Saving Seafood

  • Home
  • News
    • Alerts
    • Conservation & Environment
    • Council Actions
    • Economic Impact
    • Enforcement
    • International & Trade
    • Law
    • Management & Regulation
    • Regulations
    • Nutrition
    • Opinion
    • Other News
    • Safety
    • Science
    • State and Local
  • News by Region
    • New England
    • Mid-Atlantic
    • South Atlantic
    • Gulf of Mexico
    • Pacific
    • North Pacific
    • Western Pacific
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Fishing Terms Glossary

US Representative Don Young, industry groups “welcome” bill to reauthorize Magnuson-Stevens Act

July 27, 2021 — In the moments on Monday, 26 July, after U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman officially announced the filing of a bill to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, statements supporting the legislation started to flow out from the press offices of seafood and fishing interest groups and environmental non-governmental organizations.

Conservation groups lauded H.R. 4690, sponsored by the California Democrat and U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii). In particular, those organizations appreciated the recognition of climate change as a factor in fishing.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Large vessels failing to obey speed limits to protect endangered whales, report finds

July 22, 2021 — Nearly 90 percent of large vessels traveling in some conservation areas along the East Coast violated mandatory speed limits established to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, according to a new report.

The findings raised questions about the need for stricter enforcement of federal rules to protect right whales, whose numbers have fallen by about 25 percent over the past decade to roughly 360. Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear have been the primary cause of death and serious injuries.

“Vessels are speeding, North Atlantic right whales are dying, and there’s not enough accountability,” said Whitney Webber, a campaign director at Oceana, an advocacy group, which released the report on Wednesday. “Oceana’s analysis shows that speeding vessels are rampant throughout North Atlantic right whales’ migration route, all along the East Coast, and in both mandatory and voluntary speed zones.”

Between 2017 and 2020, the report found that nearly 90 percent of vessels 65 feet or larger failed to reduce their speeds to 10 knots or less in the required speed zones along the coast from Wilmington, N.C., to Brunswick, Ga., near the whales’ calving grounds. Nearly 80 percent of the vessels also failed to comply with speed limits along the coasts of New York and New Jersey, while more than half of large vessels failed to comply near the entrance of Delaware Bay.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Report: Speed compliance to save rare whales could be better

January 25, 2021 — Compliance with speed rules designed to protect rare whales has increased in recent years but could still be higher, according to a report from the federal government.

The slow speed zones are implemented to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number about 360 and are vulnerable to collisions with ships. The National Marine Fisheries Service implemented seasonal, mandatory vessel speed rules in some areas along the East Coast in 2008 to try to help the whales.

A report released by the service this week states that the level of mariner compliance with the speed rule increased to 81% in 2018-19. That was the highest level on record.

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

Right whale estimate plummets while Maine lobstermen await restrictions

October 29, 2020 — A new scientific estimate has found the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population is declining.

The estimate, from the National Marine Fisheries Service, comes as the lobster fishery awaits a draft of new federal restrictions that aim to reduce the potential for fishing gear to entangle the whales.

The number of right whales worldwide has declined from just over 400 to about 360, new data is showing.

Oceana, an ocean conservation nonprofit in Washington, D.C., is calling on the service to take immediate action to save the species from extinction.

“The new estimates that only about 360 North Atlantic right whales remain underscores the need for immediate action to protect this critically endangered species,” Oceana campaign director Whitney Webber said in the release.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

The North Atlantic right whale will soon be extinct unless something is done to save it, researchers warn

September 13, 2019 — The fate of the increasingly rare North Atlantic right whale has always been left up to humans.

Once hunted nearly to extinction, their population is sharply declining again. Any hope for their survival, researchers say, demands immediate action.

A new report from Oceana, a non-profit ocean advocacy group, says unless protections are put in place, the North Atlantic right whale will die out.

“At some point, if trends continue, recovery will simply become impossible,” researchers wrote.

There are only 400 of them left, and less than 25% of them are breeding females responsible for the species’ survival. At least 28 have died in the past two years, Oceana campaign director Whitney Webber told CNN.

It’s a sharp decline driven by fishing, boating and climate change that impacts their food supply, according to the report.

“We’re really not seeing the whales die of natural causes anymore,” she said. “They’re dying at our hands.”

Read the full story at CNN

Recent Headlines

  • MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Lobstermen Would Rather Wait Than Switch
  • NEW JERSEY: Congressman Slams Biden, Murphy For ‘Shoddy’ Offshore Wind Farm Strategy In New Jersey
  • Bumble Bee Foods to remove labor claims from marketing materials
  • Phytoplankton blooms offer insight into impacts of climate change
  • NOAA Fisheries, Atlantic Coast Partners Release Plan to Improve Atlantic Recreational Fisheries Data
  • Tangled up in crab: Whales studied along Oregon coast
  • Biden backs sanctuary status for Remote Pacific Islands waters
  • NEW JERSEY: Van Drew holds hearing on wind farm, calls it collusion of big government and industry

Most Popular Topics

Alaska Aquaculture ASMFC Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission BOEM California Climate change Coronavirus COVID-19 Donald Trump groundfish Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Illegal fishing IUU fishing Lobster Maine Massachusetts Mid-Atlantic National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NEFMC New Bedford New England New England Fishery Management Council New Jersey New York NMFS NOAA NOAA Fisheries North Atlantic right whales North Carolina North Pacific offshore energy Offshore wind Pacific right whales Salmon Scallops South Atlantic Tuna Western Pacific Whales wind energy Wind Farms

Daily Updates & Alerts

Enter your email address to receive daily updates and alerts:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Tweets by @savingseafood

Copyright © 2023 Saving Seafood · WordPress Web Design by Jessee Productions