Sturgeon Archives - Page 3 of 4

Sturgeon ruling may impact federally funded projects

Merrimack River made ‘critical habitat’ for Atlantic sturgeon

September 1, 2017 — They are large, bony fish whose ancestors began swimming the Earth during the Triassic period, some 245 million years ago.

The federal government says the Atlantic sturgeon is now an endangered species in some places and is threatened in others, and that states up and down the Eastern Seaboard must take necessary measures to ensure their survival.

A ruling handed down on Aug. 16 by the Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, designates the Gulf of Maine as a critical habitat for the fish, which includes approximately 152 miles of water in the Merrimack River in Massachusetts, the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin and Piscataqua rivers of Maine, and the Cocheco and Salmon Falls rivers of New Hampshire.

But what sort of impact will the efforts to replenish the Atlantic sturgeon population have on Merrimack Valley cities like Haverhill and Lawrence?

Allison Ferreira, spokeswoman for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, said Friday that the ruling mandates that when a federal agency constructs or develops a project near the river or there is a project that is receiving some amount of federal money, such as a highway or bridge project where there could be significant water runoff, that agency must contact NOAA to ensure proper measures are taken so as not to upset the fish’s natural habitat.

Read the full story at the Haverhill Gazette

NOAA Fisheries Designates Critical Habitat for Atlantic Sturgeon

August 16, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries today designated critical habitat for Atlantic sturgeon–an important step to ensuring their recovery.

The critical habitat designation will require federal agencies to consult NOAA Fisheries if they operate or fund activities that may affect designated critical habitat in more than 3,968 miles of important coastal river habitat from Maine to Florida. Atlantic sturgeon was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2012 and is comprised of the threatened Gulf of Maine distinct population segment and the endangered New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic distinct population segments.

The ESA requires that NOAA Fisheries designate critical habitat when a species is listed as threatened or endangered. Under the ESA, critical habitat is defined as specific areas within the geographical areas that are occupied by the species, that contain physical or biological features essential to the conservation of that species, and that may require special management considerations.

The designation of critical habitat does not include any new restrictions or management measures for recreational or commercial fishing operations, nor does it create any preserves or refuges. Instead, when a federal agency funds, authorizes, or carries out activities that may affect critical habitat, it must work with NOAA Fisheries to avoid or minimize potential impacts to critical habitat. The activity of the federal agency may need to be modified to avoid destroying or adversely modifying the critical habitat.

“We look forward to working with our federal partners to reduce potential impacts to Atlantic sturgeon critical habitat,” said Samuel D. Rauch III, deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs at NOAA Fisheries. “Our focus now will be on providing guidance to federal agencies to help them carry out their actions efficiently and effectively while minimizing impacts to habitat that is critical to these endangered and threatened populations of sturgeon.”

Atlantic sturgeon are anadromous and use coastal and estuarine waters throughout their lives, and travel to rivers to spawn or lay their eggs. Unlike some anadromous fish, sturgeon do not die after spawning and will return to spawn multiple times. They can grow up to 14 feet long, weigh up to 800 pounds, and live up to 60 years.

Historically, Atlantic sturgeon inhabited approximately 38 rivers in the United States spanning from Maine to Florida. Scientists identified 35 of those as spawning rivers. Atlantic sturgeon can now be found in approximately 32 of these rivers, and spawn in at least 20 of them. Critical habitat areas in coastal rivers were identified based on physical and biological features, such as soil type in the river bed, water temperature and salinity, and underwater vegetation, that are essential to the conservation of Atlantic sturgeon, particularly for spawning and development.

Atlantic sturgeon were harvested heavily in the twentieth century, particularly for their eggs (or roe) used for caviar. Overfishing led to a decline in abundance of Atlantic sturgeon, and in 1998 the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission issued a coast-wide moratorium on the harvest of Atlantic sturgeon, and NOAA Fisheries followed with a similar moratorium in federal waters.

More information on the critical habitat designation is available in the Federal Register notice and on our website.

MARYLAND: More sturgeon turn up in Bay, raising new questions – and worry

July 13, 2016 — For years, scientists thought there might not be any native Atlantic sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay. That idea changed in recent years, as biologists began netting hundreds of adults in the James River, and others began turning up in other tributaries.

Now, genetic analyses show the Chesapeake is home to at least two — and possibly more — distinct populations of the endangered fish.

DNA analysis shows that James River sturgeon and those recently found spawning next door in the Pamunkey River, a tributary of the York River, are not even particularly closely related, despite their geographic proximity.

The 138 Pamunkey fish sampled seem more closely related to what could be a third population farther up, and across, the Bay in the Nanticoke River where 15 adult fish have been caught — and released — the last two years.

It’s too early to say whether the sturgeon netted in the Nanticoke and its tributaries constitute a unique population, said Tim King, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who did the genetic analysis. King said he would like at least 25–30 samples before offering a more concrete opinion about the Nanticoke sturgeon.

“It is way too early to draw any conclusions,” King said. “But it would seem that they are not James fish. They are genetically more similar to the Pamunkey fish than they are the James, but I am not willing to say that they are Pamunkey fish.”

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Thanks to ‘Dr. Shark,’ researchers can learn and let live

June 24, 2016 — A UNE researcher known as ‘Dr. Shark’ develops a method that allows fish data collection without killing the specimens.

A decade ago, when James Sulikowski first came to the University of New England, scientists who studied shark reproduction had to kill and gut their specimens to unlock the secrets of how these elusive fish gave birth.

Sulikowski wanted to learn more about the reproductive process in hopes of bolstering shark numbers, and didn’t like the idea of having to kill pregnant sharks and their unborn young to do it. That study method also made it impossible to study the reproductive habits of endangered sharks, such as the basking, hammerhead or tiger shark, even though information about how these threatened groups lived and loved would have helped policymakers protect their mating or pupping grounds and possibly help stabilize their populations.

Scientists had begun using blood samples to supplement their shark necropsies, measuring hormone levels to establish the stage of pregnancy, but Sulikowski, a father of three, thought researchers could go further. About five years ago, he turned to the same kind of sonogram technology that doctors use to monitor pregnant women – complete with a transducer, an image screen and conductive jelly – and adapted it for use on pregnant sharks, as well as other elusive or endangered fish species, such as sturgeon.

“There is so much that we still don’t know, like where different species of sharks go to give birth,” Sulikowski said, “and so much that we think we do know, like the length of gestation for our local spiny dogfish that we are just now learning through the use of this technology and tagging that is just plain wrong. I love that. I love challenging accepted science. For me, it’s always about being inquisitive, testing what we think we know, asking what we don’t and figuring out new ways to come up with answers to questions we didn’t even know to ask just a few years ago.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Feds: No New Rules to Protect Sturgeon

June 21, 2016 — A federal proposal to designate portions of coastal rivers in North Carolina as habitat essential to the survival of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon will not add another layer of regulations for fishermen, boaters, dredgers and others using those rivers, federal officials say.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a proposal earlier this month to designate critical habitats for sturgeon in coastal rivers along the East Coast. About 915 miles of waterways in the Yadkin-Pee Dee, Waccamaw, Cape Fear, Northeast Cape Fear, Black, Neuse, Tar-Pamlico and Roanoke rivers in North Carolina are included in the designation.

Required by the federal Endangered Species Act, the designation is meant to protect spawning, foraging and other areas that are important to the survival of the fish. The sturgeon was listed as endangered in 2012.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held 7 p.m. Thursday at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. It will be the only hearing in North Carolina. Comments on the proposal can be submitted to NOAA until Sept. 1.

Sturgeon, a large bony fish known for its roe used for caviar, are called anadromous fish because they spawn upriver in fresh water but spend most of their lives in marine or estuary waters. The species dates back 120 million years to the time of the dinosaurs. In the 1800s, Atlantic waters teemed with the fish, which can span 15 feet and weigh 800 pounds. However, in the last century, numbers have fallen drastically due to overfishing, and sturgeon fishing was banned in North Carolina more than 20 years ago in an attempt to recoup the numbers.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

ASMFC 2016 Winter Meeting Preliminary Agenda and Public Comment Guidelines

December 9, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Please find below the preliminary agenda and public comment guidelines for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2016 Winter Meeting, February 2-4, 2016 in Alexandria, VA. The agenda is also available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2016-winter-meeting. Materials will be available on January 21, 2016 on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2016-winter-meeting.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

9:00 a.m. – Noon American Lobster Management Board

Technical Committee Report on the Southern New England (SNE) American Lobster Stock
Discuss Future Management of SNE American Lobster Stock
Consider Approval of Draft Addendum I to the Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Public Comment
Review and Discuss Catch and Landings Records from Jonah Crab-only Trap Fishermen and Jonah Crab Claw Fishermen
Discuss Action to Establish Effort Controls for Jonah Crab-only Trap Fishermen and Create a Standard for Claw Landings
Review Implementation Plans for the Jonah Crab FMP
Update on State/Federal American Lobster Observer Programs
Elect Vice Chair

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Atlantic Herring Section

Consider Final Approval of Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Herring FMP Action

2:45 – 4:15 p.m. Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board

Review 2016 Black Sea Bass Commercial Quotas
Consider Final Approval of Addendum XXVII
Update on Black Sea Bass and Summer Flounder Amendment Process
Elect Vice Chair

2:45 – 4:15 p.m. Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) Executive Committee

Program Updates
Independent Program Review Update
- Review/Approve Initial Program Standard Operating Procedures
Governance Recommendation

4:30 – 6:00 p.m. ACCSP Coordinating Council

Program Updates
Independent Program Review Update
Governance Recommendation

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Executive Committee

Overview of Commission Guidance Documents and Consider Recommendations to the ISFMP Policy Board for changes to the Guidance Documents
ACCSP Governance
Upcoming Annual Meetings

10:15 – 11:00 a.m. Atlantic Menhaden Management Board

Update on Draft Amendment 3 Development
Discuss Timeline for Setting the 2017 Fishery Specifications

11:15 – 11:45 a.m. Atlantic Sturgeon Management Board

Update on Progress of 2017 Benchmark Stock Assessment

· Consider 2016 FMP Review and State Compliance Reports for the 2013 and 2014 Fisheries

Noon – 12:30 p.m. Spiny Dogfish Management Board

Review and Set 2016-2018 Fishery Specifications
Elect Vice Chair

1:30 – 2:15 p.m. Coastal Sharks Management Board

Discuss Differences in State and Federal Smoothhound Catch Composition Regulations for Processing at Sea

2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Horseshoe Crab Management Board

Review Scope of Work for Revisiting the Adaptive Resource Management Framework Model in 2016
Discuss Benchmark Stock Assessment Schedule for Horseshoe Crab with Update on Biomedical Landings and Confidentiality
Review Alternative Bait Trial Results

3:45 – 4:30 p.m. South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board

Update on the Progress of the Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and Desk Review
Discuss Recommendation to the ISFMP Policy Board Regarding Spotted Sea Trout Management
Consider 2015 FMP Review and State Compliance Reports for Spot
Elect Vice Chair

4:45 – 5:45 p.m. Tautog Management Board

Update on Draft Amendment 1 Development
Update on Progress of UConn Long Island Sound and New York/New Jersey Stock Assessments
Review Commercial Harvest Tagging Program Objectives

Thursday, February 4, 2016

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board

Consider Tabled Motion from November 2015 Meeting Regarding Reconsideration of Addendum IV Management Options Based on the 2016 Stock Assessment Update Results
Update on 2016 Cooperative Winter Tagging Cruise
Elect Vice Chair

9:15 – 10:15 a.m. Winter Flounder Management Board

Review and Set 2016-2018 Fishery Specifications
Review and Discuss Technical Committee Report, Including an Analysis of Biomass Trends During Heightened Federal Restrictions (2009-2013)

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. American Eel Management Board

Review and Consider North Carolina’s Aquaculture Plan

11:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. Interstate Fisheries Management Program (ISFMP) Policy Board

(includes a 30-minute working lunch)

Consider Changes to Commission Guidance Documents
Review Results of the 2016 Commissioner Survey

Review and Consider the Stock Assessment Schedule

2:45 – 3:15 p.m. Business Session

Consider Final Approval of Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Herring FMP
Consider Amending the Commission’s Rules and Regulations

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will use a speaker sign-up list in deciding how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.

2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday immediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be January 26, 2016) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3. Following the Tuesday, January 26, 2016 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

Read a PDF of the ASMFC Agenda here

Iran seeks revival of caviar industry in post-sanctions era

November 13, 2015 — GOLDASHT, Iran (AP) ” On the shores of the Caspian Sea, an ambitious project is underway to produce a pricey delicacy that could boost Iran’s economy as sanctions ease: caviar.

Iran, once the world’s biggest exporter of the luxury food, sold over 40 tons of sturgeon eggs in 2000. Exports plunged to just 1 ton last year due to dwindling fish stocks and economic sanctions imposed by world powers in response to Iran’s nuclear program.

After Tehran struck a landmark deal this summer to curb its nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting sanctions ” including those on caviar ” some in Iran are now counting on a revival in exports of the exclusive eggs.

“We hope that as a result of the Iranian government’s interaction with the world, the path will be opened for us to export our products abroad and bring in foreign currency earnings. It does not make a difference where we export to, the United States or Europe,” said Ishaq Islami, manager of the private Ghareh Boron Caviar Fish Farm in the coastal village of Goldasht.

The farm and two nearby facilities are breeding half a million sturgeon fingerlings a year, filling its pools with water pumped in from the Caspian Sea.

Islami began the $100 million project in 2005 but it takes at least 12 years for sturgeon to mature and produce caviar. About 110,000 are beluga species that produce prized silver-gray eggs, the world’s most expensive caviar.

The fish farm aims to export 30 tons of salt-cured caviar and 2,000 tons of sturgeon meat in three years. Islami expects to earn $90 million a year based on an average price of $3,000 a kilogram (about $1,360 a pound) for caviar. The United States, Europe and Japan have traditionally been Iran’s biggest export markets.

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

Sturgeon Tag Find Brings NOAA Scientists to California School

October 30, 2015 — A green sturgeon tag is a real find, for a kid on the beach and for NOAA scientists.

Ethan Mora and Liam Zarri, researchers from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz, woke up early on a recent October morning to gather critical scientific data on green sturgeon. But they weren’t off to some remote research station; they were going to an elementary school in Napa to reward one of the students with $20 for finding a lost satellite tag.

Deja Walker, a third-grade student at Napa Valley Boys and Girls Club, was strolling with her grandparents on Stinson Beach near San Francisco in early October when she noticed some boys throwing around what looked like a toy. When the kids tossed it aside, she investigated and found the nearly foot-long tube offered a reward for its return to NOAA.

What Deja didn’t know was that she had found one of several satellite tags used by NOAA researchers to understand the impact of commercial halibut fishing on green sturgeon, one of nature’s most prehistoric fish.

Green sturgeon are bottom feeders, scavenging on invertebrates and small fish. They can grow to about eight feet in length and live for about 70 years. Although they spawn in fresh water, the adults may travel up and down the West coast from Mexico to Alaska.

Sturgeon have meandered throughout our oceans and rivers since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. But despite their long history, one population of green sturgeon in California may be edging closer towards extinction. The southern population, or those green sturgeon that spawn in the Sacramento River basin, were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2006 because of the loss of historical spawning habitat.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

Long-gone Sturgeon Returning To North Carolina Waters

October 26, 2015 — It’s been nearly 70 years since a species of fish called the Lake Sturgeon has been found in North Carolina waters. Experts say it’s a fish with a long history.

“The lake sturgeon is a very ancient breed of fish,” says Stephen Jackson, a hatchery manager with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in eastern North Carolina. “They were around during the dinosaurs and actually predate many of the dinosaurs that we’re very familiar with.”

The Lake Sturgeon is now poised for a comeback in North Carolina. It’s home will be the French Broad River in the western part of the state, where wildlife officials on Monday are making the second of two releases over the past week. The project is placing a total of 7,200 young Lake Sturgeon, about 7 inches long, into the river north of Asheville. The release is part of a broader effort to restore the species in several states.

Read the full story at WFAE

NORTH CAROLINA: Pamlico, Pungo, Neuse and Bay rivers to close to anchored, large-mesh gill nets

September 22, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

Some rivers and creeks in the central coastal area of North Carolina will close to anchored, large-mesh gill nets at 5 p.m. Thursday due to interactions with Atlantic sturgeon.

The action closes Management Unit C under the state’s Atlantic Sturgeon Incidental Take Permit, which includes the Pamlico, Pungo, Neuse and Bay rivers and their tributaries. The closure impacts all anchored, large-mesh gill nets, including those set under a Recreational Commercial Gear License.

The closure will remain in effect until Dec. 1.

This marks the first management unit closure in North Carolina resulting from interactions with Atlantic sturgeon under the incidental take permit since July 2014.

The action is required by the incidental take permit, which allows for anchored, large-mesh gill net interactions with six Atlantic sturgeon, only two of which can be dead, in Management Unit C during the fall season (Sept. 1- Nov. 30). Once the allowed interactions are approached or met, the waters must close for the remainder of the season.

As of today, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ staff have observed four live and one dead Atlantic sturgeon interactions with anchored, large-mesh gill nets in Management Unit C. The figures that state officials have observed are approaching the legal limit for these kinds of interactions in Management Unit C.

For details of the closure, see Proclamation M-15-2015 at http://www.ncmarinefisheries.net/proclamations.

North Carolina’s estuarine gill net fishery is managed under incidental take permits for sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon. The permits are issued to the state by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The permits authorize limited takes of these species, listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, as part of conservation plans that divide the state’s internal coastal waters into management units. The permits require observer coverage, so that the management units are closely monitored for interactions with sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon. An annual number of allowed interactions with each species is assigned to each gear type in each management unit. If the number of interactions is approached or met, the management unit must close for the remainder of the season or year.

For more information, contact Chris Batsavage, the division’s Protected Resources Section chief, at 252-808-8009 or 252-241-2995, or via email at Chris.Batsavage@ncdenr.gov.