Science

CHATHAM — The cod that once were right on this port's doorstep are gone, replaced with skates and dogfish.

So rather than go 100 miles offshore to Georges Bank where there still are cod, Chatham fisherman Eric Hesse decided a couple of years ago it made sense to travel 30 miles north instead to the Stellwagen Bank area where a 2008 stock assessment by the National Marine Fisheries Service said that the Gulf of Maine cod population was plentiful and growing rapidly.

But a new draft stock assessment released last week showed the 2008 assessment was wildly off base, and that fishermen have been catching five times as many fish as the stock can withstand.

Now, Hesse and other fishermen are faced with possible dramatic cuts to the amount of cod they will be allowed to catch in the coming year and for many years to come.

Read the complete story from The Cape Cod Times

 

 

 

 

 

VIMS genetic test can quickly identify origin of blue marlin to aid federal enforcement

The test is needed to ensure that the blue marlin sold in U.S. seafood markets were not taken from the Atlantic Ocean. The import and sale of blue marlin from the Pacific or Indian oceans is legal in the U.S., while the marketing of Atlantic blues can bring civil or criminal penalties, including fines, seizure of a catch, or the loss of a fishing permit. Regulation of Atlantic blue marlin reflects overfishing and a troubling drop in population within Atlantic waters.

Genetic tests to determine the origin of blue marlin and other marine species are conducted by the Marine Forensics Program within NOAA's Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, South Carolina. The Center is part of the National Ocean Service's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.

Trey Knott, a forensic biologist responsible for testing blue marlin at the Charleston lab, says "our relationship with the researchers at VIMS has been invaluable. We wouldn't have been able to tackle an R&D project like this given the casework load in our lab, and the folks at VIMS bring a wealth of historical experience and knowledge of billfish."

Read the complete story from Science Daily

 

 

 

 

 

The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA’s commitment to science was further solidified today with the release of a scientific integrity policy by Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

“This policy strengthens the high standards we work to achieve every day to advance the science that underpins the services and stewardship NOAA provides to the American public,” said Lubchenco. “The scientific integrity policy expresses our commitment to produce and use science without distortion, to be transparent and accountable in production and use of our science, and to strengthen our commitment to excellence.”

Lubchenco made the announcement today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

“Scientific integrity is at the core of producing and using good science,” Lubchenco added. “Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive policy in place that firmly supports our scientists and their scientific activities, protects the use of scientific findings, and thus advances the public trust in NOAA science.”

Developed from a deliberative and inclusive process that included employee and public input, this new policy reflects the commitment of NOAA and the Obama Administration to protect scientific findings from being suppressed, distorted or altered and to strengthen science and encourage a culture of transparency. The policy amplifies the President’s Memorandum to Department and Agency Heads on Scientific Integrity issued March 9, 2009, and it specifies how NOAA will address key issues.

The scientific integrity policy applies to all NOAA employees — career, political, and contractor — who conduct, supervise, assess or interpret scientific information on behalf of NOAA. Scientists, their managers, and policy makers are all governed by the policy, and each group commits to upholding the integrity of science at NOAA.

To support a culture of openness, one of the policy’s key provisions affirms unequivocally that NOAA scientists may speak freely with the media and public about scientific and technical matters based on their official work without approval from the public affairs office or their supervisors.

The policy also protects those who report scientific and research misconduct. It also protects the anonymity of those who are accused but exonerated of research and scientific misconduct.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

View the policy here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think Woods Hole or Monterey Bay, and then travel to a six-acre spit of rock that looks out on Hodgkins Cove and Ipswich Bay. State officials and scientists say the quiet, picture-perfect waterfront site in Gloucester will be the ideal location for scientists to conduct breakthrough world oceanic research.

The newly renovated site will house the UMass Large Pelagics Research Center – which focuses on tracking bluefin tuna and leatherback turtles. Scientists from the Division of Marines Fisheries also plan to establish an aquaculture center on the bay to study lobster growth rates and mating behavior.

The partnership, and investment in the site – which had been shuttered for four years – is an example of marine research that Mayor Carolyn Kirk hopes will spread toward the harbor, where at least half the waterfront properties are underutilized. Last month, the city held a maritime economy conference with hopes of attracting researchers, universities, and businesses that create products from the sea.

The research project was spurred by Molly Lutcavage, a UMass professor and Large Pelagics Research Center founder and director who worked with local, state, and university officials to renovate the property.

Read the complete story in The Boston Globe

 

 

 

 

 

Six months ago the University of Massachusetts' Large Pelagics Research Center, headed by Gloucester resident Molly Lutcavage, mapped out plans to renovate the marine station at Hodgkins' Cove and breathe new life into that vacated facility.

Friday brought the center's grand opening, reviving UMass-Amherst's seafood research lab that had been headed by Professor Herbert Hultin from 1979 until his death in 2007.

The university and State Division of Marine Fisheries spent $400,000 on the renovation, turning the once-derelict research center into a functioning lab for Lutcavage's LPRC and the Division of Marine Fisheries.

Research on site, according to a summary from UMass, will focus on tuna and other large ocean-going, pelagic species, while state Marine Fisheries researchers will focus on lobster reproduction.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

 

Six months ago the University of Massachusetts' Large Pelagics Research Center, headed by Gloucester resident Molly Lutcavage, mapped out plans to renovate the marine station at Hodgkins' Cove and breathe new life into that vacated facility.

Friday brought the center's grand opening, reviving UMass-Amherst's seafood research lab that had been headed by Professor Herbert Hultin from 1979 until his death in 2007.

The university and State Division of Marine Fisheries spent $400,000 on the renovation, turning the once-derelict research center into a functioning lab for Lutcavage's LPRC and the Division of Marine Fisheries.

Research on site, according to a summary from UMass, will focus on tuna and other large ocean-going, pelagic species, while state Marine Fisheries researchers will focus on lobster reproduction.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

 

An independent peer review of an already controversial study that suggests a rapid decline in cod stocks is set to begin this week — with potentially catastrophic implications for Gloucester's dayboat fishermen who fear the results could bring a shutdown of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery.

Just three years ago, a comprehensive stock assessment showed the Gulf of Maine cod was effectively rebuilding.

But, in data first spotlighted last month in the Gloucester Daily Times, preliminary figures suggest the valuable species is in dismal shape and won't rebuild within the timeframe set by the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the framework for federal fisheries law.

In a worst-case scenario, that could mean a broad fishery shutdown to protect the cod. But that step would be drastic and a long ways away.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Standing on the deck of a small fishing boat, Joe Facendola plunged one hand into a 90-gallon rubber tub and grabbed the swishing tail of the 4-foot, 25-pound Alantic sturgeon.

Using a pair of surgical scissors, Facendola snipped a small piece of fin on the fish's stomach.

"There will," he said, "be blood."

But just a little, and ultimately, the process could help protect the rest of the Cape Fear River's sturgeon population. Facendola, a technician with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, has spent the past year catching Atlantic sturgeon, collecting their DNA, then tagging the fish and releasing them to track their movements.

Read the complete story from Star News Online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOSTON – The best picture scientists can snap of the condition of important New England fish stocks can be blurry, considering the fish they're trying to count live in the dark. But now Sen. John Kerry is asking the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to find out if a developing sonar technology can bring new clarity.

In a letter to Jane Lubchenco last month, Kerry asked her to designate $1 million for a system that can scan dozens of square miles of ocean in an instant.

A fish stock's health is the critical factor when regulators decide how much fishermen can catch. A bad estimate can mean an unnecessarily low catch limit, and that can end a fishing business, or cause unintended overfishing.

Read the complete story by Jay Lindsay of The AP at The Portland Press Herald.

 

 

 

 

 

Research by James Sulikowski, Ph.D., associate professor of marine sciences at University of New England, and John Mandelman, Ph.D., research scientist at the New England Aquarium, contributed to a recent emergency action by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to revise an existing policy and increase the amount of skate that fishermen can land this year.

NOAA announced it has increased the amount of skate that fishermen can land this year from 31 million to 48 million pounds, based on new scientific information showing an increase in the overall skate population. The 56-percent quota increase becomes effective November 28th, and remains in effect through the end of the current fishing season, which ends on April 30, 2012.

At its June meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council reviewed updated 2008-2010 trawl survey data from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which shows significant improvements in the overall skate population.

Read the complete story from PR Web.