Pisces will play a big part assessing marine mammals, turtles etc. in the Southeastern fisheries throughout its lifetime.
Credit: NOAA
The ship, which will carry a crew of 21 and up to 17 scientists, will support NOAA’s mission to protect, restore, and manage the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources.
Her primary objective will be to study, monitor, and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in U.S. waters from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and South Atlantic to North Carolina.
This region includes important commercial and recreational fisheries, and is one of the world’s best known and most productive marine areas.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service is holding a series of public meetings this summer seeking comments on potential changes in the way commercial and recreational fishermen fish the U.S. quotas for swordfish and bluefin tuna in the Atlantic.
In the case of both fish stocks, U.S. fishermen have not been able to catch the U.S. quotas designed to ensure that the stocks are fished sustainably. While these species are managed internationally, the United States manages the domestic part of these fisheries by taking into account the ecosystem and working to reduce bycatch of turtles and other species. This approach increases expenses for U.S. fishermen and makes it more difficult for them to compete in the marketplace with cheaper imports from fishing nations that subsidize their fleets and do not use an ecosystem approach.
May 19, 2009
NOAA declares four fish stocks fully rebuilt
In today’s 2008 Status of U.S. Fisheries report to Congress, NOAA gave notice of four different fish being cleared from overfishing:
- Atlantic bluefish,
- Gulf of Mexico king mackerel, and
- two different stocks of monkfish in the Atlantic
While that of course is good news for long-range fishing and our marine habitat, four others appear to be overfished at the same time:
- thorny skate,
- Atlantic blacknose shark, and
- Atlantic shortfin mako shark
These were added to the list of those being fished unsustainably just this year, and a fourth stock, Gulf of Mexico pink shrimp, was also listed as subject to overfishing but it’s still being reviewed.
May 11, 2009
NOAA, Coast Guard pool SAR resources together
The data will feed into Coast Guard servers to improve environmental observations for the agency’s operational Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System.
Credit: USGS
We can all feel a little safer now when heading out on the water from Shem Creek and beyond – new data sets from NOAA give the Coast Guard the ability to track probable paths of victims and drifting survivor craft, thereby improving search and rescue efforts for the Coast Guard along the U.S. coast.
NOAA says the new data sets include surface current maps from high frequency radar systems. The technology measures speed and direction of ocean surface currents in near real time, which the Coast Guard can then use to guide its search and rescue operations with greater accuracy. The maps can also be used to support other scientific work, such as oil spill response, harmful algal bloom monitoring, and water quality assessments.
