Saving Seafood

Science

Indigenous Scientists on St. Paul Island, Alaska Work To Protect Marine Mammals

November 30, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

For Native American Heritage Month, NOAA Fisheries celebrates the Indigenous scientists who help make our work in marine mammal conservation possible. The Tribal Government of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island conducts high-level science and management of their marine resources. They work independently and in partnership with NOAA through a formal co-management agreement authorized by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

St. Paul is a small community of about 400 people located in the Pribilof Islands, 300 miles from mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea. Unangan—which means “The People of the Sea”— live on St. Paul, and neighboring St. George. Russian fur traders captured their ancestors from the Aleutian Islands and relocated them to the Pribilof Islands in the 1700s. They were enslaved there for the commercial fur harvest of laaqudan (the Unangam tunuu word for northern fur seals, pronounced “lah-koo-thawn”). Their deep cultural connection to and subsistence reliance upon laaqudan and other marine mammals, such as qawan (Steller sea lions, “ka-wahn”), has persisted for millennia and remains strong to this day.

 

The ocean is a noisy place for sea life. What 2 years of listening tells us about offshore wind.

November 30, 2023 — The ocean can be a loud place — and that’s partly because of boats.

Fishing trawlers traverse the open water for their seasonal catch. Massive cargo ships travel to the ports with a boundless assortment of goods. And take your pick of recreational boats, from lumbering passenger cruises to high-speed motorboats.

Additional noise is expected from vessels building offshore wind farms up and down the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia, as the budding industry seeks to reach a bevy of clean energy goals.

Read the full article at NJ.com

Coral Reef Fish Predictably Change With Depth, Except When People Are Present

November 29, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

New research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, supports the long-held understanding that reef-fish communities follow certain patterns along different depths. However, this is only true in reef areas that have historically remained free from human activity. These patterns were altered or lost at islands where humans live and where impacts like fishing and habitat loss are present. The study was led by researchers at Bangor University in the United Kingdom in close collaboration with the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.

Recognizing patterns in reef-fish communities is important for coral-reef management. Testing these long-held understandings as conditions change through time is key to evaluating suitable management approaches.

Revisiting Our Understanding of Reef Ecosystems

One of the oldest described ecological patterns is zonation, which is the distribution of organisms across space. In bodies of water, depth zonation explains how organisms are found at specific depths due to different conditions and interactions with other organisms.

Testing whether and how these patterns are universal in nature is important for developing conservation and management strategies. If these patterns hold true in various places with different groups of organisms, we can use them as trusted guidelines in conservation planning. The ability to test the universality of depth zonation in marine organisms was limited in the past by the lack of standardized observations collected across large areas and the necessary analytical tools.

Lead author, Dr. Laura Richardson of Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences, explains, “Science is cumulative, building on past work. Now that we have greater computing capabilities, we should be testing these widely accepted but spatially under-validated theories at scale. Human impacts on the environment have increased to the point where these models may no longer predict current-day ecological distribution patterns. Up until recently, our ability to test these core theories was limited by a lack of spatially comprehensive data. Consistent, rigorous, and long-term monitoring from NOAA’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program made our analyses possible, revealing globally relevant insights into our ‘natural’ world under human pressures, and highlighting the critical role of well-maintained monitoring programs.”

Researchers: Blue Catfish Stomach Contents Suggest Large Impact On Crab, Menhaden

November 29, 2023 — In terms of appetite and willingness to gorge on just about anything, blue catfish have few peers in the Chesapeake Bay, experts say.

“They’re eating everything, anything they can get their mouths around,” said Noah Bressman, a fish biologist at Salisbury University in Maryland.

Now, a clearer picture is emerging of their ecological toll. Two new studies based in tidal rivers on opposite sides of the Bay show that the invasive species is gobbling up prized native aquatic life, such as menhaden and blue crabs, at high rates.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Maine gets $5M to support testing of alternative lobster fishing gear to reduce whale entanglement

November 28, 2023 — Maine has received more than $5 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to expand the testing of alternative lobster fishing gear.

State officials see the work as a way to get more Maine feedback into the hands of federal regulators, who are looking for ways to further reduce the risk of entanglement and injury to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said the funds will support the research and testing of two kinds of emerging technology — gear that retrieves lobster traps from the ocean floor without the use of vertical lines and acoustic geolocation devices that identify traps without surface buoys.

The federal government may eventually require the use of this gear as it drafts new right whale management regulations over the next five years.

Much of the $5 million will directly cover a training and outreach program with a variety of coastal organizations, which include the Maine Sea Grant, the Island Institute Institute and the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, among others.

Read the full article at wbur

Can electronic tags fill knowledge gaps between offshore wind and fisheries?

November 28, 2023 — The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be assisting a first-of-its-kind study investigating fish behavior in response to offshore wind turbine installation and related construction activities in the Atlantic Ocean.

Using fine-scale positioning technology, the study will be conducted at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) research site, approximately 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Developed and operated by Dominion Energy, CVOW is the second offshore wind farm operating in the United States with two existing turbines and 176 in the works.

Read the full article at Global Seafood Alliance

NOAA experts: Listen early for whales before wind project work

November 28, 2023 — Astudy by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommends at least 24 hours of acoustic monitoring for detecting endangered North Atlantic right whales before construction work at offshore wind energy construction sites, to reduce danger to the marine mammals from the loud undersea noise of pile driving.

Visual monitoring around work sites – with trained observers on vessels watching for whales – is one protocol with wind power companies and government regulators. Another is passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) which uses sensors to pick up and record whales’ vocalizations underwater.

Federal monitoring requirements now call for 1 hour of acoustic monitoring for whale activity before pile driving for turbine foundations. It is an “intense, impulsive noise that radiates into the surrounding environment as turbines are hammered into the sea floor,” the paper notes.

The study by a team at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, published Nov. 3 in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, calls for pushing out acoustic monitoring at least 24 hours ahead of construction schedules. Wind power turbines are now being erected on the Vineyard Wind and South Fork project sites off southern New England.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

CT study will examine relationship of new offshore wind farm on marine ecosystems

November 27, 2023 — New local fisheries research will look into the impacts of Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm on marine ecosystems in southern New England waters.

Scientists with UConn Avery Point will spend the next two years examining how Revolution Wind, located about 30 miles from Connecticut’s coast, would affect marine habitats and food chains.

On Nov. 20, project developers – Eversource and Ørsted – got final approval for construction of the wind farm, which is expected to power up more than 300,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island in 2025.

The UConn team is in early stages of the study, and will begin site research in spring 2024. The team’s focus is the potential effects on marine habitats, food webs and shifts in commercially important species.

Read the full article at WSHU

Ropeless Buoy Technology Tested in New England

November 25, 2023 — A federal program testing the viability of “fishing on demand” technology – also known as ropeless buoys – is seeing growing interest and success off the waters of Massachusetts.

But even though the program is experimental, free, and voluntary – and allows fishermen to trap in seasonally closed waters and keep what they catch – many of the state’s lobstermen don’t like it.

The project was started by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2018, in response to federal court rulings and NOAA regulations that seasonally closes thousands of square miles of fishing grounds to protect critically endangered right whales from the risk of entanglement in fishing gear.

Research shows there are fewer than 350 right whales left in the world, a population that has fewer than 70 reproductive females living off the U.S. East Coast and Atlantic Canada. Their biggest threats are entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes. The legal and regulatory action to protect the whales through seasonal fishing and speed restrictions in critical areas stems from lawsuits brought by environmental groups and subsequent court rulings to enforce provisions in the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act.

The seasonal closures prohibit lobster and Jonah crab fishing with traps and vertical lines in high-risk areas, covering almost 13,000 square miles in several restricted blocks off Massachusetts, with additional closures off New Hampshire and Maine. Fishermen who agree to participate in NOAA’s program and test the gear can access those areas under a special permit, using various ropeless buoy technologies being developed by NOAA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, other non-governmental organizations and several marine technology companies.

“We acknowledge the tremendous impact these closures have on fishing communities and are looking for solutions that would allow fishing without increasing entanglement risk” when vertical line restrictions are in effect, said Henry Milliken, head of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Protected Species Gear Research Program.

“We are just trying to provide opportunities for fishermen who want access to those [restricted] areas. Nobody wants to close down the lobster fishery, especially in Maine and Massachusetts,” said Milliken.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Citizen Science Spotlight: In it for the Long Haul

November 25, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries: 

We have lots of opportunities for members of the public to get involved in our research. We’re sharing the experiences of three longtime citizen scientists working with our programs. We hope you’ll be inspired by their stories to get involved in citizen science in your community, too! From the Cooperative Shark Tagging Program to OceanEYEs, there’s truly a project for everyone.

Mark Sampson

Citizen Science Program

Cooperative Shark Tagging Program

Role

Charter Captain

Mark Sampson is a man who wears many hats: captain, guide, recreational fisherman. But one of his favorites is citizen scientist. Sampson has been a charter captain with Fish Finder Adventures for decades in Ocean City, Maryland, where he works as a fishing guide. He initially heard about the Cooperative Shark Tagging Program from a friend and decided to get involved during the late 1970s. Sampson’s familiarity with local marine life made him a great fit for the program, and he’s been volunteering ever since.

The Cooperative Shark Tagging Program is a collaborative effort between recreational anglers, the commercial fishing industry, and NOAA Fisheries. Founded in 1962, it is one of the oldest citizen science programs in the nation. Volunteers tag sharks caught during recreational or commercial fishing activities and release them. The tags provide shark researchers with information about the sharks’ movements and migration patterns, growth rates, abundance, and more.

“When I first started volunteering, I immediately felt the satisfaction of releasing a shark we caught and putting a tag on it. When you tag a shark, you know the story might not end there after it’s been released, even if you don’t hear anything until years down the road,” Sampson says. In fact, he’s had a number of sharks he’s tagged pop back up years later. Two blue sharks he tagged off Ocean City were eventually recaptured—all the way across the ocean in the Azores archipelago and off the coast of Spain!

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“We also have other biologists contribute to the program and incorporate tagging data from multiple surveys, but our citizen scientists, especially our dedicated volunteers like Mark, are the backbone of our program,” says Cami McCandless, the research fisheries biologist who leads the Cooperative Shark Tagging Program. “A citizen science-based tagging program provides an excellent platform for obtaining shark movement data. Conventional tags last for decades and are quite inexpensive in comparison to high-technology tags that give detailed movement data. Sharks are highly migratory, covering vast distances. Our research team can’t be everywhere all the time, so having volunteers deploying tags each season throughout the North Atlantic vastly expands what we can do on our own.”

Sampson and McCandless encourage anyone with an interest in sharks to get involved with the Cooperative Shark Tagging Program—you don’t need to be a charter captain or even a volunteer tagger to contribute! If you are fishing and you catch a tagged shark, report it to the program by email (sharkrecap@noaa.gov), toll-free call (877-826-2612), or fill out a form online.

“The people with the program are extremely knowledgeable and helpful,” Sampson says. “I’ve been so appreciative of the tagging program for all these years. It’s a great opportunity to communicate back and forth with scientists and help with real research.”

Marcy Dorflinger

Citizen Science Program

California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program

Role

Volunteer Angler

“I’ve been fishing pretty much my whole life,” says Marcy Dorflinger. “I’ve always loved it. When I was little I would go out on the lakes with my dad and my uncles.” Dorflinger now brings her lifetime of fishing expertise to the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program, where she’s been a volunteer angler for 15 years. A neighbor originally introduced the program to Dorflinger, who saw it as a great opportunity to get out on the water more. But after more than a decade with the program, it’s become so much more to her.

The research program is a collaboration between scientists and recreational anglers collecting data to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of California’s network of marine protected areas. These data points also feed into our stock assessments, helping scientists to estimate the health and size of fish populations in the area.

Dorflinger has loved gaining a more intimate understanding of how these offshore protected areas are affecting populations of local groundfish species. “As part of the program, we compare [data from] the marine protected areas with [data from] the reference areas where everyone can fish,” Dorflinger says. “It’s been really interesting to see that the areas are doing their job. There are more fish and bigger fish in those protected areas.”

Erin Johnston, the Interim Statewide Coordinator for the program, says that Dorflinger has been an invaluable member of the team. “There are an endless number of positive things that I could say about Marcy Dorflinger…Her frequent involvement as a volunteer means that Marcy has contributed to this program in a really impactful way,” Johnston says. “Marcy began volunteering with the program in 2008 and has not missed a single year since then. She has volunteered on more than 140 trips and caught almost 4,000 fish in her time as a volunteer angler. She is famous for catching fish even if no one else on board is catching anything. Most importantly, Marcy contributes to this program through more than her fishing ability; she brings her positive energy to every fishing day and is a constant source of joy on long sampling trips. She also comes to our outreach events and supports our undergraduate and graduate staff through her fishing experience, probing questions, and positive feedback. She is an inspiration to women fishers everywhere!”

Steve Leong

Citizen Science Program

OceanEYEs

Role

Stock Assessment Data Program Analyst

Steve Leong’s knack for identifying fish is practically in his blood. Growing up in Sacramento, California, Leong spent countless hours at his grandparents’ fish market. He was fascinated by all the different species represented there—an enduring interest that has propelled him to a long-term involvement in the OceanEYEs project.

“I really love going to Hawai‘i and snorkeling, but I obviously couldn’t go there during the pandemic,” Leong says. In November 2020, he began seeking out opportunities to support public science research programs in his free time. He happened upon OceanEYEs, a virtual citizen science program that improves the data used to manage the Hawaiian “Deep 7” bottomfish species.

The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center uses underwater stereo camera systems to record images of these culturally and economically valuable species. Then OceanEYEs volunteers annotate these images to identify fish, record data, and help to train machine learning algorithms, expediting the data collection process for professional researchers. “It was sort of like a virtual vacation,” Leong says. “It was a way to see fish you wouldn’t normally see at the surface.”

Leong loves that volunteering with the program puts him at the forefront of emerging fisheries management strategies and technologies. As a retired cancer research and drug development scientist, he has worked with large datasets and understands how much more time-effective it can be to use AI for data analysis. “This has been a way of contributing to the development of AI for the program, which could help with other research projects that will use AI. Using these underwater cameras that can process huge amounts of data takes this research to the next level. It tells me that NOAA is really modernizing,” Leong says.

“Steve Leong has been a valuable asset to the OceanEYEs project since it began 3 years ago,” says Audrey Rollo, lead analyst for the Science Operations Division at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and moderator for OceanEYEs. “Not only has Steve consistently participated in the project throughout the years, but he has shown interest in the research behind the citizen science workflow. I can always count on Steve to provide accurate results and have appreciated his commitment, passion, and enthusiasm to the OceanEYEs project. Mahalo to Steve for his dedicated service!”