Fisheries News & Science

Dylan Brown, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, January 21, 2016 A federal judge signed off this week on a settlement agreement between the Obama administration and environmental groups over coal mining’s effect on a pair of at-risk fish species in northeastern Tennessee. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement agreed to analyze under the Endangered Species Act how the endangered Cumberland darter and threatened blackside dace are affected by mining runoff. “We hope that this review will be extended to similarly situated surface coal mining permit applications in the future,” said Jane Davenport, senior staff attorney for the group Defenders of Wildlife. Under the settlement, OSMRE and FWS do not have to admit wrongdoing but agreed to conduct environmental analysis around several coal mines and designate an area near National Coal Corp.’s Zeb Mountain mine as critical habitat for the Cumberland darter. The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment and the Tennessee Clean Water Network sued the agencies in 2013 over pollution concerns surrounding several mine sites (Greenwire, Jan. 30, 2015). The groups, which say mountaintop-removal coal mining has hurt dace and darter populations, argued that mining was causing a spike in water conductivity, or the ability of fresh water to carry an electric current. Groups and U.S. EPA see conductivity as a measure of aquatic health. According to the groups, tests downstream from the Zeb Mountain mine found conductivity upward of 538 microsiemens per centimeter, far above safe levels below 240 microsiemens per centimeter for the darter and dace. Environmentalists have sparred with the mining industry and coal-state regulators over whether conductivity should be used to measure pollution, with environmentalists having some success in federal court (E&ENews PM, Jan. 28, 2015). Under the settlement, OSMRE agreed to submit biological assessments to FWS, which will review them promptly and respond. The agencies promised to make a good-faith effort to finish the work by May 1, but the agreement allows for a delay, with federal officials providing monthly status reports on their progress. OSMRE generally oversees state mining programs, but the agency has full jurisdiction in Tennessee, which does not have its own Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act permitting system. The consent decree signed by both sides is the final resolution of the case, but the environmental groups retained the right to challenge the agencies’ consultation decisions. Mary Anne Hitt, director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said that although the permits should never have been awarded, she is glad federal officials are starting to take notice of coal mining’s effect on wildlife. She said, “Extinction of endangered species is too high a price to pay for surface mining.” Last year, OSMRE moved to increase coordination between regulators on ESA reviews for coal mine permits (Greenwire, Nov. 4, 2015). The agency’s proposed stream protection rule also addresses the issue of protecting sensitive species. Mining companies and some state regulators have expressed concerns about the rulemaking and ESA protections for species in Appalachia, worried about more federal oversight and slower permitting. CREDIT: EENews.net

Debra Kahn, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, January 21, 2016 Gov. Jerry Brown (D) used his annual State of the State speech today to address California’s ongoing water woes, as well as its progress on climate change. While preaching an overall message of economic restraint, Brown highlighted the $7.5 billion bond approved by voters in 2014 for water infrastructure as “one of the bright spots in our contentious politics.” State agencies are currently debating the best way to spend the money. “We have to recharge our aquifers, manage the groundwater, recycle, capture stormwater, build storage and reliable conveyance, improve efficiency everywhere, invest in new technologies — including desalination — and all the while recognize that there are some limits,” he said. He also urged an end to disputes over constrained supplies. “Achieving balance between all the conflicting interests is not easy, but I pledge to you that I will listen and work patiently to achieve results that will stand the test of time,” he said. “Pitting fish against farmer misses the point and grossly distorts reality. Every one of us and every creature that dwells here form a complex system, which must be understood and respected — I would even say reverenced.” While he didn’t mention one of his most controversial water proposals by name, the official transcript of the speech included a link to a new video making the case for his “California WaterFix” project. It proposes to build two tunnels underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in order to ease reliance on the crumbling levees that route water from Northern to Southern California, supplying 25 million people and 3 million acres of farmland. That raised the ire of local delta activists, who put out a statement against the project. “The tunnels will destroy the sole source of drinking water for one million Delta residents, the physical environment and the state’s most magnificent fisheries and breathtaking habitat for birds on the Pacific flyway, not to mention the agricultural and related economies for an additional three million Delta area residents,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “The Delta tunnels will cost $17 billion before cost overruns and interest, and will not make any new water for California. Perhaps the governor should take his own advice and drop his bad Delta Tunnels plan.” On climate, Brown highlighted last year’s passage of S.B. 350, a bill to raise the state’s share of renewable generation to 50 percent by 2030 and double the efficiency of existing buildings, as well as the state’s work on an international memorandum of understanding that commits signatories to lowering emissions to 2 tons per capita by 2050 (ClimateWire, Jan. 14). He also had sharp words for members of Congress who oppose action on climate. “Incredibly — though last year was the hottest on record — there are still those, particularly in Washington, who are in denial,” he said. “But even the deniers can’t deny the carbon pollution that exists all over the world. It is causing serious injury and respiratory disease to people of all ages, but especially the young and very old.” CREDIT: EENews.net

Emily Yehle, E&E reporter Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 The National Marine Fisheries Service announced today that it is dramatically increasing the critical habitat for endangered North Atlantic right whales, with protections for feeding grounds and calving areas along the East Coast. The final rule expands the whales’ habitat tenfold, to almost 30,000 square nautical miles. That includes Northeast feeding areas in the Gulf of Maine and calving grounds between north Florida and North Carolina. The agency — a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — hopes the new designation will help protect an endangered species that was once hunted to near-extinction. Today, about 500 of the whales remain in the North Atlantic, where their biggest threats are ship strikes and fishing entanglements. Conservationists have also raised concerns over how seismic surveys in the Atlantic might affect the whales, which migrate along the East Coast (Greenwire, Sept. 8, 2015). The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to open up the area to offshore drilling, and companies are seeking permits for seismic surveys, which use loud underwater air guns to find untapped mineral deposits. The expanded critical habitat requires federal agencies to work with NOAA to ensure their activities — or projects they fund — do not negatively impact the area. It does not place any restrictions directly on the public or commercial fishing. Today’s announcement comes more than six years after environmental groups petitioned NMFS to expand the whales’ habitat. The final rule, set to publish in tomorrow’s Federal Register, follows the timeline of a court-ordered settlement with Defenders of Wildlife. The new area is based on aircraft and ship surveys completed over the past 35 years, according to a NOAA press release. “With two decades of new information and improved understanding since we first designated critical habitat for the species, we believe the expansion will further protect essential foraging and calving areas to further improve recovery of this animal,” NMFS Administrator Eileen Sobeck said in a statement. The final rule makes only one change to the proposal NMFS released earlier this year, adding 341 nautical miles to the critical habitat area off the southeastern United States. That area will now extend from Cape Fear, N.C., to 27 nautical miles below Cape Canaveral, Fla. Environmentalists will likely be disappointed that the final designation does not include the whales’ migratory route in the Mid-Atlantic. In its response to public comments, NMFS said data on the route are still preliminary. “Regardless of the distance from shore in which right whales have been documented along the mid-Atlantic, we found no evidence to support a conclusion that ‘distance from shore’ is a physical or biological habitat feature essential to the conservation of right whales,” NMFS officials wrote in the Federal Register notice. “In other words, we found no basis to suggest that right whales key in on distance from shore, or somehow use distance from shore, to facilitate migration.” CREDIT: EENews.net

Emily Yehle, E&E reporter Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 A federal judge has ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to consider protections for river herring and shad, setting an October deadline for the agency to produce an environmental analysis. The decision is the latest to come out of a yearslong debate over whether NMFS adequately manages the river herring and shad species. The forage fish are an important food source to many larger species, including popular sport fish, and their numbers are in decline. Roger Fleming, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, said the order means NMFS must consider immediately adding the species to the fishery management plan under the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. “The National Marine Fisheries Service invested millions of federal dollars in state waters habitat restoration for river herring and shad but continues to undermine their recovery by failing to protect them in federal waters,” he said, later adding in a statement: “The agency’s own scientific data shows these fish are caught and killed by the millions in Atlantic mackerel and herring fisheries and need protection.” The controversy began in 2013, when the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to not pursue a proposal that would have added river herring and shad to a fishery management plan. Instead, the council recommended — and NMFS approved — provisions that set up limited protections for both species. Earthjustice sued over both actions, filing lawsuits on behalf of the Anglers Conservation Network, Gateway Striper Club Inc. and others. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with NMFS in the first case, and a federal appeals court upheld that decision earlier this month (Greenwire, Jan. 5). But conservationists were more successful with the second lawsuit, which took aim at the plan NMFS approved. In yesterday’s order, District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered NMFS to conduct an in-depth environmental analysis that specifically considers whether to add river herring and shad to the fishery management plan. It comes after her October decision finding that NMFS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not considering a range of options for protecting river herring and shad. Kessler also ordered NMFS to ensure the council “prepares a draft decision document on the issue of stocks in the fishery,” including an analysis of whether to add the species to the fishery management plan. The council must vote on whether to recommend changes in its October meeting. If added to the fishery management plan, river herring and shad would get numerous protections, including a catch limit based on the best available science. Fishery managers would also have to set rebuilding goals and identify essential fish habitat. CREDIT: EENews.net

Emily Yehle, E&E reporter Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 Experts have significantly underestimated the amount of fish caught over the last six decades, according to a new study that suggests the world’s fisheries should be more closely monitored.The study — published today in Nature Communications — details the results of a “catch reconstruction,” in which researchers used a variety of data to estimate the total weight of fish caught each year from the world’s oceans. It finds that countries vastly underreport their catch.In 1996, for example, the United Nations estimates that fishing catch peaked at 86 million metric tons. But today’s study asserts that the fish caught that year was closer to 130 million metric tons. The Sea Around Us, a research initiative at the University of British Columbia, led the study. The group gets funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts and Vulcan Inc. “The world is withdrawing from a joint bank account of fish without knowing what has been withdrawn or the remaining balance,” said Daniel Pauly, a UBC professor who is a lead author of the study, in a statement. “Better estimating the amount we’re taking out can help ensure there is enough fish to sustain us in the future.” The authors concede that such estimates come with a high level of uncertainty. But they contend that it is a more accurate picture than the annual estimates from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which relies on landing data from more than 200 countries. Countries sometimes leave out catches that are hard to track, such as discards, illegal fishing and small-scale operations, according to the study. Pauly and co-author Dirk Zeller used scientific studies, law enforcement data, local fisheries experts and hundreds of other sources to create their data set. Their conclusion is that the world has consumed and killed far more fish than previously reported. In 2010, the most recent year in the study, the FAO estimated that 77 million metric tons of fish were caught. Pauly and Zeller say the real amount is closer to 109 million metric tons. But that also means fishing harvests are declining at a swifter rate. The FAO estimates that catches have declined at a rate of 0.38 million metric ton per year since 1996. Today’s study asserts that rate of decline is 1.2 million tons per year. CREDIT: EENews.net