December 21, 2016
EVENTS
January 5 - 19
Three public webinars exploring the science of deep sea coral ecosystems.
January 9 - 10
Joint meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's Ad Hoc Red Snapper Charter For-Hire and Ad Hoc Reef Fish Headboat Advisory Panelsin New Orleans. January 9 - 18Six public hearings on the proposed turtle excluder device rule in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina.
January 12Free Atlantic Shark Identification Workshop in Kenner, Louisiana. January 17-18
Two public meetings on the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group's
first draft restoration plan and environmental impact statement in Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores, Alabama.
January 17 and 20Two free Protected Species Safe Handling, Identification, and Release workshops in Louisiana and North Carolina. January 19Public hearing in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the proposed listing of Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whale under the Endangered Species Act.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
January 19Applications due for NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's FY 2017 Fisheries Research Program federal funding opportunity. January 30Applications due for NOAA Climate Program Office's Climate Impacts on Fish Stocks and Fisheries federal funding opportunity. February 2Applications due for multiyear Habitat Focus Area federal funding opportunity.March 2Applications due for RESTORE Act-supported GulfCorps Program federal funding opportunity.
FEDERAL REGISTER ACTIONS
Visit regulations.gov for a list of only those actions open for public comment. Scroll search for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Final Issue in 2016: FishNews will be on hiatus the next two weeks, returning to your e-mail boxes on January 11, 2017.
On behalf of NOAA Fisheries, thank you for another year of your active interest in the sustainability of our nation's fisheries and living marine resources. Happy holidays. See you next year!
~ FishNews Team: Laurel, Emily, & Fran
NOAA Fisheries released five Climate Science Regional Action Plans last week, responding to demands for information on what's changing, what's at risk, and how to respond to climate-related changes in U.S. marine and coastal ecosystems. Each plan identifies specific actions to better track changes, assess risks, provide early warnings and forecasts, and evaluate best management strategies for changing conditions in each region.
Dr. Richard Merrick, NOAA Fisheries' Chief Scientist, describes the changes we are observing in our oceans and climate across America-changes with profound effects on natural resources and the communities and businesses dependent on them. NOAA is working to better track changing conditions, improve forecasts, and identify strategies to reduce impacts.
NOAA announced $8 million in recommended funding for 11 projects under the 2016 Coastal Ecosystem Resiliency Grants Program. These on-the-ground restoration projects will enhance ecosystem resiliency to changing environmental conditions and provide habitat to support fisheries and protected species.
NOAA Fisheries released the final National Bycatch Reduction Strategy this week. The strategy lays out a plan to help us reduce bycatch with existing resources under current statutory requirements. This updated strategy recognizes that we can be most effective in achieving our goal when there is coordination within the agency and with partners, fishermen, and other stakeholders.
The latest issue of NOAA Fisheries' quarterly Aquaculture News features a message from Director of Aquaculture Michael Rubino about recent progress in U.S. seafood farming. The newsletter also includes important updates, new reports, and funding opportunities.
NOAA Fisheries announces the availability of seven web mapping applications available through NOAA's ArcGIS Online GeoPlatform. These web mapping applications provide an interactive view of proposed updates to Essential Fish Habitat boundaries and current and proposed Habitat Areas of Particular Concern in Draft Amendment 10 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan.
By January 9, please submit your comments on the corrected version of the draft 2016 Atlantic regional marine mammal stock assessment report. The original draft report made available on October 11, 2016, contained technical formatting errors that have now been corrected.
By February 6 (not January 30), please submit your comments on NOAA Fisheries' determination that the Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whale warrants listing as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. This notice corrects the date that the comment period will close.
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NOAA Fisheries' Habitat Conservation Division worked with the Great Lakes Commission to replace a causeway over the St. Marys River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with a 600-foot bridge. The efforts restored the natural, faster flow of water, providing important spawning and nursery habitat for whitefish, walleye, and lake sturgeon.
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NOAA Fisheries released a recovery plan for Oregon Coast coho salmon that calls for public-private partnerships to conserve habitat for the threatened species. If the 10-year plan is successful, Oregon Coast coho could become the first of 28 threatened and endangered species of salmon and steelhead on the West Coast to recover sufficiently to be delisted under the Endangered Species Act.
By January 30, please submit your comments on NOAA Fisheries' intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for salmon and steelhead hatchery programs currently operating in the Upper Willamette River Basin of Oregon.
By February 9 (formerly December 27), please submit your comments on a proposed recovery plan for Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead, two species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The recovery plan is not regulatory, depending instead on voluntary actions by states, tribes, federal agencies, and local citizens.
An international collaboration, including scientists from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, developed a network of 53 remote cameras focused on penguin colonies in Antarctica. The camera network allows scientists to continue their observations of Adelie, chinstrap, and gentoo penguins year-round. Penguin colonies serve as an ecological bellwether, indicating the health of the Antarctic ecosystem.
The vaquita, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's Gulf of California, appears to be on the verge of extinction. Researchers from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the Mexican government used a combination of acoustic and visual surveys to monitor the population. Two recent studies found a steep annual decline in the population, as vaquita continue to be trapped as bycatch in illegal gillnet fishing.
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North Atlantic right whales are on the move, making their way south along the Atlantic coast of the United States for winter, and NOAA Fisheries is cautioning boaters to give them plenty of room. The first right whale of the season was spotted near Sapelo Island, Georgia, earlier this month.
NOAA Fisheries announced the release of the Population Enhancement Management Plan for threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals in the Caribbean. The management plan provides best management practices to minimize the risks to native populations and guidelines to maximize recovery potential. It covers all aspects of population enhancement, from collection and nursery cultivation to outplanting, monitoring, and reporting.
By January 17, please submit your comments on a proposed rule implementing Amendment 37 to the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan. The proposed rule would modify the management unit for hogfish (dividing the stock into two populations) and set management measures for the easternmost population.
By January 30, please submit your comments on the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group's first draft restoration plan and environmental impact statement. The restoration activities proposed in this plan will compensate the public for lost recreational shoreline use opportunities in Alabama caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Comments will also be accepted at two public meetings, January 17-18.
By February 14, please submit your comments on a proposed rule to require all skimmer trawls, pusher-head trawls, and wing nets rigged for fishing (with some exceptions) to use turtle excluder devices. This rule is intended to reduce incidental bycatch and mortality of sea turtles in the southeastern U.S. shrimp fisheries. |
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By December 27, please submit your comments on the data collection requirements for amendments to two fishery management plans: Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and Amendment 14 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP. These amendments took effect in 2014, and we are soliciting comments on the data collection requirements only.
By February 3, please submit your comments on a proposed amendment to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Amendment 18 aims to promote fleet diversity in the groundfish fishery by limiting the number of permits and annual groundfish allocation that one entity could hold and by removing several effort restrictions.
Whale SENSE Atlantic is a voluntary program for responsible whale watching for commercial companies from Maine through Virginia. This year, Whale SENSE welcomed four new companies. In addition to practicing safe wildlife viewing, participants provide a valuable service-in 2016, participating companies reported 13 whale entanglements to disentanglement teams.
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