September 7, 2016
EVENTS
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland.
September 8-10
IUCN World Conservation Congress will be held in the U.S. for the first time in Honolulu, Hawaii. September 12-13Two webinars on the Marine Mammal Protection Act import provisions final rule.
September 12-16
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
September 14
Public meeting of the Permanent Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commissioners to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, held via conference call. September 20-21
Two webinars on the Marine Mammal Protection Act import provisions final rule.
September 20-22New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts.
October 3-11
North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Anchorage.
October 4-6
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Galloway, New Jersey.
Permanent Advisory Committee meeting to advise the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commissions.
October 10-14
Western Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Honolulu.
October 13Free Atlantic Shark Identification workshop in Somerville, Massachusetts.
October 17-21
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi.
October 20 and 26Two free Protected Species Safe Handling, Identification, and Release workshops in South Carolina and New Jersey.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Nominations due for White House Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood.
Pre-proposals due for 2017 Saltonstall-Kennedy grants.
Nominations due forappointments to the Advisory Panel for the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) Workshops, also known as the SEDAR Pool.
Proposals due for 2017 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance grants.
Proposals due for 2017/2018 Scallop Research Set-Aside Program.
Nominations due for Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee.
Applications due for 2017 Species Recovery Grants to States.
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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Note to our Subscribers: We're Back!
FishNews has resumed its regular weekly schedule.
Help identify champions who are advancing the ongoing recovery of America's fishing industry and fishing communities to deliver sustainable seafood to American's tables. Nominees may include fishermen who are leaders and innovators in sustainable fishing practices; seafood purveyors, processors and chefs; innovators in mariculture and development of a domestic industry; and community leaders who are providing opportunities to recover and build sustainable local fishing and seafood economies. Nominations are due September 9.
NOAA Fisheries recently published a final rule implementing import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that aim to reduce marine mammal bycatch in international fisheries. We will hold a series of public webinars for interested stakeholders. The first two will be held next Monday and Tuesday,
September 12-13.
Are humpback whales still endangered, or have their populations recovered enough to remove them from the Endangered Species List? The answer depends on which group of humpback whales you "ask." NOAA Fisheries ultimately identified 14 distinct population segments of humpback whales: five are still vulnerable to extinction, but nine have rebounded enough to warrant removal from the list.
NOAA announced the selection of long-time NOAA Fisheries employee Barry Thom as the agency's next West Coast Regional Administrator. Mr. Thom will continue the agency's regional work to recover salmon populations, protect marine mammals, and oversee fisheries programs in Washington, Oregon, and California. Current West Coast Regional Administrator Will Stelle has been named a Senior Advisor to NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan.
Earlier this summer, the Mexican government put in place regulations to reduce loggerhead sea turtle bycatch in the Mexican Gulf of Ulloa gillnet fishery. These actions led NOAA Fisheries to issue a positive certification for Mexico under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. The act identifies countries whose fishing vessels incidentally catch protected species and works with the countries to encourage adopting regulations comparable to our own.
NOAA Fisheries awarded more than $2.4 million to support innovative bycatch research projects through its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Ongoing projects include working to reduce bycatch of butterfish in the Northeast, sturgeon in Virginia, and endangered smelt on the West Coast. The 2016 awards will support 17 additional projects for a variety of species around the country.
In August, President Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument by more than 400,000 square miles, making it the world's largest marine protected area. The designation will help protect a culturally, historically, and ecologically important area for future generations.
By September 28, please submit your comments on a proposed rule establishing quotas, opening dates, and retention limits for the 2017 fishing season for the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries. Quotas would be adjusted based on any over- or underharvests experienced during previous seasons.
NOAA Fisheries reviewed a petition to list the chambered nautilus under the Endangered Species Act and found that such a listing may be warranted. We will conduct a status review of the species to determine whether listing is warranted. Please submit pertinent scientific and commercial information on this species byOctober 25.
NOAA Fisheries will conduct a 5-year review of the Mediterranean monk seal population to ensure that its listing classification under the Endangered Species Act is accurate. Please submit pertinent scientific and commercial information on this species by
October 31.
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Scientists studying ice seals traverse ice fields and jump onto small floes to tag the animals and collect biological data. On August 23, two of these scientists joined us for a tweet chat about their work. Read highlights from the tweet chat or watch a brief video of researchers at work.
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By October 6, please submit your comments on a proposed ruleallowing fishing vessels to use electronic monitoring in place of human observers in the Pacific whiting midwater trawl and fixed-gear segments of the West Coast groundfish catch share fisheries in 2017.
Researchers from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center have embarked on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada in search of the mysterious, deep-diving beaked whales. The expedition will deploy 20 low-cost drifting buoys that will quietly record whale sounds hundreds of feet below the surface. Researchers hope to learn more about the populations and behaviors of these little-known whale species.
Did you know that more than 95 percent of oysters consumed worldwide are farmed? California Sea Grant Fellow Kari Eckdahl reports on the importance of oyster farming to West Coast communities and discusses ways in which NOAA Fisheries supports sustainable oyster farming in the United States.
An international group of scientists has completed a new, improved stock assessment of the Pacific bluefin tuna population. The assessment found that the biomass remained very low in 2014-- at an estimated 2.6 percent of the stock's "unfished" biomass. But this finding indicates a slight increase since 2012.
NOAA Fisheries has approved a novel approach to funding restoration and long-term protection of wetland and river habitat along the Coweeman River in southwestern Washington State. Developers may purchase credits from the Coweeman River Mitigation Bank to offset the impacts of development elsewhere in the region. Restoration at this site will benefit threatened salmon and steelhead species.
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By September 18, please submit your comments on NOAA Fisheries' draft Climate Science Strategy Regional Action Plan for the Gulf of Mexico. The plan suggests specific actions to improve our understanding of the effects of changing climate on the region's marine resources and to increase our ability to respond to them.
By October 24, please submit your comments on a proposed amendment that would delay the 2017 sunset provision for the recreational red snapper sector separation regulation. If approved, Amendment 45 would extend the regulations, first implemented in May 2016 to increase management flexibility and reduce quota overruns, for an additional 5 years. |
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Meet Don Frei, the new Compliance Liaison for NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement in the Northeast Region. Don will work with the fishing industry to increase understanding of and compliance with regional fisheries regulations. With 23 years of experience as a commercial fisherman for scallops and groundfish, and 10 years of experience at NOAA, he's a perfect fit for the role.
NOAA Fisheries initiated a planning process to support transitioning part or all of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center's spring and fall bottom trawl surveys from NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow to fishing industry vessels. Transitioning large-scale data collection methods between ships is challenging, but not unprecedented.
By September 15, please submit your comments on a proposed amendment to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. Amendment 19 would allow for a specifications process instead of framework adjustments to implement simple allocations. It would also adjust the start date of the fishery. These measures are intended to improve the efficiency and timeliness of annual fishery allocations.
By September 19, please submit your comments on proposed modifications to the Southern Scup Gear Restricted Area, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The proposed changes would modify the southern and eastern boundaries of the area, with the intention of increasing access to traditional squid fishing areas while maintaining protections for juvenile scup.
By November 1, please submit your comments on a proposed amendment to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. Amendment 16 would establish a deep-sea coral protection area in Mid-Atlantic waters where fishing vessels would be prohibited from using most fishing gear that contacts the ocean bottom.
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