Saving Seafood

Artificial intelligence joins the crew

June 16, 2023 — Researchers around the world are using AI and machine learning to identify and avoid bycatch. 

Call it inevitable. If doctors are using artificial intelligence (AI) to read X-rays and MRIs, how long could it be before fishermen could use AI to identify bycatch?

While AI assisted bycatch control systems are not yet fully operational and on the market, they are close, and a number of U.S. and European players are collaborating on development.

“We’ve got a network of people all working on this,” says Noelle Yochum, a former NOAA bycatch reduction expert, now working for Trident. “We’re sharing information in the hopes of getting at least one over the finish line.”

While Yochum’s primary concern has long been halibut and salmon bycatch in the Alaska pollock fishery, the problem is worldwide. The current estimate of global discards in commercial fisheries is 27.0 million metric tons, with a range of from 17.9 to 39.5 million mt.

“I read that the value of that was somewhere around $84 billion US dollars,” says Hege Hammersland, Business Development Manager for Scantrol Deep Vision, a Norwegian company using AI to help reduce bycatch.

“Scantrol Deep Vision started about 10 years ago,” says Hammersland. “We developed a big box camera system that we commercialized for research in 2017.” According to Hammersland the company collected millions of images from the research model and used those to teach the unit’s computer how to identify size and species. “We’re working with a Spanish company, Gerona Vision Research, that specializes in machine learning.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

The “Steller” Success Story of a Sea Lion Population

June 16, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Steller sea lions were named for Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German surgeon and naturalist who first documented the species in 1742. They were once so abundant throughout the North Pacific that Indigenous peoples and settlers throughout the coastal North Pacific Ocean used them for meat, hides, and oil. The species still plays an important role to Alaska Natives for food and handicrafts.

Found in colder temperate to subarctic waters of the North Pacific Ocean from

California to Japan, Steller sea lions mate and give birth on land at breeding sites called rookeries, typically coming back each year to mate at their native rookery site. They also haul out to rest on beaches, ledges, rocky reefs, and on sea ice. While most are typically found in coastal waters on the continental shelf, they sometimes forage in much deeper continental slope waters, especially during the non-breeding season.

In 1997, Steller sea lions were formally split into two distinct population segments due to differences in their genetics, body size and shape, and population trends. Under the Endangered Species Act, the western DPS was listed as endangered and the eastern DPS remained listed as threatened.

Listing History

In the decades leading up to the species’ listing, there were unexplained and widespread population declines of more than 80 percent. These declines had spread to previously stable rookeries and were accelerating—so much so that 18 organizations petitioned NOAA Fisheries to list the species under the Endangered Species Act. The Act protects more than 160 marine and anadromous species and has been overwhelmingly successful in preventing their extinction during the last 50 years. It has also put many species on the path to recovery.

On November 26, 1990, NOAA Fisheries listed Steller sea lions as a threatened species.

Path to Delisting

In 2010 NOAA Fisheries initiated the first 5-year status review of the eastern DPS of Steller sea lions. The review indicated that three new rookeries had been established in Southeast Alaska since 1990, and the overall abundance of this population had consistently increased at about 3 percent per year throughout its range. This increase is generally attributed to recovery from prior predator-control programs, harvesting, and indiscriminate killing that took place before the animals were protected under the Canadian Fisheries Act of 1970 and the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

We officially delisted this population on November 4, 2013; the western DPS remains endangered.

The Endangered Species Act continues to be a powerful and effective tool for focusing conservation efforts and preserving the diversity of the planet.

Continued Recovery Efforts

We implemented a post-delisting monitoring plan for eastern DPS Steller sea lions to ensure their continued recovery. As part of this monitoring plan, NOAA Fisheries and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game research and monitor:

  • Population trends through aerial surveys
  • Survival and birth rates through resight surveys
  • Movements and distribution of marked Steller sea lions
  • Diet and foraging behavior
  • Climate change impacts

NOAA Fisheries’ scientific expertise drives innovative tools, technologies, and policies to meet ever-evolving endangered species conservation and recovery challenges. We now have a method to remotely sedate and disentangle Steller sea lions. We are currently working on testing a new deterrent device to reduce fishery interactions between Steller sea lions and salmon hook-and-line fisheries. We have also increased our outreach efforts to reduce illegal feeding and shooting, and prevent entanglements.

Continued research helps NOAA Fisheries understand the role of Steller sea lions in the marine ecosystem and inform management decisions for their conservation.

Learn more about Steller sea lion protection measures.

 

Fishermen ask US Supreme Court to consider second challenge to NOAA at-sea monitoring rule

June 15, 2023 — A nonprofit civil rights group representing Atlantic herring fishermen wants to take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a growing movement to limit NOAA Fisheries’ rulemaking authority.

In 2020, NOAA Fisheries implemented a new rule requiring fishermen to pay for human at-sea monitors aboard their vessels. While the agency claimed the monitors are necessary to ensure compliance, fishermen balked at the cost, which they claim can be more than USD 700 (EUR 640) per day. Represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), some of the fishermen sued the government to overturn the regulation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

El Nino is bad news for salmon and steelhead

June 15, 2023 — The little troublemaker is back.

It’s bad-but-expected news for salmon and steelhead runs up and down the West Coast, including those that return to the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center said last week that El Niño conditions are now present off the coast of South America, and they can be expected to gather strength by this winter.

According to a news release from the agency, the weather phenomenon is identified by the accumulation of warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean west of South America near the equator.

El Niño (little boy in Spanish) influences global weather patterns.

“Depending on its strength, El Niño can cause a range of impacts, such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world,” said Michelle L’Heureux, climate scientist at the Climate Prediction Center, in the news release.

Read the full article at the Spokesman Review

ALASKA: NOAA says revised analysis could allow Southeast king salmon troll fishing, despite ruling

June 15, 2023 — The National Marine Fisheries Service hasn’t ruled out the possibility of opening the summer troll season for king salmon in Southeast Alaska, despite a federal judge’s recent ruling to the contrary.

The service’s Alaska regional administrator, Jon Kurland, told a roomful of trollers during a June 7 meeting in Sitka that the agency was working hard to correct the problems identified in the federal lawsuit. The Wild Fish Conservancy in Washington state sued to stop the Southeast Alaska troll season, seeking to protect endangered Southern Resident killer whales’ food sources.

If successful, Southeast trollers might be able to harvest king salmon this summer – if not on the traditional date of July 1, then possibly in August.

To get a feel for the impact of the Wild Fish Conservancy lawsuit on Southeast trollers, try sitting in a room filled with them: Grizzled oldsters, seasoned men and women hardened by life on the ocean, well-known fisheries advocates,  young families, and a baby or two.

Read the full article at KTOO

NOAA forecasts smaller Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” this summer

June 14, 2023 — The Gulf of Mexico dead zone – a hypoxic area with low oxygen levels that are deadly to fish – is predicted to be smaller than average this summer.

The annual dead zone covers about 5,364 square miles on average, but NOAA has forecasted that the area will be 23 percent smaller this year, covering just 4,155 square miles. The dead zone has occurred every summer for the last six years, caused primarily by excess nutrient pollution from human activities throughout the Mississippi watershed. Those excess nutrients lead to massive algae blooms in the gulf, which deplete oxygen in the water as the algae die, decompose, and sink to the bottom.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Feds Commit $82 Million to Protect North Atlantic Right Whale

June 14, 2023 — Six months after an unprecedented number of humpback whale deaths occurred along the New Jersey coast, the federal government announced billions in funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that includes an $82 million commitment to the conservation and protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The funds are part of the total $3.3 billion earmarked for NOAA under the Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change.

“We will provide direct support for the application of newer technologies, such as passive acoustic monitoring. We will invest in the development and, ultimately, implementation of new technologies to enable vessels to detect and avoid right whales and other large whales,” according to NOAA’s webpage on how it will prioritize the federal dollars. “This will reduce one of the primary threats to this species. We will continue developing and evaluating new technologies, such as satellite observations, to transform North Atlantic right whale monitoring and to improve understanding of the whales’ distribution and habitat use.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

ALASKA: Alaska salmon task force charged with developing science plan

June 13, 2023 — Federal and state leaders have appointed 19 experts to a special task force responsible for creating a science plan to better understand Alaska’s salmon, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service announced on Friday.

Task force members must address sustainable management and a response to the recent crashes in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.

The group was chosen in accordance with the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act that passed and was signed into law late last year. The law calls for most members to be appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with Alaska’s governor, and one to be appointed directly by the governor.

Read the full article at KINY

Dr. Charles Littnan Appointed New Science and Research Director for the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

June 13, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA announced the appointment of Dr. Charles Littnan as the new Science and Research Director for NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. He succeeds Dr. Mike Seki who retired from the agency in December 2022. Dr. Littnan will assume his new role on June 18, 2023.

Dr. Littnan is a marine biologist with 20 years’ experience in marine mammal and sea turtle science and research. He is known for leading innovative biological research and conservation management of large, complex, research programs related to marine mammals and sea turtles. He also has experience in staff supervision and development, program planning and implementation, and budget development and execution.

“We look forward to the opportunities ahead as Charles takes on the leadership of the Pacific Islands Science Center and its mission to conduct the research and monitoring programs that support the domestic and international conservation and management of living marine resources across the Pacific Islands,” said Dr. Cisco Werner, Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries.

Bounded by the Hawaiian Archipelago in the north, American Samoa and U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas in the south, and the Mariana Archipelago in the west, the Pacific Islands region encompasses the largest geographical area within NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction. The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone within the region includes more than 1.7 million square nautical miles of ocean, roughly equal to the total EEZ of the continental United States and Alaska.

The Center’s work is focused in the waters surrounding American Samoa, Guam, Hawaiʻi, the Northern Mariana Islands, and other U.S. Pacific Islands. The Center also conducts research on living marine resources in the high-seas areas of the central and western Pacific. These islands have a rich diversity of marine life that is vital to the culture and economic stability of the islands.

With regard to fisheries research and monitoring, the Center will conduct the research and analysis to maintain healthy stocks, eliminate overfishing, and rebuild overfished stocks important to commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries.

In addition to fisheries research, Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles, spinner dolphins, false killer whales, and humpback whales, and Pacific corals are some of the protected species in the center’s research portfolio.

“I am incredibly excited to lead and work alongside everyone at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center to support NOAA’s mission in the Pacific Islands region.  Our commitment to excellence in science and service will be our foundation as we address the complex challenges facing our oceans, our fisheries and the communities that depend on them,” said Dr. Littnan.

Dr. Littnan will work closely to ensure sustainable fisheries and protecting marine life is a joint effort between NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office and the Science Center. The center will continue to offer cutting-edge science to help inform management decisions to the region in an ever-changing environment. They work together to conserve and manage domestic and international marine resources in a vast geographical area.

Dr. Littnan holds a PhD in environmental science from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Ecology from Texas A&M University.

He lives in Honolulu where he enjoys spending as much time as possible with his wife and two children, especially at the beach.  Any remaining time is spent with friends, seeking rare whiskies, and enduring years of heartache as a Minnesota Vikings fan.

El Niño has officially begun. Here’s what that means for the U.S.

June 13, 2023 — El Niño is officially here, and that means things are about to get even hotter. The natural climate phenomenon is marked by warmer ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, which drives hotter weather around the world.

“[El Niño] could lead to new records for temperatures,” says Michelle L’Heureux, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.

The hottest years on record tend to happen during El Niño. It’s one of the most obvious ways that El Niño, which is a natural climate pattern, exacerbates the effects of climate change, which is caused by humans burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Read the full article at NPR