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

VIRGINIA: Port Authority to receive $20 million for offshore wind

January 27, 2022 — The Virginia Port Authority will receive a $20 million grant from the Department of Transportation to make improvements to Portsmouth Marine Terminal to turn it into a staging area to support the building of 180 wind turbines 27 to 42 miles off the Virginia Beach coast.

Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine made the announcement Jan. 13 and said in a joint statement that “this funding is a recognition of the Commonwealth’s leadership in this space and will go a long way toward establishing Virginia as a hub for offshore wind development along the East Coast.”

The money came from the Department of Transportation’s Port Infrastructure Development Program, a competitive discretionary grant program run by the Maritime Administration. Warner, Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott co-signed a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in support of the port’s grant application.

Read the full story at the Suffolk News-Herald

American Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX/Jonah Crab Draft Addendum IV for Public Comment: Public Hearing Presentation Now Available

January 11, 2022 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board has approved for public comment Draft Addendum XXIX to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for American Lobster and Draft Addendum IV to the Jonah Crab FMP. The Draft Addenda were initiated in August 2020 to consider implementing electronic tracking requirements for federally-permitted vessels in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries, with the objective of collecting high resolution spatial and temporal effort data.

The collection of enhanced spatial and temporal data via electronic tracking devices in the offshore fishery would support managers in addressing a number of challenges facing the fishery. Electronic tracking data would greatly improve the stock assessment’s ability to estimate exploitation and abundance for American lobster, as the trackers would allow size composition data to be linked to harvest at a finer spatial resolution than what is currently possible. Additionally, the data could improve the models used to assess the location of vertical lines in the fishery and their associated risk to endangered North Atlantic right whales, which could impact federal risk reduction requirements for the fishery. Characterizing the footprint of the U.S. lobster fishery will also be critical to ocean planning efforts to minimize spatial conflicts with other ocean uses such as aquaculture, marine protected areas, and offshore energy development, as well as provide fishery managers tools to help maintain industry fishing grounds. Last, the efficiency of law enforcement efforts could be significantly improved with data to help enforcement officials locate widely dispersed gear in the offshore fishery. 

 

The Commission and its member states from Maine to Virginia will be conducting a series of hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addenda. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most hearings will be conducted via webinar; some hearings will be state-specific and others regionally-focused. Public hearing information, webinar links, and call-in information are below. Please note that in order to comment during the hearings you will need to use your computer or download the GoToWebinar app for your phone. Those joining by phone only will be limited to listening to the presentation and will not be able to provide input. Additional details on participating in the webinar can be found later in this release; this information is particularly important for those that have not used the GoToWebinar platform before.

Date State or Regional Hearing Contact(s)
Wednesday, January 12, 2022

6:30 – 8 PM

 Connecticut and New York Colleen Bouffard (CT), 860.876.6881

Maureen Davidson (NY), 631.444.0483
Thursday, January 13, 2022 

 6:30 – 8 PM

 New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Joseph Cimino (NJ), 609.748.2020

John Clark (DE), 302.739.9914

Michael Luisi (MD), 443.758.6547

Patrick Geer (VA), 757.247.2236
Tuesday, January 18, 2022

6 – 8 PM

 Maine Department of Marine Resources

 

 Megan Ware (ME), 207.446.0932

 
Wednesday, January 19, 2022

6 – 8 PM

 Maine Department of Marine Resources

 

 Megan Ware (ME), 207.446.0932

 
Wednesday, January 19, 2022

6:30 – 8 PM

 New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game

Note: This hearing will be held in a hybrid format. To virtually attend this hearing, please use this webinar registration link. To listen in only, dial1.415.655.0052 and enter 879-685-496.

You can also attend in person at the address below:

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, NH 03801

 

 Cheri Patterson (NH), 603.868.1095

 
Thursday, January 20, 2022

6:30 – 8 PM

 Massachusetts and Rhode Island  Nichola Meserve (MA), 617.626.1531

Jason McNamee (RI), 401.222.4700
The Draft Addenda include two options for proposed management programs. The first is status quo or no changes to the current program, and the second is to implement electronic tracking requirements for federally-permitted American lobster and Jonah crab vessels with commercial trap gear area permits for Lobster Conservation Management Areas 1 through 5 and Outer Cape Cod. Under this option, the specified permit holders would be required to install an approved electronic vessel tracking device to their vessel prior to beginning a fishing trip to collect and transmit spatial data. The devices would collect vessel locations every minute, which would allow for the distinction between transiting and fishing activity, as well as the estimation of traps per trawl. The Draft Addenda also describe administrative processes at the Commission, state, and federal levels for successful implementation of the management program to ensure the data collected meet the needs of state and federal partners.

Webinar Instructions

To register for a public hearing webinar please click HERE and select the hearing(s) you plan to attend from the dropdown menu. Hearings will be held via GoToWebinar, and you can join the webinar from your computer, tablet or smartphone. If you are new to GoToWebinar, you can download the software (click here)or via the App store under GoToWebinar. We recommend you register for the hearing well in advance of the hearing since GoToWebinar will provide you with a link to test your device’s compatibility with the webinar. If you find your device is not compatible, please contact the Commission at info@asmfc.org (subject line: GoToWebinar help) and we will try to get you connected. We also strongly encourage participants to use the computer voice over internet (VoIP) so you can ask questions and provide input at the hearing. Those joining by phone only, will be limited to listening to the presentation but will not be able to provide input during the hearing. In those cases, you can send your comments to staff via email, U.S. mail, or fax at any time during the public comment period. To attend the webinar in listen only mode, dial 1-877-309-2071 and enter access code 350-416-497.

The Draft Addenda are available athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/LobsterDraftAdd_XXIX_JonahCrabDraftAdd_IV_PublicComment_Dec2021.pdf or via the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/public-input. Members of the commercial fishing industry and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input either by participating in public hearings, webinars, or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 31, 2022 and should be sent to Caitlin Starks, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX). For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks at cstarks@asmfc.orgor 703.842.0740.

Researchers Study the Effects of Harmful Algal Blooms

December 1, 2021 — The sample bottle came back from the river, over the gunwale, and into the boat. The water sample was a dark reddish-brown, like strong, steeped tea that you are unable to see through. Literally tens of thousands of algal cells made up every drop of the water sample. Back at the laboratory, scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) will analyze the sample to determine the type and density of algal species in the water. The samples, taken from the York River in the Southern Chesapeake Bay allow scientists to study harmful algal blooms, also called HABs. According to NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science, almost every state in the nation now experiences some kind of HAB event. The number of hypoxic water bodies in the United States has increased 30 fold since the 1960s, with more than 300 coastal systems now impacted.

As you might guess from the name, the tiny microscopic organisms making up HABs are algae, which are a very diverse group of organisms. Phytoplankton are a type of algae usually responsible for creating blooms. Most often, these phytoplankton are made up of an equally diverse group of organisms known as dinoflagellates, which can be found in both fresh and marine waters.

Blooms Occur Worldwide

HABs are a growing concern worldwide, occurring in the Gulf of Mexico and surprising places such as the Alaskan Arctic. Globally warming water temperatures, a result of our changing climate, is one reason blooms are occurring more frequently and over a global scale.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

VIRGINIA: Dominion offshore wind farm cost climbs to $9.8B

November 8, 2021 — Dominion Energy Inc.’s offshore wind farm will cost about $2 billion more than expected, the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility’s chair, president and CEO, Bob Blue, said during a third quarter earnings call Friday.

Instead of the previously estimated $7.8 billion, the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project will cost approximately $9.8 billion, Blue said, attributing the roughly 25% cost increase to rising commodities expenses and general cost pressures across a number of industries right now amid mounting inflation. Additionally, Blue cited costs associated with the need to build about 17 miles of new transmission lines and other onshore infrastructure associated with the project.

Dominion plans to build the 180 wind-turbine farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, with construction beginning in 2024. When completed in 2026, the wind farm is expected to power 660,000 homes. The wind farm will cost residential customers about $4 per month over the estimated 30-year lifespan of the wind farm, a Dominion spokesperson said.

Read the full story at Virginia Business

 

Researchers map best conditions for forage fishes in the Chesapeake

October 28, 2021 — Big fish eat smaller fish, but only if there are smaller fish to eat. A new study led by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science maps the conditions most suitable for key species of forage fishes in the Chesapeake Bay, offering guidance for any future efforts to protect or restore the habitat required to yield sufficient prey for predatory fishes such as striped bass.

Lead author on the study, which appears in the October issue of Frontiers in Marine Science, is Dr. Mary Fabrizio, a professor and chair of Fisheries Science at VIMS. Co-authors are fellow VIMS researcher Dr. Troy Tuckey, along with Drs. Aaron Bever and Michael MacWilliams of Anchor QEA, LLC. Bever is a VIMS alum.

“Small fishes such as bay anchovy are important components of the diets of predatory fishes in Chesapeake Bay,” says Fabrizio, “but factors that affect local abundances of these  fish have been largely unexplored.”

To throw light on these factors, the research team set out to quantify and map suitable habitats for four common species of forage fishes in Bay waters, and to assess the relationship between habitat extent and fish abundance. In addition to bay anchovy, the forage species studied were juvenile spot, juvenile spotted hake, and juvenile weakfish.

The team based their study on data generated by counting the number of forage fishes caught in a trawl net during fishery surveys conducted by VIMS and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources between 2000 and 2016. These surveys sample at more than 100 sites throughout the Bay each month. They coupled these catch data with output from computer models simulating the environmental conditions at each sampling site. These conditions include water depth and temperature, salinity, stratification, dissolved-oxygen levels, and current speeds. The researchers also noted whether the bay floor beneath each net tow was sandy or muddy, and the distance to the nearest shoreline.

Read the full story at Phys.org

$200 million wind turbine facility planned for Virginia

October 26, 2021 — Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and executives from Dominion Energy and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy on Monday announced a $200 million project to finish building turbine blades that would harness offshore wind on 80 acres of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal.

A lineup of local, state and federal leaders said the project, the largest in the United States, positioned Virginia at the forefront of developing wind energy. “This puts us a vital step closer to being the leader in offshore wind,” Northam said, adding that in a few short years the state had pivoted from exploring offshore drilling, which would harm the environment, to offshore wind. “Virginia,” he said, “is all in for offshore wind.”

The facility, combined with its operations and maintenance activities, will create 310 new jobs, including 50 service positions to support Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project 27 miles off the coast. Dominion says the wind farm will generate enough electricity to power up to 660,000 homes at peak and avoid as much as 5 million tons of carbon dioxide being dumped into the atmosphere annually.

Read the full story at the Washington Post

On the water, a different view of menhaden fishing

October 26, 2021 — In his recent op-ed (“Fish spills renew concerns about menhaden management,” Oct. 2), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Chris Moore gives readers a picture of a menhaden fishery that I and my crew do not recognize.

I’ve fished menhaden here in Virginia for most of my life. The view of the fishery expressed by Moore and the CBF of a distant Canadian conglomerate that doesn’t care about the health of the bay or the future of this fishery, could not be further from the truth. It is ignorant and insulting to hundreds of hard-working, blue-collar menhaden fishermen.

Much has been made, both in Moore’s op-ed and elsewhere, of the fact that Omega Protein, Virginia’s oldest and largest fishing company, now has a Canadian parent company. But menhaden fishing has been a Virginia institution since 1878, and there has been a menhaden fishery operating out of Virginia’s Northern Neck continuously since then. I’m a local, my crew are all locals, and many of them come from African American families who have fished menhaden for generations. The majority of these families have been fishing in Virginia long before CBF has even existed.

A corporate address in Canada does not erase the deep Virginia roots of this fishery and the fishermen who are part of it.

Read the full opinion piece at the Virginian-Pilot

 

Virginia’s striped bass forecast looks stable as juvenile numbers hold steady

October 20, 2021 — Juvenile striped bass numbers are holding steady in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay tributaries, the latest annual survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found.

But a parallel survey in Maryland waters showed below-average numbers.

The surveys look at striped bass that hatched in the spring and that will be large enough to catch, legally, in three to four years.

Preliminary results of the Virginia survey showed an average of 6.3 fish for each haul of a seine net in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers. These young striped bass usually measure between 1.5 and 4 inches. That’s the 9th consecutive year of average or above average results, VIMS said.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Daily Press