HIGHLIGHTS
Celebrating National
Fishing and Boating Week
This week is National
Fishing and Boating Week. In a new message, Chris Oliver, head of NOAA
Fisheries, reflects on where our nation stands today with saltwater
recreational fishing and the efforts our agency makes to support this popular national
pastime.
NOAA Releases New Stock Assessment Improvement Plan
NOAA Fisheries released a new Stock Assessment
Improvement Plan to provide strategic guidance for the population assessments
we conduct for fish stocks under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The plan complements
other strategic efforts to accomplish our mission of sustainable fisheries through
science-based resource conservation and management.
New Recreational
Fishing Effort Survey
NOAA Fisheries’ Marine
Recreational Information Program recently completed a 3-year transition from
the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the mail-based Fishing Effort Survey.
Learn more about the new survey and how we are calibrating recreational catch
estimates.
It’s Also
National Ocean Month!
NOAA’s National Ocean Service is
celebrating our ocean throughout the month of June. Join them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to learn more about our one, global ocean through their #30daysofocean campaign.
Alaska
Technological
Advances in Electronic Monitoring
NOAA scientists, academic
researchers, and fishermen are working together to develop innovative
monitoring tools that could revolutionize the way fisheries data are collected.
As cameras collect video of commercial catches, new “machine vision” technology
automates image analysis at sea, eliminating manual data processing steps and
providing quicker access to data that inform management decisions.
Summer
Surveys to Monitor Alaska Ecosystems
NOAA Fisheries’ survey season off
the coast of Alaska is underway. These surveys collect data critical to
sustainable management of Alaska’s fisheries and to long-term monitoring of
marine ecosystems. Read an overview of 12 research surveys planned for this
summer.
Survey to
Explore Ocean Temperatures in 2018
Researchers are curious to see
whether they will encounter a “cold pool”—a large mass of frigid water—during
this year’s Southeastern Bering Sea Shelf Bottom Trawl Survey, given the
unusually warm winter and the limited sea ice coverage in 2017–2018. The annual
survey, now in its 37th year, collects biological information on
commercially important fish and crab species.
Humpback Necropsy Results Indicate Trauma
Preliminary results from the
necropsy of a male humpback on Admiralty Island in southeast Alaska showed
signs of hemorrhage, bruising, and a fractured skull—indications of trauma,
likely caused by a vessel strike.
Pacific Islands
 Trends in 20 Years of Hawaii’s Big-Eye Tuna Fishery
In the mid-1990s, nearly all of
the bigeye tuna fleet operated in the area south of Hawaii. Now, as fishing
effort has increased greatly, more than 40 percent of the fishery’s operations
are northeast of Hawaii. Researchers found that fishing expanded into areas
where the fishing gear better overlaps with the tuna’s preferred temperatures.
Research
Expedition to Assess Coral Bleaching
Last week, researchers aboard
NOAA Ship Hi’ialakai set sail to
assess the health of coral reefs in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National
Monument. The expedition will assess the conditions of reefs impacted by mass
coral bleaching events in recent years.
Pacific
Islands Recreational Fishing Data Implementation Plan Now Available
The Marine Recreational
Information Program steering committee and its advisors have completed
an MRIP regional implementation plan for the Pacific Islands. This plan identifies
and prioritizes needs and actions for understanding and managing the
non-commercial fishery in state/territorial and federal waters in the Western
Pacific.
Southeast
NOAA in the
Field: Searching for Sawfish
NOAA Fisheries scientists are
conducting monthly field expeditions to survey endangered smalltooth sawfish in
Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National
Park. Last month, the team safely captured, measured, and released 12 sawfish.
NOAA in the
Field: Observing Dredge Operations
Staff from NOAA Fisheries’
Southeast Region joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aboard Shallow Draft Dredge
Murden to observe their operations
maintaining the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near Clearwater, Florida. The
opportunity will inform NOAA Fisheries’ consultations with the USACE, required
under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Reminder: Gulf Council Seeks New Deputy Director
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is seeking applicants for the
position of deputy director. The deputy director serves as a member
of the Council’s leadership team and assists the executive director
in the operation of the Council office. Applications are due June
15.
Greater Atlantic
Interactive
Map for 2018 Scallop Regulations
NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic
Region updated the Atlantic Sea Scallop story map on their website to reflect
management measures from Framework 29. The map includes new access areas that
opened to scallop fishing through the Omnibus Habitat Amendment.
Woods Hole
to Host Juneteenth Celebration, Present Diversity Award
The 2018 Woods Hole Juneteenth
celebration, hosted by the Woods Hole Black History Month Committee and the
Woods Hole Diversity Initiative, will feature a presentation by Richard L.
Taylor on the African American community on Martha’s Vineyard. The Diversity
Initiative will also present the John K. Bullard Diversity award to two
recipients.
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