Saving Seafood

Report finds most ships breaking U.S. right whale speed limits

July 23, 2021 — An analysis of automated ship tracking data shows that nearly 90 percent of vessels transiting mandatory speed zones to protect endangered northern right whales are violating the speed limits, according to a new report.

The highest level of compliance — with about one-third of vessels obeying the 10-knot limit — was documented in the Off Race Point seasonal management area, near Cape Cod, Mass., where NOAA regularly announces speed restrictions to protect migrating whales.

The lowest levels of compliance — with nearly 90 percent of vessels busting the 10-knot limit — was off the coast between Wilmington, N.C., and Brunswick, Ga. That reach includes approaches to the burgeoning ports of Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where cargo traffic and container ship sizes are growing.

“If NOAA is serious about its mandate to save North Atlantic right whales from extinction, speed zones must be designated in the areas where whales currently are, and they must be enforced,” said Whitney Webber, campaign director at the environmental group Oceana, which compiled the analysis using Automatic Identification System data from 2017 to 2020. “Until speed zone rules are mandatory and violators held accountable, North Atlantic right whales will continue to die on NOAA’s watch.”

The AIS data comes via Global Fishing Watch, an international nonprofit organization founded by Oceana in partnership with Google and SkyTruth. That database recently yielded another report about foreign squid fishing vessels mounting possible incursions into Argentina’s exclusive economic zone.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Large vessels failing to obey speed limits to protect endangered whales, report finds

July 22, 2021 — Nearly 90 percent of large vessels traveling in some conservation areas along the East Coast violated mandatory speed limits established to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, according to a new report.

The findings raised questions about the need for stricter enforcement of federal rules to protect right whales, whose numbers have fallen by about 25 percent over the past decade to roughly 360. Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear have been the primary cause of death and serious injuries.

“Vessels are speeding, North Atlantic right whales are dying, and there’s not enough accountability,” said Whitney Webber, a campaign director at Oceana, an advocacy group, which released the report on Wednesday. “Oceana’s analysis shows that speeding vessels are rampant throughout North Atlantic right whales’ migration route, all along the East Coast, and in both mandatory and voluntary speed zones.”

Between 2017 and 2020, the report found that nearly 90 percent of vessels 65 feet or larger failed to reduce their speeds to 10 knots or less in the required speed zones along the coast from Wilmington, N.C., to Brunswick, Ga., near the whales’ calving grounds. Nearly 80 percent of the vessels also failed to comply with speed limits along the coasts of New York and New Jersey, while more than half of large vessels failed to comply near the entrance of Delaware Bay.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Report: Many boats fail to brake for endangered whales

July 21, 2021 — Many boats aren’t complying with federal speed restrictions designed to protect an endangered species of whale, an environmental advocacy group said Wednesday.

The federal government uses voluntary and mandatory speed reduction zones to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360 and are vulnerable to ship strikes. Oceana’s analysis concluded noncompliance was as high as nearly 90% in the voluntary zones, and wasn’t much better in the mandatory zones.

The group said it analyzed vessel speeds from 2017 to 2020. The analysis found that noncompliance in mandatory areas was generally worse in more southern zones. The Cape Cod Bay zone had a noncompliance rate around 45% in the most recent year, while protection zones off southeastern states were above 69%, the report said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Two endangered right whales entangled in fishing gear in Gulf of St. Lawrence

July 14, 2021 — A New Brunswick-based whale-rescue team says two North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are entangled in fishing gear, a dangerous situation experts say risks killing the endangered animals.

Mackie Greene, director of the Campobello Whale Rescue program, said Wednesday the group tried last week to free Snow Cone, a female who had been originally spotted entangled off Cape Cod, Mass., last spring. Greene said an American crew removed some of the rope at the time but had to call off their efforts because of bad weather, adding that the whale continued north into Canadian waters.

“She was spotted in May in the Gulf and we responded and were able to get 30 feet of rope off of the whale, but she still has rope wound in her mouth, in her baleen and some trailing lines,” he said.

Greene said his team was able to remove three pieces of rope last week, adding that the animal appears healthy and is feeding; however, he said, more rope needs to be removed. “Snow Cone has a pretty sad story,” Greene said. “She’s a female, born in 2005. The year before last she had a calf and was coming north and the calf was run down and killed.”

He says a larger, mature whale that’s also entangled in gear has been spotted about 80 kilometres northeast of Shippagan, N.B., in an area where all the right whales appear to be congregated. Unlike Snow Cone, Greene said it appears the whale likely became entangled in the Gulf — perhaps the result of fishing gear that had been lost.

Read the full story at The Toronto Star

New tool aims to map whale movement

July 12, 2021 — A lot of people want to know where right whales are and where they are going. As the state’s lobster fishery faces dramatic changes to preserve the species, regulators, fishermen and conservationists all want to know the paths the critically endangered species take up and down the east coast.  

“We’re constantly being asked ‘Where did you get detections?’” said Genevieve Davis, a research biologist working in passive acoustic research at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass.  

To help visualize the paths of right whales, as well as several other species of whale, Davis and other researchers created a mapping tool based on data from underwater listening devices that have picked up the sounds of whales going all the way back to 2004.  

The map includes data from several different listening devices, known as hydrophones, operated from platforms such as bottom-mounted moorings, surface buoys, Slocum gliders and towed hydrophone arrays. It also brought together data from several different studies and researchers and compiled them into a single, navigable tool.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

New slow zone to protect right whales off Martha’s Vineyard

July 7, 2021 — The federal government is implementing a new “slow zone” for boaters south of Martha’s Vineyard to try to protect rare whales.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that the new slow zone will be in effect until July 18. It’s designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360.

The agency is asking mariners to route around the area altogether or travel through it at 10 knots (11.5 mph) or less. The zone went into effect on July 2.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Conservation groups claim flaws in new federal right whale document

July 6, 2021 — Now that they have released a new biological opinion, federal fisheries managers are asking a federal court to end the ongoing litigation over the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.  

Last month, the federal government filed for a final judgement in the lawsuit filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service by several conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and the Humane Society.  

NMFS argued that, if there was an issue with the adequacy of the new biological opinion – a document from the service that states whether or not a federal action will jeopardize a species or its habitat – a new challenge would have to be filed.  

The conservation groups have pushed back against this legal logistics claim and have filed a motion of their own contending that there are several issues with the biological opinion. The new opinion does not address the issues the court found in the document’s previous iteration, which are central to the lawsuit in the first place.  

“NMFS cannot simply ignore the Court’s Opinions and Orders because it disagrees with the analysis or because compliance would be inconvenient,” the groups wrote in a recent filing. 

Last year, a federal judge found that the NMFS was in violation of the Endangered Species Act when it allowed the American lobster fishery to continue without an incidental take permit for North Atlantic right whales. Entanglements are considered one of the biggest threats to the species, which now has less than 400 individuals.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Slow Zone Southwest of Martha’s Vineyard to Protect Right Whales

July 6, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new voluntary right whale Slow Zone.  On July 2, 2021, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution acoustic buoy detected right whales southwest of Martha’s Vineyard.  This Slow Zone is in effect through July 18, 2021.

Mariners are requested to route around this or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

Southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, July 2-18, 2021

41 23 N
40 44 N
071 16 W
070 23 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Active Seasonal Management Areas 

Mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) are in effect in the following areas:

Great South Channel, April 1 – July 31

Find out more and get the coordinates for each mandatory slow speed zone.

Give Right Whales Room

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. NOAA is cautioning boaters and fishermen to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking all fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales and remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements. Commercial fishermen should use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are only about 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

North Atlantic right whales are NOAA Fisheries’ newest Species in the Spotlight. This initiative is a concerted, agency-wide effort to spotlight and save marine species that are among the most at risk of extinction in the near future. 

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

Read the full release here

US lobster fisheries anxious over upcoming whale protections

July 6, 2021 — The profitable U.S. lobster fishery will soon have to contend with new rules designed to protect an endangered species of whale, and that could necessitate major changes for people in the industry.

The federal government is working on new rules designed to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360. One of the threats the whales face is entanglement in ropes that connect to lobster and crab traps in the ocean.

The new rules are expected to be released late this summer or early in fall, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Early indications show that the changes required by the rules could be significant.

Right whales were once abundant off the East Coast, but they were decimated by hunting during the commercial whaling era. They’ve been listed as endangered since 1970, but the population remains small, and in jeopardy. Recent years have also brought high mortality and poor reproduction among the whales.

They’re also vulnerable to ship strikes, and face the looming threat of warming oceans. Acting NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Paul Doremus said in June that the U.S. and Canada, which also harvests lobsters, must “take and sustain additional efforts to reduce right whale mortalities and serious injuries.”

The rules will focus on reducing the number of vertical ropes in the water, and they’re also expected to modify restricted areas of ocean, the government has said. A conservation framework released by the federal government in May states that the first phase of rules will be designed to reduce risk to the whales by 60%.

The lobster industry is prepared to do its part to conserve the whales, but a near complete risk reduction would require a total overhaul of the fishery, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

ASMFC 2021 Summer Meeting Webinar Preliminary Agenda & Public Comment Guidelines

July 2, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The agenda is subject to change. Bulleted items represent the anticipated major issues to be discussed or acted upon at the meeting. The final agenda will include additional items and may revise the bulleted items provided below. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. Interested parties should anticipate Boards starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Monday, August 2

1:30 – 4:00 p.m.                     American Lobster Management Board

  • Progress Report on Development of Draft Addendum XXVII on Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Resiliency
  • Review Workgroup Report on Vessel Tracking Devices in Federal Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries
  • Consider Report on Available Data for Assessment, Data Limitations and Uncertainty, and Recommended Assessment Approaches for Jonah Crab
    • Consider Initiation of a Benchmark Stock Assessment
  • Consider Development of Management Strategy Evaluation of the American Lobster Fisheries

4:15 – 5:15 p.m.                     Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT) Update

  • Update on Efforts to Collect Information for the ALWTRT to Develop Recommendations to Modify the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to Reduce Risk to North Atlantic Right Whales in Coastwide Gillnet and Atlantic Mixed Species Trap Pot Fisheries, and Mid-Atlantic Lobster Fisheries

Read the full release here