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Ocean Acidification Events & News
EVENTS
Upcoming conference: The Oceans in a High-CO2 World, Sept 24-27, 2012, Monterey CA
http://www.ocean-acidification.net
NEWS & REPORTS
Seafood producers tackle ocean acidification at annual Summit
FIS.com, February 21, 2011
Click here to find out more
Click here for a great story on ocean acidification from KUOW
Pribilof Islands Collaborative
NFCC helped plan and then facilitated the ongoing work of the Pribilof Islands Collaborative (PIC), a cooperative effort that included the representatives from the two islands, major fishing industry sectors (e.g., pollock, crab, longliners), and conservation groups (e.g., The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund). PIC’s goal was to create opportunities to share scientific and technical information, build relationships both within and across interest groups, and identify collaborative efforts that would improve knowledge and sustain resources. PIC focused separate meetings on fur seals, seabirds, crab and halibut, climate change, and economic development. The January 2005 workshop on fur seal ecology included presentations from all the leading fur seal researchers and resulted in a prioritized list of research needs that influenced NOAA’s funding decisions.
See the presentation materials
NFCC Invites Discussion on Rights-Based Management
NFCC has begun collecting and sharing videos regarding rights-based management in various fisheries, and will soon produce some of our own (see our Vimeo channel). We invite submissions of fair-minded videos and commentary on this subject from interested parties. Please avoid inflammatory content, but if you have a serious critique, NFCC wants to hear it. What are the pros and cons of quotas? What are the problems and challenges? What advantages has your fishery experienced as a result of rights-based management?
The following are links to related articles and editorials:
Cooperative management facilitates salmon bycatch reduction
July 12, 2011
Today, the Bering Sea pollock industry took action to reduce chum salmon bycatch. Through the use of the Inter-cooperative Salmon Agreement, the pollock fishery has agreed to allow SeaState to close an additional 1,000 square nautical miles of fishing grounds to reduce encounters with chum salmon, bringing the total area allowed for closure to 5,000 square nautical miles. This is an area larger than the state of Connecticut, and twenty times larger than the Prudhoe Bay oil fields.
Catch Share program turns by-catch into new source of sustainable seafood.
July 8, 2011
Last week, the northern rockfish fishery opened up in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. While rockfish is targeted out in Southeast Alaska, this small fishery operates differently and it’s under a somewhat new management style.
It’s only recently that northern rockfish have been treated as anything other than straight-up bycatch. Before the Amendment 80 fleet was established, catcher-processors had a set limit of how much rockfish they could take incidentally while harvesting Pacific Ocean perch or Atka mackerel.
Keep halibut catch sharing facts in mind
September 19th, 2011
The recent debate over the halibut catch sharing plan (CSP) has been plagued with misinformation. Unfortunately, a recent Daily News editorial (“Halibut? Go for two,” Sept. 18) repeats some of that misinformation.
The statement that the Southcentral (Area 3A) charter businesses were cut 30 percent by the limited entry program (LEP) misrepresents the issue. Charter operators called for limited entry because the industry was overcapitalized and charter fishing had depleted accessible areas of halibut.
In response, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council started working on the LEP in 2006 and cautioned the industry that new entrants after 2005 would likely not qualify for a permit. Nevertheless, the announcement was followed by a speculative increase in charter vessels and then a decline that coincides with the national economic recession.
Pioneering Education on Ocean Acidification
Since 2007 NFCC has been a pioneer in informing and preparing the seafood industry, coastal communities, and policy makers to respond effectively to ocean acidification.
Working closely with the Sustainable Fisheries partnership’s Global Ocean Health program http://www.sustainablefish.org/global-programs/global-ocean-health, NFCC has co-hosted workshops for fishermen and seafood companies, published articles in the fisheries trade press, supported production of educational videos, and helped to assemble an informed and capable group of stakeholders and scientists to respond to the causes and consequences of this major change in ocean chemistry.
Caused primarily by industrial society’s vast waste stream of carbon dioxide (CO2), ocean acidification has already increased acidity of the world’s surface oceans by an estimated 30% (as measured by increase in hydrogen ion concentration) since the Industrial Revolution. In many of the world’s most productive marine and estuarine waters, this change has been even more dramatic. Acidification due to CO2 compounds chemical changes induced by runoff of human-released nutrients and resulting eutrophication, freshening of surface ocean waters, and other processes. The consequences for growth, survival, and physiological functions of many shellfish are particularly serious; fish, plankton, and corals are also affected.
Stay tuned for additional information here and at SFP’s website above.
Videos on ocean acidification
NFCC has supported production of videos about ocean acidification featuring scientists and fishermen speaking about the risks it poses for families, jobs, businesses, and marine life.
We worked with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and several collaborating organizations to assemble the funds, the teams, and the people interviewed in these videos. Special thanks to aerial artist John Quigley of Spectral Q Productions, videographers Leslie Morava and Mark Brinster, Alaska aerial videographer Daniel Zatz, on-the docks organizer Alan Parks, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, and the hundreds of Alaska fishermen and mariners who poured their energy into the SOS Acid Ocean event in 2009, generating several of the images and interviews shown below.
SOS Acid Ocean and interviews with fishermen
by John Quigley, Leslie Morava, Daniel Zatz, Mark Brinster
Ocean Acidification: perspective from Dr. Mark Green, oceanographer and oyster grower in Maine
Produced by Leslie Morava, supported by SFP and NFCC
The Making of the SOS Acid Ocean Event
by John Quigley, Leslie Morava, Daniel Zatz, Mark Brinster
Steller Sea Lion Recovery Plan
NFCC facilitated the final two meetings of the Steller Sea Lion Recovery Team, in Homer, AK and Seattle, WA, in 2005. NFCC’s efforts succeeded in helping the Recovery Team complete a consensus draft of an updated recovery plan within the deadline set by NOAA.
The Use of Marine Reserves in Fisheries Management
Over the past several years, the National Fisheries Conservation Center has worked with the National MPA Center, NOAA Fisheries, the State of California, several conservation groups, and industry representatives on several projects that examined the interface between the creation of protected areas and fisheries management. By applying tools that were little used in fisheries at the time, such as the scientific consensus conference, decision analysis, and joint fact-finding, as well as cross-jurisdictional case study methods, NFCC provided its audiences and partners information and methods that improved their ability to navigate the complexities of MPA designation and its integration with fishery management.
Pollock MSC Certification Issues
NFCC completed a shadow evaluation of the Alaska pollock fishery’s performance on the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification criteria to better inform the World Wildlife Fund’s participation in the certification process. The evaluation team included experts in marine ecosystems, stock assessment, and fisheries management. The evaluation summarized the main ecological, scientific, and management issues; scored the fishery on each of the certification criteria; and made specific recommendations about how the fishery could improve its performance
Read the full report here: Pollock Certification Report
Using Decision Analysis in Fisheries
With support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, NFCC conducted two two-day hands-on workshops in the application of decision analysis to fisheries stock assessment and management. The workshops, which combined presentations by experts in decision analysis with problem-solving applications, provided fisheries scientists, managers, and advocates an opportunity to better understand the potential value of this tool, particularly in handling the uncertainty inherent in fisheries.
NMFS Performance Audit
NFCC conducted a confidential audit of the utility and management of NMFS’ decision-making process, with a particular focus on the agency’s ability to comply with legal mandates provided by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). NFCC conducted a large number of confidential interviews with NOAA/NMFS personnel, both at headquarters an in the regions, as well as with representatives of various industry groups and advocacy organizations. NFCC presented its findings and recommendations in an executive briefing at NMFS headquarters that included presentations from high-level managers at other federal agencies that had successfully resolved problems similar to those NMFS was confronting. NFCC then facilitated a series of workshops with staff from the regional fishery management councils to develop implementation plans for the recommendations resulting from the audit.
National Evaluation of Cooperative Data Gathering in Fisheries
NFCC used seven case studies of cooperative data gathering and research efforts, from the Bering Sea to the North Atlantic, to identify key insights useful for improving the design and implementation of such efforts in the future. The case studies included examples of government/industry partnership in gear development, biological surveys, observer programs, and ecological studies.