Saving Seafood

MAINE: Conservation success or pests? Seals spark passionate debate

October 5, 2020 — Nick Muto has fished up and down the New England coast and there is nothing that gets his blood boiling more than the sight of a seal.

Muto, whose two boats fish for groundfish such as skate and monkfish as well as lobster, is among a growing group of anglers, beach goers and local officials who are quick to blame everything from disease to depleted fisheries to increased shark sightings on the exploding seal population.

“Areas that we used to traditionally fish that were as close to guarantees as you could get have been strip mined of fish, and the fish have been driven out of there by seals,” Muto said. “They have eaten fish out of our nets. They have been caught in our nets. They are everywhere.”

The debate over seals was reignited after the death in July of a swimmer killed by a great white off Harpswell, Maine. Seals are often shark prey, and experts believe Julie Dimperio Holowach may have been mistaken for a seal.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Hawaiian Monk Seal Translocation Project Improves Survival

August 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In a recent study, we found that our Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program’s translocation efforts from 2012 to 2014 proved highly successful. Translocation is “the deliberate movement of organisms from one site for release in another.” It has been broadly applied to manage and conserve terrestrial wildlife since the 1800s. But it is far less common in the marine world, and is rarely applied to marine mammals. However, our team’s efforts buck that trend—about 400 monk seals have been translocated since the 1980s.

Most of these actions were taken to reduce immediate risks associated with the seals’ location:

Monk Seal Recovery Efforts

These translocations are part of many activities our researchers and staff conduct to improve the survival of seals:

  • Removing marine debris from entangled seals and from their habitat
  • Removing fishing hooks embedded in seals’ bodies
  • Re-uniting mothers and pups who become separated
  • Mitigating shark predation
  • Rehabilitating injured, sick or starving seals
  • Vaccinating seals to prevent disease (distemper) outbreaks
  • Conservation translocation

We estimate that up to one-third of the remaining monk seals are alive due to these and other interventions.

Read the full release here

BOSTON HERALD: Feds offer more protections to seals than humans

August 4, 2020 — Maine’s first shark-caused human fatality came as a shock to residents and vacationers alike, but the odds of that occurring in Massachusetts waters increase virtually daily, thanks to conservation efforts that have swelled both seal and shark populations.

Authorities have confirmed that a 63-year-old woman from New York City was killed by a great white shark on Monday while swimming with her daughter off Harpswell, Maine’s Bailey Island.

Julie Dimperio Holowach became the first known person to die from a shark attack in Maine’s history, Patrick Keliher, the state’s Marine Patrol Commissioner, said at a Tuesday press conference.

Holowach, wearing a wetsuit, was swimming with her daughter about 20 yards from the shore when she was attacked. Thankfully her daughter escaped injury.

Read the full story at The Boston Herald

Finding more sharks off Maine’s coast could change our relationship with the ocean

July 31, 2020 — Three days after a great white killed a swimmer off Bailey Island in Harpswell, officers from the Maine Marine Patrol continued to scour coastal waters for sharks by land and by sea.

If they find a great white shark, they won’t kill it. Instead, state officials mostly seek information to document the presence of sharks and alert coastal communities.

Scientists and researchers also hope to learn more information about the species, saying that photos and reports of sharks and seals killed by sharks are helpful to them. Those can be shared with their local marine patrol officer, including as much specific information as possible.

“They tell us what species the shark is biting, where and when that’s happening, and the potential size and shape of the shark based on bite wounds,” Greg Skomal, a shark expert from Massachusetts said of the photos of seals attacked by sharks. “That is very useful information. We can start to piece together the predatory behavior of white sharks.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: More seals means learning to live with sharks in New England

July 31, 2020 — Seals are thriving off the Northeast coast thanks to decades of protections, and that victory for wildlife has brought a consequence for humans — more encounters with sharks.

Seals are a favorite prey of large sharks such as the great white. The recent death of swimmer Julie Dimperio Holowach, who was killed by a great white off Harpswell, Maine, might have happened because the shark mistook her for a seal, authorities said.

Swimmers off the New England states have learned to be more mindful in recent years due to a spate of sightings of great whites, the apex predator made famous in the movie “Jaws.” A shark that killed a man off Cape Cod in 2018 was also believed to be a great white.

That was the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts in more than eight decades, while the death of Holowach on Monday was the first documented fatal shark attack in Maine history.

“They’re not vindictive or mad or angry or preferring human flesh. They just occasionally make a mistake. And it’s tragic when they do,” said Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “As we restore top predators, the potential for these interactions could increase.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Great whites attracted by plentiful seal populations in Maine waters

July 29, 2020 — Monday’s fatal shark attack off Harpswell is the result of rebounding great white shark and seal populations along the Maine coast, experts say.

The attack on Julie Dimperio Holowach, 63, was the first fatal shark attack in the state’s history. A diver was attacked off Eastport in 2010, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File, but he was not injured and fended off a porbeagle shark with his video camera.

Seal populations have grown since a 1972 law barred killing of marine mammals and white shark numbers have been rebounding for two decades as a result of a rule that said fishermen could no longer kill the fearsome predators, a shark expert based in Massachusetts said.

Gregory Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries dismissed speculation that warming water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine might be enticing more great whites to the state’s coastline.

He said the sharks always have been frequent visitors to Maine waters, but that growing seal populations might be drawing them closer to the shore. Seals are a favorite food of the great white, he said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Scientist: Increase In Seal Population Likely Attracting More Sharks To Maine Waters

July 29, 2020 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has identified Julie Dimperio Holowach, of New York City, as the victim of a shark attack near Bailey Island yesterday. She was pronounced dead after being helped to the shore following the attack.

It may be the first recorded encounter of its kind in Maine and has sparked beach closures in parts of the state.

Dr. Nick Whitney, senior scientist and chair of the Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies Program with the New England Aquarium in Boston, spoke with Maine Public’s Nora Flaherty about why there might be more sharks in Maine now than there have been in the past.

Dr. Whitney: I think it’s generally accepted that the increase in number of seals is leading to more white sharks coming closer to shore during some months. Other than that, I’m not sure if there’s been any major changes in migration patterns. Sharks have probably been using these waters for decades or longer.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Reminder to Give Seals Space

April 1, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

As more people are taking to the outdoors and we approach harbor seal pupping season, we are asking the public to help us by social distancing with animals too! Respect the social distance that is required by these sensitive animals. Help our stranding responders stay safe by not endangering, touching, or closely approaching  potentially healthy animals.

Read our webstory for more information about how you can help us avoid wildlife tragedies.

Questions?
Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

Hawaiian Monk Seal Population Saw Signs of Recovery in 2019

March 19, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Hawaiian monk seal population has shown some signs of recovery over recent years. The size of the monk seal population in 2019 was about the same as in 2018, with slightly more than 1,400 seals. Most of the population (about 1,100 seals) reside in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Just about 300 seals call the main Hawaiian Islands home. While the population size hasn’t really changed since last year, the population trend remains positive in recent years. It has been growing at an average annual rate of 2 percent since 2013.  The potential for our continued conservation efforts to make such a positive impact is part of what makes Hawaiian monk seals one of NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight.

NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program closely tracks these year-to-year population trends, thanks to a robust, long-term dataset. During the 2019 field season, dedicated field biologists lived and worked on remote islands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for 3 to 5 months (depending on the site). In the main Hawaiian Islands, we rely on volunteers, members of the public, and agency partners who contribute to citizen-based seal monitoring.

Read the full release here

What lives, what dies? The role of science in the decision to cull seals to save cod

March 16, 2020 — Atlantic cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland supported one of the world’s greatest fisheries for over three centuries. Yet this seemingly inexhaustible resource is in bad shape. Some stocks are now endangered and their survival could depend on removing a key predator, the grey seal.

This raises some difficult questions: How do we determine the value of one species over another, and what is the role of science in this conundrum?

My colleagues and I in the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of British Columbia are fascinated by these questions. As an interdisciplinary group of economists, ecologists and social scientists, we commonly attribute values to animals in different ways. But determining whether to kill one animal to preserve another is less straightforward.

The collapse of the Grand Banks fisheries is considered one of the most significant failures in the history of natural resource management — akin to the ongoing degradation of the Amazon — and casts a long shadow over Canadian fisheries management.

Read the full story at The Conversation