April 2010 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13.
Commercial Fishing News
MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
meets once a year to review the condition of and summer are needed to transport it on- of Marine Fisheries and the New Hampshire nounced improvements to fishing rules in-
whale stocks and to modify conservation shore where it can affect coastal shellfish.” Department of Environmental Services. tended to keep harbor porpoises out of
measures as appropriate. The commission This year’s bloom could be similar to the Other support for Alexandrium studies in the gillnets set in waters off the U.S. East Coast,
has used various means of regulating com- major blooms of 2005 and 2008, according to Gulf of Maine is provided by the National and to reduce the number of these animals
mercial whaling including a moratorium, es- Don Anderson, a biologist with Woods Hole Institutes of Health and the National Science that die after encounters with the gear.
tablishment of open and closed seasons, Oceanographic Institution and principal in- Foundation (through the Woods Hole Cen- These changes address the two primary
open and closed areas, protection of certain vestigator of the GOMTOX study. The 2005 ter for Oceans and Human Health). causes of a recent increase harbor porpoise
species, size limits for each species, and limits bloom shut down shellfish beds from Maine bycatch in gillnets: increased bycatch in
on the catch of whales in any one season. to Martha’s Vineyard for several months and NOAA Strengthens Protection for Harbor places where measures to prevent it are not
caused an estimated $20 million in losses to Porpoises off the Northeastern U.S.
Continued on Page 21.
Researchers Issue Outlook for a Signifi- the Massachusetts shellfish industry alone. NOAA’s Fisheries Service today an-
cant New England ‘Red Tide’ in 2010 Government agencies and researchers
Seed Population on Seafloor Points to a believe that the regional-scale, seasonal out-
large ‘Red Tide’; Impacts will Depend on look can be useful in preparing for contingen-
Ocean Conditions and Weather cies. “NOAA’s goal is to provide tools to
February 24, 2010 prevent, control, or mitigate the occurrence
Today, scientists from the NOAA- of harmful algal blooms and their impacts,”
funded Gulf of Maine Toxicity project issued said David M. Kennedy, acting assistant
an outlook for a significant regional bloom of administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean
a toxic alga that causes ‘red tides’ in the Service. “This advanced warning, along with
spring and summer of this year, potentially updates during the season, can help state
threatening the New England shellfish indus- agencies prepare for monitoring harmful algal
try. blooms and assessing public health risks.”
The outlook is based on a seafloor sur- Early warnings can give shellfish farm-
vey of the seed-like cysts of Alexandrium ers and fishermen the opportunity to shift the
fundyense, an organism that causes harmful timing of their harvest or postpone plans for
algal blooms, sometimes referred to as ‘red expansion of aquaculture beds. Area restau-
tides’. Cysts deposited in the fall hatch the rants may also benefit from advance warn-
following spring; last fall the abundance of ings by making contingency plans for sup-
cysts in the sediment was 60 percent higher plies of seafood during the summer.
than observed prior to the historic bloom of GOMTOX researchers regularly share
2005, indicating that a large bloom is likely in their field observations and models with more
the spring of 2010. than 80 coastal resource and fisheries manag-
The cyst bed also appears to have ex- ers in six states as well as federal entities like
panded to the south, so the 2010 bloom may NOAA, the Environmental Protection
affect areas such as Massachusetts Bay and Agency and the Food and Drug Administra-
Georges Bank sooner than has been the case tion.
in past years. “’Red tide’ is a chronic problem in the
Although the algae in the water pose no Gulf of Maine and states have limited re-
direct threat to human beings, toxins pro- sources to handle it,” said Darcie Couture,
duced by Alexandrium can accumulate in director of Biotoxin Monitoring for the Maine
filter-feeding organisms such as mussels and Department of Marine Resources. “When we
clams, which can cause paralytic shellfish get this information about the potential se-
poisoning in humans who consume them. In verity of a bloom season and the dynamics of
order to protect public health, shellfish beds the bloom once the season has started, then
DownEast Lobstermen's
are monitored by state agencies and closed it gives us an advantage in staging our re-
when toxin concentrations rise above a quar- sources during an otherwise overwhelming
Association
antine level. There have been no illnesses environmental and economic crisis.”
from legally harvested shellfish in recent Ruoying He, associate professor at
years despite some severe blooms. North Carolina State University and
"By the Fishermen - for the Fishermen"
Scientists are reluctant to make a “fore- GOMTOX member, will present data and
cast” of precisely where and when the bloom models on the projected bloom at the 2010
will make landfall because bloom transport Ocean Sciences Meeting today in Portland,
depends on weather events that cannot be OR.
WHO'S ENDANGERED NOW?
predicted months in advance. The GOMTOX project, funded by
“Our research has shown that cyst NOAA’s ECOHAB Program, is a collabora-
abundance in the fall is an indicator of the tion of investigators from NOAA, Woods
magnitude of the bloom in the following Hole Oceanographic Institution, North Caro-
Don't Be Left on the Dock!
year,” said Dennis McGillicuddy, a senior lina State University, University of Maine,
scientist with Woods Hole Oceanographic University of Massachusetts Dartmouth,
Join Today and Let Your Voice
Institution and member of the Gulf of Maine Rutgers University, the Food and Drug Ad- Be Heard.
Toxicity project, or GOMTOX. “Even if there ministration, the Canadian Department of
is a large bloom offshore, certain wind pat- Fisheries and Oceans, Maine Department of
terns and ocean currents in the late spring Marine Resources, Massachusetts Division
Float Rope Issue
Boat Insurance Discounts with
Membership
Safety Courses
120
Call or e-mail for
membership informa-
tion
DownEast Lobstermen's Association
P.O. Box 88
Belfast, Maine 04915
(207) 338-1406
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