Saving Seafood

Surveys Collect Data Year-Round on Marine Life along U.S. East Coast

January 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

While the weather outside may be frightful this time of year, Northeast Fisheries Science Center researchers continue collecting data from planes, ships, and underwater.

Many of the studies are part of the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species, or AMAPPS. This multi-year program is funded by NOAA, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Navy. Researchers put information about abundance, distribution, ecology, and behavior of protected species—from whales, dolphins, and seals to marine turtles and seabirds—into an ecosystem context. This helps resource managers with conservation measures and decision-making.

Aerial Surveys

NOAA Fisheries scientists and colleagues from state and non-profit organizations conducted aerial surveys in the Northeast region through December 2019. Flights will resume on February 1. The focus is on right whale sightings in and near Nantucket Shoals, where many whales have been aggregating recently. We will also survey other areas where right whales were seen in the past.

Two recent aerial surveys used NOAA Twin Otter aircraft. The Northeast center’s aerial whale survey team conducts one based at Air Station Cape Cod. Center staff and colleagues from other marine research organizations conducted a survey specifically for AMAPPS last fall, based at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

AMAPPS surveys moved to southeast U.S. waters off Florida and Georgia in early December and will continue there through the end of January 2020.

Read the full release here

Growing body of evidence makes case for offshore mussel farming

January 16, 2020 — Calling it “an opportunity too good to ignore,” NOAA scientists are giving a thumbs-up to offshore mussel farming in the Northeast United States based on new research and a trove of data. The news signals a step forward on how to chip away at the $15 billion US seafood trade deficit.

Serial entrepreneur Phil Cruver claimed “first mover” status in the space in 2012 when he founded the 100-acre Catalina Sea Ranch off Long Beach, California. Despite waves of publicity since, regulatory and funding concerns have given entrepreneurs the jitters such that only research trial farms have followed.

But this new strong scientific basis for offshore mussel farming could be the first step in changing all that.

The researchers at the Milford Laboratory, part of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, have authored a series of papers—including one yet-to-be-published—that give prospective aquaculture entrepreneurs “fundamental knowledge” for farm planning, as well as a broad overview of environmental, economic, and social issues.

Read the full story at Aquaculture North America

Scientists Work to Save World’s Smallest Sea Turtle

January 9, 2020 — The combination of the curving shape of Cape Cod, the region’s strong winds and currents, and the rapid cooling of the ocean in October and November make for a deadly threat to the rarest and smallest sea turtle on Earth.

That’s the problem being addressed by a series of research projects conducted by an oceanographer at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass., and a doctoral student at the University of Rhode Island. The scientists used satellite-tracked oceanographic instruments called drifters to determine where Kemp’s ridley turtles that are late to return south in the fall are most likely to float ashore near death along the Cape Cod shoreline.

The critically endangered turtles lay their eggs on beaches on the Gulf Coast of Mexico in a mass nesting event called an arribada. After spending their first few years far offshore in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda, many of the young turtles visit the waters of the Gulf of Maine to feed on crabs and other small marine creatures that live on the seafloor.

“There are little warm water bridges from the Gulf Stream that come up here, and we think some of the turtles are riding those into the area,” URI student Felicia Page said. “The problem comes when those little bridges close off and the water in Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine stay warm, which keeps the turtles here longer than they should instead of heading south in September.”

Read the full story at EcoRI

Atlantic Halibut Subject of NOAA Research

December 9, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries is working with fishermen across Cape Cod to see if the Atlantic halibut is showing signs of recovery in the Gulf of Maine as well as the New England region.

A three-part study is currently underway to see if the halibut population is rebuilding after the size of the fish shrunk over centuries.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is working with local fishermen to understand the life history, stock structure, and movement patterns of the Atlantic halibut.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Learning More About Atlantic Halibut: Fishermen and Scientists Go “Under the Hood”

December 4, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A three-part study is underway to better understand life history, stock structure, and distribution of Atlantic halibut along the U.S. east coast. The study is being done by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NFSC) and The Cape Cod Fishermen’s Alliance with support from a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant developed by The Nature Conservancy.

Atlantic halibut was a reliable commercial fishery for nearly three centuries, but today is only commercially viable off the Canadian east coast. Commercial stocks in Canada appear to be increasing in recent years. The Canadian stock is fished on the southern Grand Banks and Scotian Shelf, extending to the northern edge of Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. U.S. fishermen targeting other species are seeing more Atlantic halibut and wonder if stocks may be returning to U.S. waters as well.

Fishermen in Cape Cod and researchers at the NFSC want to know basic life history, stock structure, and where Atlantic halibut go during the year and during their lifetimes. The NFSC is helping with the life history component, especially reproductive biology.

That part of the study is focused on three questions: When and where do halibut spawn? Is there one overall population in the region, or are there several populations?  And when do they mature?

“We would catch maybe 6 to 12 halibut a year in our scientific surveys during the last decade,” said Rich McBride, head of the NFSC’s Population Biology Branch. “That was not nearly enough for a study about the animal’s life history. We needed more samples than what we were catching.”

Two years ago the New England Fishery Management Council gave special permission for study participants to take up to six halibut per trip, exceeding the current trip limit of one.

The study needed 450 to 500 more samples from about 250 fish. Alliance members hit that target this year. They have provided about half the samples available for the study.

The Alliance, based in Chatham, Massachusetts worked with researchers to provide training to fishermen on collecting biological data. Fishermen learned how to gather samples from the heart, spleen, gonad (reproductive organ), earbones (for aging), and a fin clip. They recorded fishing location, the time, and the length and weight of the fish.

“When fishermen caught halibut in the course of a fishing trip, they would collect the samples,” explained George Maynard, research and policy coordinator for the Alliance. “Back on shore, I would collect the samples from the fishermen and bring them back to the lab for preservation and archiving. The tissue samples were all preserved and shipped to our collaborators in Canada for genetic analysis.”

Maynard prepared gonad samples and brought them to McBride at the NEFC for processing. McBride and his colleagues want to get an idea of each halibut’s maturity status.

“To get at those answers, we’re looking at developing eggs ‘under the hood,’ at the cellular level,” said McBride. “Having some sense of their current life history would be helpful as we move forward.”

“The next steps will be to combine these data with the length/weight and time of capture data from the fishermen, and aging data from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries,” said Maynard. “That will allow us to build a clearer picture of the size and age at which halibut reach maturity, and what time of year they spawn.”

The other two parts of the three-part study include a stock structure analysis using genetic samples led by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology is leading a satellite-tagging effort to understand halibut habitat use and distribution.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

F/V Darana R Hosts NOAA Fisheries Scientists During Fall Survey

December 3, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

A dozen scientists and staff members from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center visited the 90-foot F/V Darana R in Point Judith, Rhode Island on October 3. The stop was a port call in the midst of the fall NorthEast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) survey off the coast of Rhode Island.

Science Center staff learned about the vessel, its equipment, and the survey.  After some discussions in port, most stayed aboard as the vessel headed out to sea to sort fish from two tows made during an afternoon demonstration.

This was a great opportunity for staff from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to get out to sea for a few hours to see how they conduct the NEAMAP survey, and have a chance for Virginia Institute for Marine Science (VIMS) and Northeast Fisheries Science Center researchers to talk with each other and with the captain and crew about their operation. They are proud of it, and we appreciate their willingness to have us aboard,” said Anna Mercer, chief of the science center’s Cooperative Research Branch.

Each fall since 2006 the NEAMAP inshore trawl survey team has worked southward from Rhode Island toward Cape Hatteras, sampling juvenile and adult fish from dawn until dusk during four legs.

Read the full release here

Will Old Bones Tell Tales?

November 19, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Northeast Fisheries Science Center researchers are engaged in a multi-year effort to create the information needed to maintain viable fisheries in a warming world ocean. Projects are underway to improve stock assessments, modeling, and surveys, and to understand the vulnerabilities of coastal communities to climate change.

One of these projects looks at today’s cod in a warming Gulf of Maine through the lens of a similar time more than 300 years ago, when there was rapid ocean warming after the “little ice age” of the 1500s. Researchers are using fish parts gathered from a recent archaeological excavation of the Smuttynose Island fish station.

The fish parts date from 1640 to 1708, when the Smuttynose fish station was most active. The best-represented years are about 1640 to 1660. This was a time of intense harvest in the developing fishery during rapid ocean warming that is similar to what is happening in the Gulf of Maine today.

Examining these old fish parts may reveal how cod responded to intense fishing and warming in the 17th century. It will help us better project outcomes for Atlantic cod in the future.

Read the full release here

New Officer Takes the Helm of the Research Vessel Gloria Michelle

November 13, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Benjamin VanDine’s route to a career in the NOAA Corps ran through his love of diving, and doing research on corals in Bonaire during a college semester abroad. Today he is the officer-in-charge of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s research vessel Gloria Michelle.

No Salt Water in His Veins

Working on the ocean was not on the radar early in Ben VanDine’s life. Born and raised in the small town of Eagle in southeastern Wisconsin, freshwater was his playground. He enjoyed the lakes and river systems of Wisconsin and “up North” in Canada. The only family connection to the ocean was his grandfather, who served in the U.S. Navy shortly after the Korean War.

Ben was homeschooled through high school. In 2012, he graduated from Cedarville University in Ohio with a bachelor of science in biology.

While in college VanDine tutored students in biology and organic chemistry, and served as a volunteer firefighter for the local fire department.

Then, he spent a semester on the Dutch island of Bonaire in the Caribbean. He is an American Academy of Underwater Sciences diver and a professional rescue diver. He used these skills to conduct independent ecological research and gather coral cover data for Bonaire National Marine Park. He was hooked.

Read the full release here

DAVE MONTI: NOAA called out for doing its job

November 11, 2019 — The fishing industry in Massachusetts and Rhode Island collaborates with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This is the way it should be.

It was no surprise to me when a story titled ‘Emails show bond between NOAA, fishermen against project’ appeared in Energy & Environmental (E & E) News on Oct. 25.

In Rhode Island and Massachusetts, big fishing (those representing major fishing companies or fishing associations), were reportedly discussing a review of the Vineyard Wind ocean wind farm environmental study with NOAA staff, some from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

By design, NOAA and fishermen are supposed to work together. Historically NOAA has conducted the longest running fish stock survey up and down the east coast. The survey serves as a tool, along with formal stock assessments, establishment of allowable catch limits, rebuilding time lines and the development of fishery management plans for each species. These are the successful measures outlined in our national fishing law, the Magnuson Stevens Act (and its eight regional councils), that have successful rebuilt 45 of our fish stocks since 2009.

It is the job of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to work closely with fishermen, so yes, when it comes to ocean wind farm development in our oceans that may impact fishing, it is NMFS’s job to talk to fishermen, review research and research approaches and express their perspective on how it will impact fish, fishing and habitat.

However, the ocean does not belong to fishermen, big fishing companies or ocean wind farm developers. No one special interest group should have the right to block the development of a natural resource (whether it be ocean wind farms or fishing) because the oceans are a natural resource for the benefit of all the people of the United States of America. The ocean belongs to all of us.

Read the full story at The Sun Chronicle

Fishermen Use Electronic Reporting in Real Time to Help Understand Ocean Ecosystem

October 18, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — It’s been almost 15 years since New England groundfish fishermen began monitoring data from their hauls, bottom temperatures from gauges connected to their gear, numbers and types of discards, and other fishing observations to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center biologists.

The Study Fleet, a pilot project of the Cooperative Research Program at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), began by assembling commercial New England groundfish vessels willing to provide high resolution or haul-by-haul self-reported data on catch, effort and environmental conditions while conducting normal fishing operations.

“If we are going to manage the ocean, we need to understand it, and participating in programs like this helps me as a fisherman to understand what is going on,” David Goethel, captain of the F/V Ellen Diane said in an interview in 2008. “It also helps the scientists learn how fishermen do things, what knowledge and skills they have. Everybody learns.”

Seven years ago, New Bedford fisherman Tony Borges joined the group and began to get useful real-time information from monitoring.

The software both fishermen use is called Fisheries Logbook Data Recording Software (FLDRS or “Flounders”). Study Fleet vessels may also collect biological data from their catch when additional data needs are identified by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center scientists.

“We verify what is being reported by the captain and crew both at sea and through statistical data quality checks. Vessel owners are financially compensated for their participation in the Study Fleet,” said Bill Duffy, Port Agent, Greater Atlantic Region.

Borges, who fishes groundfish, fluke and squid, get useful real-time information from monitoring.

“It helps me as a fisherman, since the water temperature at the bottom tells me when I am on fish, and if I move away a couple of degrees, it makes a big difference to what I catch,” said Borges.

“When he sells the fish, NOAA Fisheries can check his data against the dealer report. We can get information on where the fish was caught, the water temperature data for that tow, and the reported catch for that tow,” said Duffy.

“This provides valuable information to fisheries scientists and managers who evaluate the health of the stocks. They can incorporate data like these into their research and assessments. For fishermen, participating in Study Fleet allows them to contribute quantitative information to scientific research and improve understanding of the northeast’s complex ocean ecosystem.”

Duffy and the fleet are working to develop an app called Graphic Offshore Fishing Information System Homepage (GOFISH) that will allow commercial fishing captains and vessel owners to map, graph, and analyze the data they have entered through FLDRS. The GOFISH app produces temperature-depth plots, bycatch analysis graphics, and other visualizations that can assist in fishing operations. The data remain the property of the vessel owner, but can also be used in research to improve our understanding of marine ecosystems.

Electronic monitoring is not an easy sell to fishermen who have learned through years of experiencing the ocean, the weather, and the vagaries of stock movements. They trust their instincts.

“Nobody likes it, let’s be honest, nobody likes to be monitored, nobody likes observers,” says Borges. Instead, Borges suggests, “Let us do our stuff out there and monitor us at the dock, make it so you can’t unload without a monitor.”

But the value of the information is worth any inconvenience, and Borges knows how important it is to manage the resource sustainably.

“Imagine if we had this data 40 years ago,” Borges said.

In 2008, when the system had been running for only a few years, Bill Lee expressed the same sentiment about the importance of data from the fishermen. Lee was captain and owner of the F/V Ocean Reporter from Rockport, Mass., and been involved in NOAA’s Cooperative Research Program and the Study Fleet project from the beginning.

“It is very important to have fishermen involved in the research about their industry,” he said. “The only way we are going to get things to improve is to participate in the process. I get frustrated at times that things haven’t moved further forward, but at least they are moving in the right direction.

“It is all about cooperation. Scientists need and want data about the ocean, and fishermen can help provide that,” Lee said.

In January 2008, the Study Fleet project expanded into two data-poor fisheries, hagfish and tilefish. Mike Palmer, a NEFSC fisheries biologist, said the study fleets have the highest chance of improving stock assessments in data-poor fisheries where there is limited observer coverage and species are not sampled well by NEFSC surveys.

The Cooperative Research Program, of which the Study Fleet project is a part, was established in 1999 by NOAA Fisheries to involve the fishing industry directly in planning and conducting studies that provide useful information for managing fisheries.

When the electronic logbook system was field-tested nearly twenty years ago (between November 2002 and August 2005) about 1,100 trips were reported by 33 vessels using the system in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic Bight.

Data were more accurate and precise than that provided by fishing vessel trip reports in terms of identifying the area of fishing and the duration of effort, and more timely because of the electronic collection and at-sea transmission.

“Sometimes fishermen are surprised by the results from a cooperative research project, but they know they are accurate because they were there,” Goethel said. “The results speak for themselves. We need more efforts like this. There is a lot to be gained for everyone.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It was reprinted with permission.