Conservation & Environment

November 12, 2013 — Once, large predatory cod and other fish were found close to shore in every embayment in New England, chowing down on the plentiful runs of river herring and shad that ran in and out of New England’s rivers. Now, famous coastal fisheries in places like Penobscot Bay have been gone for 50 years or more, despite virtually no commercial finfish fishing during that time.

Rebuilding these inshore fisheries will be a long process, but we can start by restoring critical habitat for their prey species.

As former New England Fishery Management Council member David Goethel has often said, fish are pretty much focused on three things: food, sex, and comfortable surroundings (ocean temperatures, habitats and the like). Without prey like river herring, the most persistent preoccupation of the larger predatory fish—food—has been largely missing from inshore waters. And river herring won’t come back until the dams blocking coastal rivers and estuaries are removed, the damaged spawning sites upriver are restored, and the pollution in the region’s rivers is reduced.

Read the full story from the Conservation Law Foundation

November 13, 2013 — State and federal biologists Wednesday urged boaters to watch out for endangered North Atlantic right whales. The whales migrate close to shore during their calving season, which begins in mid-November and runs through mid-April.

Scientists estimate as few as 400 right whales remaining worldwide, making them one of the most endangered marine mammals.

Every winter pregnant right whales swim more than 1,000 miles from their feeding grounds off Canada and New England to waters of South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Florida, Tom Pitchford, a biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, explained in a release. "This is where these whales come to give birth and nurse their young," Pitchford said.

Read the full story from Florida Today

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Michael Ramsingh – November 13, 2013 — A group of NGO's have blasted the MSC for failing to address their objection to the certification of Alaskan salmon in their announcement that the the Council has completed the re-certification process for the Alaskan fishery with the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association acting as the client. (see: November 13, 2013 Seafood.com News story "MSC Alaska salmon woes continue as they can only certify 2/3rd of this year’s harvest")

Together, The Wild Fish Conservancy, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, Watershed Watch Salmon Society and Raincoast Conservation Foundation objected to the MSC's certification of Alaskan salmon.  This objection was dismissed by the MSC's independent adjudicator last week.  But in their initial announcement yesterday, the MSC said there were no objections filed to their certifying Alaskan salmon.

Following is the complete statement from the group of NGOs:

In their "MSC Fisheries Update" of November 12, 2013, the Marine Stewardship Council stated that the Alaska salmon fishery has been re-certified after "No objections were received…".

The statement comes as a surprise to many seafood industry watchers who were aware that four conservation groups filed an objection to the controversial certification on Oct. 29, 2013. Wild Fish Conservancy of Seattle, WA, and Watershed Watch Salmon Society, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, and Raincoast Conservation Foundation of British Columbia, objected to MSC's failure to assess fishery impacts on endangered king (Chinook) salmon runs from BC and the continental US that are overfished as they migrate through Southeast Alaska. While the objection was dismissed by the “adjudicator” retained by MSC to evaluate the objection, the groups say that MSC appears to be whitewashing their process by claiming that "no objections were received".

The report that MSC has accepted from the certifying body acknowledges that over 96% of Chinook salmon caught in the southeast Alaskan fishery originate from rivers outside Alaska, many of which are severely depleted.  The groups objected to the MSC’s decision of March 2013 to designate the non-Alaskan Chinook as ‘Inseparable or Practically Inseparable’ (or ‘IPI’) from the true Alaskan salmon.   The Chinook (or ‘king’) salmon fishery is considered the most problematic, for its impacts on endangered runs. Salmon from these endangered populations are routinely sold in the market as “wild Alaska salmon”.  Even though MSC did not inform stakeholders or the public of their March decision until  releasing the draft report in July, the adjudicator dismissed the groups’ objection on November 5, 2013, saying that an evaluation of the IPI loophole was outside the “objection jurisdiction.”

The conservation advocates also say the MSC statement omits the fact that the Prince William Sound fishery was NOT re-certified, due to outstanding concerns over the massive ocean-ranching aquaculture operations in that region, which pose known risks to wild salmon populations.

The groups are asking the Marine Stewardship Council to immediately correct the misleading statement and issue an apology to any stakeholders and consumers who have been misled by the error and omission.

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

November 11, 2013 — Can sea life evolve fast enough to cope with changing ocean chemistry? That’s the question researchers like Gretchen Hofmann are trying to answer. The marine biologist is applying her years of experience with sea urchins to determining how marine animals might evolve or adapt to ocean acidification: the lowering of the ocean’s pH due to human-propelled fossil fuel emissions.

Her research is at the center of “Sea Change: Can sea life adapt?”, the latest in a series of articles on ocean acidification, published last week in The Seattle Times.

Hofmann, a scientist at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), was inspired to begin the research by a commercial urchin diver, who contacted her to ask how ocean acidification would affect his livelihood. In the lab, she exposed Pacific sea urchin larvae to more acidic water–water with a higher concentration of CO2 than usually found in most real ocean conditions. As the sea urchins grew, she found, many developed smaller bodies. But some did not.

Read the full story at Salon

WILMINGTON, N.C. — November 11, 2013 — In North Carolina fishing is a multi-million dollar industry, but researchers say climate change is turning into a fishy situation off our coast.

Dr. Daniel Pauly has been studying the effects of global warming on our fisheries for the past decade and says we need to make a change before it’s too late.

“Fish are moving toward the poles because it's getting too warm for them,” said Dr. Daniel Pauly. “Many of the traditional fishing areas of these fish, and also fishing ground, are no longer what they were."

Dr. Daniel Pauly says he first heard the term global warming in 1989. Since that time he has studied its effect on over 30,000 fish species, and has come to a terrifying realization.

Read the full story and watch the video at WWAY 3 News Channel 

November 8, 2013 — The number of dead or dying dolphins that have washed up on New Jersey beaches has dropped significantly in the past few weeks as colder water has led to the animals heading south for the winter.

However, researchers within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warn the number of deaths will continue to increase in southern states as the outbreak of dolphin morbillivirus is expected to travel with the migrating herds.

“That doesn’t mean New York and New Jersey won’t have strandings,” said Teri Rawls, director of NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program. “(The northern states) may continue to have strandings of offshore species and stragglers that stay behind.”

As of Friday, 143 dolphins have washed up dead or dying on New Jersey beaches since July 1.

Researchers also are examining whether the same virus preliminarily identified as the cause of more than 750 Atlantic bottlenose dolphin deaths since July is affecting humpback whales and pygmy sperm whales. So far this year, three of four humpback whales tested for the virus and two of three pygmy sperm whales tested for the virus had positive results.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City 

PORTLAND, Maine — November 8, 2013 — Researchers are saying the weather has caused unprecedented challenges for commercial fisheries in Maine.

A new study said that the water temperature in the Gulf of Maine is warming, and that warmer water is bringing new fish species, while others are disappearing.

Scientists said cod, for example, have disappeared from some gulf waters, and they aren't sure where the went.

Captain Mike Russo has fished off of Cape Cod since 1984, but this year he moved his operation to Portland.

"I came to Maine this year because the fish have pretty much evaporated from the cape where I fished for a long time," said Russo.

Read the full story and watch the video from WMTW Portland

BOSTON, Mass. — November 11, 2013 — Restoring ocean fisheries in 24 countries could provide a meal for close to a billion people a day. New Englanders can also help ocean ecosystems recover by eating wild fish, choosing small fish, buying fish from the United States and eating mollusks, according to Andrew Sharpless, CEO of Oceana.

He also told the audience in a talk Nov. 7 at the New England Aquarium that they should contact legislators to support the SAFE Seafood Act, which would make the fishing industry more transparent.

It’s best to avoid eating shrimp because they are caught in nets that bring many species up accidentally, Sharpless said. The unwanted species are known as “bycatch” and are tossed back into sea, usually dead. He also said carnivorous fish such as salmon should be caught in the wild rather than farmed.

Since farming oysters, clams and mussels reduces pollution and builds local job opportunities, Sharpless said he recommends eating mollusks. “They’re cleaning the ocean as they grow,” he said. “We love the mollusk farmers.”

Read the full story at ecoRI News

November 8, 2013 — The following was released by the organizers of the World Ocean Summit:

Join us on February 24th-26th 2014 in San Francisco to discuss how economic development and ocean conservation can be reconciled.

Ahead of the event, participate in the latest online discussion:
Does the Arctic Council provide a model for ocean governance that can be applied in other parts of the world? To vote and to discuss further visit the World Ocean Summit discussion board.

WHO WILL ATTEND THE SUMMIT?
Chaired by John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist, World Ocean Summit will convene more than 250 leaders from business, government, academia, multilateral institutions and NGOs to discuss and debate governance and sustainability of the ocean.

Featured speakers will include:
HSH Prince Albert II, Principality of Monaco
Maria Damanaki, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Jose Mara Figueres, former President, Republic of Costa Rica and Co-chair, Global Ocean Commission
Trevor Manuel, Minister in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission, Republic of South Africa, and Co-chair, Global Ocean Commission
Masamichi Morooka, Chairman, International Chamber of Shipping
Frits van Paasschen, Chief Executive Officer, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Maria Ignacia Benitez Pereira, Minister of the Environment, Republic of Chile
Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme and Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Sharif Sutardjo, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia

For the latest confirmed speakers visit the website

KEY THEMES TO BE DISCUSSED:
– The ocean as the new economic frontier
– Sustainable strategies for the ocean
– Managing increased governance of the ocean
– Managing fisheries sustainably
– Governance of the Arctic, high seas and exclusive economic zones
– Financing the transition to sustainable ocean enterprise

As with last year's event, we predict World Ocean Summit 2014 will be highly subscribed. A carefully managed registration process will ensure balanced representation from all key stakeholder groups. REGISTER TODAY. World Ocean Summit delegates are entitled to a preferential rate on single rooms at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay from February 23rd-27th 2013. Visit the website for further details.

We look forward to your participation.

For more information visit the World Ocean Summit website