KUOW (NPR) Radio - Ray Hilborn on Overfishing: How Big Is The Problem?
Fish is a significant source of protein in the human diet; around 90 million tons are caught every year. Are some fisheries in danger of collapse? What species are being managed the right way? UW professor and fisheries expert Ray Hilborn talks to David Hyde about his new book "Overfishing: What Everyone Needs To Know."
Listen to the full interview here via KUOW NPR - 94.9 FM (Seattle).
Ray Hilborn is a professor of fisheries at the University of Washington. Reporter Ross Reynolds hosts this fast–paced news call–in program. Engaging, stimulating and informative – a forum where listeners have the chance to speak directly with experts on news–oriented topics. The Conversation covers the very current topics and issues of the day.
New NOAA Ship Strengthens Ties between Scripps Oceanography and Southwest Fisheries Science Center
Collaborations between La Jolla institutions began more than 70 years ago and flourish today with a mix of strategic relationships Scripps Institution of Oceanography/University of California, San Diego
NOAA anticipates bringing the Reuben Lasker to the West Coast in 2013 and beginning operations in 2014. The ship will support scientific assessments of fish stocks and other marine life on the U.S. West Coast.
"Reuben Lasker represents an important investment by the American people in our ability to monitor the health of our ocean ecosystems," said Bruce Appelgate, associate director of ship operations and marine technical support at Scripps. "This process of investment must continue in order to revitalize the United States research fleet, so that societally important issues can be properly understood."
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The new vessel honors the late Reuben Lasker, a pioneering fisheries biologist who served as director of SWFSC's coastal fisheries division and worked in a key position as an adjunct professor at Scripps. Lasker fostered fundamental collaborations that formed a scientific bridge between Scripps and SWFSC.
"Reuben Lasker was arguably the father of West Coast fisheries oceanography," said Dave Checkley, a Scripps professor of oceanography and director of the Cooperative Institute on Marine Ecosystems and Climate (CIMEC), a Scripps-led NOAA program established to study climate change and coastal ecosystems. "He brought his basic knowledge of insect biology to bear on plankton and fish, and combined this with oceanography to lead the Southwest Fisheries Science Center's program on small pelagic fish, particularly anchovy and sardine."
"He and his colleagues are renowned worldwide for their contributions to the biology of these fish and their ecology and fisheries oceanography. He, as much as anyone, fostered the close and productive collaboration between academia and fisheries."
Checkley, who noted that Reuben Lasker served on his Ph.D. committee, said the namesake vessel furthers the close collaborations between Scripps and NOAA in fisheries oceanography that was formalized in 1949, following the collapse of California's sardine fishery and the inception of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) program, a unique partnership of the California Department of Fish and Game, NOAA Fisheries Service, and Scripps. CalCOFI stands as one of the world's longest and most important marine monitoring programs and has provided valuable insights about various aspects of the waters off California and its inhabitants for more than 50 years.
"The Reuben Lasker will be one of NOAA's state-of-the-art fisheries vessels and will not only enable the continuation of CalCOFI but enhance it with its superior capabilities," said Checkley.
Read the full announcement via the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Record Salmon Run Expected
"The Klamath River expects a record chinook salmon run this year, the most since 1978. Much like the abundant forage - such as sardines and squid - that live off California's coast, the high numbers of salmon reflect both strong precautionary fishery management practices and good ocean conditions.
- California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA)
Epic forecast for fall run on Klamath River
Written by Adam Spencer, The Triplicate
The largest projected return of fall-run chinook salmon since 1978 is looming over the Klamath River.
Fishery managers project that roughly 380,000 adult chinook salmon will migrate up the Klamath this fall to spawn — three times the estimated run of 2011 adult chinook and 50 percent greater than the highest run on record (245,242 total fish in 1995).
Starting Wednesday, sport fishermen will be allowed to keep four adult chinooks per day, with a possession limit of eight adult chinooks.
The abundant forecast is a boon for sport anglers, tribal fishermen and the guides, hotels and restaurants that benefit from tourism dollars.
“I think it’s going to be the best season I’ve ever seen,” said fishing guide Gary Hix, who has already booked up much of his season on the Klamath.
“We haven’t had a four-fish quota since the quota era started,” said Wade Sinnen, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game.
Sinnen said it was a “tough sell” to convince the California Fish and Game Commission to adopt the four-fish limit, but the projections warrant it. “Even with a four-fish adult bag, it’s very unlikely we will obtain our quota,” he said. “This is a test year to evaluate the capacity of the sport fishery.”
It’s important to get as close as possible to the sport-fishing quota of 67,600 chinooks, because conditions are ripe for another event like the 2002 fish kill when tens of thousands of salmon died from diseases before spawning — partly due to more fish than usual.
An estimated 34,000 to 78,000 salmon died primarily from a gill-rotting disease known as “ich” (Ichthyopthirius multifilis).
“I was out there counting those dead fish; it was a smelly, disgusting mess — it was sad really,” Sinnen said. “People are nervous this year that the same thing could occur due to the record forecast of salmon and dry to average water conditions in the Klamath basin.”
To prevent a repeat fish kill, the Bureau of Reclamation started releasing additional water from the Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River to keep the flow of the lower Klamath River at 3,200 cubic feet per second throughout the peak of the fall run.
Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist for the Yurok Tribe, presented a case for higher flows for the fall-run chinook to the multi-agency Trinity River Fall Flows Workgroup, which was well received.
Maintaining a minimum flow of 2,800 cfs for an above-average run had already been established, but this run’s bigger than that.
Belchik emphasized to the group that excellent salmon fishing on the ocean provided reason to trust the predictions, and “in order to decrease the odds of fish kill happening we would like to increase the flow from 2,800 to 3,200,” he said.
Read the full article on Triplicate.com.
The Bite is On! Fishing for Salmon off California Coast is Best in Years
The Bite is On! Fishing for Salmon off California Coast is Best in Years
If your fishing gear has been in the garage collecting dust, now's the time to pull it out because the salmon are here, and the bite is on!
Anglers and sport-fishing charters off the California coast are returning to the docks with full boats and happy customers as the strong ocean salmon bite continues, making 2012 one of the best salmon seasons in years.Mild weather and good ocean conditions are contributing to what fishermen and Department of Fish and Game (DFG) officials hope will continue to be a robust year for ocean salmon fishing. Hopes are also high for big returns to California rivers this fall.“Thanks to the favorable ocean conditions and plentiful food, all the reports we are receiving from the coast are very positive,” said DFG Northern Regional Manager Neil Manji. “The charter boats are coming back early enough to make two trips a day because everyone has been catching their limits.”The daily bag and possession limit is two salmon per person and the minimum size limit is 20 inches.
To find out more visit the California Department of FIsh and Game.
Whales Show Signs of Coping With Man-Made Noise Underwater
By WILLIAM J. BROAD | Senior Science WriterPerhaps we can save the whales — or at least their hearing.
Senate panel hearing set for Magnuson reform
By Richard Gaines | Staff WriterAs he promised the gathering at a national fishermen's rally in March, U.S. Charles Schumer, D-N,Y., has secured a commitment for the Senate Commerce Committee to hold oversight hearings this fall on problems with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.The announcement from the New York senator came last week, after he gained the commitment of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Mark Begich of Alaska.In a statement, Schumer said he hoped the hearings "will give a national voice" to concerns "about faulty science and excessively strict quotas that are decimating the industry."U.S. Sen. John Kerry is the senior Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee. He has proposed his own legislation, to restore a dedicated funding source for fisheries research and development from seafood import quotas, but also has acknowledged the need to make changes to Magnuson.Also supporting Magnunson reform is Sen. Scott Brown.In April, the Republican-controlled House Natural Resources Committee, where the reform movement is stronger, began drafting "a comprehensive" change to Magnuson, the overriding fisheries management law, in an attempt to ensure that NOAA makes "informed decisions based on sufficient scientific information," Chairman Doc Hastings told the Times.The presidential election and the Democratic control of the Senate all but insures that no substantive action on a rewrite of Magnuson will occur before the expiration of the 112th Congress.House passage of a Magnuson reform bill is considered the highest goal for this year of industry leaders who organized the rally last March and have been pressing to write flexibility into Magnuson.
Sardine population growing significantly
Opinion
By DIANE PLESCHNER-STEELE
Guest Commentary
Reading the recent opinion piece on this page by Oceana, one might think that sardines should be placed on the endangered species list. But in reality, this important fishery is doing just fine thanks to existing precautions.
The Oceana commentary, "Sardine population on verge of crash," bases some of its allegations on a report by two National Marine Fisheries Service scientists. Yet Oceana fails to mention that those scientists deliberately omitted the most recent stock assessment and failed to submit their paper for internal review. That paper and its conclusions were later repudiated by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The fact is, sardine abundance trended significantly upward in 2011 and that led to the increase in sardine harvest quota in 2012.
California's wetfish industry — named for the fish that were canned wet from the sea — is under attack by extremist groups like Oceana who claim overfishing is occurring. That allegation is false; fishermen have long recognized that a sustainable fishery was good for both people and fish.
Historically, sardines exhibited dynamic swings of a million tons up or down during the first decade of decline. We may be entering another such period, given the 30-year cycle of the stock. But the issue is scale. Sardine management policy is complicated because fishery managers now recognize these dynamics.
The sardines' visionary harvest policy sets annual quotas far lower than the maximum sustainable catch allowed in most fisheries, and subtracts 150,000 metric tons from the population estimate, allowing for forage and uncertainty. According to the 2011 sardine stock assessment, the coast-wide harvest rate including Canada and Mexico was less than 15 percent of the biomass — decidedly NOT overfishing.
This precaution has been recognized by a host of respected scientists, including the "Little Fish, Big Impact" report referenced by Oceana. Another Oceana omission is found in Appendix E of that report:
"In the California Current only 2 percent of the annual production of forage fishes (including fished and unfished stocks) is taken by fishermen and 98 percent of the production goes to the other fishes, birds and marine mammals," notes Richard Parrish, one of the most knowledgeable scientists on the west coast.
Oceana also asserts that fishermen have exceeded the squid quota. While it's true that the total biomass of squid is unknown and likely unknowable (market squid range from Baja California to Alaska), the overfishing allegation is also decidedly false.
Squid are another dynamic stock that live, spawn and die in less than a year. The squid resource is actively managed by California with many precautionary regulations, including both weekend closures and marine reserves that have closed more than 30 percent of traditional squid fishing grounds.
Scientists know the squid's abundance is driven primarily by environmental cycles like the highly productive cold-water conditions experienced in 2010-11. These boom years for squid fishing happen only once in a decade.
California's historic wetfish fisheries are the backbone of our state's fishing economy. In 2010, the wetfish complex — sardine, anchovy, mackerel, market squid — comprised more than 80 percent of the volume of all commercial fishery landings statewide, and 44 percent of dockside value.
The wetfish industry remains the lifeblood of Monterey's fishing community, representing an even higher volume and value of all commercial landings.
The city of Monterey recognizes our precautionary fishery management and supports this historic industry. The City is working alongside California wetfish leaders, reputable environmental organizations, and respected scientists to recommend forage policy guidelines for the Fish and Game Commission.
Our recommendations integrate the protections now afforded these forage stocks by both the state and federal management — and are based on best-available science, rather than innuendo, deception and politics.
Diane Pleschner-Steele is executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association.
Read the full article online on the Monterey Herald.
Fosmark: Ocean Policy Respite Is Step in Right Direction
By Kathy FosmarkSpecial to Roll CallRecent House passage of an amendment providing for a pause in implementation of the new National Ocean Policy is a welcome development for those seeking to maintain and enhance the productivity of our nation’s marine and inland areas.This action was supported by groups as varied as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Forest and Paper Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Fisheries Institute and the National Ocean Policy Coalition, among many others.Because it is being implemented by executive order rather than statute, the policy has not been subject to the scrutiny that accompanies the legislative process. In turn, significant questions about this initiative, and its potential effects on citizens, businesses and existing laws and processes, have still not been adequately addressed.For example, how will regional fishery management councils effectively carry out their responsibilities under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act when the National Ocean Policy requires federal implementation of potentially inconsistent regional zoning plans developed by regional planning bodies?In addition, the National Ocean Council has disclosed that federal agencies have been directed to prioritize the National Ocean Policy in their budgets and asked how existing resources can be repurposed. With resources already scarce, how will this affect the continuation and improvement of existing authorized activities such as fishery stock assessments that directly affect recreational anglers and commercial fishermen across the country as well as the communities they support?Concerns about potentially repurposing funds across the federal government in support of an initiative that has not been authorized by Congress are underscored by recent headlines surrounding the disclosure that tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds were reprogrammed within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration without Congressional notification.Ocean Conservancy’s May 24 Roll Call op-ed referred to a “gross overreaction” among those who support a time-out and suggested that concerns about prohibitions on fishing activity are unfounded. Concerns about the potential for the policy to lead to new and unnecessary marine access and use restrictions, however, are real and based in part on past experience.
Read the full article on Roll Call