Saving Seafood

Restrictive Louisiana Menhaden Legislation Would Have Major Costs; New Report Details Fishery’s Economic Value

May 2, 2022 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

A bill introduced in the Louisiana State Legislature earlier this month would enact harsh restrictions on menhaden fishing within the three miles from shore comprising the state’s waters. Now a new economic report, funded by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS), shows the economic importance of the Gulf menhaden fishery to Louisiana and Mississippi, illustrating how devastating such legislation could be to coastal communities.

Produced by Thomas J. Murray and Associates and led by a respected former Virginia Institute of Marine Science economist, the report shows that over two-thirds (67.7 percent) of the overall Gulf menhaden catch coastwide occurs within three miles of shore, generating $285 million in economic output. Menhaden fishing in these state waters supports 1,400 jobs, according to the report. Overall, the Gulf menhaden fishery generates $419 million in economic output and supports 2,059 jobs.

Louisiana HB1033 would cap landings within three miles of the Louisiana coastline at 260,000 metric tons (MT), which proponents of the bill acknowledge is likely too low. Additionally, the bill would impose progressively harsher catch limits closer to shore, capping landings at 104,000 MT or 5,250 sets between one and two miles from shore, and 52,000 MT or 2,650 sets within one mile of shore. According to the Murray and Associates report, the fishery made over 25,000 sets within one mile of shore between 2015-2019, and another 29,000 sets between one and three miles from shore.

Despite attempts at further regulation, the Gulf menhaden fishery is already being sustainably managed. The most recent stock assessment found that the species is not overfished nor is overfishing occurring. Since 2019, the Gulf menhaden fishery has been certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

“This report demonstrates that these proposals would likely cause real economic harm to not just the menhaden fishery, but to the coastal communities that rely on it,” said Ben Landry, Director of Public Affairs at Ocean Harvesters, which operates a fleet of menhaden fishing vessels. “Severely restricting our fishermen in state waters is both damaging and unnecessary.”

The report looked at the direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the fishery, which is one of the largest in the region. To get a complete picture of the fishery’s economic footprint in Louisiana and Mississippi, the report considered the value of menhaden landings themselves, income generated from fishing, employment activity, and business and tax revenues.

Using landings and employment data provided by the fishery, as well as a statistical model to estimate economic impact, the report found $260 million in direct economic output. It found an additional $45 million in indirect economic output from interactions with other economic sectors that rely on the menhaden fishery and marketing related industries. It found $115 million in induced “third wave” output from increased household expenditures on goods and services throughout the region thanks to the fishery. And it found $25 million in state and local business taxes generated by the fishery.

The report further broke down impacts based on where menhaden were caught relative to shore. The single largest portion of the fishery’s economic impact occurred within one to three miles of shore, with $147 million in output coming from those areas, supporting 719 jobs.

SCEMFIS is partially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation as part of its Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers program.

Read the full release at Accesswire

 

Working with West Coast Tribes to Protect Endangered Species

April 5, 2022 — In late 2019, the National Science Foundation proposed to fund a high-energy seismic research survey in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. It would take place off the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island in the summer of 2021. These surveys inform earthquake and tsunami hazards in the highly populated Pacific Northwest. The surveys deploy airguns, which create sound waves that transmit through the water. Any marine life in the area could be affected by the sound, including salmon and Southern resident killer whales, which are culturally important to many Pacific Northwest Tribes.

Through an academic study, the National Science Foundation  proposed a marine geophysical survey to collect geological data from Cascadia Subduction Zone. To collect the survey data, the National Science Foundation Research Vessel Marcus G. Langserh would tow airguns that send out sound waves into the water.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

Potential for fisheries co-management shaped by interplay between formal, informal institutions

September 25, 2020 — The following was released by the National Science Foundation:

Integrating local norms and fishers’ knowledge into regulations helps increase trust in management institutions, and can make it easier for co-management to work.

Those were the findings of U.S. National Science Foundation-funded research by University of Maine researchers Kara Pellowe and Heather Leslie. The scientists looked at the interplay between formal and informal institutions and implications for the co-management potential of a small-scale Mexican fishery.

The journal Marine Policy published their results.

Pellowe and Leslie contend that conflicts between formal institutions, such as government agencies, and informal institutions, such as unwritten agreements among families and friends, can represent a significant barrier to effective fisheries management.

They examined the potential for co-management, where power and decision-making are shared by fisheries managers and fishers, in a fishery that is currently managed through top-down control. They concluded that integrating local norms and knowledge into formal regulations, along with broadened community participation, are necessary precursors to co-management. Doing so would result in more successful fisheries management.

Pellowe regularly traveled to Baja California Sur, Mexico, to work closely with fishers, managers and stakeholders in the Mexican chocolate clam (Megapitaria squalida) fishery in Loreto Bay National Park, on the Baja peninsula.

Like the Maine lobster, the Mexican chocolate clam is a culturally and economically important species, providing food, income and cultural value to many communities in Baja.

Read the full release here

University of New England Shares NSF Grant on Lobsters and Climate Change

April 7, 2020 — A study on how warming ocean water impacts the early life stages of lobster will bring together two undergraduate colleges, a premier research institution, and a state agency.

The University of New England applied for the $860,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and intends to share it with Hood College in Maryland, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at Seafood News

National Science Foundation awards two prestigious research internships to SCeMFiS graduate students

August 22, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) is proud to announce that two of our graduate students, Laura Solinger and Kathleen Hemeon, have been awarded non-academic research internships with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The internships, valued at about $45,000 each, will support each student for a 6-month position at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. There they will be working on surfclam and ocean quahog research, two of the most valuable shellfish fisheries in the U.S.

“The NEFSC is thrilled to host Laura and Kathleen and support their burgeoning careers while conducting good science,” said Dr. Mike Simpkins, Division Chief at NEFSC. “This is a win-win for NEFSC, as a scientific agency and a member of SCeMFiS, these internships are the best of both worlds for us.”

The internships are part of NSF’s mission to promote a globally competitive and diverse research workforce, and to advance American scientific and innovation skills. SCeMFiS, which, as an industry/university cooperative research center (I/UCRC), is partially funded through an NSF grant, is also part of that mission.

“Receiving two NSF internships in 2019 demonstrates the quality of graduate student participants in SCeMFiS research,” says Dr. Eric Powell, Director of SCeMFiS. “We are particularly excited in expanding our collaboration with scientists at the NEFSC, while providing important career training for our most promising graduate students.”

SCeMFiS works with its industry partners to fund groundbreaking research around pressing scientific issues in finfish and shellfish fisheries, including a recent study examining how surfclams have adapted to climate change. We are pleased that two of our graduate students will now be able to conduct similar research in their internships with NSF.

“Providing our students with the opportunity to work across the spectrum from science theory to practical application in management is critical as we strive to responsibly and sustainably manage critical fishery resources,” said Dr. Roger Mann, SCeMFiS Site Director at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “These awards are at the leading edge of that spectrum.”

“The research conducted by SCeMFiS graduate students provides essential knowledge for many critical fisheries,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association and Chairman of the SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board. “The industry is proud to support their work, as well as the work of our scientific partners at the NEFSC.”

About SCeMFiS

SCeMFiS utilizes academic and fisheries resources to address urgent scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries. SCeMFiS develops methods, analytical and survey tools, datasets, and analytical approaches to improve sustainability of fisheries and reduce uncertainty in biomass estimates. SCeMFiS university partners, University of Southern Mississippi (lead institution), and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, are the academic sites. Collaborating scientists who provide specific expertise in finfish, shellfish, and marine mammal research, come from a wide range of academic institutions including Old Dominion University, Rutgers University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, University of Maryland, and University of Rhode Island.

The need for the diverse services that SCeMFiS can provide to industry continues to grow, which has prompted a steady increase in the number of fishing industry partners. These services include immediate access to science expertise for stock assessment issues, rapid response to research priorities, and representation on stock assessment working groups. Targeted research leads to improvements in data collection, survey design, analytical tools, assessment models, and other needs to reduce uncertainty in stock status and improve reference point goals.

SCeMFiS Members Attend Seafood Expo North America Following Second National Science Foundation Grant

March 15, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) brings together industry and academia to conduct groundbreaking fisheries research, and is the only research center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) dedicated exclusively to fisheries science. As a result of its research track record, NSF awarded SCeMFiS a “Phase 2” second 5-year grant to continue its work. This funding shows that SCeMFiS met the high expectations of NSF for Phase 2 approval, a feat that not every Phase 1 center accomplishes.

Industry members of SCeMFiS will attend this year’s Seafood Expo North America and are available to be interviewed.

Factors that contributed to NSF’s determination that SCeMFiS merited a Phase 2 award included:

  • Successfully undergoing a vigorous 5-year NSF review that included external reviewers;
  • Ongoing solid support from contributing industry member companies and organizations;
  • An extremely high retention rate of contributing members;
  • The exemplary quality of research conducted by SCeMFiS principal investigators.

With its newly approved grant, SCeMFiS plans to use the next 5 years to focus on ways to reduce scientific uncertainty in fisheries science; the effects of climate change on fish stocks and fishing communities; resolving issues between fishing and offshore energy interests; and developing sound ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Since its founding in 2013, SCeMFiS has been at the forefront of finfish and shellfish research. Working with members of the fishing industry, SCeMFiS scientists have conducted innovative studies, including producing the first age-frequency distributions for ocean quahog, and being one of the only institutions to study species like chub mackerel and longfin squid.

“The work of our academic partners at SCeMFiS has been vital in improving our understanding of the species we harvest,” said Jeff Reichle, CEO of Lund’s Fisheries, which was one of the original members of the SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board. “The more we know about these species, the better we’re able to harvest them sustainably.”

The SCeMFiS industry members attending the Seafood Expo are committed to continuing this scientific partnership. Industry members on the SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board review, approve, and fund all SCeMFiS projects, which are selected to fill gaps in data and meet the industry’s unfilled scientific needs.

“In the last five years, we’ve been able to study and improve the understanding of some of the most pressing scientific issues facing the fishing industry,” said Center Director Dr. Eric Powell, of the University of Southern Mississippi, one of the academic members of SCeMFiS. “We are looking forward to continue our collaborative partnerships and tackle the scientific questions affecting fishermen the most.”

SCeMFiS members will be at the following locations at Seafood Expo North America:

Lund’s Fisheries: Booth 951

Sea Watch International: Booth 423

The Town Dock: Booth 2133

Seafreeze Ltd.: Booth 2407

Bumble Bee

VIMS: Antarctic krill declines as South Atlantic Ocean warms

February 4, 2019 — When biological oceanographer Deborah Steinberg bundles up and steps onto the deck of the Laurence M. Gould research vessel, this is what she sees: ice, ice and more ice.

“I see icebergs, I see sea ice, I see crabeater seals floating by on ice floes, the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula,” Steinberg said in a shipboard phone interview Friday. “It’s gorgeous.”

But it’s what she can’t see, what lies beneath the icy waters of the South Atlantic Ocean off northwestern Antarctica, that concerns Steinberg and an international team of marine researchers: krill.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

National Science Foundation grant to continue work on key fishery management issues

January 24, 2019 — A cooperative research center that brings together seafood industry leaders and academic experts has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to continue its work on a number of issues that impact sustainable fisheries.

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) will use the federal money to study four issues, including how climate change affects fisheries and how to settle differences between offshore energy producers and the fishing community.

Other research the center will perform as part of the grant will focus on management practices that keep catch limits below levels that reduce jobs and inhibit economic growth. According to a press release from the center, the key focus will be to reduce uncertainty for the commercial industry.

According to the NSF, the grant is worth USD 100,000 (EUR 88,021). Work is expected to start on 1 March and last for five years.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Continues Work with New National Science Foundation Grant

January 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

Following the completion of its initial 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) has been awarded a new Phase 2 grant by the NSF to continue its work. SCeMFiS will use the new grant to further its track record of quality, collaborative research with its fishing industry and academic partners.

The grant is part of NSF’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program, which was developed to initiate long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government. SCeMFiS is the only Phase 2 IUCRC program dedicated exclusively to fisheries and marine science research.

“Our new Phase 2 grant will allow SCeMFiS researchers to continue our collaborative work with the fishing industry,” said Center Director Dr. Eric Powell, of the University of Southern Mississippi, one of the academic members of SCeMFiS. “The Phase 2 grant will enable SCeMFiS to continue to fund the groundbreaking research necessary to maintain healthy fish stocks and healthy fisheries at a time when reliance on the best available science is increasingly critical.”

As it moves into Phase 2, SCeMFiS will focus on reducing scientific uncertainty; the effects of climate change on fish stocks and fishing communities; resolving issues between fishing and offshore energy interests; and developing sound ecosystem-based fisheries management.

“Our priorities for Phase 2 reflect the biggest challenges in the future of the fishing industry,” said Center Site Director Dr. Roger Mann, of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, another SCeMFiS academic institution. “To meet these challenges, the industry and fisheries managers will need the kind of innovative research that SCeMFiS has regularly produced over the last 5 years.”

In its first 5 years, SCeMFiS has done groundbreaking research on finfish and shellfish. Among other projects, the Center produced the first age-frequency distributions for ocean quahog, one of the longest-lived species in the ocean. SCeMFiS scientists conducted the first benthic survey on important ocean habitat east of Nantucket, and mapped the shifting range of surfclams, documenting how climate change is beginning to affect the species.

SCeMFiS has also designed a pelagic survey for Atlantic menhaden and provided recommendations to improve port sampling for the species, carried out the only scientific work to date on Atlantic chub mackerel, and carried out an economic analysis for longfin squid.

All of these projects were reviewed, approved, and funded by the industry members on our Industry Advisory Board, who rely on sound science for the health of their fisheries and businesses.

“Fisheries management is only as good as the science it’s based on,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association and a member of SCeMFiS’ Industry Advisory Board. “That’s why it’s so important for the fishing industry to maintain its partnership with SCeMFiS. We need to promote the best available science.”