June 18, 2024 — 2023 was a record year for oysters in the state of Maryland.
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, it saw the most bushels ever harvested by the state’s aquaculture operations, at over 94,000.
MASSACHUSETTS: Large concentration of sei spotted near the Vineyard
June 18, 2024 — Over 160 whales were spotted just south of the Vineyard and Nantucket and 7 different whale species were identified during a single survey as reported by marine observers last week.
3Of these species spotted was the sei whale, with 93 found, one of the highest concentrations of that particular species that the survey team had ever seen during a single survey flight.
A Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s North Atlantic Right Whale team spotted the whales on May 25.
“It’s not uncommon to see a lot of whales in the area, just because there’s a lot of food this time of year,” said Teri Frady, Chief of Communications at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “But it’s unusual to see this many on one particular day.”
Read the full article at MV Times
Gulf of Maine & Norwegian fishermen voice wind concerns
June 17, 2024 — Gulf of Maine fishermen are feeling stressed as the plan for hundreds of offshore wind turbines continues to move forward. Eight leases will be held in the large area that has been fished for many generations off the New England coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) recently released the eight proposed areas that will be auctioned this fall.
If the area gets totally developed, it would be nearly 1 million acres. The project addresses large-scale environmental concerns regarding the power and uncertainty of fish species in the area. According to Global Seafood, while the process of developing widely supported offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine has been years in the making- and another decade could pass before any floating wind turbines become operational- simply entering the lease auction phase has some commercial fishermen fearing the worst.
Jerry Leeman, a former commercial fisherman and the CEO of the New England Fishermen Stewardship Association (NEFSA), told Global Seafood, “There’s not enough data to support the areas that have been chosen for wind development. As now laid out, the plan could take away valuable fishing grounds from New England’s fishing fleet, post navigational hazards, and create new environmental threats.”
Climate change is causing low-oxygen levels in Pacific Northwest ocean, report says
June 17, 2024 — A recent report out of Oregon State University paints a picture of how ocean oxygen levels have decreased in the Pacific Northwest over the years.
The report found near-bottom levels of dissolved oxygen in the waters off of Washington, Oregon and Northern California in 2021. JPR’s Roman Battaglia talked to Jack Barth, professor of oceanography at OSU, about his report and what these low oxygen levels mean for marine life.
Roman Battaglia: One thing I noticed in this study was that the levels seem pretty different in different parts of the coast. For example, in northern California and the southern Oregon coast, the oxygen levels seem much higher than they are in southern Washington and the northern Oregon coast. But why is there so much variability?
Jack Barth: That was the second big outcome of the paper, is that there really are regional differences. And importantly, we can explain them by oceanographic processes. So that higher oxygen level off southern Oregon, that’s because the continental shelf is relatively narrow. So it can flush water on and off pretty effectively from the deep ocean and flush out that low oxygen water so it stays high. And it looks like a pretty good area for fisheries. As you get into the wider continental shelves off central Oregon and Washington, the water sticks around longer; it doesn’t get flushed off as effectively. So that keeps those low oxygen waters near the bottom on those wider shelves.
Conservative groups cleared to continue legal fight to protect whales from Biden-backed offshore wind farm
June 17, 2024 — A coalition of conservative organizations has standing to continue fighting a Biden administration wind project in Virginia, a federal judge determined.
However, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the District of Columbia, a Biden appointee, denied the plaintiff’s petition for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project from going forward.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs withdrew a petition for an expedited appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court for a narrow decision on the injunction but will continue the case to stop the construction, one attorney said.
The plaintiffs sued the Biden administration and Dominion Energy to protect the North Atlantic right whale under the Endangered Species Act.
Launch of US wind installation vessel masks critical shortage
June 17, 2024 — The launch of the first U.S.-built wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in April marked an important milestone for the offshore wind sector. Commissioned by U.S. utility Dominion Energy, the 472-foot ‘Charybdis’ will be fully operational by early 2025 and will first be used to install Dominion’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The Charybdis is a positive step for the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry but several other vessels are needed to fill a widening supply gap that is holding back developers. Slow buildout of U.S. supply chain and port infrastructure and a lack of clarity over leasing and permitting schedules has hampered developers and deterred some investors.
The U.S. needs four-to-six turbine installation vessels to meet the 30 GW offshore wind target set by President Biden for 2030, according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
ALASKA: An influx of chum salmon in the Canadian Arctic could be the same fish missing from Western Alaska
June 17, 2024 — Johnnie Storr grew up fishing with his dad in the hamlet of Aklavik, a small town on the Mackenzie River delta in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Depending on the season, they looked for Arctic char, Dolly Varden or whitefish.
“We fished for char in the fall time,” Storr said. “Soon as there was enough ice we walked out and set nets for whitefish.”
Storr is Inuvialuit and Gwich’in, and heads the local Hunters and Trappers Committee, which helps manage Indigenous hunting rights in the region. He said elders say chum salmon have always lived in small numbers in the Mackenzie River, but in the last decade there has been a clear uptick.
“I think it was 2019 where we have seen a big jump,” he said. “I think we had at least 300 salmon brought into the Hunters and Trappers Committee.”
In recent years, all five salmon species have shown up in rivers from northeast Alaska to Nunavut, in Canada’s eastern Arctic. Chum salmon, one of the most cold-tolerant salmon species, are the most commonly found.
Storr said some people eat them, but personally he doesn’t prefer salmon.
“We were releasing them just because we really prefer char around here,” he said.
Commercial salmon fishermen eye Klamath dam removal with cautious hope
June 17, 2024 — Dave Bitts can bring in over 100 salmon by himself.
“That’s an exceptionally good day. If I catch 20 fish it’s worth the trip,” says Bitts.
At 76, he still fishes for salmon alone. Standing in the cockpit on the stern deck of his wooden trawler, Elmarue, he can keep an eye on all six wires; when one of the lines starts to dance, he brings the fish in, stunning it with his gaff while it’s still in the water. Then he uses the tool to hook the salmon behind the gills and swings it onto the deck.
“By the way, I want that fish cleaned and chilling in a single water flush within half an hour; that’s the standard,” says Bitts. “I want you to enjoy eating it as much as I enjoyed catching it.”
Bitts has commercial permits for both crab and salmon. Normally, in late May, he’d be out salmon fishing; instead, he’s just returned from a late crab run and tucked Elmarue into her slip at Woodley Island, a tidy marina in Humboldt Bay right across the waterfront near Eureka’s Old Town.
In April, for the second year in a row, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to close California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon fishery. The closure was based on woefully low numbers of adult salmon expected to return to several California rivers.
The east end of the marina is stocked with sailboats and pleasure craft, but on the west end you can spot several commercial boats — Inua, Joy Ann, and My Lady, her deck piled high with crab pots.
“There’s not that many anymore, because there’s not much salmon season anymore,” says Bitts.
Offshore wind is providing little competition to oil and gas production so far
June 17, 2024 — President Joe Biden wants the U.S. offshore wind industry to be producing 30 gigawatts of electrical power by 2030 — enough, the administration says, to power 10 million homes. That would be the equivalent of about 16,920 bbls. of petroleum per hour or 384,000 bbls. of oil per day.
By comparison, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says the U.S. consumes approximately 20 million bbls. of petroleum, including oil and natural gas, per day.
NOAA reports to Congress on monitoring of seafood imports
June 17, 2024 — Federal fisheries officials combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries are working to expand partnerships to perform intelligence-led investigations to target future suspected violations, while facilitating the flow of legal seafood into U.S. commerce.
All this and more is included in this latest Report on the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) delivered to Congress, NOAA officials said on May 31. The report offers an overview summary of seafood imports subject to SIMP and enforcement action associated with SIMP imports.
A second report discusses efforts of the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act’s Interagency Working Group to investigate and prosecute groups and individuals engaging in IUU fishing.
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