Conservation & Environment

Fish managers considering stepped-up monitoring and closing areas to trawlers.

Herring were so common in the Potomac River in the spring of 1832 that a single seine net captured a few more than 950,000 "accurately counted," according to a report at the time. A few decades later, Spencer Baird, head of the U.S. Fish Commission, estimated that during the 1830s, the herring in the river must have numbered 3 billion fish.

Today, their numbers are only a "faint shadow" of what they were, said Jim Cummins, a biologist with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. Like their cousin, the larger American shad, river herring numbers are thought to be at near-record lows along the East Coast.

Read the complete story at The Chesapeake Bay Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

Last month, the National Marine Fisheries Service rolled out a broad new set of rules for groundfish fishermen, taking drastic steps to save New England’s depleted groundfish stocks. These regulations, however, are focused solely on one aspect of our groundfish population problem – overharvest – and blatantly ignore the importance of the smaller species that serve as food for these larger fish in the ecosystem. Abundant populations of these little fish are vital to increasing the abundance of all the fish that prey on them. Without addressing this problem, the fisheries won’t be returning to healthy levels, and the fishermen – along with their families and communities that depend on them – won’t either.

When I started hook fishing off Cape Cod, Mass., in the early 1970s, I depended on Atlantic herring as bait for the codfish I needed to catch. The business put food on my table. The herring were plentiful for the cod, and the cod were plentiful for me. But foreign industrial trawlers realized the great potential herring had as a fishery and started targeting them. Soon after, the Georges Bank herring population collapsed.

In response to the massive impact these foreign vessels were having on our fish stocks, the federal government passed the Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976. The act created a 200-mile exclusive economic zone off the coast for U.S. vessels, essentially removing the industrialized foreign fleet from U.S. waters. It took almost two decades for the herring population to recover.

Read the complete story from The Herring Alliance.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — The city has secured a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to install electric power hook-ups on two of the port's piers, a system that will allow fishing vessels to run on electricity instead of diesel-powered generators when in port, federal and local officials announced Thursday.

Reducing the vessels' reliance on generators will reduce diesel emissions and also save the fishing industry a significant amount of money in fuel and other costs, officials said.

"This is an environmental program that's very important for the people of the city … but also invaluable for our fishing fleet," said Mayor Scott W. Lang.

The grant award was announced Thursday during a press conference held at the city's U.S. Coast Guard Park and attended by Lang, Rep. Barney Frank, EPA Region 1 Regional Administrator Curt Spalding and other officials.

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]

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The populations of numerous species of aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico are likely to plummet because of the high levels of carbon pumping into the water from the BP oil well disaster, the top official in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said the full extent of the environmental disaster might not be known for years.

“We don't yet know all the ways that will play out. It can certainly kill a lot of young stages [of aquatic life],” she said.

For example, the Gulf Coast is one of only two known spawning areas for Atlantic blue fin tuna. Eggs and larvae are in the water at this time of year.

Read the complete story from the Aspen Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group of Island lobster fishermen plan to attend a meeting later this month in Warwick, R.I. to express their opposition to a proposed ban on lobster fishing in southern New England and beyond.

The fishermen dispute the findings of scientists that the lobster fishery has collapsed, and worry that a moratorium on lobster landings would put them out of business.

“I thought the collapse was in 2004. Now we are seeing larger lobsters. There is recruitment. We’ve got eggers out there. It is coming back,” said Chilmark lobsterman John Larsen at a meeting of the Martha’s Vineyard/ Dukes County Fishermen’s Association last week.

Read the complete story at The Vineyard Gazette Online.

 

 

 

 

 

For the past seven years, scientists have been alarmed by the mysterious death of marsh grasses on Cape Cod, which is transforming expanses of lush green wetlands into lumpy mudflats with the appearance of Swiss cheese.

Work over the past few years has provided strong evidence that the marshes are being eaten away by a particular crab, called Sesarma reticulatum, whose appetite for cordgrass is leaving marshes vulnerable to erosion. The work is also revealing the possibility that human disturbances may have set off the chain of events that caused the crabs’ hungry assault, in turn endangering some of the world’s most important ecosystems.

“One of the pretty scary things is the leading edge of these marshes is the front-line defense for sea-level rise,’’ said Mark Bertness, a biology professor at Brown University who has been working intensively to under stand so-called die-off on the Cape for three years. “They are hurricane buffers and nursery grounds to all kinds of shellfish and finfish, and buffers from run-off — an important filtering system.’’

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

In its nearly two decades of existence, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary has largely existed in name only. The submerged plateau off Massachusetts contains a wealth of whales and shipwrecks and enough biological diversity to rival a South American rainforest, but its bounty and geography also draw fishermen, whale-watching boats, and ships.

Now, a newly released management plan a decade in the making builds the strongest scientific case yet for better protecting the 842-square-mile sanctuary from humans, according to its authors and conservationists.

The federal government report, designed to guide sanctuary conservation efforts over the next five years, stops short of calling for immediate regulation. However, it says managers may develop rules by 2015 to better manage boats that get too close to whales, ensure stricter protection of at least 35 shipwrecks, prohibit fishing of key species, and zone the sea to preserve habitat.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

The federal agency charged with protecting endangered species like the brown pelican and the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle signed off on the Minerals Management Service’s conclusion that deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico posed no significant risk to wildlife, despite evidence that a spill of even moderate size could be disastrous, according to federal documents.

By law, the minerals service, before selling oil leases in the gulf, must submit an evaluation of the potential biological impact on threatened species to the Fish and Wildlife Service, whose responsibilities include protecting endangered species on land. Although the wildlife agency cannot block lease sales, it can ask for changes in the assessment if it believes it is inadequate, or it can insist on conducting its own survey of potential threats, something the agency has frequently done in the past.

But in a letter dated Sept. 14, 2007, and obtained by The New York Times, the wildlife agency agreed with the minerals service’s characterization that the chances that deepwater drilling would result in a spill that would pollute critical habitat was “low.”

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

 

 

 

 

 

EDF seeks National Policy Deputy Director to lead the design and implementation of national outreach and advocacy strategies to improve public policies related to ocean conservation goals, including fisheries management.

With world attention focused on both the environment and the economy, Environmental Defense Fund is where policymakers and business leaders turn for win-win solutions. This leading green group, founded in 1967, has tripled in size over the past decade by focusing on strong science, uncommon partnerships and market-based approaches.

You can be part of a vibrant workplace that welcomes diverse perspectives, talents and contributions, where innovation and a focus on results are a way of life. With programs from Boston to Beijing, Environmental Defense Fund is the only environmental group to receive an "A" rating from Wired magazine.

Read the complete description from Sustain Lane.

 

 

 

 

Two weeks ago, Northam announced a "bipartisan panel" that would spend the summer taking "a long, hard look at the management of menhaden," according to a news release sent by his office.

Problem was, Omega and some of its allies – watermen, laborers, bait buyers, the NAACP – say Northam assured them the panel would conduct "informal talks" and that no news releases would be circulated about them.

Omega smelled an ambush.

"The design of these meetings seems to be intended to provide a platform for opponents of the menhaden industry, and not to have a constructive dialogue," Ben Landry, Omega's director of public affairs, wrote in a June 30 letter to Northam.

"Our concern deals with trust," he wrote. "We cannot help but feel misled."

The state delegate who represents Reedville, Albert Pollard, a Democrat, almost always sides with the Bay Foundation on environmental issues – but not this one.

"I'm satisfied with the legislature handling this species, but I'm open to hearing more of the science," Pollard said, adding that he plans to participate in Northam's work group.

"Menhaden may be the only fishery the legislature manages," Pollard said, "but it's also the only one with a constituency trying to shut it down."

Northam apologized for any confusion and promised that no public comments would be allowed at three scheduled hearings around the state, just testimony from scientists and other experts. But he dropped a few zingers, too.

"It appears to me that you are concerned with having to address the issue of menhaden management in front of the public," Northam wrote. "If, as you claim, the fishery is healthy and not in need of further oversight, that will be borne out by the experts presenting to the group, and by the discussions that ensue."

Reached Friday in Louisiana, where Omega's boats do most of their fishing, Landry said: "We get the feeling that this is about creating public sentiment this summer so they can try to pass their bill again in the fall."

Menhaden are filter feeders that aid water quality in the Bay, though not as much as scientists have long believed. They are fodder for game fish, making them popular as bait and to sports anglers.

Omega operates in Virginia under a cap, enacted in 2006, allowing no more than 109,020 metric tons of menhaden to be caught each year. The cap was extended this year through 2013.

But environmentalists say an Atlantic coast-wide stock assessment released in May shows foreboding signs – fewer baby menhaden, harvests that approach but do not cross "overfishing" status.

"Vested interests will probably try to cherry-pick the science and say there is no problem with the menhaden population," said Bill Goldsborough, a fisheries scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group. "But that is dead wrong."

Read the complete story at The Pilot Online.