Virginia Archives - Page 20 of 21

Sunken sanctuary: Former Omega Protein WWII-era vessel becomes artificial reef

December 15, 2015 — For much of the last decade, the MV Shearwater caught menhaden by the ton but in its new life, as part of the Del-Jersey-Land reef 26-miles off the coast, it will become a fish habitat and diving destination in the state’s artificial reef program.

The ship didn’t go easy into the deep last week. The stern sank first and the ship started to turn leaving just the bow out of the water. It took about six hours to fully sink after the seacocks opened and the interior compartments flooded.

The 176-foot-long vessel went down in 120 feet of water. It lays about one-half nautical mile from the 568-foot long USS Arthur W. Radford, a former Navy destroyer. The Radford was sunk at the artificial reef site in 2011 and has become a popular destination for divers and anglers.

“About three weeks ago, a state-record bluefish was caught there,” said Jeff Tinsman, the state artificial reef coordinator.

“These old freighters make ideal reefs because of the voids and cavities in them – they’re really the perfect sanctuary for fish,” Tinsman said. “But not long after this ship sinks, the fish will start to come ‘outside’ it to feed. Within a few weeks, blue mussels, sponges, barnacles and soft corals will attach themselves to the structure, and in about a year, the reef will be fully productive, for fish and fishermen alike.”

Read the full story at Delaware Online

PETER HIMCHAK: Chesapeake Bay Defense Foundation Gets it Wrong on Menhaden

December 11, 2015 — The following is a commentary by Peter Himchak, Senior Fisheries Scientist for Omega Protein, a member of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition. Mr. Himchak served for 39 years as a fisheries biologist for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, and served on advisory and management boards for both the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC). He served on the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Sub-Committee from 1988 until 2006:

A recent Virginian-Pilot op-ed by Chesapeake Bay Defense Foundation (CBDF) Director of Public Affairs William Tabor (“A tragedy of the Chesapeake,” 11/29) contains a deeply flawed and scientifically inaccurate take on the menhaden fishery in the Chesapeake Bay. These inaccuracies illustrate that this recently-formed organization may not have a great understanding of the menhaden fishery or basic fisheries biology. The menhaden fishery, rather than being an example of “market aggression” and “licensed plunder,” as CBDF states, is, according to all available evidence, both responsibly regulated environmentally sustainable.

Many of CBDF’s claims about the local impact of the menhaden fishery are simply not supported by the best and most current science on menhaden. CBDF advocates for banning purse seine fishing for menhaden in Virginia state waters largely over fears of localized depletion—that the menhaden fishery is taking too many menhaden from the Chesapeake Bay. But there is currently no scientific evidence that localized depletion is occurring.

Menhaden are a highly migratory species that travel to inshore and near-shore waters up and down the Atlantic coast. Nowhere has an incidence of localized depletion ever been recorded or confirmed, and many believe that the phenomenon may not even exist. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), acting out of an abundance of caution and not a scientific mandate, has already imposed a cap on how much menhaden can be harvested from the Chesapeake Bay.

Fears that that the menhaden fishery is not leaving enough food for predator species is similarly overblown. Species like striped bass and bluefish generally target younger menhaden, age 1 and under. This is a segment of the menhaden population that is not directly targeted by the fishery, which mostly harvests menhaden age 2 and older. Based on stock assessment reports and the Beaufort Assessment Model, from 2004-2013, the menhaden fishery only harvested around 3.35% of the total menhaden population. The overwhelming majority of the remaining population is consumed by predator species coastwide, and the fishery does not represent a significant threat to the coastal supply of forage.

Menhaden also do not, as CBDF claims, contribute significantly to removing the “excess algae and nutrients that clog the Bay.” As several scientific papers have confirmed, menhaden are opportunistic feeders, consuming both the phytoplankton that leads to algal blooms as well as zooplankton. However, phytoplankton is consumed primarily by younger menhaden, which are not targeted by the fishery, and represent only a small fraction of the overall harvest.

The environmental impacts of the menhaden boats and purse seine nets themselves are also greatly overstated by the op-ed. CBDF cites fears of bycatch and damage to the environment as more reasons Virginia should ban purse seining in its waters. But, because they target densely packed schools of menhaden, purse seine nets are some of the most efficient methods of harvesting fish, and bycatch from these efforts are minimal. The ASMFC acknowledged in its 2010 assessment that “it is suspected that bycatch and discards of menhaden are trivial compared to total landings.”

Purse seine nets also do not frequently interact with the seafloor, and are not a significant threat to the Bay’s corals, grass beds, or oysters. And while the op-ed is concerned with the effect of water discharge from menhaden boats, any effects from this discharge are localized, and temporary. These boats also operate with the approval of relevant regulators. Compared to the widespread and long-lasting dead zones that regularly afflict the Bay, water discharge from a handful of menhaden vessels does not represent a significant, long-term environmental threat.

The menhaden fishery is already managed according to the best available science and management practices. Virginia’s quota is set in accordance with maintaining the sustainability of the stock, and fisheries science confirms that the Chesapeake-based menhaden fleet does not have a serious negative impact on the health of either the Bay or the local menhaden population. A ban on purse seining in Virginia state waters would be both unnecessary and ineffective.

Marine Resource Education Program to Kick Off 2016 Series in Norfolk, Va.

December 9, 2015 — The following was released by the Marine Resource Education Program:

The 2016 series for the Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) kicks off in Norfolk, VA next month. “If you are someone with an investment in healthy fisheries,” says John Williamson, F/V Sea keeper, National Coalition of Fishing Communities member, and co-founder of MREP, “then the Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) is for you.”

Organized and delivered by members of the fishing community, in partnership with NMFS, the Fishery Management Councils, ASMFC and research institutions, MREP brings together fishermen, scientists, managers, and other marine resource professionals to share professional expertise in a neutral setting. The curriculum offers insights into fishery science and stock assessments, delivered in plain English; participants learn the when, where and how to effectively engage in the fishery management process.

2016 workshop schedule:

MREP Fishery Science 100 – January 5-7 – Norfolk Waterside Marriott. Norfolk, VA
MREP Fishery Management 100 – February 23-25 – Norfolk Waterside Marriott, Norfolk, VA
MREP Ecosystems 200 (NEW) – March 15-16 – Ocean Place Resort, Long Branch, NJ
MREP for Recreational Fisheries (NEW) – January 19-21 – Wyndham Peabody Court, Baltimore, MD

For more information and to submit an online application: www.gmri.org/MREP-NEapply

To submit an application by phone, call Patty Collins, Gulf of Maine Research Institute (207) 228-1625.

Lodging, meals and travel expenses are covered for MREP participants. Qualifying commercial fishermen are eligible for an additional $125/day reimbursement for vessel tie-up costs.

Seating is limited, apply today.

For more information about MREP curriculum and goals please contact:

John Williamson (207) 939-7055 john@seakeeper.net

Mary Beth Tooley (207) 837-3537 mbtooley@live.com

Alexa Dayton (207) 228-1645 adayton@gmri.org

“As good as the science is it could be better. Fishermen’s information is key to improving stock assessments.” – MREP participant

“When you know what’s going on, you can make better decisions for the future.” – MREP participant

VIRGINIA: Special Investigation: Big fight over little fish

November 12, 2015 — REEDVILLE, Va. – Small business owners along the Chesapeake Bay are concerned that commercial fishing by Omega Protein is hurting their livelihood. Both rely on catching menhaden, a small bony fish that is valuable to Omega for its oil and bone meal, as well as for bait to charter boat captains and crabbers.

Omega has fished for menhaden out of Reedville since the 1870’s. It hauls in millions of them each weekday during a fishing season that is quota-based and runs roughly from May to November.

10 On Your Side visited the Reedville operation and spoke with several employees about the company’s importance to the community. We also met with a charter boat captain who is convinced that Omega’s large hauls are hurting his business along with hundreds of others – marinas, crabbers, tackles shops, etc.

“Used to be these creeks would just be chocked full of menhaden flipping all over the surface,” said Chris Newsome, owner of Bay Fly Fishing in Gloucester. Newsome’s charter clients fish for striped bass, bluefish, speckled trout and redfish, and they feed on menhaden. “They’ve definitely become a lot harder to find over the years.”

Read the full story at WAVY

Fishermen’s Energy Loses Bid for Wind Farm Leases Off LBI

November 10, 2015 — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held an offshore land lease sale for the purposes of developing future wind farms on Monday, Nov. 9. Although a locally held company, Fishermen’s Energy, participated in the auction, it lost out to two other concerns.

US Wind Inc. won the right to develop the Wind Energy Area off Ocean and Atlantic counties by bidding$1,006,240 for 183,353 acres, Outer Continental Shelf Lease Area 0499. RES America Developments Inc. won the right to develop the 160,480 Wind Energy Area acres from Atlantic City south to Cape May County, paying $880,715 for Lease Area OCS-A 0498.

The New Jersey Wind Energy Area starts about 7 nautical miles offshore and extends roughly 21 nautical miles seaward. To see a map of the New Jersey Wind Energy Area, go to boem.gov/New–Jersey.

Each lease will have a preliminary term of one year, during which the lessee will submit a site assessment plan to BOEM for approval. A site assessment plan describes the activities (installation of meteorological towers and buoys) a lessee plans to perform for the assessment of the wind resources and ocean conditions of its commercial lease area.

Fishermen’s Energy Chief Operating Official Paul Gallagher was not available for comment on Tuesday.

Fishermen’s Energy was developed in 2007 by a consortium of eight commercial fishing and dock facilities along the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia. In New Jersey, Viking Village in Barnegat Light, Atlantic Cape Fisheries and Cold Spring Fish and Supply Co. are some of the partners.

The idea was to take a leadership role in building wind energy farms that would be sensitive to fishing areas and the marine environment.

Read the full story at The SandPaper

Legislation Introduced to Reform Seasonal H-2B Guest-Worker Program

November 9, 2015 — Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives to reform the H-2B seasonal guest-worker program. H.R. 3918, the Strengthen Employment and Seasonal Opportunities Now Act also known by its acronym the SEASON Act, will reform the guest-worker program used by American employers to hire foreign workers for temporary and seasonal work, such as forestry, seafood processing, and other industries.

Introduced by House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot from Ohio, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland, and Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD of Louisiana, the SEASON Act is designed to bring needed reforms to the H-2B program in order to protect American workers, help U.S. employers who play by the rules hire seasonal guest-workers, save taxpayer dollars, and ensure the H-2B program is truly a temporary, seasonal guest-worker program.

“New regulations for the H-2B visa program issued by the current Administration are increasing the red tape and creating higher costs for the small and seasonal businesses using the H-2B program,” said Gulf Seafood Institute member Frank Randol, owner of Randol’s Restaurant and a shellfish processor who depends on guest-worker labor. “Many of our Gulf seafood processing plants were unable to open in 2015 due to a lack of labor. The industry will struggle to survive if they have a second year without these workers. This legislation is desperately needed.”

Read the full story at Gulf Seafood Institute

ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Board Sets 2016 Specifications for Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Origin

November 5, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Under the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, the Board set a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2016 season. Based on the allocation mechanism established in Addendum VII, the following quotas were set for the states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, which harvest horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin:

	Delaware Bay Origin Horseshoe Crab Quota (no. of crabs)	Total Quota
State	Male Only	Male Only
Delaware	162,136	162,136
New Jersey	162,136	162,136
Maryland	141,112	255,980
Virginia*	34,615	81,331

*Virginia harvest refers to harvest east of the COLREGS line only

The Board chose a harvest management program based on the Technical Committee and ARM Subcommittee recommendation. The ARM Framework, established through Addendum VII, incorporates both shorebird and horseshoe crab abundance levels to set optimized harvest levels for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Previously the horseshoe crab abundance estimate was based on data from the Benthic Trawl Survey conducted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute, however, due to the Benthic Trawl Survey not having been conducted in recent years, a composite index of the Delaware 30ft Trawl Survey, New Jersey Delaware Bay Trawl Survey, and New Jersey Ocean Trawl Survey was used instead. Funding has been secured for the Benthic Trawl Survey to be conducted in 2016.

The Horseshoe Crab Technical Committee, Delaware Bay Ecosystem Technical Committee, and the ARM Subcommittee also recommended the ARM Framework be reviewed and updated in 2016. The Board agreed with this recommendation, with specific interest in re-considering the thresholds to allow the harvest of female horseshoe crabs, as well as the recent listing of red knot as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The ARM subcommittee will develop specific recommendations to the Board on changes to the ARM Framework in 2016.

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, FMP Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.

ASMFC Presents Willard Cole Prestigious Captain David H. Hart Award

November 4, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented Willard “Bill” Cole, formerly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Captain David H. Hart Award, its highest annual award, at the Commission’s 74^th Annual Meeting in St. Augustine, FL.

Throughout his nearly 40-year career as a state, university, and federal fishery manager and scientist, Bill Cole worked to protect, restore, and conserve fisheries resources and their habitats along the Atlantic coast. Bill graduated from North Carolina State University in 1966, and moved to Lake City, Florida, where he began his career with the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission. Shortly after, he joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), where he stayed for the remainder of his career. At USFWS, Bill served in different capacities and numerous offices from North Carolina, to New York, DC, Texas and even New Mexico. In each place he left an indelible mark; serving on review teams for the first Everglades study, developing the Navigable Waters Handbook; protecting riverine, wetland, and coastal habitats in Long Island Sound, the Hudson River and St. Lawrence Seaway; and establishing what ultimately would become the USFWS South Atlantic Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. While with the South Atlantic Office, he worked closely with the State of North Carolina to restore anadromous fishery resources throughout the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, once the site of the largest commercial American shad and river herring fisheries on the entire East Coast.

With his customary vision, Bill understood early on that management of fishery resources in North Carolina required participation in regional fishery management institutions as well. As such, he became involved with both the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Commission, as the Southeast Regional Director’s designee for both institutions. He served in that capacity continuously for 19 years. Bill served on numerous committees and management boards for both groups, and prior to his retirement served as Chair of the Commission’s South Atlantic State-Federal Fisheries Management Board.

Along with several colleagues, Bill conceived the Cooperative Winter Tagging Cruise off North Carolina and Virginia. The Cruise was designed to tag striped bass in a mixed stock of migratory fish wintering off the North Carolina Outer Banks and southern Virginia as a part of the Commission’s Atlantic migratory striped bass management program. The Cruise began in 1988 and has been conducted annually with few interruptions. It is one of the longest time series of any such coastal tagging program, as well as one of the most effective federal, state, and academic partnerships. Bill served as Chief Scientist on all but two of the cruises during an 18 year period, and annually coordinated scheduling, equipment acquisition, and recruitment of all Scientific Party members. Through the years, tagging of additional ASMFC- and Council-managed species was added to the Cruise protocol. To date, the Cruise has tagged 252 Atlantic sturgeon and over 47,000 striped bass, with a tag return rate approaching 20 percent.

Bill is a charter member of the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program Operations Committee, and has been an ardent supporter of the Program since its inception, providing staff to serve as the initial Program Coordinator, and working tirelessly with federal and state partners to move the program forward.

Finally, during his last year with USFWS, Bill was detailed to the National Marine Fisheries Service, where he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, Dr. William Hogarth. Bill was a key element in the planning of several national-level meetings that brought together fisheries professionals from Regional Fishery Management Councils and Interstate Fisheries Management Commissions to consider the future directions of fisheries management.

Bill has characterized himself as a “biopolitician,” but his contribution to the management of U.S. East Coast fisheries goes well beyond his many notable accomplishments. Bill has been a true friend and mentor to many in our fisheries management family and we are deeply indebted to him. Since Bill was unable to attend the Hart Award ceremony, Dr. Wilson Laney, a longtime colleague and friend, accepted the award on Bill’s behalf.

The Commission instituted the Award in 1991 to recognize individuals who have made outstanding efforts to improve Atlantic coast marine fisheries. The Hart Award is named for one of the Commission’s longest serving members, who dedicated himself to the advancement and protection of marine fishery resources.

‘Ghost fleet’ offers treasure trove of wildlife, history in the Potomac

November 2, 2015 — NANJEMOY, Md. — Hidden beneath the waters of the Potomac River are dozens of sunken ships known as a “ghost fleet” that sailed from the Revolutionary War to after World War I, and now, thanks to the Chesapeake Conservancy, the public can experience these underwater ships and the unique ecosystem that has grown around them from their desktops.

The conservancy has teamed up with Terrain360, a Richmond, Virginia, company, to take panoramic shots of Mallows Bay and the more than 100 shipwrecks located there, piecing them together to create a virtual tour of the bay that you can find here.

The bay, tucked along the shores of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, is home to the largest collection of historic shipwrecks in the Western Hemisphere. But the sunken ships have also created a marine habitat full of fish, birds and other wildlife, which the conservancy hopes to protect.

Visitors to the bay will spot an engine rising from the mist. Trees growing from the hull of a sunken ship seem to form an island that’s shaped like a ship. And the rusty hull of another ship can be seen rising above the waterline further out from the shore. Nearby is a menhaden fishing boat dating to the 1940s that was used during World War II.

Read the full story at WTOP

Congress cracks down on seafood fraud

October 28, 2015 — Local watermen of the Chesapeake Bay have come under attack from knowingly imported and mislabeled foreign seafood. Consumers are also at risk because safety standards for seafood in other countries of origin differ from those in the United States. “Consumers should protect themselves with knowledge about these issues and get to know local seafood companies they can trust,” said Paula Jasinski, executive director of Chesapeake Environmental Communications.

Crabbers from Virginia’s Blue Crab Industry Panel highlighted this significant problem for their industry several years ago.

Read the full story at Northern Neck News