Saving Seafood

Feds look to release plan to protect right whales while expanding wind power

January 29, 2024 — With whale deaths and offshore wind power now firmly connected in many minds along the Jersey Shore, federal officials released a strategy to protect one of the most endangered species while developing wind power off the coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under the U.S. Department of the Interior, on Thursday released a final joint strategy aimed at helping the North Atlantic right whale recover while also developing offshore wind energy, citing a Biden administration goal of increasing wind energy development.

The North Atlantic right whale, weighing multiple tons and growing to be more than 50 feet long, is considered to be at the brink of extinction.

According to federal studies, only about 360 of the animals are left in the world, and of those, fewer than 70 are reproductively active females.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City

U.S. sets plans to protect endangered whales near offshore wind farms; firms swap wind leases

January 26, 2024 — Two federal environmental agencies issued plans Thursday to better protect endangered whales amid offshore wind farm development.

That move came as two offshore wind developers announced they were swapping projects.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released final plans to protect endangered North American right whales, of which there are only about 360 left in the world.

The agencies said they are trying to find ways to better protect the whales amid a surge of offshore wind farm projects, particularly on the U.S. East Coast. They plan to look for ways to mitigate any potential adverse impacts of offshore wind projects on the whales and their habitat.

The strategy will use artificial intelligence and passive acoustic monitoring to determine where the whales are at a given time and to monitor the impacts of wind development on the animals.

It also calls for avoiding the granting of offshore wind leases in areas where major impacts to right whales may occur; establishing noise limits during construction; supporting research to develop new harm minimization technologies; and making it a priority to develop quieter technology and operating methods for offshore wind development.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

North Atlantic right whale concerns impact the lobster industry. Here’s what to know.

January 18, 2024 — Concerns over the possibility of North Atlantic right whales becoming entangled in lobster traps are leading to efforts to protect the lobster industry from negative economic impacts.

With survival of the species the goal, efforts are underway to reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whales getting tangled up in lobster traps.

A group of six large seafood processors, including New Bedford-based Northern Wind, LLC, a global producer of high quality fresh and frozen seafood products, is seeking to assure retail customers and food service clients concerned about the risk of entanglements that they are committed to protecting the endangered right whale.

According to a press release, this effort is supported by retailers and working in collaboration with fishery non-governmental organizations, fishery experts and have developed a Fishery Improvement Project to reduce right whale entanglements in the U.S and Canadian lobster fishery.

Read the full article at SouthCoast Today

Lobster industry project to use whale tracking, reduce entanglement risk

January 13, 2024 — A group of Northeast seafood processors have developed a project to help reduce the danger of endangered North Atlantic right whales entangling in the U.S. and Canadian lobster fishery.

In a Jan. 10 statement, backers of the new “Fishery Improvement Project (FIP)” said they have support of retailers and are working in collaboration with fisheries experts and non-government organizations. Their newly formed Fishery Impact Fund was approved by FisheryProgress, an online organization drawn from the seafood industry, environmental and social NGOs. Their website “provides information on the progress of global fishery improvement projects, and serves as a resource to retailers and other seafood buyers to evaluate the credibility and robustness of FIPs.”

One key backer is Northern Wind LLC, a New Bedford, Mass., producer of high quality fresh and frozen seafood.

“Our retail and food service clients are committed to supporting the North American lobster industry, but expressed concern that the fishery addresses whale entanglement risk,” said Ken Melanson, the chairman and founder of Northern Wind. “This fishery improvement project will give participants in the lobster fishery the information they need to avoid setting traps in areas where whales are known to be, or expected to be. This puts our industry ahead of the curve to maintain lobster harvesting, while addressing entanglement concerns.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Biden administration announces USD 10 million contract for right whale-protection technology

January 11, 2024 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a USD 10 million (EUR 9.1 million) contract to the Center for Enterprise Modernization to develop technologies that can help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

“NOAA and its partners are working to stabilize the North Atlantic right whale population and prevent extinction of this species,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “This partnership, made possible by funding from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, will allow us to develop and explore new technologies and tools to address the North Atlantic right whale crisis.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Maine lobstermen sue over federal monitor requirements

January 10, 2024 — Maine lobstermen are making a last-ditch push to scuttle a federal monitoring program seeking to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, lawyers for five lobstermen argue that new federal fisheries monitoring rules violate the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The restrictions, which went into effect on Dec. 15, require Maine lobstermen with federal lobster fishing permits to install 24-hour electronic tracking devices on their vessels.

The lobstermen allege the feds are collecting the monitoring data for purposes unrelated to commercial fishing, such as mapping potential areas to develop offshore wind power, which is “improper and a manifest violation of their constitutionally protected privacy rights.”

Read the full article at the Center Square

Massachusetts lobstermen drop lawsuit against California aquarium that told people to stop eating lobster

January 10, 2023 — The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association has ended its fight against a California aquarium that says people shouldn’t buy and eat lobster because of the risks the fishery poses on the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

A federal judge in the Northern District of California on Monday dismissed a class action lawsuit that four Bay State lobstermen filed last March against the Monterey Bay Aquarium after the two sides agreed to end the months-long dispute with prejudice.

Monterey Bay in September 2022 gave the American lobster a “red rating” on its Seafood Watch, recommending consumers to avoid the species caught by trap from the Gulf of Maine, Southern New England and Georges Bank stocks.

The action prompted the four lobstermen to file the suit months later, seeking $75,000 in damages for disparagement of their aquaculture product and interference with their proprietary rights.

“After lengthy discussions among the named individuals in the suit, they agreed to dismiss the Class Action Suit as a win in the California court is highly unlikely and extremely costly,” the MLA said in a statement to the Herald on Tuesday. “The laws in California would ultimately hold these individuals financially responsible for the defendant’s legal fees should they prevail.”

The aquarium had asserted that trapping lobsters had contributed to the depletion of the population of Northern Atlantic right whales, an endangered species at high risk of extinction. There are fewer than 340 such whales today, and the aquarium says entanglement in fishing gear is the leading cause of injury and death.

Read the full article at the Boston Herald

Lobster fishers sue to block monitoring laws designed to help save a rare whale

January 8, 2024 — A group of lobster fishermen has sued fishing regulators in federal court, claiming that new electronic monitoring requirements designed to protect rare whales are unconstitutional.

The new rules went into effect on Dec. 15 and require fishermen with federal lobster fishing permits to install 24-hour electronic tracking devices on their boats. The Maine Department of Marine Resources, which regulates fisheries in Maine, has promoted the new rule as a way to collect better data that can both benefit the fishery and help save the vanishing North Atlantic right whale, which is vulnerable to potentially lethal entanglement in fishing gear.

Five lobstermen who are members of a lobster fishing union filed their lawsuit in federal court last week. The fishermen said they oppose the requirement that the tracking devices must be operational regardless of what the boat is being used for at the time.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

MASSACHUSETTS: Mass. receives $4.6 million in federal funds to help protect North Atlantic right whales

January 3, 2024 — Massachusetts is receiving more than $4.6 million in federal funds to support an array of conservation efforts for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, state officials said.

In a recent statement, the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said the money, coupled with a separate $475,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will help “bolster development” of fishing gear technology that can reduce entanglements, a leading cause of death for large whales.

The funds will also support the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries’ “ongoing research and monitoring” of right whale migratory patterns and the distribution of fishing gear to lobstermen that can mitigate harm to right whales.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

To help rare whales, Maine and Massachusetts will spend $27 million on data and gear improvements

January 2, 2023 — Scientists and officials in New England hope to collect better data about a vanishing whale species, improve fishing gear to avoid harming the animals, and make other changes as Maine and Massachusetts receive more than $27 million in public funding.

The money is intended to aid the North Atlantic right whale, which is jeopardized by entanglement in commercial fishing gear and collisions with large ships. The population of the giant whales fell by about 25% from 2010 to 2020, and now numbers less than 360.

The largest chunk of the money is $17.2 million the Maine Department of Marine Resources has received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve data collection about the whales, officials said Tuesday. The money will allow Maine to expand its right whale research and improve the assessment of risk to the whales posed by lobster fishing, which is a key industry in the state, Maine officials said.

Read the full article at the Associated Press