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Scallop sales to pay for projects to help turtles, fisheries

May 18, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — The sale of scallops will help pay for projects designed to study subjects such as the impact of fishing on sea turtles and how to make the New England shellfish fishery more efficient.

The New England Fishery Management Council announced awards to 15 such projects on Wednesday. The projects are funded via a program that uses sale of scallops to pay for science.

The projects are awarded pounds of scallops that have been set aside from the rest of the fishing quota, and applicants partner with fishermen to harvest the shellfish and generate money.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle Times

Scallop RSA Program: NEFMC and NOAA Announce 15 Awards Selected for 2018-2019 funding

May 16, 2018 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) are pleased to announce that 15 projects have been selected for 2018-2019 funding through the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program.

“The Scallop RSA Program truly has become one of the flagships of the scallop fishery,” said New England Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn. “The collaborative efforts that take place at sea between fishermen and researchers go a long way toward enhancing our understanding of what’s happening with the resource. The results of this RSA work funnel back to the Council and support stock assessments. Without a doubt, the RSA program helps us better manage our – Virginia Institute of Marine Science photo extremely valuable scallop fishery.”

Projects will address research priorities established by the Council, with a particular focus on resource surveys. The awards are expected to generate more than $12 million: $3 million to fund research; and $9 million to compensate industry partners who harvest set-aside quota

“We are excited to be able to work with the New England Fishery Management Council, industry, and scientists to fund sea scallop science through the Research Set-Aside Program,” said NEFSC Science and Research Director Dr. Jon Hare. “The projects funded support surveys, bycatch mitigation, and biological studies, all with the purpose of improving the information used in the management of the sea scallop resource.”

The New England Council established the Sea Scallop RSA Program to address research questions that support management of the scallop resource. The Council sets the research priorities and researchers compete for funding through a federal grant competition managed by NOAA Fisheries.

No federal funds are provided to support the research. Instead, projects are awarded pounds of scallops, which have been “set aside” from the annual fishery quota for this purpose. Successful applicants partner with the fishing industry to harvest their set-aside award to generate funds for the research. There are active research set-aside programs for Atlantic sea scallops, Atlantic herring, and monkfish.

2018-2019 Scallop RSA Award Summary

The awards fall into three categories: scallop surveys (dredge, drop camera, and HabCam); bycatch mitigation; and sea scallop biology.

Scallop Surveys

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) received new awards to conduct dredge surveys in Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Nantucket Lightship. Under an existing award from last year, VIMS also will conduct a dredge survey of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. As part of ongoing efforts to better understand scallop survey dredge performance, VIMS investigators received an award to evaluate the hydrodynamic characteristics of both lined and unlined survey dredges in the largest flume tank in the world, located in St. John’s, Newfoundland at Memorial University’s Marine Institute.

The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) received three awards to conduct surveys using a drop-camera array. Through these awards, researchers plan to conduct high-resolution surveys of the Nantucket Lightship, Closed Area I, Great South Channel, and select portions of the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will conduct Habitat Camera Mapping System (HabCam) optical surveys throughout the Mid-Atlantic Bight and on the northern flank of Georges Bank. In addition to these surveys, researchers will continue to evaluate dredge effects on habitat and habitat recovery in the Closed Area II Habitat Area of Particular Concern. Coonamessett Farm Foundation will conduct a HabCam survey of the Nantucket Lightship and Southern Flank of Georges Bank.

Bycatch Mitigation

Coonamessett Farm Foundation will continue its seasonal survey on Georges Bank, collecting information on bycatch rates for yellowtail flounder and other species relative to scallop meat yield. These data also will be used to evaluate sea scallop health and meat quality, biological questions about several flounder species, and to examine lobsters for shell disease.

Coonamessett Farm Foundation will continue its loggerhead sea turtle tagging program, receiving funds to tag up to 20 loggerheads with water activated tags. Tag data will be used to evaluate spatial and temporal overlap between loggerhead sea turtles and the scallop fishery.

Coonamessett Farm Foundation also will be testing a dredge twine-top cover net in an attempt to quantify dredge selectivity characteristics.

Sea Scallop Biology

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science will investigate sea scallop density-dependence factors that may be affecting growth, mortality, and reproduction of scallops in the Nantucket Lightship and Elephant Trunk areas. In addition, VIMS will conduct a pilot study to extend the current stock assessment model to better account for sea scallop ages with a particular focus on the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Nantucket Lightship areas.

WHOI will receive support to determine if a gonadosomatic index (GSI) can be calculated from Light Field 3D images of shucked scallops collected during fishing operations. The GSI is used to assess maturity and spawning events in many species of fish and shellfish, including scallops. If successful, this could improve the ability to collect and quantify scallop maturation and spawning data during the course of routine fishery sampling procedures.

The 2018-2019 award listings can be found on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center website at: https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/coopresearch/news/scallop-rsa-2018-2019/.

RSA award announcements and answers to “frequently asked questions” also are available at https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/coopresearch/rsa_program.html.

Visit the New England Council’s scallop webpage: https://www.nefmc.org/management-plans/scallops.

View the release in its entirety here.

Hawaii Longline Swordfish Fishery Closed for Rest of Year; Industry Helped Negotiate Closure

May 15, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In the ups and downs of the Hawaiian swordfish fishery, the recent May 8 closure for the rest of the year was no surprise to the industry. Longliners worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service and plaintiffs of a recent lawsuit to comply with a court order.

The Turtle Island Restoration Network, Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice originally sued the Department of Commerce over a 2012 biological opinion that allowed the shallow set longline fishery to take a certain number of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles every year. The U.S. District Court of Hawaii ruled in NMFS’ favor, so the ENGOs appealed. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision on Dec. 27, 2017, affirming the BiOp regarding leatherback sea turtles, but not for loggerhead turtles. The Hawaii Longline Association, which filed as interveners, were party to the settlement negotiations with the plaintiffs and NMFS, which were outlined in a May 4, 2018 agreement and court order. The result for 2018 was closure for the rest of the year.

While ENGOs are cheering the outcome as a victory for sea turtles, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and does more to promote an agenda for the plaintiffs rather than have any actual effect this year.

“The National Marine Fisheries Service, which is supposed to be protecting our wildlife, has instead been illegally helping the longliners push sea turtles to the brink of extinction,” Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff said in a press release. “We won’t allow it.”

The main swordfish season usually takes place in the winter, with most landings occurring by the end of March. This year was an anomaly, Hawaii Longline Association President Sean Martin said, in that the fishery reached its annual limit of turtle interactions in January, so the fleet was already done with swordfish for the year.

“We’re on the tail end of what would be the prime season anyway,” Martin said.

The fishery will open again on Jan. 1, 2019, no matter what, Martin said. Since the court vacated the 2012 biological opinion, NMFS is working on a new one. The agency could come back with a new incidental take statement for next year’s fishing season. Or, if the BiOp and corresponding take statement are not finished by Jan. 1, the fishery will open under an incidental take allowance approved by an earlier BiOp that allowed roughly half the number of turtle interactions as the 2012 BiOp.

Federal officials note the loggerhead turtles already show signs of recovery due to a history of better management measures, such as circle hooks and using mackerel for bait — squid bait is prohibited –has proven immensely effective worldwide. Most turtles caught in the fishery are released alive.

Those measures and more, implemented in the early 2000s, reduced sea turtle interactions in the fishery by 93 percent, the Council said. Observer coverage is 100 percent; all vessel owners and operators annually attend mandatory protected species workshops; all longline vessels are required to carry specified tools to safely remove hooks and lines from the turtles and to follow safe handling, resuscitation and release procedures; vessels are monitored through a mandatory satellite-based vessel monitoring system; and longline closed areas from 0 to 50 nautical miles of the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have existed since the early 1990s.

“The record of 99 percent live releases, only two mortalities in 24 years and increasing loggerhead abundance over the past two decades underscore the management success of the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery,” Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds said in a press release.

Martin said most of the 30 or so longline vessels will instead turn to the deep-set longline fishery for the remainder of the year, targeting tunas.

This story originally appeared in Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

Hawaii swordfish industry shut down to protect endangered turtles

May 11, 2018 — A federal court order to protect endangered loggerhead sea turtles has forced the National Marine Fisheries Service to immediately close the shallow-set longline fishery in Hawaii for the rest of the year.

A 2012 lawsuit filed by the Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, was rejected in a Hawaii district court but they eventually won a split decision on appeal in December.

The parties reached an agreement Friday to settle the case. It included an immediate shutdown of the shallow-set longline fishery, which targets swordfish. NMFS implemented the closure Thursday.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

NOAA Fisheries: Sea Turtle Safe Handling and Release Gear Workshops

May 3, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

WHAT/WHEN:

NOAA Fisheries requires sea turtle safe handling and release gear be onboard federally-permitted commercial and for-hire vessels in the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery to increase fisherman and sea turtle safety if incidentally captured; there are also sea turtle handling protocols that describe the proper techniques for removing fishing gear.
NOAA Fisheries will be holding workshops and dockside outreach in the locations listed below.
During the outreach opportunities, NOAA Fisheries personnel will review the gear requirements and handling protocols.
For more information, contact Charlie Bergmann at (228) 238-4109 or charles.bergmann@noaa.gov.
Additional information on sea turtle safe handling and release gear and protocols are available at the following:

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/gulf_sa/turtle_sawfish_release/index.html.

Note: Workshops will take place May 7-15, 2018 in Florida. See the complete Fishery Bulletin from NOAA Fisheries for a list of dates, times, and locations for the workshops.

Lawsuit challenges fishing methods that could threaten right whales

April 27, 2018 — BOSTON — A noted environmental activist has gone to court to stop the use of vertical buoy fishing lines in Massachusetts waters to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

In a lawsuit filed in late February in U.S. District Court in Boston, Cambridge-based conservationist Richard Maximus Strahan names the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, the commissioners of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, as a representative of its 1,800 members.

The lawsuit is the third filed in federal court this year related to protecting North Atlantic right whales.

Strahan is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop lobstermen’s association members from further lobster pot and gill net commercial fishing operations that could result in the entanglement of any endangered whale or sea turtle, according to the amended complaint. In that same order, Strahan seeks to stop government defendants from licensing those types of commercial fisheries operations unless they can scientifically demonstrate that endangered whales and sea turtles would not be killed or injured.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

ISSF Report Analyzes Purse Seine Tuna Fishing Impacts on Sharks, Rays, and Other Species

November 28, 2017 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

Using data from Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), scientific observer programs, and its own at-sea research and skippers workshops, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has published an updated report that documents purse-seine tuna fishing’s impact on “non-target” species. The bycatch species covered in the report are sharks, whale sharks, rays, finfish, sea turtles, and billfish. While they are not bycatch species, the report also touches upon catches of undesirably small bigeye and yellowfin tunas.

Organized by species and including graphics and a full bibliography, “ISSF 2017-06: A Summary of Bycatch Issues and ISSF Mitigation Activities to Date in Purse Seine Fisheries, with Emphasis on FADs”:

Identifies issues of concern for each species
Summarizes the effectiveness of different bycatch-mitigation practices — at different stages of fishing operations — for either avoiding non-target species or reducing their mortality when caught
Describes ongoing ISSF bycatch research activities
Lists existing RFMO measures for minimizing bycatch

“A Summary of Bycatch Issues” is intended to be a useful reference for fishers and tuna companies, scientists, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), government agencies, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) including conservation groups, and others interested in helping fisheries to be more sustainable.

Report Data and Insights Can Guide Conservation Efforts
The November 2017 report, authored by ISSF staff and collaborating scientists Victor Restrepo, Laurent Dagorn, David Itano, Ana Justel-Rubio, Fabien Forget, and Gala Moreno, is an update of a 2014 publication.

Not all non-target species are equally vulnerable to becoming bycatch in purse-seine fisheries, and bycatch rates for a single species can vary across oceans. For some species, other fishing methods have higher bycatch than purse-seine fishing. Here are some key findings in the report:

SHARKS: 90% of sharks that become entangled in FAD nets in purse-seine fisheries are silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis); the oceanic whitetip shark ( longimanus) is another bycatch species. By avoiding setting on small schools of tuna (e.g. < 10 tons) around FADs, fishers could significantly reduce their catches of silky sharks by 20% to 40%, depending on the ocean.
WHALE SHARKS: Whale shark (Rhyncodon typus) interaction rates with purse seiners are very low: The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), for example, recorded a set encounter rate of 0.94%. But any whale shark fishing mortality is a concern due to their life history and ecological significance. Time/area fishing closures do not appear effective for avoiding catching whale sharks, but best practice guidelines for their release exist.
RAYS: Rays are not common bycatch in purse seine fisheries, at less than 0.1% by weight, and are mostly caught in free-school sets. Release from the deck is a viable alternative to release from the net. Fishers should avoid using hooks, wires or tightening slings and lifting or dragging by the gill slits or cephalic lobes.
SEA TURTLES: Sea turtles are caught in very small numbers by purse seiners, with most (> 90%) released alive relatively easily. Using non-entangling FADs can prevent turtle entanglement.
UNDESIRABLY SMALL BIGEYE AND YELLOWFIN TUNAS: Bigeye and yellowfin are not considered non-target species. Nonetheless, FAD fishing for skipjack stocks can result in higher catches of small bigeye and yellowfin, which can contribute to their overfishing. The species’ slower growth rates, higher longevity and higher age at maturity increase vulnerability to fishing. Mitigation efforts being evaluated include: adjusting the relative prices of small bigeye and skipjack tuna; setting species-specific quota; temporarily closing to fishing some areas of high concentrations; or managing the number of fishing sets on floating objects.

ISSF on Bycatch Mitigation
Since its inception in 2009, ISSF has dedicated resources and efforts to understanding bycatch issues in tuna fisheries (see “Related ISSF Activities” sections in the report). In addition to publishing scientific reports, ISSF hosts bycatch-mitigation workshops and publishes guidebooks and videos for skippers and other stakeholders. The Foundation also advocates science-based, mitigation measures to RFMOs through meetings and side events, position statements, and joint letters.

Commercial vessels catch about 4.7 million tons of tuna annually. Purse-seine vessels dominate large-scale tuna fishing, harvesting about 64% of the tropical tuna catch (skipjack, yellowfin, and bigeye tuna). Many purse seiners use Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) or other floating objects to attract tuna to their nets, although they also may pursue sets on free-swimming tuna schools. More than half of the total tropical tuna landings globally are made by sets on FADs or other floating objects.

Bycatch occurs across most major tuna fishing methods — including longline, gillnet, and troll — and all fishing methods can affect the marine environment in multiple ways beyond bycatch.

“ISSF 2017-06: A Summary of Bycatch Issues and ISSF Mitigation Activities to Date in Purse Seine Fisheries, with Emphasis on FADs” can be downloaded from the ISSF site.

For more information on tuna stock health, see ISSF’s Status of the Stocks. For more information on FAD fishing and bycatch, see ISSF’s Questions and Answers about FADs and Bycatch.

Feds might add more fisheries to turtle protection program

November 14, 2017 — CAPE MAY, N.J. — Federal fishing regulators are considering requiring more commercial fishermen to assist with a program that seeks to protect sea turtles.

The National Marine Fisheries Service requires observers to be placed on fishing boats in some fisheries to collect data that help with minimization of harm to turtles. The service says it wants to include a group of mid-Atlantic fisheries to the program next year because of the need to collect more data about accidental catch of sea turtles.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WSOCTV

An Alarming Number of California Whales Are Getting Caught In Fishing Lines

California has seen a record-breaking number of whale entanglements over the last three years. Now, the Center for Biological Diversity is suing the state for failing to protect its endangered species.

August 30, 2017 — Justin Viezbicke once saw a whale struggling to swim up the coast of California without a tail. Though it was a disturbing sight, Viezbicke wasn’t exactly shocked; he’d encountered similar circumstances before. Viezbicke, the California stranding network coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, surmised that this particular whale’s flukes had been severed off by fishing gear. He knew the animal wouldn’t make it far.

In the past, Viezbicke has come across whales that lost blood-flow to their tails due to rope lines tangled tightly around their bodies. Less severe entanglements than the one Viezbicke witnessed can still lead to deadly infections or otherwise interfere with the animal’s ability to feed or forage.

“These entanglements are long, drawn-out processes,” Viezbicke says. “They can last months, sometimes even longer depending on the nature of the entanglement, and the will of the animal.”

The number of whales entangled in fishing lines off the West Coast of the United States has been sharply rising in recent years. In 2016, 71 whales became entangled in fishing gear off the West Coast, breaking the entanglement record for the third consecutive year. “We’re lucky if we get some or all of the gear off of a half dozen to a dozen of the whales every year,” Viezbicke says.

Entanglements are not always fatal, but for some threatened species, even a small number of deaths could be enough to collapse an entire population. (One subpopulation of humpback whales that feeds off the coast of California, for example, now numbers a mere 400.) Twenty-one endangered or threatened whales and one leatherback sea turtle were entangled in Dungeness crab gear in the Pacific Ocean in 2016; typically, Dungeness crab traps consist of a pot used to collect crabs on the seafloor, attached to a line of rope that extends to a buoy on the ocean surface.

Read the full story at Pacific Standard

NMFS Institutes More Swordfish Research Off Florida, Praised by EDF

August 16, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Dr. David Kerstetter of Nova Southeastern University will receive an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to conduct research in the East Florida Coast Pelagic Longline Closed Area. Dr. Kerstetter will be working alongside Atlantic swordfish fishermen in an effort to “improve understanding of encounter rates of juvenile swordfish and species like sharks, bullfishes and sea turtles in order to find the best ways to reduce their mortality.”

According to Katie Westfall, senior manager of highly migratory species advocacy for EDF’s Oceans Program, fishermen have already made sacrifices to help the Atlantic swordfish population rebound. However, this project will help by collecting data from fisheries that “interact with imperiled highly migratory species.”

“The project will also pioneer an approach to link catch data with oceanographic data, allowing researchers to learn over time where and when species will occur in order to help fishermen avoid bycatch of sharks, billfishes, and sea turtles,” Westfall added. “This has the potential to be transformative by dramatically minimizing unnecessary deaths of protected species while improving the catch of healthy target species like swordfish.”

Westfall is hopeful that the research will help “pave the way to responsibly increasing yield in domestic fisheries and strengthening revenues for American seafood businesses.”

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.