Saving Seafood

Plastic measures: Report lays out dangers plastics pose to marine life

November 19, 2020 — When Dr. Charles Innis, the lead veterinarian at the New England Aquarium, cut into a 400-pound leatherback sea turtle that had washed up dead on Sandy Neck in November of 2015, he was looking for cause of its demise, signs of disease or parasites.

What the necropsy team encountered was a 3-foot-square sheet of plastic lodged in its stomach.

By any measure, this turtle had experienced the worst that mankind could dish out. Shell deformities and X-rays revealed extensive fractures of the shell and vertebrae from a collision with a vessel. Heavy abrasions and lacerations around the front flippers indicated it had been entangled in fishing gear and that was believed to be the likely cause of death.

But the plastic, which when floating in the water resembles the jellyfish that are the leatherback’s favorite food, would have killed it eventually by blocking its intestine, Innis concluded.

From plastic netting and lines, down to the tiniest nanoplastics that can be eaten by zooplankton and enter the food chain, our seemingly endless seas are choking on plastic, and so are the animals who live there, according to a report released Thursday by the international ocean advocacy nonprofit Oceana.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

CALIFORNIA: CDFW Works with Commercial Dungeness Crab Industry and Environmental Community to Implement New Regulations to Protect Whales from Entanglement

November 5, 2020 — The following was released by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife:

The commercial Dungeness crab season in the central management area, which was scheduled to open Sunday, Nov. 15, will be delayed due to the presence of whales within fishing grounds and the potential for entanglement. In mid-November, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director will re-assess entanglement risk in the central management area and evaluate risk in the northern management area, which is scheduled to open Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Following increased numbers of large whale entanglements in 2015 and 2016, CDFW worked with the Dungeness crab fleet and partner organizations to develop the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). After substantial review and input from industry and the environmental community, the RAMP regulations became effective on Nov. 1, 2020. The risk assessment conducted by CDFW this week, in consultation with the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, is the first assessment conducted under the new RAMP regulations.

“While no one wants to delay the season, CDFW and the Working Group feel a delay is necessary to reduce the risk of entanglement,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “The fleet has gone to great lengths to be more nimble in order to protect whales and turtles, and the results are promising. This year for the first time in a long time it looks like we don’t have to worry about domoic acid, which is good news.”

In collaboration with Working Group advisors, agencies and other partners, CDFW is committed to collecting real time data regarding presence of Humpback and Blue whales, and Pacific leatherback sea turtles in Dungeness crab fishing grounds. Combined with an improved and consistent process for information sharing and decision making with the Working Group, CDFW is able to provide more certainty to the fleet as to the timing of potential delays and openings. When the whales migrate out of the fishing grounds in coming weeks, CDFW stands ready to open the commercial season.

Read the full release here

Federal court ruling requires NMFS to improve sea turtle monitoring in Atlantic scallop fishery

October 6, 2020 — A federal court has ruled in favor of an Oceana challenge to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) rules regarding the incidental take of endangered sea turtles in the U.S. Atlantic scallop fishery, siding with the nonprofit in its assertion that the rules are inadequate.

The ruling, according to Oceana, is the latest in a “decades-long effort” by the nonprofit to ensure the scallop fishery “minimizes its harmful impacts on sea turtles.” The ruling will require the NMFS to revise its incidental take statement (ITS) to either more thoroughly explain the surrogate information, or revise its selections.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Feds: NW Atlantic Leatherback Turtle Population Listing Change Not Warranted; Species Still at Risk

August 13, 2020 — A new review of leatherback sea turtle science found that seven distinct populations of leatherback sea turtles face a high extinction risk, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The federal agencies released the information Monday, noting that all seven are currently listed as endangered. Neither agency proposed a change to current global listings since a petition to identify the Northwest Atlantic population as a distinct population segment and threatened, not endangered, under the Endangered Species Act was unjustified.

Read the full story at Seafood News

California Plans to Protect Whales From Crab Traps Rankle All Sides

June 30, 2020 — At a public hearing Monday on proposed regulations for managing whale and sea turtle entanglements in commercial crab fishing gear on California’s coast, one thing was clear: No one’s happy.

Stakeholders on both sides of the aisle had complaints — environmentalists don’t think the protections go far enough, while industry groups say the regulations threaten the economic viability of the crab fishing industry.

Set to take effect Nov. 1, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) will serve as the primary mechanism for mitigating entanglement risk to humpback and blue whales and leatherback sea turtles whose populations are endangered and could suffer additional casualties due to getting caught in Dungeness crab fishing gear.

The regulation would replace the interim authority given to the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife under Senate Bill 1309, a 2018 law which gave the director the ability to restrict take of Dungeness crab in response to significant risk of marine life entanglement.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

New rules for California Dungeness crab fleet seek fewer whale entanglements

May 18, 2020 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife on Friday unveiled a batch of complex new rules designed to reduce the risk to endangered whales and sea turtles of becoming entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear.

The draft regulations are set to be finalized before the next commercial season starts in November after a period of public review.

They expand on a framework established under a legal settlement reached last year that allows for the state’s $60-million-a-year crab fishery to be delayed or closed when surveys and other observations suggest a high risk of concentrated fishing gear and marine life overlapping in the same place. The new rules are meant to allow more nuanced risk assessment and precise management actions rather than the closure of large swaths of ocean, as seen in recent seasons.

Among the provisions are options to restrict fishing in certain depths, require crabbers to set only a share of the traps for which they’re permitted or limit intervention to any of six newly established geographic zones, rather than the larger Northern and Central California management districts that currently exist.

Read the full story at The Press Democrat

US State Department bars import of wild-caught shrimp from China, Venezuela

April 30, 2020 — In a public notice posted to the Federal Register on 30 April, the U.S. Department of State announced that it is suspending the certification of wild-caught shrimp from China and Venezuela, making it ineligible to enter the U.S. for sale.

The suspension was in accordance with Section 609 of Public Law 101-162, which requires countries harvesting wild-caught shrimp in areas that contain sea turtles prove they have adequate laws regarding turtle excluding devices (TEDs). China’s certification was suspended due to “the use of methods of harvesting shrimp that may adversely affect sea turtles,” while Venezuela was suspended “due to the inability to confirm whether methods of harvesting shrimp may adversely affect sea turtles.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Seeking New Marine Mammal Stranding Partners in Massachusetts

April 29, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

As of May 1, the New England Aquarium will no longer respond to stranded marine mammals in order to focus their efforts on sea turtle response given the increasing number of sea turtle strandings in our region. Going forward, NOAA will receive calls about stranded seals, dolphins, and whales from Rockport through Plymouth, MA.

Because the Aquarium will no longer be responding to stranded marine mammals, we are seeking new partners to join our Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Network to serve communities in this area and aid in our response. Network participants are volunteer organizations trained and federally authorized to respond to sick or injured dolphins, seals, and whales that strand along our shorelines. For more information and to learn how to become an authorized response organization, please contact Mendy Garron, NOAA Regional Marine Mammal Response Program Coordinator at 978-282-8478 or mendy.garron@noaa.gov. To report a stranded marine mammal, please call the NOAA Regional Marine Animal Hotline at 866-755-6622. For more information about our Marine Mammal Stranding Network, visit our website.

Read the full release here

California crab fishery to close in May to protect whales

April 27, 2020 — Commercial fishermen are protesting an order by California wildlife authorities to close the Dungeness crab fishery in mid-May to protect whales and sea turtles from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

There have been no confirmed interactions between commercial Dungeness crab gear and any whales during the current crab season, which began in December, Ben Platt, president of the Crescent City-based California Coast Crab Association, said in a statement.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham on Wednesday ordered the fishery to close on May 15 for the remainder of the season south of the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, which is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of San Francisco.

Acknowledging challenges facing the commercial fishing industry during the coronavirus pandemic, the department said the decision “provides additional time on the water while balancing the need to protect whales and turtles.”

Read the full story at The North Bay Business Journal

Women’s History Month: Talking with Kate Sampson

March 26, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What do you do as the Sea Turtle Stranding and Disentanglement Coordinator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region?

I oversee a network of organizations that respond to and care for stranded (sick, injured, or dead) and entangled sea turtles. There are many facets of this role, including coordinating the placement of sick or injured sea turtles in rehabilitation facilities, solving state and federal permitting issues. I help locate pilots and planes to carry turtles south for release into warmer waters and consistent communication through the network. I also manage the important data collected from these events.

What do you like best about your job?

I enjoy working with the dedicated, caring staff and volunteers in the network. They impress me every day with their tireless efforts to rescue these endangered and threatened sea turtles.

What’s the hardest part of your job?

The hardest part is witnessing the conflict between sea turtles and human activities, such as boating, recreational and commercial fishing, and marine debris. Documentation of strandings is a vital source of information about the threats facing sea turtles. However, it’s difficult to see the results of these conflicts and not have immediate solutions. We continue to try to understand these conflicts and brainstorm new ways to address them.

Read the full release here