Posts Tagged NOAA Fisheries

May 31 2018

New Tool Helps Fisheries Avoid Protected Species In Near Real Time

EcoCast is a dynamic ocean management tool that aims to minimize fisheries bycatch and maximize fisheries target catch in near real time. Map shows daily relative bycatch target catch probabilities. Species weightings reflect management priorities and recent catch events. Environmental data are used to predict where species are likely to be each day.

 

New computer-generated daily maps will help fishermen locate the most productive fishing spots in near real time while warning them where they face the greatest risk of entangling sea turtles, marine mammals, and other protected species. Scientists developed the maps, the products of a system called EcoCast, to help reduce accidental catches of protected species in fishing nets.

Funded primarily by NASA with support from NOAA, California Sea Grant, and Stanford University, Ecocast was developed by NOAA Fisheries scientists and academic partners with input from fishermen and managers.

Using the swordfish fishery as an example, EcoCast incorporates data from tracking of tagged animals, remote sensing satellites and fisheries observers to help predict concentrations of the target species (broadbill swordfish) and three protected species (leatherback turtle, blue shark and California sea lion).

EcoCast will help fishermen, managers, scientists, and others understand in near real time where fishing vessels have the highest probability of catching targeted species and where there is risk of catching protected species. In doing so, EcoCast aims to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries that sometimes inadvertently catch and kill sensitive species. The first peer-reviewed description of the science behind the system appears this week in Science Advances.

“We’re harnessing the field of big data so that information on ocean conditions can be of most use – so fishermen can go where they’re likely to find the swordfish they want to catch but avoid the species that they do not want to catch,” said Elliott Hazen, a research ecologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new paper.

Currently NOAA Fisheries closes a large area off the West Coast to the swordfish fishery seasonally to protect leatherback turtles, which travel widely, and can be caught incidentally in the nets. Fisheries managers could use EcoCast to outline small, “dynamic closures,” that shift according to the likely locations of the species they are trying to protect. Since they concentrate protection where it’s needed most, dynamic closures for leatherback sea turtles could be two to 10 times smaller than the current static closures while still safeguarding the species that need it, the scientists found.

“EcoCast pioneers a way of evaluating both conservation objectives and economic profitability for sustainable U.S. fisheries,” said Rebecca Lewison, a senior scientist on the project from San Diego State University and a co-author of the new paper. “By meeting both conservation and economic objectives, EcoCast is an important step forward in supporting species, their ecosystems and our local and state economies.” Dynamic closures could also support more “climate-ready” fisheries management approaches that adjust to changing ocean conditions as the climate shifts and changes over time. For instance, unusually warm conditions off the West Coast in 2014 and 2015 have driven shifts in fish and marine mammal species, forcing fishermen to adjust their efforts.

“EcoCast directly addresses both scientific priorities and fisheries management needs,” said Heidi Taylor of NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. “The use of real-time environmental data to support dynamic ocean management provides an innovative approach to balance viable fisheries and protecting the ecosystem.”

She noted that fishermen participated throughout the development of EcoCast, which should help boost its usefulness to the fishing fleet. .

The EcoCast system is up and running now, producing color-coded maps posted online each day hosted via NOAA’s CoastWatch West Coast Regional Node. Managers can adjust the system to support additional fisheries, but this paper focused on reducing bycatch of leatherback turtles, blue sharks, and California sea lions in the West Coast drift gillnet fishery that targets swordfish.

EcoCast maps fishing areas in a blue-to-red scale that predicts the best waters to catch swordfish with little to no bycatch in darker shades of blue, with the greatest risk of encountering sea turtles, sea lions, and sharks shown in red. As the ocean conditions change, the dynamic map also changes. Managers can adjust the weighting of each species as risks change and the fishing season progresses.

“The fishermen will be willing to try this because they’re always looking for ways to do things differently, and better,” said Gary Burke, a drift gillnet fisherman in Southern California. “It’s not going to be perfect, because it’s a prediction, but it may give us access to information we haven’t had before.”

He said that fishermen have long watched ocean conditions such as sea surface temperatures as indicators of where the best fishing might be. The added information that EcoCast provides, such as the predicted concentrations of sea turtles, sea lions, and sharks, makes it a more powerful tool to help fishermen decide where – and where not – to fish.

“EcoCast simply would not have been possible a decade ago,” Hazen said. The increasing availability of satellite ocean data, the miniaturization of satellite tags for turtles and fish combined with faster and more powerful computers helped make it happen. Researchers are working to add data on additional species such as marine mammals to best reflect bycatch concerns.

“Now we can integrate all this information through complex statistical models that turn tens of thousands of data points into something more useful,” he said. “We’re putting the information directly in the hands of the fishers and managers.”

EcoCast is supported by a partnership that includes NOAA Fisheries, The University of California Santa Cruz, San Diego State University, Stanford University, Old Dominion University, The University of Maryland, drift gillnet fishermen, fisheries managers and other stakeholders.

“EcoCast is leading the way toward more dynamic management of marine resources,” said Woody Turner, program manager for ecological forecasting in NASA’s Applied Sciences Program.

Swordfish, Shutterstock/Joe Fish Flynn; Leatherback turtle with satellite tag, NOAA Fisheries/H. Harris (NMFS permit #1596-03); California sea lion with satellite tag, Dan Costa; Blue shark, NOAA Fisheries/Mark Conlin; Fishing vessel off the coast of southern California, NOAA Fisheries.

For more information:

Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s Environmental Research Division (ERD)

Related websites:

TurtleWatch – A product produced by NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center to provides up-to-date information about the thermal habitat of loggerhead sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean north of the Hawaiian Islands.

WhaleWatch – A project coordinated by NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region to help reduce human impacts on whales.


Original post: https://swfsc.noaa.gov/

Oct 31 2015

New Report Shows Value of US Fish Landings Strong – Fisheries of the United States 2014

headerOctober 29, 2015

Greetings!

As we close out National Seafood Month this week, NOAA Fisheries released the Fisheries of the U.S. Report for 2014 today.

Each year, we compile key fisheries statistics from the previous year into an annual snapshot documenting fishing’s importance to the nation. Inside the 2014 report, you’ll find landings totals for both domestic commercial and recreational fishing by species. This information allows us to track important indicators such as annual seafood consumption and the productivity of top fishing ports.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

• U.S. commercial fishermen landed 9.5 billion pounds of seafood valued at $5.4 billion in 2014.
• There were strong landings of 3.1 billion pounds for the nation’s largest commercial fishery, walleye pollock, valued at $400 million.
• Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, continue to dominate the list of top ports driven by landings of pollock for Alaska and sea scallops in Massachusetts.
• U.S. marine and freshwater aquaculture production was valued at $1.4 billion, about one-quarter the value of the nation’s commercial wild catch.
• The five highest value commercial species categories were crabs ($686 million), shrimp ($681 million), lobster ($625 million), salmon ($617 million), and scallops ($428 million).

In our recreational fisheries:

• 10.4 million anglers took 68 million trips in 2014.
• These recreational anglers caught 392 million fish, and released sixty percent of those caught.
• The total harvest was estimated at 155 million fish weighing 186 million pounds.
• The top five U.S. species ranked by pounds landed were striped bass, bluefish, yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi, and summer flounder.

We have also posted Fisheries Economics of the United States for 2013. The report highlights the positive far-reaching economic impact of the seafood and recreational fisheries industries on the U.S. economy. The 2014 version of Fisheries Economics of the United States will be released within the next few months.

Fisheries of the United States 2014 and Fisheries Economics of the United States 2013 are available on our website.
Warm Regards,

Laurel Bryant
Chief, External Affairs
NOAA Fisheries Communications
Laurel.Bryant@noaa.gov
www.nmfs.noaa.gov

Oct 9 2015

Savoring Sustainable Seafood

A Message from Eileen Sobeck, Head of NOAA Fisheries

October is National Seafood Month and across the country, there’s a bounty of delectable seafood choices to enjoy from U.S. fisheries.

Our fisheries are among the largest and most sustainable in the world, and all U.S. seafood is responsibly harvested and grown under a strong monitoring, management, and enforcement regime that works to keep the marine environment healthy, fish and shellfish populations thriving, and our seafood industry on the job.

A steady, sustainable supply of safe, healthy seafood is a critical ingredient to keeping our coastal communities and working waterfronts resilient, both environmentally and economically. And we know that our investments in science-based fisheries management are paying off. In 2013, U.S. fishermen landed 9.9 billion pounds of fish and shellfish worth $5.5 billion—that’s an increase of 245 million pounds and an additional $388 million compared to 2012. And in 2014, the number of U.S. fish stocks rebuilt since 2000 increased to 37. As a result of the combined efforts of NOAA Fisheries, the regional fishery management councils, and all of our partners, the number of stocks listed as subject to overfishing or overfished continues to decline and are at an all-time low.

For more facts about what makes U.S. seafood sustainable, seafood lovers can turn to FishWatch, the nation’s database on sustainable fisheries. And some great news—coming soon, consumers can find FishWatch information when they’re on the go—right on their phone or tablet.

Stay tuned throughout National Seafood Month as NOAA Fisheries features stories and updates on our website highlighting:

  • The dynamic process of sustainably managing living marine resources in an ever-changing ocean environment;
  • Getting to know your seafood from ocean-to-plate;
  • Recent advancements in aquaculture, and much more.

You can also learn more about the 100 marine species profiled on FishWatch with our daily #SeafoodMonth facts coming soon.

This October, we encourage you to take some time to stop and savor the season, as well as the healthful and tasty seafood available.

Eileen Sobeck
Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries

Jun 4 2015

Recovering predators create new wildlife management challenges

Californiasealion Rookery_SanMiguelIslandCalifornia Sea Lion rookery: Many California sea lion pups at rookeries in the Channel Islands are underweight, NOAA Fisheries researchers found during visits this winter. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Alaska Fisheries Science Center

view slideshow

Researchers suggest multi-species approaches to address tensions around rebounding predators
June 4, 2015
Contributed by Michael Milstein
 

The protection and resurgence of major predators such as seals, sea lions and wolves has created new challenges for wildlife managers, including rising conflicts with people, other predators and, in some cases, risks to imperiled species such as endangered salmon and steelhead, a new research paper finds.

The study by scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center and the University of Washington examines recovering predator populations along the West Coast of the United States and in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and the conflicts surrounding them. The study was published today in the journal Conservation Letters.

In the Pacific Northwest, for example, California sea lions that have increased under the Marine Mammal Protection Act have increasingly preyed on endangered salmon. Wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 have since cut into elk herds, reducing human hunting opportunities.

“Increases in predators can be seen as successful in terms of efforts to recover depleted species, but may come at a cost to other recovery efforts or harvest of the predators’ prey,” said Eric Ward, a NOAA Fisheries biologist and coauthor of the paper.

The scientists describe three types of conflicts that can emerge as predators rebound under the protection of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act:

Pacific Northwest waters include many such conflicts, largely because many top predators such as sea lions, elephant seals and several whales are increasing in number and prey upon salmon, steelhead, rockfish and other fish protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Conservation conflicts have also emerged elsewhere: On California’s San Clemente Island, a threatened island fox species preys on an endangered shrike, while protected golden eagles prey on both the fox and the shrike. Also in the Pacific Northwest, protected barred owls are moving into forest habitat long important to threatened spotted owls and double-crested cormorants, like sea lions, have been targeted for culling to reduce predation on Columbia River salmon.

The scientists call for improved monitoring and modeling to better anticipate interactions between predators and prey, and assess whether steps to manage predators may be warranted.

Where conflicts continue, the scientists suggest developing multi-species recovery plans that consider the tradeoffs between increasing predators and other protected species.

“Predators such as bears, wolves and whales are charismatic creatures often seen as bellwethers of ecosystem health,” said Kristin Marshall, a postdoctoral researcher at NOAA Fisheries who completed graduate research in Yellowstone and lead author of the paper. “We’re fortunate to have places such as Yellowstone and the Northeast Pacific where they can recover, but in protecting one species you have to be thinking ahead to account for cascading effects that may impact other species too.”

The Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act do recognize larger ecosystem needs. For instance, the first purpose of the Endangered Species Act is “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved,” and the Marine Mammal Protection Act seeks to “maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem.” Both NOAA Fisheries and public land managers in the Yellowstone region are increasingly pursuing ecosystem-based management with those goals in mind. Research has also found ecological benefits from the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone.

Both the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act also provide safety valves by allowing limited control of recovering predators to manage their impacts under certain circumstances.

NOAA Fisheries has authorized states under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to remove sea lions known to be preying on endangered salmon, for instance. An “experimental” designation under the Endangered Species Act allowed for removal of wolves that attacked livestock, although wolves are no longer listed as endangered in Montana and Idaho and are now subject to hunting.

But the scientists note that resolving conflicts by culling predators may itself have unintended consequences and will face public and legal opposition that may limit management options.

“Thirty years ago scientists predicted that increases in predator populations would cause more of these conflicts to emerge,” Ward said. “We’ve largely seen these predictions come true, and there’s no indication of these conflicts decreasing.”


Read original post: http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov