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New Study Develops Method to Age Ocean Quahog, Longest-Lived Species in the Ocean

April 21, 2022 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

Ocean quahogs are some of the longest-lived animals in the world, with the oldest specimens in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic regularly recorded at over 200 years old. But even though they are famous for their longevity, many details about the age structure of ocean quahogs—such as how it affects estimates of recruitment, biomass, and growth—are still not well understood. A newly published study finds that ocean quahogs have recruited continuously for over 200 years on Georges Bank, off the East Coast of the U.S., while also providing new tools to researchers and fisheries managers to better understand the species.

Funded by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS), the study collected a large sample of ocean quahogs—gathering over 600 specimens—and recorded relevant information on them, including age, length, and sex. Researchers then took that information to develop what’s known as an “age-length key,” which charts the probability of an animal of a given age being a specific length.  The key can be used to determine the distribution of ages in a population based on the simple determination of the distribution of lengths.

Currently, ocean quahog models used for management are based on the length of the ocean quahog, rather than its age. Like trees, ocean quahogs can be aged by counting the growth rings that form over time, in this case on its outer shell. But because the process of directly determining an individual ocean quahog’s age is time-consuming and impractical for most larger surveys, length has been used instead as a proxy for age.

The age-length key resulting from this study, given the size of the sample of ocean quahogs collected, is a robust data set that can be consulted to quickly estimate ages of thousands of quahogs using only animal lengths. A reliable age-length key improves the potential to introduce more age-based data into ocean quahog management, making it more consistent with how other species are managed.

“Because ocean quahogs are so long-lived, getting a method to quickly and accurately estimate their age is critically important,” said Kathleen Hemeon, of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and one of the authors of the study, which was published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. “Having this kind of age and length data available can help change the way we manage the species.”

In addition to developing a more comprehensive age-length key, the study had other notable findings that are important in furthering our understanding of ocean quahogs. In the ocean quahogs sampled, the study confirmed that ocean quahogs are a sexually dimorphic species, with female ocean quahogs generally larger than males. It also found that recruitment, or the number of new ocean quahogs that are successfully born into the population every year, has been an annual occurrence since the late 1800s, which is notable given their long lifespans and suspected delayed maturity. In its sampling, the study collected the oldest ocean quahog on record in Massachusetts, at 261 years old.

“This study addresses a conundrum that has bedeviled quahog fishery managers for many years – namely, whether recruitment occurs consistently, or only sporadically in cycles some thirty years apart,” said Tom Alspach, of Sea Watch International, a seafood company based in Maryland. “This evidence of consistent annual recruitment can remove a level of uncertainty from management decision-making, leading to greater confidence in more generous quota setting, with a direct positive impact on industry.”

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.

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A Maine clam could help fishermen as climate change pushes out other species

December 20, 2021 — Some commercially fished species in Maine have seen their numbers decline in recent years due to climate change, but one of the state’s clam fisheries is growing and could help provide another way for fishermen to earn a living.

Northern quahogs, also known as hard clams, are among a handful of fisheries including Maine oysters — most of which are grown at sea farms — seaweed, and baby eels whose harvest volumes and values have increased over the past decade. Meanwhile, others including northern shrimp, softshell clams — and even the state’s still dominant lobster fishery — have shrunk.

For Mark Cota, a Topsham fisherman who grew up in Harpswell, the money in quahogs (pronounced “ko-hogs”) has been good enough that this year he started harvesting them full-time.

“I’ve done it for like four years,” Cota, 33, said Friday, chatting on the phone while raking for the clams on the tidal New Meadows River, which separates the towns of Brunswick and West Bath. “The price is right, and I’m getting good at it.”

Read the full story at The Bangor Daily News

Clam industry growing as climate change warms New England’s waters

December 20, 2021 — Maine’s clam industry is growing as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine.

The Bangor Daily News reports northern quahogs are among the state’s fisheries that have seen increased harvest volumes and values over the past decade.

The average price of what are also known as hard clams has gone from 40 cents per pound in the 1990s to around $1.50 per pound in recent years, the newspaper reports.

Annual harvest totals have also increased since the early 2000s, reaching a record of more than two million pounds in 2019, according to the paper. The annual harvest value is around $2.6 million, up from just over $10,000 as recently as 2004.

Read the full story at WHDH

 

MAINE: As gulf waters warm, could quahogs be the next big shellfish product?

August 20, 2021 — A new research project is trying to determine whether a species of hard-shell clam, quahogs, can thrive in enough abundance off Maine’s coast to make for a new business opportunity.

The Brunswick office of Manomet, an environmental research nonprofit headquartered in Plymouth, Mass., is partnering with the University of Maine and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay to study the presence of quahog DNA in the water column.

Determining the level of DNA is considered useful to understanding to what extent the clams are making themselves at home in the gulf.

The study of DNA in this context is called “eDNA” or “environmental DNA,” Marissa McMahan, a senior fisheries scientist with the Brunswick branch of Manomet, told Mainebiz.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

‘eDNA’ is taking a new look at Maine’s ocean ecosystem

August 12, 2021 — It’s no secret that the Gulf of Maine has been warming in recent years. While the rise in temperature is a concern for some ocean species like lobster, it’s a more suitable environment for others, like quahogs.

The hard-shell clam can be found up and down the east coast but Director of Fisheries at Manomet Marissa McMahan said quahogs could thrive and spawn in Maine.

In 2018, Manomet and the town of Georgetown’s Shellfish Conservation Committee brought 50,000 adult quahogs to Robinhood Cove in hopes of creating a self-sustaining population.

On Tuesday, it was time to use environmental, or ‘eDNA’ to check and see if there was an abundance of the species and if any spawning occurred.

“If this technology can in fact tell us about shellfish spawning events then that’s something that we can utilize in shellfish management and conservation coast-wide,” McMahan said.

Working in partnership with the University of Maine and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, the scientists collected water samples at various depths around the cove.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Approves $180,000 in New Funding for Fisheries Research

July 15, 2021 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS):

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) has approved 5 new research projects for 2021, awarding over $180,000 in funding for finfish and shellfish projects. Approved by the Center’s Industry Advisory Board (IAB), the projects have been identified by the Center’s industry partners as addressing critical scientific needs in their fisheries.

These projects include assessing the economic impact of menhaden fisheries; developing processes for shellfish refinement; improving finfish stock assessments; mitigation proposals for surfclam hatcheries; and analyzing the age and length composition of ocean quahog.

The following projects were approved and funded:

  • Developing process and procedures for the refinement of surf clam and ocean quahog shells into calcium carbonate – Waste produced by the used shells of clams and ocean quahogs are considered environmentally hazardous; finding ways to effectively deal with it is an important sustainability issue. The project, headed by Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad (Cornell University), will focus on turning shell waste into a value-added product, contributing to blue economy  efforts and promote sustainability. ($110,950 in funding)
  • Mid-Atlantic management track stock assessment – Led by Dr. Steve Cadrin (UMass Dartmouth), this study will update stock assessments for Atlantic mackerel, summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, bluefish, and golden tilefish. The project will improve both the understanding and effectiveness of finfish stock assessments and stakeholder involvement in finfish management. ($3,520 in funding)
  • What hatchery capacity would be needed to support surfclam fishery mitigation via seeding fishing grounds? – Currently, the United States has over 1.7 million square acres of federal waters under lease for wind energy. These wind projects will reduce access to surfclam grounds and potentially impact surfclam hatcheries and nurseries. This study, by Dr. Daphne Monroe (Rutgers University), will evaluate mitigation strategies and other ways to support fishing communities as offshore wind energy continues to expand. ($18,480 in funding)
  • Evaluation of ocean quahog aging program for providing age data for the assessment; identification of status, uncertainty, and additional research needs – Ocean quahogs are the oldest and longest-lived animals under federal management, making them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Partnering with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Dr. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi) and Dr. Roger Mann (Virginia Institute of Marine Science), SCEMFIS has funded a research program to improve understanding of quahog population dynamics, recruitment, and growth rates. The present project will fund a workshop to review findings and evaluate the application of SCEMFIS findings to the NMFS-NEFSC assessment program. ($29,552 in funding)
  • Menhaden economic impact and management uncertainty – Led by Dr. Thomas J. Murray (Virginia Institute of Marine Science), this project focuses on developing an economic input-output model for the menhaden fishery. The development of this model will allow management decisions to be informed by economic impacts associated with catch and catch area controls. ($34,500 in funding)

SCEMFIS is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) program, a federal initiative to bring together academic researchers and industry members to fund projects improving our understanding of economically important issues.

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.

Notice to Fishermen: 2020 Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Cost Recovery Tag Fees

June 7, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are announcing the 2020 cost recovery per-tag fees for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog individual transferable quota (ITQ) program.

2020 Cost Recovery Cage Tag Fees

Atlantic Surfclam: $0.62 per tag

Ocean Quahog: $0.36 per tag

The fee for each cage tag is calculated based on the number of ITQ cage tags that were used to land surfclams or ocean quahogs during the 2019 fishing year, and the costs associated with operating the program in 2019. The fees are then multiplied by the number of tags used during the 2020 fishing year to determine the final bill amount. These cost recovery fees are separate from, and in addition to, the price ITQ permit holders currently pay to the tag vendor to obtain cage tags each year.

Quota shareholders will soon receive bills based on these tags fees and the number of their cage tags that were used to land surfclams or ocean quahogs during 2020. The initial quota shareholder who first received the allocation of cage tags is responsible for the fee even if the tag is leased, sold, or otherwise used by someone else.

For more information read our bulletin.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2021-2026 Specifications for the Atlantic Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Fisheries

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

Effective June 14

NOAA Fisheries is setting 2021 and projecting 2022-2026 commercial harvest quotas for Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs. The final quotas, which have remained unchanged since 2004, are:

  • Atlantic surfclams: 3.4 million bushels
  • Ocean quahogs: 5.36 million bushels
  • Maine ocean quahogs: 100,000 Maine bushels

In addition, the Atlantic surfclam minimum size limit will be suspended for the 2021 fishing year, as it has been every year since 2005. There is currently no minimum size for ocean quahogs.

For more details, read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register and the bulletin.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Laura Hansen, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9225

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

With restaurant sales down, Atlantic surf clam processors focus on retail

March 3, 2021 — U.S. consumer demand for Atlantic surf clams and ocean quahogs has shifted in the past six months.

Most of the Atlantic surf clam fleet is centered around Point Pleasant Beach and Atlantic City, New Jersey; Oceanview, New York; Hyannis, Massachusetts (surf clams only); and New Bedford and Fairhaven, Massachusetts. There is also a quahog fishery in Maine.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Proposed 2021-2026 Specifications for the Atlantic Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Fisheries

February 17, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on a proposed rule that would set the commercial harvest quotas for Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs for the 2021 through 2026 fishing years based on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommendation.

The proposed quotas, which have remained unchanged since 2004, are:

  • Atlantic surfclams: 3.4 million bushels
  • Ocean quahogs: 5.36 million bushels
  • Maine ocean quahogs: 100,000 Maine bushels

In addition, the Atlantic surfclam minimum size limit would be suspended for 2021, as it has been every year since 2005. There is currently no minimum size for ocean quahogs.

For more details on the proposed specifications, read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. The comment period is open through March 4, 2021.

Questions?

Industry: Contact Laura Hansen, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9225

Media: Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, 978-281-9175

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