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From the Director: Thank you Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
Collaboration and partnership are essential to our collective success. The issues we face are big and complex: sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, protection of endangered species and marine mammals, conservation of critical and essential habitats, and application of ecosystem approaches to management. To be successful requires a multitude of expertise and organizations working together. To this end, I want to express appreciation to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council for building a new website to help communicate important fisheries stock assessment information with our partners and stakeholders. This year we at NOAA Fisheries are working closely with the New England Fishery Management Council, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to promote transparency and open communication related to our fisheries stock assessments. Cheers, Jon Hare
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Going Deep with the Bottom Longline Survey
Northeast Fisheries Science Center researchers and partners in the fishing industry work together to survey rocky and hard-to-reach areas of the Gulf of Maine. Check out our new video about the bottom longline survey—a collaborative research project that leverages fishermen’s longline expertise to target bottom-dwelling species like thorny skate, wolffish and cusk. The data from this survey complement other survey data to provide a more complete picture of fisheries resources in the Northeast region.
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Fishery Monitoring and Research: A New Future
Our Fishery Monitoring and Research Division has a new look and organizational structure! Our division continues to work with commercial and recreational fisheries to collect information and support the use of that information. It’s an essential job: scientists and fishermen working together in areas of mutual interest improves fishery management and science. Managing the range of activities within the division requires constant assessment and adaptation. The most recent adaptation has resulted in a new structure to improve operations and maximize our resources. The new organizational structure eases collaboration, encourages accountability within the division, and supports the ultimate goal of ensuring accurate data about fishing activity.
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Ropeless Fishing: A Future Solution to Whale Entanglement
Large whales, including humpbacks and the endangered North Atlantic right whales, can become entangled in lobster and gillnet gear. In comparison to traditional designs that rely on a buoy and line to locate and retrieve the gear, ropeless fishing systems reduce the amount of line in the water. The main characteristic of ropeless gear is that there is no need for the rope that tethers pots to a buoy at the water’s surface. NOAA Fisheries scientists are helping fishermen test alternatives to the buoy and line, including pop-up buoys, inflatable lift bags, and buoyant spools. These newer technologies allow fishing to occur without the risks associated with whale entanglement.
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Juvenile Fish Shifting on Long Island Sound Reef
Scientists at our Milford Lab have found that juvenile fish abundance in communities found on a rock reef in Long Island Sound shifted from 2004 to 2016—coinciding with warming waters. The changes included increasing black sea bass and oyster toadfish, and decreasing winter flounder, cunner, and grubby. Fish in estuaries like Long Island Sound already experience a broader range of temperatures than fish in the open ocean. Because of this, estuaries are key to monitoring how fish communities are responding to a changing climate.
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Partnership with SMAST and Industry Explores Fishery Data Sets
We are working with academic researchers at the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology and industry partners to explore modern methods for developing indices of abundance from fishery catch rates—essentially, what can commercial catch or landings per unit of fishing effort (haul, day, or trip for example) tell us about the overall size and health of a fish population. The group will continue and extend recent work conducted by the Fishery-Dependent Data Working Group. The project will include workshops with fishermen to discuss factors impacting their catch rates, workshops on various fishery monitoring programs (e.g., vessel trip and dealer reporting, fisheries observing, our study fleet, electronic monitoring), and statistical training for participants in catch rate standardization.
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Fisheries Stock Assessments Update
We have several research track meetings coming up this month. The Butterfish Working Group will meet on February 16th and 24th. The Illex Working Group will meet on February 23rd. Lastly, the Haddock Working Group will meet on February 5th and 8th, then again on the 22nd and 23rd. The Haddock Working Group will also schedule a stakeholder input session in February (details to come). Research track assessments dive into research topics that need attention if we are to better understand the overall condition of one or more fish stocks. We also have an Assessment Oversight Panel (AOP) meeting scheduled for February 25th that will focus on management track assessments for Atlantic mackerel, summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, bluefish, and golden tilefish.
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Let’s Celebrate Woods Hole Black History Month
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Woods Hole Black History Month. Four virtual events are planned, all free and open to the public with advance registration required. Two panel discussions, a live radio interview, and a month-long virtual Harambee, or ethic feast, are planned. Events will be held on February 4, 9 and 17th, with the virtual harambee continuing throughout the month. We hope to see you there!
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Scientists Team Up with Scallop Industry to Study Ocean Acidification Impacts
Sea scallops support the second most valuable single species fishery in the Northeast United States. These animals are vulnerable to the effects of ocean acidification. Under a new project funded by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, scientists from our science center, the University of Connecticut, the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, and Rutgers University, are working together with fishermen and fishing community members to build a clear understanding of the economic and social effects of ocean acidification on scallop fisheries along with options for the future. This work will eventually help us to account for the threat of ocean acidification as we work toward adaptive management policies for Northeast sea scallop fisheries.
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Electronic Monitoring in the Northeast
Electronic monitoring uses passive electronic systems—usually cameras and sensors— to monitor a variety of fishing activities, such as catch by species, fishing time and location, catch handling, and catch counting. Electronic monitoring could increase the efficiency of fisheries monitoring by reducing costs, providing additional flexibility to fishermen, and speeding data transmission. NOAA Fisheries is exploring how this technology can expand and improve fisheries-dependent data collection.
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Fishing Business Phone Survey Underway
NOAA Fisheries and the University of Florida are teaming up on a phone survey to continue assessing the impact of COVID-19 on commercial/for-hire fishing operations, and on seafood dealers and processors. Phone survey participants were selected carefully to ensure a random sample. Those selected will receive a phone call from the University of Florida with a 352 area code. Responding will take less than 10 minutes, and the information provided is strictly confidential. The phone survey is a follow-up to a survey conducted during July/August 2020 for the first half of 2020. The upcoming survey will assist us in assessing impacts on individual businesses over the entire calendar year. NOAA Fisheries has issued the first reports based on results from last summer's survey as well as other data.
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New Commercial Fishing Performance Measures Website
Social scientists at our Science Center have found a new and meaningful way to show fisheries data to both researchers and the public. The new commercial fishing performance measures website is an interactive website that gives users a better picture of how well a fishery, and the communities that depend on it, are doing. You can view the data in a few different ways, but what’s exciting, and in some ways more meaningful, is that the data is aggregated by fishery management plan and not just by species. Graphs and charts are interactive and there’s an option for users to download the data for use in other applications.
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Upcoming Events
COVID-19: We continue to plan events, but they may be delayed, cancelled, or moved to a virtual platform closer to their date.
Feb 1-28 Woods Hole Black History Month Celebrates 40 Years!
Feb 5-23 Haddock Working Group Research Track Meetings
Feb 10 Educator Webinar: Building Authentic Partnerships
Feb 11 Virtual Ocean Cafe Series: Living Shorelines, Breakwaters and Dunes With Carl Aldersone
Feb 13 Application Deadline for 2021 Woods Hole Partnership Education Program
Feb 16 & 24 Butterfish Working Group Research Track Meetings
Feb 23 Illex Working Group Research Track Meeting
Feb 25 Assessment Oversight Panel Meeting: June Management Track Stocks
Feb 25, Mar 4 Cooperative Research: Facing the Challenges of COVID-19 Virtual Workshops
Mar 3 NOAA Live!4 Kids webinar - 150 Years and Counting: Studying Fish, Fisheries and More at the Woods Hole Laboratory (4 pm ET; webinar link will be posted on this site)
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