Saving Seafood

New Rules to Protect Endangered Right Whales Face Delays

January 30, 2020 — A federal government plan to protect an endangered species of whale is snarled in delays and won’t likely be available for public comment until the summer, court papers state.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with state governments on the plan to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which only numbers about 400. The plan is expected to restrict commercial fishing activities off New England to try to prevent the whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Jennifer Anderson, an assistant regional administration for protected resources in a NOAA regional office, wrote Tuesday that “unfortunately, the state measures have taken more time to be developed than we expected.” The agency expects to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register in July, she wrote.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Offshore Wind to Fund New Study of Right Whales

January 28, 2020 — Ørsted is funding a project to study and protect endangered North Atlantic right whale during surveys, construction, and operation of its U.S. offshore wind facilities such as Bay State Wind and Revolution Wind.

Using data collected from an aerial, unmanned glider and two sound-detection buoys, researchers from the University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will examine the habitat and behaviors of right whales in the wind-lease areas awarded to Ørsted.

An estimated 400 North Atlantic right whales remain, fewer than 100 are breeding females.

The oceanographic data will help studies of additional fish species and improve forecasting for severe storms and other weather, according to Ørsted. The three-year initiative is called Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM).

Read the full story at EcoRI

One of four North Atlantic right whale calves spotted so far this breeding season struck by ship

January 21, 2020 — One of just four North Atlantic right whale calves spotted off the southeast coast of the United States so far this winter was discovered last week to have suffered deep propeller wounds to both sides of its head.

Barb Zoodsma of the National Marine Fisheries Service told the Associated Press that the injured calf was photographed by an aerial survey team about 8 miles (12.8 kilometers) off the coast of the state of Georgia while swimming with its mother on January 8. The survey team didn’t notice the calf’s injuries until later, when the photograph was viewed at full size.

The two S-shaped gashes observed by the survey team were most likely caused by the propeller of a boat, but humans will probably not be able to intervene and help the calf. “[I]t’s highly unlikely that we can fix this animal,” Zoodsma said.

Read the full story at Mongabay

Canada institutes gear-marking requirements in right whale protection efforts

January 16, 2020 — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Canada is instituting new requirements for the country’s lobster and crab fisheries, partially intended to help coordinate protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The new measure involves specially marked gear rope that will be required for roughly 14 fisheries, with all lobster and crab traps in Eastern Canada coming under the new rule, according to the CBC. According to a notice from the DFO, the requirements are part of the country’s effort to address ghost gear and to measure threats to marine mammals, particularly right whales, in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Injured Baby Right Whale Given Grim Prognosis After 2nd Look

January 15, 2020 — An endangered newborn right whale spotted with grievous injuries to its head off the Georgia coast is unlikely to survive, though scientists may try to inject the calf with antibiotics using a syringe fired from an air gun if they can safely get close enough, government experts said Monday.

Foggy weather along the coast was delaying efforts to locate the wounded baby whale and its mother by plane Monday. The calf was first seen from the air Wednesday, and a boat crew got close enough Friday near St. Simons Island for scientists to conclude its injuries were worse than initially feared.

“If you talk about an animal having an uphill climb, this one has a climb up Mt. Everest,” said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times

MAINE: Lobstermen Down East throw cold water on state plan to protect whales

January 10, 2020 — Fishermen in the heart of Maine’s $485 million lobster industry don’t like a state proposal to protect endangered right whales from buoy lines, arguing that it forces them to give up too much to fix a problem they aren’t causing.

About 75 people packed a local lobster board meeting in Deer Isle on Thursday night to vent about the plan, which they argue is overly complicated, puts them in danger and is unlikely to help the species it is trying to save.

“I wonder why the state made it so confusing and so difficult,” said Richard “Dick” Larrabee Jr. of Stonington. “This is stupid. I don’t want you to pass this because this does not work. It makes us look like a bunch of monkeys.”

The Deer Isle meeting was the first stop in the state Department of Marine Resources’ monthlong presentation of its right whale plan to the local lobster zone councils in each of Maine’s seven lobster fishing zones, from Whiting to Kennebunk.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Baby right whale spotted with deep wounds off Georgia coast

January 10, 2020 — A newborn right whale spotted off the coast of Georgia was suffering from deep cuts on either side of its head, dismaying conservationists who closely monitor the southeast U.S. coast during winter for births among the critically endangered species.

The S-shaped gashes, roughly 2 feet (0.6 meters) apart, were likely inflicted by the propeller of a boat, said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

She said Thursday humans may be helpless to do anything to treat the injured calf.

“If this was a human baby, this calf would be in the NICU right now,” Zoodsma said, referring to a hospital’s intensive care unit for babies. “… And it’s highly unlikely that we can fix this animal.”

Crews searched by air and by boat Thursday in an attempt to relocate the wounded whale and its mother, which were first spotted Wednesday. But they couldn’t be found, said Allison Garrett, a National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman. She said inclement weather moving into the area could prevent further searches until next week.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

MAINE: DMR submits whale rule proposal

January 8, 2020 — Nearly 10 months ago, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shocked Maine lobstermen with an announcement that the National Marine Fisheries Service had determined that right whale mortalities resulting from interactions with fishing gear would have to be reduced by 60 to 80 percent.

In late spring, the fisheries service proposed rules recommended by its Large Whale Take Reduction Team that would force lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water by as much as 50 percent and use weaker rope.

Those rules raised safety and practicality concerns within the fishing community and many lobstermen said they would have little or no impact on whale mortalities in the Gulf of Maine.

Last week, DMR submitted a detailed counterproposal to the federal fisheries agency that, according to Keliher, addressed those issues.

“This proposal is the result of a rigorous analysis of data combined with critically important input from industry,” Keliher said Friday. “The outcome is a plan that will not only protect right whales, but will also safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Maine fishermen.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Why Scientists Are Counting Whales from Space

January 7, 2020 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium and the Massachusetts-based engineering firm Draper are teaming up to save the whales. The researchers are weaving together a myriad of data in order to create a probability map of where whales might travel to and why. Knowing where whales go can help scientists better understand the environmental conditions that most impact the various species, reports 90.9 WBUR.

Changing water temperatures, for example, can shift where populations of krill, plankton, and fish—common food sources for whales—may go. Shipping lanes can also impact how whale populations travel: From 2010 to 2014, there were 37 reported ship strikes along the east coast of Canada and the U.S. and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to NOAA Fisheries data. Recent evidence has suggested that the ocean is getting noisier, which can stress whales and alter their behavior. (Luckily, groups like the U.S. Navy are taking note.)

In order to track these whales, the team plans to tap reliable sources of sonar, radar and satellite data to keep a watchful eye on our planet’s largest mammals. Eventually, the team hopes to input this data—collected from European Space Agency satellites to amateur radio operators—into an algorithm that will process that data and then track whales’ movements.

Read the full story at Popular Mechanics

US state of Maine moves forward with kinder, gentler whale reg recommendations

January 7, 2020 — The US state of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) on Friday moved forward with its earlier-proposed recommendations for helping to preserve endangered North Atlantic right whales by putting all of the emphasis on federal waters.

Maine, which is responsible for the largest share by far of the United State’s North America lobster production, submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) a lengthy set of online documents.

The plan is similar to one put forth in October by the state.

Ultimately, it’ll be up to NMFS to publish a proposed rule, also taking into consideration a tougher set of recommendations shared by the US’ Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, a NOAA advisory panel made up of fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and state and federal officials from Maine to Florida, in April 2019.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News