Saving Seafood

As windfarm action moves to US west coast, so too does attention of harvester group

January 21, 2020 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) — the group that’s been representing commercial fish harvesters in relation to the development of windfarms on the United States’ Atlantic Coast — now has a presence also on the US Pacific Coast.

RODA, which reports to already represent about 160 commercial harvesters and processors, on Jan. 1 launched a Pacific advisory committee made up of leaders from several west coast fisheries throughout California and Oregon.

“Its purpose is to improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country,” the group says in a press release, continuing: “…As discussions of offshore wind development in the US continue to progress, Pacific fishermen have expressed significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Offshore wind energy watchdogs expanding to West Coast

January 17, 2020 — A fishing industry coalition dealing with offshore wind energy development has launched a West Coast venture, as a first step toward giving Pacific fishermen more voice in how those projects can be compatible with seafood production.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance announced it created a new Pacific Advisory Committee, to address Pacific fishermen’s “significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.”

The new effort aims to “improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country,” the alliance said in a statement Thursday.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

A blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean killed a million seabirds, scientists say

January 16, 2020 — As many as one million seabirds died at sea in less than 12 months in one of the largest mass die-offs in recorded history — and researchers say warm ocean waters are to blame.

The birds, a fish-eating species called the common murre, were severely emaciated and appeared to have died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016, washing up along North America’s west coast, from California to Alaska.

Now, scientists say they know what caused it: a huge section of warm ocean water in the northeast Pacific Ocean dubbed “the Blob.”

A years-long severe marine heat wave first began in 2013, and intensified during the summer of 2015 due to a powerful weather phenomenon called El Nino, which lasted through 2016.

The heat wave created the Blob — a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) stretch of ocean that was warmed by 3 to 6 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 10.8 Fahrenheit). A high-pressure ridge calmed the ocean waters — meaning heat stays in the water, without storms to help cool it down.

Read the full story at CNN

NOAA finds new liquified natural gas pipeline in Oregon will not jeopardize species

January 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries has issued a final biological opinion on construction and operation of the Jordan Cove terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the associated 229-mile long Pacific Connector Liquid Natural Gas pipeline. After conducting a thorough review, NOAA scientists determined that the proposed action does not jeopardize protected species or adversely modify their critical habitat.

“NOAA’s opinion on Jordan Cove will pave the way for more American jobs and vastly expanded exports of domestically sourced liquified natural gas to prized Asian markets,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The speed of this decision was only made possible by recent reforms to the infrastructure permitting process, while still allowing the relevant authorities ample time to determine that no species or critical habitat would be jeopardized.”

The pipeline would connect the terminal to other major pipelines in the West, linking it to gas supplies across the United States and Canada. The terminal in Coos Bay would be capable of liquefying up to 1.04 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for export to markets around the world.

This biological opinion considered the effects of construction and operation of the terminal and pipeline on 17 species listed under the Endangered Species Act and their critical habitats. The affected species include whales, sea turtles, salmon and other fish species. NOAA Fisheries determined that impacts on the species and their habitat would occur only in the short-term or on small scales, and would be dispersed broadly across about 250 miles.

The biological opinion fulfills requirements under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, known as FAST-41, and Executive Order 13807, which sets a goal of speeding environmental reviews.

The company, Pembina Pipeline Corporation, committed to important best management practices that would reduce effects on listed species, and proposed mitigation measures that will benefit species in the long-term.

The measures include restoration of at least 72 acres of tidelands and 2.7 acres of freshwater floodplain that provide important habitat for protected salmon and other species. The company would also establish at least 2.7 acres of eelgrass habitat. Additional measures would restore and improve freshwater habitat at 60 sites along the pipeline route, including placement of large wood in streams, riparian vegetation planting and fencing, fish passage improvement, and road improvements that will reduce delivery of fine sediment to streams.

New Year Brings New Protections For West Coast Seafloor Habitat

January 2, 2020 — Along with the new year, the West Coast is getting new protections for corals and sponges that live on the seafloor.

Regulations starting Jan. 1 restrict bottom trawl fishing on about 90% of the seafloor off Oregon, Washington and California.

Bottom trawlers drag weighted nets along the seafloor to catch dozens of groundfish species, including lingcod, Dover and petrale sole and all kinds of rockfish. In the process, they can damage corals and sponges that live on the ground.

Ashley Blaco-Draeger with the environmental group Oceana said corals and sponges don’t recover easily from the damage because they grow very slowly.

“They only grow about a millimeter a year,” she said. “So once these structures are destroyed it can take hundreds or thousands of years for them to recover — if ever.”

Read the full story at OPB

Oregon ground fishing fleet could get loan-interest relief

December 30, 2019 — Bipartisan language was added to the 2020 spending bill Dec. 16 that will forgive more than $10 million in accrued loan interest that was forced on the Pacific Coast groundfishing fleet.

The language included in the 2020 spending bill was presented by Oregon’s Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader and Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.

The language effectively cancels a massive loan interest burden owed by the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery to the federal government — interest that, through no fault of the industry, was added to their vessel buyback loan debt due to “bureaucratic incompetence,” said DeFazio.

“For years, Oregon’s groundfish vessels have been subject to a heavy financial loan burden, caused solely by government ineptitude,” DeFazio said. “Groundfish fisheries are a vital part of Oregon’s coastal economy that need support, not red tape, from Washington. I’m proud to have helped right this ridiculous wrong and ease the financial burden on our region’s fishermen. I will be vigilant to ensure the National Marine Fisheries Service follows through with Congress’s decision and does not short-change Oregonians.”

Merkley, a a member of the Senate committee that negotiated the spending bills, said, “Today’s news is a huge victory for our coastal communities in Oregon and up and down the West Coast. It was outrageous that the federal government forced family fishermen to foot the bill because of bureaucratic incompetence. This win will lift a huge burden off our trawlers’ backs, helping them keep their small businesses afloat and keep our coastal economies humming.”

Read the full story at The Bulletin

West Coast fishery rebounds in rare conservation ‘home run’

December 26, 2019 — A rare environmental success story is unfolding in waters off the U.S. West Coast.

After years of fear and uncertainty, bottom trawler fishermen ” those who use nets to catch rockfish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fish ” are making a comeback here, reinventing themselves as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean because of the species’ depletion.

The ban devastated fishermen, but on Jan. 1, regulators will reopen an area roughly three times the size of Rhode Island off Oregon and California to groundfish bottom trawling ” all with the approval of environmental groups that were once the industry’s biggest foes.

The rapid turnaround is made even more unique by the collaboration between the fishermen and environmentalists who spent years refining a long-term fishing plan that will continue to resuscitate the groundfish industry while permanently protecting thousands of square miles of reefs and coral beds that benefit the overfished species.

Now, the fishermen who see their livelihood returning must solve another piece of the puzzle: drumming up consumer demand for fish that haven’t been in grocery stores or on menus for a generation.

‘It’s really a conservation home run,’ said Shems Jud, regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund’s ocean program. ’The recovery is decades ahead of schedule. It’s the biggest environmental story that no one knows about.”

The process also netted a win for conservationists concerned about the future of extreme deepwater habitats where bottom trawlers currently don’t go. A tract of ocean the size of New Mexico with waters up to 2.1 miles (3.4 kilometers) deep will be off-limits to bottom-trawling to protect deep-sea corals and sponges just now being discovered.

‘Not all fishermen are rapers of the environment. When you hear the word ‘trawler,’ very often that’s associated with destruction of the sea and pillaging,” said Kevin Dunn, whose trawler Iron Lady was featured in a Whole Foods television commercial about sustainable fishing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at News Chief

Rep. Huffman, Pacific Coast Members Announce Major Win for Trawlers in Year-End Spending Bill

December 18, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-2), joined by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), and U.S. Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), Greg Walden (R-OR-2), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3), Kurt Schrader (D-OR-5), and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1), today announced a major, bipartisan victory for West Coast trawlers in the 2020 spending bill that passed the House today.

The bipartisan members of Congress last week sent a letter advocating for the change. The provision secured in today’s bill would forgive the interest resulting from the bureaucratic error, finally making West Coast trawlers whole and helping grow and revive coastal economies from Northern California all the way up to the Canadian border. The language proposed would forgive more than $10 million in accrued loan interest that was forced onto the West Coast groundfishing fleet because of mismanagement by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
 
“The recovery of the West Coast groundfish fishery is an environmental success story,” said Rep. Huffman. “We all know how vital this industry is: sustainable fisheries are critical to the economic health of communities up and down California’s North Coast. I have been working to ease the fleet’s unnecessary financial burdens since I was first elected to Congress. Along with Appropriations Committee leaders like Nita Lowey and Rosa DeLauro, and our west coast congressional delegation, it is incredibly rewarding to be able to announce that the 2020 funding package will direct the Commerce Department to finally and fully forgive the unwarranted loan interest on the West Coast groundfish trawl fleet. This is an essential step to ensure a sustainable economic future for this fishery.”
 
“Today’s news is a huge victory for our coastal communities in Oregon and up and down the West Coast,” said Senator Merkley, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which negotiated the spending bills.“It was outrageous that the federal government forced family fishermen to foot the bill because of bureaucratic incompetence. This win will lift a huge burden off our trawlers’ backs, helping them keep their small businesses afloat and keep our coastal economies humming.”
 
“After years of uncertainty for our fishers, I’m glad we were able to secure some much-needed relief for Washington state’s groundfishing fleet. Our fisheries play a vital role in the Pacific Northwest, and this provision is an overdue correction by Congress to lift an unnecessary burden off of our trawlers who do so much to support our culture, economy and communities,” said Senator Murray, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
 
“I’m glad this issue for West Coast fishermen will finally be resolved. Groundfish fishermen shouldn’t be held responsible for interest accrued on a disaster loan before the federal government had a repayment plan in place. Removing the unfair interest charges will go a long way toward helping these fishermen rebuild and flourish,” said Senator Feinstein.
 
“Oregonians working on trawlers along the coast can now enter the new year without this senseless burden on the bottom line of their fishing operations,” said Senator Wyden. “Fishing on the Oregon Coast for a living is a key piece of our state’s economy that never should have been a victim of this bureaucratic bungling, and I am glad to have teamed up with fishermen and my congressional colleagues to get this problem fixed.”
 
“This is a victory for West Coast groundfish fishermen and fishing jobs in the Pacific Northwest,” said Senator Cantwell. “This legislation is an important step to ensure year-round economic activity and stability for rural fishing communities.”
 
“For years, Oregon’s groundfish vessels have been subject to a heavy financial loan burden, caused solely by government ineptitude. Groundfish fisheries are a vital part of Oregon’s coastal economy that need support, not red tape, from Washington. I’m proud to have helped right this ridiculous wrong and ease the financial burden on our region’s fishermen. I will be vigilant to ensure the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) follows through with Congress’s decision and does not short-change Oregonians,” said Rep. DeFazio.
 
“Commercial fishing is an important part of Oregon’s economy. It’s hard enough work without government failures making business harder. Government inaction has left the fishing industry with a costly and unnecessary burden. This legislation corrects that wrong and I was glad to work with my colleagues to get this long overdue fix into law,” said Rep. Walden.
 
“For the groundfish trawlers that provide jobs along our coast, today’s news is a relief and a victory. As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I was pleased to help successfully advocate for providing relief to these employers,” said Rep. Herrera Beutler.
 
“Fisheries are an integral part of the Oregon Coast’s economy,” said Rep. Schrader. “When the federal government asked West coast fishermen to make a sacrifice for the future of their fisheries, they did. But when the government failed to implement the buyback program correctly, they turned their back on those same fishermen. Today we are righting those wrongs. Thank you to all of those who have been tireless advocates for West coast fishermen for so many years.” 
 
“In Northwest Oregon, the robust groundfish fishery helps provide year-round economic stability for our coastal communities,” said Rep. Bonamici. “But the industry is still working to recover from the fishery disaster in 2000. I’m proud to have worked with colleagues to address debt accrued by the Pacific Coast groundfish trawl industry as a result of delays in NMFS regulations to collect loan payments for the buyback programs. This was the not the fault of the industry, and we are pleased to stand with them in securing these long-overdue federal dollars. As Co-Chair of the House Oceans Caucus, I know how important our fisheries are to the blue economy.  I will keep advocating for strong, effective management to help more species like the West Coast groundfish recover.”
 
“The West Coast congressional delegation has stepped up and righted a wrong that will have a huge economic benefit for Oregon trawl fishing businesses,” said Heather Mann, Director of the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative. “The west coast trawl rationalization program, which has been an environmental success, will now start realizing some real economic benefits as well, thanks to our champions in Congress.”
 
After the Secretary of Commerce declared the West Coast groundfish fishery an economic disaster in 2000, the NMFS provided a $36 million buyout loan to retire one-third of the fishing fleet to reduce overcapacity. 
 
After providing the loan, however, the NMFS inexplicably failed for nearly two years to implement a repayment mechanism and refused to allow the owners of the remaining vessels to start paying off the loan. 
 
As a result, $4 million in interest accrued before repayment was even permitted to start. That additional interest has grown over time; the industry today owes at least $10 million more than it would have if repayment had started immediately as intended. Over the years, this additional interest has created an albatross around the neck of an industry that is already facing significant challenges.
 
The bill is expected to be passed by both the House and Senate this week, and to be signed into law prior to December 20 to avert a government shutdown.

100 years of tiny seashells reveal alarming trend threatening West Coast seafood

December 17, 2019 — Roughly 100 years worth of tiny shells resting on the Southern California seafloor have revealed an alarming trend that could spell trouble for the West Coast seafood industry, a new study says.

The research, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that the Pacific Ocean along California is acidifying twice as fast as the global average, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a news release on the findings.

Acidification is a serious threat for the seafood industry, researchers said, explaining that “California coastal waters contain some of our nation’s more economically valuable fisheries, including salmon, crabs and shellfish. Yet, these fisheries are also some of the most vulnerable to the potential harmful effects of ocean acidification on marine life.”

Researchers said the findings looked at “the progression of ocean acidification in the California Current Ecosystem through the twentieth century.” That ecosystem extends from southern British Columbia in Canada to Baja California in Mexico, encompassing the Washington and Oregon coasts, according to NOAA.

Read the full story at The Sacramento Bee

Oregon closes salmon fishery after Chinook die-off

December 16, 2019 — The Oregon Department of Wildlife has initiated a total closure of salmon fishing on the state’s North Coast due to a die-off of fall Chinook salmon caused by a parasite, according to The Statesman Journal.

Some two hundred Chinook have been wiped out in the Wilson River by the parasite cryptoba, which was also found in dead salmon in the Nestucca, Trask, and Kilchis river basins. The majority of the salmon were killed before they had the opportunity to spawn. Though the parasite is deadly to fish, it poses no risk to humans.

Read the full story at Seafood Source