Saving Seafood

Ambrose Jearld, Jr.: Researcher, Educator, Mentor and Advocate for Diversity and Inclusion

August 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Ambrose Jearld, Jr. has spent his life around animals and water—both freshwater and seawater. He was born in 1944 into a Navy family in Annapolis, Maryland, and grew up on the family farm in Orrum, North Carolina. He attended elementary school there, but returned to Annapolis in sixth grade and graduated from Wiley H. Bates High School in 1961. He credits his high school biology teacher and the Boy Scouts for encouraging his interests in science.

He graduated from Maryland State College, now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry in 1965. He was just one course away from a double major when he graduated. “My family wanted me to go into teaching, but I wanted to do research and instead went straight into science,” he recalled recently. With a brother and sister heading to college soon, he took a few years off after college to work at “a good-paying job” as a chemist at Publicker Industries Inc. in Philadelphia.

A Fateful Meeting

Meeting Bradford Brown changed the course of Jearld’s career. Brown was a fisheries scientist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Woods Hole Laboratory from 1962 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1984. In He had taken a position as assistant leader with the newly established Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program at Oklahoma State University-Stillwater to complete his Ph.D . The Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program in the United States Geological Survey is a joint effort between federal and state governments. It is also a host university offering graduate students research opportunities in fisheries and wildlife sciences.

Brown was recruiting black graduate students to the program. He met two of Jearld’s former professors, who were also completing their Ph.D.s at OSU. They recommended he speak with Jearld. Although some people were skeptical about Jearld heading to Oklahoma given the civil rights climate in the country, Jearld accepted the full ride offer. That meant a research assistantship award that covered all expenses.

Less than a week after he arrived in Stillwater Jearld was headed to his first scientific meeting as a graduate student with Brown and three other white men whom he did not know. The 1967 meeting was for the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society in New Orleans. The meeting was part of the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners. They had to deal with the intense heat and driving hours in a packed station wagon with no air conditioning. More importantly, they had not discussed safety or how to deal with segregated facilities en route to the meeting. The trip was memorable for many reasons.

Read the full release here

More endangered right whales using New England wind energy areas

August 4, 2021 — North Atlantic right whales, one of the most endangered species in the world, are spending more time in southern New England waters where immense offshore wind energy installations are to be built.

A new analysis, published in the July 29 edition of the journal Endangered Species Research, shows how measures to protect the whale population – estimated at only around 366 animals – will be crucial if the Biden administration’s drive to develop offshore wind is to succeed.

“We found that right whale use of the region increased during the last decade, and since 2017 whales have been sighted there nearly every month, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring,” said Tim Cole, lead of the whale aerial survey team at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study, in a summary of the findings issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Marine mammal researchers at the New England Aquarium and colleagues at NEFSC and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011–2015 and 2017–2019 to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics, and movements in the region.

The New England Aquarium used systematic aerial surveys, and NEFSC and the Center for Coastal Studies directed surveys conducted in areas where right whales were present, to document aggregations of right whales. Aerial photographs of individual right whales to help estimate the whales’ abundance and residency times, and the photos identify individual whales by distinctive patches of raised tissue on their head, lips, and chin, and by scars on their body.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

2021 Atlantic Cod Stock Management Workshops

July 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The New Hampshire Sea Grant, New England Fishery Management Council, and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center will be hosting a workshop series focusing on the management implications of restructuring Atlantic cod stocks from August 12 – September 20.

This five-part series will focus on the management implications of a potential split in Atlantic cod stocks into five distinct biological stocks, instead of the two that are currently managed. These workshops follow up on the previous series that focused on the science behind the decision and draws from the 2020 report by the Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group.

Presentations by technical experts will be followed by an open public discussion ensuring information is available to best inform the cod stock assessment process.

Registration is required to participate.

2021 Coastal Survey Catches Nearly 2,500 Atlantic Sharks

July 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Sandbar sharks were the most common shark caught during the 2021 Large Coastal Shark Bottom Longline Survey. This survey of large and small coastal sharks was conducted from April 12 to May 28 by scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Apex Predators Program.

The survey is conducted in U.S. waters from Florida to the mid-Atlantic area every two to three years to provide relative abundance indices of coastal shark populations. Working from the contracted commercial longline vessel F/V Eagle Eye II, scientists from the center’s Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island and vessel crew caught 2,462 sharks of 11 species. The vessel left Port Royal, South Carolina to begin the survey just south of Fort Pierce, Florida. The survey ended at the North Carolina–Virginia border.

“We had a lot of weather delays this year, but we were still able to complete the majority of stations we cover each survey,” said Cami McCandless, who along with Lisa Natanson were the two scientists on board for the survey. Both are from the center’s Apex Predators Program based at the Narragansett Laboratory. Natanson has been the chief scientist on this survey since its inception in 1996. She retired in 2020 but returned this year to help lead the survey one last time before handing over the reins.

“The survey was designed to sample coastal sharks just prior to their northward migration along the coast,” Natanson said. “The 47-day survey consistently occurs in early to mid-April and ends at the Memorial Day weekend. Since the inception of the survey, there has been an increase in weather days. This has resulted in a decrease in the number of stations although the geographic extent of the survey has remained the same over the years.”

Read the full release here

COVID-19 Observer Coverage Waiver Lifted for Northeast Vessels with Electronic Monitoring

July 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective today, July 13, a vessel enrolled in an electronic monitoring program may be assigned observer or monitor coverage consistent with its respective program’s requirements. This lifts a temporary exemption that has been in place since August 2020.

In June, NOAA Fisheries and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center announced that vessels were no longer eligible for release from observer or monitor coverage if a fully vaccinated observer or a quarantined/shelter in place observer is available. This exemption was lifted for most vessels July 1, and today’s announcement lifts it for EM vessels.

Read the full release here

Eugenia Galtsoff: Russian Immigrant Scientist with Mythological Fortitude

July 12, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Like a phoenix from the ashes, she arose. Eugenia Galtsoff’s life of privilege wasn’t without challenges and hardships. Born upper-middle class in Moscow, Russia, Eugenia’s early years were rich with the advantages afforded affluent Victorian Europeans. That began to wane with the death of her father when she was just 10 years old. By the time she was pursuing higher education, political and social turmoil was erupting throughout Russia. Revolutions, World War I, and the Russian Civil War culminated into a perfect storm. Eugenia and her scientist husband, Paul S. Galtsoff, were forced to flee Russia and immigrate to the United States. Starting a new life in a country very different from their own had its struggles and uncertainty, but Eugenia and Paul persevered. It was with mythological strength and fortitude that they both rose up to make great contributions to science, creating a successful life more than 5,000 miles away from their homeland.

This year marks NOAA Fisheries’ 150th anniversary. We’re taking a look back at some of the notable women scientists who made amazing contributions to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and its research. Eugenia Galtsoff’s work helped further what we know about our region’s marine life. This is her phoenix story.

Read the full release here

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

NEFMC Receives Updates on Offshore Wind, Atlantic Herring, EBFM; Approves 2021-2025 Research Priorities

July 9, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council met June 22-24, 2021 by webinar. In addition to the actions the Council took on scallops, groundfish, and skates, here are other important highlights.

Habitat/Offshore Wind – The Council received offshore wind presentations from three different agencies.

  • The Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) covered how NOAA Fisheries cooperates and coordinates with other agencies on wind issues, develops checklists to help guide analyses of socio-economic impacts on fishing communities, as well as Endangered Species Act biological assessments and other analyses, conducts essential fish habitat (EFH) consultations and EFH mapping, and more;
  • The Northeast Fisheries Science Center focused on offshore wind impacts on federal scientific surveys and the associated implications; and
  • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) provided a broad overview of offshore wind energy projects throughout the Atlantic region.

Read the full release here

How Fishing Communities Are Responding to Climate Change

July 8, 2021 — The following was released by Wellesley College:

What happens when climate change affects the abundance and distribution of fish? Fishers and fishing communities in the Northeast United States have adapted to those changes in three specific ways, according to new research published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Becca Selden, Wellesley College assistant professor of biological sciences, and a team of colleagues examined how fishing communities have responded to documented shifts in the location of fluke and of red and silver hake. The team found that fishers made three distinct changes to their approaches: following the fish to a new location; fishing for a different kind of fish; and bringing their catch to shore at another port of landing.

Selden began this research as a postdoctoral scholar at Rutgers University in New Jersey with Eva Papaioannou, now a scientist at GEOMAR. They combined quantitative data on fish availability from surveys conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a unique geographic information system database from fishing trip records developed for this project. The researchers then interviewed fishers in 10 ports from North Carolina to Maine.

They explored three dominant strategies, and found that fishers throughout the Northeast were more likely to shift their target species. In interviews, the researchers learned that targeting a mix of species is a critical option for adaptation. Doing so can be complicated, however, because in many cases regulations and markets (or the lack of a market) constrain fishers’ ability to take advantage of a changing mix of species in fishing grounds. For example, in Point Pleasant, N.J., fishers can’t capitalize on an increase in dogfish in the region because of strict conservation measures that have been in place since 1988, when the species was declared over-fished, and the resulting absence of a market for those fish.

Read the full release here

In fight over right whales and lobster fishery, all sides want to know more about the whales’ activities off Maine

June 28, 2021 — The historic migration patterns of endangered North Atlantic right whales have been changing over the past decade, possibly due to climate change. Federal regulators, meanwhile, are considering drastic measures to protect the whales against deadly entanglement in fishing gear and rope.

So, the question of where and when the whales are swimming in relation to Maine’s lobster fishery is gaining urgency. Now, new efforts are underway to pinpoint their travel habits.

Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created a new website that maps almost two decades of work to detect whales off the east coast, via “passive acoustic” recorders set on buoys, on submerged platforms, and on underwater gliders that can zig and zag around the Gulf of Maine for months at a time.

“We’re seeing that you are getting whales. They are calling,” said Genevieve Davis, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News