Saving Seafood

NOAA research zeroes in on saving right whales

November 23, 2018 — Why is the endangered western North Atlantic right whale population growing far more slowly than those of southern right whales, a sister species also recovering from near extinction by commercial whaling?

NOAA Fisheries researchers and colleagues looked more closely at the question and have concluded that preserving the lives of adult females in the population is by far the most effective way to promote population growth and recovery.

North Atlantic right whales are frequently seen in the waters off the Cape, and most deaths are attributed to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships, says NOAA.

Eighty-three percent of all individual North Atlantic right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once in their lives, and 59 percent have been entangled two or more times, the research found.

The energy demands from the drag associated with entanglement can reduce the likelihood that a female can successfully reproduce.

Years between births also increases for females, given the recovery period needed from the physical costs of entanglements, which can last from months to years.

Read the full story at Wicked Local Harwich

 

Human activities are impeding population growth of North Atlantic right whales

November 20, 2018 — On October 14, the crew of a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship called the Henry B. Bigelow reported a whale carcass floating about 100 miles east of Nantucket, a small island off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The carcass was later identified as a sub-adult North Atlantic right whale.

After reviewing data collected from the deceased whale, scientists determined the probable cause of death was “severe acute entanglement,” according to NOAA. “The whale had multiple wounds indicative of a wrapping line entanglement, including pronounced ligature impressions with related deep concave defects indicating severe constricting abrasions. Entanglement wounds were strongly suggestive of numerous transverse body wraps involving the thorax (chest) and flippers.”

This is the third North Atlantic right whale known to have died this year — one died in January and another in August — and all three appear to have been the victims of entanglement in fishing gear left behind by humans or collisions with ships. The North Atlantic right whale is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

New research finds that these deaths caused by human activities are not just impacting individuals and their immediate family units, but actually impeding population growth among North Atlantic right whales altogether.

Like many other baleen whale species, North Atlantic right whales were nearly exterminated by historical commercial whaling. Their numbers gradually increased up until around 2010, when they started to decline once again. 2018 has actually been far less deadly for the whales than 2017, when NOAA confirmed 17 North Atlantic right whale deaths, which is equivalent to about 4 percent of their total estimated population of 450 individuals. It is believed that there are only about 100 females of breeding age left in the population.

There are three species of right whales in the world, the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), the North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), and the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis). Peter Corkeron, head of a whale research initiative at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, led an international team that studied the western North Atlantic population and three populations of southern right whales, which are listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in order to determine whether or not the slow growth rate of North Atlantic right whales is attributable to humans.

Read the full story at Mongabay

 

Reduced speed zone to protect whale in effect to December

November 20, 2018 — NANTUCKET, Mass. — The federal government is asking mariners to slow down off of Massachusetts to help protect a severely endangered species of large whale.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s applying the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone in an area 21 nautical miles south of Nantucket. The designation is intended to protect a group of four North Atlantic right whales seen in the area on Sunday.

NOAA says the speed restriction zone will be in effect until Dec. 3. Mariners are asked to avoid the area or go through it at 10 knots or less.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

NOAA says watching for right whales during migrating season is more important than ever

November 19, 2018 — North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S.

20 right whale deaths were documented in 2017 and 2018. The NOAA is asking boaters to be cautious as the endangered whales migrate south.

Right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and scientists estimate there are just over 400 remaining.

Officials are reminding boaters and coastal residents, right whale calving season begins in mid-November and runs through mid-April.

Every winter, many right whales travel more than 1,000 miles from their feeding grounds off Canada and New England to the warm coastal waters of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida’s east coast.

To reduce the risk of collisions between right whales and boats, federal law requires ships and aircraft to stay at least 500 yards away from right whales.

Vessels 65 feet and longer are also required to slow to speeds of 10 knots or less in Seasonal Management Areas along the East Coast, including the calving and nursery area.

“Right whales often swim and rest just below the surface, and are invisible to approaching boats and ships,” said wildlife biologist Clay George of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “It’s important for ship operators to follow vessel speed rules, and for boaters to slow down whenever possible.”

NOAA and its partners conduct aerial and vessel surveys off the coast of Florida and Georgia throughout the calving season.

Read the full story at WTKR

 

Ropeless fishing options floated

November 15, 2018 — Whales and fishing gear increasingly occupy the same areas of ocean in the Gulf of Maine, and whales being injured or killed by entanglement with gear continues to be a top concern of scientists and regulators.

While most Maine lobstermen say they have never even seen a right whale close to the Maine coast, statistics collected by NOAA explain why right whales are exposed to a high risk of entanglement off the Maine coast.

Based on data collected by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, there are some 2.9 million lobster traps in the water within 50 miles of the Maine coast. Even with an average of fewer than five whales per month passing through Maine waters, the density of gear makes the risk of entanglement very high.

Last week, scientists and other interested parties met for a day-long meeting on one idea they hope will reduce entanglements: ropeless fishing. The Ropeless Consortium meeting was held Nov. 6, the day before the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC) at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The meeting was closed to the press, but an agenda and overview of the meeting was available online.

“It was very cool to see how advanced the technology is and the many companies and groups working on development around the world,” said Zack Klyver, lead naturalist for Bar Harbor Whale Watch, who attended the meeting. “The conservation community were excited about the idea that this could be a long-term 100 percent fix to all whale entanglement.”

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NOAA Issues Report on Protecting North Atlantic Right Whales

November 12, 2018 — NOAA Fisheries researchers have been looking into how to preserve the shrinking population of critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales.

Officials have concluded that the surest way of protecting the species is by preserving the lives of adult females in the population as a way to promote population growth and recovery.

According to Royal Society Open Science, most right whale deaths are attributed to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Declining species’ future tops agenda at whale of a meeting

November 9, 2018 — A group of scientists, conservationists and others is meeting in Massachusetts to brainstorm strategies to save one of the rarest marine mammals on the planet.

It’s the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s annual meeting, and it’s wrapping up on Thursday at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford. The right whales number only about 440 and have suffered from high mortality and poor reproduction in recent years.

The meeting began on Wednesday. The agenda includes sessions about everything from the summertime occurrence of the whales in the Bay of Fundy to changes in the abundance of the tiny organisms they need to eat to survive.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Tribune

New estimate lowers number of right whales

November 9, 2018 — A gut feeling among North Atlantic right whale experts that the population of the beleaguered animals has dropped to around 400 has been reinforced with a new statistical estimate of 411 animals as of the end of 2017.

“The public shouldn’t think there are exactly 411 whales,” Center for Coastal Studies right whale researcher Charles “Stormy” Mayo said Thursday at the end of the two-day North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium annual meeting in New Bedford. “We believe that they are in the low 400s, or around 400.”

The consortium’s annual report card for the end of 2016 had set the population number at 451, using a statistical model unveiled last year.

The loss of about 40 right whales, under the statistical model, between the end of 2016 and the end of 2017 would include the 12 documented deaths in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada and the five off the Cape and Islands linked in large part to human causes of entanglement in fishing rope and being struck by ships.

“Everyone in the field – conservationists, the public, scientists – continue to be saddened by the decline,” Mayo said. “There’s no question there’s a decline. There’s no question we need to solve the mortality issue.”

The maximum number of human-caused deaths should be no more than one a year to sustain the critically endangered population along the U.S. and Canadian coast, according to a federal stock assessment in September.

U.S. and Canadian government agencies and nonprofit organizations are working to identify the best ways to respond, with new technology to eliminate vertical ropes in the water, for example.

Read the full story at The Inquirer and Mirror

MASSACHUSETTS: Losing lobster lines

November 6, 2018 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium will spend much of next year testing ropeless lobster gear as part of the escalating effort to mitigate entanglements with right whales and other marine species.

The research project, funded with a $226,616 grant recently received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will involve co-operative research with active lobstermen, possibly including some from the state’s most lucrative lobster port in Gloucester, according to one of the aquarium’s chief scientists.

“We want to get good technology in the hands of fishermen so they can evaluate its potential,” said Tim Werner, the aquarium’s senior scientist and director of its Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction. “They need to be able to use it and find out what it needs to be functional.”

Werner said researchers already have begun to develop various types of ropeless traps, using different technologies to achieve the same goal of drastically reducing or eliminating entanglements of leatherback sea turtles and whales in the forest of vertical lines stretching from fishing gear on the ocean floor to the ocean’s surface.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Navy to limit sonar to protect whales

November 5, 2018 — So, tomorrow’s Election Day and here’s hoping our democratic process has provided you with some suitable candidates worthy of your vote. If not, you can always write in the FishOn staff, based solely on our simple dual campaign promises:

“If nominated, we will hide. If elected, we will demand a recount.”

We think it’s what our Founding Fathers and Mothers had in mind all along – self-imposed term limits.

We also have our own method for choosing candidates: They should be strong advocates of the commercial fishing industry, fans of baseball and they should have sent us presents on our birthday and Christmas.

Shuffling through the pile last weekend, and gotta say: It’s not looking great for this crop of cheapskates.

But that’s us. Y’all should head out and vote. If nothing else, it’s an hour away from work. Unless you live in Chicago, where you can turn it into a full-time occupation.

The new Navy slogan should be “Shhhhhhh”

The U.S. Navy last December adopted the 10th slogan in the storied history of the military service (and its a collected advertising agencies). The slogan is “America’s Navy, Forged by the Sea.” Thank God the French Navy already had taken “We Surrender, Take Our Ship” out of the running.

Our Navy made some news last week when it announced it will expand areas in which it limits its use of sonar and explosives off the East Coast as a means of helping protect the imperiled right whales. It’s doing the same in the Gulf of Mexico to help protect the Bryde’s whale.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times