"…ooperative research is one of the best ways we have to reach common ground with the fishing industry in our shared goals of restoring groundfish stocks and providing good jobs for New Bedford and other fishing communities." Read the letter from Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator, NOAA Fisheries Service.
New sensor lets scientists study large fish groups
New technology is allowing researchers and conservationists to watch the movement of large groups of fish as they gather into shoals and later split up.
Focusing on Atlantic herring, the scientists were, for the first time, able to observe the fish gather off Georges Bank near Cape Cod, Mass., where they spawn under cover of dark, according to a report in today’s edition of the journal Science.
With dawn, the large mass of herring return to deeper waters and scatter, according to the researchers led by Nicholas C. Makris, a professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Using a system called Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing, the team can observe shoals of fish as much as 25 miles across, compared to past echo-sounders which cover only a small area. Makris says the change is like moving from seeing a single pixel to the entire movie.
Marine scientists look to hook high school students
DARTMOUTH, MA (March 19, 2009) – After powering down their cell phones and iPods, high school science students settled into their seats to listen to a different kind of noise: whale songs.
They giggled at the recorded grunts and whistles of right and pilot whales. Then they grew quiet as marine scientist Danielle Cholewiak explained her research into how human-made sounds such as freighter ship engines and fish-finding sonar affect the way whales and dolphins communicate with each other to find food, care for their young and navigate the dark ocean.
"The oceans are getting noisier and noisier," said Cholewiak, an acoustics specialist for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Read the Standard-Times story in full
Lobster traps going high tech
WASHINGTON, DC (March 9, 2009) – New England lobstermen have gone high tech by adding low-cost instruments to their lobster pots that record bottom temperature and provide data that could help improve ocean circulation models in the Gulf of Maine.
Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps, or eMOLT, is a partnership involving NOAA, the Maine, Massachusetts, Downeast and Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Associations, the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, and the Marine Science Department at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) in Portland, Maine.
Read the full article, published in Lab Spaces
Fisheries center report card: Communications needs improvement
NEW BEDFORD, MA (March 4, 2009) – An investigation into the scientific practices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center found that the Woods Hole-based center uses the best available science but must take steps to improve how it communicates that science to the groundfishing industry, according to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
NOAA Fisheries Service has until March 28 to submit an action plan to Inspector General Todd J. Zinser, detailing how the agency, which falls under the Commerce Department, will improve transparency with fishermen based on recommendations outlined in a 42-page report on the investigation.
Read the Standard-Times story in full
Global collaboration key for US, says Obama’s Science Director-designate
LONDON, UK (March 5, 2009) – President Obama’s move to focus on “science as economic saviour” stalled this week when the appointment of key advisors was put on hold. But there is still optimism about the impact the new administration will have on innovation, the economy and international collaboration.
Only a week ago, the Obama administration’s innovation agenda appeared to be marching ahead. With the senate confirmation hearings on presidential science director-nominee John Holdren and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator-nominee Jane Lubchenco complete, their appointments were expected to be completed by the end of February. Then earlier this week, a hold was put on the confirmations for apparently unrelated political reasons.
The politics must be sorted out, but scientists and others remain hopeful about the impact Holdren, Lubchenco and other of President Obama’s science appointees will make on innovation and the economy, and on international collaboration.
Read the Science|Business story in full
Slow Recovery for Shrinking Fish
WASHINGTON, DC (March 3, 2009) – As people continue to go after the biggest fish in the sea, global fisheries are shrinking—both in number and in the actual body size of their catches. But that rapid evolution can be reversed, according to a new 10-year study published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Previous research has shown that the size of plants and animals harvested from the wild—from cod to ginseng—is actually decreasing two and a half times the rate Mother Nature would dictate. Many scientists pin this on the human tendency to go after the biggest and best food—and our technological ability to do so with extreme efficiency. Although the new study shows the changes are reversible, it also found that the return to normal size was much more gradual, probably taking more than twice as long as the original downsizing.
Read the Scientific American story in full
FAO releases new “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” report
ROME, Italy (March 2, 2009) – The fishing industry and national fisheries authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts that climate change will have on world fisheries, says a new FAO report published today.
According to the latest edition of the UN agency’s The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), existing responsible fishing practices need to be more widely implemented and current management plans should be expanded to include strategies for coping with climate change. "Best practices that are already on the books but not always implemented offer clear, established tools towards making fisheries more resilient to climate change," said Kevern Cochrane, one of SOFIA’s authors. "So the message to fishers and fisheries authorities is clear: get in line with current best practices, like those contained in FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and you’ve already taken important strides towards mitigating the effects of climate change." Read the announcement of the report by the Food and Agricultue Organization of the United Nations
Commercial fishing creates smaller fish, according to study
PORTLAND, ME (March 4, 2009) – Commercial fishing might be causing genetic changes in the fish that swim in the ocean, making them smaller and less fertile.
The latest evidence is a laboratory study by New York-based researchers published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British scientific journal, which concludes that taking too many large fish out of a population leads to the birth of smaller fish over time.
However, the study also found that fish can grow larger again if the big ones are allowed to get away.
Read the Morning Sentinel story in full
Oceana Study: Heavy Fishing Driven by Fish Farms Imperils Food Chain
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 3, 2009) – The stars of the ocean – bluefin tuna, salmon, whales and seabirds – suffer from dwindling food supplies as a result of heavy fishing driven by the demands of fish farms and climate change, according to a study released Monday.
Seven of the world’s 10 largest commercial fisheries include small fish such as herring, anchovy, pollock, mackerel and whiting, which support the vast ocean web of big fish, marine mammals and birds, said the study by Oceana, a worldwide environmental group.
Read the San Francisco Chronicle story in full