Saving Seafood

MAINE: In Acadia’s Shadow: Latest Flashpoint in Conflict Over Industrial Fish Farms

August 2, 2021 — A Norwegian investor wants to bring a new kind of fish farm to a stunning, island-studded bay at the base of Acadia’s famous Cadillac Mountain. The project is uniting broad opposition in and around tourist-dependent Mt. Desert Island.

The “American Aquafarms” project is the latest in a series of industrial-scale fish farms proposed for Maine, highlighting how the nation’s demand for seafood is putting pressure on local marine economies.

Frenchman Bay reaches from the eastern side of Mt. Desert Island to the Schoodic peninsula. Through the 20th century, sardine canneries dotted the bay. But the last of them, in Gouldsboro, shut down more than a decade ago.

“Sardines, and the herring fishery was the biggest fishery for 50 or 60 years and then that declined. But now the only thing left is small fisheries – scallops and all of that. Lobster’s the only viable industry,” says Dana Rice, Gouldbsoro’s selectman.

Here at Gouldbsoro’s town office, Rice is also the harbormaster and a lobster dealer. He says even the lobster processing company that took over the old harbor sardine plant has had a hard time making it, and waterfront jobs have dwindled. So when a Norwegian investor started sounding out local officials about converting it into a fish hatchery and processing facility for an at-sea salmon farm, Rice was interested.

“I would like to see some good paying jobs for the younger generation… this intrigued me. Hey, they’re talking somewhere between $150 million and $350 million investment, you can’t turn your back on that. You can not,” Rice says.

American Aquafarms optioned the property two years ago, and since has been laying groundwork for what its backers say will be a state-of-the-art “closed-pen” system: an array of enclosed, floating capsules, full of fish, that ostensibly would avoid most of the negative impacts of traditional open-pen salmon farms, such as escapes, disease and pollution.

Read the full story at Maine Public

New tool to improve ‘cleaner fish’ welfare in salmon farming

July 30, 2021 — Researchers at the University of Stirling have developed a new tool that fish farmers can use to improve the welfare of lumpfish—a species crucial to tackling the problem of sea lice in salmon.

Lumpfish are increasingly being used by the  industry as a ‘cleaner fish’ to remove parasitic sea lice, which cost the Scottish salmon industry alone an estimated £40m per year.

Because they are a relatively new fish to aquaculture, researchers are still establishing the optimum conditions for lumpfish .

In a new study, a team led by Dr. Sonia Rey Planellas at the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture has established the correlation between lumpfish growth weights and welfare, and turned it into a tool farmers can use to assess the health of the fish and take remedial action if required.

Dr. Rey Planellas says that “at the moment, in the UK we use Operational Welfare Indicators (OWIs) for fish welfare, but lumpfish are a different shape to many other fish, so it’s about identifying the best indicators for each species.”

“Fin damage is typically the indicator that is used, but in this study we found a more useful indicator was the correlation between growth weight relative to size and welfare.”

Read the full story at PHYS.org

$900,000 in Funding Recommended for Atlantic Salmon Habitat Restoration

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

NOAA Fisheries is recommending nearly $900,000 in funding for four partners to implement projects that restore habitat for Atlantic salmon in the Gulf of Maine watershed. The Gulf of Maine distinct population segment of Atlantic salmon is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. It’s also one of nine NOAA Species in the Spotlight.

Atlantic salmon are an iconic species of the Northeast. They once returned by the hundreds of thousands to most major rivers along the northeastern United States. Now, they only return in small numbers to rivers in central and eastern Maine. These populations comprise the Gulf of Maine distinct population segment.

Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will improve fish passage. They will remove or modify dams, culverts, and other barriers blocking Atlantic salmon from reaching their habitats. They will also restore the structure and function of streams used by Atlantic salmon for spawning and rearing.

We’re recommending nearly $900,000 to fund the first year of four multi-year efforts:

  • The Atlantic Salmon Federation will implement five projects to restore access to Atlantic salmon spawning and rearing habitats in the Kennebec River watershed. They will also conduct a fish passage feasibility study at the Chesterville Wildlife Management Area Dam on Little Norridgewock Stream. ($213,854)
  • Project SHARE will replace undersized culverts at 13 sites, connecting habitat for Atlantic salmon across the Dennys, Machias, Pleasant, Union, and Narraguagus River watersheds. They will also conduct fish passage feasibility studies at the Great Works Dam and at Marion Falls fishway. Funding will also support freshwater habitat restoration work in the Narraguagus River watershed. ($303,225)
  • The Nature Conservancy will complete the final designs to remove Guilford Dam and restore the adjacent floodplain, which will reconnect habitat for Atlantic salmon in the Piscataquis River watershed. They will also restore access to high-quality habitat by improving fish passage at three high-priority road crossings over streams. ($250,000)
  • The Downeast Salmon Federation will support fish passage feasibility studies at the Cherryfield Ice Control Dam on the Narraguagus River and the Gardner Lake Dam on the East Machias River, to support future habitat restoration in these watersheds. Funding will also support fish passage improvements at the Gardner Lake Dam. ($131,000)

Degraded habitat is one of the largest obstacles facing the recovery of threatened and endangered species like Atlantic salmon. Habitat restoration helps repair areas that have been destroyed by development, blocked by dams, or otherwise subjected to habitat destruction. Through funding and technical assistance, NOAA supports projects that restore the habitats that threatened and endangered species need to recover.

Alaska’s Bristol Bay sees record return of sockeye salmon. The warming climate may have helped.

July 30, 2021 — Amid a fierce June storm that whipped up 8-foot waves, Robin Samuelsen told his four young crew members to let out the gillnets behind his 32-foot boat in the Nushagak district of Bristol Bay.

For the 70-year-old, a veteran of more than a half-century of fishing, this was a tough day to start the 2021 sockeye salmon harvest. But soon the crew, all of them his grandsons, were dancing on the back deck as they spotted splash after splash made by sockeye hitting the net’s mesh in a surprisingly strong display of abundance so early in the season.

In the weeks that followed, storms often returned to make fishing miserable, and at times dangerous. Through it all, the salmon kept surging back from their ocean feeding grounds in what — by this week — developed into a record return of more than 65.5 million sockeye to the Bristol Bay region.

“It was pretty rough out there. It was really rough out there,” Samuelsen said. “But it was a fabulous year here in the Nushagak.”

The massive return once again demonstrated Bristol Bay’s stunning sockeye productivity at a time when these fish are struggling in other parts of North America, in part due to climate change, which can increase the temperature of the rivers adults must navigate to their spawning grounds. It can also reduce food for them in the ocean.

Read the full story from The Seattle Times at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaskan processors dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks through salmon season

July 29, 2021 — The Alaska summer salmon season is riding another large catch of Bristol Bay sockeye and a recent spike in pink salmon harvests to decent overall harvest numbers, but surging numbers of COVID-19 cases have created some concern for the state’s seafood processors.

According to figures provided by McKinley Research, the summer’s total salmon harvest is already up 5 percent over last year, driven in part by a second straight week of good pink harvests after a slow start.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

After a difficult year, Alaska’s salmon industry is back

July 29, 2021 — In 2020, the price per pound for Bristol Bay, Alaska, sockeye salmon dropped to some of the lowest prices fishermen have seen in several years. The famed fishery, like most industries, wasn’t insulated from complications brought on by COVID-19.

Large fish processing companies struggled to operate at full capacity last year. Roughly a dozen major fish processors operate out of Naknek, Alaska. More than a dozen others operate out of six more small, roadless and remote communities in the Bristol Bay region.

Each summer, these companies hire thousands of workers from all over the world, but in 2020 they were hamstrung by quarantine and travel restrictions. The processors simply didn’t have enough people to cut, package and ship fish worldwide, so they bought less. In turn, fishers harvested fewer salmon.

This year, optimism among those who are out fishing is bolstered by forecasts. Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run. Prices are way up from last year and biologists believe they might see the largest run of Alaskan sockeye on record this summer.

Read the full story at Marketplace

Funding Recommendations for Atlantic Salmon Habitat Restoration in Maine

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries is pleased to announce the recommendation of nearly $900,000 in funding for four partners to implement projects that restore habitat for Atlantic salmon in Maine.

The Gulf of Maine distinct population segment (DPS) of Atlantic salmon is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and is one of nine NOAA Species in the Spotlight.

Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will improve fish passage by removing or modifying dams, culverts, and other barriers blocking Atlantic salmon from reaching their habitats.

Degraded habitat is one of the largest obstacles to recovering protected species like Atlantic salmon, which is an iconic species of the Northeast. Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will target priority habitat restoration actions needed for Atlantic salmon recovery. These projects will also benefit other native species that contribute to the health of the Gulf of Maine, such as river herring, sea lamprey, American shad, and American eel.

Read our web story to learn more about this recommended funding.

Read the full release here

Chicken of the Sea giving away USD 10,000 in post-COVID “reunion grants”

July 28, 2021 — Chicken of the Sea is encouraging vaccinated Americans to gather together for family occasions with a new promotion.

Consumers can enter to win one of twenty USD 500 (EUR 423) “Reunion Grants” – a total of USD 10,000 (EUR 8,500) – to ensure their outdoor gatherings “are the most memorable yet for family and friends,” Chicken of the Sea said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Shasta River Habitat Restoration Builds Salmon’s Resilience to Rising Temperatures

July 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Many species, such as salmon, rely on cool waters to survive during the hot summer months. But with temperatures rising due to climate change, these cold-water habitats are being threatened. In California’s Shasta River, a NOAA-supported habitat restoration project is helping to keep waters cool for salmon.

The Shasta River is an important tributary of the Klamath River, which was once the third largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. Historically, the Shasta River supported more than 80,000 salmon each year. Today, however, only up to a few thousand adult salmon return to the river each year.

One of the issues facing Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and threatened coho salmon in the Shasta River is a lack of healthy habitat. In particular, high water temperatures and poor water quality during the hot summer months can lead to lethal conditions for salmon.

Juvenile salmon need access to cool water to survive warm summer temperatures. In healthy habitats, trees and other vegetation growing along the banks of rivers and streams provide shade that keeps the water cool. Deep, fast-moving waterways also stay cooler than shallow, slower-moving ones. As water temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, maintaining these cold-water habitats for salmon becomes more crucial.

On Big Springs Creek, a tributary to the Shasta River, water temperatures were heating up as high as 77 degrees Fahrenheit—too warm for salmon to tolerate. These high temperatures were caused in part by uncontrolled livestock grazing. Cows were eating the vegetation that otherwise would have provided shade and kept the water cool. They were also trampling the streambed, creating a shallower, wider river channel that was more easily heated by the sun’s rays.

Read the full release here

Warming rivers in U.S. West killing fish, imperiling industry

July 27, 2021 — Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon, once they enter the Pacific Ocean, are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California.

Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in Northern California’s Klamath River as low water levels brought about by drought allow a parasite to thrive, devastating a Native American tribe whose diet and traditions are tied to the fish. And wildlife officials said the Sacramento River is facing a “near-complete loss” of young Chinook salmon due to abnormally warm water.

A crash in one year’s class of young salmon can have lasting effects on the total population and shorten or stop the fishing season, a growing concern as climate change continues to make the West hotter and drier. That could be devastating to the commercial salmon fishing industry, which in California alone is worth $1.4 billion.

The plummeting catch already has led to skyrocketing retail prices for salmon, hurting customers who say they can no longer afford the $35 per pound of fish, said Mike Hudson, who has spent the last 25 years catching and selling salmon at farmers markets in Berkeley.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NBC News