Saving Seafood

NOAA proposes new round of whale protections

January 6, 2021 — A proposed rule released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Dec. 30 aims to lower North Atlantic right whale entanglements in commercial fishing lines. Its release follows two years of research, public meetings and comment.

Federal regulators found the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) proposal submitted last January to be lacking — by 8 percent.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service seeks a 60 percent risk reduction to whales while the Maine DMR plan would only achieve a 52 percent reduction, NOAA informed Maine DMR in January 2020. Both proposals increase the number of traps per trawl line to reduce the number of vertical lines in the ocean, allow for gear marking to identify which state a whale fatality occurred in, require weak links in lines that would allow an entangled whale to break free and provide for seasonal closures in one lobster management area (LMA).

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA proposes new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales

January 5, 2021 — NOAA has proposed new modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan that are intended to address entanglements in fishing gear, one of the leading causes of death in the highly endangered animal.

The regulations are targeting pot and trap fisheries – specifically the Northeast Jonah crab and lobster fisheries – which according to NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Chris Oliver “deploy about 93 percent of the buoy lines fished in areas where right whales occur.” The plan would require gear modifications to reduce the number of vertical lines by requiring more traps on each line, in addition to the insertion of weaker parts of the rope; modify existing seasonal restrictions; add “up to two” new seasonal buoy line closures; and modify gear markings to include state-specific marking colors, along with increasing the number and area of marked lines.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New slow zone to protect right whales off Martha’s Vineyard

January 5, 2021 — The federal government has announced a new slow speed zone designed to protect right whales off New England until the middle of January.

The zone is located south of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and it will be in effect until Jan. 15. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said acoustic gear detected the whales on Dec. 31.

Mariners are asked to go 10 knots or less in the area or avoid it completely. The whales are vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. They number only about 360 in the world.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

More restrictions considered for Massachusetts lobstermen

January 4, 2020 — To protect North Atlantic right whales, regulators want to expand an annual three-month ban on the use of lobstering equipment off Cape Cod Bay to include all Massachusetts waters.

Since 2015, federal regulations have banned the use of lobstering equipment from Feb. 1 until at least April 30 off Cape Cod Bay and beyond, shutting down the local industry for the winter. The goal is to reduce the chances of whales becoming entangled in the gear.

Right whales are common in Cape Cod Bay during late winter and early spring, especially during March and April.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

New Slow Speed Zone West of Martha’s Vineyard to Protect Right Whales

January 4, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In Effect through January 15

NOAA Fisheries announces a new Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone) south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

On December 31, 2020, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Cox Ledge Slocum glider acoustically detected the presence of right whales 32nm west of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Mariners, please go around this area or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected.

The West of Martha’s Vineyard Slow Zone is in effect through January 15 for waters bounded by:

41 34 N
40 54 N
070 50 W
071 43 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here

New Slow Speed Zone South of Martha’s Vineyard to Protect Right Whales

December 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In Effect through January 14

NOAA Fisheries announces a new Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone) south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

On December 30, 2020, Protected Species Observers aboard wind farm survey vessel Ventus noted the presence of right whales 21nm South of Martha’s Vineyard.

Mariners, please go around this area or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected.

The South of Martha’s Vinyeard Slow Zone is in effect through January 14 for waters bounded by:

41 25 N
40 44 N
069 59 W
070 55 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here

Humpback Whale Season in Hawaiʻi is in Full Swing Right Now

December 21, 2020 — November is when the koholā (humpback whales) return to Hawaiʻi to breed, birth and nurse calves. An estimated 8,000 to 12,000 of the protected marine mammals migrate from Alaska to the Islands’ warm, shallow waters through April, when they head back north again.

This year, though, the first North Pacific humpback whale sighting was reported on Oct. 8 off Maui, according to the Pacific Whale Foundation—earlier than normal. Researchers at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, a 13,700-square-mile sanctuary created in 1992 to protect whales in their preferred habitat around the Islands, are getting reports of whale sightings from around the state.

They are also hopeful that total numbers of whales that will be counted this season—now through March 2021—will trend upward. In 2016, numbers dropped nearly 50%, likely due to a lack of food. That was the same year the koholā were removed from the endangered species list.

The COVID-19 pandemic may affect the whale count, too, with fewer whale tours running and fewer visitors in the Islands.

“We can say that (in 2019-20), whale abundance and singing activity was the highest in about five years, indicating that whale numbers in Hawaiʻi have been increasing,” said Marc Lammers, research coordinator with the humpback whale sanctuary, in a webinar he presented last month on the sanctuary’s website.

Read the full story at Hawaii Magazine

NOAA proposes measures to reduce dangers to right whales

December 31, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing a reduction in lobster trap lines and state-specific markings for fishing gear as part of a plan to reduce the number of entanglements involving endangered right whales in New England waters.

NOAA released its proposal Wednesday after telling the state of Maine this year that its proposal didn’t go far enough to protect the whales. The goal is to reduce the risk to whales by 60%.

North Atlantic right whales number only about 360 and are in the midst of a worrisome decline in population.

“Saving this species will take decisive action from all stakeholders — state and federal government, fishermen, conservationists, and scientists,” the New England Aquarium right whale team said in a statement.

Read the full story at WRAL

Proposed Modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan

December 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we released our proposed modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to further reduce the impacts of entanglement in fishing gear on right whales in U.S. waters. The proposed modifications focus on the Northeast jonah crab and lobster trap/pot fisheries, which deploy about 93 percent of the buoy lines fished in areas where right whales occur. In 2021, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team will be asked to recommend risk reduction measures for other Atlantic trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. We also released the associated Draft Environmental Impact Statement today.

We opened a public comment period on both of these documents. Comments are due on the proposed modifications and on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement by March 1, 2021. We will also hold a series of virtual public hearings to explain the proposed modifications and to accept public comments on the modifications.

Find out more on our website:

How to Comment

1. Attend a public hearing.

2. Submit your comments in writing through our online comment portal. The comment portal will open on December 31, 2020. To comment, go to: regulations.gov. Search for NOAA-NMFS-2020-0031. Choose “Comment Now” to submit your comments.

Read the full release here

Ropeless fishing, called ‘crazy’ by some, could be real in five years

December 29, 2020 — The possibility of hauling lobster traps from the ocean’s bottom by using an acoustic signal rather than a length of rope has been called crazy and viewed as impossibly expensive by many in the lobster industry.

But trials underway off the Massachusetts coast could be moving the impossible to the realm of reality, according to Sean Hayes, chief of the protected species branch at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass.

Although the trials are in Massachusetts, Maine is the nation’s biggest lobster fishery, with over 100 million pounds landed last year.

Hayes presented an update on the technology to the New England Fishery Management Council at its virtual meeting in earlier this month.

Studies of the technology were launched in response to the decline of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which migrates through U.S. and Canadian waters that also are lobstering grounds. Vessel collisions and fishing gear entanglements are considered the two leading causes of injury and death of the whales.

Read the full story at MaineBiz