Saving Seafood

Study Reveals Right Whales Use Area Intended for Wind Energy

August 2, 2021 — Areas off the coast of Massachusetts slated for wind energy projects have also shown to be new areas of import for the endangered Right Wales.

Survey data collected over the last decade shows increased number of whales travelling through the Massachusetts and Rhode Island wind energy areas.

Whales were identified by distinctive markings found in aerial photos.

The study showed about a third of the population making significant use of the area.

Reproductive female use of the area is also of high importance as one of the reasons for the declining numbers that the species has faced is a reduction in calving rates.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Rhode Island’s Warming Marine Waters Force Iconic Species Out, Disrupt Catch Limits and Change Ecosystem Services

August 2, 2021 — For generations, winter flounder was one of the most important fish in Rhode Island waters. Longtime recreational fisherman Rich Hittinger recalled taking his kids fishing in the 1980s, dropping anchor, letting their lines sink to the bottom, waiting about half an hour and then filling their fishing cooler with the oval-shaped, right-eyed flatfish.

Now, four decades later, once-abundant winter flounder is difficult to find. The harvesting or possession of the fish is prohibited in much of Narragansett Bay and in Point Judith and Potter ponds. Anglers must return the ones they accidentally catch to the sea.

Overfishing is easily blamed, and the industry certainly bears responsibility, as does consumer demand. But winter flounder’s local extinction isn’t simply the result of overfishing. Sure, it played a factor, but the reasons are complicated, from habitat loss, pollution and energy production — i.e., the former Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Mass., pre-cooling towers, when the since-shuttered facility took in about a billion gallons of water daily from Mount Hope Bay and discharged it at more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The climate crisis, however, is likely playing the biggest role, at least at the moment, by shifting currents, creating less oxygenated waters and warming southern New England’s coastal waters. These impacts, which started decades ago, have and are transforming life in the Ocean State’s marine waters. The changes also impact ecosystem functioning and services. There’s no end in sight, as the type of fish and their abundance will continue to turn over as waters warm.

Rhode Island’s warming water temperatures are causing a biomass metamorphosis that is transforming the state’s commercial and recreational fishing industries, for both better and worse. The average water temperature in Narragansett Bay has increased by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1960s, according to data kept by the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

Locally, iconic species are disappearing (winter flounder, cod and lobsters), southerly species are appearing more frequently (spot and ocean sunfish) and more unwanted guests are arriving (jellyfish that have an appetite for fish larvae and, in the summer, lionfish, a venomous and fast-reproducing fish with a voracious appetite).

Read the full story at EcoRI

Right Whale Use of Southern New England Wind Energy Areas Increasing

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

Right whales are increasing their use of southern New England waters, including regions slated for offshore wind energy development, according to aerial survey data collected during the last decade. Offshore wind energy installations are proposed in waters off the south coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Understanding and minimizing the potential impacts from construction noise, increased vessel traffic, and habitat alteration will be crucial to protecting and conserving this endangered species. This research supports the Administration’s goal of deploying offshore wind while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use.

The study was published July 29 in Endangered Species Research. Marine mammal researchers from NOAA Fisheries and colleagues at the New England Aquarium and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011–2015 and 2017–2019. The data was collected in offshore waters including the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Wind Energy Area. The data from these two time periods were used to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics, and movements in the region.

“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.

Read the full release here

Tracking trends and ocean temperatures could give R.I. fisherman an edge

July 27, 2021 — Tony Eliasen and Brian Amaral, the co-founders of Newport, Rhode Island-based Ocean State Sensing, are focused on sensing and mapping temperatures in the water to be able to observe and track events. (Amaral is not related to the Boston Globe reporter.)

In real time, they are able to measure and plot water temperature from the sea bed to the surface, a tracking system that they say reveals connections within the biosphere that are otherwise unknown.

Q: What does Ocean State Sensing do?

Eliasen: We are a temperature sensing services company focused on the maritime environment. We provide high-resolution, continuous, in-situ sensing services. Our goal is to improve the understanding of the dynamic shifts in our climate and oceans to affect positive change and stewardship of the marine industries and the planet.

Q: Are you conducting sensing and mapping temperatures just off Rhode Island’s coastline, or elsewhere?

Amaral: At the moment we are [focused on Rhode Island], but we have plans to conduct data collection events in multiple places. We are actively seeking collaborators, partners and funding to help us grow our services and applications. One event we are excited about is partnering with a local fisherman to tow our gear behind the boat and measure the entire water column temperature at once as the boat drives up and down Narragansett Bay.

Q: What is the difference between satellite and point-based measurements?

Amaral: Satellites provide temperature data of the surface of the ocean which for many places in the world is accurate only for the first few feet of water. It does not provide data beyond the surface. To get this data, a temperature probe is lowered into the water, and the probe records the temperature of the water touching it. This is a point-based measurement, because it is measuring the temperature at a single point in water depth, at the latitude and longitude it was lowered into the water.

We are able to measure the entire water column at once, and when we tow the equipment, we can measure swaths of data, all of which is measured continuously and in real time.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Janet Coit named to lead NOAA Fisheries; Rick Spinrad confirmed as NOAA administrator

June 22, 2021 — Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management head Janet Coit was named to lead the National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, on Monday, 21 June, a move met with wide approval from a variety of stakeholder groups.

Coit will oversee a governmental agency that employs 4,800 people in five regional offices, six science centers, and more than 20 laboratories in 15 states and U.S. territories. It is responsible for the management and conservation of recreational and commercial fisheries, including some aspects of marine aquaculture.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Meet the new NMFS director: Janet Coit

June 22, 2021 — Janet Coit has been appointed the assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. She will also serve as acting assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, and deputy NOAA administrator, according to a press release from NOAA.

Coit succeeds Paul Doremus, who has been acting NMFS administrator since January. The appointment is effective immediately.

“I have worked closely with Janet Coit for many years in Rhode Island, and I am thrilled to see her expertise and skillful leadership recognized by this administration,” said Chris Brown, a Rhode Island commercial fisherman and president of the Seafood Harvesters of America. “Janet will be a thoughtful and steady NMFS AA, carefully listening to stakeholders while keeping sound science, not politics, at the heart of the agency. She won the respect of commercial fishing industry in Rhode Island, and I expect her to do the same as NMFS AA.”

Coit directed the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for more than 10 years, where she focused on improving natural resource conservation, promoting locally grown and harvested food, including seafood. She worked to improve new infrastructure for commercial and recreational fisheries and promote sustainable management of fisheries, including a new shellfish initiative.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

National Fisheries Institute Statement on the NOAA Appointment of Janet Coit

June 22, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute: 

The National Fisheries Institute is pleased the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has appointed Janet Coit to lead the agency as the assistant administrator.

During her tenure at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, she developed an ability to work with stakeholders to ensure seafood was harvested the right way, streamlined agency processes, and promoted seafood locally and abroad. This same approach is needed at the federal level.

We look forward to working with Janet Coit in her new role.

RHODE ISLAND: Former DEM chief Janet Coit named to lead U.S. fisheries office

June 22, 2021 — It’s a rare thing for someone to occupy a Cabinet-level position in state government under three different governors. But Janet Coit was able to do it, steering the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for a decade, the longest tenure of any director in the 44-year history of the agency.

Now, she’s set to take a set of traits — diligence, diplomacy, likeability — that she used to great effect as Rhode Island’s top environmental official to what will surely be a more challenging position on the national stage. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Coit’s former boss in the Rhode Island State House, announced the selection of Coit to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries office.

Raimondo described Coit as a source of trusted counsel while she was governor and said she will bring a wealth of experience to what’s also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

South Fork wind farms reduce turbines, but fisheries groups have “serious concerns”

June 10, 2021 — The developers of the offshore wind farm, which will power South Fork, agreed to reduce the number of turbines in the LIPA contracted project from 15 to 12, but Road Island fishermen said turbines. The reduction was useless and provided a $ 12 million compensation package. Insufficient packaging.

Orsted and Eversource are partners in more than $ 2 billion of projects to be built off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts by 2023, and are considering whether to issue a permit for the project. Prior to the Coastal Commission, we announced the changes last week.

In a statement, the two companies said they would “move forward by reducing the total number of turbines in the project from 15 to 12” while providing compensation packages to Rhode Island fishermen. If $ 12 million is accepted, the two companies will move forward. In particular, it will compensate for the loss of income of those who have been banned from fishing due to the construction and installation of turbines.

Read the full story at the Florida News Times