Recycling old fishing nets is catchy concept
August 23, 2015 — A Bay State native’s upcycling firm is turning discarded fishing nets — a significant source of ocean pollution — into skateboards and sunglasses, with the backing of the New England Aquarium.
“We had been all around the world and we had seen the global issue of ocean pollution,” Buero Inc. co-founder Ben R. Kneppers said, adding that fishing nets account for about 10 percent of marine pollution. “We wanted to see if we could create an innovative solution to prevent this material from entering the ocean.”
Patagonia has partnered with Kneppers and his partners, David M. Stover and Kevin J. Ahearn, to put the “Minnow” skateboard on the shelves of more than 90 stores across five continents, and the skateboards are now available for purchase in the aquarium gift shop as well.
The company, based in Chile, started two years ago and Kneppers said the New England Aquarium and Northeastern University, his alma matter, were two of the biggest initial backers.
Read the full story at the Boston Herald
Lobster population shifting north as ocean temps warm
August 18, 2015 — The lobster population has crashed to the lowest levels on record in southern New England while climbing to heights never before seen in the cold waters off Maine and other northern reaches — a geographic shift that scientists attribute in large part to the warming of the ocean.
The trend is driving lobstermen in Connecticut and Rhode Island out of business, ending a centuries-old way of life.
Restaurant diners, supermarket shoppers and summer vacationers aren’t seeing much difference in price or availability, since the overall supply of lobsters is pretty much steady.
But because of the importance of lobsters to New England’s economy, history and identity, the northward shift stands as a particularly sad example of how climate change may be altering the natural range of many animals and plants.
“It’s a shame,” said Jason McNamee, chief of marine resource management for Rhode Island’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s such a traditional, historical fishery.”
In 2013, the number of adult lobsters in New England south of Cape Cod slid to about 10 million, just one-fifth the total in the late 1990s, according to a report issued this month by regulators. The lobster catch in the region sank to about 3.3 million pounds in 2013, from a peak of about 22 million in 1997.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald
NOAA Announces National Habitat Policy
August 10, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:
NOAA has released a NOAA National Habitat Policy, which acknowledges that healthy habitat is crucial to NOAA’s programs and activities. The agency-wide policy outlines a set of guiding principles that applies to all of NOAA’s habitat work. It is a long-term policy and will influence future actions and priorities related to habitat conservation, allowing us to be more efficient and effective.
Healthy habitat is vital to protecting coastal and ocean ecosystems and communities. In turn, healthy habitat is important for achieving the NOAA mission. NOAA is responsible for ensuring the nation has a strong network of healthy habitats. These habitats sustain resilient and thriving marine and coastal resources, communities, and economies by protecting and restoring those habitats.
However, with continued widespread loss and deterioration of coastal and marine habitats, we are in danger of losing this natural infrastructure. NOAA has been committed to confronting these challenges for many years. This new policy is a clear statement of NOAA’s dedication to habitat conservation and resilient ecosystems and communities.
Drought Forces Trout to Be Trucked From California Hatchery
August 13, 2015 — FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Tons of rainbow trout had to be rescued from a Central California fish hatchery and moved by truck to cooler lake water, sparing them from the state’s relentless drought, wildlife officials said Wednesday.
About 80,000 pounds of trout were scooped up from the San Joaquin Hatchery near Fresno and hauled 30 miles uphill to Shaver Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Temperatures in Millerton Lake, which flow through into the hatchery on the San Joaquin River, had reached nearly 70 degrees, threatening the trout’s survival, The Fresno Bee reported (http://bit.ly/1Ns8OG3 ).
“The drought is having a devastating effect,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said. “We’re really making an effort to save as many fish as we can and get them into cold water before it gets any warmer.”
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times
Conowingo Dam fish-lift overhaul urged to restore Susquehanna’s shad, eels
August 12, 2015 — Federal wildlife officials are calling for Exelon Corp. to overhaul its fish lifts at Conowingo Dam, arguing it’s the only way to revive the Susquehanna River’s depleted stocks of the iconic American shad, eels and other once-important fish.
In comments submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended the lifts be rebuilt and enlarged as a condition of renewing Exelon’s license to generate hydroelectric power at Conowingo.
The service also wants the power company to help more eels get upriver — by truck for now.
Rebuilding the dam’s fish lifts could cost millions of dollars. Exelon is reviewing the wildlife service’s prescription for improving fish passage, said Robert Judge, a spokesman for the Chicago-based parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric.
The service’s proposal comes after years of negotiations between Exelon and officials from Maryland, Pennsylvania and federal agencies over the dam’s relicensing, which has been hung up in part by debates over how to deal with a buildup behind the dam of bay-fouling sediment and nutrient pollution washed down the river.
The company’s license to operate Conowingo expired last year, but the federal commission has extended the permit while the parties attempt to work out their differences over the sediment buildup, fish passage and other issues.
“We’ve reached a crucial period,” said Genevieve LaRouche, supervisor of the wildlife service’s Chesapeake Bay field office. “It’s a 46-year license. It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something.”
LaRouche said the service hasn’t costed out the upgrades yet. But state and federal officials have previously said current fish passage facilities could be tweaked for less than $1 million, while replacing both fish lifts could run $24 million or more.
Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun
Atlantic Salmon Smolts Survive the Dam but Die Downstream
August 4, 2015 — Salmon are famous for boldly fighting their way upstream to spawn. But their trip downstream as young smolts is no less heroic. In the case of Atlantic salmon, many must pass through or around dams, and new research reveals that even if they survive the initial hazard, they may suffer injuries that make them more likely to die days or weeks later in the estuary, where the river meets the sea. What’s more, the effects are cumulative: for each dam a smolt passes, its chance of dying in the estuary increases by 6 to 7 percent.
“The effects of dams aren’t limited to a 500-meter stretch below the dam, but extend tens of kilometers out to sea,” said Dan Stich, the lead author of the study, which appeared recently in the journal Marine and Coastal Fisheries. “In fact, the number of fish killed by the delayed effects of dams can be greater than the number killed at the dam itself.”
Atlantic salmon are endangered in the United States, and these findings suggest that making dam passage safer for smolts can help the recovery of the species.
Stich conducted the study as a Ph.D. student at the University of Maine and is now a biologist with NOAA Fisheries. John Kocik, a research fisheries biologist at NOAA and a co-author of the study, said, “We already knew that we were losing a lot of fish in the estuary. Now that Dan’s research has identified some critical mechanisms behind that loss, something can be done about it.”
Toll Booths along the River
For this study, scientists surgically implanted acoustic tags into 941 smolts in the Penobscot River between 2005 and 2013. Those tags emit a coded sound roughly once a minute that uniquely identifies the fish carrying it.
As the fish travel downstream, the sound is picked up by receivers that span the river and the mouth of the estuary. The receivers function like electronic tollbooths, logging each fish as it passes so that scientists can track its progress. When a fish stops moving, it is assumed to have died.
The acoustic tags are about the size and shape of the metal eraser holder on a standard wooden pencil. Experiments have shown that implanting them in the 5- to 7-inch smolts does not harm the fish enough to significantly skew the results of the study.
A Dangerous Passage
At almost 1,000 tagged smolts, this study was the largest of its kind on Atlantic salmon, and it gave scientists enough statistical power to tease apart the factors that influence smolt survival. Of all the variables tested—including temperature, hours of daylight, distance traveled, and many more—one of the factors that most affected a smolt’s chances of survival was the number of dams it passed on its way to the ocean.
In the Penobscot River, most smolts pass dams in sluices or spillways. Those diversions keep most fish out of the generating turbines, but the ride can be rough and leave the fish injured or partially de-scaled. That can make them more vulnerable to predators and less able to withstand saltwater when they first encounter it days or weeks later.
“There are a lot of things waiting in the estuary to eat them,” Kocik said, including cormorants, seals, and striped bass. “Any fish that’s injured is easy prey.”
Timing Matters
As they make their way downstream, the smolts transform into ocean-going fish. They become longer and slimmer, acquire the ability to excrete salt from their gills, and are soon ready to migrate thousands of miles to Greenland.
This study showed that if smolts hit the estuary at peak saltwater readiness, their survival rate increases by up to 25 percent. The study also showed that scientists can estimate when that optimum window opens based on variations in stream temperature. This new understanding has already changed the way hatchery managers time the release of their smolts.
As for the effect of dams on downstream survival, now that it has been measured it can be managed. Two dams were recently removed from the main stem of the Penobscot River. In addition, NOAA Fisheries, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and dam operators are working to aid recovery by making the remaining dams more salmon-friendly.
A large fraction of Atlantic salmon die in the ocean, where little can be done to increase survival. But in freshwater, there are options. In addition to removing dams and improving fish passages, several projects are underway to restore freshwater spawning and rearing habitats.
“The best thing we can do is boost the number of fish going out,” Stich said. “And understanding how dams affect fish survival will help us do that.”
Read the story and watch the video from NOAA
NOAA announces plan for endangered Hawaiian monk seal
August 11, 2015 — Federal fisheries authorities want to more than double the small population of endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the state’s main islands.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday released a draft management plan for the endangered species, of which approximately 200 live in the main Hawaiian Islands.
There are approximately 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals total, with most of them living in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The species was listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1976.
NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Coordinator Rachel Sprague said that while the population of monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands has been increasing, the overall population continues to decline.
“The main Hawaiian Islands have a fairly small portion of the overall monk seal population,” Sprague said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “If climate change or sea level rise or infectious disease did get into the population, they could be really catastrophic for such a small population. Rather than thinking about trying to really do a lot of active interventions, we’re more trying to set up a situation for the future to support the monk seal population growing to a level where they could be considered recovered.”
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald
90-Day Findings to List the Smooth Hammerhead and Bigeye Thresher Shark as Threatened or Endangered Under the Endangered Species Act
August 11, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:
NOAA Fisheries announces a 90-day finding on a petition to list the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena) range-wide or, in the alternative, any identified distinct population segments (DPSs), as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and to designate critical habitat concurrently with the listing. We find that the petition and information in our files present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.
NOAA Fisheries also announces a 90-day finding on a petition to list the bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus) range-wide, or in the alternative, as one or more DPSs identified by the petitioners as endangered or threatened under the ESA. We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted for the species worldwide.
Accordingly, in both instances we will conduct a status reviews of smooth hammerhead shark and bigeye thresher shark to determine if the petitioned actions are warranted.
Comments on the proposed rule for smooth hammerhead shark must be received by October 13, 2015. For more information see the proposed rule.
Comments on the proposed rule for bigeye thresher shark must be received by October 13, 2015. For more information see the proposed rule.
Whirling disease found in North Carolina tributary of Watauga Lake
August 7, 2015 — FOSCOE, N.C. — In the event Northeast Tennessee anglers haven’t had enough troublesome news to tide them over, we’ve got more.
The presence of whirling disease — a dreaded neurological parasite that cripples rainbow trout — has been discovered in the Watauga River near Foscoe, N.C.
The infestation was confirmed by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission late last month
The infected area is part of the upstream tributary that feeds Watauga Lake. That alone is disconcerting. The way whirling disease works, however, it can take all kinds of shortcuts into Northeast Tennessee trout streams.
“All it takes is for one fisherman to bring it over clinging on their boots,” said Huck Huckaba at Eastern Fly Outfitters in Piney Flats.
“So far, nothing has been reported in Tennessee, but everyone needs to be aware. In the very least, make sure you clean and dry your boots before changing watersheds,” he said.
Read the full story at Times News
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 253
- 254
- 255
- 256
- 257
- …
- 424
- Next Page »