Saving Seafood

Latest regulations safeguard 140,000 square miles off the West Coast

November 19, 2019 — Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued final regulations to protect the seafloor habitat off the West Coast from bottom trawling.

The regulations cover 140,000 square miles and includes corals, sponges, rocky reefs and other important areas for marine life and ocean ecosystems. These safeguards for the living seafloor are in response to a vote by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in April 2018, which followed years of scientific input and advocacy by Oceana, which has an office in Monterey County.

Bottom trawling is described as the most damaging fishing method to seafloor habitats off the West Coast. Weighted nets are dragged to catch fish living near the seafloor and in doing so flatten, topple and crush delicate corals and sponges that provide habitat for these fish and other marine creatures.

The new regulations protect unique and important ocean areas off Washington, Oregon and California. Also included is the protection of deep-sea habitats beyond 3,500 meters depth (nearly 2 miles) below the ocean’s surface from all commercial bottom-contact fishing gear. In addition, the regulations increase fishing opportunities by allowing select re-openings in some historic fishing grounds where bottom trawling has been prohibited in recent years to recover overfished rockfish populations.

Read the full story at the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Bottom-trawling fishing severely restricted off West Coast starting in January

November 19, 2019 — The most extensive ban on bottom trawling — dragging weighted nets on the sea floor — became law Tuesday after fishing groups and environmentalists agreed to protect more than 140,000 square miles of seafloor habitat along the West Coast, including beds of lush coral around the Farallon Islands.

The new regulations, which will take effect Jan. 1 after being published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, will restrict fishing over 90% of the seafloor along the coast from Canada to Mexico, the largest contiguous area protected from bottom trawling in the world.

At the same time, about 3,000 square miles of sandy seafloor previously closed to fishing under the 2002 Rockfish Conservation Area rules were reopened after it was determined that rockfish populations had recovered in those areas.

“It’s monumental,” said Geoffrey Shester, the senior scientist for the conservation group Oceana, which has fought for years to limit bottom trawling, long considered the most damaging method of fishing in the ocean. “It puts the West Coast at the top of the barrel for global leadership in protecting our seafloor.”

Read the full story at the San Fransisco Chronicle 

West Coast Fisheries “Comeback of the Century”

October 8, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

With help from rebounding West Coast rockfish, Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi has put the fisherman back in San Francisco’s famed Fisherman’s Wharf.

Pennisi is the first fisherman to sell freshly caught fish off his boat at Fisherman’s Wharf in many years. He has reintroduced locals to the flaky white fish that was once a mainstay of West Coast seafood. Most weekends when the fishing is good, crowds form early at the dock next to his boat, the Pioneer, and continue all day. Some wait for hours to buy chilipepper rockfish, rose fish, boccacio and other deep-water species Pennisi brings up in his nets.

“You can’t help but be excited when you get to the dock and all these people are waiting for their fish,” he said.

The reemerging demand for rockfish reflects what may be the West Coast fisheries comeback of the century. Rapidly rebuilding stocks are reviving opportunities for determined fishermen such as Pennisi and customers of his Pioneer Seafoods. From Washington to California, a fishing fleet that sacrificed heavily while groundfish stocks rebuilt are now beginning to harvest the results.

“It really does seem like we’re turning an important corner,” said Shems Jud, who has long tracked the groundfish fishery for the Environmental Defense Fund. The rebuilding of groundfish represents a rarity among environmental issues. Fishermen, environmental groups, fisheries managers, and others replaced contention and controversy with lasting collaboration.

Read the full release here

West Coast Rockfish Boom with the Blob

October 4, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The high temperatures that came with the marine heatwave known as the Blob led to unprecedented mixing of local and subtropical species. There were, often with new and unpredictable outcomes. Out of that mix came one unexpected winner: West Coast rockfish. These bottom-dwelling species, which that had previously collapsed in the face of overfishing during the 2000s, thrived under the new conditions.

Scientists from Oregon State University and NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center recount the boom in young rockfish in a new research paper in the journal Fisheries. It examines the effects of the Blob as documented by NOAA Fisheries offshore surveys. Scientists have been conducting the surveys for more than 20 years. The Blob years brought some of the most dramatic changes in marine life off the West Coast they’ve ever seen.

Unexpected interactions may have also altered the abundance of some species, from plankton that support the food web to fish that depend on them, the researchers wrote.

In the waning months of the Blob in 2016, juvenile rockfish increased over a large area from California to Alaska. Since juvenile rockfish are very difficult to distinguish from one another, scientists could not tell which species benefited. They could not tell what specifically drove the boom in their numbers and or whether they will support fisheries in future years.

Read the full release here

Virginia anglers angry over new catch limits on striped bass, say tournaments are in jeopardy

August 28, 2019 — Anglers will be allowed to keep just one striped bass instead of two a day in the upcoming season, state fisheries officials decided Tuesday.

The move is meant to protect the species by keeping large breeding fish in the water, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission said in a statement. But it could squash the charter fishing industry and a popular fall tournament scene that relied on big fish.

“It kills it,” said Mike Standing, who has run the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout for more than a decade. “It kills it all. We’ve been telling them for 10 years that there has been a problem with the population and they kept saying there wasn’t. Now they shut down the spring season and essentially shut down the fall.

“This is highly disappointing.”

Read the full story at The Virginia-Pilot

Commission eyes restrictions on striped bass harvest

August 27, 2019 — Officials with a regional fisheries management group are holding a public hearing in Delaware this week on a proposal to restrict the harvest of striped bass along the Atlantic coast.

Thursday’s meeting in Dover concerns proposed changes to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s management plan for striped bass, also known as rockfish.

The addendum to the plan proposes to reduce fishing-related mortality by 18% in response to an assessment last year that indicated that the population was overfished.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

Rock, Coral, Sponge: Does One Beat the Rest as Fish Habitat?

July 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Rockfish love structure. More seafloor structure means more rockfish. But while the amount of structure matters, the type doesn’t, a new NOAA fisheries study finds.

Rocks, corals, and sponges proved to be equally desirable real estate for individual rockfish, given a choice. However, rockfish were most frequently associated with sponges—the most commonly available structure in the Alaska study area.

These findings will help resource managers in their efforts to effectively manage rockfishes, deep-sea corals, and sponges.

“We found that Alaska rockfishes are more abundant when vertical structures such as rock, coral, and sponges are present. Corals and sponges add structure to areas with minimal rocky formations, creating a more complex habitat for rockfish,” explains Chris Rooper of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, who led the study. “Unfortunately, some human activities and potentially climate change can have negative effects on the survival of coral and sponge ecosystems, thereby impacting both the distribution and abundance of rockfish species in Alaska waters.”

Read the full release here

Canada’s ‘transformative’ fishing bill, C-68, heads to royal assent

June 19, 2019 — Canada’s Senate on Tuesday night passed C-68, a bill that amends the country’s more than 150-year-old core fishing legislation, to require rebuilding plans for depleted species populations among other important changes.

Just three of the country’s 105 senators voted against the measure, which now heads to the desk of governor-general Julie Payette for her signature, an act known as “royal assent”, bringing it almost immediately into effect.

“Today is a great day for our oceans. The overhauled Fisheries Act has the potential to be one of the most transformative things that has happened for our oceans in many years,” said Josh Laughren, executive director of Oceana Canada.

Just 34% (66 of 194 stocks) of commercial fish populations in Canada are healthy, while 13% (26 stocks) are critically depleted, only five of which have rebuilding plans (Atlantic cod in the Bay of Fundy/Scotian Shelf; boccaccio rockfish; two yelloweye rockfish groups and northern shrimp in fishing area 6, off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

West Coast Rockfish Rebound Faster Than Expected

June 10, 2019 — Thirty miles off the coast of Newport, Oregon, Mikey Retherford Jr. is watching rockfish in the ocean below him on a screen in the wheelhouse of the Winona J fishing trawler.

“See that right there?” he says, pointing at a yellow blob on the screen. “Boom! We don’t want to miss that. That’s there is widow rockfish. That’s what we’re targeting right there. That’s a very large school of fish.”

About 30 minutes later, his crew reels in a massive tube of netting stuffed with widow rockfish – one of dozens of groundfish species that live at the bottom of the ocean. The fish pour out of the net in a steady stream, and as they pile up, deckhands hose and shovel the giant pool of fish into hold under the deck.

Altogether, they land 60,000 pounds of widow rockfish. Retherford, 37, says for most of his career, a haul like this was unthinkable.

“When I started working for my dad as an adult full-time, it was like oh, we can’t catch rockfish,” he said.

Read the full story at JPR

6 Reasons Why Alaska’s Aleutian Islands are a Hot Spot for Sea Life

May 17, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

  1. The Aleutian Island ecosystem supports a rich diversity of species found in few other places in the world. Such intense biodiversity, more typically associated with tropical rainforests or coral reefs, is especially rare at high latitudes.
  2. A convergence of seas, storms, and volcanoes create the dynamic environment that supports incredible biodiversity. The Aleutians separate the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. They are whipped by notorious winds and battered by 50 foot waves. They form the 1,200-mile northern arc of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
  3. NOAA Fisheries scientists continue to discover new species of fish and invertebrates in the Aleutians. Some Aleutian species show promise in medicine, including a potential treatment for cancer.
  4. Whales, porpoises, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and seabirds live and feed in the Aleutian ecosystem. Some islands are important rookeries for seals and sea lions. Passages between islands are critical migration routes for endangered whales.
  5. Not only a great diversity, but a great abundance of life thrives in seas surrounding the Aleutians. Overall Alaska is responsible for more than half of the nation’s seafood harvest.
  6. The Aleutian Islands are home to Dutch Harbor, America’s biggest and busiest fishing port. Alaska Pollock is the highest volume fishery, but other important harvests include halibut, cod, rockfish, and crab.

Read the full release here