Science

May 4, 2012 – The newest ocean research tool in NewEngland looks like a surfboard, but it acts like a surveillance drone. An oceangoing robot known as a Wave Glider was launched Thursday for a six- to eightweek test run through the Gulf of Maine.

Unmanned and remotely operated, the 7-foot robot, which uses waves for propulsion, will collect data on ocean conditions and identify the locations of certain tagged fish. The demonstration project is coordinated by the US Integrated Ocean Observing System.

Read the full story from the AP.

 

 

WOODS HOLE – Bruce Keafer calls it a robot in a box. Roughly the size of a kitchen sink, it was lowered into the waters off Portsmouth, N.H., last week, where it will sample marine organisms to measure toxic red tide cells over the next 45 days.

The device, he hopes, will be a tool for forecasting outbreaks of red tide.

Initial results have detected red tide cells off Portsmouth in areas where shellfish had not tested positive for toxins.

“This will help shellfish managers because they can’t see what’s happening off the coast,’’ said Keafer, a research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The brainchild of Chris Scholin, a former Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution doctoral student, the sensor transmits information in real time to researchers about the genetic makeup of organisms in the water so they can detect red tide.

Scientists are specifically looking for Alexandrium fundyense, an alga growing off the coast of Maine that releases natural toxins when it blooms in the spring and is the only species responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans, which can occur after ingesting fish or shellfish exposed to it.

Read the complete story in The Boston Globe

 

 

 

 

 

Washington, D.C. — Apr. 30, 2012— The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced the second round of grant awards from its Fisheries Innovation Fund, a program launched in 2010 to support sustainable fisheries in the U.S. With the goal of sustaining fishermen while rebuilding fish stocks, the new grants will aid the design and implementation of projects that provide technical and practical support for working fishing communities across the country.

"In the first round of the Fisheries Innovation Fund, we invested in innovative ideas that will help communities maximize limited fisheries resources, minimize by-catch and explore new monitoring technologies," explained Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. "With our new grants, we will share approaches that have proven successful with a wider audience, and support local efforts to secure fishing opportunities for the future."

"The Fisheries Innovation Fund promotes creative ideas and solutions for better fisheries management around the country," said Sam Rauch, Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. "Many of the projects originate directly from fishermen and address local challenges and opportunities at the community level. We look forward to working with the individuals and organizations who receive the 2012 grants as they develop and share their projects to support the sustainability of U.S. fisheries."

The 18 grants for 2012 total $1.55 million, and will be matched by over $1.2 million from the grantees. NFWF’s Fisheries Innovation Fund is supported by NOAA, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The 2012 Fisheries Innovation Fund grants, listed by region, are:

Northeast:

Designing Fisheries Licensing for Community Resilience (ME)Grantee: Penobscot East Resource Center, Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $31,977; Matching Funds: $48,072; Total Project: $80,069
In cooperation with Maine Sea Grant, this project will develop a viable licensing model for inter-generational and entry level access to diversified community fishing, and support sustainable small-scale fisheries.

Realizing Eco-Efficiency in the Seafood Industry (ME, NH, MA)Grantee: Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $50,000; Matching Funds: $29,732; Total Project: $79,732
In cooperation with New England Trawlers, Inc. and North Atlantic Seafood, Inc., the project will improve the efficiency associated with bringing groundfish to market in the Northeast region through innovation in the seafood supply chain.

MCFA Gulf of Maine Cod Risk Pool (ME)Grantee: Maine Coast Fishermen's Association
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $110,000; Matching Funds: $75,000; Total Project: $185,000
Fishermen will face a significant cut to their Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod allocation for 2012. This project will develop a GOM Cod Risk Pool that will help fishermen stay within by-catch limits while accessing healthy stocks.

Best practices in Fisheries Trust Management (MA)Grantee: Community Development Partnership
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $124,978.14; Matching Funds: $200,000; Total Project: $324,978.14
The project will develop a scalable model to transfer best practices and lessons learned in fishery trust management to national audiences, and to communities seeking to sustain local fishing businesses and economic growth.

New England Fishing Quota Investment Fund(s) (ME, RI, MA)Grantee: CLF Ventures, Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $80,000; Matching Funds: $77,500; Total Project: $157,500
This project will investigate innovative financing approaches focused on a Triple-Bottom-Line (economic, ecological, and social) performance standard for fisheries. It will address the needs of investors and facilitate accelerated acquisition of permits by community fishermen across the New England region.

Electronic Logbooks in a New England Groundfish Sector (ME)Grantee: Sustainable Harvest Sector
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $20,000; Matching Funds: $5,000; Total Project: $25,000
The project will design and install software on vessels to report catch information electronically to the National Marine Fisheries Service and sector managers. Data will be integrated with shoreside catch monitoring systems and transferrable to other fisheries.

Simplifying New England Groundfish Sector reporting (MA)Grantee: Northeast Sector Service Network Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $110,000; Matching Funds: $20,000; Total Project: $130,000
This project will test and refine the Fishtrax Onboard module, a multifaceted reporting tool designed to simplify and satisfy the data requirements of New England Groundfish Sectors.

Mid-Atlantic:

By-catch Avoidance Network for River Herring/Butterfish (NY)Grantee: Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Suffolk County
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $100,000; Matching Funds: $50,000; Total Project: $150,000
The project will initiate a fleet communication system to report and share real-time observations of river herring/shad and butterfish by-catch hotspots to reduce fleet-wide by-catch.

Gulf of Mexico:

Fishery Science & Management Education for Gulf FishermenGrantee: Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $125,000; Matching Funds: $50,000; Total Project: $175,000
The project will develop and implement a Fishery Science & Management Education Program for commercial and recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. Modeled after the highly successful New England Marine Resource Education Program, it will involve the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, Gulf Fishermen’s Association, and individual Gulf of Mexico fishermen who graduated from the New England MREP to improve the capacity of Gulf fishermen to engage in sustainable management.

Creating a By-catch/Species Sharing Model for Louisiana Fishers (LA)Grantee: Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $75,000; Matching Funds: $30,000; Total Project: $105,000
The project will conduct research, create peer-learning and technical assistance opportunities, and design model by-catch and species-sharing policy and processes among Louisiana's traditional family fishers.

Pacific:

Develop Video Monitoring for Full Retention Fisheries (WA, OR)Grantee: Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $100,000; Matching Funds: $30,000; Total Project: $130,000
This project will develop a video-based catch monitoring system and computer-aided video review software. By reducing the number of human observers and reviewers involved in the monitoring of full-retention fisheries, it will lower the cost of observer programs.

Development and Evaluation of Image Recognition Software (CA)Grantee: Fishermen's Marketing Association, Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $96,178; Matching Funds: $50,000; Total Project: $146,178
This project will develop and evaluate image recognition software that can be used to screen video images collected onboard commercial fishing boats. It will track discard activities and identify the species of fish being discarded.

Shore-based Whiting Overfished Species Risk Pool Cooperative (WA, OR, CA)Grantee: Shore-based Whiting Cooperative
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $75,000; Matching Funds: $105,000; Total Project: $180,000
The project will provide a Pacific whiting cooperative with the technical support infrastructure to manage rockfish by-catch, using real time, historic observer and electronic data to assist with hotspot avoidance.

Fishing Community Sustainability Planning and Development (CA)Grantee: City of Morro Bay
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $135,000; Matching Funds: $125,000; Total Project: $260,000
This project will develop a strategic plan for Morro Bay and Monterey fisheries aimed at building economic, social and environmental sustainability, and community fishing association capacity.

Alaska:

Securing Community Opportunity in Kodiak’s Jig Fishery (AK)Grantee: Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $90,000; Matching Funds: $126,460; Total Project: $216,460
Through governance support, quality enhancement and market innovations, this project will assist the fishing community of Kodiak in securing entry-level opportunity in the jig fishery.

Electronic Monitoring for Small Boats in Alaska—Next StepsGrantee: North Pacific Fisheries Association Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $65,568; Matching Funds: $50,000; Total Project: $115,568
This project will field-test new electronic monitoring hardware and software in the small boat halibut fishery in Alaska. Software will include event-flagging and species identification to facilitate data review.

Great Lakes:

Stakeholder-centered Management of Lake Erie Yellow Perch (MI)Grantee: Michigan State University
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $73,432; Matching Funds: $24,584; Total Project: $98,016
A stakeholder-centered working group will use Management Strategy Evaluation techniques to develop harvest policies for Lake Erie yellow perch fisheries. Stakeholders will work with managers and scientists in using models to determine the policies that work best for both the fishing community and the resource.

Nationwide:

Community Fisheries Network Capacity Building and ExpansionGrantee: Island Institute
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $84,000; Matching Funds: $110,000; Total Project: $194,000
This project will expand the Community Fisheries Network by building organizational and business capacity in additional ports and regions, disseminating innovations that will improve the long-term sustainability of fishing communities and fisheries businesses.

Click here to learn more about the Fisheries Innovation Fund

 

 

 

 

 

Research Set-Aside programs are unique to federal fisheries in the northeast. Although the Northeast Cooperative Research Program manages them, no federal funds are provided to support the research. Instead, funding is provided annually by the sale of set-aside allocations for quota managed or days-at-sea managed fisheries.

University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth {$926,964} – High-resolution Video Survey of the Sea Scallop Resource in the Nantucket Lightship and Closed Area I Access Areas

Using the SMAST-Industry cooperative video survey on high resolution grids, this project will intensively survey six access areas across the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank (Delmarva and Hudson Canyon closed areas, Natucket Lightship, closed Area I and Closed Area II Access Areas, and the HAPC in the northern portion of Closed Area II) that are important to management and understandingscallop biology. This project will produce total and exploitable sea scallop biomass estimates for each area, which can be used to inform management decsions. Further it will examine habitat characteristics and the abundance, spatial distribution, size composition and recruitment pattens of sea scallops in these areas. This research would represent the tenth year in a time series of Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic scallop population dynamics. This project was awarded 98,404 lb of scallops.

 

Coonamessett Farm Foundation {$798,240} – Understanding Impacts of the Sea Scallop Fishery on Loggerhead Sea Turtles Through Satellite Tagging

To build on the success of prior turtle behavioral research funded under the scallop RSA program since 2004, the project will tag an additional 15 juvenile loggerhead turtles with water-activated satellite tags. This work will entail fifteen sea days, utilizing 2 scallop vessels. The vessels will also conduct turtle sighting surveys for the duration of field operations. In addition, one vessel will be equipped with a Benthos Teledyne High Output MiniRover ROV system (Teledyne-Benthos Inc., North Falmouth, MA). The ROV will track, observe, and film loggerhead turtles to examine their in situ behaviors (e.g. feeding, diving, and breathing). The ROV is used for validating the location and quantity of sea turtle prey species in the water column and on the sea floor as well as interpreting tag data. The observed turtle behavior from both the tags and the ROV will be analyzed in context with oceanographic and weather data. This project was awarded 84,379 lb of scallops.

 

Read the complete list of the projects from NOAA.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — April 28, 2012 – Fishermen and industry leaders in New Bedford predict that cutting the allowable yellowtail flounder catch by 80 percent will have disastrous effects on the New Bedford groundfish fleet, and they say flawed science, rather than depleted stocks, has created the crisis.

"This is a bigger disaster for New Bedford than the Gulf of Maine cod crisis is for the Gloucester fleet," said Richie Canastra, co-owner of BASE New England, the seafood display auction. "This will close down the sectors, plus the boats that were not fishing and leased out their quota will have to liquidate."

He cited one boat owner who leased 30,000 pounds of yellowtail quota for $1 per pound last year.

"He only got 4,000 pounds this year," Canastra said. "He'd need $10 a pound just to stay in the game."

Yellowtail landings account for roughly 20 percent of groundfish revenue in New Bedford, according to Canastra. Through February this year, more than 1.5 million pounds of yellowtail were landed here, and this year's quota is 565,000 pounds, he said.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 25, 2012- Tom Nies shares his perspective on the 2012 cod crisis as the Senior Fisheries Analysis to the New England Fisheries Management Council.

Watch the video here.

 

 

April 25, 2012, NEW BEDFORD — With competition literally on the horizon, the National Marine Fisheries Service has pulled 80 percent of the UMass Dartmouth funding from this summer's scallop survey in what scientists say is a critical year.

UMass officials and state Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, say they fear that NMFS is going to rely on an as yet untested, unproven, un-peer-reviewed technology and methodology being developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Scott Gallagher, the Woods Hole scientist who is developing what is called the HabCam, disputed that characterization and said tests and calibration against the scallop survey dredge have been under way for years. He said he expects it to displace UMass' apparatus as it is phased in over time.

The phase-out appears to have begun already. UMass is getting just $100,000 for the scallop survey, as opposed to $500,000 last year, Dr. Brian Rothschild said.

The UMass Marine Science and Technology Center still intends to conduct the survey using money that was intended for other uses, according to Dr. Kevin Stokesbury, who is research director.

But the federal government is redirecting its focus to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is developing the fourth generation of a survey apparatus called HabCam that features a stereo high-definition camera and side-scan sonar. They are mounted in a framework that moves through the water and scans the ocean bottom from a height of about 10 feet.

The images are then pieced together in a mosaic, Gallagher said.

UMass, which for more than a decade has been using a pyramid-shaped camera platform that is dropped to the ocean floor, revolutionized the surveys in the late 1990s with that invention. It revealed with visual evidence that scallops, rather than being overfished, were abundant — and the fishery became what it is today.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times.

 

 

April 24, 2012 – Industry leaders will discuss global fishmeal and fish oil supply developments as part of the 6th World Fisheries Congress (WFC), taking place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre from 7-11 May 2012.

Organised by The World Council of Fisheries Societies, the congress will address “Sustainable Fisheries in a Changing World”, examining current and future issues surrounding sustainable fishing and exploring informed global solutions.

In the fishmeal sector there are several sessions which industry representatives and members can attend, including:

· Global fishmeal and fish oil supply – the first step in a responsible aquaculture value chain – Andrew Mallison, IFFO Ltd, (Wednesday 9 May,11.00am);

· Global fishmeal and fish oil supply – inputs, outputs, and markets – Jonathan Shepherd, on (Wednesday 9 May, 11.30am).

Felicity Huntingford, World Council of Fisheries Societies President, said: “Fishmeal is always high on the agenda amongst industry and will be an important area of discussion at the World Fisheries Congress. These sessions promise to be an engaging opportunity to find out the latest developments in this sector.”

Read the full article here.

 

 

April 24, 2012 – More than 2,000 scientists from 67 nations have signed an open letter calling for the development of an international fisheries agreement that would protect the waters of the Central Arctic Ocean. The letter was released by the Pew Environment Group on the opening day of the International Polar Year conference in Montreal.

As Pew's Henry Huntington pointed out at the Second International Marine Conservation Congress in Victoria, British Columbia, last May, there has to this point been no commercial fishing industry in the so-called Arctic "donut hole" — the region of the High Arctic beyond the 200-mile exclusive economic zones of the five Arctic coastal states (Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States). The reason for that, simply, is that, until very recently, it has been covered year-round by sea ice. That, however, is changing.

Indeed, in September 2007, when the summer sea ice extent of the Arctic Ocean fell to its lowest level on record, fully 40 percent of the Arctic donut hole was open water.

The reason the existence of a donut hole is of particular concern, Huntington pointed out, is that, absent an agreed management regime, such international waters are a potential free-for-all beyond national control. There is a precedent. A similar donut hole exists in the Bering Sea; its existence led to rampant overfishing of pollack in the area until alarm over drastic declines in pollack numbers led to a 1994 treaty to manage the fishery.

 Read the full article at Discovery News.

 

 

April 19, 2012 – BARATARIA BAY, La. (AP) — When fishermen returned to the deep reefs of the Gulf of Mexico weeks after BP's gushing oil well was capped, they started catching grouper and red snapper with large open sores and strange black streaks, lesions they said they'd never seen and promptly blamed on the spill.

Now, two years after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 men and touching off the worst offshore spill in U.S. history, the latest research into its effects is starting to back up those early reports from the docks: The ailing fish bear hallmarks of diseases tied to petroleum and other pollutants.

Those illnesses don't pose an increased health threat to humans, scientists say, but they could be devastating to prized species and the people who make their living catching them.

There's no saying for sure what's causing the diseases in what's still a relatively small percentage of the fish, because the scientists have no baseline data on sick fish in the Gulf before the spill to form a frame of reference. The first comprehensive research may be years from publication. And the Gulf is assaulted with all kinds of contaminants every day.

Still, it's clear to fishermen and researchers alike that something's amiss.

Read the full story from the AP.