Saving Seafood

Maine Lobstermen Dismayed By Fed’s Push For More Gear Changes To Protect Endangered Whale

February 14, 2020 — Maine’s top fisheries regulator is telling his federal counterparts the state’s lobster fleet deserves more credit for its efforts to reduce the risk of fishing gear entanglements with the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher revealed this week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told him that Maine’s proposed gear changes, including a reduced number of  vertical ropes in offshore waters, are insufficient.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Keliher tells NOAA that it is overlooking other whale protection measures that the state has taken in the past and is proposing for the future. “It needs to be taken into consideration: it’s not part of any calculations they have on the books right now,” he says.

Keliher met last night with the state Lobster Advisory Council, which includes fishermen from each of the state’s seven lobster management zones.

He says Maine should get credit for replacing floating rope lines that pose a big hazard for the whales with safer, sinking lines, and for Maine’s proposal to require inshore boats to weave weak, breakaway links into their lines.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Maine counters NMFS rejection of right whale plan

February 14, 2020 — Maine officials said that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s rejection of its submitted right whale plan didn’t take enough of the state’s efforts into account.

The NMFS rejected the state’s plan via letter earlier this week. According to NMFS, the state’s plan only reduces risk to right whales by roughly 52 percent, short of the 60 percent that the Take Reduction Team was aiming for.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine says its plan to protect whales from lobster gear is better than feds think

February 13, 2020 — Maine believes its right whale protection plan isn’t getting enough credit for reducing risk to the critically endangered species.

The state Department of Marine Resources believes that its right whale plan, with its range of lobster fishing restrictions meant to avoid gear entanglements, clocks in right around the 60 percent risk reduction target sought by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Federal regulators – who  determined that the state plan reduced risk by just 52 percent – failed to give Maine credit for all its proposed protection measures, as well as those enacted since the last federal right whale review in 2014, Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said Wednesday.

Keliher spelled out his concerns with the federal evaluation of Maine’s plan during a meeting with members of the Lobster Advisory Council Wednesday evening and in a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service that he sent earlier in the day asking for additional risk reduction credit.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine’s plan to protect whales falls short, regulators say, raising prospect of federal rules

February 12, 2020 — Maine’s plan to protect right whales does not go far enough to reduce the risk of entanglement in lobstering gear, according to federal regulators.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has concluded that Maine’s plan to use a combination of weak rope and a 25 percent reduction in the number of buoy lines in state waters achieves, at best, a 52 percent risk reduction, while federal regulators are demanding a 60 percent reduction.

“Because your proposal does not meet the 60 percent risk reduction target, we will be obligated to consider additional measures through our federal rulemaking,” said Michael Pentony, regional administrator of NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Whale Week 2020: NOAA Saves Whales with Science

February 11, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Whales, dolphins, and porpoises belong to a group of marine mammals called cetaceans. NOAA Fisheries works to ensure the conservation of all cetaceans, which are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Some populations, such as the Cook Inlet beluga, North Atlantic right whale, and Southern Resident killer whale have been identified as Species in the Spotlight due to their endangered status and declining populations. We work with many partners to protect and recover species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Join us as we celebrate Whale Week, February 10–16, 2020, leading up to World Whale Day on February 16, 2020. Check out the latest whale-related news and videos below and stay tuned for more new content throughout the week!

Read the full release here

Extension: Voluntary Vessel Speed Restrictions South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

February 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area or DMA) south of Nantucket.

On February 9, an aggregation of right whales was observed 31 nautical miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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

South of Nantucket DMA effective through February 24

41 11 N
40 22 N
069 32 W
070 37 W

Active Seasonal Management Areas (SMAs)

A mandatory speed restriction of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) is in effect in the Mid-Atlantic November 1 – April 30, and in Cape Cod Bay January 1 – May 15.

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating 

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 also 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.

More Info

Recent right whale sightings

Find out more about our right whale conservation efforts and the researchers behind those efforts.

Download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone

Acoustic detections in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston TSS

Send a blank message to receive a return email listing all current U.S. DMAs and SMAs.

Details and graphics of all ship strike management zones currently in effect.

Reminder: Approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

Read the full release here

Maine Congressional Delegation Asks Feds To Shift Focus Of Right Whale Protections

February 7, 2020 — Maine’s congressional delegation is trying to up the pressure on federal fisheries regulators to look beyond the state’s lobster industry when seeking to reduce threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

In a letter to top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week, the delegation calls on the agency to provide more information about reducing the risk of ship strikes off the United States and Canada – strikes that they say are as much a threat to the whales’ survival as entanglement with lobster fishing gear.

Maine 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, notes that just last month, a newborn right whale calf was sighted off Florida with an apparent ship-strike injury. He says Maine’s lobster industry is being asked to bear too much of the burden and is at a disadvantage compared to powerful shipping and conservation organizations.

Read the full story at Maine Public

3 more right whale calves spotted

February 6, 2020 — Three more right whale calves have been spotted off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

A 28-year-old mother named Calvin was spotted swimming off Georgia with her calf, the statement says. In 2000, Calvin was found entangled off the coast of Cape Cod and was disentangled by the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team.

A 24-year-old mother named Echo was seen with her calf off Atlantic Beach in Florida, and an 18-year-old mom called Arrow was spotted with her calf off Amelia Island in Florida.

These sightings bring the total number of right whale calves this season to nine, up from seven seen all of last year, according to a statement from the Center for Coastal Studies.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NOAA holds off on whale rules

February 5, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service will hold off on announcing new rules aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales from entanglement with fishing gear, including Maine lobster fishing gear, until at least July.

The agency, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), had been expected to release proposed rules by late last fall or possibly in January. But in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., last week, Jenifer Anderson, an assistant regional administrator at the NFMS Greater Atlantic Regional Office in Gloucester, Mass., said the delay was the result of fisheries managers from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts submitting proposed state-specific lobster fishing rules to the agency for review later than expected.

According to Anderson, NMFS anticipated receiving proposals from the states last fall, but the Maine Department of Marine Resources didn’t file its proposals until Jan. 3. Those proposals differed, she said, from proposals the state tentatively agreed to last April at a meeting of the agency’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team. According to Anderson, Massachusetts and New Hampshire were expected to file their plans “on or about” Feb. 1.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

RHODE ISLAND: Commercial Fishermen Endorse Partial Balloon Ban

February 3, 2020 — Commercial fishermen aren’t happy with the amount of balloons they constantly find floating in the ocean and, thus, support a bill that places restrictions on their use.

House bill H7216 doesn’t ban or prohibit the use of balloons but forbids the intentional release of balloons containing helium.

At a Jan. 28 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, commercial fisherman Norbert Stamps gave emotional testimony recounting the endless presence of balloon and balloon strings floating at sea between Canada and Virginia.

“This is not some bullshit pollution legislation,” Stamps said. “This is the biggest piece of plastic commercial fishermen in New England see in our ocean and New England coast.”

Balloons, he said, are the most common waste fishermen encounter, most often as a bunch of balloons that have been released from weddings, graduations, and other events.

Balloons threaten filter feeders such as endangered North Atlantic right whales, Stamps noted. A 2019 study out of Australia found that soft plastics such as balloons accounted for only 5 percent of the items ingested by seabirds but are responsible for 42 percent of seabird deaths. Balloons floating in water also resemble jellyfish and are often consumed by seals and turtles.

Read the full story at EcoRI