DNREC: 15,500 surf-fishing permits issued this year, restricts sales locations

DNREC announced it has issued 15,500 of this year’s 17,000 available surf-fishing permits. In 2019, the Delaware’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Council established a 17,000 cap on annual surf-fishing permit sales as the most equitable way to serve all beach users, manage a limited resource and protect against overcrowding of parks beaches.

Starting Thursday, the Division of Parks & Recreation will reduce the number of locations where surf-fishing permits may be purchased; online sales will be unavailable. The following locations will issue surf-fishing permits until the 17,000 cap is reached.

Find more information here .

NH FGD: 2020 Atlantic Herring Days Out Measures Established

The ASMFC’s Atlantic Herring Section established the allowable “days out” measures for 2020 licensed commercial herring harvesters at a meeting on May 12, 2020.

The 2020 Area 1A allowable catch was set at 2,957 metric tons and seasonal quotas of 72.8% available from June 1–September 30 and 27.2% available from October 1 –December 31.

Find more information  here .

NJ DEP: Support NJ Seafood Web Map

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts on New Jersey's local seafood industry, the DEP has developed the Support NJ Seafood Web Map Application. The application provides locations of seafood markets that sell seafood products that have been landed, grown or harvested in New Jersey and are open to the public. The current BETA version of the Support NJ Seafood web map can be launched here .

This is a prototype for what DEP and the NJ Department of Agriculture (NJDA) are working on for all of New Jersey's seafood industry. We look forward to adding more seafood businesses, retailers, and markets in the final version. Together NJDEP, NJDA and Rutgers Cooperative Extension will be using feedback we receive from this soft launch, as well as industry surveys, and responses through our contact lists to build a story map that will help connect many more businesses and seafood lovers in the very near future.

Find more information here .

NY DEC: Dive into Plum Island's Marine Habitats

DEC, along with partners from Save the Sound and New York Natural Heritage Program, conducted a first-of-its-kind marine survey of the underwater habitats around Plum Island. The study reveals an immense abundance of animal and plant life in a wide range of habitat types just off the threatened island’s shores. See the full report and underwater footage from the survey on Preserve Plum Island's website.

NY DEC: COVID-19 Guidance for the Fishing Industry

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently outlined a plan to reopen New York State on a regional basis as each region meets the criteria necessary to protect public health. The region-by-region reopening status can be found on New York's Regional Monitoring Dashboard. According to the NYForward reopening initiative, businesses in each region will re-open in phases and eligible industries must be in regions that have met the criteria to reopen. Licensed guides, for-hire vessels, and charter boat operators are included in the state’s Phase One industries as businesses associated with fishing and hunting.

New York State developed Commercial Fishing Services and ForHire Vessels Guidelines for Employers and Employees (PDF) to provide owners/operators of guides, commercial fishing services and for-hire vessels and their workers and contractors with precautions to help protect against the spread of COVID-19 as these activities resume or expand upon their current essential operations. Business owners must also affirm that they have read and will operate according to the  Interim Guidance For Commercial Fishing Services And For-Hire Vessels During The Covid-19 Public Health Emergency (PDF) . Businesses are also accountable for staying current with any updates to these requirements, as well as incorporating the same into any commercial fishing service and for-hire vessel and/or Site Safety Plan.

Find more information here.

NOAA Fisheries: American Lobster, Sea Scallop Habitat Could Shift Off the Northeast

Researchers have projected significant changes in the habitat of commercially important American lobster and sea scallops on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf. They used a suite of models to estimate how species will react as waters warm. The researchers suggest that American lobster will move further offshore and sea scallops will shift to the north in the coming decades.

Findings from the study were published recently in Diversity and Distributions. They pose fishery management challenges as the changes can move stocks into and out of fixed management areas. Habitats within current management areas will also experience changes — some will show species increases, others decreases, and still others no change.

Find more information  here.

NOAA Fisheries: 2020 Species Recovery Grant Awardees Announced

Today, NOAA announces the award of $6.5 million in funding to states and tribes through its Species Recovery Grant Program. These grants promote the recovery of species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Around $900,000 will support six new awards to four states and a territory and one federally recognized tribe. Another $5.6 million will support the continuation of 27 multi-year projects that were approved in prior grant cycles.

Find more information here.

NOAA Fisheries: Manta Ray Conservation and Best Cobia Fishing Practices

As cobia season gets underway in the Southeast U.S., NOAA Fisheries reached out to one of our best resources: our fishermen. We wanted to find out what they do or recommend to fish for cobia while protecting threatened giant manta rays. Understanding the challenges fishermen face helps NOAA biologists and fishery managers find a way to protect threatened and endangered species and still offer fishing opportunities.

Captain Butch Constable and Captain Ira Laks both helped us answer a series of questions. Capt. Constable has been fishing offshore in Jupiter, Florida for more than 45 years. Capt. Laks has been a charter captain and commercial fisherman out of Palm Beach, Jupiter, and the Treasure Coast for more than 30 years. Both fishermen observe individual giant manta rays along the beaches of southeast Florida

Find more information here.

NOAA Fisheries: Limited Openings of Recreational and Commercial Red Snapper Seasons in South Atlantic Federal Waters

Each year, NOAA Fisheries announces the season opening dates for red snapper in federal waters of the South Atlantic, in addition to the recreational season length. For the 2020 season:

Find more information here.

NOAA Fisheries: June Edition of the NOAA Navigator available

The NOAA Fisheries Navigator is a bi-monthly newsletter produced by NOAA Fisheries Service and published in Commercial Fisheries News to better inform the fishing industry and general public about the agency’s many activities.

In this edition:

- Learn about NOAA's National Shellfish Initiative

- Meet Nicole Cabana, the Center's new Deputy Director

- Meet Glenn Chamberlain from the Center's Fisheries Sampling Branch

- Get information about the 8 projected selected for 2020 Saltonstall-Kennedy Program funding in our region

- Get information about recent changes to the redfish exemption area

- Learn about the Center's wingspread catch efficiency study

- And more!

Find more information here.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist and policy advisor that writes about the link between climate change and racial justice and how we cannot achieve success in our fight against climate change if we don't all work to be anti-racist (The Washington Post). Bringing black environmentalists into the conversation is an important way to start these discussions (The New York Times).

The intersection between race and climate does not get discussed often enough, even though people of color disproportionately bear the brunt of climate impacts. This has been especially evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (The Rising). Read about 15 Stories on Environmental and Racial Injustice (Ecowatch), or why it is important that Climate Activists Embrace Racial Justice (Inside Climate News).

We are eating shrimp in record numbers, but the wild-caught industry has been hit hard by cheap foreign competition and black gill disease. This begs the question, how much longer do the American shrimpers have? (The Guardian)

The Mariana Trench Is 7 Miles Deep: What’s Down There? (Scientific American)

20 Ways to Make Your Dive Travel More Environmentally Friendly (Scuba Diving Magazine).

The population of belugas in Alaska's Cook Inlet has continued to drop without a clear answer why. Reduced access to salmon, pollution, and warming waters are all hypothesized as contributing factors (Hakai Magazine).

 Managing the Majestic Jumbo Flying Squid to be sustainable means dealing with many hurdles such as climate change and even domestic conflicts over rights to the catch (The New York Times).