San Diego Archives - Page 4 of 5

This forecasting tool aims to keep ships and blue whales from colliding

January 16, 2017 — A new forecasting tool will help scientists predict blue whale traffic, as the ocean behemoths make their annual migration.

The tool allows researchers to post online maps showing likely “hot spots” for blue whales that will help ship captains avoid collisions with the animals.

“We can both see where they go and when they go,” said Elliot Hazen, a research ecologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, who developed the forecasting program. “We can take their movements and combine that with remotely sensed oceanographic data, to find out not only where they go, but also some of the oceanographic conditions that trigger that.”

When the whales travel up the California coast, they navigate a marine highway of shipping vessels, fishing boats and cruise liners. There are several reported ship strikes per year, but there may be many more than that, said Helen Bailey, a research associate professor at University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science, who coordinated the forecasting process.

“We’re probably underestimating the number that have been hit by ships, because they sink and don’t float,” Bailey said.

Blue whales are the largest creatures ever to live on the planet, with silvery bodies that can grow more than 80 feet and up to 165 tons. But there are just under 2,000 of them, and their numbers aren’t growing, Bailey said.

Read the full story at The San Diego Union-Tribune

Why It’s Harder Than You’d Think to Serve Local Seafood in California

November 1, 2016 — In a nation where 90 percent of the seafood consumed is imported from foreign countries, Mitch’s Seafood in San Diego is rarity. The menu is mostly made up of a fish from local fishermen and, with the exception of clams and mussels, everything is wild-caught.

“We get as much from Southern California as we can; and then being right here on the border and having a personal experience with Baja California, I consider [fish from there] local, too,” Mitch Conniff, the owner, says.

On an October evening, the menu might feature big eye tuna, calamari, halibut, swordfish, and cabrilla from San Diego. Conniff usually sources from half a dozen fishermen in San Diego, many of whom are his close friends and relatives. White shrimp comes from Mazatlan in Mexico and gold spot bass hails from San Carlos in California. Spiny lobster caught in California—95 percent of which is typically exported to China—is on the menu as well.

It’s a diverse catch that is surprisingly affordable, considering how the prices of certain species of local California seafood have been made insanely expensive because of Chinese demand.

Last year, the California spiny lobster retailed close to $30 a pound. That is an astronomical figure compared to the retail price of Maine lobster, which was around $9 a pound for wholesale. Maine lobster accounts for 90 percent of the United States lobster market.

Read the full story at VICE

Oceana going overboard on fish fraud, according to seafood industry group

September 9, 2016 — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) is calling into question both the findings and motives of the latest fish fraud study by Oceana, a global environmental group. The action marks a break between the two groups since they previously were largely in sync with one another over the worldwide problem of fish fraud, which is where lesser-value species are marketed as higher-value ones.

NFI claims that by finding 20 percent of all seafood mislabeled globally, Oceana’s latest report is both overstating the problem and unnecessarily calling for an expanded regulatory bureaucracy when enforcement of existing laws is all that is needed.

NFI, a trade association representing the seafood industry with a core mission of sustainability, charges that the environmental group has turned to “misleading hyperbole.”

“Mislabeling is fraud and fraud is illegal, period,” reads the NFI statement released on its website. “That’s why NFI members are all required to be members of the Better Seafood Board, the only seafood industry-led economic integrity effort. Our members are at the forefront of getting rid of fish fraud.”

Oceana’s study is misleading because it looked too heavily at commonly mislabeled species, the group asserts.

“Oceana’s focus on the most often mislabeled species distorts its findings by design. It is a common technique that ironically perpetuates a fraud on the readers of these reports,” the NFI statement adds.

Read the full story at Food Safety News

Sea turtles introduced to ocean will be tracked to help save species

August 3, 2016 — Sea turtles that hatched at SeaWorld in 2009 were introduced to the ocean on Monday.

The sea turtles were placed into the ocean 10-12 miles off the coast of San Diego. It is anticipated that the sea turtles will migrate south to normal feeding areas along the coast of Mexico and Central America.

Two of the turtles were fitted with satellite transmitters that will allow scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service and Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute to monitor their movement for at least a month.

Read the full story at CW6 San Diego

Ocean monument: Growing momentum for Obama to establish new Pacific marine preserves before leaving office

July 15, 2016 — A new effort to convince President Barack Obama to establish a huge new national monument in the Pacific Ocean off California before he leaves office six months from now is gaining momentum.

More than 100 scientists — including some of the top marine biologists in the world — and two dozen environmental groups are pushing a proposal that would ban offshore oil drilling, undersea mining and potentially some types of fishing in nine areas between San Diego and the Oregon border.

The areas singled out are a collection of underwater mountains, known as seamounts, along with several dormant underwater volcanoes, deep-sea ridges and concentrations of natural vents that spew hot water. Ranging from 45 to 186 miles off the California coast, and plunging more than 1 mile under the ocean’s surface, the remote locations are rich with sharks, whales, sea turtles and exotic sea life, including forests of coral, sponges and sea urchins. Many of the species have been discovered only in recent years as deep-sea exploration technology has improved.

Read the full story at The Mercury News

Industry and NGOs Call for Tuna Conservation Measures

July 1, 2016 — This week, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission is meeting near San Diego to consider new measures to regulate the Eastern Pacific’s fishery. At this year’s gathering, the Commission faces an unusual request: the delegation from Ecuador’s tuna industry – the largest in the region – has called for a “global ban” on tuna fishing.

The delegation, comprised of the leaders of Ecuador’s chamber of fishing and several fishing industry executives, says that existing Eastern Pacific catch targets have been met, and it is time for Asian tuna fisheries to take up similar measures.

The Commission does not have members in the Western Pacific, and if adopted, the Ecuadorian petition would be largely symbolic. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, a separate body, coordinates fisheries in the South Pacific islands and in Asia.

Read the full story at the Maritime Executive

U.S. fleet gets long-term deal in tuna-rich Pacific

June 29, 2016 — American fishing companies will have access to some of the most tuna-rich waters in the world until 2023.

Negotiators from the U.S., island nations and American fishing companies agreed to a new South Pacific Tuna Treaty on Saturday in New Zealand that reduces the number of days that U.S. boats can fish but also gives them the option of buying as many fishing days as they need, instead of a set amount per the previous agreement.

The U.S. State Department announced in January it would pull out of a treaty for a vast area of the Pacific Ocean — source of 60 percent of the nation’s canned tuna — after some American boats said they could not pay fees owed to a cluster of Pacific island nations.

“(The new treaty) gave us pretty much what we hoped for,” said J. Douglas Hines of the Global Companies, a group of three Nevada-based firms with offices in San Diego. “This is behind us for now.”

Although negotiations are officially over, the deal still needs final approval from the nations’ governments. Most people involved in the negotiations do not predict any issues because representatives have already signed off.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Pollutants in Fish Could Disrupt Your Defenses to Toxins

April 18, 2016 — Human defense mechanisms could be disrupted by the presence of a class of organic pollutants in fish and other food, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, appears to be the first to identify the mechanism by which chemicals like flame retardants—present in many household furniture items, like sofas and mattresses—and the pesticide DDT block a key protein from removing toxins from the body. P-glycoprotein, the protein in question, defends against toxins that entered the body by transporting them for removal. The new research shows that persistent organic pollutants, known as POPs, latch onto proteins and prevent them from functioning.

“These environmental chemicals form intimate interactions,” says study author Amro Hamdoun of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “But instead of being expelled, these proteins interfere with the ability of p-glycoprotein from doing its job.”

Awareness about the risks of POPs is nothing new. Public health campaigners have sought to remove POPs from the environment for decades, and a 2001 treaty even committed countries to take measures to reduce human exposure to the pollutants.

Read the full story at Time

San Diego tuna chief addresses Congress

March 1, 2016 — A leader in the San Diego tuna industry addressed U.S. Congress on Tuesday over fishing restrictions on the high seas that he said favor foreign boats.

American Tunaboat Association head Brian Hallman threw his support behind legislation that would potentially give U.S. boats a leg up in treaty negotiations for areas of the world’s largest ocean.

The U.S. fleet, many with ties or based in San Diego, has had a rough year so far, losing access to massive sections of the western and central Pacific Ocean.

Compliance in international waters — for things like how many days boats are allowed to fish for tuna in areas where there is no treaty — is governed by three multinational agreements.

The legislation, called the Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries Act, was introduced by congressional delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa) and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).

Its basic function would give more people a chance to negotiate for fishing rights instead of just two people from the federal government.

Read the full story at The San Diego Union-Tribune

California DFW to Host Public Meeting on Ocean Salmon Fisheries

February 18, 2016 — SANTA ROSA, California — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) invites the public to attend its upcoming annual Ocean Salmon Information Meeting. A review of last year’s ocean salmon fisheries and spawning escapement will be presented, in addition to the outlook for this year’s sport and commercial ocean salmon fisheries.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, March 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Sonoma County Water Agency, 404 Aviation Blvd. in Santa Rosa (95403).

Anglers are encouraged to provide input on potential fishing seasons to a panel of California salmon scientists, managers and representatives who will be directly involved in the upcoming Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) meetings in March and April.

Read the full release at San Diego Newscape