Read a leadership message from Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, regarding the Maine Lobstermen’s Association recent announcement on North Atlantic right whales. We stand ready to continue to assist Maine in whatever way possible to achieve the necessary level of risk reduction to these critically endangered whales.
On September 16 the Seafood Nutrition Partnership will recognize Chief of External Affairs Laurel Bryant for her contributions to the national seafood sustainability movement throughout her 25-year career at NOAA. See what she has to say about the role seafood plays in supporting public health and a growing blue economy.
NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program announced funding for seven research projects aimed at understanding physical and chemical changes affecting lobster in the Gulf of Maine. Additionally, Sea Grant is launching a regional program designed to link lobster research with industry and other stakeholders so they can better benefit from and inform studies and decisions.
NOAA Fisheries worked with the Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital organization and other partners to develop a new Endangered Species Act patch. To earn the patch, Girl Scouts will learn about species, including marine species, protected under the Endangered Species Act and how federal policies help protect our environment.
NOAA Fisheries reissued a policy directive on the process of transitioning to a new or improved recreational fishing data collection design. Procedural Directive 04-114-02 describes the process of reviewing and certifying survey designs and documenting and archiving survey design details.
NOAA Fisheries released a draft technical memorandum summarizing the 2019 survey results for commercially important crab species in the Eastern Bering Sea. This survey’s data provide estimates of population abundance and distribution, which support the management of red king, blue king, southern Tanner, snow, and hair crabs.
Follow our scientists as they study northern fur seals, which are known to breed on only a few isolated islands in the North Pacific Ocean. And check out our science blog series covering the 2019 aerial surveys of marine mammals in the Arctic to see what scientists are learning about changes in the polar seascape.
Five years ago, a wave of warm ocean water (nicknamed “the Blob”) disrupted West Coast ecosystems and depressed salmon returns. Now a new expanse of unusually warm water has quickly grown in the same area, to almost the same size. NOAA Fisheries is closely monitoring the new heatwave.
A 12-year effort to tag and track shortfin mako sharks off the West Coast has found that these top predators travel nearly 12,000 miles a year. Researchers also found that they regularly returned year after year to an important feeding and nursery area. Little was known about their range prior to this study.
Data indicate coral reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are experiencing a major bleaching event and predict severe coral bleaching will extend across the Hawaiian Archipelago. NOAA will continue to monitor this event and use our Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach to incorporate all ecosystem components into the management process in Hawai’i.
NOAA’s Deepwater Horizon Restoration Program recently launched a long-term strategic planning process to support restoration activities. The team developed a series of actionable tactics to advance the vision of a sustainable, healthy, and restored Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Learn more about recent restoration efforts.
NOAA Fisheries has extended the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone previously established southeast of Nantucket to protect a group of right whales sighted in the area on September 9. This zone is in effect through September 24. We ask that mariners route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.
When young Atlantic salmon (smolt) are released at stocking sites lower down Maine’s Penobscot River, they’re more likely to survive and enter the ocean than those released higher in the river system. Scientists designed a new computer model that helps select release locations to improve survival of stocked smolt.
Eight college students spent the summer working with the Atlantic Salmon Ecosystems Research Team at the Woods Hole Laboratory and Maine Field Station, gaining valuable hands-on experience with sea-run fish. Meet two of the students and learn about their summer projects in this profile.
Upcoming Deadlines
September 20 Proposals due for the 2020–2021 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program.
September 29 Proposals due for the 2020–2021 Monkfish Research Set-Aside Program.
October 1 Applications due for companies interested in providing groundfish at-sea monitoring services in fishing year 2020 (and are not already approved to do so.)
October 31Proposals due for 2020 Species Recovery Grants to States.
October 31Proposals due for 2020 Species Recovery Grants to Tribes.
November 1 Abstracts due for the 2020 Milford Aquaculture Seminar.
Upcoming Events
September 12 Free Atlantic Shark Identification workshop in Panama City Beach, Florida.
September 12–18Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Boise, Idaho.
September 12–30 Free tours every weekday at NOAA Fisheries’ Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau, Alaska.
September 16 Public meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization consultative committee in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
September 16–20South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Charleston, South Carolina.
September 17 Free Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification workshop in Panama City, Florida.
September 19 Public hearing on a proposed rule to address bluefin tuna bycatch in the Atlantic HMS pelagic longline fishery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
September 23–November 4Five informational sessions on proposed changes to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
September 24 Engagement session hosted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Cooperative Research Branch in Hampton, Virginia.
September 24–26New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
September 26 Annual public meeting, via webinar, of the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group for the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment.
October 7–10 Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Durham, North Carolina.
October 9Public scoping webinar/conference call on NOAA Fisheries’ intent to prepare a draft Amendment 12 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS Fishery Management Plan.
October 10 Free Atlantic Shark Identification workshop in Somerville, Massachusetts.
October 16 and 18 Two free Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification workshops in New Jersey and Florida.
October 19–24 Three stakeholder workshops on New England recreational fishing management in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island; please register in advance.
October 21–24 Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting in Galveston, Texas.
October 21–24 Western Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
November 13–14East Coast National Electronic Monitoring Workshop in New Castle, New Hampshire.
February 12–13 West Coast National Electronic Monitoring Workshop in Renton, Washington.
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