increasingly important for sustainable management of Bering Sea fisheries,“ said study lead Lukas DeFilippo, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “As fish move into new habitats, we need to take a broader scale approach to monitoring to support sustainable fisheries management .”

Tautai O Samoa joins with governor and others opposing proposed sanctuary designation

June 6, 2023 — Members of locally-based, Tautai O Samoa Longline and Fishing Association, have joined ASG officials and others in the community in voicing their opposition to the proposed sanctuary designation of the Pacific Remote Island Areas — a move that would expand Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument.

“The closure of these fishing grounds will cause a trickle-down effect and have an impact that reaches farther than the proposed Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument expansion,” wrote the group’s president Krista Haleck in a May 24 comment letter to the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“The actions and impacts cannot be looked at in isolation,” said Haleck, who pointed out that the expansion of the already expanded Marine National Monument throughout the Pacific “will be detrimental” to the US Purse Seine Fleet and negatively impact American Samoa’s economy including the American Samoa-based U.S Longline fishing fleet.

Read the full article at Samoa News

Courts threaten to sink federal fishery monitoring

June 5, 2023 — NOAA’s plans to force fishermen to pay for their own surveillance hit a brick wall in 2023, and the Supreme Court could force more big changes to how the federal government keeps tabs on the state of U.S. fisheries.

While the agency has long relied on human observers and electronic tracking devices, many in the fishing industry who regard the monitoring as too expensive and an invasion of their privacy have sought relief in the courts — and so far this year, they’re winning.

NOAA suffered a major blow in February when a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana threw out a rule that would have required charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to be equipped with electronic monitors to report fish catches. Fishermen complained that the devices would cost them as much as $3,000 per boat.

Read the full article at E&E News

NOAA hearing underscored opposition to marine sanctuary plan

June 5, 2023 — The public hearing in American Samoa about U.S. plans to expand a Pacific marine sanctuary has failed to assuage fears of tuna cannery job losses and further economic decline in the territory, according to workers, business owners and political leaders.

After a decade of lobbying by the Hawaii-based Pacific Remote Islands Coalition, the U.S. government earlier this year said it could double the size of the protected area around uninhabited U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean, making more ocean area off-limits to fishing fleets.

But the proposal has been greeted with dismay in American Samoa, where residents fear a heavy blow to the economically crucial tuna industry. Dozens of placard-wielding employees of the StarKist cannery in American Samoa protested outside a recent hearing held in Pago Pago by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees protected marine and coastal areas.

“I have seven children between the ages of two and 17, they are all in school, and I have been supporting my family working for StarKist Samoa,” Tanielu Malae, the sole breadwinner for his family, said at the May 25 hearing. “Do the people in Hawaii that made this proposal know what it is like for people like us that did not have proper education if we lose our jobs.”

American Samoa’s Lieutenant Governor, Talauega Eleasalo Ale, who said he was at the hearing as a resident rather than representing the territory’s government, made an emotional appeal to “brothers and sisters” in Hawaii.

Read the full article at Samoa News

River Herring are Using Habitat Reopened by Bloede Dam Removal

June 3, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In 2018, NOAA and partners removed Bloede Dam from the Patapsco River, opening up miles of free-flowing habitat to migratory species. A recent study has shown river herring are using the habitat upstream of the former dam. This news highlights the importance of dam removals in NOAA’s work to support migratory fish.

NOAA and partners have been monitoring the Bloede Dam site since before its removal to see how reopening the river would affect fish migration. Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have been using environmental DNA, or eDNA, to monitor for the presence of river herring. Fish and wildlife constantly shed scales, tissue, and other bits of genetic material into the surrounding environment. Researchers can collect a water sample, analyze the eDNA found in it, and identify which species have recently visited a location.

A recent study published in PLOS ONE found eDNA evidence of alewife and blueback herring (collectively known as river herring) using the reopened habitat. In the 4 years prior to the dam removal, no river herring eDNA was detected upstream of the Bloede Dam site. After its removal, eDNA from both species was detected in the reopened habitat. The likelihood of detecting the eDNA of alewife upstream of the Bloede Dam site increased from 0 to 5 percent, and from 0 to 13 percent for blueback herring. In addition to eDNA evidence, biologists with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources recorded two adult river herring—one alewife and one blueback herring—upstream of the Bloede Dam site in 2021.

NOAA to identify aquaculture opportunity area in Alaska

June 2, 2023 — NOAA is considering the creation of an aquaculture opportunity area in the U.S. state of Alaska, the agency announced 1 June.

Alaska could become the third region with an aquaculture opportunity area (AOA), joining Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico, though Alaska’s is likely to be declared in state waters, whilethe previous two AOAs are in federal waters.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: NOAA initiates Aquaculture Opportunity Area efforts in Alaska

June 1, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA and partners in the State of Alaska are announcing plans to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Alaska state waters. These areas will be selected through engagement with tribes and the public, a process that allows constituents to share their community, tribal and stewardship goals for sustainable aquaculture development in Alaska’s coastal and marine waters.

Alaska will join Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico as the third region in which NOAA is working with partners to identify AOAs. The multi-year process to identify AOAs will be conducted in partnership with the State of Alaska and follows a comment period during which NOAA received public support for aquaculture from Alaska Native organizations, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, members of Alaska’s legislature as well as industry and research institutions.

“With more coastline than all of the Lower 48 states combined, Alaska is uniquely positioned to benefit from a growing marine aquaculture industry,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit. “Aquaculture Opportunity Area identification efforts use the best available science, Indigenous Knowledge and collaboration with local communities to foster shellfish and seaweed aquaculture — benefiting Alaska’s Blue Economy.”

In 2022, aquaculture production sales in Alaska totaled $1.9 million, and the state is experiencing an increase in aquaculture permit applications. Aquaculture in AOAs will support environmental, economic and social sustainability.

The identification process for AOAs announced today is focused in Alaska state waters and will not include federal waters. NOAA will only consider marine invertebrates — like shellfish and sea cucumbers — and seaweed farming when identifying AOAs in Alaska. Finfish farming in Alaska state waters is prohibited by law.

“I appreciate NOAA’s decision to begin working with the State to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in Alaska,” said Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy. “My Administration continues to work closely to promote the responsible development of aquaculture in our pristine coastal waters. This sector has huge growth potential and will provide yet another example of Alaskan leadership in the seafood industry. Our state was predicated on resource development and state management of our fisheries. To that end, I welcome this help from NOAA.”

The State of Alaska serves as a crucial NOAA partner in the design and identification of appropriate locations for AOAs and commercial aquaculture. Identification of these areas will also be shaped through a public process that provides multiple opportunities for the public to share their tribal, community and stewardship goals. NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will provide support for AOA planning in Alaska through ecosystem modeling to help determine the best size and location for AOAs.

“Marine aquaculture is part of the NOAA Fisheries’ strategy for economic and environmental resilience in coastal communities and supports healthy oceans,” said Danielle Blacklock, director of NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture. “In a changing climate, aquaculture is a critical component of sustainable food systems, marine habitats and coastal economies.”

Identifying AOAs is helpful for prospective aquaculture growers to consider site selection and environmental analysis, but does not serve as a preapproval in the process. Prospective aquaculture growers will still have to go through comprehensive state and federal permitting processes.

NOAA Fisheries will solicit public comments as the identification process for AOAs moves forward.

Pros and Cons at the NOAA Public Scope Meeting in Am Samoa

May 31, 2023 —  Standing room only crowd attended Thursday’s NOAA hearing on the proposed expansion of the Pacific Remote Island Area (PRIA) and while a few speakers supported the proposal for the sake of conservation, many speakers came out against it saying it would have a negative impact on the cannery and therefore the territory’s economy. Here is a sampling of the comments.

Longtime fisherman and boat builder Maselino Ioane spoke in support of the proposal to designate submerged lands and waters surrounding the Pacific Remote Islands to the full extent of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as a new national marine sanctuary at the public scoping meeting on Wednesday, May 224, 2023 at the Tauese PF Sunia Ocean Center.

A member of the alia association, Ioane said there were more than 50 alia boats back in the 80s but that number had dropped drastically when purse seiners started fishing in American Samoa fishing grounds. He said the methods used by these vessels harm not only the small fish but also big fishes and other marine life.

Read the full article at Samoa News

NOAA Fisheries recommends 40 projects for USD 11 million in grant funding

May 30, 2023 — NOAA Fisheries has recommended 40 projects to receive USD 11 million (EUR 10.3 million) in grant funding.

“These grant awards support the promotion and marketing of U.S. fisheries which supports U.S. fishing and aquaculture industries and our nation’s working waterfronts,” NOAA Fisheries Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations Jim Landon said in a statement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource