Category Archives: seafood

What’s fresh on the Oregon coast?

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Dockside salesA highlight of visiting the Oregon coast is bringing home seafood that’s just about as fresh as it gets.

But how do you know what’s in season when you’re there? Regulatory fishing seasons change from year to year, and it can be hard for a lay person to keep track of them.

Sea Grant Extension agent Kaety Hildenbrand has compiled her annual guide to “What’s Fresh on the Oregon Coast”, detailing the seasons for the most popular seafood caught off our shores: Salmon, halibut, Dungeness crab, albacore tuna, pink shrimp, flounder, sole and lingcod.

You can check the list on our Website, and download a free, printable .pdf to tuck into your travel kit.

While you’re at it, check out Kaety’s video on the Oregon Sea Grant YouTube channel, explaining what consumers should look for when buying fish straight off the boat:

Task force calls for forage fish harvest cuts

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Sardines at the Monterey Bay AquariumCORVALLIS, Ore. – A task force that conducted one of the most comprehensive analyses of global “forage fish” populations is strongly recommending that world governments tighten catch limits on sardines, anchovies and other crucial prey species.

The Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force calls for restricting harvest of such forage fish so that they can continue to serve as critical prey for larger species, including salmon, cod and tuna, as well as for dolphins, whales, penguins and seabirds.

The report concludes that the fish are “twice as valuable in the water as in a net.”

“Forage fish are essential components of marine ecosystems,” said Selina Heppell, an Oregon State University fisheries ecologist and one of the authors on the report.  “The status and importance of each species can be difficult to evaluate because many of them migrate long distances and they can fluctuate dramatically in abundance.

“There also are regional differences in how the fisheries are managed and the relative health of the population,” added Heppell, an associate professor in OSU’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and past recipient of Oregon Sea Grant research support. “The West Coast sardine fishery, for example, is carefully monitored. They have a ‘harvest control rule’ that sets the harvest at about 10 percent of the overall stock, and when the population gets below a certain level, they stop fishing.

Read the complete news release from OSU News & Communications

New Oregon Sea Grant publication probes the mysteries of hypoxia

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Hypoxia: How Is It Affecting Ocean Life and Why?The causes and effects of hypoxia have been confounding marine scientists since the 1970s, when so-called “dead zones” first started appearing in oceans and large lakes. Currently there are more than 400 dead zones worldwide.

How did this happen, and how can it be fixed?

As Nathan Gilles, Oregon Sea Grant’s 2011 Science Communication Fellow, spent time with Sea Grant-funded researchers Francis Chan, Lorenzo Ciannelli, and Stephen Brandt, he uncovered a rich and complex story. That story is revealed in Oregon Sea Grant’s new publication, Hypoxia:How Is It Affecting Ocean Life, and Why?

The publication is available for purchase, and as a free download.

More on hypoxia from Oregon Sea Grant:

 

Netcasts on YouTube

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Who are Sea Grant’s Extension agents and researchers? What do they do, exactly? What are some current research topics? Netcasts, a new YouTube video series from Oregon Sea Grant, goes behind the scenes to find out the answers to these and other questions. The first installment features Mark Whitham, a seafood product developer for Oregon Sea Grant Extension, who takes us to the Skipanon micro cannery in Warrenton, Oregon. Be sure to watch for more Sea Grant Netcasts on YouTube.

 

 

Funding Opportunity: Sea Grant Aquaculture Research Program 2012 Request for preproposals

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NOAA Sea Grant has announced a funding opportunity for its Aquaculture Research Program 2012 to support the development of environmentally and economically sustainable ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes aquaculture.

Priorities for this FY 2012 competition include: Research to inform specific regulatory decisions; Research that supports multi-use spatial planning; and Socio-economic research targeted to understand aquaculture in a larger context. Proposals must be able to express how the proposed work will have a high probability of significantly advancing U.S. marine aquaculture development in the short-term (1-2 years) or medium-term (3-5 years).

To view the full announcement Go to www.grants.gov and perform a basic search using the Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-SG-2012-2003249.

This is a two-stage competition, with preproposals and full proposals. Each stage has specific guidance and deadlines, stated in the announcement, with Preliminary Proposals due 2/7/2012, and Full Proposals due 4/17/2012. Applicants must submit a preproposal in order to be eligible to submit a full proposals. Preliminary Proposals are to be submitted directly to the National Office via e-mail.

Pay careful attention to the instructions and contact Sarah Kolesar, Research Coordinator for the Oregon Sea Grant Program (sarah.kolesar@oregonstate.edu, 541-737-8695) as soon as possible to discuss proposals.

Oregon Sea Grant on YouTube: Buying fresh tuna

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Kaety Hildenbrand of Oregon Sea Grant Extension shows how to buy an Albacore tuna directly from a commercial fisherman: what questions to ask, what to expect, and what you need to bring to get your fish home safely. Fresh, nutritious seafood is widely regarded as a good dietary choice to promote health, and visitors to coastal docks often see signs for fisher-sold catch. The 5-minute video puts fish, fishers, and consumers together.

The video is one of 13 short  subjects on the Oregon Sea Grant YouTube channel.

Ocean acidification: Trouble for oysters

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Tiny oyster larvae, compared to a nickelCould increases in ocean acidity be partly to blame for larval die-offs that have plagued Northwest oyster producers for much of the past decade? Scientists and growers believe that may be the case – and they’re struggling to help the region’s lucrative shellfish industry adapt to the risk.

In a recent blog post for the Sightline Institute, a Pacific Northwest sustainable policy center, former Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Jennifer Langston talks to growers and scientist who are concerned about ocean acidification and the threat it poses for oyster growers in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Langston, West Coast oyster production dropped from 94 million pounds in 2005 to 73 million pounds in 2009, resulting in an $11 million loss in sales for what had become a $72 million-a-year industry.

Langston interviewed researchers at Oregon State University who have embarked on a major, multi-year investigation of  the effects of ocean acidification on oyster production. Among that team is OSU researcher Chris Langdon, who has received Oregon Sea Grant support for his research on the health and production of oysters, abalone and other shellfish.

While Langdon and others have identified toxic organisms  such as Vibrio tubiashii as part of the problem, there are also signs that increasing ocean acidity is playing a role in the die-off of larval oysters, which appears to worsen when ocean temperatures and currents cause water that’s high in carbon dioxide and low in pH (acidic) to well up and mix with the “good” water normally found in the oyster breeding beds.

Using what researchers have learned from their ongoing study of the issue, two major oyster producers have been able to adapt their practices to ocean conditions. Using a monitoring buoy as an early alert to changes in seawater chemistry, they were able to schedule production for “good water” periods, resulting in a strong rebound in production in the 2010 season. But concern about the state of the oceans remains.

Read the entire article in Sightline Institute’s blog.

Read more about the NOAA research project and how it has helped growers adjust their aquaculture practices.

[Photo courtesy of OSU Extension Service]

Sea Grant’s Jeff Feldner on seafood and Fukushima radiation

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Oregon Sea Grant Extension fisheries specialist Jeff Felder is interviewed by Russia’s RIANOVOSTI news about US concerns for seafood safety in the aftermath of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors. Jeff’s assessment: While it’s likely detectable increases in seafood radiation levels will eventually show up in Pacific Northwest waters, it’s too early to tell how soon it will happen or how high the levels will be. The research he’s seen suggests the radition is unlikely to reach levels dangerous to consumers.

Watch the interview:

What’s fresh on the Oregon coast?

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Fresh seafood at Local Ocean in NewportWondering what seafood will be in season when you visit the Oregon coast? Oregon Sea Grant’s Kaety Hildenbrand has compiled a handy, one-page guide to local seafood availability for 2011, based on  harvest estimates and commercial seasons set by fisheries regulators.

Right now, for instance, you should be able to find fresh, locally caught Chinook salmon, Dungeness crab and pink shrimp, as well as  flounder, sole, rockfish and lingcod (generally available year-round).

June should bring the appearance of albacore tuna and, late in the month, Pacific halibut, depending on when the fish make their appearance.

Fresh, locally caught seafood is available in markets and restaurants up and down the coast, and direct from the fishermen in many coastal ports. A family trip to the docks with an ice-filled cooler can be a great way to learn more about where your dinner comes from, how it’s harvested and the people who catch it.

The guide, “What’s Fresh and When in 2011” is ready to download and print, and suitable for hanging on the refrigerator door or tucking in the glove compartment for your next trip to the coast. Download it here in .pdf format.

Hildenbrand is Sea Grant’s Extension marine fisheries educator, based in Newport, where she engages the fishing community and general public on issues ranging from fisheries management to marine energy and multiple ocean uses.

Woods Hole fact-checks ocean radiation

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The ongoing Japanese struggle to repair nuclear reactors damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has people across the Pacific concerned about the potential damage to the ocean from leaking radiation.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the nation’s top ocean research labs, has put together an online fact sheet about ocean radiation issues related to the Japanese disaster.

The Web site discusses different types of radiation from naturally ocurring and manmade sources, the potential for circulation by air and water, and what is known so far about the Japanese radiation releases, as well as likely effects on seafood. The page will be updated as more information becomes available.