Saving Seafood

Foundation and NOAA Announce Ocean Odyssey Marine Debris Awards for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility

April 6, 2024 — The following was released by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation:

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program, have awarded twelve grants through the Ocean Odyssey Marine Debris Awards for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility, to support communities that are underserved, underrepresented, or overburdened and promote initiatives that investigate and prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris. The projects include marine debris prevention, research, monitoring, detection, response, removal, and coordination activities.  

Marine debris is a widespread problem that can impact marine life, their habitat, and coastal communities. Marine debris can threaten human health and safety; reduce the quality of life in coastal areas; degrade habitats; cause economic loss to tourism, fisheries, and maritime activities; and injure and kill marine life due to entanglement or ingestion. Marine debris can take many forms, including items that come from activities that take place on land, such as plastic bags, cigarette butts, foam take-out containers, and balloons, as well as ocean-based debris, such as derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels.  

Addressing harmful marine debris is a key pillar of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s mission to conserve special places and support a healthy ocean and coasts. As federally designated areas of national significance, national marine sanctuaries are critical places to focus efforts to protect and restore our ocean. Through programs like Goal: Clean Seas and Washington CoastSavers, the Foundation works with NOAA and other partners across the National Marine Sanctuary System to coordinate specialized marine debris removal activities and engage and empower local communities and Tribal Nations in stewardship activities that contribute to the success of debris removal, long-term ecosystem restoration efforts, and marine debris awareness and prevention through education and outreach.   

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the NOAA Marine Debris Program are committed to providing funding opportunities across the coastal United States, Great Lakes, territories, and Freely Associated States. For over 10 years, this partnership has leveraged the public-private partnership to enhance America’s ability to address impacts of marine debris and to support our national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments.  

Joel R. Johnson, President and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, said, “Diverse communities bring diverse solutions to tackling the challenges we face in our waters. Marine debris harms the biodiversity of our ocean, coasts and Great Lakes and we must work together to make the vision of healthier, cleaner waters a reality.  These 12 outstanding projects explore and showcase solutions in how we safeguard these special places.” 

“The NOAA Marine Debris Program is excited to partner with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to award funding to 12 projects in the inaugural Ocean Odyssey Marine Debris Awards for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility competition,” said Nancy Wallace, director of the NOAA Marine Debris Program. “These projects will support marine debris removal, interception, prevention, research, and monitoring efforts in communities that have historically been underserved.” 

This year, a total of twelve Ocean Odyssey Marine Debris Awards grants were awarded a total of $84,136 to fund their projects. All projects will take place from April 2024 through March 2025. Learn more about the projects described below.

 

Ocean Odyssey Marine Debris Award Grantees    

 

Akiak Native Community (Alaska)  

Project Name: “Akiak Organized Riverbank Clean-Up”  

The Akiak Native Community will remove debris resulting from extreme riverbank erosion that has occurred in Akiak Alaska over the past decade. The Akiak Native Community will lead work to remove debris along the riverbank and thereby prevent debris from flowing down the Kuskokwim River to the Kuskokwim Bay and Bering Sea.  

Elizabeth River Project (Virginia) 

Project Name: “C.L.E.A.N. Youth Remove Elizabeth River Marine Debris in Norfolk, Virginia”  

The Elizabeth River Project will mentor, train, and engage youth from ages 10-25 to remove marine debris and litter in the underserved communities of Berkley and Campostella in Norfolk, Virginia. They will work with partners to mentor these youth to develop leadership and stewardship skills and will involve them in the organization of local marine debris cleanups. 

Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (Michigan) 

Project Name: “Marine debris collection and data analysis on Great Lakes shorelines”  

Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary will conduct research, detection, monitoring, collection, and analysis of marine debris on Lake Huron shorelines with various student groups and educators in northeast Michigan. Engaging underserved youth in rural communities is a priority for this project as it will help educate, protect, and preserve the Lake Huron shorelines for the future. 

Gullah/Geechee Legacy (North Carolina to Florida) 

Project Name: Expansion of the Gullah/Geechee Coastal Removal Engaging Artists Through Environmental (CREATE) Action Project 

Gullah/Geechee Legacy will expand the Gullah/Geechee Coastal Removal Engaging Artists Through Environmental Action project beyond South Carolina and into the Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. Native Gullah/Geechee leaders and citizens will plan and lead community outreach and engagement sessions and Native Gullah/Geechee artisans will assist with intergenerational artwork activities at outreach and education events. 

Kewalo Marine Laboratory (American Samoa)  

Project Name: “Increasing Ocean Literacy through Exploration of Corals Eating Microplastics”  

Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa aims to study coral ingestion of microplastics in American Samoa. By gathering data and hosting experiential learning workshops, this initiative will enhance ocean literacy while addressing the urgent need for information about the impact of microplastics on corals, preserving invaluable cultural, economic, and ecological resources provided by corals.  

Mystic River Watershed Association (Massachusetts)  

Project Name: “Trash, Stormwater, and Marine Debris Curriculum – Experiential Field Trips”   

Mystic River Watershed Association will enhance the experiential learning components of an existing K–8 curriculum on trash in the Mystic River watershed and the connection to marine debris and plastics. Through the addition of field trips and local trash removal events, approximately 100 afterschool students in three underserved communities will engage in place-based explorations of the impacts of trash on stormwater, rivers, and the ocean.  

Native Village of Afognak (Alaska)  

Project Name: “Catcher Beach Clean-Up”   

Native Village of Afognak will coordinate and carry out a marine debris cleanup at Catcher Beach on Afognak Island. Alaska Native youth and interns will clean up the beach and existing trails in Afognak Village, which are important areas for the tribal community. 

Research Foundation of CUNY- Queens College (New York) 

Project Name: “Assessing marine debris to foster STEM engagement and environmental stewardship”  

Research Foundation of CUNY – Queens College will train four students to assess the amount of microplastics in water and marine debris on the shoreline in northeast Queens, New York. In addition, this project will recruit volunteers from the community to assist in shoreline clean up events. The resulting project data will be shared to increase STEM engagement and promote environmental stewardship. 

Resilience Education Training and Innovation (RETI) Center (New York)  

Project Name: “RETI Center Marine Debris Field Kit: A Pilot Program”  

Resilience Education Training and Innovation (RETI) Center LLP will educate residents to take action in the local urban watershed to create a more livable coastline for an environmental justice community. The project will support student stipends for local youth to count and document the marine debris collected from a new interception device at the RETI Center Field Station. 

San Diego Audubon Society (California) 

Project Name: “South San Diego Bay Marine Debris Removal Event”  

San Diego Audubon Society will engage more than 100 residents of San Diego’s underserved South Bay communities to remove 450 pounds of marine debris from the wetland habitat in San Diego Bay. Event attendees will remove debris on a kayak trip, receive bilingual education about local ecosystems, and meet with local professionals working in environmental fields. 

Sea Turtle Inc. (Texas) 

Project Name: “One Year of Sustainability with Sea Turtle Inc.”   

Sea Turtle, Inc. will conduct community-based events serving the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. The year-long, multi-pronged approach includes providing alternatives to single– use plastics, cleaning local jetties and beaches, and conducting shoreline marine debris monitoring through the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project.   

Sonsorol State Government (Republic of Palau) 

Project Name: “Beach clean-ups on the islands of the State of Sonsorol: Dongosaro, Fanna, Pulo Anna & Melieli”   

Sonsorol State Government will educate Sonsorol youth about the harmful effects of ocean dumping and options for waste management. The youth will develop leadership and organizational skills by implementing beach cleanups on each of the four State of Sonsorol islands and will present project outcomes at a town hall to inform citizens of project achievements 

CALIFORNIA: Innovative fishing gear is being tested to reduce impact on whales and sea turtles

February 22, 2021 — A new collaborative project between environmental groups, the state, scientists, and Dungeness crab fishers is testing innovative new gear designed to reduce the impact of whales and sea turtles getting caught in fishing gear.

This is in response to California’s recent state regulations to reduce the risk of endangered whales and sea turtles getting caught in commercial Dungeness crab gear. The regulations went into effect last November, and when high numbers of humpback whales were sighted off the coast near San Francisco and Monterey Bay, the opening of the commercial Dungeness crab season was delayed by about a month.

Since 2014, the number of interactions between whales and fishing gear has been historically high. In 2019, for example, 26 whales were entangled off the West Coast, 17 of which were humpback whales.

“There’s a vertical line attached to the trap that goes to the buoys at the surface,” said Greg Wells of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation who is managing the collaborative gear-testing research project. “That’s the part that poses an entanglement risk for whales and other marine life.”

Read the full story at The Monterey Herald

California Wetfish Producers Association Recognizes Ocean Week With Video on the Latest in Sardine, Anchovy Science

June 7, 2019 — This week, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) is convening Capitol Hill Ocean Week in Washington, D.C. Additionally, President Trump has declared the month of June “National Ocean Month” in recognition of the importance of the ocean to the economy, national security, and environment of the United States.

For the duration of Ocean Week, Saving Seafood will share materials related to the sustainable and economically vital U.S. commercial fishing and seafood industries, including information tied directly to events being organized as part of the NMSF conference.

The following was released by the California Wetfish Producers Association:

In recent years, fisheries managers have made devastating cuts to California’s sardine and anchovy fisheries based on reports that populations of the two species have sharply declined. However, the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) is marking Ocean Week 2019 with a video documenting new research that shows increasing populations of both species in nearshore waters.

The CWPA has been working in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center to develop sampling methods to assess sardine and anchovy in nearshore waters missed by NOAA’s acoustic trawl surveys. This research shows that both species are abundant in nearshore waters not surveyed by NOAA – in fact, approximately 70 percent of California coastal pelagic species landings are harvested in waters not surveyed in federal stock assessments.

More accurate biomass estimates and stock assessments for coastal pelagic species will benefit sustainable harvest policies, the fishermen and seafood processors who produce these species, and fishing communities and seafood consumers who rely on them.

“We’re doing [this research] partly to improve the science in cooperation both with federal and state fishery biologists,” says Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of CWPA, in the video. “And we’re doing it to save our lives.”

Watch the video here

About the California Wetfish Producers Association

The non-profit California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) was established in 2004 to promote sustainable fisheries and foster cooperative research. Voluntary membership includes the majority of wetfish harvesters and processors operating in California.

How much U.S. Seafood is Imported?

June 4, 2019 — This week, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) is convening Capitol Hill Ocean Week in Washington, D.C. Additionally, President Trump has declared the month of June “National Ocean Month” in recognition of the importance of the ocean to the economy, national security, and environment of the United States.

For the duration of Ocean Week, Saving Seafood will share materials related to the sustainable and economically vital U.S. commercial fishing and seafood industries, including information tied directly to events being organized as part of the NMSF conference.

Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EDT, as part of Capitol Hill Ocean Week, there was a panel “Addressing the US Seafood Deficit.” The following article looks at a new study that concluded more of the seafood eaten in the U.S. is produced domestically than previously thought. It was published last week by Sustainable Fisheries UW:

The commonly quoted statistic that “90% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported” is out of date and should stop being cited. In this post, I explain the origins of the 90% myth, the scientific paper that produced the updated numbers, and the implications for U.S. trade and seafood markets.

Where did the 90% statistic come from and why is the new estimate more accurate?

A lot of seafood farmed or caught in the United States is sent overseas for processing, then sent back. Due to varying trade codes that get lost in the shuffle of globalization, these processed seafood products are often mistakenly recorded as ‘imported,’ despite being of U.S. origin.

For example, pollock, the fish used in McDonald’s Filet-o-fish sandwich, is caught throughout U.S. waters near Alaska. Once onboard, a significant portion is sent to China (the U.S.’s largest seafood trade partner) to be cleaned, gutted, and processed into filets. After processing in China, the fish is sent back to the U.S. and sold in restaurants and grocery stores. Pollock is not a Chinese fish, but the trade codes used when sending them back from China signify them as Chinese-origin and they are recorded as imported or foreign seafood.

Recording fish caught in the U.S. but processed in China has led to a significant overestimation of Americans’ so-called ‘seafood deficit’, or the ratio of foreign to domestic seafood consumption in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the misleading 90% deficit statistic has become commonplace, mostly due to coverage of Oceana’s seafood fraud campaign that stoked consumer anxiety about imported seafood. Distorted import data had been taken at face value for several years because no one had pieced together the conversion factors that account for processing and return export/import—until three scientists, Jessica Gephart, Halley Froehlich, and Trevor Branch, published their work in PNAS in May 2019.

Knowing the conversion factor for seafood products caught or farmed in the U.S. is the key to accurately estimating the amount of domestic seafood processed abroad. Froehlich describes a conversion factor as a number that can be used to back-calculate a processed seafood item to its pre-processed weight. Basically, when pollock are sent back to the U.S. after being processed in China, a conversion factor can be applied to estimate how much fish was originally sent and domestic seafood statistics can be corrected. When U.S. seafood is processed abroad but consumed in the U.S., it should be counted as domestic seafood consumed domestically.

Read the full story at Sustainable Fisheries UW

HAWAII: Whale count goes on despite government shutdown

January 11, 2019 — The annual humpback whale ocean count will take place despite the federal government shutdown thanks to volunteers and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Ocean Count is a community citizen science project that occurs during the peak of whale season in the months of January to March to promote public awareness about humpback whales. Although removed from the endangered species list in 2016, most humpback whales remain a federally protected species.

It’s normally conducted by the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, which strives to protect humpback whales and their habitat in Hawaii. However, this year, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, which is the nonprofit partner of the National Marine Sanctuary System, will coordinate the count because of the shutdown.

“Through the support of dedicated volunteers, Ocean Count has provided more than 20 years of data that supplements scientific research and helps monitor humpback whales during their annual migration to the Hawaiian Islands,” said Kris Sarri, the foundation’s president and CEO.

“Fewer humpback whales are being observed in the main Hawaiian Islands in recent years, and we don’t know why,” she added. “Unfortunately, critical sanctuary research that could help us understand these changes is on hold indefinitely due to the government shutdown.”

Read the full story at West Hawaii Today

Fishermen call for defense of science-based fishery management

June 7, 2018 — Fishermen from across the United States have set up shop in Washington this week for Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2018, and the message they’re sending to lawmakers is: Defend science-based fishery management policies.

Ocean Week is an annual conference where stakeholders meet in the nation’s capital to discuss policy issues that affect the oceans and Great Lakes. The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation organizes the event and brings together stakeholders for high level discussions on these issues.

This year’s conference comes the Magnuson-Stevens act comes up for reauthorization. Some lawmakers have taken the opportunity to propose changes to fishery management policies, such as allowing states to have more flexibility and say in managing their plans.

However, one group of commercial fishermen are hoping that federal officials stick to science-based management plans. They note NOAA Fisheries’ most recent report to Congress that indicates the number of stocks on the overfished list is at 35, an all-time low. In addition, 44 stocks have been rebuilt since 2000.

“This latest report reaffirms that the Magnuson-Stevens Act is working,” said John Pappalardo, FCC President and CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. “But there is much work to do, and reversing course would be a grave mistake. Congress must continue to invest in fisheries science to ensure we have the data on which to base important management decisions and resist shortsighted efforts to undermine key Magnuson-Stevens Act accountability provisions.”

Among the meetings that took place on Wednesday 6 June was a roundtable meeting held by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, with seafood industry leaders.

Read the full story at Seafood Source