Tag Archives: fish stock assessments
2024 Northeast Spring Bottom Trawl Survey Summary
The 2024 Spring Bottom Trawl Survey began on March 6 and completed operations on May 13 aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. The survey operates on the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf, sampling at stations from Cape Lookout, North Carolina to Canada’s Scotian Shelf. We planned 377 trawl survey stations and completed 367, for a high completion rate of 97 percent. We sampled plankton at a subset of stations. We took 111 bongo samples of 116 planned, or 96 percent. Data collected include fish age, length, weight, sex, maturity and food habits. All are critical data used in regional fish stock assessments. These assessments help inform fishery management decisions by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, as well as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Charts, photo gallery, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:20
Environmental Regulations and Wind Turbines Are Backing New England Fishermen into a Corner
Just three weeks ago, Jerry Leeman was a commercial fishing captain in New England and a very successful one at that. Now, as executive director of the newly formed New England Fishermen Stewardship Association, he’s leading the charge against Biden administration policies that threaten the industry he loves, including overregulation and wind-turbine development in the Gulf of Maine. Leeman said that he and fellow New England fishermen have serious concerns about the accuracy of the NOAA data. Fish-population assessments fell to the wayside during the Covid years — 2021 and 2022 — and the data-collection process has not yet been corrected. “Whether you’re a lobsterman or a ground fisherman, a trend up and down the coast here is that nobody wants wind turbines placed in our environment. It’s going to mess up our stocks and our species. Not to mention it’s going to change the viability for generations to come in the fishing grounds,” Leeman said. Photos, >click to read< 07:51
New SMAST camera can help assess cod stocks in Gulf of Maine
Researchers from UMass Dartmouth say they have successfully tested an underwater video-survey system that they hope will provide an accurate method to assess Atlantic cod stocks. In collaboration with fishermen, the research team recently placed high-resolution cameras in an open-ended commercial trawl net on Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine, known as one of the world’s most active marine sanctuaries. The cameras captured images of cod and other groundfish as they passed through the net. Periodically, researchers from UMD’s School for Marine Science & Technology closed the net for short periods to collect length, weight, and take other biological samples from some of the fish. The fish are unharmed and are returned to the sea. The system is design to be portable, so scientists can set it up on different fishing vessels. Professor Kevin Stokesbury, head researcher on the project, said the video system is an important tool at a time of uncertainty about the groundfish stock in the Gulf of Maine. Read the story here 17:57 Read the press release and watch the video here
Northeast fishermen call for outside review of fish stock assessments
The battle over the validity of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fish stock assessments that continually have led to slashed groundfish quotas has reached a higher pitch, with mounting calls for a third-party assessment of the manner NOAA assesses fish stocks. Under questioning by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, on Wednesday, NOAA administrator Kathryn Sullivan defended the accuracy of the agency’s fish stock assessments,,, (laughing now!) Read the rest here 09:06
New Hampshire’s Ayotte puts NOAA Administrator Sullivan on the Hot Seat – New call for outside review of NOAA assessments
The battle over the validity of NOAA fish stock assessments that continually have led to slashed groundfish quotas has reached a higher pitch, with mounting calls for a third-party assessment of the manner the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assesses fish stocks. Under questioning by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., on Wednesday, NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan defended the accuracy of the agency’s fish stock assessments and said she would welcome a third-party review of the agency’s methods and performance,,, Read the rest here Watch the video here 08:35
US GAO study: Fish Stock Assessments vary in number, frequency
A bipartisan group of senators, led by Florida Republican Marco Rubio, asked the GAO last year to examine how fish are counted. They want to know how the federal , a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, determines which stocks are healthy and which ones need protection. Read the rest here 08:07
