Conservation & Environment

PORTLAND, Maine — The winter's warm air temperatures have helped drive up water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, in line with a continuing trend.

And experts say the warm waters could result in lobsters molting their shells earlier than usual — and ocean algae blooming ahead of schedule.

In the long run are questions around how rising ocean temperatures might affect the growth and reproduction cycles and distribution of fish and shellfish, whales, zooplankton and other marine life throughout the gulf.

Temperature affects all life processes, but it's too soon to say if changes brought on by rising water temperatures will be good or bad, said Jeffrey Runge, a biological oceanographer at the University of Maine and a researcher at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.

"Higher temperature means higher growth rates, but it also means they require more food in order to attain those higher growth rates," he said. "But whether there'll be more food around, I don't know."

Gulf of Maine water temperatures have been rising gradually since at least the 1870s, with ups and downs along the way. But the increase has been pronounced in the past decade or so, in the general range of 2 to 5 degrees depending on the ocean depth, Runge said.

The area is among New England's prime fishing grounds for boats out of Gloucester and other New England ports; it is also the area targeted by a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stock assessment that has shown a dramatic drop in Gulf of Maine cod, with federal Commerce officials and fishing industry leaders trying to sort out an interim limit for the coming fishing year, which begins May 1, and for 2013.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.

 

April 1, 2012 – The herring is deeply important to fishermen and environmentalists, who are fighting to put greater restrictions on trawlers that pull up hundreds of thousands of pounds of herring at a time.

They argue that the large trawlers are depleting a species that’s a critical food for just about every prized commercial fish in the region, from cod to striped bass. The herring’s influence even extends to ocean tours, which depend on abundant herring to attract whales and birds to the ocean surface to feed and be seen.

"For many people who don’t work on the water, make their money on the water, I think it’s easy to underestimate the importance of herring," said Tom Dempsey of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association.

Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Herald.

 

 

 

 

 

ROCHESTER — March 31, 2012 – The herring are running in the Mattapoisett River, and the number of fish heading upstream has gladdened the heart of Rochester's herring inspector Dave Watling.

"I was getting a little concerned because everyone else was getting them early, like Middleboro and a couple of places down the Cape," he said. "But they showed up around the 20th and they were coming hot and heavy from the 20th to the 26th."

The automatic fish counter at Snipatuit Pond has already recorded 3,000 more fish swimming past than the total recorded for all of last year, Watling said.

River herring stocks plummeted on the river over the past decade, from more than 130,000 in 2000 to around 10,000 in recent years, he said.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOSTON – Thursday, March 29, 2012 – Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. today submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate the Massachusetts portion of Mt. Hope Bay as a No Discharge Area (NDA).
 
"Mt. Hope Bay is the last major remaining area in Massachusetts that has not been nominated as a No Discharge Area," said Secretary Sullivan. "With this nomination, I’m proud to say that our goal of a statewide ban on boat waste discharge in coastal waters is in sight. I’m also pleased to support the significant local efforts to protect Mt. Hope Bay from pollution."

The designation would prohibit the discharge of any treated or untreated boat sewage in the area, which encompasses nine square miles, including the Taunton River up to the Center/Elm St. Bridge on the border of Dighton and Berkley, as well as the Lee and Cole Rivers up to their respective Route 6 bridges.
Since 2007, the Patrick-Murray Administration has won designations for 10 NDAs covering over 2,000 square miles or 85 percent of Massachusetts coastal waters. This is the final major area of state waters to be nominated and with this designation, boat sewage discharge will be prohibited in almost 95 percent of state waters — with only a few remaining areas to be addressed, including temporary exclusions for commercial ferry operators building the necessary infrastructure and mapping idiosyncrasies.
 
NDAs protect water quality and aquatic life from pathogens, nutrients and chemical products contained in discharged boat sewage and also reduce the risk of human illness, making it safer to swim, boat, fish and eat shellfish from protected waters.
 
The Mt. Hope Bay NDA designation will help to ensure that the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) standard for bacteria established by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Projection (MassDEP) in July 2010 can be met. The TMDL standard calls for zero sewage discharge from boats, and the designation of the NDA would satisfy this requirement. Banning the release of boat sewage also supports other local efforts to remove bacteria from these waters, including efforts by the City of Fall River to control the bacteria, nutrients and other pollutants associated with combined sewer overflows. NDAs can also help reduce the growth of harmful algae that occurs due to nutrient levels in sewage.
“EPA applauds the effort to help more Massachusetts coastal communities protect the health of their coastal waters,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. “A large segment of Mt. Hope Bay's local economy is based on a clean and healthy coastal environment that supports tourism, shellfishing and abundant habitat for wildlife. Establishing a No Discharge Area in Mt. Hope Bay will help protect one of the final remaining waterways in Massachusetts that is not already protected from treated and untreated boat sewage.”
 
Secretary Sullivan submitted the Mt. Hope Bay NDA application through the state's Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), capping years of extensive work by CZM, the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and the municipalities of Fall River and Somerset to ensure the necessary waste pumpout facilities and services are available for boaters to use. The NDA also has the support of Berkley, Dighton, Freetown and Swansea, as well as The Taunton River Watershed Alliance, Massachusetts Audubon, and Save the Bay.
"Designating No Discharge Areas requires teamwork," said Bruce Carlisle, CZM director. “I’d like to thank all of the communities that have worked with CZM to develop this application, as well as the Division of Marine Fisheries for funding boat waste pumpouts in Mt. Hope Bay communities and the EPA for their continued support in our efforts to ban boat sewage in all state coastal waters.”
By the time the NDA is expected to become effective early this summer, there will be three boat sewage pumpout facilities in accessible locations throughout the area to make compliance with the no discharge requirements convenient for boaters. Both Somerset and Fall River have recently received assistance for the cost of purchasing and operating their pumpout facilities via the Commonwealth’s Clean Vessel Act (CVA) Program, administered by the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) and funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Sportfish Restoration Program. The Town of Somerset recently received funding from the CVA Program to install a shoreside pumpout facility at the Town’s School Street boat ramp on the Taunton River, and also has recently purchased a new pumpout vessel.
In addition, the City of Fall River anticipates purchasing a new, larger pumpout vessel in fiscal year 2013, which will allow the city to support the NDA. 
 
“The Division of Marine Fisheries’ Clean Vessel Act Program uses federal funds to partner with municipalities and marinas in providing boat pumpout services in Massachusetts’ coastal waters,” said Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Mary Griffin. “These pumpout stations help keep our coastal waters clean and are a key component to achieving no discharge status.”
 
Under the Clean Water Act, a body of water can be designated as an NDA if local, state and federal authorities determine it is ecologically and recreationally important enough to merit protection above and beyond that provided by existing state and federal laws. In Massachusetts, CZM works closely with communities and EPA to establish NDAs as part of a comprehensive regional water quality approach.
Due to efforts by the Patrick-Murray Administration, nearly the entire Massachusetts coast has been designated as NDA. On March 5, EEA nominated the South Cape Cod and Islands NDA. Once the South Cape Cod and Islands NDA and the Mt. Hope Bay NDA are designated, over 95 percent of state waters will be no discharge for boat sewage.
 
“I am very pleased with the Administration’s decision to submit Mount Hope Bay to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a designation as a no discharge area,” said Sen. Marc Pacheco. “Discharge into our state’s oceans and water sources is a serious issue and we need to ensure we protect our environment adequately.”
 
“I applaud the continued efforts of Governor Patrick and Secretary Sullivan in recognizing the significance of protecting our coastal waters,” said Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues. “The proposed designation of Mount Hope Bay as a No Discharge Area is a reflection of the collective efforts of our South Coast communities, including Fall River, Freetown, Somerset and Swansea, working with the Office of Coastal Zone Management to ensure our coastal waters remain protected for future generations to enjoy in the years ahead.”
 
"I am happy to support this application and I offer my appreciation to Secretary Sullivan and Coastal Zone Management for their dedication to helping protect our Bay," said Rep. Kevin Aguiar.
 
“This is yet one more initiative that will aid us in cleaning up our historic river and bay,” said Rep. Patricia A. Haddad.
 
“Our river and bay are tremendous and valued resources and I am pleased that Secretary Sullivan is working to prevent negative impacts to them by pursuing a No Discharge Area," said Rep. David Sullivan.
 
These 15 NDAs are already designated in Massachusetts coastal waters:

    Outer Cape Cod (the coastal waters from Provincetown to Chatham, including Nauset Harbor)
    Upper North Shore (the coastal waters of Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury [including the Merrimack River in Amesbury], West Newbury, Merrimac, Groveland, North Andover, Haverhill, Methuen and Lawrence)
    Pleasant Bay (Brewster, Orleans, Harwich and Chatham) and Chatham Harbor
    The coastal waters of Revere, Saugus, Lynn, Nahant and Swampscott, including the Pines and Saugus Rivers
    All of Cape Cod Bay
    Boston Harbor (the coastal waters of Winthrop, Chelsea, Everett, Boston, Quincy, Milton, Weymouth, Braintree, Hingham and Hull, including the Charles River in Watertown, Newton and Cambridge)
    Salem Sound (the coastal waters of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Beverly, Danvers, Salem and Marblehead)
    The coastal waters of Cohasset, Scituate and Marshfield
    The coastal waters of Plymouth, Kingston and Duxbury
    All of Buzzards Bay
    Waquoit Bay in Falmouth
    The coastal waters of Harwich
    Three Bays/Centerville Harbor in Barnstable
    Stage Harbor in Chatham
    The coastal waters of Nantucket from Muskeget Island to Great Point, including Nantucket Harbor

 
For more information on No Discharge Areas in New England, please visit: www.mass.gov/czm/nda and www.epa.gov/region01/eco/nodiscrg. For more on boat sewage pumpout locations throughout Massachusetts coastal waters, see: www.mass.gov/czm/nda/pumpouts.
 
CZM is the agency within EEA charged with protecting Massachusetts’ approximately 1,500-mile coast. Through educational and regulatory programs, CZM seeks to balance human uses of the coastal zone with the need to protect fragile marine resources. The agency’s work includes helping coastal communities anticipate and plan for sea level rise and other effects of climate change, working with cities and towns and the federal government to develop boat sewage no-discharge areas, and partnering with communities and other organizations to restore coastal and aquatic habitats.
 
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Fishermen across the country ask President Obama and the EPA to protect Bristol Bay and its commercial fishing jobs from mega mining.

March 28, 2012 — Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay announced today that 77 commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have sent a letter to the EPA urging the Obama Administration to protect Bristol Bay, its epic salmon runs and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them.

The groups include the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives, Maryland Watermen’s Association and Southern Shrimp Alliance. In all, they represent 16,000 commercial fishermen across the country and some of the country’s most valued and storied fisheries.

“Today, commercial fishermen from across America stand shoulder to shoulder in support of sound science, the most valuable wild salmon fishery on earth, and thousands of commercial fishing jobs that are threatened by development of the Pebble Mine,” said Bob Waldrop, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the fishing groups express support for the agency’s ongoing scientific watershed assessment, which is investigating potential impacts of large-scale development on Bristol Bay’s highly productive salmon streams and rivers. The groups urge the agency to use its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to block a required federal dredge-and-fill discharge permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, if the assessment finds that the bay’s natural resources would be harmed or compromised by large-scale mining. The mine is expected to produce and store over 10 billion tons of toxic waste behind earthen dams, upstream of the bay’s salmon-spawning headwaters.

“This is the first time I can remember commercial fishermen from the entire country speaking so clearly in support of a regional fishery,” said Sig Hansen, a Bering Sea crab fisherman and star of The Deadliest Catch. “We’re usually pretty independent, and focus on our own areas, but it’s clear that fishermen and consumers from across the country value Bristol Bay salmon and will not let a mega mine jeopardize it.”

The direct value of Bristol Bay’s salmon averages $350 million per year, and the commercial fishery is the economic engine of the region. Now 130 years old, the commercial fishery supports 8,000 fishing jobs, and another 4,000 processing and industry-support positions.

“Bristol Bay is a national issue,” Bob Waldrop added. “Our fishermen hail from 38 states where they spend their earnings, pay taxes and support local economies. And just one federal permit stands between our fishery and a grave threat. Anyone who suggests a huge mine can store billions of tons of toxic waste in our headwaters and not risk this fishery is substituting wishful thinking for facts.”

More than 80% of Bristol Bay area residents oppose development of the Pebble Mine, as do a majority of Alaskans.

Peter Andrew, an Alaska Native, lifelong fisherman and board member of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, said it’s a privilege to serve as a steward of the fishery. “We know that our people have been here, catching these salmon, for over 9,000 years,” Andrew said. “To think that we would dishonor them by endangering this amazing fishery in return for maybe 25 years of mining jobs is an insult.”

For more information about Bristol Bay and the proposed Pebble Mine, visit www.fishermenforbristolbay.org

 Read the release here.

March 28, 2012 – Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay announced today that 77 commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have sent a letter to the EPA urging the Obama Administration to protect Bristol Bay, its epic salmon runs and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them. The groups include the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives, Maryland Watermen’s Association and Southern Shrimp Alliance. In all, they represent 16,000 commercial fishermen across the country and some of the country’s most valued and storied fisheries.

“Today, commercial fishermen from across America stand shoulder to shoulder in support of sound science, the most valuable wild salmon fishery on earth, and thousands of commercial fishing jobs that are threatened by development of the Pebble Mine,” said Bob Waldrop, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the fishing groups express support for the agency’s ongoing scientific watershed assessment, which is investigating potential impacts of large-scale development on Bristol Bay’s highly productive salmon streams and rivers. The groups urge the agency to use its authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to block a required federal dredge-and-fill discharge permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, if the assessment finds that the bay’s natural resources would be harmed or compromised by large-scale mining. The mine is expected to produce and store over 10 billion tons of toxic waste behind earthen dams, upstream of the bay’s salmon-spawning headwaters.

“This is the first time I can remember commercial fishermen from the entire country speaking so clearly in support of a regional fishery,” said Sig Hansen, a Bering Sea crab fisherman and star of The Deadliest Catch. “We’re usually pretty independent, and focus on our own areas, but it’s clear that fishermen and consumers from across the country value Bristol Bay salmon and will not let a mega mine jeopardize it.”

The direct value of Bristol Bay’s salmon averages $350 million per year, and the commercial fishery is the economic engine of the region. Now 130 years old, the commercial fishery supports 8,000 fishing jobs, and another 4,000 processing and industry-support positions.

“Bristol Bay is a national issue,” Bob Waldrop added. “Our fishermen hail from 38 states where they spend their earnings, pay taxes and support local economies. And just one federal permit stands between our fishery and a grave threat. Anyone who suggests a huge mine can store billions of tons of toxic waste in our headwaters and not risk this fishery is substituting wishful thinking for facts.”

More than 80% of Bristol Bay area residents oppose development of the Pebble Mine, as do a majority of Alaskans.

Peter Andrew, an Alaska Native, lifelong fisherman and board member of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, said it’s a privilege to serve as a steward of the fishery. “We know that our people have been here, catching these salmon, for over 9,000 years,” Andrew said. “To think that we would dishonor them by endangering this amazing fishery in return for maybe 25 years of mining jobs is an insult.”

For more information about Bristol Bay and the proposed Pebble Mine, visit www.fishermenforbristolbay.org

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March 26, 2012 – The public relations battle between ocean environmental activists and organizers of a March 21 fishermen’s rally in Washington, D.C., flared again Monday, when critics of the rally complained the crowd included crewmen from Omega Protein — the industrial menhaden fleet that has long been a target of recreational fishing and conservation groups.

“For our nation’s anglers to have to learn that a group who falsely claims to represent them is teaming up with ‘public enemy No. 1’ is a disgrace,” Matt Tinning of the Marine Fish Conservation Network said in a prepared statement, criticizing the Recreational Fishing Alliance. “RFA’s contempt for the health of our recreational fisheries is an affront to everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve.”

“The Recreational Fishing Alliance leadership owes our anglers a full explanation and immediate apology.”

“We owe no one an apology,” said Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a primary organizer of last week’s rally. “We still stand against Omega’s reduction fishing, and we could not keep them from attending.”

It’s misleading to suggest that rally organizers endorse every group that showed up at Upper Senate Park that day, said Jim Hutchinson Jr. — who noted that animal rights activists with People for the Ethical Treament of Animals attended, too.

…

In his 2007 book, “The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America,” Rutgers University professor H. Bruce Franklin tied the industrial harvests of menhaden not only to less food for birds and fish, but to ecological disruption. Menhaden filter-feed on microscopic plants and their numbers are far below historic highs, Franklin wrote

Read the full article at the Asbury Park Press.

Analysis: The otherwise well-balanced article cites H. Bruce Franklin’s book The Most Important Fish in the Sea, and its claim that a lack of menhaden is responsible for deteriorating ecological conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. This claim does not take into account fisheries science on the health of the menhaden stock or evidence that suggests menhaden’s contribution to water quality is negligible.

As the article documnets, critics of the menhaden reduction industry allege “it takes too many fish from the base of the ocean food chain.” Franklin makes a similar claim, where he writes that the reduction industry “is massacring juvenile fish,” and that this is causing a collapse in the menhaden population (The Most Important Fish in the Sea, pg. 135). The scientific data collected on the menhaden fishery does not support these claims. The last Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) stock assessment, released in 2010, concluded that menhaden were not overfished. Previous ASMFC assessments reached similar conclusions; with overfishing having only occurred once in the last ten years, there is no significant pattern of the reduction industry overexploiting the fishery in recent years.

The article also mentions Franklin’s claim that menhaden, as filter feeders, clean the Bay by removing plankton and algae from its waters. Franklin writes that menhaden “are huge consumers of phytoplankton, that is, algae and other drifting bits of vegetable matter,” and that “"the health of our East Coast bays and estuaries…depends on these small fish" (The Most Important Fish in the Sea, pg. 21). However, the rate that menhaden consume phytoplankton and their contribution to water quality is not universally agreed upon. Several studies have shown that how much phytoplankton menhaden eat will vary with age, and a recent Virginia Institute of Marine Science study found that menhaden contribute very little to overall water quality.

 

March 23, 2012 – Alewives, one of two Atlantic river herring species, have started their inland spawning migration weeks ahead of their usual time.

"Based on the warm temperatures, we decided to start our volunteers early," said Jo Ann Muramoto, senior scientist at the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and a member of the River Herring Network who coordinates volunteer fish counters at the Cape's herring runs.

The Cape doesn't usually see significant numbers of herring inland until early to mid-April. But reports began coming into Muramoto last week of fish heading upstream in runs in Mashpee, North Falmouth, Bourne, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet.

Read the complete story from The Cape Cod Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "locavore" movement helps America's farmers. Could it also help our fishing industry?

Two new NOAA Sea Grant studies will look at how new business models, based on the success of community supported agriculture, could benefit fishing communities in Washington, Oregon, and California.

"I am very excited about these projects because they get to the heart of what coastal seafood lovers want – delicious, fresh, local and sustainably caught seafood on their dinner plates," said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., who announced these studies today in Santa Barbara, Calif.

 
"California Sea Grant is pleased to partner with the three other West Coast Sea Grant programs to support a portfolio of social science research with region-wide significance to coastal communities, fishermen and the natural resources upon which they rely," California Sea Grant Director James Eckman, Ph.D., said.

 
The four West Coast Sea Grant programs selected these two projects, totaling $500,000, through an independent peer-review process. NOAA provided funding through its National Sea Grant College Program.

 
Direct marketing to consumers

 
Barbara Walker, Ph.D., a cultural geographer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will lead a study of community-supported fisheries and other direct-marketing programs in Washington, as well as North Carolina and South Carolina. The emphasis will be on helping fishermen learn about direct marketing and identify approaches that might be appropriate for the local fisheries and consumer base.

 
"With the Sea Grant award, we will be able to systematically investigate the upsides and downsides of direct marketing of seafood and tailor the results specifically to West Coast fisheries and fishing communities," Walker said. "There are a lot of successes with community-supported fisheries, and, on the other side, there are programs that are struggling."

 
Project co-investigator Caroline Pomeroy, Ph.D., a California Sea Grant Advisor, said that the scientists "want to objectively evaluate the actual benefits and costs, and what it takes for such programs to succeed."

 
"Our goal, ultimately, is to provide fishermen and fishing communities with scientifically sound information they can use to make decisions that give them the best possible chance of success," she said.

 
High value product lines

 
Besides direct sales, another avenue for increasing revenue from fishing is to develop higher-value product lines, for example, by delivering fish live, or by smoking, freezing, or otherwise processing product. The second Sea Grant-funded project looks at this approach.

 
Ana Pitchon, Ph.D., an assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles County, and James Hilger, a fisheries resource economist at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego, will explore what can be done to add value to fish and shellfish landed locally, using four fisheries – Pacific sardine, Dungeness crab, near-shore live finfish, and spot prawn – as case studies.

 
Findings from the project will be presented at workshops and town hall meetings and developed into a set of recommendations to be shared with coastal communities and managers.

 
Josh Fisher, vice president of the California Lobster and Trap Fishermen's Association, called the research "vital to the survival of West Coast fisheries."

 
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March 26, 2012 – After months of laboratory work, scientists say they can definitively finger oil from BP's blown-out well as the culprit for the slow death of a once brightly colored deep-sea coral community in the Gulf of Mexico that is now brown and dull.

In a study published Monday, scientists say meticulous chemical analysis of samples taken in late 2010 proves that oil from BP PLC's out-of-control Macondo well devastated corals living about 7 miles southwest of the well. The coral community is located over an area roughly the size of half a football field nearly a mile below the Gulf's surface.

The damaged corals were discovered in October 2010 by academic and government scientists, but it's taken until now for them to declare a definite link to the oil spill.

Most of the Gulf's bottom is muddy, but coral colonies that pop up every once in a while are vital oases for marine life in the chilly ocean depths. The injured and dying coral today has bare skeleton, loose tissue and is covered in heavy mucous and brown fluffy material, the paper said.

"It was like a graveyard of corals," said Erik Cordes, a biologist at Temple University who went down to the site in the Alvin research submarine.

So far, this has been the only deep-sea coral site found to be seriously damaged by the spill.

Read the full story at ABC News.