Saving Seafood

Shellfish growers are feeling climate change’s effects now

July 3, 2019 — Shellfish farming in Washington is a multimillion-dollar industry with a history as deep as Puget Sound. However, recent decades of warming oceans and higher levels of ocean acidification continue to challenge shellfish farming practices.

In and around Whatcom County there are several aquaculture farms, such as Lummi Shellfish Hatchery, Drayton HarborOyster Co., Blau Oyster and Taylor Shellfish in Samish Bay. Each farm varies in size, number of employees and type of shellfish produced, but they share one thing in common: the water quality of Puget Sound.

There are more than 300 aquaculture farms across Washington, according to the Pacific Shellfish Institute. A WashingtonState Maritime Sector Economic Impact Study in 2017 found that the industry directly supports 15,900 jobs. Samish Bay shellfish farms alone include $2 million annual payroll and $6 million in wholesale oysters, clams and geoduck.

In June, four ocean acidification bills made bipartisan progress, in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, to becoming law. The bills are designed to encourage research and spur new ideas for adapting to the affects of ocean acidification. The bills include the COAST Research Act of 2019, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2019,the Ocean Acidification Innovation Act of 2019 and the NEAR Act of 2019.

As carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere a certain percentage is absorbed into the water, causing a chemical reaction that makes the water more acidic. According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, roughly 25%of carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed into the worlds oceans. The process is similar to bubbles escaping from a soda can, but in reverse. Since the industrial revolution ocean acidification has increased by 30% and reduced carbonate ions by16%, said Bill Dewey, director of public affairs for Taylor Shellfish. By the end of the century it is predicted that ocean acidification will increase by 100% to 150% and reduce carbonate ions by 50%, said Dewey.

Read the full story at The Bellingham Business Journal

Pacific Council Slows Process on U.S. Management of Area 2A Commercial Halibut Fishery

July 1, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — After a couple years of exchanging ideas with the International Pacific Halibut Commission about management of the non-Indian commercial halibut fishery in Area 2A — Washington, Oregon and California — the Pacific Fishery Management Council plans to take incremental steps to take over management of the fishery.

Commercial fishermen have gone to IPHC meetings and pushed for individual quota systems and the IPHC has gone to the Council to propose longer seasons than single 10-hour openings. The Council and its advisory bodies have struggled with how to transition from IPHC management to U.S. management.

The Council decided last week when it met in San Diego to continue to work closely with the IPHC and stakeholders. And instead of a workshop, the Council will fold ideas into its traditional two-meeting catch-sharing plan discussion that takes place during September and November meetings. At the next Council meetings, in Boise, Idaho in September and in Costa Mesa, Calif., in November, the Council will consider small changes for the 2020 season.

Fishermen will likely see little change to the fishery in the next two years as the Council, NMFS and the IPHC work on background issues to support a management transition.

The Council also decided that:

– for 2020-2021, and maybe beyond, the Council would request IPHC continue to issue commercial licenses for the Area 2A fishery while NMFS works on development of new permitting regulations;

– it will request the IPHC and NMFS/Council share data regarding the 2A licensing system and commercial logbook data;

– it will reach out to fishery participants to let them know the Council’s intent to not consider major changes to the fishery for the next few years.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

US Supreme Court ruling impacts marine insurance rates

June 26, 2019 — The United States Supreme Court on Monday, 24 June issued a decision likely to result in lower insurance premiums for U.S. fishing vessels.

The court ruled in favor of the defendant in the case Dutra v. Batterton. The plaintiff, a seaman employed by Dutra Group, who was injured when a hatch on a dredge vessel blew open and crushed his hand, sued Dutra seeking general and punitive damages, asserting that the vessel on which he was working was unseaworthy.

Lawyers representing Dutra Group argued that the claims for punitive damages are not eligible on the basis of unseaworthiness. Justices sided with Dutra, ruling that the plaintiff may not recover punitive damages on a claim of unseaworthiness, which reversed a previous ruling by the Ninth Circuit that the plaintiff was eligible for punitive damages.

Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice Roberts, as well as Justices Gorsuch, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Thomas. Justice Ginsberg wrote the dissenting opinion and was joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor.

Isaak Hurst, a lawyer at the International Maritime Group, a law firm in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., said that the court’s decision was a “big win for vessel owners because of the conflicting body of law that has developed around ‘unseaworthiness.’”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WASHINGTON: Outdoor notes: Application submitted to lethally remove sea lions from Columbia River

June 20, 2019 — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, in partnership with several stakeholders, has submitted an application to remove by lethal force, California and Stellar sea lions that are preying on protected salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River and many of its tributaries.

Sea lion numbers have been growing alarmingly in the last decade, and they have been gathering below the Bonneville Dam to intercept salmon and steelhead as they make their way upstream. Many of the fish they are feeding on are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Many runs of salmon, particularly chinook, are struggling. Chinook runs this year are so low that fishing closures have been enacted.

“The vast majority of these animals remain in coastal and offshore waters, but several hundred have established themselves in upriver locations,” said Kessina Lee, Region 5 director with WDFW in a news release. “Where salmon and steelhead numbers are low, any unmanaged increase in predation can cause serious problems.”

Read the full story at The Columbian

Whale Watchers Accused Of Loving Endangered Orcas To Death

June 19, 2019 — Whale watching is generally regarded as innocent fun. Unlike an aquarium park, whale watching boats take you to see majestic animals that remain free in their natural habitat.

But when it comes to marine mammals that are already struggling to survive, are the boat-based watching tours really harmless?

That question has become more urgent in Washington state, where Southern Resident killer whales that feed around the San Juan Islands in the summer months have been declining since the 1990s. There are only about 75 left. Orcas are a form of dolphin, though the cetaceans are also sometimes classified as “toothed whales.”

Experts blame the shrinking runs of chinook salmon, the Southern Residents’ preferred meal. (Other kinds of orcas hunt other sea mammals, and are not declining the same way.)

The plight of the Southern Residents gained international attention last summer, when one of the orca females was seen “grieving” for its dead calf, keeping the body afloat for 17 days.

Read the full story at NPR

US senators take aim at Canadian mines’ impact on salmon

June 17, 2019 — A bipartisan group of US senators has written to the premier of Canada’s British Columbia province, airing concerns about the effects the country’s mines are having on salmon populations in four US states.

The eight senators, from Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Montana, asked John Horgan, the province’s premier, to undertake “dedicated efforts to monitor transboundary water quality”.

“While we appreciate Canada’s engagement to date, we remain concerned about the lack of oversight of Canadian mining projects near multiple transboundary rives that originate in B.C. and flow into our four US states,” the senators wrote.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

WASHINGTON: Northwest States, Tribes Apply to Feds For OK to Kill More Columbia Sea Lions

June 14, 2019 — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), along with a consortium of state and tribal partners, today submitted an expanded application to lethally remove California and Steller sea lions preying on threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River and its tributaries.

California sea lions — and increasingly, Steller sea lions — have been observed in growing numbers in the Columbia River basin, especially in the last decade. These sea lions prey heavily on salmon and steelhead runs listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including thousands of fish at Bonneville Dam each year.

The impacts come at a time when many Chinook salmon runs are already at historic lows.

The recovery of sea lions since the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in 1972 is a success story, said Kessina Lee, Region 5 director with WDFW. But that recovery has also brought challenges.

“The vast majority of these animals remain in coastal and offshore waters, but several hundred have established themselves in upriver locations,” Lee said. “Where salmon and steelhead numbers are low, any unmanaged increase in predation can cause serious problems.”

Predator management is a key part of a multi-faceted effort to restore salmon and steelhead populations in the Pacific Northwest.

Read the full story at Northwest Sportsman

WASHINGTON: Salmon merging onto new ‘highway’ in Seattle, complete with rest stops and restaurants

June 4, 2019 — Next time you’re visiting Seattle’s downtown waterfront and gazing out across Elliott Bay toward the majestic Olympic Mountains, look down. You might see a shoal of silvery baby salmon, each about 3 inches long.

You might also see a snorkeler counting fish, because University of Washington researchers are studying habitat improvements built along the city’s $410 million new seawall, which stretches 3,100 feet between the Seattle Aquarium and the Colman Dock ferry terminal.

Their observations are preliminary — yet promising. Since the wall was completed in 2017, the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences researchers have repeatedly witnessed juvenile salmon swimming under the wooden piers that extend out over the waterfront, where they almost never ventured before.

During the wall’s construction, workers added shelves and grooves meant to help algae grow and critters like mussels take hold. They laid rock beds below the wall because young salmon prefer to forage and hide in shallow-water nooks. They even installed translucent glass panes in a cantilevered sidewalk between the wall and the piers to allow light through, down to the water.

Juvenile salmon prefer swimming and eating in sunlight, and the improvements are meant to act like a migratory highway, complete with rest stations and restaurants. Taken together, they represent what might be the most sweeping seawall habitat-restoration project anywhere.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Human Population Growth Threatens Endangered Whales

June 4, 2019 — Population growth is threatening efforts to save Southern Resident killer whales, whose decline is not being treated with the urgency the crisis demands, officials said in a task force meeting in Washington state Monday.

The Puget Sound area surrounding the Salish Sea is expected to be home to almost 6 million more people by 2050, which would add between 33 and 150 square miles of paved area, according to the Washington Department of Commerce.

“Population growth is the top challenge for conserving habitat,” Jeff Davis, assistant director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s habitat program, said Monday at the Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force meeting.

Governor Jay Inslee convened the task force last year, asking it to provide recommendations to prevent the endangered whales’ extinction.

Unlike most orca, Southern Residents exclusively eat fish – mostly Chinook salmon, which are also listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Dwindling food, an abundance of ship noise that interferes with the whales’ ability to hear and increasingly toxic waters are factors that have reduced their numbers from a high of 200 to the current low of 76 whales, which are divided into three extended families – also known as pods.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Feds declare emergency as gray whale deaths reach highest level in nearly 20 years

June 3, 2019 — Alarmed by the high number of gray whales that have been washing up dead on West Coast beaches this spring, the federal government on Friday declared the troubling trend a wildlife emergency.

The declaration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration technically, the agency dubbed the deaths an “unusual mortality event” kicks in a provision of federal law that provides funding for scientists to figure out the cause when such die-offs of marine mammals occur, from whales and dolphins in the Pacific or Atlantic to manatees off Florida.

So far this year, at least 70 gray whales have been found dead and stranded along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska the most in nearly 20 years, scientists from NOAA said Friday. In recent weeks, whales have washed up in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

On average about 35 of the giant marine mammals wash up dead on the West Coast in a year, or around three per month. Last year, 45 were found.

But the average number found dead for the first five months of the year on the West Coast is 15, so this year is seeing five times the average rate.

“There have been juveniles but adults as well. There have been males and females. It’s been all across the board at this point,” said Justin Viezbicke, NOAA’s California Stranding Coordinator.

Read the full story at The Chicago Tribune