Saving Seafood

NOAA Reminds Boaters to Watch Out for Whales

July 28, 2017 — WASHINGTON — NOAA Fisheries is reminding boaters to keep a close eye out for feeding and traveling whales, along with following safe viewing guidelines.

During the summer whales are feeding on small schooling fish and zooplankton in coastal areas around New England.

Vessels should stay at least 100 feet away from humpback, fin, sei and minke whales and 500 feet away from critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

“Increased whale activity in areas off Northern New England are coinciding with summer boat traffic. We want to remind boaters of ways to prevent accidental interactions with whales, which can be fatal to the whales and cause damage to boats,” says Jeff Ray, the deputy special agent in charge for NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Fisheries Service Hears Pros, Cons on Atlantic Seismic Surveys

July 27, 2017 — Five oil and gas service companies are awaiting decisions by the National Marine Fisheries Service on their proposals for Atlantic offshore seismic surveys that could harm whales and other marine life.

The service, which can issue authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, is reviewing a high volume of opposing and supporting public comments that were filed by the July 21 deadline.

The five companies are TGS NOPEC Geophysical Co. ASA, Spectrum ASA, ION Geophysical Corp., CGG S.A. and WesternGeco Ltd., a subsidiary of Schlumberger Ltd. A sixth company, TDI-Brooks International Inc., recently expressed an interest in restarting the application for an authorization after an earlier application was returned to the company as incomplete.

The fisheries service proposed authorizations with a variety of mitigation measures to reduce risks to marine mammals. If the authorizations are granted—with or without additional mitigation steps—the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be able to make final decisions on whether to issue one-year permits for the work.

The fisheries service has no deadline for its decisions. BOEM is expected to be able to act quickly if the service gives the green light.

Read the full story at Bloomberg BNA

Marine group disentangles humpback whale off Cape Cod

July 22, 2017 — A marine conservation group says it has disentangled a young humpback whale off Cape Cod.

The Center for Coastal Studies says a charter vessel discovered the whale just outside Nauset Inlet on Friday afternoon. It had a bridle of heavy line looped though its mouth and twisted across its back. Two orange buoys trailed behind it.

The center’s Marine Animal Entanglement Response team cut away the gear and the twisted line, leaving the whale with just a short length of line in its mouth. As the whale moved away the remaining rope was pulled from its mouth and it sped off.

The Center for Coastal Studies urges boaters to report any entanglement sightings of whales, sea turtles or other marine animals.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

NOAA Announces Continuation of Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone

July 21, 2017 –A voluntary speed restriction zone about 15 miles south of Nantucket has been extended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division.

NOAA established the speed restriction zone last month due to the presence of three endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The voluntary speed restriction zone will be in effect through July 30.

According to researchers, there are only about 400 North Atlantic right whales still in existence.

Those who approach a right whale closer than 500 yards will be in violation of federal and state law and could lead to criminal charges.

All right whale sightings are to be reported at 1-866-755-6622.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Right Whale Disentanglements Allowed on Case-by-Case Basis

July 21, 2017 — The disentanglement of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales has been authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service on a case-by-case basis.

The agency suspended all whale responses last week after a Canadian responder was killed while disentangling a right whale off New Brunswick.

NOAA lifted the ban for all other species Tuesday after reviewing safety policies.

Right whale responses will be contingent upon a review of circumstances and available resources.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Feds allow entangled whale rescues to resume, except for ‘unpredictable’ right whales

July 20, 2017 — U.S. officials are lifting a ban on some whale disentanglement efforts after briefly banning the practice that last week led to the death of a Canadian fisherman.

But the ban will stay in effect for right whales, “whose unpredictable behavior is particularly challenging during rescue attempts,” Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said Tuesday.

In response to the death of Joe Howlett, who died after freeing a right whale from fishing gear, the fisheries division of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration on July 11 barred anyone from approaching an entangled whale in U.S. waters.

On Tuesday, it announced that rescue efforts could resume, but that it would only allow right whale disentanglement efforts “on a case-by-case basis,” depending on circumstances and availability of trained people. The suspension of right whale rescues likely will remain in effect as long as Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans investigates Howlett’s death, NOAA has said.

Federal law bars anyone from closely approaching whales, except for those specifically trained and authorized to do so for research or conservation purposes.

Howlett, 59, died July 10 while freeing a whale from fishing gear in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Shippagan, on the northeast coast of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Howlett, who helped found the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, was part of a group of trained responders who had just freed the whale when it struck and killed him.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

NOAA Fisheries Announces Continuation of Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

July 18, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

The voluntary vessel speed restriction zone south of Nantucket, MA has been extended to protected an aggregation of three right whales sighted in this area on July 16, 2017.

Mariners, please avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the area (map below). 

Nantucket, MA zone coordinates:

41 32 N

40 53 N

070 29 W

069 36 W   

This voluntary speed restriction zone is in effect through July 30. 

Find out more about all the dynamic and seasonal management areas where speed is restricted.

Learn more about how to reduce vessels strikes of whales.

You can also get recent right whale sightings and the latest acoustic detections of right whales in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston shipping lanes. Or, download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone.

Remember that approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law. Please report all right whale sightings to 866-755-NOAA (6622) 

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov

U.S. putting whale rescue efforts on hold after Canadian fisherman is killed

July 17, 2017 — The U.S. is suspending whale rescue efforts after a Canadian fisherman died last week during one such mission.

Joe Howlett, founder of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, was killed Monday while helping to free a North Atlantic right whale off the coast of New Brunswick. Mackie Green, captain of the rescue group, told the Canadian Press the team had actually succeeded in freeing the animal when “some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip,” striking Howlett.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is now “suspending all large whale entanglement response activities nationally until further notice, in order to review our own emergency response protocols in light of this event,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement.

Read the full story at USA Today

GLOUCESTER TIMES: Saving a species in danger

July 11, 2017 — The revival of the right whale should be one of America’s great conservation success stories, standing alongside the grey wolf, the American bison and the bald eagle.

Once hunted to the edge of extinction, the right whale made strong strides toward recovery in recent decades, in large part due to conservation efforts. Today there are thought to be about 500 of the mammals swimming in Atlantic waters.

Recent events, however, show just how tenuous the species’ hold on survival really is, and make clear the need for continued, innovative conservation efforts. A new effort to educate recreational and competitive sailors about the dangers of vessel strikes is a step in the right direction.

Six right whales were found dead in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, late last month. Early evidence suggests two of the whales died after being struck by boats, and one after becoming entangled in lost or discarded fishing gear.

Meanwhile, fewer right whale calves have been born in recent years.

“Including the right whale killed by a ship strike in Cape Cod this past April, we have now lost seven right whales in a year where only five calves were born,” said Regina Asmutis-Silva, executive director of the Plymouth-based research and advocacy group Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “Only 20 years ago, over 500 (vaquita whales) swam in the Gulf of California but today only 30 remain because of human impacts. Where will the right whales be in 20 years if we do not make meaningful changes that reduce their threats of ship strikes and entanglements?”

Massachusetts researchers, who warned the species was in trouble last year, remain concerned.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

Recent Right Whale Deaths Have Scientists Worried

July 7, 2017 — The deaths of six North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence last month have raised alarms among whale biologists who fear for the future of one of the rarest whales on the planet.

Robert Kenney, a marine mammal expert at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, called the unexpected deaths “a major concern” because the population of right whales totals fewer than 500 animals and their numbers have been declining since 2011. The dead whales represent more than 1 percent of the population.

While the deaths raise many questions, one of the first, according to Kenney, is what were they doing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the first place?

“Right whales go to the same places to feed every year — the Great South Channel, the Bay of Fundy, the Nova Scotia shelf — feeding grounds they probably learned from their mothers in their first year of life,” said Kenney, who manages the sighting database for the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. “But recently they seem to be wandering farther afield. If there’s not enough food where they traditionally feed, they go to other places. That’s what we think is going on.”

What caused the deaths of the six whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence — the water body surrounded by Newfoundland, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — is uncertain. Preliminary results of necropsies on three of the animals showed evidence of blunt trauma from ship strikes on two of the whales and fishing gear entanglement on the third. But a news release from Canada’s Marine Animal Response Society said other problems that “may have predisposed these animals to this trauma cannot be ruled out at this stage.”

Read the full story at ecoRI News