Saving Seafood

New Lobster Scientist Hired by Maine Department of Marine Resources

February 18, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Katherine Thompson has been hired by the Maine Department of Marine Resources as the lead lobster sampling program scientist. Thompson, a Ph.D. student in Marine Biology at the University of Maine, will be responsible for the coordination, implementation, and participation in the lobster sea sampling program in all seven-lobster management zones as well as the juvenile lobster ventless trap survey.

Thompson’s responsibilities will include supervision of DMR scientific staff and contractors who participate in the sea sampling and ventless trap survey programs. 

The DMR sea sampling program places trained observers onto commercial lobster boats to gather data on the near shore lobster fishery. The ventless trap survey uses specially modified traps distributed along the coast to help the DMR characterize the juvenile lobster population in Maine waters. 

Thompson will also manage the lobster research program database, oversee data entry compilation and annual summary statistics/reports for publication and will assist in writing grant reports. In addition, she will present survey results at lobster zone council meetings. 

Thompson brings to the position experience both in commercial fishing and fisheries research. Raised in a fishing family in New Harbor, Thompson served as a sternman for a Round Pond lobster fisherman during summers while she pursued a degree in Biology from Smith College. The vessel she worked on participated in DMR’s ventless trap survey, providing her first experience with cooperative research. After graduating, Thompson completed an internship in lobster research through Bigelow Laboratory focusing on the settlement index survey conducted by Dr. Richard Wahle.

In 2013 Thompson received her Master’s degree in Living Marine Resource Science and Management from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology. Her Master’s thesis project provided the first conclusive evidence of semiannual scallop spawning in U.S. waters on Georges Bank, which has important implications for management of the fishery.

From 2013 to 2014, Thompson served as a Supervisory Research Biologist for Coonamessett Farm Foundation, a scientific research and education foundation based in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

In January 2015 she began her doctoral studies at the University of Maine focusing on northern shrimp reproduction and distribution. 

“I’m excited about working closely with industry, especially here in my home state,” said Thompson.

“Katherine’s experience in scientific research of multiple fisheries provides a strong foundation for her work here at DMR,” said DMR’s Lead Lobster Biologist Kathleen Reardon. “She has the strong academic and practical experience in marine science and commercial fishing to help move our monitoring programs forward.”

 

EDDIE WELCH: Scallop regulators threaten fishery by opening Nantucket Lightship

February 18, 2016 — A recent controversial decision to open select scallop grounds off the coast of New England to certain select fishing groups undermines sustainable scallop management, and threatens the future health of one of the region’s most valuable resources. On Dec. 3, the New England Fishery Management Council allotted one component of the fishing fleet 300,000 pounds of scallops for harvest from an area of the Atlantic known as Nantucket Lightship. Proposed by council member and Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance CEO John Pappalardo, this allotment would open Nantucket Lightship too early, and goes against the principles that have made scallop management so successful.

For the past two decades, the scallop fishery has been a resounding success thanks to a system known as rotational management. Under this system, scallopers are allowed into certain areas to harvest scallops, while other areas are left off-limits to allow the scallops in them to grow and repopulate. This has ensured that the region’s scallop population is healthy and stable, that no areas are fished prematurely, and that scallops are not overfished. By creating an exception to this system that favors certain interests, the council is jeopardizing one of the greatest success stories in U.S. fisheries management.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Rebuilding Maine’s Scallop Fishery: Part 2

February 11, 2016 — The scalloping season is scheduled from December through March or April, depending on which fishing zone you’re in.

State waters are broken up into three zones, each with its own set of rules.

Wednesday, Caitlin Burchill took us scallop fishing in Cobscook Bay, an area which has since been closed to scallop fishing for the season.

The Department of Marine Resources says they’ve made the scallop fishery their top priority.

While Maine may be known for lobster, they want fisherman to have another seafood to fall back on.

In recent years, the DMR has implemented special closures, shorter seasons, and fishing limits, among other things, to help rebuild the fishery after it was overfished and hit rock bottom in 2005.

State regulators say it’s working, but what do fishermen think about all the rules?

Caitlin Burchill looks into it.

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Tim Sheehan sees scallop harvesters at the end of a hard day’s work.

Many stop by his store in Perry to sell him fresh caught Cobscook Bay scallops.

“Everyone needs to eat and the prices are going up and up and up. Years ago, guys would fish all day to get $5 a pound. Well now, I’m paying them $12.50 and you know for a half a days work, not that they don’t have huge overhead, it’s pretty good days pay,” said Sheehan.

A better price perhaps thanks to the creation of fishery management plans.

Trisha Cheney overseas the scallop fishery for the Department of Marine Resources.

“We base all of our management on the best available science, so we also have a science team that’s in the field collecting information,” said Cheney.

The state also gets input from fishermen.

“Three different management approaches in three different areas of the state, and it’s based on what the harvesters want in that area and we’ve seen different success in those areas as well,” said Cheney.

But when Cheney calls for closures, she understandably gets some angry phone calls.

Read the full story at WABI

Ocean study demands new approach to fishery regulation

February 11, 2016 — Complexity is the confounding principle in the process of fishery regulation. It has led to confusion, acrimony, litigation and fear among the myriad stakeholders in the Northeast Multi-Species Fishery.

A study released last week by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole tackles complexity in a way that should empower regulators who are trying to balance conservation and economic goals, keeping the fishery profitable and preparing for an uncertain, changing ocean environment.

Regulators — the New England Fishery Management Council in the Northeast fishery — have been spinning their wheels until recently trying to respond to data about fish landings and species biomass without information that accurately depicts the changing environment.

Fish landings and biomass provide irreplaceable data for regulators to include in their decisions, but without scientific measurements on aspects of the broader environment — ocean temperatures, currents, salinity, acidity — it becomes less likely that prescriptions will be effective, and impossible to construct policies with any reach beyond a season or two of fishing. In other words, for fishing regulations to achieve intended goals, regulators cannot ignore the oceanic imbalance that has brought dramatic and rapid changes; their disruption of species’ behavior and biology is far beyond the limits of certainty, beyond the limits of traditional regulation.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard Times

NOAA Issues Climate Warning for Scallops

February 9, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD — “Sea scallops have a high vulnerability ranking,” reads a Feb. 3 announcement from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which operates in Woods Hole under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “Negative impacts are estimated for many of the iconic species in the ecosystem including Atlantic sea scallop, Atlantic cod and Atlantic mackerel.”

The NOAA study, formally known as the Northeast Climate Vulnerability Assessment, said Atlantic sea scallops have “limited mobility and high sensitivity to the ocean acidification that will be more pronounced as water temperatures warm.”

Water temperatures in Buzzards Bay have risen 4 degrees over the past two decades, for example, according to a recent study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

Scallops are vital to New Bedford’s fishing industry. NOAA Fisheries announced last October that New Bedford, for the 15th year in a row, was the No. 1 port in the country in terms of dollar value of its catch. Much of that value, which totaled $329 million in 2014, comes from scallops.

The money has big local impacts. Eastern Fisheries captain Christopher Audette, for example, told visitors at an annual buyers’ tour in March 2014 that deck hands on his scallop boat had taken home more than $200,000 in 2013 — and that he had made even more than that.

Harbor Development Commissioner Richard Canastra, who has been instrumental to the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction since 1984, said this week that the scallop industry — and stock — continues to boom in New Bedford.

“The biomass has been increasing over the last 10 years, and there is no sign of it depleting because of the warmer waters,” Canastra said. “They’re talking a few degrees, and that’s not going to make much of a difference in terms of scallop population.”

Chad McGuire, associate professor of environmental policy at UMass Dartmouth, said that while the NOAA findings are not a surprise, they could be another “warning signal” for the industry.

“This study suggests that if you care about one of the largest economic drivers for this region, then you need to care about climate change,” said McGuire, whose work includes fishery management and climate change issues.

“We should be worried that this could greatly affect how many scallops we’re taking in the future,” he added.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard-Times

Climate change poses threat to fish stocks, study finds

February 3, 2016 — Over the coming decades, dozens of marine species from the Carolinas to New England will be threatened by the warming, changing currents and the increased acidity expected to alter the region’s waters, according to a new study by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Atlantic salmon, winter flounder, bay scallops, ocean quahogs, and other species may face the kind of trouble from climate change that has been linked in previous research to the decline of Atlantic cod, which has lost an estimated 90 percent of its population over the past three decades, the study found.

The authors of the study, released Wednesday by the journal Plos One, found that half of the 82 species they evaluated along the northeastern coast are “highly” or “very highly” vulnerable to the effects of climate change, meaning their populations and ability to reproduce are likely to decline.

“The results show that climate change presents significant challenges to the region’s fishery management and to its ability to sustain fishing communities,” said Jonathan Hare, a NOAA oceanographer who was the lead author of study.

The study also found that 80 percent of the species studied are likely to move beyond their normal habitats.

Read the full story from the Boston Globe

 

These Fish Species Are Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

February 3, 2016—Scallop and salmon are among the species of fish most vulnerable to the warming of ocean waters due to climate change, according to new research.

The study, conducted by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and published in the journal PLOS One, evaluated how more than 80 species will respond to their rapidly warming environment in the waters off the coast of the Northeastern United States. Species that can consume a wide variety of prey and survive in many different habitats tended to be less vulnerable to warming than their counterparts confined to one area and to a few sources of sustenance.

Some species, like anchovies, black sea bass and Spanish mackerel, may even benefit from climate change. But species whose populations will be negatively affected—including mussels, shrimp and pollock—far out number those whose standing will improve, according to the study. Others will be left largely unaffected. The results show 17% of the 82 species examined will benefit from climate change, while 83% will either be hurt or not affected by warming.

The research, which evaluated waters from North Carolina to Maine, is the first of several planned by NOAA to assess how vulnerable fish in the U.S. are to climate change. The results provide little indication about when the fish populations will begin to feel the pressure of climate change.

Read the full story at Time

 

Emergency closure ordered for two Maine scallop fisheries

February 3, 2016 — Maine scallop fisheries in Cobscook Bay and Owls Head will face an emergency closure after Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) identified a 30% exceeded removal target.

The closures will be effective on Saturday, Feb. 6, the DMR said.

In addition, harvesting in the St. Croix River will be limited to one day per week for draggers on Wednesdays and one day per week for divers on Fridays during the months of February, March and April 2016.

Based on direct input from the Marine Patrol and independent industry participants as well as observations made through the department’s monitoring programs, the level of fishing effort in these areas during the fishing season has likely exceeded the 30% removal target that ensures the fishery continues to rebuild.

Cobscook Bay has experienced a high amount of fishing effort the past three fishing seasons, as well as this season, and requires “an immediate conservation closure”, DMR said.

This determination is based on information collected in the DMR fishery independent in-season survey, DMR port sampling and Marine Patrol observations as well as direct industry reports.

These reports indicate a total of 59 vessels have been consistently targeting the area since it opened on Dec. 1, 2015.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Peruvian Acuapesca Farmed Scallops Certified Sustainable

January 20, 2016 — PERU – The Peruvian company Acuacultura y Pesca Group (Acuapesca) has been confirmed Friend of the Sea certified for scallops from sustainable aquaculture.

After an independent assessment audit Acuapesca was found compliant with Friend of the Sea strict criteria of sustainability.

Acuapesca has been operating since 1989 in the remote and pristine areas of Guaynumá Bay and Nunura Beach with 5 farms and one processing plant.

Water parameters are checked periodically. The development of the facilities has not damaged critical ecosystems. The species (Argopecten purpuratus) is a native species, whose broodstocks are captured in the bay and induced to spawn in laboratory, for later reintroduction in the bay to continue the growth process. The scallops are grown in long line cages.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

 

Maine issues emergency closure to scalloping around Vinalhaven, Fox Island Thorofare

January 14, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine — The Department of Marine Resources in-season surveys conducted on Jan. 7 and 8, in specific scallop-fishing regions observed significant declines in scallop biomass densities, according to a Jan. 14 news release.They also determined that seed scallops were being illegally taken.

“An immediate conservation closure is necessary to reduce the risk of unusual damage and imminent depletion of the scallop resource in the Vinalhaven and Fox Island Thorofare and the Whiting and Dennys Bays,” said the DMR.

Therefore, DMR is adopting emergency regulations to close these areas Saturday, Jan. 16. In addition, a correction to the South Portland Harbor Targeted Closure will also be included to ensure enforceability of this area.

Vinalhaven and Fox Island Thorofare

In the Lower Penobscot Bay and Outer Islands Rotational Area, Marine Patrol, sea sampling, in-season surveys and direct industry reports indicate that the majority of fishing activity has been focused in the Fox Island Thorofare and around the inshore islands (Leadbetter, Hurricane, and Greens Islands) west and southwest of Vinalhaven.

Strong catches were reported during the first three weeks of the season, with upward of 20 vessels fishing and easily able to reach their daily landings limit by as early as 10 a.m. However, over the following weeks, Catch per unit effort decreased with vessels taking the majority of the day to reach their daily landings limit and the fleet began working in more exposed areas outside of the sheltered islands, indicating that the majority of legal sized scallops had been harvested from these areas.

Read the full story at Penobscot Bay Pilot