Some information from a recent Time Magazine piece on Tuna stocks worldwide (picture from article in Time): In 1950, about 600,000 tons of tuna were caught worldwide. Last year, that figure hit nearly 6 million tons. At current fishing rates, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that Atlantic bluefin that spawn in the Mediterranean could disappear from those waters as early as 2012. Scientists believe stocks of southern bluefin around Australia have likely fallen over 90% since the 1950s and could continue to drop. Of the world’s 19 non-bluefin commercial tuna stocks, half are now overfished or at risk of going that direction, according to the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a partnership of canning companies, scientists and the WWF. Tuna has been eaten for thousands of years. The Greeks sliced, salted and pickled it, and Mediterranean bluefin was a staple of the Roman soldier’s lunch box. But modern Japan’s taste for the fish, coupled with rising demand in the U.S., Europe and China, has driven the Atlantic bluefin to become “the poster child of overfishing worldwide,” says Monterey’s Sutton. The number of breeding tuna in the eastern Atlantic has plunged over 74% since the late 1950s, with the steepest drop occurring in the past 10 years, while the western population dropped over 82% between 1970 and 2007. The Pacific bluefin, whose habitat spans from the West Coast of the U.S. to Japan, is officially in better shape, but one Tsukiji auctioneer estimates the number of tuna coming in these days is down 60% to 70% from what it used to be….read more here.

A good article on what the EPA is doing to determine where we need to clean up in the Chesapeake Bay first, i.e. where are the most polluted areas. Check this link for audio and the article.

Anglers in the Annapolis area will soon have another NOAA buoy to consult for near-real-time wave height & direction, wind speed & direction, current speed & direction, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and other measures, as well as information about its place on the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail, the ecology of the area around the buoy, and what is going on in the water around it in each season of the year.

Access to the information the Annapolis buoy puts out comes the same way as from the NOAA buoy off the mouth of the Patapsco and the other five up & down the Bay–1-877-BUOYBAY and www.buoybay.org.

NOAA plans to launch the buoy this Wednesday afternoon (11/11–Veterans Day), just outside Greenbury Point in the mouth of the Severn, after a reception at the Annapolis City Dock (2:00-2:45 PM). Sen. Ben Cardin, Rep. John Sarbanes, and some other folks will speak briefly before going out to watch a USCG tender deploy the buoy. The public–anglers especially–are encouraged to attend.

BTW, look for two more NOAA buoys in the spring, one on the Upper Potomac, just below the Wilson Bridge and another on the Gooses/Dominion Reef.

The 2009 Atlantic striped stock assessment update indicates that the resource remains in good condition with female spawning stock biomass (SSB) percent of the SSB target and 185 percent of the SSB threshold (see Figure 1). Estimated fishing mortality rates (F) in 2008 are equal to or less than 0.21 and below the target (0.30) and threshold (0.34) rates. The assessment provides stock status for the combination of the three primary stocks (Hudson River, Delaware River, and Chesapeake and tributaries). The striped bass stock complex is determined to be not overfished with overfishing not occurring.

Although spawning stock and total biomass have remained relatively stable over the last several years, stock abundance declined from 2004 to 2007 with a small increase in 2008. The decrease in abundance is reflected in a decline in coastwide landings in 2007 and 2008. The decline is more prevalent in areas largely dependent on contributions from the Chesapeake stocks (such as Maine) than areas that are dominated by the Hudson stock (such as New York). The spawning stock has remained relatively stable due to the growth and maturation of the 2003 year class and the accumulation of spawning biomass from year classes prior to 1996. The latest results of the statistical catch-at-age model also exhibit an increasing retrospective bias where F is overestimated and abundance and biomass underestimated. Retrospective bias may be the result of error in catch estimates, natural mortality, unequal stock mixing, and changes in catchability or selectivity. Analysis of tag data also suggests an increasing natural mortality in Chesapeake Bay, likely the result of the mycobacteriosis.

Recruitment estimates have averaged 12.5 million fish since 1995 when the stock complex was declared restored. The 2006 and 2007 estimates were the lowest in recent years at 7.4 million and 5.8 million fish, respectively. The 2003 cohort remains Continue Reading »

Not what we wanted! Three more years to do nothing.

—–

The Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Addendum IV to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden.

Addendum IV extends the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery harvest cap, established through Addendum III, for an additional three years (2011 – 2013). Under the Addendum, the Board will annually review measures to determine if they are appropriate given the most recent information available about the stock and fishery. At any future meeting, the Board can initiate development of additional or alternative management measures.

The Board’s action was requested by the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to accommodate its legislative process as well as ensure that the current management program is extended while menhaden research efforts continue. Virginia’s legislature, which convenes in January each year, is responsible for regulating the menhaden reduction fishery in state waters. With Addendum IV in place this year, Virginia state administrators can work with the legislature in early 2010 to amend Virginia law to extend the harvest cap without the current cap expiring.

Addendum III established the current annual cap of 109,020 metric tons on reduction fishery harvests in Chesapeake Bay as a precautionary measure while research was conducted to address the question of menhaden abundance in the Bay. The cap was first instituted in 2006 to extend through 2010. With adoption of Addendum IV that cap will be extended through 2013 with the following provisions. Harvest for reduction purposes is prohibited in Chesapeake Bay when 100% of the cap is landed. Over-harvest in any given year will be deducted from the next year’s quota. Under-harvest in one year will be credited only to the following year’s cap, not to exceed 122,740 metric tons. Since 2006, reduction landings of menhaden from Chesapeake Bay have not exceeded the cap of 109,020 metric tons.

This is the best fishing pumpkin we spotted this past Halloween. The cobia pumpkin