Saving Seafood

University of Massachusetts scientists improving cod counting technology

February 11, 2016 — A new video system designed by UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) scientists to assess the population of cod has passed its first major test, giving the researchers confidence that they can use this new approach to help improve the accuracy of future scientific assessments of this iconic species. Recent stock assessments indicate that the Gulf of Maine cod population is low and struggling to recover. Members of the fishing industry contest those results, suggesting the stock is much healthier than depicted in recent assessments.

“Our goal is to provide all stakeholders in this issue with trustworthy science that leads to smart management of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery,’’ said Dr. Kevin Stokesbury, whose team conducted the test. “We are pleased with the initial results and are looking forward to scaling up our work.”

The Baker-Polito Administration provided $96,720 in capital money through the state Division of Marine Fisheries to fund research tows recently conducted on Stellwagen Bank. This work builds on similar research that Dr. Stokesbury’s team has conducted on yellowtail flounder, which is also facing difficulty. Of special note, Dr. Stokesbury’s approach has been successfully used over the last sixteen years to measure the scallop population of the east coast resulting in improved assessments integral to sustaining that fishery and keeping New Bedford the top-ranked fishing port in the U.S.

“The work by UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology will complement work done by our federal partners by providing additional scientific data that will help us better understand what is happening to the cod stocks in New England,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Improving the data used to make informed decisions is critical to preserving the economic viability of the Commonwealth’s fishing industry.”

The new video system uses an open-end fishing net with video cameras mounted on its frame to capture images of the fish passing through the net. Researchers then review the video to count the different species, and estimate the size of each fish.

The current practice of counting cod involves catching the fish in a net and hauling them onto the deck of the vessel, then counting, weighing and measuring them. Dr. Stokesbury believes this practice is less efficient because the nets are only left in the water for a short period of time (20-30 minutes), while the open-end net can be left underwater for hours at a time collecting a greater amount of data on fish populations across a larger portion of the ocean. In addition, the traditional survey method kills most of the fish that are caught, while the new open-net video method causes no damage to the fish.

The tests were conducted on Stellwagen Bank January 7 -9 aboard the F/V Justice, a New Bedford-based commercial fishing boat captained by Ron Borjeson. Dr. Stokesbury was joined on the excursion by graduate students Travis Lowery and Nick Calabrese, and technician Christa Bank.

The objectives of the test were to determine whether the video camera system design functioned properly; whether the video fish counts matched on-deck fish counts; and whether the system could be used to measure the population of cod in the area.

Eleven 30 minute tows with an open net were conducted, while seven half hour tows were made with a closed net. For closed net tows, the fish were carefully brought onto the boat, counted, measured, weighed, and returned to the sea. Fish survival was high due to the care shown by the research team.

A total of 6,423 fish, representing 21 species, were collected during closed tows, with the three most abundant species being haddock (2,062), yellowtail flounder (1,444) and Atlantic cod (1,096). Cod ranged from 28 cm (10 inches) to over 80 cm (32 inches). Numbers and size of each species observed during open net tows are currently being derived from video footage.

Biological samples of cod were collected for two collaborative research projects related to the genetics and evolution of cod. SMAST, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, University of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute are participating in these studies.

“This experiment was successful beyond what I had hoped for,” Dr. Stokesbury said. “I was impressed with the abundance of cod and other species, particularly yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, and haddock.”

Read the story from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

UMass School for Marine Science and Technology – DFO Seminar – February 3, 2016

February 1, 2016 — The following was released by the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology:

Department of Fisheries Oceanography 

All Climate is Local:  Lessons in communicating science to the public

Heather Goldstone

NPR Radio Station WCAI and

Science Editor & Host of “Living Lab”

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

SMAST II, Room 157

200 Mill Road, Fairhaven, MA     

Note: Seminar will be simulcast to SMAST I, Room 204.

You can view the seminar live by clicking on “live event”  

Please note: the earliest you will be able to log in is 15 minutes before the regularly scheduled time.

To view a video of an SMAST seminar (post-October 1, 2014), go to http://www.umassd.edu/smast/newsandevents/seminarseries/ and click on a highlighted title.

‘Counting Fish’ takes a closer look at UMass Dartmouth team’s fishing industry research

November 16, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD — Gentle persuasion might best describe a new 50-minute documentary on fisheries research going on at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology.

Don Cuddy, program director for the Center for Sustainable Fisheries and a Mattapoisett resident, provides the narration, taking the viewer aboard the fishing vessel Liberty in May of 2015 to observe fish survey work.

There, one sees footage from eight days at sea, culled from seven hours, of Dr. Kevin Stokesbury of SMAST. He is the researcher who developed the “drop camera” for counting scallops on the sea floor, exposing faulty science, and helped create the highly profitable scallop industry known today.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is launching the new film, “Counting Fish,” on Harvest of the Sea Day, Nov. 22 at 1:30 p.m. in the museum theater, free to the public.

What viewers will see is a documentary that Cuddy agrees is small, done on a very tight budget.

But without lot of raised voices or a confrontational style, the film depicts SMAST scientists as conducting very serious survey work on fish populations. In between shots of nets being hauled up and fish being hand-counted on deck, Stokesbury and his crew explain carefully and in layman’s terms what they are doing and how they are doing it.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard Times

Fishing film to premier in New Bedford, Mass.

November 10, 2015 — The following was released by the Center for Sustainable Fisheries:

COUNTING FISH  

A film by Don Cuddy 

November, 22 at 1.30 p.m.

New Bedford Whaling Museum

New England groundfishermen are in trouble, with catch limits set so low that many boats remain tied to the dock. But the industry has little confidence in the NOAA survey that provides the raw data used for the stock assessment. Accurately counting fish populations in the ocean is a daunting task however and everyone agrees on the need for better science. SMAST researcher Kevin Stokesbury may have found a solution. By using underwater cameras to record fish passing through the open cod end of a net, SMAST survey tows can last for as long as two hours while allowing the fish to escape unharmed.

With very limited resources, Stokesbury and his team have been refining this technology on Georges Bank by conducting spring and fall surveys over the past three years; working in collaboration with the fishing industry which generously donates the boat, the grub and the fuel.

Don Cuddy, program director for the Center for Sustainable fisheries in New Bedford, joined the crew for the May 2015 survey and captured the experience on camera. Those eight days at sea produced more than seven hours of video footage that has now been distilled into a fifty-minute film, called, appropriately enough, ‘Counting Fish.’

 For a fascinating look into the world of marine research, join Cuddy, Stokesbury and the crew of the F/V Justice for the premier screening of ‘Counting Fish’ at the New Bedford whaling museum on Sunday, Nov.22 at 1.30 p.m.

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Fishery science will make all the difference

October 29, 2015 — The message coming to New Bedford fishermen from federal regulators isn’t all bad.

On Tuesday, the top administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, visited New Bedford to meet with local members of the fishing community and spoke in a way that suggests the regulators understand the industry’s perspective.

“We are committed to working with the best science and trying to find the right way forward to sustain the health of the fisheries and the fishing community,” she said following a closed-door meeting, a harbor tour and a discussion at the School for Marine Science and Technology in the South End.

There are short-term crises for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery as well as long-term crises. A brief postponement of industry-funded observers takes some pressure off the fishermen and allows more work to find a compromise that satisfies the requirement of the law without driving boats out of business. In the meantime, while the right folks work out that short-term crisis, there is a necessity to keep working on the long-term issues.

The industry can hardly focus beyond the looming requirement that they pay for the implementation of at-sea monitors on groundfish boats and the immediate economic effect it will have on marginally profitable permit holders.

For too long, the message from the courts, some environmental groups and older NOAA enforcement actions had been concerned with only the resource, not the impacts of trying to sustainably harvest that resource. Administrator Sullivan’s statement of NOAA’s commitment to keeping both strong — and underpinning that work with science — opens great opportunities for collaboration and success.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA head visits New Bedford, tours harbor

October 28, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The commercial fishing community had an opportunity to meet and discuss regulations on Tuesday with Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the first in person meeting between the NOAA administrator and local fishing community since 1993.

The closed-door meeting included a boat tour of the New Bedford Harbor and a discussion at the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with fishermen, city leaders, and other officials.

Sullivan’s visit comes as the ground fishing industry prepares to take another hit with the cost of at-sea monitors shifting to the fishing boats. Estimates are it will cost fishing boats $710 or more each day to employ a person to count the fish that a boat takes in.

The meeting was meant to spark a conversation between the regulators and the commercial fishing community in New Bedford, which is considered the United States’ top fishing port with annual landings valued at $379 million.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan to Visit New Bedford, Mass.

October 26, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by Center for Sustainable Fisheries: 

Mayor Jon Mitchell will host a visit by NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan tomorrow, Tuesday, October 27, 2015. 

Administrator Sullivan and Mayor Mitchell, accompanied by other officials, will meet with local fishing industry leaders as well as tour New Bedford harbor and the SMAST campus (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology).

Following a lunch at SMAST, participants will be available to answers questions from the press at 12:45 P.M. (706 South Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford)

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the federal agency charged with managing the nation’s fisheries; NMFS is an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce.

New Bedford is the America’s top fishing port for fourteen consecutive years with annual landings valued at $379 million.

UMass Dartmouth to break ground on $55m facility

October 22, 2015 — UMass Dartmouth will break ground Friday on a $55 million expansion to its School for Marine Science and Technology.

The new 76,000-square-foot facility will be next door to the existing School for Marine Science and Technology, according to a university statement Wednesday. It is being built in collaboration with the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

The university hopes the expansion will create a more comprehensive marine science campus for education and research of commercial fishing, coastal preservation, ocean observation, and climate change.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Massachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker approves $30 million for SMAST expansion in New Bedford

October 15, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Gov. Charlie Baker approved $30 million in state funding Thursday for the long-planned SMAST expansion at the UMass Dartmouth campus in the South End, clearing the way for a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 23 and spurring excitement from politicians and UMass administrators.

“I’m ecstatic about this,” said state Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford. “This project is one that, in the past few weeks, I thought we were going to lose.”

Baker’s administration has been scrutinizing proposed bond projects across the state since he took office in January. The administration put a hold about two months ago, Montigny said, on SMAST expansion funding that had been ostensibly secured through a prior agreement with former Gov. Deval Patrick.

Montigny and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell both said Thursday that they had been pushing hard for several weeks to secure the funding under the Baker administration.

“I’m thrilled that this project is at last going forward,” Mitchell said. “SMAST will continue to be a major counterpoint to federal government-sponsored fisheries research. And in that way, SMAST will continue to help level the playing field for our fishing fleet.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

SMAST researchers employ new methods of fish geolocation

October 9, 2015 — Researchers at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology are hoping that new methods of figuring out where fish go in the Gulf of Maine will begin to lead to a much better understanding of what is happening below the surface, aiding in stock assessments.

Dr. Geoffrey Cowles and his research assistants, graduate students Doug Zemeckis and Chang Liu, are partners in a multi-institution effort to tag yellowtail flounder, monkfish, and now cod to learn much more than past methods could tell them.

Called geolocation, the multi-partner research is using new measurements to begin to sort out where fish go after they are tagged and before they are (hopefully) recaptured.

Zemeckis went to sea on a state research vessel, and tagged dozens of cod with lipstick-sized devices that record temperature and pressure. Those can tell researchers quite a lot about where the fish spend their time.

Unlike simple tags, which just show where the fish was released and where it was caught, these devices record the data, which is being recovered and analyzed using methods that are still being developed.

Zemeckis said that since GPS signals do not penetrate water, global positioning doesn’t work for tracking fish.

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times