Saving Seafood

Five US senators call for NOAA investigation into spike in whale deaths

April 2, 2023 — A group of Democratic U.S. senators from four states are pushing for NOAA to investigate a string of whale deaths along both coasts of the U.S. – including deaths that some in the fishing industry are attributing to work on offshore wind installations.

Numerous whale deaths have occurred off the U.S. East Coast in the last few months, with several whales washing up on the shores of the state of New Jersey. Seven dead humpback whales have already been discovered in 2023 off the coast of the state – a total higher than any full year since 2016.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

RODA, NOAA, and BOEM Release Groundbreaking Report Synthesizing Scientific and Fishing Industry Knowledge on Fishing and Offshore Wind Energy Interactions

March 30, 2023 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

In 2020, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) convened a first-of-its-kind workshop to evaluate the current state of science relevant to fisheries and offshore wind energy interactions. The final peer-reviewed report of the workshop is now available.

The “Synthesis of the Science” project was a key first step toward jointly building a regional fisheries and offshore science agenda. RODA brought together fishermen, fishing industry representatives, federal and state agency experts, wind energy developers, academics, and other prominent scientists from the U.S. and Europe to attend the workshop and contribute to the report.

This report enhances understanding of existing science and data gaps related to offshore wind energy development interactions with fish and fisheries on regional and broader levels. Ecological knowledge of the fishing industry participants was incorporated into all of the report topics covering:

  • Ecosystem effects – including interactions with benthic habitat, physical habitat, oceanographic processes, and ecosystem synthesis by species groupings;
     
  • Fisheries socioeconomics – covering fisheries operations, economics, and sociocultural effects throughout the fishing industry and dependent communities;
     
  • Fisheries management and data collection – incorporating effects to resource surveys and governance processes;
     
  • Methods and approaches – including addressing cumulative impacts, use of Integrated Ecosystem Assessments and innovative approaches and technologies; and
     
  • Regional science planning – highlighting fishing industry-identified research priorities.

Funded by NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the symposium and report advance a memorandum of understanding between RODA, NOAA Fisheries, and BOEM. Signed in March 2019, this ten-year MOU promotes collaboration on the science, research, monitoring, and process of offshore wind energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

In 2021, RODA received additional funds through this grant for a second synthesis of the science project. It is currently underway, and focuses on fisheries and floating offshore wind platforms. The project consists of a summary of current knowledge, research, and monitoring associated with floating technology, a workshop focused on floating turbine technology, and a review by the fishing industry of existing mapping efforts of fishermen’s data.

SSA wants NOAA to avoid promoting imports in its National Seafood Strategy

March 29, 2023 — The Southern Shrimp Alliance said it supports a NOAA’s National Seafood Strategy, which is designed to promote domestic seafood consumption – provided it doesn’t also promote foreign imports.

NOAA released its draft National Seafood Strategy on 14 February, focusing on NOAA Fisheries’ work on managing the country’s marine fisheries “based on sound science.” Most of the strategy includes details on how the administration will promote the financial viability of the industry, resilience of coastal communities, and the effects of international trade.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

For the First Time, Scientists Can Predict Traits for All Fish Worldwide

Marc h 28, 2023 — Scientists can now predict growth, survival, and reproductive strategies for all known fish in the world. The combination of traits a given species has developed to adapt to its niche and  environment makes up its life history strategy. The new model uses 33 traits—describing size, growth, reproduction, parental care, lifespan and more— to classify more than 34,000 fish species among three dominant strategy types.

The model uses relationships among these traits from species we know a lot about to predict strategies for data-poor species. The results will inform ecosystem-based fisheries management, help forecast consequences of climate change, and advance our understanding of evolutionary relationships. This model was developed by an international team led by Jim Thorson with the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

“Because of limited scientific resources, we can assess only a fraction of the fish species we catch around the world. Now we have a model that can predict traits and strategies for all the rest,” Thorson said. “That information is essential to set sustainable fishing limits and prepare for future change.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Here’s why scientists are worried about newly discovered underwater heat waves

March 27, 2023 — In a recent study, researchers discovered extreme warming along the seafloor of the North American continental shelves.

Continental shelves form the edge of the continent. They extend up to 300 miles out to sea and, compared to the majority of the ocean floor, have shallow water. Their shallow depths and relative proximity to land allow continental shelf waters to be productive.

For example, the bottom of continental shelves serves as critical habitats for commercial species such as lobsters, scallops, crabs, flounder, cod and other groundfish, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Read the full article at Fox Weather

Ocean acidification, warming will slow sea scallop growth, study says

March 26, 2023 — A new study published in the journal PLOS Climate indicates that ocean acidification conditions projected between now and 2100 depress the growth of juvenile Atlantic sea scallops. Ocean acidification is caused by the ocean absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in chemical changes that increase acidity. Ocean warming may further hinder growth. Atlantic sea scallops support one of the most valuable fisheries in the United States, worth $670 million in 2021.

Postdoctoral researcher and lead author Emilien Pousse said, “This work describes the energetic balance of sea scallops under ocean acidification conditions for the first time, a species of economic and socio-cultural importance. Within our changing world, getting to know how our marine resources and fisheries could be affected by ocean warming and acidification in the near future is the key to anticipate the upcoming changes.”

The 8-week study was a collaboration between NOAA Fisheries and Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Faculty and students helped NOAA scientists conduct the study at the campus’ aquaculture lab. Scientists exposed the scallops to three different carbon dioxide levels and measured their growth and metabolism, including feeding, respiration, and excretion rates. Ocean acidification conditions significantly reduced the scallops’ ability to take up energy.

The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, which funded this work, has a mission to better prepare society to respond to changing ocean conditions and resources by expanding our understanding of ocean acidification.

Dwight Gledhill, deputy director of NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program, explained further. “Sea scallops represent a critically important fishery for New England and the Mid-Atlantic,” he said. “Because the effects of ocean acidification can vary considerably from species to species, it is necessary that we conduct targeted studies on sea scallops to better evaluate the risk ocean acidification may pose to them in coming decades.”

Dvora Hart is the lead assessment scientist for the species at NOAA Fisheries as well as a co-author of this study. She has studied Atlantic sea scallops for 24 years.

“This is the first information on post-larval scallop growth under ocean acidification,” she noted. “I previously worked on computer modeling studies with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution oceanographers focused on climate change and ocean acidification effects on sea scallops. At the time, we did not have experimental data on sea scallop response. We estimated it based on what we knew about other scallop species and oysters. We now have real data on how sea scallops respond, filling a major gap in our knowledge.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Commercial Fishing Vessel Owner Cost Survey Now in the Field

March 23, 2023 — The following was released by the NOAA Fisheries:

The Greater Atlantic Region Commercial Fishing Business Cost Survey for calendar year 2022 is now open for participation. To access and complete the survey online, vessel owners can click HERE.  

This is a voluntary survey, collecting commercial fishing business cost information from federally permitted vessel owners.  All owners of federally-permitted commercial fishing vessels that were active in either 2021 or 2022 may participate. The survey is being administered by our Social Sciences Branch in partnership with the survey firm, ICF.

If you do not want to participate online, there are two other ways to take the survey before data collection ends on September 1: via phone interview or by responding to a hardcopy of the survey that will be mailed to each vessel owner by our survey firm, ICF. Request a phone interview with SSB staff by calling 508-495-2015. In April, hardcopy surveys will also be sent to the address listed on the owner’s vessel permit application.

The survey  was last conducted in 2016. This information is used to track trends in costs over time, assess economic fishery performance, and ultimately inform management decisions. This survey is the only NOAA Fisheries effort collecting this type of cost information in our region. 

Cost information can only be used to inform management decisions with participation from industry members. Your participation in this survey is greatly appreciated!

NOAA Fisheries, Atlantic Coast Partners Release Plan to Improve Atlantic Recreational Fisheries Data

March 22, 2023 —The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program and NOAA Fisheries have jointly released the Marine Recreational Information Program Regional Implementation Plan for the Atlantic Coast. It highlights data needs and funding priorities over the next 5 years for improving recreational fisheries data collection on the Atlantic Coast.

“Our regional and state partners are essential to developing, executing and improving our national network of recreational fishing surveys that inform catch estimates,” said Evan Howell, NOAA Fisheries, director of the Office of Science and Technology. “We rely on partners like ACCSP to efficiently facilitate regional partnerships and joint data collection activities, as well as identify regional priorities through tools like our regional implementation plans. I want to thank all of our partners for their hard work to develop this plan together, and we look forward to our continued partnership as the plan is implemented.”

ACCSP is the state-federal partnership that collects, manages, and disseminates Atlantic commercial and recreational fisheries data and serves as the MRIP Regional  Implementation Team for the Atlantic Coast. It also coordinates state conduct of the MRIP Access Point Angler Intercept Survey and For-Hire Survey from Maine to Georgia. Program partners include coastal resource agencies from 15 states and the District of Columbia, 2 interstate marine fisheries commissions, 3 regional fishery management councils, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA Fisheries. To provide better data for stock assessment and management, the ACCSP Coordinating Council and Recreational Technical Committee (RecTech) identified top priorities for improving recreational data collection on the Atlantic Coast through 2027.

Sea Grant Funding Opportunity: 2023 American Lobster Research Program

March 22, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Sea Grant announces a new funding opportunity for collaborative projects that address priority research needs to enhance our understanding of and address impacts to the American lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southern New England.

The program seeks applications from research teams and encourages partnerships between industry, State agencies, and/or academia that address American lobster population dynamics, life history parameters, species interactions and behavior, and/or social, behavioral, or economic research, including analyses regarding measures under consideration for inclusion in the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.

 

Fishing industry: Millions more needed to support NOAA surveys amid wind development

March 21, 2023 — Two fishing industry groups have asked a Congressional committee to allocate tens of millions more in funds to NOAA Fisheries to help the agency mitigate impacts of offshore wind development on its long-standing federal fishery surveys, which inform management and ultimately the fishing quotas that are set each year.

A “huge concern” held by the fishing industry is offshore wind farms impacting or precluding survey vessels from navigating in and around wind farms in order to assess fish stocks, which could in turn impact data collection, explained Fiona Hogan, research director at the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), earlier this month at a panel on offshore wind in Maine.

If data is missing, lacking, or can no longer be collected in the same way, it could bias available information and regulators’ understanding, potentially leading to lower fishing quotas.

“[W]e are concerned that the dollar amount provided for the Scientific Survey Mitigation work is far too low given the rapid pace of [offshore wind] leasing and the number of scientific surveys that will be impacted,” wrote Annie Hawkins of RODA and Leigh Habegger of Seafood Harvesters of America in the March 17 letter to members of the Congressional Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light