Page 12. MAINE COASTAL NEWS July 2010
Commercial Fishing News NOAA Dispatches Northeast Science
Chief to Lead Rapid-Response Contamina- tion Testing System
NOAA is sending one of its top fisheries science directors to the Gulf this week to lead its effort to rapidly assess, test and report findings about risks posed to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico by contaminants from the BP oil spill and clean-up activities.
Nancy Thompson, Ph.D, director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), will head to Pascagoula , Miss. , to temporarily set up and oversee the science to reopen fishing areas as the oil moves raound the Gulf of Mexico , as well as broader sam- pling and monitoring associated with sea- food safety in light of the BP oil spill. Thomp- son will work closely with Bonnie Ponwith, Ph.D., director of the agency’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center , who is leading an intensified effort to monitor and assess the spill’s effects on important species in the Gulf of Mexico.
Thompson’s arrival will allow Ponwith to focus on both her oil spill duties as well as high-priority regional issues in fisheries man- agement including stock assessments for red snapper and providing scientific support to the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Carib- bean Fishery Management Councils. During Thompson’s temporary absence, deputy Frank Almeida will act as director of the NEFSC and will continue work on critical groundfish issues in the Northeast. The rapid-response testing involves chemical analysis of water samples and chemical and sensory analysis of fish and shellfish. These will be compared with samples taken immedi- ately following the spill and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Scientists will also compare
MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
actual or projected locations of contaminants with normal locations of fishing in the Gulf. Scientists at the Pascagoula lab, led by direc- tor Lisa Desfosse, Ph.D., will support efforts by continuing aerial surveys to monitor the location of marine mammals and sea turtles and by collecting fish and shellfish samples for contaminant analysis. For more informa- tion go to
www.noaa.gov.
Woods Hole Scientists To Conduct Whale Study off Massachusetts Coast A three-week study of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in May off Cape Cod will provide researchers with more information about the whales’ diving and foraging behavior, genetics, vocalizations, and the composition of their population. Autonomous gliders, underwater robots of sorts, will also be tested to determine their feasibility for remote acoustic surveys in the future.
The whale survey, undertaken annually by the Woods Hole Laboratory of NOAA’s Fisheries Service, will include shipboard and aerial observations, measurements of envi- ronmental conditions, and zooplankton sam- pling tows to collect copepods, the primary prey of North Atlantic right whales. This year, attempts will be made to tag both North Atlantic right whales and larger sei whales ( Balaenoptera borealis), and to obtain acous- tic recordings and biopsy samples from smaller minke whales ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the area.
NMFS Publishes Annual Report to Congress on Bycatch Reduction Engi- neering Program
In February NOAA Fisheries Service
published its 2nd Annual Report to Congress on the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Pro- gram (Program). This report describes how the Service spent $1,602,485 in 2009 to imple- ment the Program. Bycatch reduction projects in 2009 built upon successful work in previous years, including improvements to devices to reduce trawl bycatch in Alaskan fisheries, as well as in Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic shrimp trawls. Other projects that built on previous work included thresher shark post-release mortality research and
study of the ability of electopositive metals to repel sharks from fishing gear. The Program also broke new ground in 2009 by sponsoring the first NOAA Fisheries Service National Seabird Workshop and funding projects to characterize bycatch related to green stick fishing gear, and to evaluate hook guards to reduce sea turtle bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery. You can access the entire report on the Program’s website.
ASMFC American Lobster Board to Meet July 22
Board to Consider Releasing Public Comment Document on Rebuilding SNE Stocks
WASHINGTON, DC – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board will hold a special meeting on July 22, 2010 (10 AM – 5 PM) in Warwick, Rhode Island to consider releasing for public comment Draft Addendum XVII to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The draft addendum was developed in response to continued stock declines in Southern New England and includes a range of management options from no action to a moratorium.
The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings, 801 Greenwich Avenue, Warwick, Rhode Island (401/732- 6000). Interested public are invited to attend and will be provided a limited opportunity for public comment. Since the Board will be discussing a document that it intends to send out for public comment, it will not be seeking input on the pros and cons of
specific management options but rather whether the list of options is fully inclusive of all possible management responses. If approved, the draft addendum will be released for public comment, with hearings to be held throughout Southern New England this summer. If not approved, the Board will have another opportunity to review the document and consider releasing it for public comment at the Commission’s Summer Meeting this August. Additional information on the status of the Southern New England lobster stock is available at
http://www.asmfc.org/speciesDocuments/ lobster/minutesandmeetingsummaries/tc/ 2010/ april2010_SNE_Recruitment_Failure_TCmemoB.pdf. Board materials will be available in early July via the Commission’s website at http://
www.asmfc.org/meetings.htm (see July 22 American Lobster Board link). For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Senior FMP Coordinator, at (202)289- 6400 or .
This is the eastern rigged dragger ROANN, which was built by Newbert and Wallace of Thomaston back in the 1940s. She has been rebuilt at the shipyard of Mystic Seaport Museum and is the only example in a museum of one of these vessels.
The IRISH PIPER hauled up at Royal River Boat Yard for her annual maintenance. LOOKING FOR A FINE ROWING CRAFT?
13-foot peapod ERIC DOW BOAT SHOP
Builder of Traditional Small Craft. Repair and Restoration. P.O. Box 7, Brooklin, Maine (207) 359-2277
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32