Saving Seafood

Tracking Fish in the Chesapeake Bay Helps Researchers and Resource Managers

March 2, 2022 — Equipment recently deployed in the Chesapeake Bay is already giving scientists and resource managers insight into fish behavior. Arrays of acoustic telemetry receivers let researchers know when fish that have been tagged swim near the receivers. The data is helping researchers increase knowledge about fish, their migrations, and how they use different habitat areas in the Chesapeake Bay.

Acoustic Receivers Around the Bay

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) is working with partners to help researchers get data from five groups of receivers. Three arrays form gates across strategic points in northern, middle, and southern bay.

Northern Array 

The northern array includes four receivers across the Bay near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, close to Annapolis. This array, funded by NCBO, is operated in partnership with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Southern Array 

This array is composed of 12 receivers near Virginia Beach. It is also funded by NCBO and is operated in partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Mid-Bay Array

This array of six receivers is managed by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. It’s located near the mouth of the Patuxent River, on Maryland’s Western Shore.

NOAA Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System

All five buoys currently deployed in the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System are outfitted with receivers.

Choptank River

We have placed three receivers in the Choptank River near oyster restoration projects. These receivers are on loan from NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

Virginia seafood sector gets $1.9M COVID mitigation grant

February 17, 2022 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted $1.9 million to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to help seafood processors cover costs incurred to prevent exposure to COVID-19.

Processing facilities and owners of processing vessels can apply to the commission for funds.

“Our fisheries and aquaculture industries have endured intense economic hardships since the beginning of COVID-19,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Virginia Beach, in announcing the grant.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

Commercial shrimp fishing could be coming to Virginia Beach

June 25, 2021 — Virginia could open a small commercial shrimp fishery off Virginia Beach, after a four-year experiment showed it is ecologically sustainable and commercially viable.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission plans to hold a public hearing July 27 to consider proposed regulations to allow trawling for shrimp. Unlike the shrimpers operating to the south, Virginia fishermen would be allowed to tow only small nets, to reduce the chance of trapping too many other species.

“This will be a small-boat, small-gear fishery,” Pat Geer, VMRC’s Fisheries Management Division chief told the commission in a recent briefing.

While shrimp have been seen in Virginia waters for years, fishermen began reporting large numbers of them in 2017.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

Virginia Adopts 10% Menhaden Harvest Cut

December 16, 2020 — Virginia’s menhaden harvest, now under the control of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), has officially been reduced by 10 percent to comply with the Atlantic coast-wide fishery quota.

It’s the first state reduction since VMRC took over management of the fishery from the General Assembly. In recent years, Virginia legislators had failed to adopt limits set by coastal fishery managers, and ultimately the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) found Virginia out of compliance. That lack of compliance put Virginia at risk of a menhaden fishing moratorium, but VMRC’s taking over management of the fishery in April 2020 avoided the looming moratorium.

In August, ASMFC committed to using Ecological Reference Points in its fishery decision-making, which take into account menhaden’s role in the food chain, not just its abundance. As Bay Bulletin reported, ASMFC voted in October to reduce the entire Atlantic catch by 10 percent.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Virginia Marine Resources Commission approves menhaden harvest limit

December 9, 2020 — On Tuesday, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) reduced Virginia’s menhaden harvest by 10 percent to comply with the newly adopted menhaden fishery quota from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

Virginia’s harvest was cut from 168,213 metric tons to 151,392 metric tons. The Chesapeake Bay harvest cap remains unchanged.

In August, the ASMFC committed to using Ecological Reference Points, which consider menhaden’s important role in the food chain when setting menhaden harvest limits.

Read the full story at WAVY

Pandemic prompts extension of crab-pot season in Virginia

December 4, 2020 — Regulators of Virginia’s fisheries have decided to extend the traditional crab pot season. And they say it shouldn’t have a big impact on the crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Thursday that the Virginia Marine Resources Commission extended the crab pot season by 20 days, until Dec. 19. The goal is to make up for losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WTOP

For the first time, Virginia is setting aside capital funds to restore its oyster population

November 23, 2020 — Virginia is setting $10 million in new funding for oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay, focusing on the Piankatank, Great Wicomico and York Rivers.

It marks the first time the state is using capital funds, usually reserved for building state facilities and roads, to restore natural resources.

Bringing oyster populations back has been a top priority because the shellfish play a key role in cleaning the bay. Oyster reefs also protect shorelines from erosion and are habitats for crabs and fish, and oysters are an important commercial fishery.

The state’s stepped up efforts with the signing of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement in 2014 have restored 240.5 acres of oyster habitat, on top of the earlier restoration of 473 acres. The agreements set a goal of restoring oyster populations in 10 Bay tributaries by 2025.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun

Relief is coming for Virginia fisheries, although payments likely won’t be large

October 2, 2020 — Fisheries managers are close to being able to roll out relief for Virginia’s hard-hit fishing industries, although a small federal allocation to the commonwealth means payments aren’t likely to be large, Virginia Marine Resources Commission officials said Tuesday morning.

“Because there were so little funding and such great economic damage, the idea of the sort of trying to make sure you make up the loss for people was not an option on the table,” VMRC Deputy Commissioner Ellen Bolen said during a presentation to the commission. “We just did not have enough money.”

Virginia’s fisheries have been pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as restaurants, one of their primary customers, have shuttered or severely curtailed their business. Officials have estimated direct losses to the industry of at least $100 to $120 million, not accounting for trickle-down effects to associated business like boat-building.

Read the full story at NBC 12

VIRGINIA NIXES STRIPED BASS “BONUS FISH PROGRAM” IN LIGHT OF CONSERVATION EFFORTS

August 19, 2020 — When Virginia fishery managers virtually eliminated the striped bass trophy season one year ago, the came up with a plan that would still allow anglers to catch that “once in a lifetime” fish.

But in the interest of protecting the rockfish spawning stock, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) has announced it’s cutting the proposed Striped Bass Bonus Fish Program.

Finding that striped bass were being overfished, East Coast fisheries managers required Virginia, Maryland and the rest of the Atlantic states to reduce their rockfish removals by 18 percent. To achieve the reduction, VMRC took actions in August 2019 that included dropping the fall recreational fishing limit to one rockfish per angler per day and creating a maximum size limit of 36 inches for the fall.

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab populations are healthy, report finds

July 6, 2020 — The bay’s blue crabs aren’t being over-harvested and the population isn’t depleted, which means there’s no need for significant changes in how many watermen catch, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s annual Blue Crab Advisory Report said.

Although crab numbers declined from 594 million last year to 405 million this year, that’s in line with natural variation, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.

At that level, there’s no need for significant change in the rules the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, or its counterparts in Maryland and the Potomac River, set for when and how watermen catch crabs, the report noted.

The key issue for those regulators, and the Bay program, is that the stock of female crabs remains robust. If too many are harvested when they could be reproducing, the overall population could crash, as happened in the late 1990s.

While the current count of female crabs declined by 26% from last year’s total, to 141 million, that’s well above the 70 million minimum fisheries scientists say is needed to maintain the population of crabs, the report noted.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot