Saving Seafood

Right whales aren’t having a good year. The pressure is on to save this hard-to-track species

April 16, 2023 — It’s a chilly morning in early March. And New England Aquarium scientist Orla O’Brien and her team are preparing a small, twin propeller plane at the New Bedford Regional Airport for takeoff.

It’s perfectly clear, ideal for flying and, hopefully, for spotting North Atlantic right whales from about 1,000 feet in the air.

It hasn’t been a particularly good year for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Scientists have documented four right whale entanglements so far in 2023, which they say is a relatively high number for the first three months of the year. And with a population of fewer than 350 — scientists estimate the number is likely closer to 340 — the pressure is on to learn more about how and where the whales are becoming entangled.

But despite decades of research, biologists say tracking the species — and developing definitive answers about their encounters with fishing gear — are challenging tasks. And the answers that scientists have developed are often frustrating for New England fishing industries, which say the information has been used to unfairly regulate them.

For the New England Aquarium, the process starts with these monthly aerial surveys south of Martha’s Vineyard.

O’Brien points to one of two seats behind the pilot and co-pilot. “We sit there and then we’ll pop open that little square,” she explains.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Landmark law saved whales through marine industries change

April 16, 2023 — On a breezy spring day, scientists and conservationists methodically conducted experiments near 15 North Atlantic right whales that occasionally spouted and surfaced in a bay south of Boston.

The pod of adults and calves is about 4% of the worldwide population of a marine mammal that almost disappeared from the planet after many decades of commercial whaling. There now are only a few hundred of the behemoths, which can weigh 70 tons (63.5 metric tons) and subsist on small ocean organisms.

Although right whale numbers are dwindling, conservationists attribute their continued survival to the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The landmark federal law — a half century old this year — has forced the fishing and commercial shipping industries to take important steps to help protect the critically endangered whales. And it’s spurred government agencies and scientists to undertake research.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Nearly 80 endangered North Atlantic right whales spotted off coast of Cape Cod

April 3, 2023 — Roughly a fourth of all the North Atlantic right whales left on Earth are roaming the waters of Cape Cod Bay — a remarkable sight for any whale species, but particularly one so critically endangered that experts warn they could go extinct within the decade.

A flight crew of four from the Center for Coastal Studies spotted 79 individual whales while aboard a low-flying Cessna Skymaster on Thursday. Inclement weather sent the plane home early, leading experts to believe that number was likely a conservative estimate.

“I would anticipate that we probably have at least 90 to 100 whales in the bay right now,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo, the director of research for the right whale ecology program at the Provincetown-based center. “It’s quite extraordinary.”

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

Defamation suit marks shift in fight over lobstering

April 3, 2023 — A University of Maine Law School professor says it’s unlikely a judge or jury will actually settle the science around lobstering’s impact on North Atlantic right whale mortality in a recently filed defamation lawsuit against Seafood Watch and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation.

Instead, Dmitry Bam explained, the case—if it ever reaches trial—will probably turn on whether the aquarium’s seafood sustainability program was negligent or reckless about the evidence it actually used to claim that scientific data demonstrate that lobstering harms the endangered whale species.

Last fall, Seafood Watch put American lobsters on its red list of foods to avoid because it “is caught or farmed in ways that have a high risk of causing harm to wildlife or the environment.” Among the findings in a summary of its decision-making, the organization noted that nearly nine out of every 10 right whales bears scars from entanglement with fishing gear. Furthermore, “90% of entanglements cannot be linked to a specific gear type, and only 12% of entanglements can be linked to a specific location.”

It concluded that, given recent declines in an already low right whale population, lobstering in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank poses an unacceptable risk to the species.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association fired back in its March 13 lawsuit that the aquarium’s claims “are in fact not supported by science, and that the aquarium’s false statements have caused substantial economic harm to plaintiffs, as well as to the Maine lobster brand and to Maine’s long-standing reputation for a pristine coastal environment protected by a multi-generational tradition of preserving resources for the future.”

Read the full article at Penobscot Bay Pilot

Nationwide standard pitched for vessel speed zones protecting whales

March 21, 2023 — With Congress placing the federal government on a six-year wait to put in place new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales, two groups advocating for whales filed an administrative rule-making petition pushing the government to protect all whales in U.S. waters.

“Ship strikes are already a leading cause of whale mortality in U.S. waters and the threat is growing,” said Rick Steiner, a marine ecologist and Chairman of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s (PEER) board of directors.

Right whales are not unlike manatees in their tendency to swim slowly and deliberately at the water’s surface. He said large vessels have an audio effect in that the bow blocks engine noise and creates a quiet area ahead of the ship, leaving whales unaware.

“Simply put, many of our busiest coastal shipping routes are death traps for whales,” Steiner said.

The hope is that such standards would protect all whale species off the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts.

Read the full article at Florida Politics 

Right whales vs. commercial fishing: No ‘easy solution’ for NOAA, says Raimondo

March 18, 2023 — Once hunted to near-extinction, the greatest threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale now are accidental encounters with humans.

Federal efforts to protect the whale species, which spends most of the year off the coast of New England, from collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear — incidents that represent the two leading causes of death for right whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — remain stymied.

That’s because some policies meant to preserve the right whale are also seen as an existential threat to another treasured icon of New England: commercial fishing.

Read the full article at WABE

Lobster Fisherman File Defamation Suit Against Environmentalists for Lying About Fishing Practices

March 16, 2023 — A powerful environmentalist group in California is being sued by Maine lobstermen and industry groups for lying about the impact that lobstermen have on right whale populations offshore.

The California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation makes recommendations for seafood buyers and restaurant chains on where to purchase products. Last year, the foundation downgraded Maine lobster from “good alternative” to “avoid” because of the impact Maine lobster fisherman have on right whale populations.

“They conducted this inquiry, this analysis, based on what they characterized as all scientific data and a rigorous and transparent science-based process. But the facts are just the opposite,” Kevin Lipson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The facts are that Maine lobster fishing practices have actually contributed to the sustainability not only of the lobster fishery, but of North Atlantic right whales.”

Right whales are menaced with extinction by far bigger threats than a few hundred lobster fishermen. Nevertheless, the Maine lobstermen have taken pains to be responsible stewards of the sea.

Read the full article at PJ Media

Maine lobstermen sue California-based aquarium for recent ‘red listing’

March 14, 2023 — Maine lobstermen are suing the California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium over its decision to strip U-S lobster fisheries of their sustainability certification.

The aquarium’s Seafood Watch program “red-listed” lobster last fall, arguing that the fisheries pose a threat to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The new rating means that the aquarium is urging businesses and consumers to avoid buying lobster.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal district court, Maine lobstermen argue that the aquarium has ignored the scientific data on right whale entanglements and that it made defamatory statements causing them economic harm.

“The aquarium leveraged its significant influence over public opinion and the commercial decisions of major lobster purchasers, using its public platform to pressure those parties into cutting off business with plaintiffs,” the complaint reads.

The plaintiffs include the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and three lobster producers and sellers. All say they’ve suffered monetary damages worth at least $75,000 each because of the aquarium’s new rating.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Speeding boats, fishing gear the leading causes of North Atlantic right whale deaths, conservation experts say

March 13, 2023 — A top ocean conservation group in the country is calling on the feds to enforce boat speed limits along the Atlantic coast and issue stronger protections to prevent more deaths of North Atlantic right whales.

The group Oceana released an analysis Thursday that found hundreds of boats had sped through mandatory and voluntary slow zones designed to protect the critically endangered species in the Virginia Beach area in the weeks leading up to a North Atlantic right whale death.

There are just 340 right whales left in the world today, a number that has declined by 25% over the past decade, according to conservation scientists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined blunt force traumatic injuries as the cause of death of the 20-year-old male right whale. The injuries mirrored those of a boat strike, a leading threat to such whales.

Read the full article at the Boston Herald

Northern Wind expanding its lobster traceability with right whales in mind

March 8, 2023 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Northern Wind is expanding its scallop traceability program into its lobster supply, with an aim of developing the technology to help reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whale entanglements.

Northern Wind finalized a partnership with traceability technology company Legit Fish in 2021, enabling full-chain of its North Atlantic scallop supply. That technology, which traces product origin, harvest area, and landing-date – verifiable to government records – will now be utilized in the company’s lobster supply.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource