Conservation & Environment

September 2, 2014 — One of our planet’s most appalling eyesores — and significant environmental problems — is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling collection of mostly plastic trash and smaller particles of decomposing debris dumped by humans. Now, according to a newly published study in the journal Chaos by University of New South Wales, researchers have developed a computer model to help figure out where all that the trash is coming from.

The results are a bit startling.

“In some cases, you can have a country far away from a garbage patch that’s unexpectedly contributing directly to the patch,” said Gary Froyland, a mathematician at UNSW.

Trash that originates in Madagascar and Mozambique, two nations that border the Indian Ocean, most likely flows into the south Atlantic Ocean, according the the model. The researchers also may be able to estimate how long it takes trash from Australia, for example, to drift into the northern Pacific.

Read the full story at Discovery News

September 2, 2014 — In an effort to reduce the number of giant bluefin tuna killed by fishing fleets, the U.S. is putting out new rules about commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the western Atlantic. The rules have special protections for giant bluefin — fish that have grown to 81 inches or more.

The new requirements were recently published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in a nearly 750-page amendment to its management plan. The agency hopes the changes will help rebuild the tuna population and improve data it gets from fishing vessels.

As NPR's Christopher Joyce reports for our Newscast unit, commercial fleets in the Gulf cannot target giant bluefin tuna, whose numbers have fallen since the 1970s. The Gulf is of crucial importance, as it is the fish's breeding ground.

Read the full story from New York Now

September 3, 2014 — Imagine Cape Cod without cod. Maine without lobster. The region's famous rocky beaches invisible, obscured by constant high waters.

It's already starting to happen. The culprit is the warming seas – and in particular the Gulf of Maine, whose waters are heating up faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans, scientists say.

Long-established species of commercial fish, like cod, herring and northern shrimp, are departing for colder waters. Black sea bass, blue crabs and new species of squid – all highly unusual for the Gulf – are turning up in fishermen's nets.

The Gulf of Maine's warming reflects broader trends around the North Atlantic. But the statistic – accepted by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – underscores particular fears about the Gulf's unique ecosystem and the lucrative fishing industries it supports for three U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.

"These changes are very real, and we're seeing them happen quickly," said Malin Pinsky, a biology professor at New Jersey's Rutgers University who studies ocean temperature change and was not involved in the research that resulted in the 99 percent statistic.

It is a rallying point for environmental activists, who see the response to the temperature rise and its impact on fisheries as a touchstone for the global debate about climate change.

"The warming is already here," said Jeff Young, a spokesman for Pew Charitable Trust's oceans project, which has campaigned in favor of restrictions on fishing for herring, another species leaving for colder water. "And we have to deal with it."

Read the full story from New England Cable News

 

August 31, 2014 — It may not be something that you’ve ever given any thought to, but there are literally thousands of fishing traps that are lost or simply abandoned every year in US waters — what happens to these traps after being abandoned?

It should go without saying, they continue to catch and kill sea-life (fish, turtles, carbs, etc) — even though no one will be there collect there. A good example of some of the waste and carelessness that is so common in the world today. So what to do?

 Well, according to a new study from NOAA, these losses from “ghost fishing” (as it’s known) are largely preventable — but that will require strong action, somewhat decidedly lacking in the national discourse lately.

“Before this report, the marine debris community lacked comparable data on derelict traps,” stated Courtney Arthur, research specialist for NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and lead author of the study. “We had different pieces of information, but not a whole picture. This paper connects those pieces and identifies areas where we need to focus our efforts.”

Read the full story from Planetsave

 

August 29, 2014 — Thousands of fishing traps are lost or abandoned each year in the United States, and this type of "ghost fishing" is posing a real problem for marine life, according to a new NOAA-led study.

These derelict traps, as they're called, continue to catch fish, crabs, and other species such as turtles. Not only do they threaten marine life, but these traps also result in losses to habitat, fisheries, and the watermen who depend on the resources – losses that are largely preventable, researchers say.

"People may not realize that derelict traps can catch not just the target species of the fishery, but also other animals including threatened and endangered species where populations are already very low. Derelict traps can also harm sensitive habitats like coral reefs and salt marsh so they have a bigger impact than might be anticipated," co-author Ariana Sutton-Grier, from NOAA's National Ocean Service, explained in a statement.

Read the full story from Nature World News

 

August 27, 2014 — Half of Iceland's seabirds nest on this low-lying volcanic outcropping and its neighboring islands in the deep west coast gash called Breidafjordur Bay. Flatey Island used to be covered with chicks snuggled inside rocky hillside burrows, under tall meadow grass, in nests strewn across headlands and shores.

"There were thousands! You could hear them," says Olina Jonsdottir, who has lived on this island with her husband, Hafsteinn Gudmundsson, nearly 50 years. She looks out her living room window, past the sheep grazing on knuckles of grass-covered lava, past the black basalt beach, to the few birds drifting over the water beyond. "You can't do that anymore. Now there are so few."

Iceland, circled by the food-rich currents of Atlantic, Arctic, and polar waters, is the Serengeti for fish-eating birds. Its rocky coast, hillocky fields, and jutting sea cliffs are breeding grounds for 23 species of Atlantic seabirds, hosting an indispensable share of Atlantic puffins, black murres, razorbills, great skuas, northern fulmars, and black-legged kittiwakes.

But the nests have gone empty in the past few years, and colonies throughout the North Atlantic are shrinking.

The suspected culprits are many. But the leading candidates are the array of profound changes under way in the world's oceans—their climate, their chemistry, their food webs, their loads of pollutants.

Warming oceans and earlier thaws are driving away the seabirds' prey; unleashing deadly, unseasonal storms; and knocking tight breeding schedules off-kilter. Mounting carbon dioxide absorption and melting glaciers are acidifying and diluting the aquatic balance, jeopardizing marine life and the creatures that depend on it for food.

Alarmed scientists have returned from fieldwork throughout the North Atlantic with sobering descriptions of massive chick die-offs and colonies abandoned with eggs still in the nests.

Read the full story at National Geographic

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — August 26, 2014 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation says some recent rhetoric from regional news agencies that has suggested the bigeye tuna stock in the Western Pacific is on the verge of collapse. In their view, this is simply not true.

While the Foundation does agree that the region's bigeye stock is on the decline and is being overfished, the group said there is still time to the right the ship.

 

 

 

 

According to the ISSF's Victor Restrepo data from the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission shows the bigeye tuna stock is declining but not on the brink of extinction as some participants in WCPFC meetings have suggested this summer. In 2014 the stock assessment for the fishery showed a depletion level of 16 percent. Restrepo points out that this is actually smaller than 2011's 21 percent depletion, and the current WCPFC target is 20%.

"Rather than new information on the imminent collapse of bigeye tuna, what the assessments truly depict is an expected result of ineffective conservation and management measures adopted by WCPFC – measures that have failed to end overfishing," said Restrepo in his blog post on the ISSF website.  He says that the overfishing level (F/msy) has actually increased, rising to 1.57 when it should be below 1.0.

Restrepo said the industry needs to focus on recommitting to sound management practices and standards that regulate bigeye fishing across all gear types.

"Like most issues in tuna sustainability, a multi-faceted approach to the challenge is necessary. Management should consider the relative impact of all fishing gear types on the stock. Ignoring that longline and purse seine fishing associated with FADs have about the same impact on the reproductive potential of the stock, some groups are calling for a full FAD ban. While it is true that effective FAD monitoring and management is of the highest priority, managers need to consider all gear types that impact the stock," said Restrepo.

For the Western bigeye stock, reduced catches will solve the problem says Restrepo, which will only be achieved through a streamlined and useable management plan similar to what is already being used to manage tuna fishing in other parts of the Pacific.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

August 25, 2014 — When you think of major scourges to our world fisheries, you probably think of overfishing, or bottom trawling, or pollution or climate change. But some new research from Kurt Ingeman of Oregon State University finds yet another reason to elevate the invasive, poisonous, violently predatory lionfish to the top of that list: unlike other fish, it will hunt prey literally to extinction — and that spells major problems for the fish we like to eat, like snapper and sea bass.

So, basics on the lionfish: Native to the Indo-Pacific Oceans, the lionfish is a small but fearsome predator, decked out with venomous spines all over its body. The spines serve as protection, not as a hunting aid, and are intense enough to cause, at best, severe pain to humans (they are rarely deadly, but lionfish venom has killed some young and/or infirm people over the years). It also happens to be very pretty; it’s covered in red, brown, cream, and black stripes, which make it look very ornate and lovely — even though the biological purpose of the stripes is to alert predators about that brutal venom it’s packing.

Because it is pretty, and hardy, it’s frequently kept in saltwater aquariums (aquaria? That never looks right), but in part because it will eat anything it sees, it’s often released into the ocean where it doesn’t belong. The lionfish has thrived in the warmer Atlantic and Caribbean, and is one of the worst invasive species those areas have ever seen. It eats pretty much everything, is an adaptable and adept hunter, and worse, native prey fish don’t recognize it as a predator, because it’s only been around for a few decades in that part of the world. Nobody’s quite sure what to do about that; when prepared properly, it’s edible, and many, including Mark Bittman of the New York Times, have attempted to get people to eat them. And that seems even more important now, given this new information that the lionfish will devour prey long after most other fish have moved on.

Read the full story at Modern Farmer

ATLANTA — August 21, 2014 (UPI) — Young coral and fish know a crummy neighborhood when they see it, or when they smell it, rather. According to new research, damaged reefs give off distinct smells — smells that say to a fish, don't set up shop here.

Damaged reefs generally begin with overfishing. When too many fish are removed from a local, seaweed (food for many small fish species) can grow on reefs unchecked. When seaweed takes over it begins to choke out coral. It also gives of a smell that warns fresh coral not to take root there. A damaged reef also colors the surrounding water with a smell that warns fish to keep on swimming. And as a new study by researchers at Georgia Tech suggests, it all combines to create a downward ecological spiral that even strong regulations can't counteract.

"If you're setting up a marine protected area to seed recruitment into a degraded habitat, that recruitment may not happen if young fish and coral are not recognizing the degraded area as habitat," explained study author Danielle Dixson, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Biology.

Read the full story at UPI

August 21, 2014 —  To designers building better nets and lines, bycatch isn't viewed as an inevitability, but as something we can phase out, piece by piece. It's also seen as a battle that needs to be fought alongside fishermen, not against them.

Speaking from his trawler, the 45-foot Proud Mary, off the coast of Massachusetts, one such fisherman, Christopher Brown, said that over the years, fishermen have had to "rethink the game." Brown operates a fishery that's almost completely free of discards; is the board president of the Seafood Harvesters of America, an organization representing stewardship-minded fishermen; and has designed a squid net that reduces bycatch. The net contains an escape route at its base that exploits the bottom-dwelling behavior of unwanted flounder, encouraging them to flee the net through this gap. "We need to look at things entirely differently than we have in the last 30 years," Brown said — and new gear is part of that equation. "It's a matter of enlightened self-interest."

Brown may seem unconventional, but more and more, fishermen are both driving change and being consulted like clients about new gear. "The main focus has to be the fisherman," said Watson. "You have to build something the fisherman is going to use."

For designers, the next challenge is gaining capital. Although Watson has been working on his SafetyNet design for five years, and even though it won the prestigious James Dyson design award in 2012, it's still staggeringly expensive, and Watson has had difficulty hiring a boat that will try out his net on open water.

Designed to free both young and endangered fish, the SafetyNet works by using fitted LED rings, which flash like exit signs to alert smaller fish. The fish can then escape by squeezing through the rings. There's also a panel in the net that separates tighter mesh at the top from larger mesh below, allowing nontarget, bottom-dwelling species such as cod to escape through the bigger holes. With lights and panel working in tandem, "You can start almost herding the fish under the water," Watson said.

There is no silver-bullet solution for a problem as broad as bycatch; instead, each new piece of gear responds uniquely to a species' size, shape and behavior. "The more we know about the ways we can stop different things being caught, the more we can make bespoke nets," Watson said. As Hall puts it, "Slowly, you attack the different angles of the problem, and you solve it."

Read the full story at GreenBiz