Saving Seafood

Ocean Data Portal Maps Show Significant Shifts by Mid-Atlantic Fish Species

March 30, 2020 — The following was released by the Urban Coast Institute:

A series of interactive maps published on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal illustrates the shifts that have taken place over the last five decades by several commercially and recreationally important fish species living along the East Coast.

Users of the free and publicly accessible Portal (portal.midatlanticocean.org) can automatically animate or toggle through hundreds of maps representing fish distributions during the spring or fall seasons in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s or 2010s. These maps can be activated in combination with any of the Portal’s 5,000 map layers showing data for commercial fishing hot spots, marine life habitats, zones being examined for offshore wind development and much more. 
 
The Fish Species Through Time map collection was made possible by a grant from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program (CZM) to The Nature Conservancy. It was created based on an analysis of federal Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) bottom trawl survey data collected between 1972 and 2017. 
 
Many of the maps show a trend in fish moving to waters further north and further offshore from the 1970s to the present day. Some fish species that showed little presence off the New England coast decades earlier have since migrated past Cape Cod and established themselves in the Gulf of Maine. 
 
“Our analysis and the maps make no assumptions as to the factors causing these shifts,” said Chris Bruce, GIS manager at The Nature Conservancy in Virginia and a member of the Portal’s technical team. “However, there is no shortage of scientific research to refer to on how factors like climate change and increasing water temperatures are impacting marine habitats.”
 
The fish species analyzed were alewife, American shad, Atlantic mackerel, black sea bass, blueback herring, bluefish, butterfish, longfin squid, monkfish, northern shortfin squid, red hake, sand lance, scup, spiny dogfish, spot, summer flounder, winter flounder and yellowtail. In addition to individual species, a pair of summary maps was created to illustrate shifts by demersal fish and forage fish. “Overlap Area” maps were also created for each species showing the places where fish were consistently present each decade. 
 
The Portal also added a collection of maps projecting future shifts by the fish species through the year 2100. Users can animate these maps, which are based on data previously released by OceanAdapt (https://oceanadapt.rutgers.edu/), a collaboration between the Pinsky Lab of Rutgers University, NMFS, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
 
Users can access these maps in the Portal’s Marine Planner application by clicking on the Marine Life theme and then clicking on the dropdowns for Fish Species Through Time (for the data showing the 1970s-present) or Fish Species Future Projections.
 
“These maps tell an important story about the challenges our region’s economies and communities face due to the rapid changes taking place in our ocean,” said Laura McKay, program manager with Virginia CZM and the chair of MARCO’s mapping and data team that manages the Portal. “We hope that they help the region’s ocean stakeholders and decision-makers understand the trends so they can plan and adapt accordingly.”
 
The Portal is an online toolkit and resource center that consolidates available data and enables state, federal and local users to visualize and analyze ocean resources and human use information such as fishing grounds, recreational areas, shipping lanes, habitat areas, and energy sites, among others. With financial support through The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Portal is maintained by a team consisting of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, Ecotrust, The Nature Conservancy and Rutgers University’s Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis under the guidance of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO). Established by the governors of the five coastal Mid-Atlantic states in 2009, MARCO is a partnership of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia to enhance the vitality of the region’s ocean ecosystem and economy.
 
“Regional coordination on ocean use planning is essential to ensure the long-term health of our invaluable ocean resources, and an important piece of this coordination is data accessibility,” said Kisha Santiago-Martinez, chair of MARCO and deputy secretary of state at New York’s Department of State. “Information on the Portal is available to anyone who wishes to view data for any reason, such as ocean planning, education, or decision-making.”

NEW JERSEY: Strong Support for Wind Energy

Most unaware of costs, but prioritize environmental benefits

April 3, 2019 — WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — The following was released by Monmouth University Poll:

The Monmouth University Poll finds that the vast majority of Garden State residents support the development of electricity-generating wind farms off the state’s coast, which is significantly higher than public backing for oil drilling and expansion of nuclear power. Nearly half say that wind energy development should be a major priority for the state in the coming decade. Support for wind farms decreases, though, if electricity rates were to go up because of a greater investment in wind energy. However, most residents currently expect that their rates will not increase because of wind farm development.

Three-quarters of New Jersey residents (76%) would favor placing electricity-generating wind farms off the coast of the state, while just 15% would oppose this action. Past support for offshore wind farms was slightly higher, ranging between 80% and 84% in polls taken between 2008 and 2011. Support is high among Democrats (79%), independents (77%), and Republicans (69%).

“There is broad, bipartisan agreement that moving forward with offshore wind projects should be a priority.  If New Jersey achieves Gov. Murphy’s ambitious goal of generating 3,500 MW of electricity from offshore wind by 2030, it will put the state on a path to a green energy future,” said Tony MacDonald, director of the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University.

About half of Garden State residents (48%) say significantly increasing the amount of offshore wind energy should be a major priority for New Jersey over the next ten years. Another 34% say it should be a minor priority and just 11% say it should not be a priority at all. Two-thirds (66%) of Democrats say it should be a major priority. They are joined by 43% of independents and 32% of Republicans who say the same.

Few New Jerseyans believe that developing wind energy off the state’s coast will lead to an increase in their own utility rates. In the short term, just 19% expect that their rates would go up for the next few years, while 35% say their rates would actually decrease and another 35% say they would stay the same. Over the long term, just 15% expect their rates would be higher ten years from now, while a majority (52%) expect them to be lower than they would be if no new wind farms were developed. Another 24% expect to see no change in their rates a decade from now if the state develops more wind energy. Younger residents under age 35 are more optimistic about their rates going down in the long run (65%) than are those aged 35 to 54 (52%) or those 55 and older (41%).  People who earn over $100,000 a year are more likely to believe their electricity rates will decrease (60%) in the long term if more wind energy is developed than are people who earn $50,000 to $100,000 (50%) or people who earn less than $50,000 (49%).

Although New Jersey residents are generally supportive of wind energy, 45% would oppose developing more wind farms if it caused their electricity rates to increase. Four-in-ten (41%) would still favor wind farm development. Slightly over half of Democrats (54%) would favor offshore wind farm development even if their electricity costs went up but only around one-third of independents (35%) and Republicans (30%) would favor it. There is a similar split by age: 53% of those aged 18 to 34 would favor offshore wind farm development while 36% of those aged 35 to 54 and 35% of people 55 and older would favor it. Support for wind energy development is divided at each income level if it would cause electricity rates to increase over the next few years. Among those who earn less than $50,000 a year, 38% would still favor wind energy development if their rates went up while 42% would oppose it. Opinion stands at 40% favor and 50% oppose among those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 and at 45% favor and 42% oppose among those earning over $100,000.

“This could be tricky for clean energy advocates.  Support for wind energy could drop once New Jersey ratepayers become aware of any development costs they will have to bear.  However, they could become more willing to shoulder some of that investment if they are convinced it will lead to real environmental benefits,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

A majority of New Jerseyans (58%) would support developing offshore wind energy even if their electricity rates increased, if they also felt this would significantly reduce carbon emissions and the reliance on fossil fuels. Just 28% are opposed. Most Democrats (74%) and independents (55%) would favor wind farm development under these circumstances, but few Republicans (36%) would join them. A majority of all age groups favor developing emissions-reducing offshore wind farms whose initial costs they would have to share, but those aged 18 to 34 (66%) are more likely to feel this way than are those aged 35 to 54 (56%) or those aged 55 and older (53%).

A majority (56%) of state residents think that protecting the environment should be a more important priority for U.S. energy policy right now while 25% say the priority should be keeping energy prices low.  This opinion has not changed from a 2010 poll.  Most Democrats (71%) and independents (58%) prioritize environmental protection, but a plurality of Republicans (40%) think the priority should be keeping energy prices low. More than 2-in-3 New Jerseyans aged 18 to 34 (69%) say protecting the environment should be the priority of U.S. energy policy compared to about half of those aged 35 to 54 (52%) and those 55 and older (49%) who say the same.

The Monmouth University Poll also finds that New Jerseyans are not enthusiastic about some other possible options to meet the state’s energy needs. Just 3-in-10 Garden State residents (30%) favor drilling for oil and gas off the state’s coast while twice as many (61%) oppose it. Support for oil exploration was higher in 2011 at 52% in favor and 45% opposed.  Sentiment in the previous year was much more negative, at 31% in favor and 63% opposed in a poll taken just a few months after the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to that, support for offshore drilling in New Jersey had been stronger at 56% in favor and just 36% opposed in 2008. Nearly half of Republicans (48%) would currently favor offshore oil and gas drilling, but less than one-third of independents (31%) and only 18% of Democrats feel the same.

Expanding nuclear power is no more popular than offshore drilling. Only one-quarter of New Jerseyans (26%) would favor building another nuclear power plant in the state while two-thirds (67%) would oppose it. Support for adding another nuclear plant to the Garden State’s power grid has declined over the past decade, going from 41% in 2008 to 31% in 2011.

“There seems to be a recognition that the long-term economic and environmental benefits of investing in clean, renewable energy sources outweigh any short-term costs. At the same time, New Jerseyans no longer seem willing to accept the environmental risks of offshore drilling and nuclear power as a price for lowering their energy costs,” said MacDonald of the Urban Coast Institute.

The poll also examined opinion among residents who live in New Jersey’s four coastal counties versus those who live inland. There were few differences in the findings on most of the questions asked. One key area where opinion diverges is support for wind energy development that would lead to an increase in electricity rates. Residents of coastal counties are more likely to favor (46%) rather than oppose (36%) developing offshore wind farms in this scenario, while those who live inland are more likely to oppose (47%) rather than favor (39%) it.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from February 8 to 10, 2019 with 604 New Jersey adults.  The question results in this release have a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points.  The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.  Carolyn Lau, Research Associate at the Polling Institute, contributed to the analysis in this report.

Monmouth University will be holding two events related to the coastal environment this month.  On April 5, there will be a panel discussion on “Our Ocean and Beaches: A Record of Success and New Challenges to Face” which is free and open to the public.  On April 17-18, leading experts from around the world will assemble at Monmouth for the Climate, Coasts & Communities Symposium hosted by the Urban Coast Institute.

Mid-Atlantic residents see ocean health as major economic issue

December 7, 2017 — Eight in 10 residents of Mid-Atlantic states believe the ocean and beaches are important to their economies, including 95 percent of those living in coastal communities. Eighty-three percent of residents living in coastal communities believe that climate change is real—13 percentage points higher than a national survey taken by Monmouth University in 2015. Support for offshore oil and gas drilling plummeted from 46 percent in 2009 to 22 percent now among residents living closest to the coast.

These are some of the findings from a pair of survey reports released today by the Monmouth University Polling Institute (MUPI) and Urban Coast Institute (UCI). The surveys present the first region-wide snapshot of public opinion on ocean issues since the 2016 elections and offer a glimpse at how views have changed since major storms like Sandy and Irene impacted the Mid-Atlantic coast.

A regionwide survey was conducted with residents from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to gauge opinion of a wide range of coastal issues and elements of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Action Plan, which was adopted in December of 2016 by the six states, federal agencies, tribal entities and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. A second survey was conducted specifically with year-round residents of Mid-Atlantic coastal communities that asked the same questions regarding ocean issues as a 2009 MUPI-UCI poll in order to track how opinions have changed over time among those living closest to the coast.

Read the full story at PHYS

 

Explore Commercial Fishing in the Mid-Atlantic with New Interactive Maps

April 19, 2016 — The following was released by Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute:

Over two dozen maps now available on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal present a more detailed picture than ever before of the extent and locations of commercial fishing activities throughout the upper East Coast.

With the new “Communities at Sea” and Federal Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) map collections, Portal users can identify the ocean places upon which the Mid-Atlantic’s commercial fishing communities most depend.  Specifically, these interactive maps enable users to better understand places that are most important for particular ports, specific fisheries, and gear types.

The public release of these datasets is an important step forward for ocean planning and education in the Mid-Atlantic. The maps can help focus and guide essential engagement and consultation with specific fishing communities for a range of ocean planning, permitting and management decision-making processes.

Over two years in the making, the Portal’s Communities at Sea maps (labeled in the Marine Planner mapping application as “Commercial Fishing – VTR”) were created using methodology developed by Dr. Kevin St. Martin at Rutgers University.  Vessel Trip Report (VTR) and permit information were integrated to create a new database that links fishing port communities to the places at sea where they spend the most time. Produced at much higher resolution than previous VTR maps, warm and cool colors are used to represent higher and lower number of days spent fishing. Portal users can click on any point on the map to activate a pop-up window that indicates which specific communities use the area. For example, clicking on an area off the New Jersey Shore may reveal that that gillnetters from Barnegat Bay or trawlers from Ocean City fish in the selected waters.

The maps were reviewed, discussed and improved though meetings with commercial fishermen throughout the Mid-Atlantic. The Communities at Sea collection currently includes eight maps based on 2011-13 data and will be expanded this summer via a new user interface for querying and selecting from the full library of over 100 maps.

“We really appreciate the critique and advice we got from fishermen from Montauk to Virginia Beach during our map review sessions,” said Jay Odell, Technical Lead for the Portal and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Marine Program at The Nature Conservancy.  “They noted some important strengths and limitations of the data and what we learned is helping to drive the development of an expanded map library that we hope to have ready for the Portal this summer.”

The Portal’s Data Catalog section summarizes some of the caveats raised by commercial fishermen. For example, the maps are based on information from recent years and may not represent fishing areas that were historically important and could be again. Also, fishing patterns are driven by complex ecological, regulatory and economic factors that can change from year to year.

The Portal’s 19 new Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) maps show areas where commercial fishing activities take place, grouped by specific regulated fishery categories (for example, scallops, herring or monkfish). These maps (labeled “Commercial Fishing – VMS”) were created by our ocean planning partners in the Northeast region using VMS data from 2006-2014. VMS data are produced by satellite technology that tracks the movements of vessels participating in several federally managed fisheries. This data is also presented in a heat map format, with cooler colors representing low activity and dark reds showing high activity.

The Communities at Sea and VMS maps can be layered together on the Portal in complementary ways to provide rich detail about the region’s fishing communities and the ocean places they depend on. Both datasets were carefully screened and aggregated by NOAA before maps were made so that the fishing activity of individual fishermen or vessels would not be revealed.

Finally, additional maps were added at the request of commercial fishing advisors to show the boundaries of some of the region’s important fishery management zones, including ocean quahogs, surf clams and scallops.  Additional regulatory boundaries may be added in the future based on specific interests and requests.

To access and explore the new maps, please visit the Marine Planner page and click on the Fishing link for a dropdown menu of map layer options. Additional map options currently available in the Fishing theme include party and charter boat fishing activity, artificial reef locations and fathom lines.

Users can register for a free Portal account to start and join online map groups, draw and share their own map shapes, create and save map bookmarks and more.  Please use the Portal’s feedback tab to share any comments, concerns or questions.

About the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal

The Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal is an online toolkit and resource center that consolidates available data and enables state, federal and local users to visualize and analyze ocean resources and human use information such as fishing grounds, recreational areas, shipping lanes, habitat areas, and energy sites, among others. The Portal serves as a platform to engage all stakeholders in ocean planning from the five-state Mid-Atlantic region—putting all of the essential data and state-of-the-art mapping and visualization technology into the hands of the agencies, industry, and community leaders engaged in ocean planning. The Portal is maintained by a team consisting of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School and Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, The Nature Conservancy, MARCO and other partners.

Garden State Seafood Association lauded for conservation efforts by New York Aquarium and Urban Coast Institute

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – September 28, 2015 – The following was released by the Garden State Seafood Association: 

Ernie Panacek, President of the Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA), Richard B. Robins, Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Jay Odell, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Marine Program at the Nature Conservancy will be recognized as Regional Champions of the Ocean for the roles their organizations played in the preservation of 38,000 square miles of ocean floor in the mid-Atlantic as habitat for native deep-water corals and other marine organisms.  The awards will be given on October 29 at the 11th annual Future of the Ocean Symposium at Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute. Also to be recognized as National Champions of the Ocean will be Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence, and Terry Garcia, National Geographic Society Chief Science and Exploration Officer.

This honor follows the recognition of GSSA’s Executive Director Greg DiDomenico and Council Chairman Robbins as Conservation Leaders by the New York Aquarium at their Sip of the Sea event on September 16th. This event was further recognition of the successful effort to protect coral in the offshore canyons of the Mid-Atlantic.

The habitat preservation resulted from an unprecedented cooperative effort between the fishing industry and the conservation community. Facilitated by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the protection preserves unique deep water environments, while allowing commercial fishermen to sustainably harvest the region’s abundant fish and shellfish. GSSA hopes this process will set a precedent for future cooperative efforts, avoiding the antagonistic confrontations of the past.

According to GSSA’s Ernie Panacek, “As is the nature of all successful compromises, the result didn’t give either side exactly what we wanted, but we all can, and will, live with it. With the Mid-Atlantic Council acting as referee, it’s our hope that we’ve opened the door to future cooperative efforts.”

“We demonstrated that two stakeholder groups; one committed to the preservation of our living marine resources and the other to balanced sustainable harvest, can work together to protect the resource, while preserving each side’s interests,” said GSSA Executive Director Greg DiDomenico.

Mid-Atlantic Council Chairman Richard Robins said “this historic action by the Council was made possible by the cooperation of a broad group of fishermen, advisors, coral researchers, conservation groups, Council members and staff.”

Unfortunately, this process stands in stark contrast to an ongoing campaign launched by the Conservation Law Foundation and other environmental groups. These groups have called upon the Obama Administration to circumnavigate the existing process and unilaterally declare a National Marine Monument in the Gulf of Maine surrounding Cashes Ledge.

The successful outcome in the mid-Atlantic region resulted from a good faith effort by concerned individuals and organizations, utilizing existing administrative mechanisms, to develop a “bottom-up” compromise solution. As it did in the mid-Atlantic, the existing ocean governance system will work in New England. All it takes is a good faith effort.

View a PDF of the release here