January 29, 2019 — The federal government says there is a large aggregation of an endangered species of whale south of Nantucket, and mariners should avoid it for the safety of the animals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the group of 100 North Atlantic right whales was seen in the area in mid-January. It’s asking mariners to route around the area or transit through at 10 knots or less. The management area is in effect until Wednesday.
January 28, 2019 — The future of the North American right whale remains perilous, but researchers following their progress see hope in three calves spotted so far this winter off the Florida coast.
“It’s a spark of hope,” said Philip Hamilton, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. “It’s not even quite to the point of guarded optimism.”
The massive marine mammals migrate in the winter from the waters off Maine and Canada to the waters off northern Florida and southeastern Georgia for a calving season. Considered critically endangered, their total population is estimated at 411 animals. After a deadly year in 2017, with 15 deaths, and no calves born during the 2017-2018 season, whale advocates and researchers had awaited this calving season with trepidation.
An aerial survey team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute photographed the latest mother-calf pair, whale No. 1204 and her calf, on Jan. 17 off Amelia Island.
No. 1204 has been particularly prolific, giving birth to at least nine calves in her lifetime. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission researchers said she’s one of only three right whales known to have given birth to nine calves.
January 25, 2019 — Vineyard Wind officials are not waiting for federal officials to return to their desks: The company has reached an agreement with environmental groups to protect North Atlantic right whales and has offered Rhode Island fishermen a $6.3 million deal to compensate them for any economic damages they may incur from the wind farm’s construction and operations.
“We have not voted yet,” said Lanny Dellinger, chairman of a fisheries advisory board of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. “We are currently in the process of reviewing (the Vineyard Wind) proposal.”
On both fronts the company’s intention, in part, is to pave a smooth path for the 800-megawatt wind farm project planned south of Martha’s Vineyard, which is on a tight schedule to take advantage of federal investment tax credits that are expiring at the end of the year.
The 84-turbine wind farm is expected to deliver enough electricity to power about 400,000 homes in Massachusetts via an underwater, high-voltage cable that will land on a Barnstable beach, company officials said. As planned, it could be the nation’s first industrial-size offshore wind project.
January 24, 2019 — The developer of an offshore wind energy project is partnering with environmental groups on a plan to try to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The whale is one of the rarest marine mammals. It’s thought to number only 411 individuals . The animals travel through New England waters every year.
Vineyard Wind, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation announced an agreement designed to protect the whales on Wednesday.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times
January 17, 2019 — Another North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother have been spotted off Florida, the critically endangered species’ second confirmed newborn of the winter birthing season, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The mother, tentatively identified as #3317, is an important example of the ideal calving rate for a reproductively mature right whale female, said Philip Hamilton, a research scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.
“She actually gave birth three years ago,” Hamilton said about a previous birth, compared to the nine years between documented births for the season’s other right whale mother, #2791, spotted with a calf Dec. 28 off Jacksonville Beach, Florida. “That’s very heartening that at least some right whales are able to reproduce as quickly as they can.”
Right whale #3317 is about 16 years old, and has been spotted by government surveys since 2002 from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to the aquarium’s right whale database. She was spotted in Cape Cod Bay several times in 2016 by researchers for the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.
January 3, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Rules put in place by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to protect marine wildlife seem to have paid off, as no North Atlantic right whales were found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this year.
There were 12 whales found dead in the area in 2017.
But those regulations also resulted in financial hits for the fishing and cruise ship industries.
Last March, the DFO announced the closure of certain fishing areas due to the presence of the whales, which are an endangered species.
Those measures forced half of the Gaspé lobster fishermen to shorten their three-week season. Some fishermen found the new rules excessive.
The prefect of the regional municipal county of Rocher-Percé, Nadia Minassian, called the measures “draconian and uncompromising.”
“They did not listen to fishermen in our industry,” she said earlier this year.
The Quebec government then committed to paying for training for factory workers and fishermen so they can qualify for employment insurance.
Up to $500K in fines
The new rules also require boaters to maintain a 100-metre buffer zone from a whale, although that distance can vary. Orcas, for example, require a 200-metre buffer zone.
Under the Fisheries Act, those who break the rules could face penalties of $100,000 to $500,000. Repeat offenders may be subject to higher fines or even imprisonment, according to DFO.
In July, Gaspé fishermen recorded a 25 per cent decline in catches, and continued to criticize Ottawa’s decisions.
Alain Rebaud, a lobster fisherman from Percé, Que., said the area targeted by the DFO’s measures was too large.
“The quadrilaterals were too big, then they closed the fishing, and the day they closed it, there were no more right whales in the quadrilateral,” Renaud said.
The cruise ship industry also suffered cuts as a result of the speed reduction rules imposed by Ottawa.
Nine stopovers were cancelled in the Gaspé region, and the industry wasn’t able to get the financial assistance it requested from Quebec or Ottawa.
Stéphane Ste-Croix, head of Escale Gaspésie, a cruise ship company, said it appears their concerns fell on deaf ears.
Whale camera?
Some fishermen are now hoping a thermal camera that spots whales, currently being developed by the Merinov marine research centre, will solve their problems.
“We could detect right whales on the coasts to try to prevent entanglements,” said Chloé Martineau, a researcher for Merinov, which is funded by the Quebec government.
“We could put this technology on boats to avoid collisions.”
Fishermen say the device could help strike a balance between protecting right whales and preserving their livelihood.
This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
January 3, 2019 — The annual fishing closure that forces a halt of the lobstering industry each winter is still a month away, but lobstermen are already pulling their traps out of the water and preparing for a long three months of trying to make ends meet.
For the past four years, federal regulations have forced lobstermen out of the water from Feb. 1 to April 30, an attempt to lessen the number of North Atlantic right whales that die due to fishing gear entanglements. Not only can the fishermen not be in the water, but they also have to pull all of their traps from the ocean floor before Feb. 1 – as many as 800 per commercial license.
“Most people have at least three-fourths of their traps on land by now,” John Haviland, president of the South Shore Lobster Fishermen’s Association, said Tuesday. “It takes multiple boat trips to bring them home, and this is the time of year the weather is starting to fall apart, so you just can’t predict when you’re going to have the days to do that.”
Those who aren’t able to get their traps out by the deadline face massive fines from the National Marine Fisheries Service, and it takes another two to four weeks to get all the traps back into the water once the ban is lifted.
“With that $10,000 fine looming over your head, there’s just no choice,” Haviland said. “It doesn’t make sense to not fish at full capacity every day you can, but it also doesn’t make business sense to risk that fine.”
December 21, 2018 — Sustainability has become a buzzword in the seafood industry in recent years, a prerequisite for doing business in the 21st century.
But with the advent of real effects of climate change being felt in fisheries and aquaculture operations around the world, paying attention to environmental news is no longer shunted off to corporate sustainability officers.
In 2018, even more evidence was presented that increasing water temperatures, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation caused by climate change will result in devastation and disruption in the world’s marine economy. A November report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, compiled by 13 U.S. government agencies, painted a grim picture of the future of both U.S. and global fisheries as the effects of climate change continue to advance.
Beyond economic damages, upheaval in the global marine economy is likely to lead to political upheaval, a study published in the journal Science in August revealed. Climate change is driving fish species to migrate to new areas, with fish and other marine animals shifting toward the poles at an average rate of 70 kilometers per decade. That rate is projected to continue or even accelerate as the planet warms. In the process, they’re crossing political boundaries – potentially setting up future conflicts as some countries lose access to fish and others gain it, according to the report.
December 20, 2018 — NOAA Fisheries researchers and colleagues are taking a closer look as to why the endangered western North Atlantic right whale population is growing at far more slower rate than that of southern right whales, a sister species also recovering from near extinction by commercial whaling.
Researchers and colleagues looked at the question and have concluded that preserving the lives of adult females in the population is the most effective way to promote population growth and recovery.
Most of these deaths are attributed to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The findings are reported in Royal Society Open Science.
“Had North Atlantic right whales increased at the annual rate that we show they are capable of, the population number would be almost double what it is now and their current situation would not be so dire,” said Peter Corkeron, who is lead author of the paper and heads the large whale research effort at NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The North Atlantic right whale is one of three species of right whales. Of the three, it lives in the most industrialized habitat and migrates close to shore.
From 1970 to 2009, 80 percent of all North Atlantic right whale deaths (70 of 87) for which the cause is known were human-induced, mainly from entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships.
Decemeber 17, 2018 — When last we saw John Bullard, the big man was sitting in his sun-splashed office at NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester’s Blackburn Industrial Park, wearing an authentic, white Red Sox home jersey with David Ortiz’ No. 34 on the back.
By then, Bullard, who shepherded this region of NOAA Fisheries through the ongoing cod crisis, the remapping of available fishing areas, quota cuts, the imperiled state of right whales and the beginning of the end for Carlos Rafael, already had committed to heading off toward the pasture of retirement. He seemed totally relaxed and completely at ease.
We’ve been meaning to reach out to him for quite a while, if for no other reason than to talk about the Red Sox’ World Series championship and maybe a bit of Pats patter, particularly in the wake of the hideous defeat last week in the heat of South Florida.