Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries to Hold Public Hearings on Proposed Critical Habitat for Ringed and Bearded Seals

February 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Public comments accepted through March 9, 2021

NOAA Fisheries will hold three public hearings on proposed rules to designate critical habitat in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population segment of bearded seals under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA Fisheries opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposed rules when they were published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2021. The proposed critical habitat in the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas provides sea ice conditions that are essential for ringed and bearded seal pupping, nursing, basking, and molting, as well as primary prey resources to support these seals. For bearded seals, the proposed critical habitat also provides acoustic conditions that allow for effective communication for breeding purposes.

Read more.

NOAA Fisheries Proposes Critical Habitat for Ringed and Bearded Seals in U.S. Arctic

January 7, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing to designate critical habitat in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population of bearded seals. Both species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The ESA requires that NOAA Fisheries designate critical habitat for listed species in areas within the jurisdiction of the United States. Critical habitat identifies geographic areas that contain features essential to the conservation of a listed species.

Designating critical habitat does not create a preserve or refuge, and would not affect subsistence harvest of ringed or bearded seals by Alaska Natives.

Read more.

Alaska wanted Arctic ringed seals off endangered species list; federal officials rejected that request

November 27, 2020 — On Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service ruled against a petition from the state of Alaska to delist the Arctic ringed seal from the Endangered Species Act.

Last year, the state of Alaska partnered with several North Slope entities to write the petition, arguing that keeping the ringed seal listed as endangered could negatively impact economic opportunities for the state, as well as subsistence rights.

“Although we provided substantial new information to the service, they argued that information was considered in other ways, even though that information wasn’t available previously,” said Chris Krenz, a wildlife science coordinator for the state. “We are disappointed that they took that tact with this petition.”

Krenz says the state believes that the ringed seal isn’t threatened. Officials noted the ringed seal population is in the millions, despite measurable losses in sea ice. Though climate scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service predict that by the year 2100, there will be little to no sea ice in the Arctic, Krenz argues that looking that far ahead doesn’t constitute the foreseeable future.

Read the full story at KTOO

Maine’s booming seal population concerns local fishermen, biologists

November 19, 2020 — There’s a lot of debate recently about the seal population in New England, specifically off the coast of Maine.

Once nearly extinct, experts are now seeing a rapid increase in the number of seals in the Gulf of Maine due to decades of legal protection.

Biologists say there are three points to consider: While the increase in harbor seals is creating a healthier ecosystem for the gulf of Maine, it’s also creating problems for local lobstermen who say they’re a threat to their livelihoods, and it’s drawing new and potentially dangerous fish into our waters at a rate the state has never seen before.

“Here we have a pretty big population of seals,” Rusty Court, who’s been lobstering off the coast of Monhegan and Boothbay Harbor for 50 years, said.

Read the full story at WGME

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