National

National

Northeast

Northeast

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California

Northwest

Alaska

Hawaii

National – National Conference on the Future of the Nation’s Living Marine Resources, October 18-20, 2004 - Save the Date!

NOAA Fisheries will hold a national conference in October 2004. The world’s oceans are facing increasing pressure as more and more people seek to utilize these vast, but limited resources. NOAA is a world leader in ocean and atmosphere science and stewardship, and it is our goal to extend and improve that leadership in areas that will benefit America and our ocean management partners throughout the world. NOAA Fisheries is scheduling this national conference to confront the significant issues we all face. Four main areas will serve to focus the agenda – Aquaculture, Recreational Fishing, Commercial Fishing, and Ecosystem-based Management. The conference will be held in Washington, D.C. Further details will follow in the weeks and months ahead and be announced on FishNews and posted to our web site.

National – International Symposium: “Shipping Noise and Marine Mammals”

The NOAA Fisheries Acoustics Program will host the first-ever international meeting on the potential impacts of shipping noise on marine mammals and other marine species May 18-19, 2004. The meeting strives to provide a collaborative forum to discuss state of the art research and establish a dialogue among participants toward future cooperative efforts to understand the effects of sounds and explore technologies that could mitigate potential impacts. The event's partners have come together to provide an open symposium for all interested parties—biologists, ship owners and designers, oceanographers, regulators, developers of ship quieting technology, and more—who are exploring this important subject. Attendance is open to the public and is free. Current information on the meeting is available on the symposium Web site. The keynote speaker of the meeting is U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD).

Northeast - NOAA Fisheries Takes Additional Action to Restrict Lobster and Gillnet Gear to Protect Endangered Right Whales off Massachusetts:

On March 14, 2004, a right whale survey reported 15 right whales east of Chatham, MA. The sighting triggered Dynamic Area Management (DAM) in this location with temporary restrictions for lobster trap/pot and anchored gillnet gear. The restrictions will be in place for 15 days, beginning March 25. DAM actions are part of NOAA Fisheries’ overall program for the recovery of endangered right whales. Four previous DAM actions were implemented from November 22-December 6, 2003; December 18, 2003-January 1, 2004; February 26-March 12, 2004; and March 14-28, 2004.

For more information, visit: http://www.nero.noaa.gov/whaletrp/

Northeast – Fisherman Penalized for Multiple Fishing Violations

Ronald Ringen, the owner and operator of the FV Survivor, has been issued a $96,750 Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) for multiple violations of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act.

The violations include filing false vessel reports, selling to non-permitted dealers, fishing with improperly marked gear and the dumping of fish parts or other matter in the presence of a special agent from NOAA’s Office for Law Enforcement. NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation issued the NOVA and a permit sanction on Feb. 26, 2004. The permit sanction restricts the operator from fishing for federally regulated species for 120 days. Records confirmed that Ringen filed false vessel trip reports from Dec. 12, 2001 through April 8, 2002. When approached on May 6, 2002, by an OLE special agent, he disposed of the contents of a bucket, preventing the agent from inspecting the catch. Crew from the Freeport, N.Y., fishing vessel also sold American lobsters to two non-permitted dealers and black sea bass to a fish company that did not have a valid permit to purchase the sea bass. For more information, contact Mark Oswell at (301) 427-2300.

Southeast - Entangled Juvenile Right Whale off the Coast of St. Augustine, Florida

On March 17, 2004, an entangled right whale was reported off St. Augustine Beach. The juvenile whale appears to have various tangles of rope including around the mouth and flippers. In addition, observers report seeing at least three separate orange objects close to the body. The rescue team has successfully grappled the line and attached a telemetry buoy to track the whale. NOAA staff and contractors are working with staff from the Florida and Georgia Departments of Natural Resources and with the Coast Guard. The team attempted to disentangle the whale Friday, March 19, 2004.

Northern right whales are the most endangered large whales in the world. Only about 300 animals are known to exist. These whales give birth in the warm waters off Georgia and Florida, which also serve as nursery areas. In order to promote the recovery of this highly endangered species, NOAA Fisheries is conducting research to further define important habitats, range and behavior; monitoring interactions with fishing gear and marine traffic; and closing areas to some fishing gear and/or gear types when right whales are sighted. For more information, contact Janet Whaley at Janet.Whaley@noaa.gov.

Gulf – Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program

An Unusual Mortality Event (UME) was declared for Bottlenose Dolphins in St. Joseph Bay and offshore waters in Florida. Forty-seven bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and numerous red fish, whelks, and horseshoe crabs have been discovered dead in St. Joseph Bay and the surrounding Gulf of Mexico waters in the Panhandle of Florida, since Wednesday, March 10, 2004. NOAA Fisheries staffs have been responding to the strandings and have been conducting necropsies on the carcasses that have been recovered.

Tissue samples have been collected to test for biotoxins, infectious disease, and acoustic trauma. This area of Florida has a history of red tide blooms, which was the suspected cause of the 1999-2000 bottlenose dolphins UME in the same area. The St. Joseph Bay was also the site of the first known case of dolphin morbillivirus in the Gulf of Mexico during the 1991-1992-dolphin morbillivirus epidemic. The Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events designated the event as an unusual mortality even on Monday, March 15, 2004. To view the full press release visit our Media Center.

California – NOAA Awards $100,000 To Save the Bay

Save The San Francisco Bay’s Community-Based Restoration (CBR) Program has been awarded $100,000 grant from the Community-based Restoration Program within NOAA Fisheries. NOAA funds will be used to expand Save San Francisco Bay’s already successful program to incorporate two additional wetland restoration project areas in Marin and Alameda counties and to construct additional native plant nurseries to continue propagating native wetland plant species.

Save The Bay's CBR program addresses threats such as habitat loss and non-native species to creeks and wetlands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem. The native plant nursery is ideal in combating these threats as it involves the volunteers in all steps of the restoration process, from non-native removal, to seed collection, to plant propagation, and finally out planting. The native plant nursery component of Save The Bay’s program provides another tool in restoring Bay habitats that are critical for endangered species and other marine organisms such as oysters.

Save The Bay’s Community-Based Restoration Program brings together people and communities from all over the Bay Area as volunteers to restore tidal wetland habitat in San Francisco Bay and tributary watersheds. From 2002 to 2003, more than 9,000 student and adult volunteers dedicated over 27,000 hours of restoration work on Bay wetlands removing over 18,000 pounds of non-native plant species, 12,000 pounds of trash and planting over 20,000 native wetland plant species.

More information about the CRP can be found at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 33 years.

Northwest – NOAA Awards $46,000 to Karuk Tribe Project will Support Runs of Fish in Klamath Watershed

NOAA has awarded the Karuk Tribe a $46,000 grant for habitat conservation. The project is funded by the Community-based Restoration Program within NOAA Fisheries.

Karuk tribal and other community members will participate in a road decommissioning project along Irving Creek in the Six Rivers National Forest. The road decommissioning project will stabilize over 10,000 cubic yards of fill material over several miles of currently unstable and highly erosive road. This project will greatly improve sedimentation and other water quality concerns in Irving Creek, which is a tributary of the Klamath River and supports runs of steelhead trout, Chinook salmon and federally listed threatened coho salmon.

Road decommissioning projects are vital in forested areas that have high road densities because these roads may be prone to failure and have increased erosion rates and landslide potential. Such protective measures are even more critical in regions that have degraded habitat, naturally high erosion rates, and a presence of threatened species. These factors make this a high priority project. For more information, contact David Landsman at (707) 578-8518.

Alaska – NOAA Announces Funding for Alaska Fisheries Habitat Restoration

NOAA Fisheries announced a $96,900 award for fisheries habitat restoration in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Funds were awarded through the NOAA Restoration Center’s Community-based Restoration Program. The community-led project will improve and restore freshwater habitats for Coho salmon and several other anadromous fish species.

The multi-phase project will provide unimpeded fish access to rearing and spawning habitats in parts of the Little Susitna watershed, Meadow Lakes and the Big Lake drainage. This will be accomplished by placing undersized and failing culverts and the improvement of stream hydrology at several public road crossings. Once the culverts are replaced, community volunteers and local organizations will plant native riparian vegetation and conduct follow-up site monitoring.

Staff from the NOAA Restoration Center and NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region work closely with local communities to develop and implement on-the-ground projects. Community groups and youth organizations play an active role in developing project ideas, constructing and completing projects and monitoring project success. This active community involvement promotes stewardship, environmental education and a conservation ethic. For more information, contact Erika Phillips, NOAA Restoration Center (907) 586-7312.

Hawaii – NOAA’s Draft Operations Plan for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Available for Public Comment

The final draft of the Reserve Operations Plan for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve is now available for public comment. The Reserve Operations Plan (ROP) contains the recommendations of the Reserve Advisory Council, a 25-member advisory body representing local and national interests. The ROP was prepared in consultation with the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve was created on Dec. 4, 2000, by a presidential executive order to protect the federal waters surrounding the islands and atolls. In keeping with the executive order, NOAA Sanctuaries is conducting a sanctuary designation process to consider incorporating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve into the National Marine Sanctuary System.

The executive order calls for an ROP, which serves as a guide for management of the reserve during the sanctuary designation process. The plan addresses priority issues such as marine debris, cultural resources, research and monitoring. The draft final ROP is now available for public review. Comments on the draft final ROP will be accepted through May 15, 2004. The final ROP will be issued shortly thereafter. For more information, contact Sarah Marquis at (949) 222-2212.

March 18, 2004

March 19, 2004