Science

The American Fisheries Society has presented Brian Rothschild, the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth research scientist and professor, its prestigious Oscar Elton Sette Award for "sustained excellence in marine fishery biology."

The day after receiving the award last week during the society's annual meeting in Seattle, Rothschild presented a talk that was critical of the Obama administration's hotly disputed catch share policy — brought in by NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco.

He used the transformation of the New England groundfishery as a case study, noting that New England landings were down from 41,230 metric tons to 32,765 metric tons in the first year of catch shares which ended April 30, based on a monitoring report from the Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester.

Jobs were fewer and more boats were inactive too, Rothschild said, citing a report from the Northeast Regional Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

And he explicitly called out NOAA for marketing the system with "misleading characterizations" or "half truths."

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Merrick, who works at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, has been named chief science adviser for NOAA Fisheries.

In announcing the appointment Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Merrick has 26 years of experience with NOAA, beginning in Alaska where he spent 12 years. Since 1997, he has been attached to the Woods Hole-based science center, where he directed extensive research on sea mammals and most recently oversaw the regional fisheries' stock assessments.

Officials at NOAA previously noted the chief science adviser serves as "the principal spokesperson on scientific and technology issues and guides and directs the work of the agency's six regional science centers."

"It's a step up in some ways but a lot of this involves issues I've been dealing with at the center, so it just expands the remit," Merrick told The Standard-Times on Thursday.

Andrew Minkiewicz, a lawyer with the Fisheries Survival Fund, which advocates for the scallop industry, welcomed the appointment.

"In our dealings with him, we found him to be open and forthright and a very competent scientist," Minkiewicz said. "He's the kind of federal official you want to work with."

In a press release announcing the appointment, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab wrote Merrick will assume a prominent role in NOAA's efforts to improve the stock assessment process. Asked what form that initiative might take, Merrick replied: "Some of those efforts are going on at the center right now. One of the things I believe in is the revamping of the way we do assessments in general so we can generate more stock assessments, faster, for the fishery management councils and react more quickly to new data."

When the science center provides its advice to a management council, it may take up to two years for changes to occur in the quota that fishermen are fishing on, he said. "From delivering the stock assessment to the time we get the specifications out on quota, I think we all recognize that that has to be speeded up."

Taking on a new job, one with national importance, will bring about many changes, including lots of travel, Merrick acknowledged, and he will be leaving Cape Cod with some reluctance, he said. "My family loves it here. They are staying and I will come home every month."

Dr. Brian Rothschild of UMass Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology said he is familiar with Merrick's work.

"It's a big job and we look forward to working with him," Rothschild said "But the other side of this is that NOAA still needs to find a director for the science center and a director for its Northeast Regional Office and, hopefully, the community will have some input into that."

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial fishing in the deep sea should be banned because it has depleted fish stocks that take longer to recover than other species, according to a paper to be released this week by an international team of marine scientists.

Certain deep-sea species have gained widespread popularity — including orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish, otherwise known as Chilean sea bass — only to crash within a matter of years.

Elliott Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Institute and the paper’s lead author, said the world has turned to deep-sea fishing “out of desperation” without realizing fish stocks there take much longer to recover.

“We’re now fishing in the worst places to fish,” Norse said in an interview. “These things don’t come back.”

As vessels use Global Positioning System devices and trawlers, which scrape massive metal plates across the sea bottom, the catch of deep-water species has increased sevenfold between 1960 and 2004, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Read the complete story from The Washington Post

 

 

 

 

 

ELLSWORTH, Maine —- A survey of scallop abundance Down East shows that at least some stocks are recovering after their number dipped dangerously low a few years ago.

According to a state scientist, the results of a survey last fall in Cobscook Bay and the St. Croix River show that area closures are having a desired effect of protecting the resource. The results also suggest that closures perhaps should be used more routinely to better maintain the state scallop fishery, as they have been at the federal level, he said.

“That would be a good thing to consider, I would think,” biologist Kevin Kelly of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said Friday. “The closure there [in Cobscook Bay] appears successful from a biological standpoint.”

But a Trescott fisherman said Sunday that he’s not convinced that closures are the reason scallop numbers are increasing in the bay. Barry Huckins, who also is a member of DMR’s Scallop Advisory Council, said that he has fished in Cobscook Bay since the 1970s.

Read the complete story from Bangor Daily News.

 

 

 

 

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing a 56 percent — or 17 million pound — increase in this year's skate catch.

The action is based on what NOAA says is new scientific information, data that also reflects longstanding industry insistence that skates — taken largely as bycatch by groundfishermen — are a stock complex in far better shape than the government believed or was willing to admit.

Skates have been about an $8-10 million annual industry based on vessel revenues in recent years.

NOAA's proposed "emergency" action cannot become rule until after the closing of the public comment period on Sept. 14.

Because trip limits would not change, the proposal is seen as allowing the region's major skate processors in Gloucester and New Bedford to maintain supplies throughout the 12-month fishing cycle, which for skates and groundfish end April 30.

"We've been lobbying for this for more than a year," said Kristian Kristensen, CEO of Zeus Packing Co. of Harbor Loop. "We told them to look at the science. But the emergency action is good."

"We made a commitment to respond as quickly as possible when new scientific information affects management decisions," Eric Schwaab, administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a prepared statement. "The proposed quota increase will result in considerable increases in revenues for fishermen and positive economic effects to the businesses that support the fishery, while maintaining important conservation objectives."

Emily Keiley, a research assistant at the School of Marine Science and Technology of University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said Tuesday that the government is responding to new data showing that the skate biomass is increasing and the presumed discard rate was too high.

"They're taking two important steps," Keiley said. "This will help the industry. The increased landings limit is likely to extend the season, consistency of availability is important because they go and get international contracts (and when supplies stop) they lose cargo space."

Under the proposed rule, which was recommended to NOAA by the New England Fishery Management Council, the government said that "significant increases" in the survey biomass of little and winter skates — two of the seven species — through autumn 2010 support increases in the acceptable biological catch.

"Additionally, new research on the discard mortality of winter and little skates in trawl gear indicates that the assumed discard mortality rate of 50 percent is too high, and that the dead discard portion of the catch has been overestimated in the past," NOAA said in announcing its proposed rule.

Political pressure to loosen limits on skate has been brought by Congressman Barney Frank, who represents New Bedford and UMass-Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology. That's the program that, last December, released a research paper that asserted that NOAA was sitting on unreleased trawl data showing no need for the reduced trip limits.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

How do you know the fish you buy is really what it's supposed to be? The answer is often you don't. So the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is trying to protect consumers using DNA identification. It's a global project, and the Philippines is believed to have more types of fish than almost any place on Earth, so it's a great place to collect specimens. ABC7 News was the only TV station to go there with American researchers working to keep our food safe.

Each fish is suspended in a tank and photographed before its original color fades. The fish is preserved and scientists take a tissue sample. Those samples are sent to a lab like the one at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It takes a couple of days to treat them, run them through a genetic analyzer, and get a DNA sequence. Then researchers look at one specific gene believed to be unique to every species.

Watch the video from ABC.

 

 

 

 

 

Marriott Providence Hotel Downtown
1 Orms Street
Providence, RI 02904

Monday, September 26, 2011

Workshop Goal: Develop an Ocean Observatory/ Fisheries Community Interactive Partnership

Objectives:
* Determine what MARACOOS-derived information products can be supplied regularly to fishermen;
* Complement what fishermen already know with new MARACOOS-derived information products;
* Engage the fishing community in the design and conduct of fisheries research projects;
* Establish a process for regularized engagement of fisheries stakeholders with MARACOOS

All sessions will be conducted in the CANAL ROOM

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

8:15 to 9:00 AM Registration

9:00 to 9:05 – Welcome, Carolyn Thoroughgood , Professor of Marine Bioscience  and Chairperson of MARACOOS

9:05 to 9:10 – Welcome, Steven Lohrenz, Dean of SMAST, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

9:10 to 9:15 –Plan for Day: Moderator, Gene Kray, Dean of Continuing Education, West Chester University (Retired)

9:15 to 10:15 – Mid-Atlantic Observatory; Status and Products. Wendell Brown , Professor of Oceanography, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth & Scott Glenn, Professor of Physical Oceanography, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

10: 15 to 11:15 – Coast Guard Search and Rescue Capabilities. Art Allen, Oceanographer, U. S. Coast Guard Office of Search and Rescue

11:15 to 12:15 – Commercial/ Recreational Fishers Needs. Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director, Garden State Seafood Association  & Adam Nowalsky, Chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

12:15 to 1:30 LUNCH

1:30 to 4:30 – Hands on Activities on a one hour rotating schedule:

Group A- Modeling Information/Resources Alan Blumberg, Professor of Oceanography, Stevens Institute of Technology

          B- By-Catch Models; Developments and Progress.
              John Manderson,Fisheries Biologist, NOAA Fisheries,  Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director, Garden State Seafood Association & Greg DeCelles, Graduate Student, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

           C- Tutorial on Use and Interpretation of Data.          
               Josh Kohut, Assistant Professor of Marine and Coastal Sciences,   Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

4:30 to 5:30 Wrap Up Discussion

 

 

 

 

 

Ever wonder what unique features a codfish looks for in a home?  A team of scientists from federal and state agencies and academic institutions hope to learn more about this when  they explore various seafloor habitats where cod and a variety of other marine species live. On Monday, August 29, scientists begin a seven-day research survey cruise to collect information on the seafloor, sediment and underwater footage of bottom habitat in a historically significant fishing area known as Jeffreys Ledge.

Jeffreys Ledge is a 33-mile glacial deposit that extends from the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts to just southeast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The shallow ledge is surrounded by deeper ocean waters.  An oceanographic process known as upwelling occurs here that makes it a highly productive habitat.  Upwelling involves a wind-driven motion, which brings dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface.  As a result, the Ledge supports a diversity of life including herring and mackerel, cod, haddock, dogfish, flounder, bluefin tuna and a variety of crustaceans and mollusks, such as shrimp, lobsters, crabs, scallops, and clams, which all come to feed or reproduce here.

Project partners include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ,  the New England Fishery Management Council , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries , New Hampshire Fish and Game  and the Army Corps of Engineers , New England District ,  and the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership.

 

Read the complete story from NOAA Fisheries Service

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOAA Fisheries Service, in coordination with the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, is soliciting monkfish research proposals to utilize 500 Monkfish Days-at-Sea that have been set-aside by the Councils to fund monkfish research endeavors through the 2012 Monkfish Research Set-Aside Program.  Full proposals must be received and validated by Grants.gov on or before 5 p.m. EST on Friday October 7, 2011.

 

Read the entire announcement from NOAA Fisheries Service

 

 

 

 

 

NEWPORT — Not so many years ago, Jane Lubchenco could often be found on a Yaquina Bay dock at the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, pulling together gear in the quiet, early morning hours for a research cruise into the choppy Pacific waters off Oregon’s coast.

Lubchenco’s circumstances in Newport on Saturday were decidedly less modest. Representing the president of the United States, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in her role as its administrator, Lubchenco dedicated NOAA’s Marine Operations Center-Pacific Facility under a picture-perfect blue sky, sun glinting off the calm waters of the bay.
Formerly a distinguished professor of zoology at Oregon State University, where she served on the faculty for 32 years, the internationally respected 63-year-old has headed NOAA since the spring of 2009. She is the first woman to serve in that role and, as such, heads the nation’s first federal scientific agency: NOAA’s predecessor, the Survey of the Coast, was established by Thomas Jefferson in 1807.
“As someone who took biology in college and who wanted to become a marine biologist before I got lost on my way to the boat, I want to say how proud I am to share the stage today with Dr. Lubchenco,” said Gov. John Kitzhaber at Saturday’s ceremonies, only half in jest.

 

Read the complete story from The Democrat Herald