Saving Seafood

Report finds ‘alarming unaddressed deficiencies’ in US offshore oil drilling

April 18, 2019 — Even as the Trump administration has taken steps to expand offshore oil drilling, a new report shows that thousands of oil spills are still happening and that workers in the oil and gas industry are still dying on the job.

The report comes from Oceana, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the oceans, which has sued the federal government to stop seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean. The blasting is the first step needed to allow offshore drilling, when seismic airguns are used to find oil and gas deep under the ocean. Every state along the Atlantic coast has opposed the blasting, worried that spills could hurt tourism and local fisheries. Some scientists say the testing could also hurt marine life, including the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. The group tied its report, released Thursday, to the ninth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill to show what has been happening since the government promised to hold the industry accountable to higher safety standards.

Read the full story at CNN

Rare Baby Whale Seen in Cape Cod Bay for First Time in ’19

April 11, 2019 — Surveyors say a North Atlantic right whale mother and calf have been spotted in Cape Cod Bay for the first time this season.

The whales are the focus of conservation efforts because of their declining population. There are only about 411 of the marine mammals, and they’ve suffered high mortality and poor reproduction in recent years.

The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown says the mother and calf were seen Saturday by surveyors from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Surveyors in an airplane saw them again Sunday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Extended: Voluntary Vessel Speed Restriction Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

April 10, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area – DMA) previously established south of Nantucket has been extended to protect an aggregation of 15 right whales sighted in this area on April 7.

This DMA is in effect through April 23, 2019.

Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less. Whales were spotted in or near shipping lanes so please be especially vigilant when traveling in these areas.

Nantucket DMA coordinates:

41 12 N
40 28 N
070 36 W
069 31 W

ACTIVE SEASONAL MANAGEMENT AREAS (SMAs)

Mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) are in effect in the following areas:

Cape Cod Bay SMA — in effect through May 15

Off Race Point SMA– in effect through April 30

Mid-Atlantic U.S. SMAs (includes Block Island) — in effect through April 30

Southeast U.S. SMA — in effect through April 15

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. With an unprecedented 20 right whale deaths documented in 2017 and 2018, NOAA is cautioning boaters to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking commercial fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales, remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements, and use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are slightly more than 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

More Info

Recent right whale sightings

Find out more about our right whale conservation efforts and the researchers behind those efforts.

Download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone

Acoustic detections in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston TSS

Send a blank message to receive a return email listing all current U.S. DMAs and SMAs.

Details and graphics of all ship strike management zones currently in effect.

Reminder: Approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175

Strict right whale protection goal raises concerns among lobstermen

April 8, 2019 — A federal agency is seeking a 60 percent to 80 percent reduction in the number of right whales killed or seriously injured by fishing line entanglement – a mandate that could have serious implications for the future of Maine’s $485 million lobster industry.

The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that fishing rope entanglement kills or seriously injures five to nine right whales a year. Federal scientists believe that even a single death a year would prove too much for the endangered species to make a recovery.

If those deaths are split evenly between the U.S. and Canada, a fisheries service assumption that Maine fishermen and regulators question, then Maine and Massachusetts lobstermen would have to find a way to cut their share of the whale entanglement deaths by 6o percent to 80 percent to achieve that goal.

“We know this target is daunting, but it is necessary to ensure the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale population,” said Colleen Coogan, coordinator of the agency-led team created to protect the right whale, in a letter emailed Friday to team members, including Maine fisheries regulators.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

WHOI Releases Report on Right Whale Threats, Solutions

April 1, 2019 — A new report has been released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution which details the major threats facing critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The population for the species is estimated to be just over 400 and has suffered in recent years from high mortality rates with very few births.

The report indicates the whales are most threatened by fishing gear entanglements, vessel strikes and noise pollution.

WHOI Marine Biologist Michael Moore, who was a co-author of the report, says there has been a dramatic shift in the number of deaths caused by entanglements over the last decade.

Before 2010, 45 percent of right whale deaths were due to vessel strikes with 35 percent attributed to entanglements. Since 2010, entanglements have resulted in about 85 percent of right whale deaths.

“The entanglement rate has gone up and become more severe,” Moore said. “It used to be the animals would get entangled and scarred up and then be able to wiggle out of it or get disentangled, but now the entanglement mortality rate has also increased.”

Whale researchers are also concerned with the non-lethal effects of getting caught in fishing gear.

“Eighty-plus percent of the species show entanglement scars and 25 percent of them get new scars every year,” Moore said. “So the majority don’t die but they do have sub-lethal impact and really it comes down to stress of being entangled and pulling the rope through the water and traps too if they are involved.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Extended: Voluntary Vessel Speed Restriction Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

March 29, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area – DMA) previously established south of Nantucket has been extended to protect an aggregation of 6 right whales sighted in this area on March 28.

This DMA is in effect through April 13, 2019.

Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less. Whales were spotted in or near shipping lanes so please be especially vigilant when traveling in these areas.

Nantucket DMA coordinates:

  • 41 12 N
  • 40 28 N
  • 070 36 W
  • 069 31 W

ACTIVE SEASONAL MANAGEMENT AREAS (SMAs)

Mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) are in effect in the following areas:

Cape Cod Bay SMA — in effect through May 15

Off Race Point SMA– in effect through March 29

Mid-Atlantic U.S. SMAs (includes Block Island) — in effect through April 30

Southeast U.S. SMA — in effect through April 15

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. With an unprecedented 20 right whale deaths documented in 2017 and 2018, NOAA is cautioning boaters to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking commercial fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales, remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements, and use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are slightly more than 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Right Whales Begin Seasonal Migration to Cape Cod Waters

March 22, 2019 — Cape Codders know that tourists come with the warming weather.

So do the whales.

Researchers say North Atlantic right whales and their newborn calves have been arriving off the shores of Cape Cod.

The endangered and very rare species of whale makes the yearly migration from waters off the coasts of Florida and Georgia to feed in cooler waters off the Cape.

“We have quite a few whales here, especially considering that this is a pretty small bay and these are very rare animals,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo of Center for Coastal Studies.

“We had 61 whales sighted on our last aerial survey.”

The North Atlantic right whale population is seen by researchers to be at great risk of extinction, with only an estimated 411 remaining in the world. Statistics show the mammal’s steady decline in numbers from 2010 through 2017.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Bipartisan group of US congressmen support bill to save right whales

March 18, 2019 — A bipartisan group of congressmen has unveiled a bill that seeks to save the critically North Atlantic right whale.

H.R. 1568, or the Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton earlier this month, would provide up to USD 5 million (EUR 4.4 million) in grants annually for the next 10 years to develop technology that would reduce the mortality rates for the species.

Some of the grant money would be used to research and develop new commercial fishing gear. Currently, entanglements with fishing gear causes 85 percent of the deaths and 83 percent of whales in existence have scars or other injuries associated with gear encounters, according to statistics from environmental groups.

Right whales have been listed on the Endangered Species Act for nearly 50 years. Conservationists estimate the current population at less than 420, and fear the population will only continue to dwindle as birth rates drop.

“We humans have nearly killed every right whale in existence through our direct and indirect actions over the past two centuries,” said Moulton (D-Massachusetts) in a statement. “Now we have a choice: We can be the generation that brings them back or the generation that allows their extinction. Let’s not miss this unique moment.”

Moulton filed similar legislation in August of last year, but Congress did not take it up before the session ended in January.

Co-sponsors of this year’s bill include three Democrats – U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Bill Keating of Massachusetts, and David Cicilline of Rhode Island – and three Republicans – U.S. Reps. John Rutherford, Bill Posey, and Brian Mast, all from Florida.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

A Trump official said seismic air gun tests don’t hurt whales. So a congressman blasted him with an air horn.

March 8, 2019 — A hearing on the threat seismic testing poses to North Atlantic right whales was plodding along Thursday when, seemingly out of nowhere, Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) pulled out an air horn and politely asked if he could blast it.

Before that moment at a Natural Resources subcommittee hearing, Cunningham had listened to a Trump administration official testify, over and over, that firing commercial air guns under water every 10 seconds in search of oil and gas deposits over a period of months would have next to no effect on the endangered animals, which use echolocation to communicate, feed, mate and keep track of their babies. It’s why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave five companies permission to conduct tests that could harm the whales last year, said the official, Chris Oliver, an assistant administrator for fisheries.

As committee members engaged in a predictable debate along party lines — Republicans in support of testing and President Trump’s energy agenda, Democrats against it — Cunningham reached for the air horn, put his finger on the button and turned to Oliver.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Maryland Attorney General Frosh joins 8 other state AGs in seeking halt to underwater seismic testing for oil

March 7, 2019 — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Wednesday that a coalition of nine states that joined a federal lawsuit to prevent underwater seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean is asking a judge to freeze the practice while the case proceeds.

The states in December joined a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in South Carolina by environmental groups seeking to reverse the authority that the National Marine Fisheries Service gave to five companies to conduct “seismic airgun surveys for oil and gas in coastal water” off the Atlantic Coast.

Now, the attorneys general are also supporting the request to halt that authorization as the case continues.

“The five authorizations allow nearly 850 combined days of around-the-clock activity, amounting to more than five million total seismic airgun blasts,” the original lawsuit states. “The authorized surveys will injure and disturb whales and dolphins hundreds of thousands of times, including critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.”

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun