Saving Seafood

The big problem for endangered orcas? Inbreeding

March 21, 2023 — People have taken many steps in recent decades to help the Pacific Northwest’s endangered killer whales, which have long suffered from starvation, pollution and the legacy of having many of their number captured for display in marine parks.

They’ve breached dikes and removed dams to create wetland habitat for Chinook salmon, the orcas’ most important food. They’ve limited commercial fishing to try to ensure prey for the whales. They’ve made boats slow down and keep farther away from the animals to reduce their stress and to quiet the waters so they can better hunt.

So far, those efforts have had limited success, and research published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution suggests why: The whales are so inbred that they are dying younger and their population is not recovering. Female killer whales take about 20 years to reach peak fertility, and the females may not be living long enough to ensure the growth of their population.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

NOAA says Kennebec dams improvement plan will benefit Atlantic salmon. Conservation groups disagree

March 21, 2023 — A coalition of local and national conservation groups is criticizing a new opinion from NOAA fisheries that finds endangered Atlantic salmon aren’t jeopardized by four hydropower dams on the Kennebec River.

NOAA said the operator of the dams, Brookfield Renewable, has an acceptable plan to make improvements that will benefit salmon and other species. In a press release on Monday, NOAA said the plan to make significant structural and operational changes to the dams would allow salmon to swim up the Kennebec to freshwater habitat for the first time since the dams were constructed in the 1800s.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Nationwide standard pitched for vessel speed zones protecting whales

March 21, 2023 — With Congress placing the federal government on a six-year wait to put in place new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales, two groups advocating for whales filed an administrative rule-making petition pushing the government to protect all whales in U.S. waters.

“Ship strikes are already a leading cause of whale mortality in U.S. waters and the threat is growing,” said Rick Steiner, a marine ecologist and Chairman of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s (PEER) board of directors.

Right whales are not unlike manatees in their tendency to swim slowly and deliberately at the water’s surface. He said large vessels have an audio effect in that the bow blocks engine noise and creates a quiet area ahead of the ship, leaving whales unaware.

“Simply put, many of our busiest coastal shipping routes are death traps for whales,” Steiner said.

The hope is that such standards would protect all whale species off the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts.

Read the full article at Florida Politics 

ACCSP, NOAA Fisheries Release Plan to Improve Atlantic Recreational Fisheries Data

March 22, 2023 — The following was released by the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program:

The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) 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.

Atlantic Coast Prioritized Activities

  • Improved precision and presentation of MRIP estimates
  • Comprehensive for-hire data collection and monitoring
  • Improved recreational fishery discard and release data
  • Improved timeliness of MRIP recreational catch and harvest estimates
  • Expanded biological sampling of recreational fisheries
  • Improved in-season monitoring

“Through the ACCSP, state, regional and federal partners are able to cooperatively identify and prioritize recreational fishery data needs for the entire Atlantic Coast and coordinate efforts to address these needs and improve recreational data collection,” said Angela Giuliano, ACCSP RecTech chair. RecTech is composed of ACCSP partner personnel who specialize in survey design, statistical estimation of fishing effort, catch, and participation, and the operation of recreational sampling programs.

The Atlantic Regional Implementation Plan will help guide NOAA Fisheries’ allocation of resources to best address the data needs of regional fishery stock assessors and managers.

“Working together, we have allocated targeted increases in sample size by month and mode to improve precision of MRIP estimates,” said Dawn Franco, RecTech vice-chair. “We are also working on methodology to improve for-hire data collection. Over the next 5 years, we can achieve even more by building on our momentum and nurturing the relationships that have been forged.”

National Perspective

NOAA Fisheries maintains a central role in developing data collection and estimation methods, administering recreational fishing surveys, implementing survey and data standards, and producing recreational fisheries statistics. Regional and state partners identify regional data collection priorities, coordinate survey operations and on-site data collection, and participate in quality assurance and quality control procedures.

Through Regional Implementation Plans, each region plays a critical role in identifying  which survey methods are most suitable for its science, stock assessment, and management needs. NOAA Fisheries uses these plans to develop a national inventory of partner needs and associated costs, and to annually specify priority-setting criteria for supporting those needs. These plans inform MRIP decision-making for ongoing research priorities and budget allocation. The Regional Implementation Plans are adjusted at least every 5 years or as necessary based on changing science, management needs, and budget availability.

This collaborative approach is critical to addressing region-specific needs for improving recreational fishing data and supporting fishing opportunities for generations to come. For more information, please contact Alex DiJohnson, ACCSP Recreational Team Lead, at Alex.DiJohnson@accsp.org.

Offshore wind requires funding boost for NOAA surveys, science centers, advocates say

March 20, 2023 — Mitigating the effect of offshore wind development on federal scientific fisheries surveys requires a major increase in funding, potentially more than $120 million a year, according to a new request to Congress from industry advocates.

The Seafood Harvesters of America and Responsible Offshore Development Alliance say that money is needed to help offset the impacts of offshore on federal fisheries surveys – a cornerstone of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries management and conservation mission.

In a March 17 letter to a Congressional appropriations subcomittee, the groups recommend a price tag at $2 million a year for each of 31 fishery surveys managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service that will be affected by offshore wind projects, plus $10 million more for each of six NMFS regional science centers to address issues with wind energy developments.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Plans to move NOAA hub to Newport are being finalized, Reed says

March 19, 2023 — The federal government is “finalizing plans” to move a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration marine operations center from Virginia to Naval Station Newport, according to US Senator Jack Reed.

Reed said the move from Norfolk, Va., to Newport would mean a $150 million federal investment and 200 jobs in Rhode Island.

“This is a major win for Rhode Island and our Blue Economy that will help NOAA improve mission fulfillment while achieving savings through consolidation and enhancing collaboration with the Navy, URI, the Coast Guard, and leading ocean scientists and marine businesses,” Reed, a Democrat, said in a news release Wednesday touting the development, as well as his role in it.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

Collaborating with Industry on Greater Atlantic Electronic Reporting

March 18, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

For more than 35 years, Captain Sonny Gwin has fished commercially out of Ocean City, Maryland. He targets lobster and sea bass on the F/V Skilligalee alongside two crew members. Like all captains, he must submit reports on his fishing activity to different reporting entities.

For most of his career, this meant filling out a federal paper logbook, with copies for the state and dealers. He had to submit it by mail, generally on a monthly basis. This also meant stacks and stacks of paper in his shop, some dating back decades. A member of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, Gwin faced the decision in 2018 on whether to support mandatory electronic reporting in the Greater Atlantic region. He voted in favor of the new technologies that would allow data submission from smartphones and tablets.

“You’ve always got your phone and it basically has your information at your fingertips,” says Gwin. While implementing electronic vessel trip reports (eVTRs) has had its challenges, the efforts have led to more timely, higher quality data that better support science and management. They also streamline reporting requirements by enabling submissions to multiple entities through a single app, and give the industry a better sense of where they stand on species quotas.

Right whales vs. commercial fishing: No ‘easy solution’ for NOAA, says Raimondo

March 18, 2023 — Once hunted to near-extinction, the greatest threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale now are accidental encounters with humans.

Federal efforts to protect the whale species, which spends most of the year off the coast of New England, from collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear — incidents that represent the two leading causes of death for right whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — remain stymied.

That’s because some policies meant to preserve the right whale are also seen as an existential threat to another treasured icon of New England: commercial fishing.

Read the full article at WABE

East Coast congressmen seek NOAA response on scientists’ offshore wind advice

March 16, 2023 — Four East Coast congressmen asked top Biden administration officials how their agencies responded to a May 2022 scientific recommendation for wider buffer areas around offshore wind projects to protect endangered whales.

In a joint letter Tuesday Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith, both R-NJ, Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Andy Harris, R-Md., sought answers from leadership of the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The request announced by Van Drew is a scene-setter for the southern New Jersey congressman’s March 16 public hearing in Wildwood, N.J., billed by Van Drew’s office as “an examination into offshore wind industrialization.”

It could be the first of Congressional hearings by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives into how the Biden administration is permitting offshore wind developments.

“There have been more than twenty whale deaths in just the past three months, an unprecedented number, yet this administration does not bat an eye,” Van Drew said Tuesday. “Despite calls for investigations as to why endangered whales keep washing up on our shores, this administration instead has decided to expand offshore wind development, allocating $60 million for projects in President Biden’s budget proposal.”

Offshore wind critics in Van Drew’s New Jersey coastal district have pointed to this winter’s strandings of humpback whales – a resurgent species along the Atlantic coast, unlike the highly endangered right whales – in demanding a moratorium on surveys to plan offshore wind projects off New Jersey.

They contend noise from geotechnical survey vessels may have disoriented the whales before their deaths, several determined by necropsy to have been caused by vessel strikes. NOAA officials reject those claims, saying the humpback strandings are part of a larger “unusual mortality event” that has been tracked since 2016.

So far this winter’s toll has included one right whale, a 20-year-old male washed up in Virginia, the apparent victim of a vessel strike.

The congressmen’s letter focuses on a May 2022 letter to BOEM from Sean Hayes, chief of protected species for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full release at the National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces Preliminary 2023 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Target for Groundfish Sector Fishery

March 16, 2023 — Today, NOAA Fisheries is announcing that we have set a preliminary human at-sea monitoring coverage target of 90 percent of all sector groundfish trips for the 2023 fishing year (May 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024). The preliminary coverage target is being announced now to facilitate preparations by industry members and monitoring companies ahead of the start of the 2023 fishing year. NOAA Fisheries has prepared a spending plan for funds appropriated by Congress. The final ASM coverage target will be announced when the spending plan is complete. We expect the final coverage target is likely to remain 90 percent, but, if revised, we expect the target to be between 80 percent and 100 percent.

We will separately announce the video review rates for electronic monitoring video footage.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries